Generation 2, Chapter 3: Sizzling magic tricks, flying fire batons and the ghost of Love

My fists are shaking as they hang next to my body. It's taking every ounce of me not to lift it up and punch someone. The guy Bridget was with sneakily gets up and collects his clothes, gliding past me quickly. I don't spare him a second look, focusing my eyes on my sister before me, seeing as she's the one who didn't abide by my rules.

"Bridget, I gave you a chance. I took you in, let you have my bed for a night, let you sleep on my couch and eat my food, watch my television, heck, I would even have let you borrowed my car. You could have started a new life here, with a new job and showing off your talents. All I asked for in return is that you don't go crazy. And that's exactly what you did: Grab a random guy off the street and sleep with him. Are you proud of yourself? 'Cause I sure am not. Get out of my house, get out of my life."

"Kaylin, please, you're being irrational! I swear I didn't sleep with him, we were practicing poses for a photo shoot. I could have gotten money! But you just chased him away, and also my chance of becoming famous in a instant. So all of it-"

"Don't blame this on me, Bridget," I interrupt her. "You could have done it at his apartment, where you would have a bed that's not going to be slept on by someone else."

I watch on as Bridget's eyes sadly look across the room, outside the window to the streets; a place that can potentially be her home tonight.

"Again, I'm sorry. Your wasting your talents, Bridget, and that's why I can't let you live in my home anymore. You need to get a job, and quickly too."

Gesturing to the door, I lead Bridget out the apartment and down the elevator. Just as she's about to step outside into the cold, treacherous night, she pauses.

"You said I need to use my talents, right, then I can live with you again?"

"Well, yeah. Mom placed the responsibility of changing you into a better person on me, so I have to do something good."

"Um, okay, I didn't need all that jibber-jabber," Bridget raises an eyebrow, "but anyways. I could use my talent of deception."

"Talent of deception?" I frown, intrigued by her suggestion. What talent could that be?

"You see this rather large coin? Now, see how I make it disappear..." Bridget closes her hand around the simolean, then slowly opens her hand, lifting one finger at a time. Much to my surprise, it's gone.

"Alright, so you made a coin disappear into thin air. A lot of people can do that," I point out, unimpressed by her show.

"Oh, but what's that behind your ear..."

"Bridget, there is absolutely no chance that your gonna pull that from behind my ear. I would know if something was tucked behind...," Just as I'm halfway insulting Bridget for her stupidity, she pulls out the gold coin from behind my ear, stopping my sentence and its meaning.

"You were saying what, sis? That your observant? Guess your not so observant as you thought, huh?" my sister openly mocks me with the coin, a huge smile plastered on her face.

"Alright, so your good at doing magic tricks. But Bridget, a couple of parlor tricks isn't going to get you a job. You need education for a good job."

"What if I turn it into a career?" she suggests. "Then I'll teach myself some more advanced tricks. I can't start out training in the park, earning money while I'm at it. I think I'll do that."

I sigh, leaving Bridget alone with her new idea of becoming a magician.

"Hey, Kaylin, one question..."

"What now, Bridget?"

"Do you have some clothes for me? It's pretty cold me for me to be standing here  in lingerie with an open door blowing in night air."

The next morning, I dress in a warm sweater with a snazzy jacket, deciding to go casual for the day. Of course, the only reason I'm dressing up at all is to accompany Bridget to the park to make sure she doesn't go crazy again. As I'm cleaning up around the lounge, Bridget exits my room, looking extremely uncomfortable. I can see why.

"I look ridiculous in this outfit... And it's tight! Jeepers, how will I perform tricks when I can hardly move?"

My hand covers my mouth, and I try to hold back my laughter. She does look ridiculous, but in a good way, to be honest.

"Presenting Bridget, the Multicolored Clown," I announce, then burst into giggles.

"Not funny, Kaylin," she growls.

Through the morning,from the time we got there, and from the time I wanted to leave, Bridget has been busy practicing her sleight of hand skills, actually making a lot of progress. She has successfully made a bunch of roses appear. Twice, to be precise.

"Bridget, why don't you try something new, or at least easier? If people kept looking at you making roses appear, I think they'd get bored."

"Fineeeeeeee," she rolls her eyes, checking her toolkit for some other tricks to do. "Oh, here's a nice one. Making cards appear... All you do is put your hands together, do that, and Bob's your uncle... Okay, I think I can manage it."

With a line of concentration between her eyebrows, Bridget starts and places her hands together, bringing forth a mysterious green orb. I'm almost thinking "Does magic really exist?" as I watch her. Lifting her hand up, Bridget releases the orb... And nothing comes from it except smoke.

"Well, that's a bummer," she sighs.

While Bridget is in rant-mode, I start to notice that people are congregating around the stage.

"Bridget, shush for a minute. I think something's gonna happen here."

"Well, duh," she points her finger to the stage. "Today is SimFest. There's gonna be a whole show up there. Let's cheer the peeps on and look all social. Hopefully they'll give us a gig here one day."

Next thing I know, Bridget whips out her phone and starts waving it in a flowing movement above her head.

