The Morgan Legacy, Chapter 35, Part 1: Disparate Youth
Nora hurried outside. She'd barely been able to believe it when Joanne had told her, but sure enough Jacqueline was on the porch, crying like her heart was breaking.
"Jacqueline?" Her daughter jolted and looked up sharply at the sound of Nora's voice, cutting off mid-sob. She wiped her eyes, like she didn’t want anyone to see her upset. But Nora wouldn’t be put off so easily. "Jacqueline, what is it? Talk to me."
"I can't." Jacqueline scrubbed her hand over her face. "I did something really stupid, Mom."
"We've all made mistakes," Nora told her, and thought of her own Teen rotations with a shudder. At least Amar Hamilton had shown his true colors before it was too late.
"But Seeley's so mad at me-" Her voice broke, and Nora hugged her. Regardless of her protests, Jacqueline hugged her back tightly.
And, bit by bit, the story unfolded.
"This shopping thing isn't going to take too long, is it?" Seeley asked. "If we’re too late to the club, Wilf'll never let us hear the end of it."
"And you feel guilty about skipping Gwen and Gwaine's party." She knew Seeley. He always felt so responsible when it came to his family. She still could't believe that he'd rolled Pleasure, of all aspirations.
"Well, yeah. It'll be the first time Sam's at a family gathering without me."
"Sam can take care of himself, remember?" she said dryly. Given that the boy in question had finally snapped and beaten Patrick up the other day, she knew not even Seeley could deny that.
"I guess," he said, brooding down at his cake. Not that it stopped him from devouring it in one bite.
It was a sight she could have happily gone without seeing, except for the part where not seeing it would have meant not looking at Seeley, which was all she wanted to do right now. Plumbbob, he was gorgeous, horrific eating habits and all. "I'll try not to take too long," she told him at last, forcing her mind back onto the issue at hand. "But I have to get a dress to wear to your parents' wedding. Mom bought me this awful yellow-"
"Give your mom a break, Jacks."
"I will when she stops trying to make me into a mini version of her!"
He shook his head. "Anyway, why can't you just go shopping some other time?"
"Because." Because odds were this was the only time she could talk him into going with her. Because she was going to find the perfect dress, and when Seeley saw her in it he was going to realize he felt the same way about her as she did about him, and everything would be perfect.
"You should come with us," Joanne said disapprovingly. "They're our cousins. It's not nice for you to not go."
"Mind your own business," Jacqueline warned her. Joanne stuck her tongue out at her but rushed after the other party guests without further comment, grabbing her best friend's hand.
Their mother was the next to approach, of course. Her dad was being cool about the whole party-skipping thing, but not her mom. "Are you sure you won't change your mind? They're your cousins, and it would make them so happy."
Jacqueline rolled her eyes. "It would not. They don't even know I exist. And Uncle Arthur and Uncle Merlin won’t mind. They want us all to have a good time on our birthday."
"Don't you have a good time at family events?" Nora wheedled, and Jacqueline made a face.
"Nora, we should get going," her dad interjected, touching his wife's arm.
"You're right, it's later than I thought," she said in surprise after a quick glance at the living room clock. "Jacqueline, are you sure-"
"Yes!"
With one last disappointed look, Nora headed out the door.
Chad held back a moment to give Jacqueline a quick hug good-bye. "Give your mom a break," he told her, though not unkindly.
"She drives me crazy."
"I know, but she loves you."
She sighed. "I know."
"Good. Have fun downtown, and be back by 1."
"Okay."
"Seriously, come on!" Wilf put his arm around her, steering her toward where Seeley was waiting for them. "We're missing club time!"
"Shopping time," Seeley corrected him wryly.
Aghast, Wilf turned to Jacqueline. "You were serious about that?!"
"I need a dress!" When he just kept staring accusingly at her, she sighed. "I'll be quick."
"Ugh, fine."
True to her word, Jacqueline didn't take long--by her standards, at least. Both boys wandered off after dress #3, and it wasn't until she slipped into #6 that she knew she'd found the right one.
Jacqueline grinned at her reflection. There was no way Seeley wouldn't sit up and take notice once he saw her in this.
Except that one of the sales clerks had already captured his attention.
Under any other circumstances, she would have barged right in and laid her claim. But she hadn't even considered that Seeley might take an interest in someone else, and was thoroughly unprepared for how much seeing it hurt.
"You picked one out?" Wilf asked when she joined them. "Was it one of the ones we saw?"
"Do you even remember any of the ones you saw?" she demanded. When both boys looked blank, she went on, "See! Why would I choose something forgettable?"
