Uncomplicated 2.12: Artistic license

     Bonnie makes me happy when she decides she wants to keep the animal theme for her room, and we get her a bed that matches her toybox perfectly. Still, I have mixed feelings when it comes to packing away the crib. My little girl is growing up.

     Speaking of growing up.... Look who's shown up again.

     Pat ages to young adult.

     Since the laptop doesn't have SN, this isn't something you see every day, a ghost puking into the toilet. Mom ate some rancid ice cream. I don't understand how she can eat much less be sick in the toilet, but I'll chalk it up to one of those great mysteries in life. Maybe that'll be my next mystery novel... case of the puking ghost. haha.

     Dad finds her after she's finished being sick. They chat for a while. He later complains to me that every time he's getting ready to proposition her for a woohoo, she disappears back to her urn. He's still grateful for the time, though.

     Dad doesn't judge me about having Mandi staying the night so often, and Bonnie acts like it doesn't bother her as well. I'm glad.

     Sometimes, there's nothing like a little footsie under the table.

     Crazy things happen over the next few weeks. I decide to try for a different work attire look, but The Maker doesn't like it. She never appreciates it when I want to try something new. Why can't I have artistic license when it comes to what I wear when I want to work? She changes me to the one you see on the above picture with me talking to Pat.
     Pat starts driving me crazy again. Our relationship meter is to the top, but in order for me to use the imaginary friend potion (metamorphium, it has to be in my inventory in order for the option to show), I have to have a high relationship with him. Um.... hello? I do. So, I decide to chat it up with him, hoping no one sees me, in case there's something different with his relationship meter to me.
     Pat doesn't take care of his own needs. He constantly complains of being tired, hungry, and having to pee. The pee took care of itself, looks like. Now, he complains of needing a shower. /sigh.
    My sister Monika ages to elder. Wow. Levi and Sunshine being grandparents and my oldest sister being an elder. It just makes our age differences more apparent. Levi's middle son Sebastian marries Abriana Steele. I have no idea if she's related to Donovan or not.

    After Dad completes level 10 inventing, he gets an opportunity to have a new invention researched. The Maker hopes it's the robot, but he has to find a piece of palladium. That takes forever!

     Since Mandi sees me naked more often now, I start working more diligently on my physique. When Bonnie's not in school, doing her homework, or visiting her cousin Emilio, she keeps me company.
     "It doesn't really look like a house. It looks stupid," she complains about her painting.
     "It looks as much like a house as you want it to be. Who says it has to be realism?" I quickly explain to her what realism is, just in case she couldn't guess on her own.
     "I hate it!"

     "Don't hate it. It's what you're capable of doing right now. That's how your hand painted the house. As you get better, so will what you paint, same with anything else. You have to start somewhere," I say, trying to sound encouraging.
     She sighs like she thinks she can't get through to me what she's thinking. I know what she's thinking, and that's why I said what I said.
     I see it in her eyes. If she doesn't show drastic improvement in her next painting, she'll likely give up painting altogether and move onto the next thing and then the next and the next until she finds something in which she shows immediate talent. She looks like her mother with that expression on her face.

     "Don't expect to be an instant Renoir," I warn.
     She rolls her eyes, and I let it go.

      A few nights later, Mandi comes over after her shift ends, wearing that dress again.
      My heart thumps wildly in my chest, and my hands sweat a little and start to shake. I went to a jeweler yesterday and picked out a ring. I have no idea whether or not proposing is a good idea or if Mandi will say yes, but I've decided to ask her anyway.
      I hope my apprehension doesn't show in my posture or on my face. Pressing my hands against my thighs helps to control the shaking, but I can't say for sure whether or not my expression hides my fear.

      "Everything okay?" Mandi asks me.
      Dam-! How does she always know? I look over at my girlfriend's concerned expression and swallow hard.
      "Oh, yeah. Everything's great," I lie. She looks at me like she doesn't buy it, so I quickly think of something to say. "I had to get onto Bonnie today when she threw her paints off the porch into the dirt and some flecks of paint hit the house."
      "Oh my goodness!" she exclaims quietly, her hand going over her mouth. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear those delicate fingers hide a smile.

     I feel like I have to explain. "She was complaining that she wasn't immediately an expert painter. I tried to get through to her that it doesn't happen that way, that it takes years of practice to be able to paint like a master, but she just rolled her eyes at me like I didn't know what I was talking about."
    Mandi giggles, not able to hide it anymore. I plead with my eyes for her to explain her laughter.
    She tries to get herself under control as she asks, "She threw the paint off the porch?"
    "Yes, temper-tantrum like. One second, she's painting calmly, and the next, she explodes and starts throwing things."
    Bonnie sighs happily and looks at me like she doesn't know how she can get me to understand. "Looks like you're going to have an overly-emotional daughter on your hands."
    "I hated punishing her, but I couldn't allow her to get paint all over the house stucco. I had her cleaning it up before it could stain everything permanently. It'll probably need touching up if it's still visible," I attempt to explain further, but Mandi still smiles. "Why are you smiling?" I finally ask.
    "Because you're so cute trying to understand her."
    "That's cute?"
    She nods. "Yes."

     "I'll show you 'cute,'" I threaten playfully and reach over to tickle her.
     She squeals while trying to fight me off. "No, Nick! Stop it! We're going to wake up Bonnie!" Then she dissolves into a fit of giggles when I refuse to quit, also pulling her close in the process.

