the good parts

March 2, 2087. Maya Bunch is 25, Tyler Jackson is 23.


Against her better judgment, Maya couldn’t stop thinking about Tyler. They had something good once before he trashed it. True, he was young and foolish. True, he was going through a lot. But Maya refused to make excuses for him.

Even so, here she was, falling deep into this delicious swamp of nostalgia. It might swallow her. Did he remember strip poker in their dorms? Did he remember whispering to each other in the back row of the observation deck where they weren't supposed to talk? Did he remember how they figured out the absolute best position for lunar gravity space sex, which required many months of experimentation? She was sure he remembered the sex, but it became so much more than sex for her. For him, too, she once thought.

But then he stomped it all out.

What if we only did the good parts again?

What on earth did that even mean? This was the second time since they broke up that he asked her out again. Last time, he wanted to keep things casual, and she had been so offended by the idea. This time, she didn't even know what he meant, but she shot him down so hard and so fast—absolutely, positively, no. Maya wasn't fond of being used or slighted or dicked around. Now she wished she hadn't been so quick with her decision because she had so many questions.

All of which she spilled out to her mother over the phone.


"I'm sorry, sweetheart," her mother said. "I can't answer any of these questions for you, but it sounds like you really owe it to yourself to ask him what he means. If you're this worked up about it. I'm not saying to forgive him if he's not worth it, but you might regret not giving him the chance."


This is how stupid girls get their hearts broken over and over again. Maya was the farthest thing from what anyone would consider a "stupid girl," but her heart called all the shots when it came to Tyler Jackson.

He asked her to think about it, so she wasn't expecting him to contact her. She thought about it for one week, then two, then she began to worry that he'd move on and forget about her. It turned out that was the last thing she wanted. She liked her life to be simple and decided, and this indecision was not fun. So maybe it had to be her who found him this time, considering that would be a much easier task. There was only one half-finished adventure water park in Sierra Nova, with a sign reading “Jackson Family Entertainment Company, coming soon” on the front. A guy can't get much more findable than that.



A small ramshackle trailer sat at the back of this unfinished adventure park. She went looking for him on a Sunday morning so she wouldn't feel rushed to get to work. So that if things went badly, she'd have the day to cry. So if things went great, she'd have the day to bask in his charms. She hoped for the latter, of course.


He answered the door shirtless, smelling fresh from a shower, looking even stronger than he was the last time they’d been together. He'd been training for sports, she heard, but they'd also both grown and matured a little since their time at war. She cleared her throat. Her hands felt possessed to reach out and touch him, with little power to stop knowing that her touch would be welcome and desired. But she was getting ahead of herself, swept up in all those taut muscles fresh off a morning workout. Hot damn.

But she was mad at him still, she remembered. So she asked if they could sit down to talk. She had a lot to say.


"I'm not desperate. I don’t have low self-esteem, and I don’t think I’m ugly. I know I’m a little bit weird, compared to some girls, and I’m not some delicate flower if that’s what you’re into, but I’m fun and smart and reasonably good in bed."

He nodded enthusiastically.

"So if I forgive you, it’s because I want to, not because I have to. Because when it comes down to it, this is for me, too. I don’t want to be mad and I don’t want to hold a grudge. Last year, when we saw each other in South Carolina, you asked me if we could start up our casual little thing again, and I was SO MAD AT YOU. I wanted to be with you, and not as a casual thing. Because what does that even mean? Either I’m the girl you want to be with, or I’m not. And that’s for you to figure out. I don’t like the drama, Tyler. Drama is not fun. So if I’m not that girl, then let me know so I can move the hell on. I’m a grownup and I’ll get over it."


"But if I am that girl, then what does casual have to do with it? I might be fun and easy and super chill—you know I am—but I am not casual. I’m a keeper. And if you want to be with me, for real, then fine. I can forgive when I want to, and I can give you one single chance to try again. Because I do know you and I do understand what you were going through. I’m not saying we should get back together, but maybe we should. If that’s what you want." She took a deep breath. "And holy shit, Tyler, do you always answer the door like that?"

"Like what? I was just exercising a little. Keeping healthy. Working on these guns."

"Aren't you cold?"

"Nah, I’m always hot."

She grinned. "Stop it."


"Girl, you’re the one with your head in the gutter. I meant toasty hot. As in warm. Feel."

She hesitated. She wanted to. Her fingertips reached to his skin like gravity pulled objects to the earth, unstoppable.

He laughed. "Go on. Live your life, Maya."


