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Heather didn’t limit herself to practicing her piano skill at home or at the Treetop Oasis. From time to time, she’d go to the Kasbah Arts Centre to tickle the ivories. There was a very good piano there and every time she played on it, she enjoyed how it sounded. And she wasn’t the only one. Visitors of the arts centre would come and stand close to the piano for a while, listening to Heather’s music.
In the break between terms, Heather wanted to do something she hadn’t done in ages: sing karaoke with her friends.
So she invited Miko, Akira and Darling and she also asked her new friend and coworker Joaquin Le Chien to the Lily Bar. As soon as Heather set foot in the karaoke bar, she felt revitalised and happy. Seeing her friends made her chest feel even more warm and fuzzy, while it was already a heat wave in San Myshuno. Yup, it was summer and Heather was relieved to be able to get refreshed at the Lily Bar.
She sang with everyone and she had the best time she’d had in months.
Heather didn’t sleep very well and the next morning she still felt embarrassed and awkward about the noise she had made and the fight with the angry neighbour. Especially having woken up an elderly lady (Heather had seen her in the hall several times, but apart from a polite and quick “Hello” or “Hi”, they hadn’t interacted yet).
While eating her breakfast (cold mac’n cheese... yum...), she decided to go and apologise to the lady. She was a little scared and felt awkward, but she felt it was the right thing to do.
So a little later, she knocked apprehensively on her neighbour’s door.
Angry man’s mother (from inside the flat): “Who’s there?”
Heather (clearing her throat): “I’m Heather, your neighbour from across the hall... I’d like to...”
Angry man’s mother: “Oh yes, come in, dear. The door is open.”
Heather (carefully opening the door): ‘I’m very sorry to disturb...”
Angry man’s mother (smiling): “That’s fine, dear. I’m not busy. So you’re Heather then? I’m Geeta and you’ve met my son Raj last night.”
Heather (taking a breath): “About that, I came to apologise for the noise.”
Geeta (still smiling): “That’s nice, dear, but you don’t have to apologise. You’ve been punished enough by my son’s temper. He’s very protective of his old mother, but sometimes he takes it too far. The music wasn’t that loud.”
Heather (confused by Geeta’s calm and friendly reaction after Raj’s anger): “But... Still, it was inconsiderate of me to put on the radio that late at night. I’m sorry.”
Geeta (smiling her friendly smile, then, after a sigh): “Apology accepted then, dear. Now if you have some time, come sit with this old lady and tell me a little bit about yourself. We’ve been sharing this floor of the building for a few weeks now and you’re keeping very much to yourself. It’s always better to know your neighbours, you know.”
Heather couldn’t really argue with that and as she didn’t have any plans, she sat down and started telling her tale of amnesia and meeting the nicest people who would go on to be her new friends. And yet again, while she chatted with this calm and friendly lady, she felt a warmth in her chest and she knew she was making another new friend...
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The Rasoya’s apartment was made by @pictureamoebae
When she got home, Heather’s growling stomach kept her from going to bed. She decided to quickly prepare something and felt inspired to cook some mac’n cheese. As she was in a great mood for winning the karaoke contest, she turned on her radio and sang along while cooking her late night dinner.
Late night dinner...
She had just served herself a plate of cheesy goodness when she heard someone pounding on her front door. Wondering why someone would be knocking on her door at that time of night (no, she still didn’t put two and two together), she opened her door... Only to find a very angry man standing in the hall.
Very angry man (pointing his finger at her): “Do you know what time it is?”
Heather (looking at the watch around his left wrist with confusion): “Eh, not really, I don’t have a watch, is yours broken maybe? I can look on my phone if you want.”
Very angry man (getting angrier): “It’s not the time for witty jokes, ok? Well, let me tell you what time it is then: way too late to be making all that noise. My mother can’t sleep with all your music and singing in the middle of the night.”
Heather (mentally slapping herself for not thinking about her neighbours): “Oh no, I’m really sorry, I was so happy when I got home, I wasn’t thinking about the neighbours...”
Very angry man (raising his voice): “Well clearly you weren’t thinking about your neighbours at all! So very rude! My poor mother! She’s a bad sleeper as it is, you making all that noise is not helping! So incredibly rude!”
Heather (trying to keep the man from shouting): “Ok ok, look, I’m very sorry, I’ll turn off the radio immediately, you won’t hear me anymore. Please don’t shout...”
Very angry man (turning red with anger): “Don’t you tell me what to do or not! I’ll remember this, you know! Next time, I’ll put in a complaint with the landlord! You can be sure of that!”
Heather (softly): “Please give my apologies to your mother.”
