Disclaimer: I do not own MySims or any of the characters in it.
The talk of Sierra didn't decrease when Chef Gino, or DJ Candy, or even Sir Vincent Skullfinder moved in, as I had expected. In fact, I just heard her name all day long, floating between the few people I lived with in Sim City.
Patrick was practically in love with her after she not only moved in Chef Gino, but then built him a pizza stone of his own, complete with green apple essences. Violet adored her new dead wood wardrobe, and Mayor Rosalyn would not quit talking about some sort of filing bin Sierra had made with essences I hadn't even heard of.
As for me? Every time Sierra came to the hotel in anticipation of a new guest, I found it hard to talk, but that didn't seem to bother her. She tried to talk to me until one of the guests pulled her away, and when there was nobody there, she would apologize for not being able to talk longer and take off, a list of things people wanted tucked into the stuffed backpack she carried with her everywhere.
The first time I witnessed some of the business Sierra was receiving outside of the hotel was when I decided to stop by at Chef Gino's. I had been reluctant to try it, but even doom and gloom herself had flitted past me with a piece. I couldn't remember ever seeing Violet eat.
I was almost finished, and extremely pleased, when she walked in, and I shoved the last bite in my mouth and swallowed it whole. She didn't seem to notice me quietly choking in the corner, because she was pulling a new refrigerator behind her, her eyes squinted from the pressure, in a green wagon.
Feeling sympathetic when I noticed that Chef Gino pretended not to notice her struggling up to him, I went behind the wagon and gave it a push, and she seemed shocked when it landed quickly next to the old refrigerator that seemed perfectly good.
"Oh, Buddy," she said, smiling when she looked around the fridge between us to see me. "Thank you so much. That's really nice…" she looked as though she was struggling to find the best sentiment to use when thanking me, so I just nodded in response and turned away.
I was so close to walking out the door, but something pulled me back. I wanted to see how Chef Gino would react, and hear why he had asked her to lug around a new refrigerator when he had a perfectly good one already.
"Ah, Sierra! It's a pleasure to see you, and with my brand new refrigerator as well!" he took a big sniff, and she smiled politely, her knuckles white as she held on tightly to the wagon's handle. "Ah! I can smell the rainbow trout. Fantastic, fantastic. If you would, please," he gestured to the fridge.
My jaw dropped as she said, "Yes, sir," and then managed to slowly pull the, albeit rather small, refrigerator out of the wagon and set it next to the old one. I didn't give her a chance to load the old one by herself, and launched forward with a shocked look at Chef Gino.
She giggled a bit as I helped her lift it. "Wow. Thanks a lot," she said genuinely, her cheeks red, though that could be from the stress, as she smiled up at me.
Chef Gino inspected his refrigerator closely, and then started filling it up with all of his 'world famous' ingredients. "Thank you, thank you, Sierra. I suppose that Chef Gino's is ready for business, then!" Had it not been open for the past week? I ignored that as Sierra said her quiet thank you and then began to pull the refrigerator away.
"I could help you," I suggested, that being the first time I had spoken the entire time. Sierra looked over at me and grinned, and then nodded, and I began to push it as she pulled it towards her workshop.
"What are you going to do with it now?" I asked, curiously staring at the tiny workshop.
Sierra grinned and opened the door. "It's actually a lot bigger than it looks," she began to half drag, half carry the refrigerator to a corner, finishing before I could manage to lift a foot and help her with that as well. "I'll leave it here and then eventually give it away to someone who wants or needs it."
"You didn't mind making Chef Gino a new refrigerator even though he already had one?" I asked curiously. Sierra gave a timid smile and shook her head.
"I moved her to help everyone, and so I'll help them all they want. Even if it's not necessary. It's the least I can do, everyone's been so kind," she smiled as she gestured for me to follow her several feet to her home, where she opened the door and instantly began to point out things people had given her.
"Violet gave me the blueprint for that flower stand. Oh, Poppy was so jealous, she gave me two different blueprints, but what I actually put up was the bouquet she gave me. Patrick gave me that plant, I'm not sure why, but it was almost dead…but it's just fine now. Candy even gave me the blueprint to that radio, its great having it around."
