Gen 9 Ch 5: Amicable

Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity to Icarus, Amy had graduated from fashion school in Parisim and returned to Appaloosa Plains. He was more than ready for things to go back to normal, back to how they had been before. Right now Amy was upstairs, giving Jodie a makeover with the new skills she’d picked up. Icarus sat downstairs, listening to their muffled voices and smiling contentedly. He did not yet anticipate the disappointment he was in for.

„What do you mean, 'move'?“

„I mean move to Parisim, all of us,“ Amy explained again, exasperated. „There is no way I can work in haute couture in this backwater town; I have to be where the other designers are, where the shows are happening. And it‘s not like you have a career keeping you here, so…“

„There‘s more to life than careers.“

„Icarus. Please.“

„Amy, you‘re not making sense. Julius just started high school. We can‘t just leave and uproot the children—„

„The children will love it! The schools here don‘t even compare to those in Parisim.“

„None of us even speak the language—„

„So you‘ll expand your horizons! Seeing the world is good for children, Icarus.“

„Don‘t pretend you‘re doing this for the good of the children. This is all about what you want to do.“

At this, Amy looked hurt.

Icarus felt a pang of guilt. It was easy to claim the moral high ground, but if he was honest, his motivations were just as selfish as hers. He could not imagine starting a new life so far from his family and friends. 

„What about your horses,“ Icarus hedged. He was grasping at straws now.

„I sold them,“ Amy said blankly.

„You what?!“ Suddenly, Icarus was furious. He had always been slow to anger, but thinking about the months he‘d spent slaving away, getting up early to care for Amy‘s horses—just for her to discard them like this? It was like a slap in the face.

„I‘ll miss them too,“ Amy said in response to Icarus‘ outraged face, „But they‘re going to a good home.“

„That‘s not the point. Amy, please, just think about what you’re doing here. You‘re throwing away everything we built together.“

„We can build something new.“

„I don‘t want something new. I like what we have.“

„Icarus, I…I can‘t. I can‘t spent my life stuck in this place. I can‘t stay, not after I‘ve seen what life could be like, out there in the world. I love you and our children and I want you all with me. But I‘m withering here, Icarus.“ She looked deflated. „If you won‘t come with me, I have to do this by myself.“

They had come to an impasse.

 

*

Icarus went to his cousin Ivy for advice—he wasn‘t sure why he‘d ever thought that was a good idea, but he supposed he was desperate.

„Should‘ve known you were never going to be good enough for her,“ Ivy sneered, „Little Icky was just a passing fad for our Princess Amy.“

Icarus protested feebly, „She wants me and the kids to come with her.“

„Oh? Well, in that case, run after her! Leave everyone and everything you know behind and go to Parisim,“ Ivy gave a derisive snort. „And maybe once Amy gets bored of fashion design, you can follow her to Shang Simla or Al Simhara or whatever else strikes her fancy next. I‘m sure your kids will end up super well adjusted.“ At this point Ivy‘s words were punctuated by one of her own children screaming in the next room, somewhat lessening the impact. But Ivy continued unperturbed. „If you‘re lucky, Amy won‘t grow bored of you.“

Huxley and Idris were more measured in their advice.

„My own mom dragged me from Starlight Shores to this shithole of a town when I was a teen,“ Huxley remembered. „I resented her for that for a long while. School sucked, I didn‘t fit in. Everyone hated me and I hated everyone. But eventually, I made a life here.“ She paused as a slow smile formed on her face. „Sims can adjust to anything, I suppose. And I admit, I‘ve kind of grown fond of this place.“

Idris, who had just recently graduated Sim State with a fine arts degree, had stopped by for a visit before heading off to Bridgeport, where the art scene was eagerly awaiting his contributions. „It‘s exciting to think about starting fresh somewhere new,“ he confided. „You could just be somewhere different, or you could be someone different.“  

Icarus thought long and hard about everything. What Amy was proposing wasn’t too outrageous. The children would adjust eventually, maybe even flourish. Amy could pursue her passion and Icarus could start a new life…

But he didn‘t want a new life.

