Lucas Carmondy Makes His Move

Lucas Carmondy and Star Crosby met in middle school and since then, have become the best of friends.  Star is a little odd, but next to Lucas, she’s completely normal which is probably why they get along so well.  Now in high school, they fend off it-group stares of disdain with their odd sense of humor and the ability to make anyone feel awkward just by looking at them.

They spent a lot of time hanging out and despite all that time, they had never really considered dating.  That is, until teenage hormones suddenly seized Lucas’ brain.  He started to see his best friend in a whole new light and was quite interested to find out if she felt the same way.

He tried to steer their conversations towards discussions of girls, boys, and people they might like.  Star always found a way to answer ambiguously and anytime he tried any sort of move, she found a subtle way to rebuff him without really addressing the issue.  It was frustrating, especially to a teenage boy new to this sort of thing.  Girls and game playing wasn’t really in his repertoire.

To make matters worse, the time they spent together had become tainted in Lucas’ mind.  He was too busy trying to figure out what every little gesture meant and if, perhaps, she was communicating with him in some unknown language of vacant stares and annoyed, raised eyebrows.  He couldn’t even focus on his homework, which, when he thought about it really wasn’t anything new.

Perhaps the worst thing to happen was when Julia realized what was going on.  He wasn’t sure how she’d seen it, but she had and she wasn’t going to let it go.  She never said anything to Star, but she said plenty Lucas.

She even went so far as to stalk him in the mornings.  Bleary-eyed and still very much asleep, Lucas stumbled out of his bed only to see Julia standing there.

“You like her, don’t you?”

Lucas groaned, “get out of my room, Julia!”

“It’s completely obvious.  She probably already knows.”

“I’m getting a lock for my door, I swear it,” he said, pushing his nosy little sister out the door.  “Stay out!”

Even after they got off the bus, she was still on it.  He was lucky enough to be older and in a different grade at school, he could avoid her, but at home?  There was nowhere to hide.

“Why don’t you just admit it?”

“Julia, seriously, just back off.”

She pouted, “I thought we were friends!  You can tell me…”

“I really, really don’t want to have this conversation with my little sister,” Lucas grumbled, turning and walking down the sidewalk.

“Hey!  Where are you going?”

Of course, she didn’t really need to ask.  He was going to Star’s.  She followed him there, making sure to keep a good distance.  By the time she arrived on the front lawn, he was already inside talking to Star.  She hunkered down near some bushes and waited.  It was pretty weird, to be stalking her own brother, but she was doing it for his own good.  Lucas was an odd one and he wasn’t exactly ’skilled with the ladies’.  Julia, being a girl herself, was certain she could help.

Unfortunately, her plan was foiled by the unexpected arrival of Star’s brother, Sebastian.  He caught her hiding behind the bushes and was quick to accost her.

“Is there a reason you’re casing my house?”

She blinked, completely caught by surprise, “um, I… I wasn’t… I mean…”

“Hey, wait a minute,” he squinted, leaning closer, looking at her face.  “You’re Lucas’ little sister, right?  Are you stalking your own brother?”

“N-No…” she said sheepishly.  “I was, uh, just admiring your nice house?”

“You’d make a terrible secret agent.  Remember that on career day,” Sebastian said, rolling his eyes.  “Do you want to come inside?  I don’t want the neighbors to call the police.”

“Um… that would be nice.  Thanks.”

They stepped inside and Julia was surprised to see no parents in sight.  Did they even have parents?  Were they orphans?  Julia’s train of thought was derailed by the sound of Sebastian’s voice calling out from behind her.

“Hey, Lucas, you lose something in the yard?”

Lucas turned, his incredulous face quickly turning to one of rage, “Julia!  Did you follow me?”

Before she could respond, Lucas was up and out of his chair.  He grabbed hold of her arm and drug her to the back patio, not sparing a word for either of the siblings.

“What’s wrong with you?” Lucas shouted angrily.  “Why can’t you just leave me be?  Do mom and dad even know you’re here?”

“N-No… I, I just wanted to help, that’s all…”

“Help?”  He sighed.  “All you’re doing is making things worse.  Come on, we’re going home.”

“But, Lucas–”

“Now.”

She pouted, allowing Lucas to drag her back out the front door.  Before they could exit entirely, Sebastian’s voice sounded from the living room.

“Later, spy kid.”

+++++

It took Lucas a significant amount of time to repair the damage that Julia had caused by her intrusion.  He was just moments away from telling Star how he felt before Sebastian threw his sister aka ‘the wrench’ into his plans.  It was another month before he got his second chance, calling Star on Saturday and telling her to meet him downtown.

