Chapter 13: Because the Night

Taryn Dodger comes by the house to hang out with Darius. She makes it very clear she's interested in being more than friends.

Darius makes it clear that he's already taken.

"Eww, you're dating the bug girl? Why? She's so weird!" Taryn says, not caring that Autumn is right there in earshot.

"Because Autumn's the only girl in town worth being with," Darius answers angrily, his temper always riled by insults to Autumn, "I think you should leave now."

"I told you it would be like this," Autumn says sadly when Taryn leaves. "You know Taryn, she's going to spread a campaign of hate against you because you rejected her."

"Yeah, I've seen schoolwide campaigns of hatred before, Autumn, and I don't care."

"Being the school pariah isn't easy, you know," Autumn sighs.

"I know. But I have you, and that's all that matters."

"I wouldn't be able to get through my day if it weren't for you," Autumn says.

Roslyn comes by to visit Gibson while he's working in his community garden. It's the last time he sees her; later that dat his father calls him to tell him his mother passed away.

Roslyn is buried in the Green Gates cemetery.

Every time she sees her daughter and Darius together, Jasmin feels a pang of regret. That could have been her and Gibson, if she hadn't been so foolish and rejected him.

Meadow becomes a child.

Darius and Autumn do their homework outside the school on Friday afternoon. They aren't going home this evening; they're heading out to Howl for a date as soon as it opens.

"You are so over the top," Darius comments on her dress.

"Over the top? Is that bad?" Autumn asks.

Darius laughs, "It's perfect. It suits you."

Gibson has been experimenting with drink recipes, and invites Jasmin to try one with him.

"Where are the kids?" she asks. The house in unusually quiet.

"Meadow is upstairs, playing. Darius and Autumn went to Howl."

"Howl," Jasmin repeats, and then falls quiet. The word evokes the same memory for both of them, their first and only kiss, the moment that defined their lives, though they didn't realize it at the time. They down their drinks in silence. "Wow, that's good, Gibson," Jasmin finally breaks the silence, "Hot tub?"

"I'm sorry I turned you away that morning," Jasmin admits as they sink into the hot, bubbly water.

"You don't need to apologize," Gibson says.

"I'm not apologizing, really. I'm sorry for myself. I've spent my whole adult life looking for someone like you, when I could have just had you from the beginning."

This is news to Gibson, he had thought she was well over him since the day she rejected him, "It's not too late, Jas," he says, putting an arm around her, "I still love you. I've always loved you." It feels so good to finally say it.

Jasmin leads her head against his shoulder, then turns her head to meet him in a kiss.

The passion they've held back for years is finally released.

After making love in the hot tub, the couple moves to Gibson's bed for more, making up for years of holding back.

Darius and Autumn return from Howl before curfew to find the house strangely quiet. No one in the house over the age of childhood goes to bed before 1am, so it's unusual for the house to be so still at 11.

"Maybe they're outside?" Autumn suggests.

"I don't think so. Listen."

Autumn listens, and hears muffled giggling coming from Gibson's door. "Oh," she gasps, "Oh. You think they're..."

Darius nods.

"Do you think they've been doing that all along?"

"If they have, they've been good about hiding it," Darius says.

"I think I could have gone on without knowing about it," Autumn laughs, "I'm not going to be able to look at my mother with a straight face tomorrow."

"We're talking about people who go around the house in their underwear. I have a hard time looking at either of them most days," Darius laughs.

Left to entertain themselves, the young couple move out to the hot tub.

"The girls at school are actually jealous of me now because of you," Autumn tells him. "They still hate me, of course. But it's a lot better to be hated out of envy than to just being despised in general."

"They're jealous of you because you are so fabulous and awesome," Darius says, "They wish they had the courage to stand out from the rest of herd. They let their fears run their lives, and you, my love, are fearless and glorious."

It's not really true, Autumn thinks, she has plenty of fears, and has often wished she could just blend in with the herd and not stand out quite so much. But instead of objecting to his point of view, she just kisses him. Whatever the truth, he makes her feel good about herself.

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Challenge Notes:

So, yeah, I kind of am breaking the single with help rules. I was going to wait to finally get Jasmin and Gibson together until the heir was YA. But, it's like I had this balloon, I blew it up as far as it could take, and I was holding it, waiting to pop it. But air was starting to seep out, the balloon was losing pressure, and the more pressure was diminished, the less dramatic the pop was going to be. So, I popped it while it still had some air. It was a story vs. challenge decision, and I picked what was best for the story.

I do feel I stayed within the spirit of the rule even if I broke the letter. It was meant to keep that roll from becoming just another couple roll, and I succeeded in that. Both heir and help had all their children with other Sims, and technically they are still not a 'couple'. They've been 'romantic interests' since they were teens, and I used low level flirt interactions like 'amorous hug', 'hold hands', and 'flirt' and even a couple of 'shy kiss' through the relationship to maintain the sexual tension in the household, but they never got past the 'flirty' stage until this chapter. So now they've woohooed, but it doesn't change much in terms of the challenge. And in a few days the point will be moot when the new heir takes over.

All other generation requirements have been met. I'm really looking forward to being done with Living Green so I can buy new stuff.

Jasmin only has one guitar point to go to get her LTW.

Finally, I wanted to mention that this chapter title is named by a song by Patti Smith, Because the Night

All my chapter titles have been from song titles or lyrics, but I particularly wanted to link this one because it's such a great song, and really captures the mood of this chapter.