No matter which way Icarus looked at it, he liked the life he had here. His relationship with his mother had been bumpy, but she had been making an effort and Icarus couldn‘t imagine leaving her and his father behind. Not to mention his aunt, his cousins, and maybe most of all, his best friend Ralph. Icarus had never actively thought about it, but Ralph had been a constant in his life since childhood. A life without spontaneous meetups with Ralph was simply unimaginable.

 

As much as Icarus and Amy tried to shield their children, they couldn‘t keep their problems secret forever. Once the divorce was finalized, their children dealt with things in their own ways.

Jodie immersed herself in her imaginary worlds of excitement and adventure, while Julius became increasingly irritable, even for a teenager.

*

Julius had just wanted to buy a quick snack at the grocery store before heading home, but of course even that small pleasure was denied him. He had been doing his best to avoid David Lambert in the school hallways, but there he was now, in the flesh: Julius‘ childhood tormentor and bully, wearing an apron and mopping the floor in front of the cash register.

Julius quickly ducked into an aisle and furtively watched David, who was evidently just finishing up a shift of his part-time job. After he was done mopping—having done an expectedly sloppy job—he took off his apron, tossed it behind the counter and called to someone in the back. The man in the back, presumably his boss, replied and David turned to leave.

Julius retreated further into the aisle, still keeping an eye on David, when he saw it: David glanced back over his shoulder, then quickly grabbed something off a shelf and slipped it into his pocket.

As he watched David saunter toward the exit, Julius made a split-second decision.

 

„Hey!“

David, halfway through the door, turned around. The look of surprise on his face was quickly replaced by annoyance when he saw Julius. „What,“ He snapped.

„Aren’t you going to pay for that?“ Julius cringed at how his voice cracked just at the wrong moment. He sounded childish rather than intimidating and whatever courageous impulse he had felt moments before quickly deserted him.

„Mind your own business, Drooly-Ass,“ David mumbled and turned to leave again.

Drooly-Ass. The ill-conceived pun on Julius‘ name that David had thought up when they were children. Uttering it now was David‘s mistake. Julius felt the old anger rise, and with it his courage returned. With a few forceful strides, he followed David outside the store and grabbed his shoulder from behind.

David whipped around. Before Julius knew what was happening, a fist hit his face.

Julius reeled, but didn‘t fall. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears and his cheek vaguely tingled, but fueled by adrenaline, he felt no pain yet. He sprang at David, who easily sidestepped the clumsy attack. More to keep himself from falling than as a tactical move, Julius grabbed onto the bottom of David‘s shirt. 

„Get off of me,“ David grunted and tried to push him down, but Julius was tenacious. Soon the two boys went down, grappling on the sidewalk.

Julius flailed ineffectually, while David‘s moves were much more precise. David quickly overpowered Julius. He had Julius pinned down with one hand, while delivering punch after punch with the other. Julius struggled with all he had, but he was no match for David, who held him down with apparent ease. It was hopeless. Julius felt the strength leave his body, as tears of frustration welled up.

A crowd had gathered, but neither of the two boys even heard the cacophony of panicked voices until a siren cut through them. Suddenly David was pulled off of Julius, who still lay panting on the rough concrete. His whole body was throbbing with pain. 

As several pairs of arms helped him up, Julius caught a glimpse of David, handcuffed, being maneuvered into the back of a police car by an officer.

When the officer returned, standing tall in his immaculate uniform, Julius feared that now it was his turn to get handcuffed.

„Don‘t worry kid, it‘s pretty obvious you were the victim here,“ the police officer assured Julius. In an awkward gesture that was probably meant to be fatherly, the officer patted Julius‘ scrawny shoulder. Julius winced in pain. The officer gave a pitying smile. „Guess it wouldn‘t hurt you to toughen up a little there, buddy,“ He gave a nod and then headed back to his cruiser, off to take David to the station.

