Life in Christophe Harbour

oh my goodness, the suspense is killing me girl, for real!!

I just know we will soon see them singing the old Rufus with Chaka Khan Classic

"Tell Me Something Good" -----hehehehehehe

It's killing all of us!!!

You guys are killing me! Jackie I was on the air (the radio) supposedly listening to my co-host talking about the very serious issue of climate change, when I read your comment and I laughed out loud, and my mic was on!!!! So people listening to the radio suddenly heard me laugh in the middle of him saying if we dumped our garbage into the sea it would kill our coral reefs! I disguised it as a cough, apologized and turned off my mic! Ha haaaaa!

I warned you all that taking this journey with me was going to be a roller coaster of a ride. :muahaha:

I'm at work, but I'm on a break, and I have the story sitting in my drafts folder in my email and some pix uploaded...not as many as I wanted to make as part of episode, but clearly you guys are suffering.....so in the interest of Jen's blood pressure () I'll share a little bit more with you this afternoon.

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...Her legs were tangled with his. They were both breathless and Marco's heart was hammering at a mile a minute. Her face was flushed and he could feel the heat of her body against his...and her eyes...her...eyes...there was no mistaking the passion in her eyes.

"Yes," she whispered. "I would want to be with someone like you."


Marco lowered his mouth to hers...and suddenly a door behind them swung open.

Marco almost fell off the sofa. They both jumped up quickly. A sleepy-looking Vinnie emerged from Marco's bedroom, apparently oblivious to what he had just interrupted.


"You guys are up early," he said rubbing his face.

"Early? What time is it?" Carolyn asked sounding breathless.

"After 5:00," Vinnie answered, disappearing into the bathroom.

Marco's hands were shaking. Carolyn looked at him with a tortured smile, her face still flushed.

"I should try to get even an hour's sleep," she whispered.

"Of course," he said huskily.

She walked over to the door of the bedroom that was hers for the weekend, and looking back at him smiled again...sadly he thought...and closed the door behind her.

"Well that just sucks," he said softly under his breath, dropping onto the sofa and running his hands roughly through his hair.

Vinnie came out of the bathroom and plopped down next to his twin brother.


"Did I interrupt something?"

Marco nodded slowly.

"Sorry."

"It's probably just as well," he said with a deep sigh. "It would have really complicated things."


It was pretty much downhill from there for Marco, by the time they were all showered and dressed, Andre and Delilah had come over and so had Amaya. There was much talking and laughter over breakfast eaten sitting around the living room. Amaya, was next to Marco's side the whole time. He wondered if she sensed something, and he struggled to act normal.


Carolyn was quieter than usual. Marco seemed to be the only one who noticed.


Marco's emotions were so conflicted he didn't know what to do with himself. He was immobilized. And so Carolyn's last couple of hours in town passed without them getting any time alone together to talk about what had almost happened. There was a quick goodbye...no hug...and then she was gone.

I knew it!!!!!!

Vinnie I´m going to lock you up and throw away the key!!

OMG!!! Vinnie, really?!?!?!!

AUUGGHHHH!!!




I love the suspense though :)

Keep it coming sweetie

Toni

UGH Vinnie!!!

BUT - she said it. She said it and he heard it - that's progress! She has feelings for him and she didn't hide them.

Girlfriend, you are so good at this storytelling thing!

Oh my dear friends, you all are taking the torture so incredibly well! :muahaha:

Well, lets see if we can move things along a bit more quickly. Going to try to summarize a full year in this post.

Ready?!

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Carolyn barely spoke on the long trip back to Fiesta Tech. She volunteered to do most of the driving and pretended to be concentrating on the road.


She was stunned by the passion she had felt for Marco that morning and knew that she would not have stopped him if...


Then she remembered Amaya, perched on the sofa next to Marco her hand resting on his leg.


They obviously were very comfortable with each other. She couldn't get the image out of her head.

