Chapter 5-10: My Prerogative

                “Evangeline, what do you think you’re doing,” Camille demanded when she caught her daughter licking a mixing spoon.

                “Tasting it. How else am I supposed to know when it’s right?” She poured the contents into a pan to place on the stove. “And, FIY, it is right.”

                She may have less than dignified ways of testing her progress but none of her family could deny the deliciousness of her brownies when they came out of the oven.

                 “Gross. It’s disgusting out. Do you think it will rain all day?” Evangeline was staring out the window, trying to figure out how to spend the weekend if she was cooped inside all day. Torturing her brother sounded like that might be the way to go. She made her way up to his room.

                Emerson had stayed in their old room when they became teens while Evangeline took the playroom. They had played Rock, Paper, Scissors for it since the playroom was larger but the bedroom had a better view.

                “You’re so scrawny,” she teased.

                “I am not.”

                “You are! Look at Dad compared to you. You’re never gonna get any girls.”

                “Oh shut up. You’re just a scrawny. And you have no boobs. Guys like boobs.”

                “Jerk.”

                “Bitch.”

                They both knew it was rather playful teasing, even if their words sounded harsh to outsiders.

                Even so, Emerson took to staring at himself in the mirror often. His sister was right. He was pretty skinny. He decided to see what could be done about.

                “Hey, um, Dad? Do you think you could, uh, help me buff up a bit,” he approached Donovan since his dad was in pretty awesome shape.

                “Sure. It’s hard work. You willing to put in the effort?”

                Emerson was and they started right away. The weather kept them inside but Donovan had a punching bag and pull up bar so there was no need to brave the rain.

                “C’mon! Pull! Use your muscles Emerson!” Donovan pushed, never relenting yelled encouragement.

                Emerson was determined to be able to at least do one, one day.

                The weather continued. All of the Avendales were starting to wonder if it would ever stop raining this fall. Luckily, a new movie had just hit the Bradford theater so Evangeline and Emerson met up with Renata to see it. Renata wasn't quite as excited about Fistpunch but Evangeline loved a good action movie just as much as her brother.

                Evangeline had saved her allowance from the time she had started receiving it and, once she had her own room, she had finally decided what she wanted to do with it. She’d seen some really neat bedroom designs based on modular shelves so she had her dad take her to the hardware store to get the supplies and had spent the weekend with him setting them up. She had more than enough room for everything she might need to store.

                Speaking of, just where was that DMV piece of mail? Seriously, I know I put it in one of these drawers! She had received a letter from the St. Claire Department of Motor Vehicles on her birthday, informing her that she was now eligible to receive her learner’s permit and begin driving. Emerson had received a duplicate letter but she was going to be insistent that she learn to drive so she could become independent.

                “Mom, will you take me driving?”

                “Where did you want me to take you,” Camille was purposefully playing dumb. She didn't think she was ready to teach her baby girl to drive just yet.

                “Moo—oom. C’mon! I’m old enough to drive now. I have this letter to prove it!” She’d known that letter would come in handy!

                “Fine. But you’re learning in the cruiser.”

                Evangeline tried to contain her excitement and embarrassment all in one. She was learning to drive! She’d be driving in a cop car.

                “Why are you slamming on your brakes,” Camille shouted an hour later when they had finally made it a mile up the road. Camille had been unrelenting in her lessons on where each control was and what it did and they had spent the first 45 minutes of the lesson in the driveway.

                “Did you see that girl on that bike? I didn't want to hit her,” Evangeline’s nerves were clearly a little strung out at the moment.

                “She’s on the other side of the road. And about 100 feet in front of us. Just ease off the gas instead of slamming. You can go now.”

               

                Evangeline slowly  tapped her foot to the gas. The cruiser lurched forward and Evangeline slammed on her brakes, worried that she was going too fast. As they lurched back and forth, Camille felt like she was going to be car sick but tried to give encouraging advice rather than criticism. Finally, Evangeline eased on the gas and kept a steady foot.

                Glancing in her mirror, and then at the speedometer, Camille realized that they were only driving about 10 miles an hour down one of Bradford’s main roads. Traffic was never as bad in Bradford as it was in Kensington or Northcote so Camille had felt they would be fine on these streets. The taxi tailing them might indicate otherwise.

                “Honey, you might want to speed up a bit.”

                “I’m fine.”

               “Eve, you’re going 15 miles per hour under the speed limit. Other cars might like to get to where they are going. Like the taxi behind us.”

                “He can stay off my ass!” Driving was clearly a little bit more difficult than she had originally imagined.

                “Evangeline Avendale!”

                “Sorry mom.”

                They finally made it home in one piece. It was going to take a lot more practice, maybe with Donovan in the passenger’s seat, before Evangeline got her license. Having two children met they’d have to go through this with Emerson as well. Camille silently noted to let Donovan handle Emerson’s first drive.

                Fall crept wetly into St. Claire day by day. The leaves, now crimson and golden, began falling from their branches, littering the sidewalks. The crunch of leaves underfoot was a pleasant, satisfying sound, when it was dry enough to hear them anyway.

                Neither of the twins particularly liked school. They both knew they had to go and both tried their best with their grades. Evangeline had her hopes set on getting into a university so she spent most of her nights getting her homework done. Emerson had joined several sports through the high school and wanted to be kept on the team so he studied as well though not quite as hard as his sister. He usually tried to study when she did so she could help him.

