Welcome, Piper! She's is going to be a cutie for sure 
The cutest! Without hyperbole, Piper was the cutest sim ever at every age and even better than her donor. Though you'll have to wait a few chapters to see her in full form.
Chapter 83: The Three Suitors
She stumbled into the club before she had a single drink. Those tall heels had less support than her normal ones. Tegan performed a delicate balancing act that night; watching each step she took in those shoes, and making sure that the hem of her short dress stayed low enough so that she didn’t flash the club instead.
On any other night, Tegan would dress modestly, but she listened to the wrong friends too often, especially when they heard that she landed a not-date with her former math teacher, Keon Whelohff. His solid, muscular frame was a source of appreciation for the female students of Stary Community School, and she just had to flaunt her assets similarly. Which accounted for the soft floral prints being traded in for little white skulls.
She couldn’t put up a fight. It was a rough time.
Keon dressed in his most club-worthy shirt and trousers that barely matched. He still kept that awful emo-cut after all those years. His tiny, pink wings did nothing to light up the club, and his fairy-blood mattered little to Tegan anyways, when she just needed an ear that would listen.
The two of them started with catching up, lest Tegan dump a midnight confession on him instantly, sober, and before midnight. So she mentioned the ghost-hunting job. He quit teaching in order to cook for Annette. Tegan had a boyfriend. Keon had no luck.
One bottle of wheat juice bogged down Tegan’s heavy frame. The clock struck midnight. Keon waited for a response.
“Tegan, you’re not still with Bryant, are you?” he asked.
“Oh Keon!” she sobbed “I’ve done a horrible thing.”
“You?”
It started with Mr. Greenwood.
“Ain’t it funny?” Lily said over dinner. “I haven’t seen a man change quite like that. But I’m happy for Chris!”
“Who again?” Tegan asked. Her mother had too many friends to bother with.
“Chris Greenwood. You remember him from the cookout, right? The old man in hot pink?”
“Oh yeah.”
“And I thought it was just a new wardrobe! It is, but he called me with the real best news.”
Lily, some months prior, greeted the Chris she knew, while he still wore his pajamas and made no effort to gain his dirty-blond hair back. He still bagged groceries to pay the bills. Lily didn’t expect him to change, though she still loved the Chris she always knew.
“So he’s engaged to the lovely Louise now. I’m beyond happy for him. They’re so beautiful together.”
“Do they have a wedding date yet?” Tegan asked.
“Not yet, but I better get my dress ironed.” Lily daydreamed of their wedding vows.
Annette barged in. “Oh please, he’ll just be another Dustin.”
“Dustin was different, Gram,” said Lily.
“Hun, I’ve been around for a while. You give an old man his first taste of romance, and soon he’s throwing himself at every woman in town who crosses his path. If I was a psychologist, I could analyze it, but I know it’s a real thing that happens.”
“Still not nice of you to crap on the news like that,” Lily grumbled.
Tegan found Annette while she was washing the dishes. As the old woman scrubbed down plates, a job she usually reserved for young grunts at the kitchen, Tegan made the grueling task better with conversation.
“What did you mean by that?” she asked. “About Dustin. I think I was too young to remember much about him, other than that he came over for coffee a lot.”
“It’s not a long story. He was single until he was somewhere in his 80’s, and then he got a girlfriend, and another, and another. I dunno. It’s a lot of pent-up rage and testosterone, perhaps. As I said, I’m no psychologist.”
“Then what did you go to school for?”
“Tegan, please,” Annette said, dismissing the comment. “Anyways, it’s a bad trend here in the ‘Brook, and I wish I could stop it. I mean, what if Hephaestus ends up being the same sort of person? It’s been decades since he’s been with anyone.”
“That would stink.” And for a small bit, Tegan hoped that he would lift himself out of his romantic rut—if he wished—and find himself a dream girl. Lou was out of the picture thanks to Chris, but the world was a vast place. And he hadn’t even gone to University yet! Franco had a granddaughter there; a thick-framed power-lifter and comely ginger girl named Jerri Arkers. And Lily got messages from her other old college friends about their marriages and children. The world was indeed a vast place.
Sure, Tegan probably harbored a silly crush on Hephaestus, daydreaming about how fun it would be to braid all of that blond hair of his or cuddle up against him and the rock-hard feel of lean muscle and <10% body fat. She harbored that as a single teenager who had only a vague clue on his real age.
Tegan had to admit that it was so sweet and hot when he doted on Piper, though.