There had been an email from Marco when she reached back to the Tech:

"It was really good to see you Garcia. Write soon."

All she could think about was Amaya's hand on his leg, and she felt a little tug at her heart.

"Oh, I am so not going to go down this road again." Carolyn told herself.

Right then and there she made up her mind to keep Marco at arm's length until someday in the future, they ended up living in the same place. It was too complicated to try to sort out what it was she felt for him when they lived hundreds of miles away from each other and, at least right now, were both involved with other people.


She didn't reply to his email for a couple of days, and then wrote simply:

"It was good to see you too D'Angelo :-)"

Not thinking about Marco was easier said than done, and over the next couple of weeks, she was barraged with thoughts of him.


She threw herself into studying for year-end finals...

And left town on weekends to go to auditions.


...They were good excuses to avoid seeing Akil as much as usual.

But he (Akil) graduated that year, and a few nights before he left campus he proposed to her! Well, she was stunned! She just really hadn't thought he was that serious about her...and truthfully it had nothing to do with her buried feelings for Marco or her still jumbled feelings for Kyle...she just didn't love him that way. So with tears welling up in her eyes, she gently let him down. He was devastated, and she felt awful.

Sorry for laughing at Akil, but I just love the melodrama of the proposal rejectee

By then, she and Marco only communicated once in a while. She learned from one of their rare MSN exchanges that he had been selected to attend a summer theatre workshop at the University of London in the UK.


She was happy for him, but felt a strange tug at her heart that he would be thousands of miles away.

She spent the summer working at Belladonna Studios again. Staying alone this time in Clayton Benoit's condo as Cassie was off in Paris, modeling there for the summer. She enjoyed having space to herself, having grown up in a home with seven siblings, and now living in a sorority house, privacy was not something Carolyn was used to having...and she relished the quiet.


By the end of the summer she had regained her equilibrium, and headed back to her Junior (3rd) year of university feeling pretty pumped.

The year flew by and she went on a few dates; nothing serious:


She was actually at a stage were she and Kyle would exchange a few words when they saw each other. He seemed more relaxed and was always very gracious and a little funny. They chatted about school and their friends quite comfortably now. It wasn't unpleasant talking to him. It was his and Marc and Joey and Max's last year at university and Carolyn even went over to their house - The Farm - a few times and Kyle started showing up at parties at the Sorority House.


She and Marco were writing fairly regularly again, but as before their communication was all about their programmes at university and the performance work they were doing outside of school. Thoughts of him still made her warm inside, but she had settled him in a comfortable place in her mind as a special friend, with whom she had a wicked attraction. They hadn't seen each other face to face for over a year, but she had no doubt that when she did there would be sparks.

A few nights before the end of their third year, she received a particularly flirtatious email from him:

"One more year of university and then I have to work on getting my nose broken," he wrote.

When she read his words, the heat rushed to her face.


She remembered the conversation they'd had a year ago. She had teasingly told him he was too pretty for her to settle down with, and he had asked if he had a scar and a broken nose if she reconsider.

Carolyn closed her eyes and imagined what meeting him again would be like. She let her mind run wild, and she flushed, feeling a bit embarrassed at her brazen thoughts.


She shook her head to clear it. "This boy really has his hook in you, girl," she told herself.

She was back at Belladonna Studios that summer now working in the office of the CEO Will Wright.


She knew she wouldn't see Marco over the summer as he was heading back to the UK again for an advanced theatre workshop. But they would have a week back in Christophe Harbour at the same time at the end of the summer, before they'd have to head in opposite directions to go back to school. Thoughts of seeing him again, kept her awake quite a few nights over the summer.


It was a good thing the condo was air conditioned!

Yay! These two are just too sweet. I like the pacing you've given their story. It's moving slowly, but moving forward. I was afraid at the last post they would back away all embarrassed and play it off as nothing, but at least they're starting to recognize their feelings. I bet the sparks will fly when they do get to see each other again! I can't wait! Keep it up!

