Saturday, September 30, 2023

Chapter 5.5 – December 2023: part I – What if only....

 

Oliver Freddy didn't believe in what Skip just told him about Inge the other day, he knew she wouldn't do such a thing and that she was faithful.. but still, the thoughts were getting to him... what if there was some truth to it?

They weren't married, they weren't even officially engaged, though it was kind of in the cards* already, since it was their plan to go back to Sunset Valley once their education was finished, get a place of their own, and then.. you know how it goes.. but what if...

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Oliver Freddys notes:

...what if that night she wasn't at a party over at Samanthas place.. what if Skip was actually telling the truth...

 

..no, there was no way that could be. If something really was going on between them.. I would've noticed by now. People would have noticed.. more people than just Skip. Why would he even say such a thing? No, this couldn't be true..

Of course it's not true... what a silly thing to think of on exam day. You need to focus.. she would never do that. She has always come home to me every night.. sometimes a little late, sometimes a little drunk, but she had always come home..

 

Talking to Walter about it would be no use, he's just.. something of his own. I don't know how many times I've tried to tell him he could get sick from licking other peoples dirty plates, but.. I guess it's best to.. 'ignore' it for now. I could ask Samantha.. but.. then I would come off as being to suspicious.. don't want to do that..

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Inges notes:


I wasn't super hungry this morning, but I just couldn't get my mind off of.. pizza. I had plenty of time before my exam would begin, no need to rush, or I would've done like Oliver – to just go downstairs and eat some quick bread with jam.. but I wanted pizza, so I called to have one ordered. With extra bacon, no pepperoni.

 

And a cup of coffee while waiting for it to be delivered. I just managed to wish Oliver Freddy good luck on his exam before he ran out the door. He looked a little worried, he didn't even have enough time to finish his breakfast, but I'm sure he will do just fine. I know that he knows his curriculum very well, and all those hours he spent at the lab must count for something...


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Narrators notes:

While Oliver Freddy was rushing off to his exam and Inge was sitting peacefully inside enjoying the sips from her morning coffee and waiting for the pizza to arrive someone had been taking something outside...

 

        "When will you learn to shut up?" Jonathan said, being a little angry with Skip now... "Why did you tell him that? Are you really that f----ing stupid?"


    "Hey, watch who you're calling stupid.. I'm not the one obsessing over the same girl for more than a year and not getting anywhere with it..." Skip said to Jonathans back as he turned to walk back inside..

    "Whatever, Skip..."

    "Umm.... guys.." the pizza delivery lady began "..your pizza is here..".

It's one of the 'perks' of doing pizza delivery.. People sometimes order pizza in the strangest of situations.. She had seen weirder things than this... atleast these two had their boxers on, but still... she just wanted to hand over the pizza to whomever was present, get the money and leave...

 

    "Oh.. thanks. It's probably my girlfriends pizza... just wait here while I go inside to fetch my wallet..." Skip said while accepting the pizza..

He figured it would have to be Inge that ordered it, because neither him not Jonathan had done so, Liz was still asleep and Oliver Freddy was already out the door..


Inges notes:

It's nice to have such friendly dorm mates. I told Skip I'd pay him back for the pizza, but he said it was nothing and that I shouldn't think about it. Life is just getting better and better. I have my boyfriend, I've got Samantha, and everyone else is, well mostly, just superfriendly too. I'm still gonna pay Skip back for the pizza though. It's not fair on him to have to pay for my food that I ordered...

Narrators notes:


 

..and then Inge sat down again on her spot in the dining room, again peacefully, and perhaps blissfully unaware, enjoying her pizza – with extra bacon and no pepperonis - while Oliver Freddy was sweating on his exam.. It was just then that the first snowflakes of the season began to quietly descend from the clouds above, to land softly and gently among the leaves and the grass, blending in with the morning dew until they became numerous enough to cover the ground once more in a thin, white blanket... winter was coming to town..

-- Painting in the snow.. --


After finishing her pizza for breakfast Inge wanted to go back to the spot above the fire station to finish her painting before the semester ended.. but after looking at the window, at the snow that was falling, she realized that her usual outerwear wouldn't cut it for standing outside and relatively still so long while painting..


It was the perfect opportunity for her to finally put on her new winter clothing that was delivered to her by mail order just last week. She was happy now that she had planned this in advance, or she might not have been able to finish the painting without getting to cold... She glanced at the tiny little snowflakes falling as she ran over to the sidewalk to get into her car.