                Most of the time though, he whizzed through his homework, jotting down the first answer that came to his head, so he could head to one of the local parks to practice basketball or soccer. One such evening, he was shooting hoops by himself when he saw a pretty girl make her way around the fence. Putting everything into it, he jogged towards the hoop and jumped, dunking the ball. Fate was on his side and the ball rolled a ways towards her.

                “Oh, sorry about that. I didn't see you there.”

                “That’s okay.” She picked up the ball and handed it to him. “See you around.”

                “Wait, what’s your name?”

                “I’m Sasha,” she said, turning away from him.

                “Don’t you want to know my name?”

                “Emerson Avendale. Freshman at Bradford High. Twin sister is Evangeline. On the basketball team, soccer team, and trying out for football when the season opens.”

                “How do you know all that?”

                “I hear things.”

                “What does that mean?” She smiled at him mysteriously, only one corner of her mouth turned up. He couldn't tell if it was a genuine smile or all-knowing smirk. He decided to roll with it. 

                “You forgot single and charming.”

                “I didn't.”

                “We can fix one of those things,” he said, flashing her his best, most charming smile.

                “I have a boyfriend.” 

                Rather than be disappointed, he pulled out his smart phone and snapped a picture of her.

                “What was that for?”

                “I don’t like to forget a pretty face.”

                He kept her talking for a couple of hours, trying to figure out how she knew him without him knowing her. Finally he gathered that she was on the yearbook committee and it was her job to know these things. She wasn't quite so mysterious after all.

                “Alright, well, I better be heading home.” She stood from the pavement and brushed her pants off. He stood with her and, without waiting, pulled her into a hug.

                “See you around, Charming,” she said with a wink.

                Sylie Malone watched from the shadows. She’d come for a walk, just to get out of the house on her own for a while. Seeing her son’s girlfriend flirting with the Avendale boy wasn't what she had been expecting to see. She sighed. Telling Reno would just make him more determined to prove his mother wrong so she made the decision to keep her mouth shut.

                The weekend finally rolled around and the twins decided to check out one of the new clubs that had opened up in Northcote. Renata met them there, as usual.

                The music was pretty decent and the club had a live DJ. The three danced, having a blast. The DJ announced that she was going to take a quick, 15 minute break and that the table would be open to anyone.

                “Em, you should try it out,” Evangeline shouted above the noise.

                “Eh…I don’t know,” he wavered, wanting to test it, especially since he’d been playing with some tracks on the computer but not sure if he wanted to try it when there were people there to hear it.

                “Go!” Renata jumped in, echoing his sister’s encouragement, and finally, he decided to give it a try, if only to shut them up.

                As he stepped up to the booth, Renata pulled a little closer to Evangeline. “Do you think he’ll be any good?”

                “Well, even if he totally sucks, at least this isn't college night and packed to the walls!”

                He didn't suck. The music he chose was actually pretty good and fun to dance to. That said, the patrons were still happy when the regular DJ came back to her station and took back over.

                Camille and Donovan had decided to have a date night that weekend as well. She spent half the evening getting dressed up for the live theatre show they were going to attend.

                “Let’s take a picture.” She pulled Donovan to her, wrapping her arm around him.

                “You know, one of the kids could take it. Or, I think I have that old tripod somewhere around here.”

                “If our kids can take pictures this way, so can I. They never put those phones down.”

                When they arrived at the theatre, the tickets had been sold out and the doors were closed. Unruffled, they crossed the street and went to the martini bar for some drinks. Unfortunately, there was a big music guest there that night and the doors were barred to people without special invitations or names on “the list”. Donovan smiled and tried to sweet talk them past the ropes but the bouncer was apparently paid too well.

                “Let’s just take the subway back to the house and walk from there. It’s a nice night,” Donovan suggested. Unfortunately, that nice night turned sour as a torrential downpour opened on them halfway back to the house. When they, at last, ran up the steps, they were both drenched.

               

                “That wasn't quite what I expected for date night. Tell you what, let’s take a romantic vacation, just the two of us. We've not done that, not even for a honeymoon and the twins are old enough to be left on their own for a week or so.”

                Famous last words Donovan. Famous last words.

Chapter 5.9                                                                                                                                                                                 Chapter 5.11

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I’m back…uh, again. I’m sorry I left you guys. Shortly after posting my last chapter, I got a phone call that I needed to rush home to Florida because my grandmother wasn't well. I made it home and she passed away that same night. I stayed in town to help with arrangements and attend the funeral and spend some time with my sister. When I got back, I wasn't really in a playing mood and had to catch up with my moderating duties and just kind of puttered around my game, mostly with builds for a little while.

Enough with the depressing bit though. I’m back and so are the Avendales. My story is taking shape and I've got decent plots for both twins, depending on how the heir vote goes. It will be up, along with the next chapter when that is posted. Yes, I am still doing heir votes so get ready to choose a favorite! 

On another note, I hate how empty clubs always are. Though, to be fair, the club that they went to had three floors so most (all 2) of the sims that weren't mixologists or the proprietor were on the second floor with the karaoke machine. I really want to revamp some stuff in St. Claire but the lots sizes make it damn near impossible. I need to finish my world. *Adds to the list of things to do.