“Pinche pendejo. ¿Qué chingados cree que está haciendo? ¿Qué chingados?“ Claudia projected her asshole ex onto the punching bag. She shoved it hard with both hands.
It’d been a couple days since the breakup. She’d cut things off, no trouble, even though he whined at first and then started to get pissy if she so much as breathed in the direction of another man. And of course he did that enough to qualify as a pattern within the past 48 hours. How the fuck was he even finding her? Yeah, ok, so she knew how the fuck he was even finding her; he was never not at the gym and she was never not at the gym either, being Miss Universe and all. She caught the punching bag before it smashed her with her own momentum, landing a right hook where his stupid nose would be.
“Pinche Rex.”
Petty jealous bastard Rex McMahan; fucking glasses McAsshole with his damn red shirt. And no, she didn’t blame him. She was more frustrated with herself for getting into this sorry state, and was boosting her workout routine by riding the unmatchable teeth-clenching energetic high one gets when thinking about asshole exes.
Claudia’s flailing left arm was reflected in the mirror closest to the entrance. The angle the mirrors were hung at wasn’t flattering. The lighting wasn’t great either, being that the storm outside cast a pall over the entrance while the fluorescent gym headlamps beamed down to lend a cheerful atmosphere to the patrons’ ex-induced punching frenzies. Hitting the punching bags produced more of an echo than it should. The dim lighting and repetitive motion was what Claudia needed, blocking her senses enough to recover from the past few weeks. Her back’s reflection was visible from the weight room at a certain angle. One person facing the mirror could have watched Claudia rain blows on her effigy, though he couldn’t have cared less. He wasn’t there as a gym voyeur.
BY THE WAY: yes, this is a flashback. Even-numbered parts of S&L are all flashbacks. I wanted the misdirection in the beginning but it’s over now
It was impossible for the other weightlifters not to overhear the conversation between him and his friend, though he did most of the talking. It was also easy to deduce that everything in the gym overwhelmed his friend with confusion. They appeared to be following a lopsided program: one glided through a memorized sequence, the other required three minutes of explanation and a visual demonstration of each movement, validation that he was doing it right, and further validation that even if he wasn’t doing it right it would come with practice, so just do something and pay attention to how it feels. The other patrons appeared to be focusing on their own reps. Most listened in, secretly evaluating his advice, imagining how they would say it better.
The chap facing the mirror, the one in short shorts, guided the machine to its starting position as slowly as a foam mattress decompressing after an informercial C-lister put their hand in it. The clack of metal on metal sounded as the weights dropped. As if that weren’t enough of an aural cue that he was done with the set, he sighed in relief, glancing left to check if his friend was watching. He wasn’t. They’d started at the same time, but the friend’d spent so much time figuring out what to do with his shoulders, forearms, elbows, lower back, pinky finger, neck, what else have you, that he was only halfway done.
“Xiyuan.” The man in the mirror shook the tension out of his chest. “You feeling special in the arms yet?”
“No. What does that even mean? Help.” His palms and forearm dug into the machine’s cushioning. “I’m unfamiliar with this action.”
They’d unintentionally chosen machines that matched their shirts. One was too busy overthinking and self-chastising to form opinions about such things, the other thought the 1960s-sci-fi cockpit one was nicer, had a solid feel with its sleek lines and inexplicable waist lighting. He could also watch his reflection. He was trying to make this easy on Xiyuan, whose confusion he felt came from a lack of confidence.
“Oh come on, you got this! Just put everything you got into it, brah. Push those forearms together!”
A voice sounded between him and the mirror. “No.”
“‘Scuse me?”
“No. The action is changed depending on which part of the body is focused on. If he’s thinking about the forearms, it’s going to strain the shoulders.” This suggestion came from a woman whose figure, although blocky and toned, was much smaller than his. Her vowels had a singsong quality to them and she delightfully flipped the ‘r’ in ‘strain.’ It was possible she was a regular. Some female bodybuilders had smaller frames, he remembered, so he couldn’t immediately size her up gym-knowledge-wise. And she was baptized in sweat, and wore no makeup. But regardless of that, she should have felt like a matador in his last moments, a slip if a thing like her coming up to lecture a guy who clearly spits creatine.
“Ok then, missy,” he emphasized ‘missy’ to point out her obvious naiveté regarding gym etiquette, “if he’s not bringing the forearms together, what’s he doing instead, because that’s literally what the exercise is?”
“You want to encourage him to start the action from the center of the body and think about it moving outward. Concentrate from the center, where the muscles are bigger and stronger. This action is coming from his pec muscles contracting. You want to think of that as originating at the sternum. That’s going to help activate the deeper muscles, pec minor and serratus anterior.”
