Sharing the Blankets, Part 1, 2015

Remar, summer, 2015
Ming Wuu is 29; Si'Enya Warwick is 23; Elphy Mendenhall is 22

That summer after graduation, Elphy moved in with Ming and Si'Enya. She started her nursing job immediately and made a note to ask the hospital about changing the nursing uniforms. She looked like she should be scrubbing toilets.

She was still seeing Andrew and he was still working at the architecture firm as an apprentice. He needed to start his masters program soon if he wanted to be anything more than just an apprentice. He had moved to his own apartment and had brought a small dog at the local shelter. 

Elphy wasn't sure the dog liked her, so for the most part, Andrew left it at home whenever he came to visit her. She had the smallest room in the apartment, the cursed room, according to Ming. Elphy didn't think she would mind as much if the curse struck her. She felt like she had wasted her time with Erricson and his sudden change of heart still struck her as odd. However, she wasn't one to mull about the past.

"Do I have to dump Andrew and start dating a celebrity if I want to stay in this apartment? Si'Enya's with a rock star and you're with a basketball player." she joked, after finding out that Ming was dating basketball star, Benjamin Endeavor. 

"We are not dating," Ming stressed.

"Yea," Si'Enya nodded. "I made that mistake too. They are merely sleeping together."

Which was true. Ming loved that Benjamin didn't require anything more from her. She wasn't ready to settle down and pop out babies like her best friends. She was almost 30 and if it wasn't for her older brother, the favored son of traditional kimikurian parents, and his four children, she was sure her mother would have nagged her for children by now. However, her parents always knew that she was the rebellious one of the twins. She refused to be docile, submissive and quiet like good little girls should. Instead, she left Kimikuria after graduation and never looked back. 

Children were not impossible, but it just wasn't something Ming thought about. She didn't think that children were the mark of adulthood. Instead she enjoyed having her figure nice and tight. She enjoyed her job, managing the books and watching numbers behave like they should. She enjoyed accountating because it was rational and expected, no surprises. Except when a coworker wanted to listen to her music. Who does that anyway? Sharing headphones is a quick way to get ear fungus. So she lied about what she was listening to and her coworker left. Interestingly enough, she felt inspired by her lie and was even more productive, which earned her a bonus of $250. 

She put most of it in her account, but saved enough for a nice post workout lunch at Mr.Cho's, or so she thought.

Halfway through the meal, her server spilled salad all over her. To make matters worse, she didn't even order salad and there wasn't any other sim in the restaurant. 

She still swears that he did it on purpose, perhaps hoping that she would strip a little. Ha! She was over her days of stripping in  public, but she did recognize the waiter as one of her brief flings...perhaps he still held a grudge. 

Maybe it was the smell of vinegar staining her favorite workout outfit, or maybe it was the fact that her two best friends had traded their social lives for children, sticky fingers and sharing the blankets with a long term partner. Whatever it was, Ming knew something had to change, she was almost thirty for goodness sakes.

While Ming was having a post-quarter life crisis, Si'Enya was nearing the end of her doctoral program. She spent many late nights that turned into early mornings studying and writing. She had one too many  sleepy breakfasts of raw breakfast pastries because she didn't heat them long enough.

It was worth it in the end, when she saved her dissertation for the final time and defended it before her committee. She was now Dr. Si'Enya Warwick, with a doctorate in biology with an emphasis in entomology. She also finished her program in the fastest time ever known. She could thank her heavy course load and long nights spent writing while her boyfriend was on tour. When you had a nonexistent social life, except through virtual phone calls, it was easy to complete a dissertation in record time. She had accepted a post-doc position with the university to continue her research.

To celebrate, Trevor took her to her favorite bistro for dinner. Si'Enya could have eaten at a local pizza joint for all she cared, as long as she was with Trevor. Their time together was so fleeting these days with his tour and his second solo album in the works, not to mention Aerial Bionic's third studio album and their tour.

The celebrated with champagne and ignored the stares of the fellow diners who were amazed to see a rockstar there. Trevor was used to the camera phones discreetly aimed in his direction and he welcomed the good natured curiosity of his fans, as opposed to the intense tracking of the paparazzi. 

As they lingered over their meals, Trevor turned somber. Si'Enya thought nothing of it since they were not big talkers. In fact, some of their favorite moments include just being together, silent and observing life around them.

"So, Dr. Warwick, may I ask you a question?"

Si'Enya grinned, her head light from the champagne bubbles and feeling a little south of tipsy. "Anything."

"I love you," he stumbled as the words fell out of his mouth.

Si'Enya grinned, "I love you too."

He reached over and grabbed her hand. "I've been thinking about how to say this for the last few weeks. I've even practiced it in my head in order to get the words just right...but now...now I'm speechless."

Si'Enya regarded him once more. She noticed that his hands were shaking and she leaned in to kiss his cheek. The slight smell of whiskey confirmed her suspicions that he was nervous. She smiled and seeing the love in her eyes helped give him the confidence to continue.

"I...uh...you...uh...will you-"

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part two coming soon :)