previously: Andre's confession at graduation // gossip floating around about Luis
He bought her a necklace for her birthday. She could tell immediately from the shape of the box that it wasn’t a ring.
Last winter, they celebrated their first Christmas in their first real apartment off campus. She decorated, she baked. He worked and worked. He could be unemotional about things sometimes, so detached. So he wasn’t the Christmas type—not everybody was. But Selena was. She bought them a matching set of holiday pajamas. She imagined a warm and cozy living room full of children in festive red and green. They’d sing carols and watch old holiday movies. Maybe it was a few years off, but not too many years. She wanted a whole brood of babies, so she couldn’t wait forever. That Christmas, he bought her a white cashmere sweater. It was a very nice sweater.
Valentines Day, he bought her roses. He ran a bath, sprinkled the water with petals and rose oil, and he played her favorite song. They drank wine in the tub and then made love on the living room floor, still wet. He could be so romantic in his moments. He always left her wondering, what comes next? But nothing but moments ever came next.
Graduation day, he got her a card and took her out to dinner. Her future felt so fruitful, but she failed to see how he could fit into it. When she talked about children, he changed the subject. When he talked about his future and his five-year plan, it included a luxury studio apartment in the sky, a new car, and growing his stock portfolio by 300%. The graduation steak was amazing, but it wasn’t what she hoped for.
Now, August, her birthday. And he bought her a necklace. She didn’t need an expensive ring. It wasn’t really the ring—the physical matter that made up its band, its stones—but it’s meaning that she needed.
"You don’t like it?"
It annoyed him that she wasn't more excited about the necklace. The diamonds were clear and bright, several of them strung together, a waterfall of sparkle. They were beautiful. They were very expensive. He’d been saving up paychecks from his bank job for months. He even borrowed a little from that fledgling stock portfolio, which was actually doing quite well.
But all that wealth and he spent it on this. Which meant that he wasn't saving it for something else. Something else wasn't in his plans at all.
"The necklace is beautiful," she said, flat voice, flat face. "Thank you."
But she couldn't contain the disappointment in her heart. And he couldn't ignore that he saw it.
Neither of them wanted this conversation to happen on her birthday, but once it began, it couldn't be stopped. Pandora's jewelry box had been opened, and there was no going back.
He never wanted kids. Not now, not later. Never. She wanted a whole house full of them. How do you compromise around that?
You can't. You just can't.
No matter how much chemistry. No matter how much history.
You just can't.
And so, on her 24th birthday, Selena broke up with her boyfriend of four years, the love of her life.
They needed space. She left him in their apartment and went to her friend, Evie. She begged, don't say, "He probably wasn't the love of your life then." And don't say, "You'll meet somebody better for you."
She didn't want to hear any of that right now, no matter how true it might be.
She needed to shout about it and maybe go down to the karaoke bar to sing some loud and angry songs.
So that was what they did.
Summer joined them a couple hours later. They drank and bitched and moaned. They talked about what might happen next. They talked about bad boyfriends, and Evie refrained from bragging about her currently good one. They discussed ALL the terrible things about Luis Talbot, living snake man, complete waste of time, worst guy to ever walk the planet.
But she had loved him. Oh yes, she really did.
—
The following weekend, Close Mutual bank employees had another happy hour on the rooftop deck of Cora's building.
Luis would finally admit that the rumors were true. He did like Cora. But his new freedom had him thinking about being young, about his own upcoming graduation, about his future and the wide landscape of women he hadn't been able to consider since practically before he was even an adult.
He wouldn't jump into anything serious so fast.
But he would like everyone to know that he never cheated on Selena. For what it's worth, he had loved her. He really did.
—
other August birthdays:
1: Sharon Coolidge is 33
4: Selena Sosa is 24
5: Willow Nova is 6
6: Susie Collins is 13
7: Cleo Morgan is 25
8: Raymond Sylvester is 60
8: Sheldon Fortney is 55
12: Raine Nova is 9
15: Benji Nova is 1
19: Cassie Deppiesse is 2
20: Asher Halston is 26
24: Julian Sanchez is 2
24: James Porter is 30
26: Amy Jones is 21
27: Cabe Deppiesse is 47
27: Brooke McCullough is 47
29: Scott Turner is 45
30: Violet Deppiesse is 53
30: Laney Thompson is 28
31: Adam Thompson is 54
August anniversaries:
8/28/2083: Cameron & Isabelle Gibson — 4 years
8/27/2061: Cyd and Audrey Roseland — 26 years
August events:
Sad to hear about their breakup but looks like it's better that it happened now than down the track when they do have kids. Well done to Selena, it takes courage to do what she has done. Glad she was able to go out with her girlfriends and let off some steam about it all!
ReplyDeleteThe ending with Luis was a nice touch too. :)
Aw. It's sad, especially that it happened on Selena's birthday but they wanted different things. It could never have worked without one of them becoming deeply resentful of the other.
ReplyDeleteSo sad she had to deal with that on her birthday. I can imagine things just not working out at some point, even though they do love each other. They want different things and that might have caused an even bigger problem between them in the future.
ReplyDelete@ Jen, Carla, Shana,
ReplyDeleteI think I keep giving my sims too much drama on their birthdays, lol! But in this situation, it just kept coming back to haunt them, particularly on special occasions. And I could never figure out a way for them to compromise. So I agree, better for them to end this now before they dig themselves in even deeper.
Thanks for reading! :)