The Last Straw

There are always moments in life when events, people, and places, simply become "too much". Perhaps it's a town that's too obscure to carry your favorite brand of laundry soap, or one-too-many times that a neighbor has kicked over your trash can on your petunias; the newspaper girl dropped by ten-minutes-too-late, or your husband has an inquenchable lust for delicious insults... Yes, there are always things ever-piling on the fragile plate of life.

All it takes is one last drop to cause it to overflow... One last playing card to cause the pyramid to collapse... One last push to cause a fall... One last straw to break the camel's back.

And it only takes one step to finally, completely, tumble over the edge.

---

There was a sick taste in the back of Meredith's mouth as she opened her eyes. To her chagrin, it wasn't a dream. It was a foolish, foolish reality... And the man standing up from the other side of the bed was not her husband.


For a moment, Meredith closed her eyes again, trying to change the past all over again. Think... think... think... "I can do it..." Think...

"Well, that was unexpected," Shamus said with a chuckle as he lifted himself off of the mattress, looking back over his shoulder at the woman who -- obviously -- was not his wife. "But, I knew you'd come around eventually. Jebidiah doesn't deserve you, Mere... You were totally right to seek me out."

"Seek you out, right," Meredith thought sarcastically to herself, but refrained from saying anything out loud for fear of blurting out something incredibly stupid.


"Look... Shamus..." Meredith finally found a way to speak that didn't cause her vocal chords to squwak.

The tone in her voice instantly made Shamus' lips curl downwards, and his eyes thin to slits. It took even him a moment to finally respond with an ungrateful, "Yeah?"

"This... This can't happen again. It shouldn'tve happened in the first place." Meredith's words were stuttered, but she still was able to make her voice sound strong. "You... You need to go."


This obviously wasn't what Shamus wanted to hear.

"You pull me into your house, you lead me on, and this is what I get in return? No 'thank you'? No 'I enjoyed that, Shamus'?"

"Well, frankly," Meredith squeaked, tucking back into a corner as Shamus rounded over her angrily. "I didn't. If anything, all it made me realize is that... No matter what my husband does, I can't... I'll always still..."


She had a hard time finishing that thought, because Shamus started to hang his head in shame -- or sadness, or... something -- and the pit in her stomach grew even wider.

"Shamus, I realize things with you and Eva aren't great, but all you did was suck me into your marital problems, and help me cause ones of my own. I love Jeb, more than anything, and... I know, deep down, you've got to love Eva, too. Right?"

Shamus remained silent for a moment, but after a while, he began to shake his head. "I... I don't know. I do, but she doesn't seem to -- If only she'd--"

"Don't tell me that, Shamus... Tell Eva that."


"But please," she continued, pressing her hands together as she looked into Shamus' eyes. "Don't tell her about this. It would just break her heart further, and then... Oh plumbbob, I can't believe what we've done, Shamus. But it'll only get worse if she knows. Just..."

"Alright, alright," Shamus responded with a shrug. "I don't really want her to know, either. It's not like this was the first time-- Well, anyways, I won't tell her."

But, Shamus' words of reassurance did little to quench the stabbing pain of remorse in Meredith's heart.

---

For once, Travis was glad he'd actually left his cellphone on; that night, he actually got a call from someone he wanted to see.

"I'll be over around 8," June said on the other end, her voice sounding rather muffled and groggy over the phone.

"Are you alright?" Travis asked her, but as usual, his hot-headed cousin responded with a very animated: "I'm fine!!"


When she arrived, Travis didn't think she looked too bad... Maybe she really was okay. It didn't really explain her impromptu visit -- but, he supposed she didn't really need a reason. She was his best friend, after all.

"Hey cuz," June said with a smile as she walked up the first set of stones in their walkway. "How are feeling, today? Whipped? Has Lolly got you a collar to go with that leash, yet?"

"Oh shut up," Travis grumbled as he walked up the front steps and opened the front door to let June in. "So, what's up?


Once June walked across the threshold, she completely let loose; she immediately began to cry, her head hanging and mouth drooping.

"Okay, come on, what's going on," Travis asked, this time a bit more forceful. He knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with June if he kept tiptoeing around the issue.

"My dad... he had an aff... He's having a baby with another woman. She's married, too, an-an-an..d... Mom'n'dad are starting to talk about maybe getting a divorce."

"Oh, June..." Travis put his hand on his hip, and hung  his head a little as well. "I'm so sorry. I can't imagine... I mean, I sortof know what you're going thro--"


"You have no idea what I'm going through, Travis! My parents have never had a good marriage, never been lovie-dovie like yours... They don't even fight, or even act like they care about each other, they just pretend that everything's alright and..." After a minute June began to cool off and take a deep breath; her breather finally gave Travis the opportunity to speak.


"Look, I don't know exactly what you're going through," he sincerely began. "But things haven't been great between my mom and dad either since we got here. They're always fighting... And maybe they're actually fighting for something, but I know something bad's going on underneath the surface they aren't telling us about. I don't think they'll divorce, but it still doesn't  make it any easier to listen to."