“Whatever you say, boss.” His face stayed flat. Trying to impress him by name-dropping muscles wasn’t going to work. Being hard to impress was a matter of pride for him: there was little he couldn’t pick apart in a profound way, and most people simply regurgitated information they’d heard before. Even if what they said was new to him, it was beside the point.
“Weightlifting isn’t just pure power. It’s in body awareness. It’s in the way you think.”
“And where’d you come from, O Fountain of Knowledge, O Guru of the Gym?” He cracked a smile at his dig.
“I’m Miss Universe.” She copied his smirk. He was sure his own face fell and that’s what she was reacting to. “What, you don’t recognize me? You don’t know everything after all? What a shame.”
“Whatever.” The most mature thing to do in this situation, he felt, the high road, was to go back to his workout. He’d have given the same advice to someone in his position.
She wasn’t moving. She either didn’t realize or care that he was ignoring her. “So? Are you going to try it? You really don’t recognize me?”
Now that his patience had been tested, there was no predicting what he’d do next. “How am I supposed to know I’m talking to a space wizard?” He scanned her for something to comment on. “Is it the pants?”
“Oh, you recognize these? It’s the official uniform of the space wizard academy. All of us are wearing them.”
“Do they give you a light saber when you become Miss Universe?”
“No, but I can lift things with my mind. See? I’m lifting my hand with my mind!” She started lifting her hand as if it were a flimsy piece of rubber at the end of a lead forearm, her eyes growing wider with every shaky inch it progressed toward the ceiling. She was howling like a ghost.
He clapped his hands, demonstrating that he also had this ability. “Brava! And have your Jedi mind control powers kicked in yet?”
“Well, let’s see.” Placing two fingers to her temple, she shut her eyes and scrunched up her nose.
“Oh no…” Now he was the one with lead forearms, fighting an epic struggle to keep them from getting in place for another rep. “I feel the urge to… focus on my sternum…”
She couldn’t help but laugh at the absurd scene. The suddenness made him break character and join her, disturbing the few lifters who hadn’t been eavesdropping on this bro for the past half-hour.
This Miss Universe was surprising, he had to admit. People on the receiving end of his jokes usually didn’t riff back. But it was a welcome challenge, and great practice—professional comedians like himself have to be quick on the uptake. As he was! He scanned the audience to realize his friend had went somewhere during the face-off. Instead, he tried to read the woman in front of him, whose initially threatening demeanor had melted away. Her smile had been genuine, not mocking. And now she was looking at him with wide-eyed whimsy. He moved his pointer finger in a circle as he thought, building up the anticipation, hoping her eyes would get wider.
“Alright, Star Trek: so your job is to check and correct pec deck tech…nique?”
She paused to process the weird English thrown at her. “Amazing! Did you just come up with that?”
“Of course! It’s what I do.” Game, set, match. She’d come to throw her weightlifting knowledge around, but he’d won her over. “What were you expecting, some prepackaged line?”
“Like what?”
It was nice of her to ask because he also had a million of those. “Girl, are you a bicycle? Because you keep appearing in my house out of nowhere!”
This got a giggle out of her. She, like all other sims, couldn’t wrap her head around these bicycle things. “What?”
“Girl, are you a bicycle? Because I keep trying to ride you on the stairs!”
He’d come up with dozens of weird pick-up lines for a bit that was just him reciting dozens of weird pick-up lines, but never got the chance to use that one: no matter how many times he repeated it, he couldn’t keep a straight face. His audience was clutching her stomach to keep from doubling over. She paused to catch her breath.
“Oh man, this is going to make it hard for me to go back to my workout. I haven’t laughed that hard in ages.”
“Oh, did I interrupt something?”
She took this statement as polite concern, not sarcasm. “Oh no, not at all! It was just all so sudden. Thank you, I needed that.” What she needed was five minutes of talking to a gym rat, her type, who wasn’t pure beefsteak anger like that shithead Rex. But she wasn’t going to say that aloud. Rather, if the thought entered her head, it was a good time to end the conversation.
“My pleasure, Miss Universe.”
“But I have to go, I haven’t finished my cooldown. You know how it is.”
“Yeah, I do.” He didn’t; this was more of Claudia’s body-awareness stuff. “See you ’round.”
He watched her bring a towel to her face as she walked away, trying to conceal her laughter through closed lips. “Miss Universe,” he mumbled.
Happy holidays, folks! I mean Passover and Easter, etc., not the pandemic.
Lol I laughed at his weird pick up lines too. Funny how they’re all true cuz Simmies do that all the time. I love how they initially clashed bt somehow managed to end it on good terms. Though i also wonder why is he being standoffish. Granted she gave unsolicited advice, but is he reacting like that because he thought her rude, or something more? Just my ponderings
Good point, he definitely doesn’t like his authority being challenged. If you feel something lurking under the surface that’s being left unsaid, you’re right on track. This chapter especially. We haven’t quite gotten enough information to know what the lurking thing is yet, but if you look closely at the execution, you’ll notice something odd about the way this whole chapter is written. You might have subconsciously picked up on it already!