"Uh, what'cha doin' there?" I blink at her, really confused as how weird my sister can get at times.

"I'm doing what everyone does at concerts to make the place look awesome. You know, like at the Adele concert, they lit up the entire hall... That was amazing. Anyways, I'm actually just following the guidance of that guy over there. He looks cute."

Sure enough, as I look over to my right, there's a guy in the crowd also waving his phone.

"I live in a town full of crazy people," sighing, I shake my head.

The proprietor of the park walks on stage, receiving multiple cheers of the crowd as he does.

"Thank you, thank you. But we're not here to celebrate a talent scout today. We're here to celebrate the talent that is out there in the world. Let's be thankful to them, otherwise we'd have no entertainment. Presenting our first act, a gifted acrobat by the name of Eragon, the fire juggling expert!"

The acrobat that walks onto the stage is none other than...

Aaron.

It's the third time I've seen him around, and I've only been in the town for three days.

"Greetings, dear fans! It's nice to have you come watch my act. Now, for starters, I'll show you just how flexible I am in my talents."

Without hesitating or breaking a sweat, Aaron starts to bend over backwards.

"Oh, did I mention that I'm literally flexible?" he chuckles.

"Try something new, something dangerous!" an female audience member yells.

That chick has no life if she comes to an acrobat show to see something dangerous, I think, rolling my eyes in the process.

"For the very determined lady in the front row, I will try something new... How about juggling this fire baton that 'magically' appeared in my hand."


The crowd roared with appreciation and delight. Even Bridget was all "OMG, that guy is so cute! Can I date him?" and impressed with his skills. I agree, I'm impressed as well, but I damn sure am not going to show it in front of the guy that only two nights ago asked me out, while incredibly drunk.

"Has any of you seen a tornado before? Or a tornado sucking up the things closest to you?" Aaron, or Eragon, asks the crowd. Many people are shaking their heads, while others are whispering "On the TV, yes". Satisfied with the reaction, he continues.

"Behold... A man trapped in a gust of wind." Eragon starts to mine, showing how he's struggling against a fake storm. From nowhere, a strong wind current sweeps him off his feet. I think even Aaron is surprised with what just happened. Maybe it wasn't planned to go that way.

"And, uh, with that, I end my show," Aaron stutters, quickly bowing and running off stage.

"That...was so freaking AWESOME! Can I get his autograph? Do you think he'd sign my shirt?" Bridget freaks out, giddily jumping on the same spot.

I snort at her antics, and put my hands together clapping, waiting for the next person to get on stage. Just as the magician gets up on stage, Aaron blocks my view from it.

"What did you think of my performance?" he asks with a bright smile, eyebrows raised.

"Get out of my view and then I'll tell you," I answer him in a flat tone, trying to see past his bulky shoulders. He obliges, and I continue. "It was good, I confess, but that last mistake ruined it."

"Oh, you're just being fussy. The entire crowd loved it." I give him a blank stare, refusing to answer him on that insult. "Okay, so maybe it wasn't THAT good. Are you going to try and do better than me, and go on that stage to sing?"

The word "sing" pulls me back to reality, reminding me that I was hired to deliver a sing-a-gram to someone.

"Well, crap! Sorry to be leaving you two, but I have to gooooo!" I shout, running over to the bathroom to get changed into my stage clothes.

"Hey, wait!" Aaron calls back. "Let's all meet up at a club afterwards for some chillaxing!"

I wave my hand, not even sure of its meaning, and quickly shut myself in the bathroom to get dressed.

It's sad to see how depressed a lot of people are, but good to know that my sing-a-grams often cheer them up.

Delivering sing-a-grams isn't the career I was imagining. I was thinking big lights, big stages and a lot of fans. I guess people have to start somewhere in life. For the first time ever, I realize how extremely privileged I was, having rich parents. But now they weren't here to buy my way up the fame ladder, and I have to work hard to accomplish it myself.

Driving back to town, I meet up with Bridget again, and we roam the streets, dressed as idiots. "But good looking idiots", says Bridget. I pass her a goofy grin, and check my phone for texts. There's one from Aaron, giving us directions to a cool club.

"Think we should go?" I ask Bridget, flashing her the text.

"Uh, do you need to ask? DEFINITELY. I want to get to know that guy better!"

Entering the club, flashing lights envelop us, and I instantly feel like partying. Aaron is smashing away at the DJ booth, playing Dubstep to the partying peeps, while Bridget and I try to outsmart each other at pool.

"I thought you wanted to talk to the guy!" I hiss at Bridget when she won, frowning.

"I'm kinda nervous... He's not like the guys I usually date," Bridget nervously looks over to the booth, and Aaron throws her a smile.

"Bridget, I'll be honest. None of the guys in this town are like the guys you usually date."

"Oh, is that a insult to us guys?" a guy asks as he walks over to us.

"Well, no," I shrug. "More like an insult to the guys she used to date."

"Hahahaha! That's good to know... Hey, would you like to dance?" the stranger asks.

"Uh, sorry, I don't even know you..." I bite my lip, hoping that he won't attack me or anything because I said 'no'.

