Chapter 4: A Very Prestigious and Expensive Cat

Emmie doesn't hear from Sofia the next day. As far as Emmie can tell, she hasn't been seen around town, either. The one text she sends - Hey, is everything ok? - is met with radio silence.

Hmph. Well, it's fine. It's not like they're friends, or anything.

...At this point, I notice the stink clouds coming off the dirty clothes and remember that laundry hampers exist in this game. So that's where those negative moodlets were coming from... Oops.

Also, it rains a lot in Simisouri. I finally buy my poor sim an umbrella.

Emmie has been putting in a lot of hours at the lab recently, volunteering for extra experiments, even doing outside reading on science subjects. At the end of the day, one of her bosses corners her and tells her that she knows too much about the ins and outs of the science lab to be a viable test subject anymore.

She would be fired, but she's demonstrated enough knowledge of lab safety and equipment to earn a real, salaried job as Lab Assistant. The gardening skills won't hurt for future promotions, they tell her.

She even gets to wear this neat lab coat now!

Despite her promotion, she still leaves work with a dangerously low fun bar. She heads over to a local bar to unwind and celebrate.

This place is pretty popular, but Emmie's never felt confident enough to come. The bar menu is more complicated than the one at the Red Rendezvous, and she stumbles over her drink order and ends up with a bright purple thing that wasn't at all what she meant to order.

She glances around nervously to see if anyone witnessed her shame, and notices Justin as he's walking in.

"Oh, good, you're here," she says with relief. When Justin raises his eyebrows in confusion, Emmie mutters, "Just go with it, I made a fool of myself in front of the bartender and I need to either look less awkward or leave."

Justin gets it, thankfully. "Thanks for meeting me!" he says loudly. "Hope you weren't waiting long!" Some patrons turn to look at them oddly, but Emmie smiles at them awkwardly until they turn back around.

"Congrats on the promotion, by the way," Justin says in a more normal tone. "It looks like you've found my favorite place to relax after work."

They talk about work for a few comfortable minutes. Emmie feels her fun bar inching its way back in the green.

Justin is extremely passionate about science; when Emmie mentions her garden, he launches into an explanation of gene modifications and hybridization that goes right over her head. She mostly just likes to grow things...

He's really cute when he's excited, though. "Tell me more about those splicing techniques," she says.

Justin swoons; that's probably the sexiest thing a girl's ever said to him. Emmie's hands get a little sweaty at the increased eye contact, but Justin doesn't seem to notice.

A few drinks later, they're drunk enough to try out the karaoke machine.

They pull exaggerated sappy faces at each other, since the song is a romantic duet.

They're not too juiced to notice how badly they're singing, but definitely too juiced to care.

"That was really fun," Emmie says after they catch their breath from laughing.

"And you didn't even mention my stink cloud."

"What stink cloud?"

Right answer.

That weekend, Emmie finally gets a reply from Sofia. yea come over, it reads.

???, Emmie types back. Where were you?

A second later, Sofia is calling her cell. "Just come over," she says over the line, sounding irritated.

Well, OK then.

I did you a favor, you know, Emmie thinks angrily at her phone. Then she sighs and calls a cab.

Sofia's mansion looks just like a Barbie dream house. Emmie can't imagine living alone with so much space; doesn't it get boring? Lonely?

Sofia lets Emmie in and immediately ignores her greeting to tend to a very needy-sounding kitten.

"I didn't know you had a kitty."

"His name is Benji. He's a purebred cat." Sofia's voice still has that signature bored affect, but Emmie can detect a hint of pride. "Descended from a line of award-winning cats. He's very intelligent, you know."

"I bet you got him because you're lonely," Emmie thinks out loud. She sits on one of Sofia's many couches, testing its softness. It's not very comfortable.

Sofia takes off her sunglasses in time for Emmie to see her eyes roll. "I got him because he is a very prestigious and expensive cat. Duh." She sits down next to Emmie on the uncomfortable sofa.

"Uh-huh." Emmie tries not to laugh.

"Anyway." Sofia says, trying for nonchalant. "I wanted to, uh. Thank. You. You did me a huge solid the other day. I appreciate it."

"Wow, was that hard for you to say? I don't know why I had to, anyway. It's not like you need the job," Emmie says. "I'm a lab assistant now, so I don't think I can keep covering for you."

"It won't happen again. This is gonna sound crazy, but. This guy I met, Al, he needed some money to pay off some bad dudes, so I went to go drop him off some cash. But once we're married, he'll have access to his.. what? Why are you lookin' at me like that?"

"I mean, I'm trying to figure out if you're joking. That guy is obviously scamming you; and it's not even a good lie. Like, what makes you think this 'Al' dude is going to pay you back?"

"He already did pay me back!" Sofia says, jumping out of her seat angrily. "His mother was being held hostage, Emmie, I was there! I saw these big-- these big guys, like gangsters, they had her all tied up, and they kept asking for cash but Al couldn't get access to the accounts because only his mother could, but of course they didn't believe him, and then--"

Emmie's never seen Sofia lose her cool like this. Not for years, anyway."Okay, okay. Just calm down," she says, trying awkwardly to be soothing. "Look, this guy - what's-his-name - you're saying he actually paid you back?"

"Yeah," Sofia says, seeming to remember her point. "Every cent! I can show you the deposit. His name is Al. Lord Albert Bernard Trickle, III."

"That... doesn't sound like a real name. But! Clearly you have seen some very real violence, so... I'm reserving judgment. Just. Don't marry him just yet? That's crazy! How long have you known him, even?"

"Like, a month," Sofia whines. "But he's royalty! He's got actual royal blood, how can I not marry him? You'd do the same if you met him first!"

"Um, I really wouldn't," Emmie says, but Sofia isn't listening.

"How about you come to one of my parties? And then you could meet him and admit you're wrong."

"Why do you even care what I think?"

"Because I'm right, duh! Are you coming to the party or not!"

Emmie doesn't particularly want to meet this "Al B. Trickle" con man, but she does want to go to a party...

"Have the party at my place. Then we'll be even," she says, trying to sound authoritative.

"Ugh. What, that shack?" Sofia grumbles. "Fine, I guess I do owe you. I'll set it up. Whatever. Now if you'll excuse me, Benji needs a bath."

Guess that's Emmie's cue to leave. As she reaches the door, Sofia clears her throat.

"Congrats, by the way." she says gruffly. "On the promotion."

Emmie looks back over her shoulder. "...Thanks."

---

Venue is the Honky Tonk Tom's Rodeo Bar and Kara-O.K. Corral by Annie Sims :D As much as I loved it (which is a lot! It's amazing <3), I'm having second thoughts about whether it fits in Twinbrook. Which makes sense, as it was built for AP. So I miiiight try to build something of my own... if that's even possible in TS3. I've been spoiled by Sims 4's relatively easier build mode ><

And yeah. I felt the need to humanize Sofia Carlton, don't ask me why because I really don't know. Let me know if you guys want to see the deleted chapter with her and Emmie's backstory, lol but the story works fine without it so I've omitted it for now.

Either way, next up: Party!