This is a very different mood!
True. Hopefully it’ll start coming together by the end of the chapter!
I woke up wondering if it were Claudia’s alternate reality…. Bizarro Claudia
Could be an alternate reality, could be a flashback to their first meeting… I’ll leave you to decide for yourself as the chapter progresses.
Well, surely the past is an alternate reality…. so I’m OK with that, too!
In the sense that alternate universes for these guys are different save files, I’ll take it!
(Not a bad concept to explore, really.)
“Unmatchable teeth-clenching energetic high one gets when thinking about asshole exes” could be bottled and sold for a lot of money.
This Claudia is so confident and chill, I barely recognize her (except for the arms, holy cow tricep goals indeed). Still though, Xiyuan called her “missy” and prides himself on being hard to impress. He is ridiculous. Like, Claudia, girl, you’re gonna swoon over “pec deck tech…nique”?
(I say, laughing at all of his pick-up lines because they were such endearing nonsense and omg wait I’m part of the problem)
I feel like being inside of Xiuyan’s perspective is a trick. I find myself taking his observations at face value even though there is nothing to indicate that he actually understand’s Claudia’s mannerisms, much less, that he can conceive of the idea that she may not be all that impressed by him.
Now, are they basic because they’ve been stuck emotionally and physically at the same age state for the last 4 years or because that’s when they aged into adulthood and all their dreams and aspirations just died?
(Psst—Claudia’s husband is Mike. Xiyuan Shallot-Liu, née Liu, is the bespectacled guy with the ghost fetish. Boo!)
True, Claudia used to be different in the past. 2016-in-people-years Claudia is just as impressed by spontaneous silliness as 2020-in-people-years Claudia, plus bright-eyed confidence, minus three kids and juice problem. She doesn’t hesitate to mess with Mike for being a douchebag. She even knows he’s a douchebag! But he’s a fun douchebag, so she’s tossing him around a bit.
I love writing from his perspective because he’s such a piece of shit and will just start bragging in the middle of a paragraph. Bahahaha.
Are their 2020 versions still basic? I don’t have an excuse for that… let’s say they’re stagnating.
Dang it. Yes, I meant Mike.
“he’s a fun douchebag.” whew. Me circa 2010 feels very attacked.
If only there was a time machine that would let Claudia go back to this moment and just walk away. Although…it probably wouldn’t have helped.
Haha 2020 Claudia is far from basic and I feel like she’s bringing herself back to life. Mike tho, that’s another story.
I’m a little confused.
Is this happening before the previous chapter?
Also I don’t like the guy. And why is Claudia trying so hard to impress him? He’s not even handsome xD
Correct; it’s a flashback! The format of Sunshine & Laughter is that odd parts are the present and even parts are flashbacks.
Bahahah, you are correct to not like Mike. Claudia honestly doesn’t even know she’s flirting here, she’s just trying to mess with him ‘cause he’s a bit arrogant. Idk, with those guys I like to pretend I’m an idiot and see how much obvious crap I can get them to explain to me…
Ah okay! That’s good to know for future reading 😀
Oh okay. It totally came off as if she was seriously enjoying his attention, also that’s the one she’s getting married to, right? She seriously has a knack for getting them douchebags then 😀
Oh, damn… absolutely not what I was expecting. Is this, like, a flashback to their first meeting? I gotta say I was so confused at first, cause I read Claudia and was fully thinking of current Claudia airing her frustrations at the gym after the last chapter, which would be more than understandable, but then she came up to Mike and there was this whole spark and first!meeting kind of feel and I found myself thinking if for whatever reason this was another Claudia who just happens to look a lot like our Claudia who is now hitting it off with Mike (and I found myself sighing “of course Mike would immediately jump into someone else”), but then I put some more thought to that, deemed it impossible, and now… I’m guessing flashback? That’ll be my bet, I guess.
Also, I gotta admit I do appreciate the shorter chapter lengths. I may not have as much to say here because my chapters can be looooooooong too, but with my incredibly busy schedule of tanning, swimming, chilling, trying desperately to keep up with my own blog and begrudgingly doing some thesis shite it’s been somewhat hard to commit to the 30+ minute read chapters and remain concentrated long enough to finish them. I feel like this allows me to get a better grasp of the story – totally not related to my ADHD symptoms and lack of attention and concentration – and get a bit more out of it. Course, it’s all personal. But I’m thankful you’re thinking of us and what might fit us readers best!
