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simtopi5: prelude
*knock knock knock knock*
Denise: dammit.
Denise stumbled off the couch, blinking as the rays of the sun poured through her penthouse windows. She was unsure if it was her head pounding or if there was someone at the door.
*knock knock knock*
Denise: I'm coming! Hold on for chrissakes.
Denise: Do you have any idea what time it is?..Oh it's you.
Kestrel: Sure I do, Miss sleepy-head. It's noon. I'm making waffles.
Noon? She didn't think that she had been on the couch all night and all morning as well.
Denise: Well I guess that's fine then. Come on in, I'm just going to take a quick shower.
Kestrel Marlen looked towards the couch which had obviously been slept on the night before, taking note of the empty wine bottles lying close by. He frowned and shook his head with a sigh.
Kestrel: Looks like you had a wild night.
Denise (calling from the bathroom): What did you say?
Kestrel: Nothing. I'll get brunch started.
Brunch had become a weekend mini-tradition for Denise and Kestrel since they had become friends years before. It had been difficult to get the usually reclusive Denise to open up and be social, Kestrel had finally decided to simply bring it to her doorstep.
Denise: These smell so good!
Kestrel: Of course they do. My dad's a celebrity chef after all. He taught me well.
Denise: You could be spending this on any number of lady friends and yet you choose to waste Saturday mornings with an old hag like me.
Kestrel: Stop trying to fish for compliments. You know you're gorgeous.
Kestrel: Are you looking forward to tonight?
Denise: What, the show? You and I have been playing for years, it's hardly new anymore.
Kestrel: I think you know what I mean. Your guests.
Denise: Oh... right. Yes, of course I'm looking forward to seeing Jasmine and Cecilia again.
Kestrel: Don't try to act like all this isn't weird for you. Coming back here, seeing your kids again.
Denise: What do you want to hear? It's strange. Coming back to this city, freaking out that every time I turn the corner, I'll bump into Clive. At least when I was in Sim City it was easy to forget I had a life here once.
Kestrel: It's not going to get any easier you know. At least if you don't deal with it sooner than later.
Denise: What, did you become my shrink now or something?
Kestrel: Denise... I just know you too well. I think on some level you do want to deal with this or else you'd never have come back to play small clubs for a shit paycheck.
Denise: I think you're reaching. What else was I supposed to do in Sim City? Where would I have gone next? Can you even see me in Pleasantview?
Kestrel: You didn't tell your daughters you've been here for a month before you called them, did you.
Denise fell quiet for a bit. Kestrel was right. She had been moved into this penthouse for a good long month before she finally had the courage to talk to either Jasmine or Cecilia.
Denise: We're changing the subject.
Kestrel sighed and smiled as he watched Denise look down at her food, trying to avoid eye contact. Not wanting to upset her further, he obliged.
She thanked Kestrel for breakfast, and hugged him as he left. She did appreciate his friendship. Only Kestrel was persistent enough to try to keep her from being a complete recluse. It was so different than how she used to be.
Denise had popularity written out for her ever since she was young. She had always demanded the limelight everywhere she went. She excelled in school, in music, in arts, in sports, everything she tried just to bask in that glory. It wasn't difficult for her; her friendships, her stardom. She took it all in stride. And she did it all staying true to herself, never compromising her own values.
But it was the night when everything went wrong that haunted her still to this day.
He said he was expecting her. It wasn't a far stretch. Everyone knew where Denise would be it seemed, even if it was a private party that Denise hadn't even thought about attending until the last minute.
I'm probably one of your biggest fans, he said. Why did she doubt that? There was something in the way he smiled, like he knew that she knew he was lying and it was a secret they both could share. He seemed regretful about it.
Denise often found herself drinking more than anyone should in a day. She couldn't sleep without a glass of wine... after a few months that glass became a bottle. She would spend her days at home keeping herself occupied by writing music, and when she wasn't doing that, most times a drink from the bar would keep her company.