I was surprised to hear her talk so much. From my limited contact with her, she seemed rather quiet. It left me feeling a bit of a mute, standing silently in her doorway. She seemed to sense how uncomfortable I was, because she came back outside, shutting the door behind her. "Basically, I don't mind it," she laughed at herself.
I found it hard not to smile, and so I did. "It must be tough," I said, thinking of how she had just lugged around the refrigerator without anyone but me offering help.
She seemed to remember the same thing, because she did blush, shaking her head and nodding all at once. "It's hard, but it's worth it," she said very simply, and I found myself liking her even more.
"Well, I better go," I said, not wanting to become another lover of Sierra, just like everyone else in the town. She smiled and said good-bye softly, and then I turned to leave, tripping and falling only a few feet away from her. I got back up immediately, and looked back, my cheeks burning in embarrassment at falling for the first time. She was looking over towards the orchard, pretending not to have noticed.
The next day, she was there, bright and early, again. I had seen her carrying several freshly built speakers over to DJ Candy's at three in the morning, but didn't say anything when she walked in to check for guests. How often did she work, and did she really want to slave over things for other people all night? Nobody can be that selfless.
"Hello!" she sang when she walked in the door, her eyes slightly purple underneath. I didn't point it out, and felt tongue-tied as usual, giving her just a smile as a response. She hesitated, opened her mouth, and then was pulled away by the flamboyant woman who had introduced herself as Ms. Nicole Vogue.
"I've heard so much about you!" the woman exclaimed. "I'm Ms. Nicole Vogue, you've probably heard of me, of course. I'm looking for a city to open my own boutique. I'm just stopping by here, of course." Of course, I rolled my eyes. Everyone who arrived here loved to hear Sierra ask him or her to move and pretend they didn't want to. "It's a lovely place, two star town, I wasn't expecting much, of course…"
Two stars? I stared at Sierra in shock. Her eyes flickered to me for a second and then she looked away, blushing. A guy named Travis jumped around next to them, and he bounced in between them with a smile at each girl, which Sierra politely returned. "Well, I'd be honored if you could move here. I'd build you a boutique, of course."
I wanted to roll my eyes, but couldn't muster it for two reasons. One: I was never mean, and couldn't stand to be so mean to Sierra. Two: there wasn't a good reason too. I still didn't even understand what my hang up with her was about, I just knew it was there and existed, and that's better than what most people can say.
Ms. Nicole did the typical look shocked, say no, then pause, rethink, and say yes. Sierra gave a genuine jump of joy, and I found myself grinning, trying to ignore Travis laughing extremely hard at something on the wall that I didn't see.
"I'll go build it right now. I hope you don't mind if it's in the forest." She got into the forest? How did she manage to get into the forest? The mayor needed to authorize special tools for that, and you had to be strong enough to actually use the crowbar she gave you. I stared at Sierra in shock, and she smiled and waved good-bye to each of us.
"Huh. She's really something," Travis said, suddenly next to me. He was staring after her, his eyes slightly wider. I felt a pit form in my stomach, merely nodding and managing to smile as I walked into the other room.
I had to make friends with her, I decided. It was annoying, hearing about her all over town. What was my hang up, anyways? It wasn't like there was anything wrong with her. There was no reason for me not to like her. But why did I want to be friends with her so bad suddenly, anyways?
The next time Sierra walked into the hotel, which was only an hour later, for who knows what, as Ms. Nicole had left to meet her, I was ready to talk. "Hi," I said, cutting off her usual greeting. My mind was running through all the reasons she could have come, all of her possible motivations.
Her grin stretched across her face. "Hi, Buddy." We both stared at each other awkwardly when I could merely smile, and then she finally said, "I'm looking for Mayor Rosalyn. Have you seen her?"
I felt a sinking feeling. "I think she's down by the fountain," I answered, avoiding eye contact as I dusted off my desk.
Hearing her laugh, I looked up. There was red on her cheeks as she looked out the window, and then back at me. "Oh…you would think I would have seen her when I was coming here. Well, I'll see you tomorrow, probably."
Before she was out the door, I realized that I wasn't doing the best job of making friends. I tried to reach out to her and say something, but my mouth felt glued closed, and so I merely waved at her retreating figure, as she ran off to talk to other people, and do other, more important things.
Author's Note: So, sorry this is taking me a while to update, but I've had this done for a while, I just needed to do a grammar/spell check and had to keep putting it off. Well, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy. :D