Chapter 36: That Guy

Instead of going home after school, Griffin is going home with Lucinda Merrick.

The stated purpose of the visit is to hang out and do homework.

But a strong attraction has been developing between Griffin and Lucinda, and as soon as her brother Silas wanders off to play on his own and they find themselves alone, their conversation turns to flirtatious banter.

"We aren't that related, Griff," Lucinda sighs. Lucinda is a Merrick, and she and Griffin both have Beau Merrick as a great-grandfather.


"In Victorian novels, people more closely related than us get married," Griffin agrees. But while the young couple have tentatively agreed to move forward with their romance, neither wants to tell anyone in their families about it.

They try to keep it a secret, pretend they are just friends, people who see them together quickly figure out what is going on between them.


"Archer, I think your brother is flirting with Lucinda Merrick," Megan observes, interrupting a dance. "Don't turn around!" she exclaims as Archer starts to turn his head, "They'll know we're talking about them."


Despite Mega's warning not to look, Archer got a glimpse of Griffin and Lucinda. 'I don't think they'd even we notice if we both just stood staring at them. They seem pretty wrapped up in each other."

Archer keeps an eye on his brother, and when Griffin disappears into the restroom, he approaches Lucinda to ask about the relationship. Griffin usually tells him everything, so he's surprised he would keep a girlfriend a secret.


Cornered, Lucinda admits the truth, she and Griffin have gotten romantically involved.


"How serious are you?" Archer wants to know.


"We're afraid of what people will say, because of the family relationship," Lucinda says, "We might not be able to ever really be serious."


Archer waves away her concern, "That's hardly an issue. Not in this town. But..you're a vampire. I don't want you sucking my brother's blood."


Lucinda's pale skin flushes angrily, "For one, I can't do that until I'm mature. And two, what Griffin and I do once we're adults will be none of your business."


"My little brother will always be my business," Archer answers. 

On his last day before he graduates, Archer visits Megan for one last teenage make out session. Despite a few bumps on the road, they've gone steady throughout high school.


"Archer, are we going to stay together when you graduate?" Megan asks when they come up for air, "Are we going to get married?"


"Yeah, sure, Megan," Archer promises half-heartedly, "We'll get married as soon as you graduate." That's what everyone does, after all.

The next day, Archer becomes a young adult.

That night, he goes out to party, finally free of the curfew that every teen in Twinbrook is subject to. He buys a drink for Sharita Lillard, who recently moved into town.

It's his birthday, and Archer wants to celebrate.

He and Sharita spend a few hours in the club's hot tub until the club closes in the early morning hours.

Sharita invites him back to her place to continue his birthday celebration.

They celebrate until late into the afternoon of the next day.


"We should do this again soon," Sharita sighs as Archer gets ready to leave.


"Sure thing, Sharita," Archer promises.

Before he goes home, Archer stops at the Red Rendezvous for a drink. The place is largely dead, except for his aunt Kalilah McDermott, who immediately lays into him about where he's been all night.


"Your parents called everyone they knew trying to find out what happened you," she informs him.


"Someone told them where I was, I suppose," Archer answers, not looking away from his drink.


"Darren Drudge saw you going home with that new girl girl...Sharona?"


"Sharita," Archer corrects her, "And this is really none of your business."


"But what about Megan Curious-Kindle? Aren't you going steady with her?"


Archer sighs. He came here instead of going home to delay this inquisition from his mother, and now he's getting it from an aunt he barely knows. Kalilah is a McDermott by marriage to Sonny McDermott, a grandson of Wyoming McDermott. Her relationship to Archer is on his father's side; she's Drew's younger sister. 


"Again, none of your business," Archer answers, and quickly finishes his drink. He might as well go home and face his mother rather than put up with this any further.

Briar questions him as soon as he gets through the door. "Where were you all night? Do you have any idea how worried we were?"


"I stayed with a friend," Archer explains, "You didn't need to worry."


"You could have called and told us."


"At 4 a.m.? I didn't want to wake you. I expected to be home in the morning, anyway. But I...overslept."


Briar rolls her eyes. "I'm not an idiot, Archer. You were out with a girl."


"And I'm a grown man, Mom. You can't hold me under a curfew."

After the confrontation with his mother, Archer makes himself another drink.


"You spent the night with Sharita Lillard? You know everyone in town knows about it, right? I thought you were going to stay with Megan and get married when she graduates," Griffin says.


"I am," Archer answers, "I'm just having a little fun in the mean time."


"Don't be that guy, Archer," Griffin sighs, "I'm so disillusioned."


Challenge Notes:
Generation 9 has begun. To recap the roll, it's couple with 5 kids (heir is child #4), Law Enforcement (spy) career with Farmer as secondary. The goal is property mogul and Misc. Fun is Partier.
I already got Archer into his career and have bought partnerships in the bookstore and theater. Next I'll have him buy a venue, probably the Red Rendezvous. The family has boodles of money, Drew takes in 46k a week in royalties.
Megan will become a YA in a couple of days.
Archer's birthday celebration at the club was actually a party (an epic party, lol) though I treated in the blog as just a night out. So that's one down.
Drew has reached level 9 of the writer career. He'll be an elder in 1 day. He only needs to write 2 masterpieces to each level 10. They take about a week to write, so I think he can do this before he dies. He has sacrificed any kind of life for this, lol. He writes all day,  with a few breaks to get the fun meter up once his stress level maxes out. I've given him all the happiness rewards for his needs (Hardly Hungry, Steel Bladder, Trance Sleep, etc so he doesn't have to get up from writing to eat or pee.) 
Griffin will be a YA in a few days. He and Lucinda are only Romantic Interest rather than going steady. I'm going to leave it up to story progression to decide where that relationship goes after he moves out. (With all my other spares who had steady relationships, story progression married them up as soon as they were both YA.)