Maximus Eight: Sheer Panic

The car ride home was sort of refreshing in a way, probably just cause removing myself from Helena's presence was enough to make me feel better. I'm still annoyed, though. I feel bad for Noelle that Helena just railed on her like that, especially when she was new in town, and mad that Helena probably assumed I was hitting on her. One of the things my dad taught me when he was teaching me martial arts was to calm myself down through meditation. It helped a lot when I was growing up and living with Helena. Annoyingly, I still feel like I am living with her because she's so involved in mine and Soleil's life. I'm pretty sure that they're not best friends anymore. I still want to tell Soleil about my movie gig, but I've decided I'll just wait for her to text me or call since she does almost every day when she's done with class. Several deep breaths later, I am calm and collected.

BZZZ-BZZZ.

As if on cue, my phone vibrates on the rug where I am sitting. SOLEIL AVIGNON. Awesome, exactly the name I wanted to see. I pick up the phone, excited to talk to her, but am startled when I hear the panic in Soleil's voice. I can tell she's crying and she doesn't say much other than she needs me. I stand up quickly, grab my keys off the counter, and practically sprint out of my house, almost forgetting to lock the door behind me. I have no idea what could have gotten Soleil so worked up, but I have a feeling Helena may have told her about Noelle. I punch my steering wheel in anger from thinking about it. Nothing fucking happened, and now my girlfriend is crying hysterically. If I could, I would punch Helena's lights out, but I don't think it's right to hit women. I'm so sick of her bullshit and always having to fix the crap she pulls on Soleil. Thoughts of asking Soleil to move in with me come to mind, she could still go to school, but at least she'd have one less source of stress if she was away from Helena. I don't know how she'd take that though, I'd hate to make her feel smothered.

This traffic light. Come on, come on. I wish it would turn green already. The pain in Soleil's voice was heart wrenching. Suddenly it dawns on me that something else might be wrong with Soleil other than Helena, and my eagerness to get to her dorm rises even more. My heart's beating so fast at the moment. Finally the light turns green and I make the last few turns before arriving in her driveway. I bolt out of my car and run towards the front door. Unfortunately, I run into Helena, who tries to talk to me, but I don't care right now. All that matters is Soleil. I run to Soleil's room and knock on the door.

"Max, Soleil doesn't want to talk to anyone. She's been in her room since this afternoon."

"Shut the fuck up, Helena. You've done enough today."

"What are you talking about?"

"You told her about Noelle, didn't you?"

"Ooh, the girl has a name. I knew it!"

Helena points at me in an accusing manner. How I wish I could smack the shit out of her. Instead, I put my hand up defensively because I feel like she's going to poke my eyes out. Just then, Soleil opens the door. She pulls me into her room and buries her face in my chest.

"Max. I need you."

I wrap my arms around her and rub her back, trying to keep my own panic at bay so I don't freak her out even more. I close my eyes and take a couple of deep breaths as she continues to cry uncontrollably. After a few minutes, she runs out of tears, or her voice, I'm not sure which, and grabs fistfuls of my shirt in her hands. I pick her up, walk over to her bed, set her down on it, and sit down next to her. She's still traumatized so I put my arm around her waist and softly kiss her cheek.

"Soleil? Breathe. Deep breath. I'm here now."

I feel Soleil listen to my request and exhale a little bit. I decide that she needs more comfort, so I pull her a little closer to me and sit with my legs around her. She hugs her knees to her chest and rubs my neck. I massage her head to relax her.

"Max, I'm scared. I just found out some news that I don't know how to deal with."

I listen to her sentence and wonder what she could possibly be talking about. In the past when Helena has accused me of being a player, Soleil's never reacted this way. There has to be something else wrong, so I just patiently give Soleil some time to gather her thoughts.

"You and I are going to have a baby. I'm scared shitless, Max. I don't know how I'm going to do this, with school, and Helena, oh god, Helena, she's going to flip out and judge me, and she's going to tell me that you have to marry me and I know you don't want to be married, and I'm going to tie you down, and I'm going to get fat and you won't want to be seen with a fat girl, and-"

Soleil starts crying again. Did she really just say what I think she did? She's pregnant with my baby? I'm not sure what to say, other than dispel all her fears about me running away. I feel a tiny surge of excitement course through my body. I know she's feeling the exact opposite of me, so I wrap my arms around her to show her I'm not going anywhere.

"Soleil, it's ok, baby."

"You're not mad at me?"

"No, of course not. I'm sorry we weren't more careful that night after the party. You're not mad at me, are you, for getting you pregnant?"

"No. There's no one else I'd want to have a baby with. You're perfect, Maximus. The timing isn't ideal, but I'm not holding it against you. I'm just scared, I have no idea what it's going to be like and I'm already feeling like crap all the time. I've been sick for the past four days now. Not to mention, I'm not going to be able to drink for nine months? What the hell?"

