My Own Dreams (Round 11, Summer)

It was something that they had talked about off and on, every now and then. Not really very seriously, just in a “one day” kind of discussion.

But now, Orion Gates is serious when he says to his wife, “Why don’t we look for a bigger house?”

The family’s tiny home had been paid off long ago and so selling the house would give them all profit. They can easily afford a bigger, nicer home. The little house had served them well and it wasn’t too tight of a squeeze since they had only one child, but the three of them plus a big dog did run into traffic jams at times.

Bessie is a bit sad about leaving the little house she had raised her son in, but the idea does appeal to her. “We could have an art studio again,” she says. “Like we did before Xander was born.”

So, after checking out several homes, the Gates family purchases a home on Mountain View Road, the winding street that leads up to the higher ground overlooking Pine Hollow.

Look at that view!

It’s nice having extra room in the house. They can add a few pieces of furniture that they’d never had room for in the old house.

Orion loves the big kitchen (and Leroy loves watching Orion prepare food in the big kitchen).

And Bessie and Orion do get their art studio.

(Seriously I love this house. I want to move in with them!)

Orion and Bessie allow Xander to invite over a friend to celebrate their first day in their new house. Xander invites Ian Lloyd, who, really, is Xander’s only friend outside of his family. Most people are put off by Xander’s, um, self-confidence.

But Ian knows there are perks to being Xander Gates’s friend, such as getting free access to the Gateses’ new pool.

Even if he does have to listen to Xander talk about himself all day.

“I moved everything all on my own,” Xander says. “Because I am totally that awesome!”

But one thing Xander isn’t awesome at still hangs over his parents’ thoughts.

Bessie is thinking, “Oh, no, Xander, you didn’t really just tell your dad you don’t like art, did you?”

The next day while Orion is working on a painting, Bessie takes a moment to have a talk with her son. “Xander, you know the gallery is very important to your dad. And he wants you to love it as much as he does.”

“But art is so boring,” Xander says. “It just sits there. And how many celebrity artists do you know? None, because they don’t become famous until after they’re dead! Now, just look at all the celebrity athletes there are out there.”

Bessie sighs. “Just don’t tell your dad you don’t like art again, okay? I think you nearly gave him a stroke last time.”

In an effort to help Xander gain an appreciation for art, his parents put him to work in the gallery this summer. Xander tries to help out on the register, but he’s too slow and the customers get annoyed.

“Dude,” Seth Lloyd says, “come on! It’s not that hard.”

“This is so not awesome,” Xander mutters under his breath.

Xander spends his days at the gallery, but he still doesn’t like art anymore than he did before. He’s relieved to come home at night and catch up with friends.

Finally, Xander is gaining friends outside of Ian and his cousin Darcy Sutton. His cousin Nathan Gates has been coming by and he brings Terri Miles. Nathan is in trouble for drinking a little at the Sutton girls’ party, so the only place that his parents really let him go is to his cousin’s house, which is why he’s started coming by. Orion and Bessie are more relaxed about rules (Xander got a lecture about underage drinking, but that was it), so Nathan knows he can spend time with Terri over there without the adults hovering around constantly.

Xander knows Nathan and Terri like each other, but aside from a little flirting, they still can’t seem to get things straight. They always seem to be arguing about something. “I can’t believe you recycle,” Nathan says. “Did you know recycled products come from trash? You’re basically using the same stuff that someone else has already used! That’s so gross.”

Xander doesn’t know much about relationships and from watching Terri and Nathan, he’s not sure that he really wants to know much about them. Besides, he’s still in that stage where he thinks the best way to get a girl’s attention is to give her a noogie.

Even Leroy the dog thinks Xander is hopeless.

Still, despite his lack of romance knowledge, Terri certainly likes to tell Xander all about her conflicting feelings for Nathan. “On the one hand, he’s like really hot,” she says. “But on the other hand, he can be a complete jerk sometimes.”

But it’s kind of fun hanging out with Nathan and Terri, even if Xander has absolutely no idea what’s wrong with the two of them. It’s Nathan’s idea to sneak out at night after their parents go to bed and hang out at the park.

Of course, Xander doesn’t tell his cousin that he doesn’t actually have to sneak out. Orion was still awake when Xander left and he cheerfully called good-bye to his son as Xander ran out the door. But telling Nathan that he had permission to sneak out would not be awesome.

And if there’s one thing that Xander Gates is, it’s awesome. Just look at those moves!

But sometimes, he thinks, it would be nice to not be so awesome in sports. Xander knows his dad expects him to take over the art gallery, but it feels like a jail sentence whenever he thinks about it. Why does he have to love the gallery just because his dad does?

Xander closes his eyes and tosses the ball toward the basketball hoop. He imagines himself playing in front of thousands of screaming fans, all holding up signs letting him know just how awesome they think he is. Xander opens his eyes just in time to watch the ball sail smoothly through the net.

But Orion can’t help worrying. He and Bessie are getting older and he’s looking forward to retiring. He just wants to make sure that the gallery is well taken care of and stays within the family.

“You can’t force it on him,” Bessie reminds her husband. “Xander has his own interests and they don’t have to match yours.”

“But my mother built that gallery!” Orion says. “Can you imagine someone else taking it over? They won’t love it the way we do. They won’t understand what it means.”

“And Xander won’t either if you keep pressuring him. Let him make up his own mind.”

Maybe Bessie is right. Maybe he has to let Xander figure things out on his own.

Or maybe he’s already been too lenient on Xander. Maybe this is what happens when you aren’t stricter with rules and expectations.

Orion isn’t sure what the solution is, only that one way or another the gallery will stay within his family.

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My first really wealthy family in Pine Hollow! They’re the first family to move into one of the bigger homes on the higher road. The house they moved into actually wasn’t the original one I had chosen. I’d originally moved them into this one:

I loved it. It had a pond with a deck over it and everything. But something is wrong with the lot. I could direct the Sims to do things with no problem, but any time free will took over every Sim on the lot would give me an error. Over and over, anytime they tried to do anything on their own. 😦

But their other house I moved them into works just fine and it’s still nice. The art gallery still makes a lot of money each day. In fact, Orion was able to pay $10,000 of his $33,000 loan he took out to buy the new house before this round was up. That’s also one of the reasons Orion wants Xander to take over the gallery, he knows Xander will have a comfortable and profitable life if he does.

Outtakes:

This is what Xander and Bessie were really talking about over grilled cheese sandwiches, LOL.

Logan came all the way to the park just to play Don’t Wake the Llama with his mom.

Geez, Xander, what did you do to make Audrey mad? (I really have no idea.) This is going to be fun when you’re both in college together next round!

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