"That makes sense," the girl said brightly, recoiling when Jacqueline glared at her.
"Jacks, this is Lina Centowski," Seeley said, though his attention wasn't on Jacqueline at all anymore.
"Nice to meet you, Jacks," the girl said.
"Jacqueline," she corrected through gritted teeth. "Seeley's the only one who can call me that."
"Jacqueline," Lina repeated, her smile all but gone at this point. She looked sidelong at Seeley. "So like I was saying, you guys are really gonna like the show."
"There's a local band performing at this club," Wilf told Jacqueline excitedly. "They’re all Teens. Maria Granger’s in it. Lina says they're really good."
"Sounds great," Jacqueline said. "Let's go, then."
Seeley lingered. "When's your shift over?" Jacqueline could hear him asking as she walked out of the store, unable to watch Seeley make an idiot out of himself around some random NPC anymore.
Wilf followed her. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," she said, baring her teeth in a smile.
Jacqueline did feel better once they were at the club. It was full of other kids, many of whom gave her appreciative glances that she couldn't help but feel better upon seeing, and the music really was great. Not that she was planning to tell Lina that.
After a few songs, the lead singer started talking instead of singing. "So how are you all doing tonight?" Everyone cheered, and she grinned. "Listen up! Our lovely drummer Eoin is leaving for uni tomorrow." The blue-skinned boy at the drumset waved. "That means we'll have an opening in the band. Auditions are tomorrow afternoon, two o'clock, in the school auditorium."
"AWESOME," Wilf burst out. Given how many other people were chattering excitedly as the band began the next song, it seemed he wasn't the only one enthused about the idea. "I'm so trying out!"
"Can you even play the drums?" Jacqueline asked.
"Why not? I have tons of creativity points."
Jacqueline and Seeley traded dubious looks, their unintentionally perfect timing making them both grin. "Ten minutes before he hits someone with a drumstick," Seeley said to her.
"You think he'll last that long?" she pointed out.
"Whatever, I'll be awesome," Wilf said firmly.
It was the most comfortable Jacqueline had felt in their company since the first, dizzying look she'd taken at Seeley right after her transition, when it became all too clear that newfound teenage hormones were going to seriously complicate her long-term crush on him.
And Lina just had to choose that moment to show up.
"Hi! I got here as fast as I could!" She smiled at them all, though her gaze quickly focused on Seeley. "What have I missed?"
"Oh, not much." Once again, it was like he forgot any of them but Lina were there. "Glad you could make it."
"Me, too."
"Aren't we all?" Jacqueline muttered, clenching her fists.
The worst part was that Lina was nice. She tried a lot harder to get along with Jacqueline than most people would have, given how cold Jacqueline was to her in return. Seeley clearly liked her more and more as the evening went on, and of course Wilf liked her, too. Wilf liked everyone, especially cute girls.
And the more fond of her the boys became, the more jealous Jacqueline became.
"Better look out, Seeley," she remarked sarcastically as Wilf and Lina laughed together over one of Wilf's jokes. "Wilf might steal your little shopgirl away."
"Nah, he doesn't have to worry," Wilf said quickly, grin firmly in place. He'd been running interference all evening. The narrower Seeley's stare got, the brighter and more manic Wilf became. "I have my sights set elsewhere." He nodded meaningfully toward the club, like anyone within miles of the place might have missed how he and Maria had been staring at each other earlier.
"You can't kiss your way into the band, Wilf," Jacqueline told him.
"I won't! I'll make it in on talent. Or maybe talents. Who can say?"
"Given that you've never kissed anyone-"
"I'm a quick learner. You know that."
She wrinkled her nose. "That sounded way too suggestive."
"Definitely didn't come out right," Wilf said at just about the same time, so that their horrified words overlapped.
Lina giggled. "Maybe you should be kissing Jacqueline instead, Wilf," she teased.
Jacqueline and Wilf both recoiled--as did Seeley, Jacqueline noticed, and couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope. "No way," Wilf said firmly. "We're all like siblings. It'd be weird. Right, Jacqueline?"
Her gaze darted to Seeley, who certainly didn't seem to want to contradict Wilf. "Right," she forced herself to lie. "Family."
"Well, good to know!" She smiled at Seeley. "Want to dance?"
"Sure," he agreed.
"I thought you'd be the one picking up randoms, not Seeley," Jacqueline said to Wilf at one point, when his nagging had finally annoyed her enough that she agreed to dance with him just to shut him up. She had a feeling that he was going to ask her what was wrong, or try to calm her down, or something, and she wasn't going to stand for any of that.