*

 

„And then the owner of the grocery store said he‘d already given David a warning for stealing once and that he was going to fire him!“ Back home, after his father had tended his wounds and made sure he had a belly full of ice cream, Julius recounted the story to his sister.

„Why did he steal from the grocery store,“ Jodie asked, „Was he hungry?“

„You‘re missing the point!“

„My friend Rachel said that you cried.“

„Then Rachel is a stupid liar!“

Jodie shrugged. „She heard it from Lesley who heard it from her cousin, who heard it from—„

„Enough!“
 
Julius did not want to think about half the town gossiping about him, though his mind was going to pick at this humiliation for a very long time.

 

A week later Julius set foot in a gym for the first time in his life.

 

  Working out was painful, torturous even. He could still feel the various aches with every motion, but the worst bruise of all was on his ego. Julius gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain. He had made a vow to himself: he would never feel weak and helpless again.

***

Icarus and Amy‘s divorce had been as amicable as could be, given the circumstances. They had agreed on scheduled visits and kept in regular contact. They’d hugged, they‘d smiled, they‘d wished each other luck. Still, Icarus could not help but wonder how things would have turned out, had he never humored Amy‘s ambitions in the first place.

He poured out his regrets to Ralph over drinks at their usual haunt, the 32-Bit Arcade. The bartender had taken one look at the two middle-aged men and said, „I know what you two need. One round of Sorrow Annihilators coming up.“

 

Unfortunately the drinks did not live up to their name. Icarus gave a long sigh and continued his tale of woe. „And now Julius is getting into fights. It hasn‘t even been a week since Amy left and it‘s like I‘m already failing at being the primary caregiver.“

„Kids get in fights. It happens.“ Ralph, an experienced father of four, comforted his best friend. His oldest daughter Candace had just entered the young adult stage. „Candy was a veritable menace as a teen and now she‘s following in Lena‘s footsteps, studying to become a teacher.“

„Did the police ever get involved when Candy was being ‚a veritable menace‘,“ Icarus asked, knowing full well that the answer was no.

Ralph gave a sympathetic smile. „There‘s no guarantee that there wouldn‘t have been the exact same problems had you gone to Parisim.” He stared into his glass, swirling the colorful liquid around, then took a deep swig. “If you‘re anything like Lena and I were, at least you‘re not miserable anymore.“

Ever since they were little, Ralph and Icarus had always done everything together. They had been on the same group projects at school, had joined the same guilds in their MMOs… all the way down to getting divorced from their wives at the same time, as it turned out.

„Trying to stop Amy from going to fashion school would‘ve only made things worse for both of you,“ Ralph continued. „At least you‘re free to live your life as you want now.“

„Is that what you‘re doing? Living life as you want?“ Icarus immediately regretted the snippy comment, but Ralph took no offense.

„Lena is, at least,“ Ralph scoffed. „Let‘s just say I should‘ve known better than to marry a sim with the flirty trait.“ Ralph sighed and downed the rest of his drink. „And on that note, I‘m off to go apartment hunting. I do somewhat regret my chivalry in letting Lena keep the house. The housing market in AP is bonkers right now.“ Ralph slid a 20-simoleon-bill on the counter and moved to leave. „Anyway, see you later.“

In a flash of inspiration, Icarus grabbed Ralph‘s arm. „Dude, just move in with me!“

Ralph looked taken aback for a moment. Then, slowly, his seemingly perpetual frown turned into a grin. There was no need for any more words. The two of them had always been on the same wavelength.

Icarus had thought that the house had been empty for far too long. And somehow, this felt right. Icarus and his best friend were going to be roommates, as they should have been after high school.

 



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This is the first chapter that includes some screenshots taken on my new PC (the game runs so nicely now!!), but most are still from 2019 and before. There have been some formatting issues with my quotation marks; hope it wasn't too awkward to read!

So Icarus and Amy weren't on a couple roll, unfortunately. I suppose I made it pretty obvious! I felt so bad about breaking them up since they were mostly happy together. Avoiding that might have been one of the reasons I took such a long break from the sims.