This wasn't her first time seeing snow since, but it was still fascinating, it was something they didn't have down south by the coast.. and driving on it was no longer as scary as it was the first time when she was still a freshman.. she had learnt a lot by now already...
She was a little surprised when she approached the sidewalk to find Jonathan standing there, looking a little lost and confused. She asked him if he was okay, and yeah.. he was fine, he said.. Sure, he was just fine..

Now him standing there wasn't caught on camera, because I thought it not to be of importance. I wasn't expecting what follows next...

Inge didn't quite believe him as she got into her car to turn the ignition key, she could tell from the tone of his voice that he was upset about something. She felt bad for having to reject him over and over, even if it was getting tiresome to do so.. but what could she do? He gave her no choice.. and that is literally what he did, because next thing she knew, he opened the car door and got in.. just like that.. without saying a word..

 

"Jonathan..? Are you sure you're ok...?"

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine, I'm just fine...so.. where... umm..."

"Do you want me to drop you off somewhere...?" Inge was a little confused. She had not agreed to give him a ride anywhere. He had never hitched a ride with her before.

"No, umm.. I just umm..."

"..ok? Well, I'm gonna park my car on the hillside above the hospital, I'll drop you off there...." she said, thinking this was getting a little strange and uncomfortable... "..that should get you a little closer to town.."

"Ok.. that's.. fine, I'll... find my way from there.." Jonathan replied as she took the last right turn by the cinema to drive up the hill and stop the car.

Inge being who she is, had to shed a few tears while walking back to painting spot to get her easel and continue her painting. She didn't cry because of Jonathan, even though he was creeping her out a little by now, it was just the beauty of painting that got to her..

Of course the landscape that she had wanted to capture had changed drastically now, which forced her to use more of her imagination to picture everything without the snow, but it was still useful to stand here as she could use the buildings and the landscape as references to atleast try to get the proportions right, even if the colours and the light was different.

 

Once she started painting Jonathan was easy to ignore, but Jonathan.. oh poor Jonathan, he was just standing there.. Not going anywhere, not approaching her either..

 

We can only speculate about the what ifs that must have been running through his mind..

What if...

Those are some dark thoughts there Jonathan.. you don't want to do that...

 

Meanwhile Oliver Freddy just left the science building with happiness after having passed his exam with flying colours. I wasn't expecting anything less. ;)

 

..and Jonathan had finally left Inge to go take his own exam, but he wasn't looking to happy. It shall be interesting to see from the results if he can stay focused enough to get a decent grade... you need to get a grip there, Jonathan! ;)

 

-- Protesting in the snow... --

 

After his exam Oliver Freddy heads to the café across the street to perhaps have some lunch and a coffee, but the barista is nowhere to be found, so he walks over to a bookshelf instead to find some reading material while waiting for one to perhaps show up. He doesn't make it to pick out a book though, as he is approached by this girl Náddja Sohtunjok that wants to have a dance with him. Of course, Oliver Freddy is a gentleman and doesn't reject the girls wish and joins her in dancing for a short while. ;)

 

After a while when people gather in a reading group to study, he decides to go home.. He believes in being a good student, but there's no need for him to study now that his exam is done..

 

Inge just finished her painting and decided to name it "A dream of balloons in autumn". Usually up until now Inge had mostly preferred to paint in the style of realism, but she felt the grey wall of the fire station would be a little boring, so she took the decision to cover it up with balloons instead in an attempt to add some colour and contrast to the painting. She was very pleased with her results, though art critics might say that the she could've toned down the brightness of the balloons by a couple of notches to not stand out so much from the rest of the painting, but this didn't much to her right now..

 

She felt more confident from finishing the painting, enough to want to bring out her megaphone and deliver a rant about what she thought about the politicians spending of money.. Appropriate since she was not to far away from the town hall (it's in the same building as the hospital), though her rant probably would've proved more effective if she had gone just a little bit down the hill to deliver it by the entrance instead..

Town hall entrance from down the hill. If you look very closely you can perhaps see Inge and the easel behind the trees on the hill to the right. Directly up from the midpoint between a couple of shrubs and to the left of the top most lamp post.

 

Town hall entrance from Inges location. The ranting made her feel pretty good and rebellious! It was quite liberating, she should do this more often!


She stood there ranting until it was time for her to head for her own exam for this semester. Her joyous mood of rebellious youth was then quickly replaced with the usual pre-exam anxiety... She was a seasoned student, and she knew she had studied pretty well, but that didn't stop her pulse from increasing ever so slightly as she approached the exam locale..

