Plus One - Chapter 5: Aftermath

[deedee_sims]

Warnings: Miscommunication, wedding dresses, confusion, a lot of blushing (again), burnt popcorn, pining



"About last night," I start without thinking how I want to finish the sentence. But now I have to continue, because he's looking at me above his coffee with a curious expression. He really shouldn't be allowed to look that good so early in the morning.



"What about it?" he ends up asking.
"Um… are we… okay?"
He looks at me, confused. "Why? Did something happen? I don’t really remember much." He laughs nervously.



My heart sinks to my stomach. "You don’t… remember much?"



"Yeah, I think I had way too much. I mean, I briefly remember that I kissed a fish. That was... disgusting." He makes a face when he lifts the cup to his lips.
"And what happened after-"
"Watcher, tell me I didn't do something stupid!"



Does kissing me count as stupid?
"N-no, I don't think so," I mumble.



"Great! But what was that okay thing?"
Ugh, I really don’t want to tell him now. It was a stupid idea to bring it up in the first place. I need to say something, though.



"Nothing, really, I just… you paid for most of my drinks, and, I dunno, should I pay you back or something?" I say, wincing, because it sounds so ridiculous.
"Oh, c’mon, you were my guest! You don’t have to worry about money stuff."
"Right."



"I don’t know if you have like… a student loan or something, but if you need-"



"I don’t, it’s fine," I blurt out, my face getting hot. I honestly don’t know how we ended up talking about my financial status.



"Okay," he says, lifting his hands. "Sorry. I… I think I need to buy some new… stuff. You need something?"
"No… thanks."
"Alright. See you later, then!"



He puts his mug in the sink, and shoots me a forced looking smile.
After the door closes behind him, I bury my face in my hands.



That couldn’t have gone any worse.

***



Well, I'm not having much fun at Lainey’s either.
She showed me at least twenty dresses, and of course, the ones I find cute are those ones that she absolutely hates.
On top of that, I can't stop my mind wandering back to the feeling of Rhett's lips on mine, and my hands in his hair, and ugh.



"Ollie!" she cries out and leans on my shoulder, which finally snaps me back to reality. "You're not quite here with me."
"I'm right there, you goose," I lie and point to a lovely ruffled piece. "That dress is not half bad."



"Oliver." She closes the lid of her laptop and looks at me dead in the eyes. "What’s wrong?"
Watcher, why am I so obvious?



"Well," I avert my gaze and start fiddling with my thumbs. "Last night I went out with Rhett, to a club."
"Oh."
"It was quite crowded and noisy."
"Hm."
"And we kinda kissed."
"Oooooh!"



"And then I stopped him."
"What? Why?"
"Because I don't want to be involved like that. With my flatmate."
"Hm."
"And then this morning, he said he doesn't even remember it, because he had too much to drink."
Okay, that story just sounds as pathetic out loud, as I think.
"Oh, my, that's some twisted shit you've gotten yourself into," she declares.



"Yeah, thanks for the support." I let out a sigh. "But… I dunno. Maybe he's just lying about it to not make things awkward between us. I’ve never been blackout drunk. Is it possible to forget like half an hour?"
"Yes."
"Fuck."
"Have you tried to talk to him about it?"



"Yep, that was the part when he said he doesn't remember," I say grimly. "Maybe I should just pretend that it didn't happen at all. It'd be for the best, really."
"But he likes you, no?"
"Think so. I mean he wouldn't have kissed me otherwise."
"Wait." She frowns and starts drumming on her leg with her perfectly manicured nails. "He kissed you?"
"It doesn't matter. He kisses a lot of people." It suddenly feels weird thinking about him kissing others.



"But he didn't force himself on you, right?"
"No, of course not," I say quickly. "It was entirely consensual. At least until it wasn't anymore. But he stopped immediately, so." I let out a dramatic sigh. "Watcher, I should've just slept with him-"
"Absolutely not! Not if you weren't one hundred percent sure about it. You did the right thing."



