Gen 5 Ch 5: One More Grey Day

The first few days without Steve were tough.

Waking up alone...

... eating meals alone...

... and putting on that ridiculous Sing-A-Gram uniform every day again.

One day blurred into the next as Evelyn raced from one end of the city to the other, always chasing that next job or audition.

Sing-A-Grams weren't the most satisfying work for an aspiring singer, but they paid the bills.

Plus, Evelyn felt she was getting a little better at them every time!

As she got used to her new routine, she began finding joy in her daily tasks again.

The local gym had recently added a small dance studio and Evelyn practiced some of the ballet moves she remembered from her childhood.

A celebrity agent had even shown interest in her lately and had asked her to work out to improve her image.

At the agent's insistence, she gave up her recent habit of spending nights home alone and eating leftovers in favor of going clubbing again.

It felt good to go out on the town just for fun. Slowly, Evelyn began feeling like her old self again. The town was still brimming with eligible bachelors, but just now, Evelyn thought it was best to fully shift her focus to her career.

"Hey, girl! I haven't seen you in ages," Karen greeted Evelyn when they met up at a local watering hole one evening. "So glad you could make it!"

"Me too! It's been too long, Karen!"

"You have to meet my new boyfriend! Remember Addison Batez? The guy from that night in the hot tub? Yeah, we actually hit it off," Karen grinned sheepishly. Obviously this wasn't the kind of guy she'd normally see herself with, but she looked very happy nonetheless.

"He's playing here with his band tonight," she explained. "To be honest, they're not very good. I just thought I'd be supportive, you know?"

After ordering some drinks and food, they sat down to watch the show.

Karen hadn't been lying - the band really wasn't very good, but Addison seemed like a nice guy. Evelyn hoped that Karen would have more luck with her romance than she herself had had.

Focusing on her career had finally yielded the desired results - one of Evelyn's many auditions with local proprietors had been successful, and she was granted the chance to perform at Verde Park.

Being on stage felt even better than she had always imagined!

She finally got to perform some of her own compositions, instead having to stick to the cheesy Sing-A-Gram lyrics.

One More Grey Day, a song she had written dealing with and overcoming recent events in her life, got a great response.

Well, there wasn't much of a crowd, but the few sims that were there cheered enthusiastically.

Things were looking up - there was a short but positive review of her performance in the local newspaper. This should help her land some more gigs!
 

Life wasn't all glamorous though.

Another day, another gig. By now, it was almost every day of the week that she was booked at one venue or another.

She even had created her first album!

If it hadn't been for the fact that she had to sell them to people herself, she would have felt like a real star.

Evelyn loved visiting her older siblings and her nieces and nephews. Rashida and Quiana secretly were her favorites though.

Rashida had recently been diagnosed with a genetic mutation that caused her hair to be a generic blonde instead of something that actually ran in the family. The doctors said it was fairly common and that there was no known cause or cure. But her hair color aside, she was as healthy as her twin sister.

Focusing all her attention on her career had done Evelyn good, but breathing in that baby scent reminded her of other aspirations for her life. It had taken a while for her to understand it, but Steve had been right.

That's why there were absolutely no hard feelings between them when they met backstage at MN8 one night.

He was as gracious and kind as ever, congratulating her on her recent successes.

"You're a brilliant young woman, Evelyn, and you deserve to get all that you wish for. I'm sorry I couldn't be the one to give that to you."

Relaxing in the bathtub was Evelyn's favorite way of coming up with new songs. Sometimes she recalled the old French chanson that a boy from Champs Les Sims had taught her during her childhood in Hidden Springs.

She wondered if she could rewrite it to be fit for a stage performance once day.

A last glance in the mirror, and she was off to yet another gig and a night of partying.

She always put all her heart into the performance.

Even if there was no one there to see them!

After a while, Evelyn started dating again.

It was never anything serious though, just some casual fun to shake up the routine.

Most of her performances had become steady gigs, which were always attended by a flock of cheering fans. They even took to throwing gifts at her on stage!

On this particular day though, one of them went a little far.

He left before Evelyn could even register what was happening.

Sure, she wanted kids, but not that way!

The crowd loved it though.





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Notes:
I wish I would have edited all those Bridgeport night clubs to fit in better with Starlight Shores. It really bothers me now :/ But at the time, I just wanted to play, not build.

Evelyn has the Partier requirement btw, but because I don't want to deal with throwing parties in an apartment, I usually make them destination parties at one of the venues. They definitely happen more than once a week though - she's a real party girl!

I'm not normally into pop, but I love the Showtime songs so much. So of course, another chapter title. I want to see if I can use all of the song titles somehow :D It's a bit of a stretch already though :/