She had good reason to deny her crush, being taken since prom night and all, but Tegan had a good sob one night over how she really couldn’t let her crush on him go. He couldn’t let it go, maybe. He wasn’t old, but aging, and if he was pining for Tegan deep down, what would happen if he never got that release? After talking to Annette, Tegan feared that, but she still went down to Bryant’s to grit her fangs and watch him play video games. Maybe get a conversation out of him.
It was a quiet night, save for the sound effects of his game, and the ambient noise.
She couldn’t forget her father, who would spend all day with Lily whenever he could, and have his eyes fixated on her. Attention on her, conversation towards her, a few hugs and kisses and playful pinches on her. Tegan twiddled her thumbs while Bryant treated his game controller more like a girlfriend than he did to his actual girlfriend.
“Oh hell, I’m tired of this,” she said, raising her voice.
“I can play
Halo instead. This is a pretty boring game. Got it in the bargain bin.”
“I mean having a relationship like this. When was the last time we went out to dinner or took a stroll downtown? You know, what real couples do. Didn’t your parents do that?”
“Single dad, remember?” Bryant rolled his eyes. “I mean yeah, he had dates, but he never did any of that either!”
Tegan didn’t have bad words for anyone until generation eight came around. And then. And maybe two other times. But that night, she had to tell Bryant off.
“I can see why he was single,” she sneered.
“And I’m okay with that being me too.”
After the breakup, Tegan had one of the best spirit-hunts in the team’s history, with the boss breaking up over a dozen containers bagged at the Racket mansion that night. She got a celebratory raise as a result.
“Keep doing that grunt work,” the boss said. “You take it better than the other grunts. But get some rest now.”
She got that rest, but along with the soundtrack of Hephaestus practicing his arpeggios. He didn’t bother to change out of his torn jeans, no matter how much they bothered him.
Tegan’s job ran into the morning one day, because no one else would clean ectoplasm off the equipment. Her coverall reeked of bleach. However, changing into her regular clothes cured that, and for a good reason, because a suitor waited for the newly-single princess after her gross, undignified job.
Hephaestus didn’t bother with mere friendliness that morning.
“Only you could look so cute after a night shift,” he said, pointing straight at her. Half-delirious from the long work “day,” Tegan answered with a flirty giggle.
“You’ve been up all night with stage work too, haven’t you?” He nodded.
“And you’re still the most handsome guy in Twinbrook. Wow.”
“How long did it take for you to think that?” he asked.
“Well, it’s been on my mind for a while,” she said. “Look. You walk around all day in a kilt, baring those lovely calves, and some more when you sit like a man and forget to close your legs.”
“When did you get such a dirty mind? That Bryant really was keeping you down, like an anvil on your chest. So if I lean in, can I kiss you now?”
“For sure.”
“So how did that feel?” Hephaestus asked.
“Like sunshine and cherry ice cream. The best things in life, basically.”
“You wanna be my princess?”
That worked too, bringing them together for a month’s worth of early mornings de-stressing after work in the way that couples did. They kept the volume down to not wake up anyone else, but other than that, the two were alone in their palace and living out years’ worth of daydreams. Tegan finally got to run her fingers through his silky hair, while he finally could caress those strong, shapely thighs he dreamed of (he wasn’t looking at curvy pin-ups before that just because).
Tegan had her dreamy, happy ending at a young age, for that month’s worth of nights being carried upstairs in her stained uniform by her prince in pauper’s clothes. While Lily slept and didn’t suspect a thing anymore. However, no Waverly got off that easily. Not even the package of purity named Tegan. She was less of a Mary Sue and more of a Pollyanna that way.
She would spend all day before work snuggling and kissing the neck of her lilac prince, but alas, work still called for her to brush up on logic. Instead of spending long hours reading about formal logic to the ambient soundtrack of Bryant virtually shooting faceless mooks while her rear was planted in an old, sagging couch, she headed to the library instead. The velvety, upholstered chairs supported her better.
And she wasn’t even alone for some of it. But Hephaestus had sculptures and a nagging Lily to answer to, so he left Tegan alone after a smooch good-bye.
The library’s solitude charmed her, though. She lit a fire and listened to its roar while she re-read a chapter on Boolean properties just to make sure that she got them right. Another few trees went golden in the autumn cold. Her phone broke the silence, but she ignored it. And ignored it again. A rapid-fire caller broke her zen, and she needed to sweetly shut them up.
“Tegan Curious,” she said, chipper and dripping with metaphorical honey.
“You forgot one of your books at my place.” It was Bryant. “I thought I’d take it for myself, but I guess you can have it back.”
“I dunno, Bry. I’m better without you. My book isn’t worth that, and I’m really sorry-“
“It’s the library’s. It was due last freakin’ month. You remember
Formal Chess: Volume Three?”
“Oh, I left that there? I can’t believe I forgot about that. Later today. Just for the book.”