 -- Broken old tv... --




..back at the house Oliver Freddy wanted to relax by watching some tv, but unfortunately it was broken.. but on the flipside provided a perfect opportunity for him to get a little better at repairing items.. ;)



Now time to put it to the test to see if it works.. Judging from the looks of the tv, it was a pretty old model, so it was no wonder it broke.. You don't find tube tvs very often anymore...

 

...but this one still had some life left in it, as he sat down to watch another episode of a crime/drama series that was currently airing while waiting for Inge to finish her exam.. Judging from the cars and one of the main localities being a VHS rental shop (with flickering tube tvs...) he assumed it had to be cast in the late 1980s or something thereabout.


Of course, watching crime dramas set in an era when those tube tvs where at their height makes you hungry, so he went into the kitchen to prepare his favourite meal.. hot dogs, while his other favourite hot dog was just on her way home after passing her own exam with flying colours as well..

 

Oliver Freddy had just finished eating by the time she made it home to go upstairs and admire some of her older paintings, while Inge was downstairs finishing a few more chapters on her science fiction novel, receiving another 14 simoleons from the publisher.

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Oliver Freddy was really proud of the pictures she had painted, and it looked like all his worries about their relationship from this morning was gone for now. Soon it would be time for them to return to Sunset Valley for christmas, but first...

Inge got a party invitation from Jefferey Dean again, and just to make sure Samantha would be there with them, she gave her a call as well to invite her over before going the three of them went to the party together.

-- Last party of the semester.. --

 

Alright, everybody on board, let's go!

 

Of course it was a swim suit party. Bet you noone was gonna use the pool now, with everything covered under almost half a metre of snow, but that's no excuse to have a bunch of people wearing next to nothing over for a fun night! ;) Inge was being sensible this evening though, passing the beer keg in the corner and going straight for the coffee machine to brew enough cups to last her the entire night.

 

The party went by as they usually did with plenty of dudes wanting to entertain by playing guitar, hoping to attract a scantily clad woman for the night I suppose... while Inge and Samantha spent some time in the kitchen discussing art, before going out into the living room to dance together.


Inges thoughts are in the right place, so Oliver Freddy need not worry. She doesn't care about the guitar playing guy or anyone else really.


Inge wanted to do a trivia test. Samantha wasn't all that good with trivia though, so she excused herself afterwards saying she was a little tired after the exam, and thought it was best to go home and get some sleep, before she went out the door and walked up the hill to the sorority dormitory to go to bed for the night.

 

..well, after stopping for a while to play with a heap of leaves or something, because, hmm, why not..?


With Samantha gone Inge wanted to find Oliver Freddy and go home as well, but was excited to find him upstairs in a bedroom where he had been standing looking at some team pictures on the wall.


Perfect opportunity for Inge to talk about babies.. hoping he would take the hint... he didn't catch on to it at first, but..

 

Maybe if she slipped her hands into his again he would get it...

 

..but Oliver Freddy is steadfast and not giving in, or maybe he's got other concerns. Instead he runs an inkblot test on her.. 

    "What does this remind you of?" Her answers were satisfactory as they revolved around stars and celebrities.. if she had answered Jonathan, there would have been a problem!


She went for a romantic hug, but he just didn't appear interested in initiating anything that went beyond throwing a rubber duck at her to test her reflexes.


    Now she did appreciate that he was a responsible kind of guy that would use rubber, but... not now, so she got bored with it all and said she was taking them home for the night.. Such a let down! "Why lure me upstairs into this bedroom if we're not gonna..!" she thought to herself while heading for the door..

...they've done it on this very bed once before...it was even him that suggested it then, but she guessed he must've forgotten..



Returning to their lot made him cheerful, but by then it was to late... Inge had already decided that going to straight to sleep was the only option... The feeling wasn't there anymore right now...

 

From his perspective it was pretty clear, after she had tried to romance him earlier what she wanted to do, as he followed her up the stairs to their bedroom...

 

..and he was getting a little hopeful when she started undressing, but then she just went to sleep..

So... a little disappointed and confused, he could only go to sleep as well.. he knew that if he tried to wake her up again, she would probably be a little mad, so.. not the best of ideas.. this could have his head spinning again.. was she starting to lose interest..? Was she really involved with Jonathan..? No, that couldn't be possible.. Or maybe, maybe...

 

If only he could read her mind, or know what she was dreaming... if only...

 

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* This sounded so much like Norwenglish when I wrote it, I wasn't sure if it was a common saying in English, but since the Cambridge Dictionary has it listed, I suppose it is? Writing in English when it's not your native tongue... ;)

 

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