it's your day: Sam

February 7, 2087. Sam Harris is 16. Ryanne Phoenix is 15. 


It was Sam's birthday, so he got to pick the movie. He picked one of those frat-house comedies, full of half-naked co-eds and devoid of any intellect at all. Ryanne would have preferred some dreary art film, but it was Sam's choice and Ryanne wouldn’t complain. They both got the movie ready to play on each of their different TVs.

"Okay, on three, we’ll press 'play.' One, two, three."

The dual opening soundtracks echoed through each other's phones, a split second out of sync.



"Do you have me on speaker phone?" she asked. "I don’t want to be on speaker phone."

"Nobody’s here," he said. "Who’s with you?"

"I’m watching Luca. Piper’s sleeping with the baby. Dad’s at work."


"Luca? This movie’s rated R. What if there’s nudity?"

"He’s two," she said. "I don’t think he knows what nudity is. And he'll probably fall asleep in a minute."

"Do you have any homework?"

"Only a biology lab report to finish. I'll bribe Austin to do it. He only does homework for money, but he'll do it."

"Who’s Austin?"

"My lab partner in biology, duh."

"Hmm, Austin," Sam mused. "Is he cute?"


"Shut up. No," she said.

"What does he look like?"

"Really? I don’t know, reddish hair, kind of a beard?"

"A beard, in high school?"

"Well, he’s a senior. It’s kind of scruffy and patchy, like there’s not enough hair there yet."

"Do you like beards?"

"I don’t know," she said. "Why, are you gonna grow one now?"


Sam touched his chin. "I've been thinking about it. Is he taller than me?"

"Maybe. But he’s quiet and weird and like, angry-looking all the time and I don’t like him at all. Okay?"

"Quiet and weird and angry-looking. He sounds just like you." Sam was joking, but he didn't laugh.

"Shut up! I am not weird."

"You are so weird."

"You’re missing your birthday movie."

"But I might try to grow a beard," he said.

"Fine, grow one. A little one."

"I’m gonna grow a huge, Santa Claus, lumberjack-looking beard."

"Ew, no. When you come to visit, I’ll shave it off while you’re sleeping. I think I probably don’t like beards. Definitely probably not."

"How does he wear his hair?"


"No," she said. "Watch the movie."

"I’m gonna come visit you, Ryanne. I promise."

"Okay, now watch the movie," she said.

"College looks fun, I can't wait until we go to college together."

"Me, too," she said.

"And—"

"Shhh."

—

footnotes: goodbyes // who is Austin?

February birthdays:
2: Naomi Gibson is 4
3: Lilian Riley-Kim is 5
7: Ronnie Steele is 30
7: Samuel Harris is 16
8: Hudson Lawrence is 28
12: Rose Turner is 11
16: Johanna Boone is 3
16: Wesley Grant is 29
18: Deidre Sylvester is 57
19: Juliette Martin is 12
20: Cynthia Kim is 51
21: Melissa Fortney is 20
22: Drew Bradshaw is 31
25: Nessa Phoenix is 37
25: Kayla Hall is 11
27: Blair Jones is 20
27: Shiloh Morgan is 21

February anniversaries:
1/18/2068: Maxwell & Valerie Shaw, 19 years

Health strike:
Jeremy Nova moves from 0 to 1*

Lot deterioration:
Fire! OMG, lol! And I mentioned on Twitter, I think, that I just installed a harder fires mod, so this ought to be eventful! Then, since my gameplay is actually in March already, I happen to know that the same household rolled lot events AGAIN next month. I don't want all of this to detract from Sam's birthday, so I'll put it in another post. ;)