Oh, and I almost forgot. Poor Akil. I don't think I've seen the rejected proposal at the table animation before. In all the times I've played I don't think I've ever had a sim propose that way and get rejected. Now we just have to get Marco to let down Amaya gently, so when school's out, he will be free to be with Carolyn.

Poor Akil (though the pictures are hysterical). I'm glad Carolyn wisely told him no - I was afraid for a minute she would do something rash - thank goodness she's level headed!

A whole year and she hasn't seen Marco. She's making progress, though, like Em said. They can both quit denying their feelings now. However, I wish they would just both give it a chance. This has been going on for years - one of them needs to take the bull by the horns and put it on the table.

Well done, Toni. Great storytelling and pictures.

Poor Akil, those pics were too funny though! I have never seen Simmies do that before...what a hoot!

Wow a whole year since they have seen each other.....at least she is admitting her feelings for him. I agree with Ari, someone needs to take the bull by the horns and make a move.

Wonderful story and piccies sweetie

Hello my dear friends! Progress? Did I hear someone say they're making progress?!

So...I've been playing with some other households but I thought I was ignoring you guys for too long, so I uploaded some photos so that I can give you a little update. A whole year has past, but what was Marco up to in that time I hear you ask?

Let's see!


----

Marco sat on the floor in the tiny bedroom of the small flat he shared in London with two other theatre students. He had a big decision to make.

The past year and a half had been a whirlwind for him. He had done so well in his theatre classes, that last year his professor had helped him get a grant to attend the University of London's renown theatre programme's summer workshop.


It had been an incredible experience for him, and he loved the old city and made lots of new friends.



I wasn't sure that I liked his new hairdo...but now that I look at the pictures, it's kinda cool. Besides, when you've got bone structure like this, it hardly matters!


Here he is with his UK roomies Oliver and Anne.


He lived on mostly cereal and coffee so he could use his money to attend London's many theatre productions and even some outside of the city.

It was a dream come true. He often thought of Carolyn and how much he would love to take her around London.

Back at the Academie, he threw himself into school and spent Christmas with his grandparents again. He and Amaya had stayed in touch over the summer, and for a while continued to see each other, but as the year wore on they drifted apart.

He had asked Vinnie if Carolyn was seeing anyone. His brother said he wasn't sure, but he had seen her around a couple of times with some football player.


"A jock? Carolyn?" Marco thought. "Unless he can name three films by Bernardo Bertolucci it won't last," he told himself, even as he felt his heart twinge.


He and Carolyn were writing quite regularly again but as before, they never spoke about relationships. They spoke of school and their other theatre work, but it was just such a thrill to share his life with her even if it was only that way. "It's better than nothing," he told himself matter-of-factly.

In the final semester of Junior year he briefly dated an Art student named Claire, but he was so distracted by classes (and other things) that it never really got off the ground.


A few nights before the end of their third year, feeling particularly bold after a standing-ovation performance of Death of a Salesman at the university's Colbert Theatre, he threw caution to the wind and sent an overly flirtatious note to Carolyn.

"One more year of university and then I have to work on getting my nose broken," he wrote, referring to a rather intense conversation they had had over a year ago, when he suggested he mar his features with a scar and broken nose in order to win her love. She had teasingly told him he was 'too pretty.'


There was a response waiting for him the next morning:


"What about the scar? :-)"

He laughed, and smiled and blushed all at the same time.


"Oh maaaaan. You've got it bad, D'Angelo!" he told himself.


He wouldn't see her that summer because he was heading back to London, but he knew they'd both be in Christophe Harbour at the end of August before they went back to school. The thought of seeing her face to face again made his heart race.

Now the summer had come to an end, and he was sitting in his London apartment. He had a huge decision to make.

