University - Round 3 - Part 1: Urele Cham House

Starring:

Arnaud Beaumont, Young Adult Romance Sim, LTW Become Celebrity Chef

Vincente Villalobos, Young Adult Romance Sim, LTW Become Celebrity Chef


~*~*~*~*~

Last round at university, Vinnie and Arnaud went to university and started in the Landgrabb dorms. When they met the Tanaka teens from the Urele Cham house, they pledged, got in, and moved into the greek house. They also became members of the secret society and spent more time trying to find romance than doing their schoolwork. How will being the sole occupants of a giant greek house suit them in their final two years of university? We'll see.

Arnaud, for one, loved being in the greek house, and he was as determined as ever to reach his goal of becoming a celebrity chef. Unfortunately, all the trying and testing and tasting was beginning to show on his figure, and he failed to escape the Freshman 15. Or the, um...sophomore 15?

He knew that girls didn't always like their men pudgy, and he also knew that if he was truly going to be a celebrity chef, he would need to get fit so he didn't project the wrong sort of image. Plus, the camera always added weight.



He even stocked the pond next to the greek house with fish so that he could learn how to make it from the very start to the very finish. Plus, he found that fishing was a nice way to escape the stresses of college life.


He started cooking healthier, more vegetables, though he couldn't give up his attempts to fix the perfect steak.



He also found himself distracted with other things...like Steffi. He met her while she was working as a barista at Sue's Kitchen, and he was immediately smitten with her. She knew about food, and she was pretty, and she liked him. He also thought she seemed like the kind of girl he could take home to his mother, which was important to him.



She had made subtle comments from time to time about family as well, and he thought that as much as he loved women, all of them, it would be a good thing to marry Steffi. To maybe settle down and have a family. He was so caught up with the idea and in thinking about how they could have a little family of their own and how he could make her belly round with a baby that he proposed right then and there, on one of their weekly dates. She was dumbfounded. Of course, she said yes. Steffie wanted little more than to find a nice man to settle down with, to cook with, to spend time with and make babies with.



But not a few hours later, a pretty blonde from his history class in those peasant skirts he so loved dropped by to say hi and ask him if maybe he wanted to go out. Arnaud knew he shouldn't, but her skin was like toasted coconut, her hair like tiny muffins on the sides of her head. She was intoxicating. Unfortunately for Arnaud, while he was playing out on the lawn with her, Steffi dropped by with some flowers after their date and caught him red-handed. Arnaud was devastated.



Later, he jumped into the pool and floated listlessly, pained that he had cheated on Steffi and upset her so much. He felt like marrying her should be the right thing to do. Family was important to him - he'd grown up in a very loving one. But now he wondered if it was the right path for him. It broke his heart a little to think that he would never have a family of his own, but the responsibility...the restraint... He wasn't sure he could do it at all.




Vinnie wasn't having quite the internal struggle that Arnaud was. True, he still missed Professor Sophie from time to time - there would always be a spot in his heart for her no matter how strange and twisted their relationship was - but it was getting easier to be with girls his own age. He never formed a real relationship with the women he was with; he felt emotionally closed off, distant, like he couldn't really connect with any of them.



He did meet one girl, however, who really attracted him. She was lovely and doll-like with her fine features and long, silky blonde hair. He knew he had to be with her.


It didn't take long for him to convince her to come over and spend some time with him, and they had such amazing physical chemistry that they were in bed in no time. And in the hot tub. And in photo booths around campus. Vinnie also found that she wasn't bad to talk to. He wasn't sure whether anything would come of this relationship, but he was trying to keep an open mind.



In the meantime, he worked on other things, like building up the members of the greek house. Since the Tanakas had graduated, pledging had flagged a bit, and he hated to see the huge house go to ruin.



He also kept working on his cooking skills. Arnaud had always been the more skilled of the two of them in the kitchen, and Vinnie desperately wanted to catch up and be able to do the things he saw Arnaud trying.



He had a brief dalliance with the cow mascot that came simply of seeing the stupid thing everywhere (and thanks to a dare from Arnaud for the cow to kiss him).


It turned out the cow wasn't so bad after all. They hung out a few times, and it cut down on the amount of pranking going on in the house, mercifully.



Arnaud, heartbroken at having been caught by Steffi, decided that if he was already in the dog house, he may as well find comfort where he could. His lovely coconut girl fit the bill perfectly.



And so did Tamara Nanale, who was more like a milk chocolate than a toasted coconut. Arnaud felt about these women the same way he did about food - they were all so delicious and different that he couldn't imaging limiting himself to just one.