She was a bit dubious when he led her to the cemetery by the river.  Star wasn’t nearly as adventurous as Lucas when it came to the dead.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see, just wait…”

He had taken great care to set up a little picnic for them in the midst of all the gravestones.  It was truly a strange gesture, but one that fit Lucas perfectly.  His childhood obsession with the graveyard had blossomed as he aged.  Whenever he felt the need to get away and be alone, he simply went to the graveyard.  Not even Julia would follow him there.

“So, you gonna tell me what this is about?  Why we’re in a graveyard at night, sitting on a picnic blanket?”

“You probably think I’m strange, bringing you here.”

She laughed, “really?  You think?  Actually, I’m not surprised at all.  You are you, after all…”

“I just… I wanted to talk…”

“Talk, are you sure?  That’s what this is all about… talking?”

He gave her a look, “what else would it be about?”

“And here I thought you brought me to the graveyard to make out, like all self-respecting high school boys!”

“W-what?”

“Don’t play dumb, Luc.  I’m not stupid.  I didn’t miss all the signs, I just wasn’t sure… I mean, I like us the way we are, as friends.  I don’t want it to get all screwed up by drama and hormones, you know?”

She stood up and brushed off her pants, looking at him expectantly, “well?”

“Well… what?”

“Are you going to kiss me?”

“But you just said…”

She sighed, “I’m a girl, Luc.  We never say what we mean!”

And so, it was in the graveyard that Lucas and Star kissed for the first time.

“You know Lucas isn’t in bed, right, mom?  He’s at the graveyard again,” Julia said, shaking her head.  “With Star.”

“He always goes to the graveyard and Star is his best friend.”

Julia gave an exasperated sigh, “don’t you even care?  He’s breaking curfew!”

“You need to stop tattling, Julia.  That’s not a very good quality to have,” Laurel said pointedly, quick to add: “And besides, Lucas is a good boy.  We trust him, as should you.”

Julia grumbled, pushing her chair out with considerable rage, “he’s a teenage boy!  There’s no such thing as trust!”

Unfortunately, perhaps Julia had the right sentiment in this case.  Lucas was an intelligent young man, but teenage hormones know no boundaries and they certainly don’t pay any heed to common sense.  Any free time Lucas had was spent with Star and the majority of the time, they weren’t talking.  It got to the point where he was almost always at her house, as her parents never seemed to be home, the perfect stage for a teenage romance.

He even dared to stay the night, his parents none-the-wiser.

“Mom, dad,” Julia called from the bottom of the stairs.  “Please tell me you’ve realized that Lucas didn’t come home last night!”

Brayden, in the midst of discussing the latest growth in their bank account–thanks to his revolutionary surgical method–was caught by surprise, “what?  But I thought you checked, Laurel?”

“I thought you checked,” she said, her jaw dropping as she realized neither of them had checked and their son, their teenage son, had spent the entire night at his teenage girlfriend’s house.  “Oh no.”

“I told you!”  Julia said, breezing past them and into the kitchen.  “If this were an exam, you’d both fail.”

“Julia, please,” they replied sternly and in perfect harmony.

“We’ll deal with this,” Laurel added, giving Brayden a look.  “Oh, ‘he’s just a boy, he’ll come to his senses’ my foot!”

“Oh, great, now it’s my fault.” Brayden grumbled, adding under his breath: “He is so dead.”

———————————-

This all spurred from gameplay.  I was just playing the Carmondy house as normal as could be and Lucas invited his friend Star over.  Ever since he met her, he’d had the wish to be Best Friends Forever with her… so I planned to invite her over and fulfill the wish.  Well, no sooner did she arrive that he spun up the wish to kiss her.  Out of nowhere.  They hadn’t even flirted before!  I love it when my sims give me direction and insight into what they want.  I had no intention of pairing them up at all.

Of course, now that they’re kissing buddies, he’s obsessed with her.  I’m just waiting for the ‘Go Steady’ wish to spin up.  I know it’s coming.  I get the feeling that Star isn’t nearly as serious about it.  It took some skill to get her to give in to Lucas’ romantic intentions.  At first, she rebuffed him at every turn and even felt ‘creeped out’ at one point!

Can’t wait to see where this goes.  I also didn’t even know she had a brother until Sebastian came out and talked to Julia, who was literally standing on the lawn.  Of course, Julia now wants to call him all the time… sigh.

I should also note I’m reworking the Family Bios page… it’s now simply the Directory.  Hopefully it’s a bit easier to navigate.