Yes, that’s supposed to be a misdirection! You’re lead to believe this is a flash-forward after breaking up with Mike, but it turns out the relationship she’s referring to is one that ended before Book 1, Chapter 1. But it’s not worth the confusion anymore. You’ve convinced me to put a caption after the initial misdirection clarifying that yes, this is a flashback. All even parts of this chapter are also flashbacks. I hope that makes the reading smoother.
Thanks for the feedback on the shorter chapters; I suspected y’all might appreciate shorter bits. I do too. Unfortunately, ‘shorter’ has stabilized around 3.5k words on average. And don’t let me get in the way of your recharging! It’s already enough that a dozen or so people I don’t know IRL know this random woman’s sims well enough to have opinions on them, and the insightful comments are icing on top. I’d rather have people read this because they’re getting something out of it rather than because they feel obligated.
All even parts are flashbacks? Right, got it. Thanks!
I am definitely getting a LOT out of your stories! I might even go as far as to say I’m getting the most out of these of any Simlit I’ve ever read, because your writing techniques, and your intelligence and your way of thinking are all just so incredibly interesting they not only make me come to new insights about your Sims, they make me come to insights about myself. So major kudos to you for that, it really is very admirable the work you been doing here.
Best freaking comment ever. I’m speechless! I may have like eight readers, but readers like you are worth 100k each in my book. I’ve certainly gotten a lot out of writing it, so when someone else comes along and can connect with something in here, it’s just rewarding beyond words.
That being said, I’m fascinated to see how you respond to what the story has become. Just you wait. Bahahaha.
You more than deserve it! <3
Also I am interested too….. can't wait to get there. 😏
Ooh, a flashback! I love me a bit of background!
Ok, I don’t know if it’s the wine, but I found this a little confusing – I know she’s interacting with Mike, because I recognise him from the pictures, but going by the wording alone it kind of implies she was chatting to Xiyuan – we don’t get a Mike reference once. Which makes sense, considering Claudia doesn’t know his name, but is a little confusing. But maybe that’s just me!
Sidenote – that got me thinking, just imagine how things would have gone of Claudia had gotten with Xiyuan instead of Mike back then… I’m sure Xiyuan would have still ended up with Bernard because they’re soulmates, obviously, but where would Claudia be now? Hm… I weirdly feel like she could be happier, they would have possibly had a more amicable split, and she wouldn’t waste as many years in her odd marriage (you know, it would be much less years in a differntly odd marriage), so she’d possibly be happier with herself? But then we wouldn’t have Aileen in the picture.
In any case, it doesn’t matter because apparently she fell for a guy that called her Miss Universe. What a start of a relationship, heh.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, listen to the wine! There’s (literary-execution-ish spoilers) a reason why Mike’s referred to in this post only by pronouns and epithets like “the man in the mirror.” I’d, uh, (literary-execution-ish spoilers) keep an eye out for his name in the other parts of this chapter. Solid catch!
Holy what, I’ve actually never thought of Xiyuan/Claudia. I think that could have been possible if Mike had a different long-term girlfriend; this is my own fault for not getting my narrative shit together in time to really dig into Xiyuan’s Dumbass Years, but it’s certainly true that Mike’s loss of availability contributed to Yuan’s decision to just give up and date a woman. Funfact: I aged down these guys to snap pics in an alternate college universe but forgot that de-closeted Xiyuan has zero chill. So I left to freshen my tea, and when I got back, he’d made a significant dent in Mike’s pink bar. Mofo was just waiting for me to leave. So they’re dating in this universe.
Oh crap, I just looked it up for my own sake and the title for a top-tier Athlete-career sim is Mr./Mrs. Solar System, not Mr./Ms. Universe—can we let that one slide? Universe slides off the tongue better.
Haha well at least AU Xiyuan is still true to himself haha! I’m sure that had he come out of the closet sooner, he would have definitely gone after Mike 🙂
Just say it’s intentional – why settle for one measly solar system when you can be Ms or Mr Universe?
I’m not sure how it’s possible that every time I reread parts of CT, Mike seems like more of an asshole than I remembered (and my epithet for him in his epithet-exclusive chapter is “that asshole”). The dude’s like a walking red flag. And this flashback vignette—because it’s his and Claudia’s first meeting—drives home that he’s just like that: every interaction is just a test or a challenge or a means to win. It’s all the more obvious with the Mike-POV narration; I couldn’t stop saying to myself, “Hey, Mike, that sure is presumptuous!”
I love the photo captions in this chapter, because of course I would, and because I knew as soon as you wrote “gross anatomy” that you were going to make a joke clarification that you don’t mean “eww, gross.”
lol @ flashback!Xiyuan.
mental note: bring dolly along the next time i visit a cadaver lab for a+ punnery