Unfortunately, Tamara had a pregnancy scare after they slept together. The condom broke, and for a few panicked hours, Arnaud thought he should propose to Tamara and "do the right thing," even though he was still technically engaged to Steffi. Fortunately, things turned out all right, and Tamara wasn't pregnant. Arnaud was scared stiff by the experience and didn't go on any dates for a week afterward.



Vinnie, despite his strange ability to make friends while sharing nothing at all about himself, became a big man on campus. People he didn't even know greeted him when he went to football games or to the campus lounge. It was nice being well-known, if a little unnerving at times.



More people continued to join the Urele Cham house; mostly kids from back in Rosebud who all knew one another, at least tangentially.


Fiona Cleary and her sister Caitlin both joined, along with their beaus, Paolo and Enzo Vinci. The four of them weren't exactly party animals, but they were good students and therefore kept the reputation of the greek house up. Plus, they weren't bad to hang out with if you could convince them to leave their little house.



After Arnaud's week of solitude away from women, he finally gave Steffi a call, cringing at the anger in her voice over the phone. "Please, Steffi. Please come over. I need to talk to you." She came over, and Arnaud couldn't believe the fury and anger and hurt in her eyes. It was like a knife to his heart and a fist to his gut. He apologized over and over, tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Steffi. I didn't mean to hurt you, I promise. I just...I'm not sure I know how to do a relationship. I'm not sure I can."


"I'm afraid I'm going to keep screwing it up," he confessed, face obviously in pain. "But I do want to be with you."




"Will you marry me....again?" he asked, fear in his eyes that she would turn him down.


Maybe it was the look on his face, or maybe it was how badly she wanted to be in love. Maybe it was the fact that she knew she wanted to be with him too and couldn't bear to give up the imaginary house and babies she had with him in her head already. She said yes.



Before either boy realized it, it was time to graduate. Vinnie's best girl was there with him to see him off...


...and to see him transition into a very good-looking adult. Vinnie packed up and, with a big hug for his buddy Arnaud and promises to hang out when they got back to Rosebud.


Arnaud stayed to welcome his baby brother onto campus and indoctrinated him well into the college and greek house lifestyle by throwing a big party. "It's all up to you now, little bro," Arnaud said, clapping Alain on the shoulder. "I don't know how much partying I'll be doing, really..." Alain mumbled uncertainly, but Arnaud just laughed and gave his brother a big hug. "Whatever you say, little bro, whatever you say."


That night, Arnaud headed home, leaving Alain in the greek house and with a promise that Alain would get people to pledge so the place didn't die. And with that, Arnaud was headed back to Rosebud.



Scoring:

Big Man On Campus (Arnaud and Vinnie) - +2

Graduate Summa Cum Laude (Vinnie) - +1


[[Author's Notes: Haha, sigh. These two boys have really wormed their way into my heart. Poor Arnaud just gives me this feeling that he's a hopeless romantic instead of just a plain old romance sim. I imagine him just wanting to dive into a pool of girls and roll around luxuriously instead of burning his way through a bunch of tramps the way Jiro does or systematically devouring eligible and willing victims the way Kimi does. He had the want to get engaged to Steffi without the fear twice, even though she totally caught him cheating. Not only that, when they had the face-to-face meeting, he (read:I) decided it would be more fair if they simply broke up. She got so angry and upset, and the second she did, he had the want to get engaged again, like he couldn't stand the thought of her being angry with him. So I said fine. You want to get engaged? You make it work. I am the Tim Gunn of Rosebud. We'll see where that goes next round...

As for Vinnie, he's such a strange creature. He really only sleeps with girls then never has the want to see them again, except for the blonde from the sorority whose name I can't remember. He has wants to see her all the time, so she may appear again later in the game if Vinnie ever decides to be a monogamous romance sim...unlikely, I know. We'll see. Can't wait to get all the rest of the Rosebud teens in uni next round! Should be...utterly insane. :) I'm going to go for all in one house so I can not have a million houses to blog. I leave you, as always, with music and bloopers.

This Entry's MP3 - Special Edition in Honor of MJ:
Billie Jean by Michael Jackson (from the album Thriller). You may have been a total freak lunatic, but you sure knew how to write a good song.

Bloopers:
Stupid bubble-addict cow using all our bubble mix. // Kiyoshi Lum doesn't exactly invite new friends. //Cow eats man in ironic twist. ]]