"I'm not a stranger," he says with a smile, stepping from the shadows. It turns out to be Charlie, the guy I met yesterday, and someone I had an instant attraction to.

"In that case, I have no reason not to dance!" Charlie takes me by the hand and leads me to an open spot on the floor, where we start to slowly move and try to figure out how to dance together. It's awkward at first, seeing as he doesn't really know how to move his body when dancing, but we iron out the wrinkles and make it work.

"You're quite the dancer!" Charlie compliments me, and I feel my cheeks warming up. "You have a lot of natural rhythm!"

"Thanks. I'd like to say the same, but... I can't. Sorry!" I awkwardly smile at him, and continue to dance.

"Oh, that's fine. Only one of us needs to be a good dancer," he winks.

For a second, I cast my eyes and look out the window, but instead, I see a reflection of what's going on behind me. Aaron is still enjoying being a DJ, but Bridget has paused with her game of pool... Is she listening to our conversation?

"Um, I hate to shorten our dance, but is there anywhere we could talk privately?" I ask, then lower my voice to a whisper. "I think my sister is listening to us talking."

"Yeah, sure, there over where Aaron is, there are some seats," Charlie points over to the corner, and I quickly walk over there.

As soon as we're far away from earshot, I start to relax more with Charlie. He's very thoughtful, asking me questions of where I'm from, what kind of childhood I had, how my parents were, how many siblings I have, and so on. I feel like I'm being interviewed on a talk show, but that a friend is interviewing me, causing me to laugh as I speak.

"So how did you grow up? Actually, where did you grow up? Have you been in Starlight Shores for long?"

"Whoa, whoa, one question at a time!" Charlie hollers, but smiles. "Well, I grew up in Twinbrook. It's a sad story which I don't repeat often. In short, my father shot himself when I was 11, my mom threw me out and I lived in the streets for a very long time. I caught a bus to Starlight Shores by accident once when I was 16, and  that's how I got here. I met Aaron a year later, and he saved me. I had no natural performing talent, but he did. So I sponged off him, later becoming his agent. We've been best buds since, and I have no idea what I would have done without him."

"Wow, that's, uh... Charlie, I'm so so sorry. I shouldn't have asked. Ugh, I'm so stupid at times," I hold my face in my hands, regretting ever have asked him. I hadn't been expecting such a story. He looked so normal, so happy.

"Hey, don't be sorry," he soothes, resting his hand on my arm. I freeze. "It was a long time ago, and I'm pretty much over it."

There's a very long pause between us, and Charlie keeps staring at me. Is he a creep, or something? I feel very uncomfortable, and I prepare myself to get up and run.

"Sorry, uh...," Charlie apologizes, removing his hand from my arm. "I, uh... You look so beautiful, with the ominous backlighting and all. Sorry for being so bold, but I had to get that out."

"Wow. Uh, thanks, I think? Um, no guy has ever told me that, to be honest," feeling awkward, I avert my eyes and look at the dance floor.

"They must have been crazy, or blinded by something, to not be able to see that... Whoa, I sound really corny."

"That's alright," I shrug. The situation is already awkward, it can't get any more awkward.

"Would you like to, I dunno, move closer or anything. It would make for an hilarious prank on your sister, don'tcha think?"

I was wrong - it can get more awkward. A lot more awkward.

I allow Charlie to scoot a little closer, agreeing that it would make a funny joke on my sister (I have a boyfriend and she doesn't), but as his face lingers close to mine, there's just this feeling that pops in me...

And I kiss him.

"Oh GOD, what is that?! What are they doing!" I hear my sister's voice screech over the loud music.

"What'cha talkin' about, Bridget?" Aaron asks, stopping the track he was playing.

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all," she smiles at him, but shoots us a glare. The club owner bursts in and shouts "Closing time, everyone OUT!".

I spare Charlie a smile, before quickly untangling myself from his grasp and running out of the bar.

As we're all rushing out the door before the owner punches as or something, a firm grasp encloses around my hand, spinning me around.

"Kaylin, wait... This is probably not the best place to ask, or the best circumstances, but I want to know... Will I see you again? Could we go out sometime and get a bite to eat?"

I smile at him timidly, and nod. His face lights up with a huge smile, and he quickly plants a kiss on my lips.

"Goodnight, Kaylin. Sleep well."

With shaky hands, I unlock my apartment's door, feeling flushed and happy from the quick kiss I shared with Charlie. Of course, Bridget is there to "welcome" me.

"What the heck was that stunt you pulled at the club? You hardly know the guy!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Coming from the person who jumped into bed with a guy she didn't even know for a day," I counter, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

"Okay, point," she relents. "But, seriously, this is soooo unlike you. What's his name? How long have you known him?"

"I've known him for three days... And his name is Charlie."

"Ah, that is so sweet!" Bridget coos, pulling a fake cute smile. "It's so romantic, I could puke, but instead, lemme do a quick magic trick... You see this wand? One moment it's an ordinary stick, and the next..."

"..."It's a bouquet of flowers! I have a feeling he's gonna give you a lot more flower bundles in the future!"


I really do regret taking my sister in.