2.53 Just Apologise!

Haliya has been spending lots of time locked in her room or the bathroom lately. 

"Oh my niece is sooo cute, you have to meet her!" she gushes. 

"Ah, I have to go, I have to help clean up before the party. I'll see you there," she says sweetly. 

The guests arrive not long after Haliya finishes washing the dishes. 

She has a huge smile on her face when she sees Uriah here. 

"I listened to that CD you gave me. I'm still not sure why you didn't just send me a playlist," Haliya laughs. 

Uriah blushes. "I wanted to do something special for you...did you like it?" 

Haliya answers his question with a nervous peck. "It was great, really." 

Tulip watches this little scene with interest. Uriah is the son of her former boss, Markus Sterling. Sterling talked about his kids a lot back in the day. Tulip can't even begin to count how many times she's been to their house for dinner, especially now that she has two sons of her own. 

Interesting how connected everyone is here, she thinks to herself. Now that she's the captain of the precinct, she's spent more time in Appaloosa Plains, sending her subordinates to undercover missions in Bridgeport and other cities. More time at home has made her notice how close everyone in this small town is. She can't say she dislikes it. 

Enough brooding, it's time for presents! 

"What the hell are you doing in my house," Paolo seethes when he sees Rocky. 

"Your son-in-law invited me here! Get off my case," Rocky hisses back. 

"Quit bickering, you old bitches," Neal interjects himself into their conversation, "I can't hear who's being called for presents." 

The two men glower at each other, but keep their distance. 

First up is Haliya. 

She's...confused...at the present she got. A fishbowl? When has she ever gone fishing? She holds out hope for a better present. 

Tula, for some reason, waits for her presents upstairs. 

She still manages to come down on cue to get her gift. 

It's too bad they already have a chess table. Better luck next time, Tula.

"Ooooh, present from lover boy," William calls out when Haliya extracts her present from the pile. Uriah's name is printed on the label. 

"Tell us, what's inside it? More love songs?" William asks teasingly. Haliya's loser cousin guffaws at the joke.

Haliya blushes. She can't tell them he gave her mistletoe! 

"Must be something embarrrrrrassing." 

Haliya frowns, "It's a pencil case. Sorry to disappoint you." 

"A pencil case- of LOOOOOOOOOVE." 

"William, shut the f-" 

"Weeeelll, it's been a fun party. A blast, really," Greta takes the quickest opportunity to leave. 

"...what it's not like they're married or something, no need to take it so seriously!" William defends himself to his exasperated girlfriend. Greta sneaks along the back of the kitchen, wanting to get her coat before this gets any more dramatic.

"You're embarrassing her," Tula hisses through her teeth, "And me! And yourself! Just apologise!" 

"Apologise for her boyfriend being so cheap he just got her a pencil case?" 

Tula facepalms. "William!"

Haliya feels her cheeks burn. Everyone's staring... 

"William, just save yourself some trouble and just stop talking," Tula pleads. 

He sighs, rolls his eyes, but upon seeing Haliya's burning face he relents. "Kid, look, I'm...I'm really sorry. I just wanted to tease you. I...I guess I went too far." 

"It's fine," Haliya squeaks out. 

Greta looks over at Paolo once she's pulled on her coat. "Your family's a fucking mess. Call me for your next shin-dig, will ya?" 

Haliya, thinking that this embarrassment and shame will last forever, spends hours laying in bed and freaking out over Uriah's first impression of her family before she finally falls asleep. The only thing she feels thankful for is that no one else from school was there. She'd never live it down! 

Early the next morning, William is stewing in his own thoughts. Every joke he makes seems to go wrong. I should just never open my mouth again. Become humorless. 

He tries to channel his inner Vulcan. Emotions are a most illogical response to external stimuli...right?

He sighs deeply. 

Stewing isn't helping his angst. He turns to a tried and tested method for unwinding-exercising! 

"Here to make fun of me for being a dumb muscle-bound jerk?" William quips when Paolo joins him. 

"Oh no, yesterday was...well, embarrassing for you...but that's your own problem," Paolo huffs as he stretches. 

William presses his lips together, willing his annoyance away. He glances at Paolo. "...your form is pretty good." 

"I have been in the military for the past...oh, sixty years?" 

"I mean, I was impressed! You're so old!" 

"Gee, thanks." 

William covers his face with his hands. "Just ignore whatever I say. Please." 

Paolo smiles. "Already forgotten." 

Meanwhile, Haliya loiters around school after debate team. Lyle Pelly-Fox here was on the opposing side of their captaincy debate. Whoever won would be the captain for their last year of high school. Though Haliya was nervous about forgetting her points she still won fair and square. 

