Saturday, March 17, 2012

Chapter 2: Drawing From Life

Drawing from Life, a staple class in every art school in the country.

Gavin, the TA for this particular class in this particular school, struggles with his duties, unable to pay proper attention to the students and their work. What did he do to make Stina break it off with him so suddenly? Why do his girlfriends always dump him, when all he wants is to love them and make them happy?


 During the model's break, a student approaches with questions, but Gavin only half listens as he wonders what Stina is discussing with Eleanor behind him. Is she talking about him? Does she regret breaking his heart? Does she even care?



Gavin takes a deep breath and decides to face her head on, to see her and interact with her as just another student and nothing else. It's not fair to the others for him to have only her on his mind. It doesn't help that she glares at him like he was the one that dumped her for no good reason when he approaches, but Gavin bravely brushes it off and proceeds to comment on her work, showing no emotion or any indication of how badly she hurt him. Take it as a lesson, he tells himself, this is why you don't date undergrads.


Change your attitude, change your world. That's the core tenet of Gavin's belief system, and it has yet to fail him in practice. He was in love with Stina, and she broke his heart. His heart has been broken before, more times than he'd care to count, and every time he's patched it back together with an unruffled smile and the faith that there will always be another opportunity for love just around the next corner.


After the morning studio class, Stina decides to blow off the boring art history lecture in the afternoon and return to her apartment to work on her painting. Distracted, she gets nothing of value done. She'd expected more from Gavin after breaking up with him. He always went on about how deeply he loved her, how much she meant to him, but in class, he was totally cool about everything, like she'd had no impact on him. After making a few fruitless daubs at the canvas, she gives up on painting.


 Making dramatic poses when no one is around to appreciate them can only entertain for so long. After a half hour of that, Stina decides to at least get her laundry done.



While she waits for clothes to dry, one of her neighbors joins her in the building's laundry room.

"It's after noon, and you're doing laundry in your pyjamas?" she comments as Coby loads the washer.

"I can't get dressed without any clean clothes," Coby answers, "Well, I could wear the dirty ones I guess. But most of my stuff has gone past the 'wear them even though they're dirty' stage. Otherwise, I wouldn't be down here."


"You're just pouring the detergent in. You aren't going to measure it first?"

"Dude, is there a reason you care how I do my laundry?" Coby asks in return, his voice sharp, "Or is being a nosy bitch just your hobby?"


"No, I guess not," Stina answers, unsuccessfully suppressing a sob.

"Oh, hey, dude," Coby turns to her, "I didn't mean to make you cry."


"It's not you," Stina says, letting the tears flow, "I just broke up with my boyfriend, and I'm just bummed out about it, I guess."

"When I get dumped, I just chill out with a nice, fat bowl and let it all just drift away," Coby suggests, trying to help, "If you want to come by my place, I could set you up."

"You know, that's almost tempting," Stina answers, smiling now, "But I think I just need to be alone for awhile."

"That's cool," Coby answers, then, after a moments thought, he reaches into his pocket and then slips a blunt into Stina's hand, "Here, have one on me. Feel better."

"You bring a joint with you into the laundry room?" Stina laughs, "In your pyjamas?"

Coby laughs with her, "Yeah, well, you never know when you'll need one. I like to be prepared."

10 comments:

  1. Awweee. =/ Poor Gavin. I feel so sorry for him. I hope he finds a lasting romance next time.

    Lol at Coby! He's the perfect college stoner. Hahaha.

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    1. Thanks, Jessica.
      When I first created these characters for Sims 1, the college experience was still fresh in my mind. Now it's kind of weird to be writing about college students again, especially since they were all at least in part based on people I knew, most of whom I've lost touch with in the past years.

      Delete
  2. HAHA, Coby! He reminds me of one of my friends. So, so much. "I like to be prepared." LOL, smart guy.

    Great story so far! I love your writing style. =)

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    1. Thanks, Colleen! L.A. is crawling with Coby types. His character is a composite of a bunch of guys I know, one who is actually named Coby, lol.
      And yeah, stoner logic, never fails.

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  3. LOLOLOL Ok Coby made me laugh. He has a great carefree attitude...might be the weed. Still I find him refreshing and I love that about friends!

    I was surprised that Stina was upset Gavin wasn't crawling on hands and knees for her...SAY WHAT?! YOU dumped HIM! She's pretty self-important. Poor Gavin probably would be crawling back too just because he seems like a sweet guy :(

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  4. Oh geez, Coby seems like quite the character! If he were my neighbor, I wouldn't mind if he onlyl ever wore his PJ's around! *whistles*

    I can see how the break up is hurting both of them, but they don't want to show it. Will they get back together? I guess I'll have to find out!

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  5. Gavin has a good attitude about dealing with life's set-backs. He seems a really nice guy. Stina is the type of girl that is no one's good friend. She acts, waiting for the reaction she thinks should be, and when it isn't what she expected, it's all sadness and tears for her? grrrr... pathetic girl. (They make medicine for that. hehe)

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  6. Coby tends to spend a lot of time shirtless in this blog. I am shameless that way, lol.

    And you are very right, Zhipiddy, Stina isn't really a good friend to anyone, she's completely self-involved.

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  7. Why did she expect Gavin to be crying the way she left? How selfish and now she is upset.

    Coby is well hot, (I am a happily married woman) I like Coby.

    There might be a little crumble of the wall she has put up.

    Great Chapter!

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  8. Stina
    's definitely playing a weird game with Gavin. Or trying to, as he doesn't seem to be responding the way she expected or wanted.

    I'm happily married too. But t doesn't stop me from populating my Sim stories with hot male Sims, and then making them parade around shirtless.
    Shameless, shameless me.

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