it could be worse

February 2081 - Joel Harris is 39, Aurora is 35, Zachary is 2. Last update, March 2079.

Maybe it's strange that Joel has been married to Aurora for eight years, and still never managed to make friends with her best friend? Maybe it's not strange though - Joel has never been the type to have many "guy buddies." He has a brother, and that's enough. He always preferred girl friends, lady friends, girlfriends. The thing is, he kind of had to get rid of those when he got married. Well, he didn't have to. She didn't ask him to, but he knew Aurora wasn't that kind of woman, and their marriage wouldn't be that kind of marriage, and it was something he was happy to do.

But Aurora didn't get rid of Blake. Joel would never have asked her to. He was like family to her, or so she claimed. Joel's girlfriends were nothing like family. But Blake is like family. He borrows money like a little brother. He leaves their toilet seat up. He even welcomes himself right into their bedroom to say goodbye at night.

Her best buddy, best buddy since college. Best buddy in the whole world, well, except for her husband, of course.

Joel is not the jealous type, not at all actually, but recent events have him wondering about things.

Joel says, "I can't believe I had to find out from freaking Blake that my sister had an affair!"

"Don't say it like that, he's our friend."

"He's your friend."

"He would be your friend too, if you would let him. And he and Sheldon are close, why wouldn't he know?"

"She's my sister, why shouldn't I know first?"

"You and Alana aren't really close," Aurora says. "She was probably ashamed, or something. It's not really the kind of thing a girl wants to admit to."

Joel looks at her funny, and in his mind he runs through a list of all the ex-boyfriends she might possibly be sleeping with. He didn't know any of her ex-boyfriends, actually, except for Blake.

Aurora says, "What?"

"Awww, Honey," Aurora says and she wraps her arms around him. "I don't even have any ex-boyfriends, you are all of my ex-boyfriends. You're the great torrid love affair of my life. We're off the charts, baby."

Joel is still skeptical though. Blake was something of an ex-boyfriend. Joel isn't really sure what he was, but he was something.

Mail man is thinking, Now this is a nice start to the day!

Contrary to what Aurora might have you believe, it is actually February, and that stone must be COLD underneath her bare feet!

Aurora has found such joy in finally being a mother. Zachary is two years old next month, and Aurora would gladly have another, but Joel is just as glad to keep their family the perfect size that it is. As hard as they tried to get Zachary in the first place, it's looking like Joel is going to win this debate by default. Maybe he's right. Maybe they are perfect just as they are.

Zachary even eats salad, look at that!

Joel has been working out hard all month, trying to skill up for his astronaut's proficiencies - it turns out, they don't let him fly the shuttle after all. But it's getting harder these days. He's almost forty! He doesn't even know how it happened! It feels like only days since he graduated college.

He wouldn't normally stay up so late after the intense training sessions he's been doing lately, but Blake has come over to help Aurora go through some of her story drafts. Aurora says to Joel, "You don't have to wait up for us, we might be a little while here."

Joel is SO tired, but he just can't bring himself to go upstairs.

So he gets up to put the leftovers in the fridge.

Maybe it's to do with his sister, or maybe it's because he's getting older, but he's feeling a little bit anxious about Blake still being around, well past midnight. What the hell? It's two in the morning and they're still talking about her stupid stories? He doesn't mean to say it like that. Her stories aren't stupid. He just feels a little stupid sometimes because they go over his head. The thing is, he's just too old for this and he has work in the morning.

But instead of heading up to bed, he catches himself hovering around, peeking into the living room.. are they still talking?

Yes, she's very pretty. Joel couldn't blame any man who might be attracted to her. Why wouldn't he be? She's beautiful even when she's getting a little touchy about her writing! And she is very touchy about her writing! Maybe it's best she doesn't have Joel critique her stories.

All the inside jokes, the secrets about people Joel doesn't even know...

Come on! Tickling!?! You know, they used to kiss a little in college? She finally let that slip a while back. You get that? Kiss a little? Who just kisses a little in college???

Ugh... can't... fall... asleep...! Joel fears if he closes his eyes one single second, they might eat each other alive!

He opens his eyes and runs into the room.

Maybe it was too sudden because his head feels light and he starts to see stars. "Oh, hi Honey, are you still up? You don't look so good. Do you feel okay? Joel?"

His knees buckle under him and they both help him to the couch before he falls.

They help him to the couch and Aurora sits quickly at his side, the doting wife that she is. "Maybe it's atmospheric?" she suggests. "You know, like when it's going to rain, all the pressure in his head or something?"

"Maybe," Blake says. "You better get some rest, Man." And with that, Blake finally heads home.

Aurora says, "Maybe you'd better see a doctor?"

Joel feels silly. This is so unlike him, really. He's not the jealous type at all. He sits up.

"I'm not sick," he says. "Listen, I know I don't always figure everything out, but you're not sleeping with him, are you?"

Aurora laughs, "Blake? No!"

She climbs onto her husband's lap and kisses him all over. Off the charts. He feels a little embarrassed, but at the same time, he's glad he finally asked.

It's been four years since Aurora published her first short story collection, but she's finally feeling quite confident about her second. Aurora's next collection of short stories will be about jealousy and mistrust and the crazy things we do when we're feeling insecure.

***

notes: Joel rolled the biggest fear random event this round. That could have been tragic, given what most Sims usually fear, but thankfully, Joel has always been a very simple-minded kind of guy, and his biggest fear was that he might pass out, lol! Lucky for his family, Joel doesn't worry about much ;)

And so there are new things to discover left in this game! She served Zachary baby food out of her salad dish! Wow, never seen that before...

In case you're curious, Aurora and Joel have a very strong three-bolts (157 ACR), but Aurora and Blake have a two-bolt/borderline three (86 ACR), so Joel's concerns maybe aren't that farfetched.

And finally, I love those pond neighborhood decorations that came with AL. They're so pretty! I landscaped Stoneview Court with a few of them, and you can kind of see it from some of the Harris family's back windows. And now I'm inclined to move all of my families out there, since it's all pretty with the ponds and the mountains and the distant view of the city. I do have at least one more family who'll be moving out there soon :)