Very angry man (stomping back to his place): “Whatever.”
Heather slowly closed her front door and turned off her little radio.She quickly ate her mac’n cheese, but it didn’t taste that great anymore. She was very aware of every sound she was making and hoped that that angry man didn’t show up again. Sad and embarrassed, she went to bed.
A few days later, Heather came across a flyer for the official opening of the renovated arts centre in the Arts Quarter. The new Kasbah Arts Centre featured not only expositions, but also a small café, performances stage, kid’s corner, movie room and plenty of opportunities to create and craft.
Heather was instantly fascinated and decided to go take a look. All the opening festivities were already over and the place was pretty calm (it was quite early in the morning). Heather walked from painting to painting and enjoyed looking at the popping colours and pretty designs.
Woman standing behind her: “So nice...”
Heather (caught off guard): “Eh... Yeah, I love the colours they used.”
Woman (waving her hands apologetically): “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you. I sometimes think out loud when I’m watching a beautiful piece of art, I just can’t help myself.”
Heather: “No worries, I’m liking meeting new people more and more... My name is Heather.”
Woman (smiling a lovely smile): “I’m Anaya, so nice to meet you Heather. Are you an Art Lover too?”
Heather (diplomatically): “I like art a lot, I must say, but I’m more of a Music Lover to be honest.”
Anaya (face lighting up): “I’m also a Music Lover! How nice!”
And the two of them continued to discuss their favourite bands and enthuse about new albums. And yup, there it was once again: that lovely warm feeling of making yet another friend.
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Kasbah Arts Centre by Player_Lcarp on the Gallery
When the song ended, Heather felt sad and happy at the same time. That was the best time she had had since she could remember (ok, that’s a pretty short while in Heather’s case, but still, it felt great). Akira cheered, visibly enjoying the karaoke with her. Suddenly, his gaze turned to the entrance, his face lit up even more and he waved at the girl that just had come in. Heather thought she was pretty, with pink hair done up in two space buns and a sweet face. The girl walked over to them.
Akira (smiling from ear to ear): “There you are, I thought you would’ve been here already”
Girl: “Hey you! Yeah, boss needed some help with a speech for a fancy charity event tonight.”
Akira (pointing towards Heather and then the girl): “Miko, meet Heather. Heather, meet Miko, one of my roommates.”
Akira (at Miko): “I met Heather at the Flea Market. She’s got some severe amnesia and I just had to introduce her to karaoke. And what do you know, she’s got a great voice!”
Miko (taking in Heather’s appearance and smiling warmly): “Nice to meet you, Heather. So Akira thinks you’ve got a great voice? Let’s check that out, shall we? We can chat later, I really, really need some karaoke therapy, like, right now!”
Just like Akira earlier that evening, Miko winked at her. And just like with Akira, Heather felt that warm and happy feeling of making a new friend. She spent the rest of the evening singing and chatting with Miko and Akira. Not once did she think of her problems and she returned home way past midnight with the biggest smile on her face.
Pleased with her day, Heather started to pack up the leftover items, softly humming some song that had been playing multiple times that day through the speakers on the Flea Market.
When she walked back to her flat, a stylish looking young man came over to her.
Stylish looking young man: “Hey, sorry to bother you, but I noticed you selling here at the Flea Market and I haven’t seen you before. I’m Akira.”
Heather: “Hi, I’m Heather. Nice to meet you. Yeah, I tried to sell some stuff today, I only just moved here recently.”
Akira (interested): “Oh, so where did you live before?”
And that was exactly why Heather tried to avoid chitchatting with other sims. She couldn’t answer the dumbest simplest questions. Now what? She debated the option to just lie and say whatever place first came to mind... But she didn’t even know any places except for San Myshuno. She cursed her stupid missing memory.
Heather (awkwardly): “Well, to be honest, eh... I don’t remember...”
Akira (surprised): “Oh, that’s an unexpected answer. Did you have an accident or something?”
Heather: “I don’t think so. I just don’t remember anything before a good week ago.
Akira (intrigued): “Wow, that’s pretty tough actually. So what did you do?”
Before she knew, Heather told Akira everything about how Houda had found her and helped her in the park, about her sad looking flat and how she tried to make the best of this weird situation, without having to rely on Houda anymore. Akira listened to her story with genuine interest. Then he told her that he lived in another district, the Fashion District, sharing an apartment with 2 roommates, Miko and Darling. He frequented the Flea Market to find cheap, but nice furniture for their apartment, as even split by three, rent was pretty high.
While they were chatting away, Heather felt more and more relaxed. A strange, warm happy feeling came over her... She was making a new friend.