The University had offered him a full scholarship to complete his final year in its theatre programme. A full scholarship! The renown University of London's Theatre programme! It was the opportunity of a lifetime! But he wanted to...needed to see Carolyn. It was completely impractical to return home to pretty much turn around and head back to London. It took nearly two days to travel in one direction! And it was terribly expensive...and money was just not something the D'Angelos had. The scholarship did not include airfare. If he left, there was no coming back. Not this year anyway.

"Are you crazy?" Vinnie asked him when they'd spoken on Skype earlier.


"She's a great girl, but you don't know for sure how she feels about you. This opportunity at U of L is everything you've ever dreamed of!"

"Vin, I'm pretty sure she's everything I've ever dreamed of," Marco said softly.


Vinnie looked at the blurry image of his twin bother on the webcam. He let out a deep breath.

"Whatever you decide. I've got your back," he said with a pensive smile.

Later, Marco wandered the streets of London. The sky was beginning to turn gold as he walked the cobbled side streets back to the flat. "People walked on these streets 300 years ago," he thought to himself, awed by the history all around him.


"Garcia, I've had the most incredible thing happen..." he wrote, sitting in front of his laptop a short time later.

He told her all about the scholarship offer and the programme.

"They'll accept all my Academie credits and give me extra credit for my summer workshops," he wrote.

It was a fairly short email, mostly about his excitement with completing university at London. He struggled though with how he should end the note. He didn't want to be too effusive. He couldn't declare his feelings, she might think him crazy.


He agonized through two cups of coffee...



...And finally ended it simply:

"I'm so sorry I won't get a chance to see you this year. I was really looking forward to it. You friend forever, M." He took a deep breath, and hit send.


He didn't hear from her for nearly a week:


"Sorry I took so long to reply. Have been so busy. Back at the Tech. Congratulations! That's great news. I'm really happy for you! CG."

He was gutted. Her reply was so detached. "That's it? I'm really happy for you?" He felt awful.


"Thank god I didn't go back home," he thought. "I'd have made a total idiot of myself."

The progress is........ two steps back

If you write like that with no emotions then the answer will be with no emotions. Listen to the psychologist Ulli La Femme I know.

Quote :

If you write like that with no emotions then the answer will be with no emotions. Listen to the psychologist Ulli La Femme I know.

No, kidding, right?!? Did he even read the note back to himself? It totally sounds like he's giving her the brush off. I think her reply was much less detached than what he wrote. She at least sounded happy for him and enthusiastic. "Your friend forever" sounds like he's never planning on seeing her again. Let's hope she doesn't take it too badly and take two giant steps back too. But knowing our Toni . . . We'll just have to wait and see. I still have hope that eventually they'll run into each other again and start inching forward again.

Oh I agree with you both ladies..

WTH?!?!?! Ugh...progress is taking a step forward not 1500 back....Marco, Marco, Marco...

SIGH - Marco Marco Marco. If you could have given just a little more emotion...sure you may sound like an idiot - but what is life without risks? You've lost how many years on this....this whatever. This not admitting your true feelings thing. Wanting to chase but not. Since high school! C'mon, man! Sack up, already. Tell her how you feel once and for all - if she's not interested, then at least you'll know for sure and be able to move on instead of pining away.

Guuuys, he's twenty years old...he's in love and confused, and he doesn't want to mess up their friendship. Don't be so hard on him!

Besides...he's so dishy, how can you be mad at him for long?

Aw honey, I'm not mad at him. We luvs your story. You're triggering emotion in your readers - this is a good thing. You're doing your job correctly. A slow torturous tease that keeps us coming back for more. I'm sorry, Marco. You're allowed to be young and confused. People twice your age struggle with issues like these.

Go Marco, Go Marco!!

Because he has likes with a horses behind but Ari is right, you are a honey and you write your story very good, so good that we hate the bad guy well, so it's your fault we dislike what he do... but we (I) love your story Toni ... can you please post some more ... soon Cliffhanger girl!

Love that you're lovin' it! Is it wrong to have a crush on a simmie? Because I swear...I have a crush on Marco! Ha haaaa!