"Oh, Travis," June mumbled as she swept him up into a massive hug. "I'm sorry I blew up at you... I don't get it. Why do adults find it so difficult to be happy?"

"I don't know, Junebug," he responded as he gave his cousin a big squeeze. "But at least we can be happy for them."

"What about you, though? Are you finally gonna do the right thing, Trav?"

"Yeah... I think I am."

---

"I've done what you asked, given you what you asked... What more could you possibly want?"


As Tatianna crossed her arms over her chest, a devilish smile began to slowly tug across her lips. "Oh... I think you know, Kane. I think you know."

"No," Jebidiah began, his sneer deepening on his withering face. "No, actually, I haven't the faintest idea.

Tatianna chuckled, but slowly began to stand from the bed. "Come, sit," she said as she ushered towards the small couch across the room from her bed.


As they sat down, Tatianna turned her head to face his, gently resting her hands on her knees to emphasize the level of her scrutiny. "So, you took care of Marc, correct?"

"Yes... he won't be bothering you anymore. Though, if you ask me, cutting him a small chunk of the money would've been more than fair, instead convincing him that his life would be in danger if he ratted me out himself..."

"As you've already discovered, Mr. Kane, I do not make decisions based on what is 'fair'. Now, I know you've delivered the 100 grand... On time, too, I'm impressed... But see, the investigators in Riverview I initially informed of your location are a little bit suspicious of why I suddenly discovered that 'you weren't the Jeb they were looking for'... And I'm afraid it's going to take another 100 grand for me to come up with a better reason for covering up your identity than, you know, missing out on the 50 grand I'd get for turning you in..."


"For Plumbbob's sakes, woman!" Jebidiah jumped up from the couch, failing his arms in the air. "Isn't double enough? You're already looking at enough Simoleans to--"

"Only enough to keep my tongue silent for a little while! I turn you in, I get one solid payment, and that's it... I stay here and keep your secret, I know that you'll pay anything to keep it that way."

"I can't pay you Simole's I don't have, Tatianna."

"Then you'll pay them when you have them, Mr. Kane! Otherwise, I am putting a call straight back to Riverview County and making sure that they 'misunderstood' my first explanation."


Jebidiah couldn't possibly understand how anyone could be this greedy -- oh, wait, yeah, he could -- but realizing how little a choice he had, he finally relented, and shook his head in disgust. "Fine. Use what you've got to set up your cushy lifestyle for now, I'll pay the rest as it comes."

"See... That's good businessmanship right there. I'll hold you to your word, Kane. Otherwise..." Tatianna waggled her brows, and cocked a maniacal smile.


As Jebidiah walked out the door and back to his car, he couldn't help but think of one, very overwhelming thought: "Man, I hate that woman."

---

"I'm so glad that you invited me out tonight, Travis," Lolly began with a smile. Travis had called her a few hours before, which he knew he'd need in order to brace for the impact that was inevitable to come in the next few minutes.

"Yeah, but... Lolly, we really need to talk."

"It's okay, Travis... You don't need to worry, I'm not going to go looking for someone else just because I aged up! I'm totally prepared to wait for you."

"Yeah.... Lolly... About that..."


Travis was totally nervous, breaking up with his first-ever girlfriend, but... Beneath the shield of his hands over his face, he was able to mutter out the words: "You may be, but... I'm not. It's over."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!" Lolly's jaw practically dropped through the floor, and her eyes welled up and widened at lightning speed. "But, but... Travis, you're my soul mate! My everything! I'm in love with you! How can you..." she slowly trailed off, not even sure of what else to say.


"I'm sorry Lolly, but I just don't feel the same way. It's honestly been over for a long time, I just never had the heart to tell you. But now, you've got all the men in the world to chase after, there's no reason for you to be wallowing after me for ages."

"But... But I... Travis..." Lolly slapped her hand to her forehead; Travis was almost sure she was gonna faint. Great.


"Please, Lolly, don't think it's anything against you... It's all me. I was young when we started this relationship, and I'm just not ready for that big commitment, yet. Maybe someday, things will work out between us--" Yeah, right. "--but right now, I'm not even half-way through high school, and you're starting a job at City Hall... It's not fair to either of us."

"I... I guess you're right." Lolly's tears finally started to drain away, but, it was obvious she felt a lot worse about this than Travis did.

In fact, Travis hardly felt anything at all: it was a long, long time coming.

---

Right after that scene with Lolly, the Kane's decided to go on a nice little mini-vacation to the beach! (My revamped beach of awesome, that is.) Because these don't really fit in anywhere else, I'm posting them up as a slideshow: there's quite a few shots of them on the sprinkler (because I was testing out angles with the Camera feature), but that's not all that's in the slideshow. Some of my fave screenshots so far are in there.

I figured it would be a good thing to post, because, hey -- not everything has been a downer with the Kanes, lately!

______________ A Day at the Beach ______________

But man, things just haven't been that happy lately, have they? Well, to remedy that fact, tomorrow's post is extremely happy and heart-warming. Until then, happy simming!