     "Cute, huh?" I ask and let her breathe.
     She takes a big breath before answering, "Yes, adorable."
     "So now I'm adorable?" I tease.
     Her hand lightly hits my thigh. "Quit it. Yes, so get over it." She too-lightly runs her fingertips along the inside of my knee and lower thigh, teasing and utterly distracting me from trying to figure out how to steer this conversation the way I want it to go.

     I sincerely hope she attributes the re-occurrence of my shaking hands to just what she's doing to me and not also the addition of my returning nervousness.
     Her little fingers travel north, and I turn my head into her hair and moan softly. "Is it your goal in life to torture me?" I ask low and quiet into her ear.
     "You don't like this?" she asks with a coy smile.
     "I didn't say that," I answer quickly, and her smile grows.
     She won't stop! I don't really want her to, but...

     Steering the conversation where I want it to go can wait a minute... or thirty. Besides, making out is so much better than being nervous about proposing.

     "Do you want to go upstairs?" she asks while we catch our breath.
     I pause. No! Dam- it! I want to ask you to marry me, but I don't know how to start! "No," I answer simply, and I don't have to open my eyes to know she wears a surprised expression. I explain, "I like this. It's a nice night. If you're not too tired, I'd like to stay out here a little longer." Please don't take that 'out' and say you're too tired to stay out here.
    

     "You're such a romantic," she sweetly accuses.
     "No I'm not," I quickly argue back with a chuckle.
     "Yes, you are. Any other guy would hit me over the head and drag me off by my hair like a caveman with such a suggestion, but you want to stay out here to just enjoy a simple, peaceful moment."
     "Maybe I just like to torture myself," I counter, and her smile states that she still believes what she said. "Besides," I continue, "life isn't all about woohoo."
     "It's not?" she asks in mock surprise.
     "Shocking, I know," I agree, and she laughs. Life, I think as I realize I've found a moment to steer the conversation. "But there's also eating and sleeping... and just being together. I like us being together."
     "Me too," she agrees, and I mentally do a small fist pump.

     She turns her head and gives me a swift peck on the lips. I run the risk of losing the carefully-pathed conversation in order to get more as I pull her close and deeply kiss her.
     After a steadying breath, I ask, "You really enjoy being around me? Even in my grouchier moments?"
     "You're funny when you're grouchy, and yes, of course I do," she answers with a dreamy look in her eyes.
     "Then, why don't you?"
     "Huh?" she asks with a bewildered expression.
     "Why don't you be around me more?"
     "Nick, what are you asking?" she questions with her head tilted down and her eyes watching me carefully.
     My stomach twists in a knot. "What if we were always together?"
     "I have to work."
     "When you're not working."
     "I'm here practically all the time," she points out and sounds like she wants to finish it with 'and isn't that enough?' "Is this more about you thinking my apartment is unsafe?"

     "That actually has very little to do with what I have to say." I lightly run my fingers up and down the back of her neck. The look on her face has me mentally curling into a ball in fear. What will I do should she say no?
     "But you mentioned being together all the time..."
     "Do you not want that?" I ask, starting to chicken out.
     Her little hand reaches up and holds the side of my face, and her breathing picks up speed. "Nick... Are you sure about this? I'm not the easiest person to live with." I don't believe that. "And what about Bonnie? What kind of example would we set for her? It's bad enough I stay here so often."
     "I'd like to set the best kind of example."
     "By us living together?!" she asks incredulously, and her mouth stays open in her continued shock.
     I shock her further. "No."
     She backs her head up, and her eyebrows try to meet one another above a quizzical look.

     In one, fluid movement, I spin around in front of her on one knee and hold her hand, her left hand. She gasps, and her hand covers her mouth as if to hide the fact that she did.
     My heart aches because I have no idea how she'll answer. I'd hoped to get more of an idea before getting down on my knee like this, but the way she was acting had me panicked that I'd completely miss the opportunity.
     Thank goodness, she doesn't try to pull the hand I hold away from me. That encourages me to proceed with my carefully-thought-out speech.
     ...that I completely forget.

     Uuuhhhhmmmm... it had something to do with kissing.
     "Mandi," I start and have to clear my throat before I can continue, "ever since the first time I kissed you, I knew you were the one. I didn't even know something was missing out of my life until you entered it." That's good! Pretty close to what I wanted to say. Now, what's the rest of it?
      Crap! I can't remember. Bah, I'll take artistic license with my own speech.
      "Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" I hurriedly finish, not wanting to prolong the agony of waiting.

     She hasn't moved. It's like we're both frozen in this pose.
     "Mandi?" I ask, begging her to give me some sign that she hasn't lost her sanity.
     "Hm?" she asks, finally moving her hand.
     "I'm asking you to marry me," I remind her.
     Her stunning grey eyes meet mine, and a bright smile shines at me in the dark night. She throws her arms around my neck with an exuberant, "Yes!"
     I have a tremor go through me as I hold her tightly. I'm engaged.

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Forgot to mention that Bonnie got the athletic trait. Maybe that will be something at which she can immediately excel like she really wants. I plan on giving her the overly-emotional trait when she turns teen.
Kenneth and Jeanette Bellamore have a girl named Abby
Damion and Danna Rao preggers again
Millie Davidson + Donovan Steele =  Neal Davidson
About the time Bonnie was born, Millie had a boy named Emilio with Richard Irwin as the dad. Wow. That Richard gets around. He had Cricket with Emi Irwin, his wife. With Lola Phillips, he had Angelica Phillips who later married Marco Shaw and had Einstein. Lola Phillips is also Lina Bellamore's mom (Lina being Clark's first wife that cheated on him).
^^Just putting it in since I've been exploring the family tree.