In the Spaces in Between



Richard and Alan Gold are 21; Angel Go, Danny Tarro, Ivy Pitts and Julie Beckett are 19; Anna Phoenix is 22; Candice Marsh is 20

Soundtrack: "Something's Always Wrong" - Toad the Wet Sprocket

June 2026 - SSU Semester 2.2

SSU Previous update here



Angel jumped as the door slammed shut behind Richard. "Where's Alan?" he demanded.


"Dining room," said Angel. He was though the door before she'd finished speaking

"They already knew," he said, sitting down heavily opposite his brother.


 "I have spent literally months building myself up to tell our parents that I'm gay... and they already knew!"
"Of course they knew," said Alan. "Probably, everybody does."
"What?!"
"Come on, Richard... all the crushes you had on other guys in high school. It wasn't hard to work out."
"Was I that obvious?"


Alan nodded.  "Yeah. Really obvious."
"But... but if you knew that they knew, why didn't you tell me? Why did you let me go through trying to tell them?"
"Like you said, you were building yourself up to it... I didn't want all that effort to go to waste. And anyway, isn't it some sort of obligitary gay rite-of-passage, coming out to your parents... Ow!"


He rubbed the side of his head where Richard had hit him.

"Well, I guess there's one good thing, I was able to introduce them to Steven right away." Richard said after a few minutes.
"They liked him?"
"I think so."
"So... you're really moving back to the city?"


"Yeah, Steven's found us an apartment, my enrollment at RCT has been accepted for next semester."
"You know," said Alan, "this will be the first time we've ever lived apart."
Richard looked at his twin thoughtfully. "That's... kinda huge, isn't?"
"Yeah..."
"You're not upset that - "


Alan jumped up from his chair. "Congratulations, man," he said. "I'm glad everything's worked out so well."

----

Richard wasn't the only one preparing to move out.


"You don't have to do this," Ivy said. "Your grades aren't that bad. Hell, you got a B last semester!"
"That was just luck," said Danny, pushing gently past her to grab a handful of clothes. "Have you seen my grades so far this semester? If I stay, I'll be expelled anyway. It's better I just quit while I can."

He wished he could have just done this when she was at class, or home for the summer with her parents or something. Just let her come back to an empty room. It hadn't seemed fair to do that to her... but, really, was this any better?

"What about us?"


"Ivy, there is no 'us'. It's over, its been over for a long time."
Ivy, Please, don't make me do this...

"Whatever's wrong, we can fix it."
"Ivy, please - "
Don't make me tell you..


"I'll do better, I promise! Richard's moving, so I won't be spending - "
"Ivy - "
You shouldn't have to hear it, not ever...

"I won't complain about you going home for weekends. I'll - "


"Ivy, I slept with Candice."
"What?"
"I - I slept with Candice. We were both unhappy, and it just... kind of.... " he trailed off awkwardly.
... and I can't even say I'm sorry it happened. Because, I'm not.


"You're right," Ivy said coldly. "It's been over for a long time." She turned and walked briskly out of the room.
"Ivy, wait!"
She slammed the door as she left.
"Damn it!" Danny slammed his fist hard into the wall.


A long time passed before he went back to packing up the last of his things.

----

Anna looked up from her own packing when Ivy ran past her bedroom window and down the street. She started to go after her, but Julia stopped her.
"It's probably not a good time."


"But... she looked upset!"
"I know Danny had some stuff to talk to her about... I think it's best we give her some space right now."
"Ok... " said Anna, although she didn't sound at all convinced.
Julia drew her attention back to the pile of books. "Is this yours or is it mine?"


Anna shrugged. "You want it?"
"I don't remember reading it."
"Nor do I." She tossed the book on the bed with a little laugh. "This is so weird"
"What, the book?"


 "No, this!" She gestured around the room. "I'm actually graduating. I'm finally going to live in the city. And have money. And a life!"


"Well, what do you call this?" Julia asked. "Life here isn't that bad, you know."
"Easy for you to say - you're engaged, you've got it all sorted out."
"What, do you wish you were engaged, too?"


"Hell, no! But I want something more than I've got here... there's a whole world out there, and now I'm finally going to be a part of it."
----

Danny didn't stop to unpack the car when he got back to Richmond. "I don't feel well," he said, turning to Candice. "Can I go lie down on your bed for a while?"


When she nodded, he walked up the stairs without another word. As the evening passed, he never came back down.

It felt strange to Candice, knocking on her own bedroom door, but it seemed like the right thing to do.


He was lying with his back to the door. She thought he was sleeping at first, until he looked over his shoulder, just enough to acknowledge her presence, before turning back to the wall. In the half-light, she could see the dampness on his face.