"Good debate, Winterly," Lyle says, shaking her hand roughly. Haliya, who is unprepared for the gesture, stands still while Lyle shakes her arm around like a wet noodle. 

"Oh it was fun...uh, Pelly...Fox..." Why doesn't he just use her first name like a normal person? 

"I'm a Pisces. Call me sometime, alright?" he tells her before dashing off to his part time job. 

Haliya scratches her head as she watches his retreating figure. Call him...about what? 

And why would I care about his sign? Does it explain something about his personality? What a weirdo... 

While Haliya takes her sweet time in walking home, Paolo and William take a break from working out and move on to one of Paolo's own passions- chess. 

William is internally grateful for all the chess games Tula's played with him since he moved here. Something about keeping his mind "sharp" or whatever nonsense. His superiors in Bridgeport were similar. Simnation's metric for the logic skill is pretty weird. 

Unfortunately, William can't think of anything they have in common. They both like to exercise... and that's about it. 

Still, he wants to make an effort. "What's the military exercise regime like?" 

"Strict." 

Damn, he's not giving me anything to work with. "Paolo-er, Mr. Winterly?- is there a reason why you don't like me? Besides the..." 

"Constant embarrassment?" 

"...yeah." 

"Hmph. To tell you the truth, I'm not so sure myself. Something about you just bugs me. I thought about it. Apart of it might be that you bring up a lot of ghosts from my past. Not the vampirism, or the cop thing. I, uh, made my peace with that. With Tulip I mean." 

William's brow furrows. "So...?"

"I see you trying so hard with Yana...you quit your job and moved here...I respect you." 

"So you're mad at me because...you respect me?" 

Paolo sighs. "No, you just...you did everything I should have. When Tula's mother died. I should have been there for her. Getting to this point, to my age I mean, I've had so much time to think...consider my regrets..." it's true. Time makes many people introspective. 

William rubs the back of his neck, suddenly uncomfortable. What do people say in these situations? "Oh. It's...hard to look at your own flaws. To admit that you're wrong. I'm sorry, I'm not good with this sappy stuff." 

Paolo looks up at him, finally, and smiles warmly. "You could have fooled me." 

Haliya finally makes it home. Tula is quick to pull her to the dining table to do her homework. 

For the first fifteen minutes, they're both silent. 

"Tula," Haliya finally breaks the silence, "I have to write this essay for simlish. It's a letter we're supposed to write to our future selves. Did you have this assignment in high school?" 

Tula shakes her head, "They must have changed the curriculum. It has been a long time since I was in school." 

"Well...I was wondering. What would you have told your past self, like from now to yourself when you were my age?" 

"Um...don't tell Yana, but to use better protection," Tula jokes. "I love her, but I would have had her a bit later." Haliya laughs, then furrows her brow. "Well, I can't exactly write 'hey future self, please don't get knocked up' in something my simlish teacher will read." 

Tula nods. "Hm...I can't say I have many regrets. But maybe I would have come home earlier? 10 years was a very long time. I missed so much of your childhood. Sometimes...it's like we only have each other, you know?" 

Haliya smiles bashfully, trying to hide how happy that makes her. "Hm...OK, so I can write down here 'don't forget about your family'. What else?" 

"I'm not going to write this for you, Haliya." 

Haliya pouts a little, but taps her pencil thoughtfully on her chin. 

• don't forget about family
• get more organised

She thinks for a third item to round off her essay. After some thought, she adds "don't give up on love." 

Satisfied, she begins to write an outline. 

William looks over at the sisters and shakes his head. "I am so glad I'm not in school anymore. I was always terrible at expressing myself. In writing and...otherwise." 

"Just when I was starting to like you," Paolo rolls his eyes. 

They both laugh. 

Haliya writes well into the night. Tula gets herself another snack. Seeing that her father and William are done with their strange bonding ritual and out of the room, Tula leans over to squeeze Haliya's hand. 

"I want you to know Haliya... even though people keep letting you down..." 

"I will always be here for you. As your sister, I'm one of the only people who can promise you that." 

Haliya looks up at her sister, surprised. 

"Thank you. You've helped me improve a lot..." 

"Just what sisters do." 

***

The next day Haliya is home straight from school. She has a few hours before she promised to do her homework, so she spends the time getting ready for her date with Uriah later. 

On her way to the fridge to get a snack, Haliya gets distracted by her niece. 

"Aww, someone looks tired," she tickles Yana's belly. 

"Noooo," Yana says through a yawn, "No sleep!" 

"Welll, your momma's not here so I say you do sleep!"

Tula isn't home because she got some weird opportunity to sell fish to the supermarket. With it being the middle of winter, the only place she can go to for fish is the beach. With her low fishing skill it takes her so long to catch anything. 

Homewor time rolls around. Paolo sits down with her to help her through science and math. 