"I'm waiting for the band's set to end," Wilf said, grinning in the direction of the platform. Jacqueline rolled her eyes. "And Lina is nice."
"I thought we were all going to spend time together. Just us."
"You just asked why I wasn't picking up girls."
"Because you're more likely to do that than Seeley, not because I want you to."
"Well, he's the one who really needs to start looking, right?" Wilf pointed out.
Jacqueline frowned. "What?"
"Well, he's going to be the legacy heir."
Wilf had said that like it was a sure thing, like there wasn't even a question about it. Jacqueline's stomach lurched, but she forced herself to ignore it. "Did they make it official? Why didn't Seeley tell me?"
"No, but come on, it's obvious. Seeley's Anne's favorite, and he'll be a great heir, and he'll be the first Pleasure sim heir, and he'll be a werewolf."
Jacqueline hadn't thought about it like that before. She'd just always been so determined to be with Seeley that it had never occurred to her that maybe she couldn't, that maybe the legacy would take him away from her. But Wilf was right. Seeley really would be the best one for the job.
"So he's thinking about marrying in a store clerk?"
"Maybe? I dunno, he didn't say anything to me about marrying her. I just assumed."
Jacqueline felt marginally better until she realized that if Wilf was right. Even if Seeley didn't marry this girl he'd still have to marry someone. Someone other than Jacqueline.
"So, you're a sales clerk."
"Yeah. I've been there a long time."
"I bet." Jacqueline leaned forward, her smile as bright as it was insincere. "So tell me, does it feel weird to get involved with newly-teenified kids? I bet the age difference seems really strange. We must seem so young to you."
"No, not really-"
"Hey, Jacks, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" Seeley said through gritted teeth. She swallowed hard at the sight, but managed a casual agreement and followed him out of the club.
Once they were alone, he immediately demanded, "What the hell, Jacks?"
"What?"
"Don't act like you don't know. You're doing it on purpose."
"Doing what?"
"Trying to freak her out!"
"Look, Seeley, if she gets so freaked out by a few questions-"
"You're doing a lot more than that, and you know it!"
"Hey, guys, Lina said you were out here-" Wilf said as he rushed up to them, "What's going on?"
Neither of them paid him any attention. "You're being awful. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you? She's great, and you can't just-"
"I don't get what's so great about her, okay? So she's compatible with you. So what? You want to be with some girl who ditches her job just because a cute guy she doesn't even know--"
"She didn't ditch her job, it was the end of her shift! And you know what? She's really cool, and hot, and I like hanging out with her, and I want to get to know her better. You'd better not have ruined things with her for me-"
"Fine! Whatever! Spend all your time with some random girl, and just ignore me, and--I hope you two will be very happy together!"
"Fine."
"Fine!"
They stormed off in opposite directions, leaving Wilf to stare open-mouthed after them both, head swiveling from one direction to the next while he tried to figure out what to do. Finally he went after Seeley, yelling his name, leaving Jacqueline to trudge home alone.
"And now he hates me," she finished with a sob.
"Oh, Jacqueline, he doesn't hate you!" Nora protested.
"Yes, he does! You weren't there, Mom. You didn't see him. He's really mad, and he really likes her, and he doesn't... he doesn't like me."
"You're right, he doesn't like you," Nora said gently, and Jacqueline jolted in surprise. "He loves you, Jacqueline. Remember how hard he worked to get you to admit that he and Wilf were your best friends? And how happy he was when he succeeded?"
In spite of everything, that got a watery smile out of her. "Yeah, when I told Joanne that Seeley was the only one allowed to call me Jacks."
"You really think he'd work that hard, then give up on you after one argument?" Nora smiled reassuringly. "You both just need a little time to cool off, and then you'll make up and everything will go back to normal."
"Except he'll probably start going out with her," Jacqueline muttered.
"Maybe. But no matter what, you'll be fine. Everything will work out for the best. You'll see."
Jacqueline didn't share her mother's optimism, and she couldn't see how not being with Seeley could ever be for the best. But Nora's certainty made her feel better, somehow. "Thanks, Mom."
"You're welcome." Nora stood up and held out her hand to Jacqueline. "Now, I want to see your new formal dress."
"Really? It's not yellow."
"I bet I'll still love it." Nora linked arms with her as they headed inside. "And, you know, I did see this really pretty gold necklace while I was out shopping the other day. Maybe you could wear that with the dress. Gold and pink go together."
Jacqueline rolled her eyes, though not without affection. "Oh, Mom."
Notes & Credits