9.2 Part One: Art Supplies and Xavier

 

 "Are you sure you're okay by yourself?" She asked, concern filling her eyes.

   "Yeah, course. I'm not a little kid."

   "I know… I'd stay longer if I could, but schools starting and I don't have any vacation time left." Delilah, who worked as an elementary school art teacher, had taken the last week off. Original she'd meant to go to the Virgin Islands and stay the full week with dad, but since that hadn't exactly worked out, she'd spent the week showing me around Los Angelus. I'd seen all the sites, been to the beach, Disneyland,  all the tourist-y attractions Delilah could name, we'd gone to.

   "Andy and I will be fine, won't we?" I asked he toddler, who was still adapting to his new surroundings.

   "Yeah, yeah, Deli, we good."

   "Okay then…" She sighed, turning to walk down the stairs, towards our front door.

   Delilah Alice Rosewood-Janes lived in a two story apartment that use to be the city's fire department and now was home to four lovely two bedroom, one bathroom apartments, because of course she loved the hipster vibe it sent of. We had to use what use to be Delilah's sculpting area for Anderson bedroom. She was not an organized tidy person; the home wasn't dirty, she just this peculiar decor style that made it look like she didn't have enough space for everything she collected. Her bedroom. Despite belonging to a thirty year old, looked like it was property of someone a decade younger, she was stuck in this perpetual state of early-twenties mentality, a bit like sitcom characters were.

   "Whatcha wanna do?" I asked Anderson.

   "Pahk, pahk!" He exclaimed. He always wanted to go to the park.

   "Not today, we went yesterday."

   "Moo-e-um."

   "The LA Children's Museum isn't open today."

   "Boo boo, Fee-Fee."

   "I know." I sighed. "Boo boo, Fee-Fee. She's trying, though."

   "I tired."

   "Okay." I picked him up. "Nappy time?"

   "Yeah, yeah." I walked over to his bedroom and gently placed him in the crib. I kissed the top of his head. "Nappy time, brother!" I turned my iPod on, picking the baby's quiet time playlist, and placed it on the changing table. 

   "Bye, bye, Fee-Fee." He yawned, closing his eyes.

   I exited his bedroom quietly, not sure what I was going to do. A few months ago I was focused on getting good grades and drawing classrooms from school, friends' bedrooms, or even my own, only in the drawings the decor was much more modern and lavish. Ever since I was a young child I loved decorating rooms; the home I was renting in Isla Paradiso was rather small compared to what I was use to, however it was my own, and I got to decorate how I wanted to, so it was wonderful. I loved having that sense of pride about my decor choices... If only my budget was larger.

   I loaded the dishwasher with the breakfast utensils and plates, then wandered downstairs. I could paint a bit, maybe design and decorate another room, but I didn't have any canvases or sketch paper or charcoal pencils or oil paints. Delilah probably had some is a hidden crevices of the apartment, she did have an easel- it would seem rather silly to not have the proper supplies you need in order to use it. If I were to go to the art store, I'd need to change; I was wearing a raggedy pair of sweatpants, Delilah's purple, shrunken t-shirt, old flip flops, I hadn't bothered applying makeup, and my hair was a failed messy top knot catastrophe- I was far from presentable.

   The couch looked enticing, so I plopped myself down upon it and picked up the remote. I turned on the television, flipping through the channels. Nothing was on, except for cruddy reality shows, soap operas, and infomercials. Daytime TV sucks. I needed to find myself a hobby, ASAP; defiantly start interior decorating my drawings again. I landed on a random channel, sighing. Maybe I would take a nap… Anderson started crying at two am because he thought he say a monster and refused to go back into his room until it was bright and sunny at eight. I was about to close my eyes, when someone knocked, an ear splitting knock, on the door.

   "I wonder who it is." I mumbled, glancing down at my clothes. Hopefully nobody important. It was probably Delilah, who forgot her bicycle helmet. I stood up, carefully opening the door.

   "Hey, Delilah, I- uh. Hello?" A carrot haired man smiled, pausing when he realized I was not the violet haired Delilah.

   "Hi, I'm Phoebe Janes, I'm Del-"

   "You're the step-kid, huh? The one who the meet up tonight is for?"

   "Yeah. Step-kid… It's so weird, we just kinda seem like friends, ya know? And, uh, what meet up?"

   "Crap! I think it was suppose to be a secret surprise thing."

   "Well, the secret's out now… might as well tell me." I smiled, looking up at him with large eyes. I probably didn't look very convincing, considering my current state, but it didn't hurt to try.

   "Basically, Delilah arranged for all her close friends, me, Carly, Beth, GiGi, Hannah, Zachary, to meet up at her favorite club for drinks and dancing and she was planning on introducing you to us."

   "Drinks? Dancing?" I asked. I didn't have a ton, or any, experience with parties and group outings; I was fairly certain that clubs weren't my scene, especially with Delilah's six closet friends. 

   "Obviously nothing alcoholic for you, but yep. When she tells you, act surprise, okay?"

   "Yeah, sure. Thanks for telling me… I dunno if I'll go."

   "Oh, c'mon, Phoebe. Delilah planned the whole thing for you, people took off work, hired babysitters, might as well show up. Hey, you might even have fun in your first LA club."

   "I… okay. But only because I don't want Delilah to think I'm taking advantage of her and don't appreciate her efforts."

   "See? That's the spirit. Now, I came by to drop off this book, anyways she said she needed it returned yesterday, but when I stopped by she wasn't here."

   "Yeah, she was out of the country... Right now she's at work, but I can give it to her, tell her that… what's your name? I don't think you ever introduced yourself."

   "Oh, I didn't? I'm sorry, how rude. I'm Xavier Tenant." He smiled, sticking out his hand, which I gladly shook. 

   "Nice to meet you."