It was hard to tell at what point that night had gone wrong. She had tried to rationalize it in her head for years. She had a family. She was in love. But nights on tour had been lonely and often full of various temptations. All of which she could turn down because she was the one who liked to be in control.
He said a few words to her that night. She told him at that point that she would have rathered she were alone for a minute. She wasn't in the mood to coddle persistent fans. But she couldn't deny the young man was beautiful. He was probably only a few years older than Jasmine was then, and all his attention was on her that night. His eyes were blue and intense and it was easy to stay trapped in his stare if she let herself.
She was tired suddenly, a strange moment of sleepiness making her eyes slightly heavy. She didn't realize that she had swooned until he took her hand to steady her.
His hands were like ice, but a warmth quickly spread from his touch. It felt as if it completely engulfed her in just that second. It was a sensation of passion she'd never felt before.
He didn't say anything else as she kissed him deeply, unable to control herself under the flood of those feelings.
She didn't know how long they had been at it, there on the balcony in the middle of that party. She didn't realize that all that time, the cameras were clicking away. The man she was with was clearly not her husband.
Maybe another drink will stop all these memories.
But the next thought that came to her mind was the memory of Clive.
Denise had so badly wanted to fix everything and make things work. But her affair was plastered all over the headlines. This happened to every other celebrity but not to Denise. Denise was infallible. The gossip rags had to bide their time to find their juice on her, and when they did, they exploited it for all it was worth. The candid makeout session for that evening had turned into an explosive affair that lasted for months under her own family's noses according to what was printed on those glossy pages. The lies and rumours were vicious.
Weeks after Denise had moved out, a distraught Clive had to find comfort somewhere.
He found himself at her sister Lydia's front door.
Something had to happen that night. It was after all, what Lydia had probably wanted all her life.
After all, she had been in love with him first, even before he and Denise had met.
But Lydia had always been the innocent one. The shy, quiet and awkward younger twin that Denise had always been protective of. The beautiful and perfect mother that Denise felt like she could never be.
Denise had come by, for presumably the same reasons that Clive did. To find comfort and solace the only place she knew she could.
Lydia had always been her best friend and soulmate. And in a second, that was all gone too.
Clive got there before she did, and clearly neither of them had been expecting her.
Denise had never said more horrible things to anyone in her life. And all of it was aimed at Lydia that moment.
Every single thing she said was meant to hurt. And it did.
Because Denise couldn't comprehend why Lydia would so easily turn her back and betray her like that, when Denise needed her most.
In the span of a few weeks, Denise had lost her husband, her children, her own sister. It was something she wasn't able to deal with. So she left the city. The pain never really went away and it affected her in everything she tried to do since.
She missed him still. In her mind, he was still her husband.
When their youngest daughter, Cecilia, was born, the family felt complete.
He was the perfect friend and father.
And the perfect lover.
She never stopped loving him and it still hurt that she couldn't be with him. After three years, the wounds were still fresh and coming back here wasn't helping them heal like she hoped it would.
Denise left before Lydia quietly told Clive that it was best that they never speak anymore. She did have feelings for him, that was true, but somehow in that fleeting moment, everything felt wrong.
Everything for the three of them felt surreal. Everything came down like a tidal wave and nothing seemed to make sense. But the consequences were real enough. Clive never did see Lydia or Denise again.
That night, there was one person who couldn't have been happier with how all of it went. She watched Clive, Lydia and Denise go their seperate ways with smug joy.
It was perfect, Clara thought to herself. Perfect.
next » [ Chapter Six: Tonight ]
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*a bit of a short chapter today. It was actually part of a longer one that I decided had to be split up, so that does mean that another update will happen very soon. Thank you for reading.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 08:34 pm (UTC)There are a few Sims here that haven't been born in game. Denise and Lydia were made in CAS as children, and I made them such a long time ago when my graphics sucked. Denise has a default maxis face, which I'm kind of disappointed in, but she does make pretty kids with Clive, I think. :)