She touched his bicep lightly, first with the backs of her knuckles, then her whole palm, running the length of him from shoulder to fingertips. Toasty warm, just like he promised. She closed her eyes and let out a soft, Mmm. She remembered her steel gray lunar dorm room, enough gravity to lay together, but never enough to feel steady except for when she had his body weight to anchor her to the bed. Make sure I don’t float away, she said, half joking, half not. She slept better with him on top of her.

"I don't get cold," he said. "I was born in the blizzard of 2061. Lakeside Heights Michigan, twenty inches of snow in twenty-four hours. I’m like a polar bear."

"Then what are you doing here in the desert, in all this heat? It gets unbearable here in the summer."

"I was looking for you."

"Stop it," she said.

"Do you really want me to stop?"

"No," she said.


She still had her hand on his arm with no plans to remove it.

"Was there more?" he asked.

"More what?"

"Of your speech? It was a good one, I just wondered if there was more. You stopped kind of suddenly."

"Oh," she said. She inhaled and sighed. She'd lost her steam. "I think I said everything."

"So can I explain?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I know you probably don't want to hear about Keri."

She shook her head.

"But I have to say, I don't totally regret that happened. The thing is, Keri and I were casual. Totally casual. And I learned something from that. It was boring. I missed being in love. With you. Specifically with you. Your love is the best."

"Oh, Tyler," Maya swooned. She was a goner.

"But I didn't recognize it when we were together," he continued, "because it didn't feel complicated and tortured and full of poison. That's the only kind of love I ever knew until I met you. And being with you was just so easy. I guess I got that confused with casual. But you and me, we were never casual, even when we said we were. So that's what I want. Something that feels good, not bad. And I need a girl who can beat me at darts and horseshoes and poker."


Maya laughed. "I beat you at pool, too. Sorry, I have to tell you the truth. I let you win before."

"No! For real?"

"I couldn’t hurt your feelings that bad, when your dad just died, and your dog, and you were so sad. I didn’t have the heart to tell you. Pool is all geometry and physics, I was an engineering major with a math minor in college."

He shot her a playful half smirk. "It was all lies. How will I ever trust you again?"

They both giggled.

"But I forgive you," he said. "Do you think you can forgive me?"

She tilted her head, thinking about this. "Maybe. But I think you should put a shirt on for now, so I can keep my senses for at least a few more hours. I would like to tell my mother that I made you work for it."

"Work for what?"


"I’ll show you later. You won't be disappointed."

Tyler laughed heartily. Then he went to change into some clothes. He promised to take her on a hike through his new property. The park was unopened still, so the fields of spring wildflowers would be all theirs for a few more months.

"Thank you, for giving me a shot," he said. "For trusting me. We're going to have so much fun together. You won't be disappointed, either. I promise."

"I'm trying to believe you."

"I'll work for it," he said. "I'll show you."

"Okay, but I only want you to be yourself," she said. "I just want it to be good again. Like you said, let's skip to the good parts. Only the good parts. That's what you promised."

"Yes, ma'am."

"But my mom, though. You might have to work for it with her." Maya chuckled, quite amused by the idea. Let this be his punishment, if he was due to have one, that Maya’s mother would forever know every single thing that Tyler Jackson had ever done wrong to her. 

"Uh oh," he said. "But I accept the challenge. It's a deal."

—

notes: uh oh, nobody tell Keri that Tyler called her boring, lol! 

Oh, I suppose it would have been satisfying for Maya to make Tyler grovel for a while longer before taking him back, but then I decided that is just not in her nature to be like that. She's so easy-going and she truly hates conflict. Not to mention, she just wants him back SO BAD.! I hope he won't take advantage of her forgiveness and carefree nature. 

Also, I don't have many "bro" sims in my world, but both Maya and Tyler have that trait. So they're always bro-ing around with each other, and it's amusing to watch. The trait is starting to grow on me, although I rarely used it or connected with it much in the beginning. I interpret it a little differently for different sims, but it reminds me a lot of TS2's pleasure aspiration, which I am missing greatly in my game. "Bro" sims are very sociable, sporty in a fun way, laid-back, and usually pretty upbeat. "For a good time, call..." kind of personalities. So, totally reminiscent of TS2 pleasure sims. If Maya was a TS2 sim, she would definitely be knowledge/pleasure. Or maybe even pleasure/knowledge, depending on the day. For a scientist, she can get pretty feisty sometimes!

extras, outtakes, & gameplay notes (coming soon): Maya got some parents // dirty jokes & giggles // some more thoughts on sim compatibility, ...