In a rainstorm, Tegan met Bryant right at his mailbox. Nothing was tucked under his shirt.
“Is it inside?” she asked.
Instead of answering, like a decent human being, Bryant kissed her instead. He kissed her hard, sending her back and almost bringing Tegan to her feet. He planted a strong, wet kiss on her lips, smudging her lipstick. And she couldn’t back away, as he wrapped his arms around her waist in a squeeze.
“Why?” she asked, rain and tears streaming down her face.
“I want you back, that’s what.”
“I’m happy right now, though.”
“You’re with that little noodly old man, and everyone but your family knows that. Come on, you want a real man that won’t die of a heart attack after a wild night.”
“But his heart’s pretty fine.”
“I think you’ll reconsider,” he said. He threw her book at her from the window once he got inside.
Tegan hated her phone, but she was on guard that night, in case she needed to call for help, or if Bryant texted her some evidence of his awfulness.
Midnight. In the middle of ridding the old Bayless house of a sad, yearning spirit who cried all the time, Tegan’s phone went off. She put down her vacuum once the spirit was contained and ignored the others. Bryant’s number was attached to it.
It’s either be with me or your mum gets this pictureHow the heck did you get that?Lighten up, you have a windowIT’S BLOCKED BY A CANOPY-She erased that message. A canopy wouldn’t stop him. The house lacked a burglar alarm, and Annette was out drunk that night and too deep into it to attack the intruder. If that’s how he got it, anyways.
She could end it there and bring the text to the police as evidence that Bryant broke in and entered, and that he was a blackmailing little turd of a man on top of it.
She could let Hephaestus deal with it.
She could let anyone deal with it.
I’m back honey was her last text of the night. And Lily showed no evidence of getting a picture, though the whole situation haunted Tegan.
She didn’t have another person to turn to but Keon, who maybe could keep a secret. She had no confirmation of it. Keon gave the sobbing princess the strongest hug she ever received, Tegan nearly choking in the hold of his monstrous biceps.
“I’m just confused. Why can’t you go to your mum for this?” Keon asked.
“It was a talk we had.”
It was after the talk about Christopher and other old men, and over why Bronson was so protective of Tegan around men. Tegan got it, and she didn’t.
“This was something he didn’t tell me for a while either,” Lily said. “I think we’ve told you about grandpa Lincoln, haven’t we? Beyond his work, that is. Did we mention that he was much older than grandma Bunny?”
“I think?” Tegan said.
“So this man, Lincoln, was a very kind person, gregarious, funny, or so I’ve been told. I’m trusting Annette on that. I wouldn’t expect Bunny to regret having a man like that, but she did. She felt used and gross, sleeping with someone old enough to be her father, and apparently a close family friend too! And he died on her pretty early. It’s so odd. I certainly don’t mind that we got dad from it, but Bunny was a wreck after that, trying to find someone to cleanse her of that feeling. He just didn’t want you feel that way.”
“I never knew that. And grandma never talked to me about it.”
“I heard it second-hand myself. And that’s what Annette was trying to go along with when she brought up those old men. Older men hurt, and dad just didn’t want that for you. I don’t either.” Lily gave her daughter a shoulder-rub.
“I also didn’t know that Buck was so old. Apparently more than Annette. Sorry for trying to set you up with him.” Lily left the room after that, leaving Tegan to regret her crush on Hephaestus or be a rebel for once.
“I can’t do that to her, or dad, or anyone in the family! I don’t want to be hurt, but Heph, he just feels so right.” Tegan was sobbing into Keon shoulder.
He kept her in a protective, friendly cuddle in the back, near the bubble bar and as they sat in the mismatched sectional seating of the club. No one noticed them over the pulsating club music.
Tegan calmed down by 2AM, with the club still open for another two hours.
“I’m ready to go,” she said to Keon.
“Can we just do one thing?” he asked. She feared a kiss. She feared it all since Bryant.
“I’ve been practicing my club dancing so I can feel a little younger,” Keon continued. “And I just want a dancing partner, if you’re up for it.”
She still stumbled like a newborn fawn in her heels by walking, let alone dancing.
“Hey, why not?”
In the midst of romantic turmoil, Tegan found some solace in a new dancing partner, even as he stepped out of line with the beat. Even as they fell on their faces and laughed in a juiced haze.
Word Count for this chapter:
2,750Word Count so far:
152,520And some notes about our new cameos:
- Keon = son of Rosy and Shamus Drudge. Mentioned it before, but he was around for a long time and it's crucial for you guys to remember.
- Louise = Julian and Lita's daughter.
- Chris = Shark and Emerald's son.