"Okay." I put my head on her shoulder. "Be happy that you have Dan on your side and don't have to deal with all this shit."
"It'll be fine, you'll figure it out. If you don't overcomplicate it, as usual," she muses and I let out a grunt. "I still think you should talk to him about it."
"Okay, I will," I say halfheartedly.



"Right." She sighs, which probably means that she doesn't believe me, and then opens her laptop again. "So what did you think about that lacy dress?"
"Ugh," I say cleverly, but fortunately, I’m interrupted.



"I’m home, sweetheart," Dan calls out, and walks in, shopping bag in hand. "Oh, hi, Ollie!"
"Hi!"



Lainey jumps up, and welcomes her fiancé with a kiss. I can’t stop the smile spreading on my face, they’re just too cute.



Dan looks at me after he manages to detangle himself from Lainey’s embrace. "Are you staying for lunch?"
"I-"
"Of course, he’s staying!" Lainey states firmly. "We’re making lasagna!"
"Sounds good!" I say.



She beams, and turns to Dan. "Great! We can start preparing it now. I don’t think we’ll be getting anywhere with the dresses today. Ollie was quite distracted."
"Oh, really?" Dan raises an eyebrow at me. "Is that anything to do with that smoking hot flatmate he has now?"



"No!" I can’t believe Lainey told him that. I also can’t believe I’m going red from just thinking about Rhett. Fuck my life.
Lainey shrugs apologetically, but Dan seems unfazed.



"I hope you used protection, we don’t want you to catch anything before the wedding," he smirks and starts toward the kitchen area.



Watcher. I let out a helpless whine. I also wish I could just sink into the floor and disappear forever.
"Daniel," Lainey says as a warning. "Don’t mind him, Ollie. Wanna help with the lasagna? We could use another pair of hands!"



I lower my hands from my burning cheeks, and sigh. "Sure."

***



I hear an impatient knock on the door, and I put down my book.



"Come in," I say, to which Rhett's face appears.



"Hey, Olls!"



"You finally learned how to knock. I'm surprised."
He flashes his radiant smile at me.



"You see, I'm capable of development," he states as he steps into my room. "I was thinking that we could do something?"
"I’m doing something." I lift up my book. "Reading."
"I mean, like, together. Like friends," he emphasizes. He climbs on my bed, and sits down next to me.



"We could watch a movie on Netflix!"
He’s looking at me expectantly, and damn, he’s so close. I could kiss him if I would lean just a bit forward. Suddenly, I remember the feeling of his lips on mine. Ugh. Will I ever be able to be close to him without thinking about kissing him?
Probably not.



"Are you even listening to me?" Some poking on my shoulder brings me back to the present. I shake my head, trying to place my thoughts in order.
"Sorry, I zoned out."



"I was saying we could watch that new Justice Llama movie! I’ve seen it like three times, but it’s so good! There’s a part when he gets into an epic fight with the Dark Bunny, and… wait, I shouldn’t tell any spoilers if you haven’t seen it!"
"I haven’t." I admit. "We can watch it if you want."



"Great!" He shouts and hops off my bed. "I’m going to make some popcorn! Meet you in the living room!" He punctuates his words with finger guns, and leaves my room.



I sigh, as I carefully place a bookmark between two pages. Friends do stuff like this together.
Right?

***



It turns out that Rhett had indeed seen this movie more than once, because he’s constantly commenting on it like: "Oh, this is a good part!" "This will be exciting, watch!" "And here they come!"
I admit, I haven’t seen many movies about the Justice Llama, so I only have a vague idea about who is who. The plot is kinda confusing as well. Probably not for Rhett, though.



As we eat the popcorn (which is only slightly burnt) from one bowl, sometimes our fingers touch. I assume it’s not intentional from his part, since he’s very much fixated on the screen, but still, it doesn’t help my case, because it makes me slightly flushed.



"Okay, the rest is mine." He takes the bowl away, right when I want to grab a handful of popcorn. I groan, and I desperately try to reclaim the dish, which he now holds up, as far as he can. Why does he have such long arms?