"I told Ivy about us," he said softly, staring at the wall. "Its over now."
She didn't reply. There was nothing to say.


Instead, she kicked off her shoes and climbed onto the bed behind him. She wrapped her arm tightly around him, and held him until they both fell asleep.

----

So... big changes at SSU!

This is the moment that pretty much killed Ivy and Danny's relationship.



It happened right back here, after Danny and Candice's first kiss. He barely rolled any wants for Ivy after that.  I guess they just weren't right for each other, although it really was like she didn't want to see it. I mean, my usual way to have one sim 'tell' another that they've been unfaithful, is to have the sim kiss the other in front of their partner. Three times I set up the situation for Danny, Candice and Ivy... and each time, Ivy walked out of the room before I could get the other two to kiss. Then this happened!



... yeah, even during the kiss she was still thinking romantic thoughts... but that changed pretty quickly, of course. But I figured Danny had to practically hit her in the face with it to make her see, which is why I thought that song fits them - one person seeing the relationship falling apart, and the other one completely oblivious. 

I'm kinda sad because I did like them as a couple.  But I think even if Candice hadn't come into the picture, there was too much against them, different backgrounds, the fact that she couldn't relate to his sense of responsibility to his family. Just like there was too much against his being at college.  In-game, he rolled lots of wants for his family, and very few to study etc, and he was headed for academic probation again as he barely had anything on the grade bar thing.  His aspiration level bar was in the red, too. This is a sad ending, but a realistic one for someone in his position.

On a happier note - first graduation on the blog! Anna barely made it though - she's a romance sim with very little interest in study, and her GPA was 2.8. She graduated, though, and she's moving to Redwood City to pursue a career as a fashion designer.

Graduation portrait:



 With her parents:



And a family shot:



Anna with her parents, Allie and Jimmy Phoenix, and her brother Nicky, who will be starting college next semester.


One more thing: It might seem like a bit of a cop-out that Richard's parents knew, but I have another sim who'll be coming out to their parents in the near future, and that won't go anywhere near as smoothly. I did this with Richard because it might have felt like telling the same story twice otherwise.

SSU Semester Two Grades:


Anna Phoenix - C (graduated)

Ivy Pitts - A+
Julie Beckett - A+
Alan Gold - A+
Richard Gold - A+ 
Angel Go - B

Lewis Gold - B
Matthew Langerak - C+
Marie Centowski - C+
Amaya London - C

Comments

  1. Sometimes that happens that everyone knows, but won't say anything :) I'm glad they broke up, they were not a good match Ivy didn't understand him.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, like I said, I think even without Candice, things probably wouldn't have worked out for them in the long term. They just weren't suited to each other.

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  2. Yeah, that happens sometimes with gay kids though. The parents just know. Sometimes it's because the kid has been a bit obvious with crushes and the like and I think sometimes the parents just get a feeling. Having different coming out experiences in the story is a good thing. :)

    I feel bad for Danny and for Ivy. But yeah, not a good match, I guess. What about Candice though? I don't remember enough about her to say but is she likely to be any more understanding about Danny's responsibilities?

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    Replies
    1. I think Candice would be more understanding - she's got two kids at a young age, and she's from a hard background like him. She'd have different expectations. (In-game, Ivy is more playful and outgoing, Candice more serious, as is Danny)

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  3. Finally, after a week, I'm caught up. I said I would. :)
    LOL at Richard! Maybe he wasn't as discreet as a younger man, he sure had me fooled until Ivy's revelation.
    My heart kinda breaks for Ivy. Those two really needed to talk. Poor communication kills, and this relationship is one of its victims. It might not have lasted either way, but I think if Danny had come to Ivy at the beginning of the semester, they could've at least broken up more amicably. I do agree though that Candice looks like the better match though.
    Maybe Danny can do adult learning later? I'm so afraid of my sims flunking out of college, and ruining my perfect record. LOL But seriously, I've got sims going to college and these three are notorious for not doing their homework. I may have my first dropouts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for taking the time to read it all! Hope you enjoyed it.

      Most young people aren't as discreet in their crushes as they'd like to think they are :)

      You're right, the break-up could have gone a lot better if they'd talked more. Good luck with your college sims! I found it a bit boring to play with everyone succeeding, so I made some 'rules' to make it a bit harder. For example, my sims only study if they have a want to study, or a want dependent on it (eg Dean's list). Also I used a mod to reduce my semesters to two sim-days, so that I'm not playing them significantly more than other households in my hood. It makes it a lot more challenging, but I like it that way :)

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