The Bloomer Legacy: 8.10 Skinny Dipping

Dating. Pauline didn’t really know how to go about it. Talking her aunt into going the Freezer Bunny retreat was one thing, but as far as Pauline was concerned, she was clueless. She and Davion never got far enough for that particular experience to help her in the romance department. How does one even start?

She could swear she saw Leo looking at her that way over at the bar sometimes but… It was Leo. Being charming was a part of his job. He probably meant nothing by it.

“Hi Leo, you’re not working tonight?” she waved at her favourite bartender, noticing he wasn’t wearing his uniform.

“Nope, meaning that I have all the time in the world for you,” Leo shot her a compliment. Pauline blushed.

“I, err, actually I need to go home and practice music for work,” she panicked. Plum, why did she say that? “I’ll see you soon?”

“I hope so!” Leo grinned, settling behind the bar.

Smooth, Pauline, the girl thought to herself. You suck at this.

Peyton, on the other hand was quite a natural at talking to the opposite sex. The of course, her bright and bubbly personality made interactions with just about anyone easy. Much like back in Windenburg, Peyton became quite popular.

Though there was one particular sim she was interested in a bit more than the others. And it seemed like the feeling was mutual. Royce had become a frequent guest over at the Bloomer residence.

“Hey Royce, you want to have a dip in our pool?”

“Is it going to be the dip of the skinny variety?” Royce asked enthusiastically.

“I’ll think about it,” Peyton replied flirtatiously. “Let’s start off with some swimwear though!”

The duo headed outside, eyeing each other’s bodies in the swimwear. Both looked happy with what they saw.

“Ok, watch me do this awesome jump!” Peyton yelled out.

“Won’t take my eyes off of you,” Royce agreed flirtatiously.

“Incomiiing” Peyton yelled out as she landed in the pool, water splashing out all over the deck.

Seeing Peyton emerge on the water’s surface, Royce decided he was a fan of her diving technique.

“I think I lost my swimsuit,” Peyton giggled.

“I sure can see that…”

“You got your wish in the end, you lucky plum,” Peyton laughed.

“Look, I can turn away,” Royce said, although his eyes couldn’t stop wondering back to Peyton.

“Meh, it’s not like you can unsee it,” Peyton swam towards him. “Hope you enjoy the view!”

“One of the best I’ve seen,” he confirmed.

“One of the best?” Peyton splashed at him, fake-angry. “Excuse you!”

“My apologies, it’s the finest view I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing,” Royce corrected himself with a laugh.

“That’s what I thought! Ok, show’s over,” Peyton dove back under water to retrieve her swimwear.

I’m so smooth, Royce thought to himself giddily. Playyaa!

Once back on dry land, the two of them sealed the playful banter with a kiss.

“You sure know what you want, Peyton,” Royce said approvingly. “I like that.”

“You better!” Peyton smirked.

They continued flirting for the rest of the afternoon, even when they were joined by Pauline.

“Your turn to do the skinny dip next time, mister,” Peyton teased.

“Oh you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Peyton and Royce burst out laughing. Pauline smiled awkwardly as she left the room. She’d never felt like a third wheel with Peyton before.

Of course, it had only been a matter of time, hadn’t it? Peyton was so charismatic, pretty and funny Pauline was surprised she hadn’t started seeing anyone sooner.

It was never like it was going to be just the tow of them forever.

At the corner of her eye, Pauline noticed Leo, the cute bartender, jogging past the house. Maybe it was a sign… Just plumming go for it, she told herself angrily.

“Fancy seeing you running right past my house,” Pauline rushed towards him. “I bet it’s no accident!”

Gah, so cringy, she scolded herself silently.

“Well, my jogging route does go around the park and the gym, and your house happens to be in between,” he said awkwardly.

“Right,” Pauline said, wishing she could dig herself in a hole.

The two of them stood in silence for a moment.

“I guess I’ll get back to my workout?” Leo said uncertainly.

“Yeah,” Pauline nodded. “Happy working… out.”

Oh Pauline you idiot, the girl cursed herself.

Of course he wouldn’t really be interested in her. The flirting just came with the territory, he was a bartender, after all, and she was the bar patron and the bar owner. Did he ever have any ther choice but to flatter her, now that she thought about it?

What could he possibly see in her, anyway? Pauline inspected her reflection in the mirror as she took her makeup off. All she could see was the same thing she saw back all those years ago, as a little green girl on the island in Windenburg. A monster.

How could she had been so stupid? Who would really be interested in her? Davion probably only kissed her out of politeness to her sister. After all, he did start dating Starr the minute Pauline left town…

Peyton, she was so charming and beautiful she could defy any stereotype, transcend any species…

… but Pauline? She was just a plain old sad little green girl.