Well, I’m not going to give up the fight for the popcorn, so I climb on top of him, trying to reach for the bowl. I manage to grab it, but then he pulls it out of my hand, which makes me fall down, face first, to the couch.
I think my clumsiness took him by surprise, because he grabs my arm, trying to help me not fall, but that only makes him fall completely off of the couch.



And the popcorn, well, it scatters all over the ground, and it seems like no five second rule can save it anymore.
"Fuck," he growls.



"Are you okay?" I ask, sounding way too worried for the situation.
"Yeah, but the popcorn’s dead," he announces with the saddest face possible.
"It was burnt anyway."



"Hey!" He pokes my leg hard. "It was just a bit darker than usual, is all!"
"Obviously." I roll my eyes, and he makes an annoyed face.
"Well, if you didn’t like it, why did you want to grab it?"



"I didn’t say I didn’t like it. I just noticed that it had a slightly burnt aftertaste."
"Oh, sorry, I forgot you’re a gourmet," he grins at me mischievously, and I start laughing.



I notice he’s still lingering his hand on my leg. Damn, I want him to move it a bit up… no!



Oliver, get yourself together!



"You’re going to sweep it up!" He slaps my leg as punctuation, jumps to his feet, and runs away.



"Hey!" I shout, and he stops at his door. "You brought this popcorn on us, so you’re going to sweep it up!"



"Am not," he insists. "You owe me one for criticizing its taste, so you clean it up as an apology!"
I snort. "I give no apologies. Is it really that hard for you to sweep it up?"
"Yes!"



I let out a desperate sigh. "Okay, I’m going to sweep it up like a responsible adult."
"Hey, I’m responsible too! I’ll sweep it up then!"



"Too late. I’m sweeping." I take the broom, and start walking back to the battlefield, but Rhett jumps in front of me.



"No. I’m sweeping!" he claims, then grabs the broom and tries to take it away.
No, he’s going to have to pry this cleaning equipment out of my cold dead hands. He pulls on it with more force, and I resist using all my body weight (which is obviously less than his).



"Let – it – go," I groan, and tug on the broom, but I end up bouncing back a little.
He scrunches his face, clearly concentrating on not letting it go.



We somehow end up looking at each other’s eyes, and he starts laughing, his grip loosening on the broom. I look at the scene we made, both of us holding the broom between us, like it’s something worth fighting for, and I end up laughing too.



"So," he starts, still smiling, "can I finally sweep it up? Or should we mount this broom and fly into the sun?"
"It doesn’t sound like a very safe way of traveling."



He pulls the broom to his chest. "You’re hurting its feelings!"
"You almost broke it, and now I’m hurting it?" I muse.
"Emotional pain exists, okay?"
"I know."



His smile suddenly slips, and we just stare at each other for a moment.



Until he averts his gaze. "Um, right, I’m sweeping."
"And I’ll wash this bowl."
"Thanks. Oh, the movie ended," he says awkwardly, and turns off the television.

***



"And her clothes were full of thorns!"
Rhett can hardly unlock the door, because he’s laughing so hard.
"But please don’t tell her I told you that! She’ll kill me!"



"Eh." He chuckles, and wipes his face with his free hand. "It would be a shame for you!"
I just roll my eyes, and lock the door, because he’s still recovering. Lainey doesn’t like this story, but I think it’s kinda cute, how she fell into a rose bush the first time she saw Dan. She was doomed from the beginning and we all knew it.



That’s when my phone decides to start ringing.
"Oof," I grunt, then I look at the screen, and smile – it’s Mom.



"Answer it, I’ll carry these to the kitchen," Rhett offers, and I give my shopping bag to him, with a thank you.



"Hi Mom!" I smile at her when our video call connects.
"Hi dear! How are you?"
"Fine! We just got home from the grocers."
"And how’s Rhett?"