   "Likewise. Well, I don't want to keep you from doing whatever you're doing."

   "Yeah, I-"

   "Harder! Harder, oh baby, I'm about to c-" The actress on television exclaimed, as the image of two very naked, very attractive people, the female was entangled with the male; this was not the channel I meant to land on, nor was it appropriate at nine-twenty-four in the morning.

   "Oh my gosh! I didn't, I wasn't watching, I picked a random, don't-" I scrambled for the remote, turning to a hopefully more appropriate station.

   "Don't worry." He smirked as my cheeks turned crimson. "Well, I should let you get back to your porn."

   "What?! No, I, I wasn't-"

  "I'm teasing, sorry. That happens to all of us at one time or another,"

   "Really?"

   "Nope, just you. I was trying to comfort you… did it work?"

   "Up until you said that, sorta."

   "Ah, well, dammit. Someone, Delilah actually, told me ever since the satanist vet name Verona incident, I've lost my dashing charm the lovely ladies love and am now I've just got my wits and quirky, awkward paleness. Figured I'd test her hypothesis on you; apparently it's true, I have lost my way with the ladies."

   "I-I, uh, but I'm not lovely." My blush deepened and not because of the television. Xavier was… he was interesting, he was one of Delilah's friends, so he had to be at least a decade older than me, but still he had this peculiar honesty and boyish smile that created an attractive mix of misguided humor and approachable charm. Still; I shouldn't be blushing over the first man who ever bothered complimenting me, besides it wasn't even me he was complimenting, he was just being polite so he could test what Delilah said.

   "Ridiculous." He smiled. "That's ridiculous." He paused for a moment as I looked up into his dark, greenish bluesy eyes. "Here's your book, honestly, I shouldn't be keeping you any longer than needed. Thanks for giving it to her."

   "You're, um, you're welcome. Bye." I took the book and turned, glancing at the cover. Artistic Expression: What Picasso's Color Schemes Really Meant. It was an art book; maybe, maybe he was an artist. Maybe he knew of a decent art store where I could buy a sketch pad and pencils. "Wait!" I exclaimed, throwing open my door. "Er, uh, may I ask you a question?"

   "Sure." He smiled, turning away from the elevator he was waiting on. 

   "Do you know where a good art supply shop is? I saw the book and thought maybe, you know. You were an artist or something."

   "I'm not, but I do."

   "Great, I'll get a pen, if you could please write down the address, that woul-"

   "I could take you there, if you wanted. I don't go into work until an hour from now, anyways."

   "Thanks, but I've got to watch my brother, Anderson. He's three."

   "Oh, yeah. I think Delilah mentioned a kid or something. Delilah and toddlers; ha, never thought that would happen!"

   "Is she anti-kid?"

   "She loves kids, but not the idea of motherhood. I think she feels guilty about her parents' divorce, like she thinks she caused it, but whatever." He shrugged. "You know, you can hire a sitter. Hannah and her husband's for their two month old's pretty good, plus she doesn't need any notice."

   "But, I look like a mess."

   "Nah. Besides, everyone's at work; nobody would see you."

   "Okay... Will you call the sitter?"

   "Yes, m'lady." A few short minutes later, I had lectured the sitter on how to properly care for Anderson, than Xavier and I were standing awkwardly in the elevator together. 

   "So, uh, how did you meet Delilah?" I failed at small talk; I didn't care about the weather or sports and I wasn't up to date on American politics, that was the only relevant question I could think of.

   "College, grad school. See, her and I, as well as our five other friends, who you will meet tonight, all have master's in education."

   "Oh, cool. So, you're a teacher?"

   "Nah. My parents really wanted me to be, so I humored them and got the master's, but my two bachelor's are in computer science and accounting. I wanted to be an accountant; how lame of a teenager was I?"

   "I don't think it's lame… so whatcha do?"

   "I work for a company that teaches other companies how to use financial software. It's not what I want, but it's something." He shrugged. "So, what do you want to do?"

  "Interior decorating, but after my parents... After the thing happened, my plans changed I dunno. I don't want to leave Anderson, but I want to do something. I guess right now I'm content decorating rooms on a sketch pad."

   "Hey, you don't have to know what you wanna do. I'm twenty-nine and I'm not sure if I should suck it up and take the benefits my current job has or melodramatically quit and hope someone's in desperate need of an accountant and will also pay me what I'm currently making, if not more."

   "I'll keep that in mind." I smiled. "Thanks for taking me."

   "Oh, now problem." The elevator dinged open and we stepped out, into the lobby, than out into the street. He hailed a cab, then we were off, off to the art store.

SIM'S RELATED NOTE: So Phoebe is in LA now- wow! I moved her to a CC world, because I don't like the Showtime world, whatever it is named, and no, they aren't in Angel City or Las Anegios, gorgeous player made worlds, they were too much for my computer to handle. Instead I'm playing in Evansdale County by the lovely folks over at My Sims Realty, you can download the wonderful world here- trust me, it's a nice sized world that even moderately adequate computers like mine can handle. However the fire station is not by MSR, I remodeled the it myself, so if you want me to upload it (it has CC), just tell me and I will. 

MY ACTUAL LIFE RELATED NOTE: I wrote chapter 8.16 to here on a road trip my parents insisted I go on, because family time. The trip was fun, we climbed a mountain, than ate ravioli from Trader Joe's. I got the leftovers and am currently eating lemon ravioli and also truffle ravioli, dipped in garlic hummus. It is an interesting, but good, IMHO, combonation. Also, if you haven't tried cookie butter, you need to! It's delicious and I should stop typing before this Sims legacy blog turns into a food blog. Oh! Oh! And, I had fall break this week, yay, but school begin's Monday, so updates may be more scattered. I dunno. Anyways, I appreciate you reading.