I've been playing some other households, so thought I'd give you a 'meanwhile' update.

---
Meanwhile, The boys at the Farm (Kyle, Max, Marc and Joey) had a lady burglar, who beat up the cop (they don't seen terribly alarmed)


...And got away.


Brandi and Todd had a baby boy, Ryan.


Denis Duval (Dirk Dreamer) and his wife Noelle's little girl Danielle, grew into a cute toddler.


Lucy Burke (formerly Burb), John and Jennifer's teenage daughter got herself in a wee bit of trouble. As innocent as she looks...


She is a romance simmie...and she and the pizza delivery boy (he's 18) had three bolts for each other, and one thing led to another....uh oh! I recognize that walk (waddle).


I recently installed a mod by Chris Hatch that makes a parent mad at a teen when they realize they're pregnant. Well, Lucy was home with writer John when she jumped into her second trimester, and he barreled out of his study to yell at her (that's what his queue said "yell at").


His relationship towards her took a serious hit, and he went around fuming about her! Here she is apologizing (after the baby was born...a little girl she named Jodi).


How realistic is that?!

Other happenings. Mary Sue broke up with Daniel (I forgot to take pix), but here he is sobbing like he was the one wronged! *sigh*


He's moved out, and right now is living in my bin.

Cassandra caught Don cheating with Tiffany Shiabata (remember her? Kyle's high school teacher?).


There was a big fight...I swear, Cassandra turns into a total warrior when she finds Don cheating! Looks here like she's going in for the kill!


But strangely her relationship with Don wasn't too badly damaged (maybe because they're BFF's), and after she kicked Tiffany out they immediately got down to a game of SSX.


Go figure!

Dang your Don is dishy! Mmmm-mmm good! Cassandra is very shy, if I remember correctly, so it's kind of funny to see her attacking the cheatee. But people are capable of anything when they feel threatened.

Tsk tsk Lucy. Cool hack that the parent gets angry with the teen during her pregnancy. One of the inteen flavor packs has a chance for a teen girl to get pregnant if she sneaks out with someone she's attracted to - I'm kinda hoping to see that some day in my game (because I'm evil, I guess, ha ha).

Yay for Baby Ryan! Looking forward to seeing his pix as he grows up - you know I have a softness for Brandi. In my first game, my beloved Jeremy grew up to marry her. Their first pregnancy together resulted in twins. My first set! And I found it so freaking hard, lol - probably because Brandi's third was still only a toddler at the time.

Great pictures. Nice to see what else goes on in your hood!

Wonderful, wonderful, screen captures and storytelling, as always, Toni.
I don't think you're the only one who has a crush on handsome Marco.
The young man has quite a fan club & following.

I think it's great that your story is getting so much well deserved attention, m'lady.
Awesome!

:thanx: Guys! Ari, I'll let you know how things go with Brandi and her brood. Sugah, it's so kind of your to stop by. I know how hard it is for you to keep up with all our threads.

Just popped in for another quick meanwhile....

---

The inevitable happened. My Sim Self (Toni) finally caught Max cheating on her with Kyle's cousin Raquel (the one who was at their grandparent's last summer). It didn't go well for Max


Sorry Max...it is OVAH!


Oh...and surprise, surprise Lilith and Damien (Dirk) got back together. She and Marc's relationship had fizzled in their Junior year...and in their last semester of their final year, Damien was visiting (they'd remained friends with a high relationship score and triple chemistry)...and one admire and a little flirt...and they fell in love all over again. Well, you can't beat fate! Good luck guys!

Quote :

Sorry Max...it is OVAH!

You go, girl!
Way to kick that lyin' cheatin' scoundrel's happy arse to the curb!

I'm lovin' that ensemble your Simself has on, btw, Toni.

Thank you for being here and for sharing with us, as always.

Max :nannybooboo: Kick him hard Toni!!



Go Toni, GO!!!!