"He’s fine too."
For a moment, I think about him. It’s been almost two weeks since the clubbing… "thing", and now that I think about it, he acts a bit weird lately. I’m fairly sure he hasn’t gone out since then.
Huh.
"Great!" Mom’s voice snaps me back to the present. "You won’t believe what happened to Mr. Weiss!"



Turns out that Mr. Weiss (our neighbor) fell off a ladder and went to hospital. I make Mom promise that she won't climb on any ladders, or chairs, or any furniture that's higher than a couple inches.
She also complains that as a result of that accident, she has to feed his animals. The only problem is that she's allergic to fur. Poor thing.



We’ve hardly said our goodbyes when Lainey drops me a message.
Lainey: hey i was thinking
Lainey: have you talked to rhett??



Ugh.
Me: Yes
It's a lie, but the more I think about it, the more I'm sure it wouldn't change a thing. He never brought up the topic, maybe he doesn’t remember for real. But even if he does… I doubt he wants what I do. And yeah, maybe I'm just a coward, and it's easier to pretend it didn't happen rather than facing the problem.



Lainey: and???
Me: Nothing. We remain friends
Lainey: k :/
Lainey: btw
Lainey: r u ready for another round of wedding dresses?



Oh, damn these wedding dresses.

---
Have I told you that miscommunication is one of my favorite tropes? Well... now you know!
As usual, we have a new voting HERE, about what should Oliver say to Lainey's invitation. I'll close it in two weeks, on the 13th of June!

This was a fairly easy chapter to shoot, and I hope I can finish the next one in about the same amount of time. I have to build some sets, but nothing too complicated. But in the meantime, I'll probably post more of those character meme thingies I was tagged in last year lol.

As usual, many-many thanks to Anachronisims for the wonderful betaing! <3

Fun fact, I actually didn't plan on making Dan appear in this chapter originally, but after talking about Columbo's wife the other week, I realized that he could make an appearance before readers think he doesn't exist XD. I promise all the sims exist who are mentioned XD.

Fun fact two: I have no idea how much an inch is, but I'm trying to write american here lol. It was centimeters in the first draft!

At this point it's hard for me not to talk about what's going on in Rhett's head, but everything would be a spoiler, and I'm torn XD. Please bear with me, and send chocolate!

Welp, I'm talking a lot! Anyway! Makre sure you vote, and leave your thoughts... anywhere, really. I'm curious about what you think, and I love to hear your speculations! :D

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Here is a lot of chocolate for you!
May you have the strenght and patience to continue dealing with these idiots - I would not.

(and great pictures/chapter as always :D)

Plus one chapter 5

[(Anonymous)]

Wow,your pictures! The fight about the popcornbowl among others, I really like that. I do not for one moment belive Rhett when he don't remember his hot kisses with sweet blussing Oliver.
Lainy and Dan are cuties. I hope to be a "guest" at their wedding.

[deedee_sims]

Aw thank you!
I definitely need strength, thanks XD They're idiots, but I love them anyway!

Re: Plus one chapter 5

[deedee_sims]

Thank you so much! Sometimes I end up writing weird stuff and then I have to make poses, but I think it worth it, the popcorn fight was a really fun scene to make!
Well, if Rhett remembers or not... we'll find out eventually so stay tuned!
You're now invited to the wedding, haha! :D

[kahlenas]

Columbo's wife. XD
I'm sure, that Rhett remembers everything from the night. He may be carefree, but definitelly has a heart in right place.
https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/469852173607886678/

[deedee_sims]

Haha, yes, Dan originally only appeared in the last chapter XD It was a mind-changing conversation XD
We'll see! ;)
Thank you for the chocolate! :D

[(Anonymous)]

Ahhh!! They did engage in some introverted activities! Adorable! I have your posebox that has the fight with the broomstick. Fun to see it in action!! Such a flirty fight!!!

Lordy, I hope Lainey finds her wedding dress soon!!!

-NikkaSimms

[deedee_sims]

Haha, I made that pose just for this scene! Too much dedication 😅
Can't promise anything about Lainey's wedding dress lol!