Soleil laughs a little bit at her own joke, and I laugh with her, glad that she's starting to feel better. It will kind of suck for her that she can't party as much as she wants, I know she loves to do that. I promise to have no more drunk sex with her from now on, and she giggles.

"What am I going to do about class? I think I'll be fine the first few months, but when I start getting really fat, I don't know if I'm going to want to walk all over campus."

"How long do you have before the semester is over?"

"About three months, I think."

"I don't think the being fat comes until two months. I only know that because my mother was pregnant a lot. I can drive you to your classes if you don't feel up for walking."

"What about your auditions?"

"Well, I'll work them around your class schedule. I can tell my talent agent too that I'm not available on certain days."

Soleil trembles a little bit and she gets sad again. I squeeze her tighter and kiss her on the cheek.

"Max I don't want you to change your life for me. I can't do that to you. I don't want to be a burden."

I swing Soleil up on my lap and sit on the edge of the bed. I tickle her until she laughs, and then rub her hip.

"You, my darling, are not a burden to anyone, all right? I mean it. I accidentally got you pregnant, I will help you, and we will get through this together."

"Max, are you okay? You haven't told me what you felt, you just started trying to fix everything for me."

"I was pretty shocked, but then I got a little excited. I'm really glad we're not both in school, that way I can take care of the baby when it gets older and you need to go to class."

"You actually want to take care of it? How can you get any more perfect?"

"Well, yeah, I want to help you, and this baby is something we both share, so why wouldn't I? You're going to have to stop calling me perfect though, I'll probably disappoint you. Not that I'm planning on it, but I am only human."

Soleil moves around me, and puts her left leg over mine. She looks down at me, and gently takes my wrist in her hand. The sadness in her eyes makes my heart do somersaults, in a bad way, I hate seeing her like this. I chide myself in my head for saying I'd probably disappoint her, now she's probably thinking I did flirt with Noelle.

"Max, I need you to tell me something. Did you flirt with a blonde girl today?"

"No. I did not. What happened is this. I came over this morning looking for you because I had good news to tell you. I didn't see you, so I distracted myself with a game of pool. The front door opened after a little bit, and I thought it was you, but it wasn't, so I kept playing my game. I turned around and the girl was standing in front of me asking for directions to the financial loan office. She did hit on me, but I didn't flirt back. I told her I didn't go to school here, but that I was dating someone who was, and then she apologized for hitting on me. She did tell me what her name was, and I told her mine too. That's all that happened. I promise."

"Helena said you left with her. Was that true?"

"No. I didn't leave with that girl. After we exchanged names, she left to ask Helena for directions, except Helena yelled at her, so the girl left. I stood there for about five minutes, wondering if I should go home or stay in your dorm until you came back. I was irritated because I had a feeling Helena was yelling at the girl because she talked to me. I finally decided to go home because I didn't want to be around Helena anymore. I was at home, by myself meditating, when you called. I came over right away because you sounded so pained. I was really worried about you."

"I'm sorry I asked you that, Max. I trust you, I'm just so hormonal, I suppose. Ick, I hate using that word, it makes me sound like a basket case full of excuses. I came home today, feeling sick, and then Helena sprung that news on me. I didn't believe her because she's always such an idiot, but I'm sad to say it did make me freak out. It was like a compounded thing to worry about besides the baby. I probably freaked out more about telling you because of Helena telling me about that girl. I thought that if you had flirted with her, it was because you were sick of me already, and then I got scared that I'd have to raise the baby alone."

"Shh, it's okay."

"Wow, I'm such a bitch. I'm so sorry I didn't even give you a chance to tell me your good news. What is it?"

I laugh a little from Soleil calling herself a bitch. She's so blunt all the time.

"Soleil, you're nothing of the sort. Well, I got a call today that I'm going to get to be a movie extra this weekend. It's a two day job, but it's in town, so there won't be any problems with me being too far away from you."

"Oh my god! You got your first job? That's amazing. Congratulations."

"Thanks, baby."

"Ugh Max. I feel so much better now. You have that effect on me. What the fuck are we going to do about Helena?"

"Um, don't freak out, but I do have a house now, so, move in with me?"

I don't know what to expect from Soleil, but she pounces me and rests her arm on my chest, like she likes to do quite often.

"Yes, Maximus, a thousand times, yes."

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Credits:

• World of Creations by Neka Mew Sitting poses
• CloudWalker Sims Fireside poses
• ForeverHailey Creations
• We Heart it Love by Skylar
• Zhippidy's Custom Poses for Sims 3
• Tumblr: Simple Floor Poses by KrystaBoo