"Ugh I forgot to eat. Can I pleaaase take a break?" Haliya's stomach grumbles loudly. 

Paolo peers at her homework. "I'll take a look while you eat," he allows. 

It takes about twenty minutes to get Haliya back on track afterwards. It was eating first, then adjusting her makeup because the food smudged her lip gloss, then spritzing on more perfume... but Paolo finally wrangles her back to the table to take her through her homework corrections. 

Haliya's next homework boss fight challenge to her attention span is William. 

"Why the hell do you have so much homework? It's like every time I see you, you're always knee-deep in some assignment," William voices my annoyances with writing teen sims. 

No answer. Haliya has zeroed in on her homework, taking herself through an exhausting set of calculations. 

"Do they ever let you outside, get some fresh air and exercise?" William continues to test her patience. 

"Or do they only let you out to see... lover boy?" William uses his secret weapon. 

"Can't you see that I'm trying to do my assignments? I have problems focusing...please don't make it worse," Haliya pleads. Paolo sits silently. 

William cringes. Right. ADHD. He forgot. 

He starts talking to Paolo about some article he read about endangered jellyfish. 

"Talking to someone next to me is still disruptive," Haliya sighs. 

That finally gets William to be quiet, but at the cost of her focus. Where was she again? 

The next day, Tula spends the morning with Yana. 

"Oh my little girl is growing up so fast..." 

"Is that how mothers sound?" she asks her daughter rhetorically, "Hm...it's hard to get right. Let's try again..." 

In the afternoon, Tula leaves for a tutoring gig, leaving William at home with their daughter. Paolo is out watching Haliya get awarded for her work on the debate team. He's so proud! 

It stings a little when Haliya makes a beeline for her mother right after, but he can't really blame her. She sees Sun far less often than she sees him. 

Haliya, eager for a chance to connect with her mother, asks her about her gardening. 

"Oh it's going great. Terrence has such a large backyard, I've planted lots of non-carnivorous, safe plants back there." Her short stint taking care of cow-plants at the science lab has stuck with her for a surprisingly long time. 

Tula returns about 20 simoleons richer from her tutoring session a few hours later. She and William give each other pointers on their lower-level skills. 

"Twenty jumping jacks, let's go," William says firmly when he sits down. 

"You," huff, "Have to," huff, "move your knight out of the way," huff, "so your bishop can go to B5." 

It takes William a second to remember the positions on the chess board. Why can't they just label the grid by default? He glances up at Tula. "Come on, raise your arms higher. No slacking." 

Tula glares at him. The action causes her to lose her footing and wobble dangerously close to the chess pieces. 

William smirks, Tula pouts. "Not a word." 

Paolo is sucked into a very long conversation with this papparazzi guy. He's peppered with questions about astronauts, his sisters, everything. He's too polite to tell this guy to buzz off, but not so polite that he doesn't start answering with one-word replies. 

"Oh, you do seem to be much better rested," Sun remarks. "You have to be careful though. Your grades might slip. Don't relax too hard." 

Haliya's smile falters. She's been working so hard, but it's still not enough? Why? 

She hugs her mother, using the opportunity to conceal her face and try and compose herself. 

At her mother's insistence, she begins doing her homework right away. 

"That's good sweetie. Don't make any mistakes." 

Behind her, her classmate Corrine Bedlington-Blanco looks up in confusion. She didn't realise Haliya's mom was so overbearing. Poor kid. 

Back at home, Yana crawls into bed.

Her first day of school is tomorrow. 

-----------------

AN: Also titled "sentimental overload" hahaha. I hope this chapter doesn't come off as...overly sappy, or something. I should probably stop doing this "verbal emotional dumping" I keep having my characters doing. But the story is moving along slowly enough as it is /excuses. 

Yana is a teen in my game now, so I'm trying hard to catch up to where I am in game. Her traits as a child are: 

-Good

-Loner

-Shy 

Haliya is very close to being YA. I swear. I keep thinking that every chapter I write will finally be the one where she'll take over as heir but no. I took way too many pictures. A note about Sun, I got that weird aging glitch again, where instead of becoming an elder she just got turned into a grey-haired adult vanilla sim. I had to replace her in CAS with a younger version of herself and then age her to an elder in there. I hope she will pass away normally, I don't like killing off my sims :/ I still feel bad about Krista. 

Uriah Sterling up there is Haliya's boyfriend! His traits are: 

-Good

-Neurotic

-Coward

-Angler 

I won't lie, I was really hoping he and Haliya would get involved. The game was not cooperating with me, though. She never met him at school and despite living right across the street from the Winterlys, his family never seemed to be home. But finally at one of the school dances the game put them together as love interests. It's so nice when the game cooperates with me!