Chapter 5: Festering Tensions

Phillip sits quietly across the table from Dakota. It's the morning after the party, and Dakota has been unusually quiet since the night before.

Last night, Phillip kissed Gina. Well, if he's going to be completely honest it was more than kissing, but he doesn't think it is necessary to go into specifics.

And he quite enjoyed himself. He spent the evening with a pretty woman who was actually interested in him. Besides, it has been a while since he got any "action", and he's missed it.

"And really, how long can I wait for her?" he thinks, referring to Dakota. "She is far too self-absorbed to notice me, even when I am right in front of her. Anyway, I really like Gina," he continues. "She is cute and fun and she likes me."

"Then why are you still trying to convince yourself to date her?" his logical side reasons.

Phillip shakes his head. Enough with this nonsense. He is going to invite Gina over tonight. And if it turns into something, then fine.

That afternoon, Phillip celebrates his birthday alone in the kitchen.

"I am so over her," he thinks defiantly.

Gina shows up for their date right on time. Dakota slips quietly out of the room, mumbling something about taking care of Lily.

While Phillip and Gina get cozy on the couch...

...Dakota decides to spend some time with Lily.

"She is just so trashy!" Dakota tells Lily. "Can you say tra-aa-sh-y?" she asks the two year old.

"Tw-aa-ashy," Lily obligingly repeats in her cute toddler voice.

The following evening, Gina and Phillip head over to the lounge Bamboo-Zle.

And the next night, they go to Gina's favorite place, a lounge called Cog. A true gentleman, Phillip likes to surprise her with flowers.

It isn't long before Gina begins spending the night with Phillip.

After one such evening, Dakota wakes up to discover a scantily clad Gina wandering around her house.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Dakota yells at Gina. "My daughter lives here, and she doesn't need some half-clothed tramp walking around her home!"

"Sorry, honey," Gina replies scornfully. "You passed him up, and now he's mine."

Her attitude outrages Dakota. "You all can do whatever you please. But not in my house, and not around my child!"

"Don't go getting your panties in a twist," Gina sneers. "Besides, it isn't your house any longer, sweetheart." She smiles, her lips twisted in mocking contempt. "It is Phillip's to, and he says I can be here." She begins to walk away, but whips around to face Dakota. "And one more thing," she says, a slight taunting in her voice. "Phillip's an amazing boyfriend. You have no idea what you are missing."

As Gina walks down the stairs to the bathroom, Dakota stands there, feeling like she's been slapped in the face. She wants to run into Phil's bedroom and start screaming at him, but something stops her. Usually so rash, Dakota decides to leave it be, for now anyway. Something about Gina's tone bothers her. It almost sounded as if she was jealous.

"Surely not," Dakota ruminates. "There has never been anything between Phil and I..."

Lily's birthday arrives.

She become a child.

Lily's childhood years seem to blow by like a speeding train.

When she's not at school, she spends her time doing homework with Phil...

...Or hanging with her friends at the park.

"When you grow up, you actually have to hold hands with your boyfriend," she tells them. "Like full on hand-to-hand contact."

"Ewww! Cooties!" screams Michele Loving (the girl in the green skirt).

One day, Lily is at the park playing in the sandbox when a boy comes and sits down near her.

"I'm never getting married," she proudly proclaims to him.

"Oh yeah?" he retorts. "I thought that's all you girls thought about. Finding your prince charming and blah blah blah."

Lily giggles. "Well, I'm not," she says stubbornly. "Marriage is for only for wussies."

"Yeah, me neither. No girl ain't ever gonna tie me down."

"I'm gonna be rich and powerful when I grow up," he tells her as he throws a fistful of sand in the air.

"Yeah, me too," she agrees.

"I'm Leo," he says matter-of-factly.

"I'm Lily," she responds. "By the way, why are you dressed like that?" Lily asks, always intrigued by the odd fashion choices of the Sims around her.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Dakota and Gina has gone from bad to worse. Convinced that Dakota will never see him as anything other than a friend, Phillip assumes her animosity toward Gina is related to underlying feelings of insecurity. He surmises that she doesn't like Gina because she is afraid of being replaced.

So he ignores the hostility and pretends like things are fine and dandy.

"She'll get used to the fact that there is another woman in my life soon enough," he speculates.

It is Lily's birthday again. With Phillip being preoccupied with Gina and Dakota absorbed in her own problems, Lily's birthday is a private, family-only affair.

Lily the teenager. She has become quite a budding fashionista, but she'll let her big hair speak for itself. No regrets, right?

Challenges Notes:

So, there was only a little bit of drama this chapter, but I'm hoping to get to the good stuff in chapter 6. Lily is a teenager now, and she is a clone of her mother. All her features scream Dakota, from her hair color to the shape of her eyes. Oh, well. Hopefully I'll get some genetic diversity in the next generation.

By the way, I know Lily's teenage hair style is, umm, interesting. But I'm trying to give her an edgier, fashion forward look without going over the top. She is going into the stylist career as an adult, so I'm trying to lay the groundwork for that path.

Also, you will be seeing more of Leo. He is the adopted son of Vita Blanche (I think his mom is Vita and not her sister Alyson). He seems like he's got potential to be Lily's significant other, but we shall have to wait and see. I did change his hair color and (later) his teen outfits. He had some sort of gray/mousy brown hair, and I like him better with black hair and blue highlights (although you can't really see the blue in the photos, it's really dark).