Chapter 2.1 - Police!

Dylan sat in the living room of his parents’ house, thinking about his life choices. He'd imagined his life a certain way. This definitely wasn't it.

First, he still lived with his dad. He knew that wasn't all that unusual, but he'd always thought he'd move out as soon as he was legally able to. Instead, he was still here. He'd stayed for his sister, but he'd started to wonder if that had been worth it.

He and Ayla weren't really close. They were very different people, and that mattered a lot when you were a teenager. But he hadn't wanted to leave her alone in this house. Technically, their dad lived there too. But their dad hadn't really been there in years. He went to work, he came home, he slept. Dylan, Ayla, and their older brother, Sam, had been fending for themselves for more than five years now. He knew Ayla could handle herself, but he hadn't wanted to leave her alone.

He was thinking how that might have been a mistake when he heard the police car pull up. He sighed as he got up. “Right on time,” he muttered to himself.

“Again, Ayla? Really?”

She had the decency to look sheepish. “I was out with Carla and we -”

“Lost track of time, I know. But this is the third time this week you've been caught out after curfew. You're going to be labeled a delinquent if you keep this up.”

“Not to mention I'm embarrassing you in front of your co-workers.”

He sighed. “That's not important, but I should probably go apologize to whoever’s on duty tonight.”

She shrugged and went inside. He went over to the officer standing next to the car parked at the curb.

“I'm really sorry about that, Officer…”

“Rose. Tara Rose. And it's fine. All kids act up every so often.” She frowned at him. “Do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar.”

He rubbed his neck, embarrassed. “You might. I just started working at the station. I mostly just pour coffee and organize files, but…”

She was grinning. “I have seen you there! It's Doe, right?”

“Yeah. Dylan Doe.”

“That girl's your… sister?”

“She is. Again, I'm sorry for all of that.”

“It's no big deal. Honestly, this part of my job makes me feel like a hypocrite. It's not like I never stayed out after curfew, but now it's my job to make kids feel like they're criminals if they do the same thing I did not even ten years ago.”

He nodded. “I get it. But if we want to make a difference, we have to deal with this part of the job.”

She smiled at him softly. “That's how I think about it, too.”

They looked at each other for a moment. Then her radio rang, and they both jumped a little bit.

She laughed nervously. “Sounds like I should go. But…” She bit her lip. “Here’s my number. Call me sometime?” Emerald eyes peered at him through dark lashes.

He nodded.

She smiled and drove away, leaving him standing on the sidewalk, feeling conflicted.

--------

“So what's the problem?”

Dylan had asked Miraj Alvi, his co-worker and fellow rookie, for his advice on the matter.

“The problem is that I'm not sure whether or not I should call her.”

“Why wouldn't you?”

Dylan sighed. “Because of Johanna.”

Miraj stared at him, not comprehending. “Johanna French-McGraw? What about her?”

“We're sort of together.”

“Sort of? How are you sort of together? Especially since she's out of the country.”

Dylan told him the whole story.

“Ok, I see your issue. But she told you that you'd talk about it when she got back, right? So you're not together.”

“Yeah, but I like her. I want to be with her when she comes back.”

“That doesn't keep you from exploring your options while she's gone.” When Dylan hesitated, he continued. “If it makes you feel any better, you could call Johanna and tell her about it. See how she feels.”

Dylan thought about it, then nodded. “Okay. I think I'll do that.” He checked his watch, and seeing that it was about time to go home, started walking. He paused on his way out of the park. “Thanks for the help.”

Miraj nodded. “Any time.”

--------

Dylan looked at his phone, his stomach fluttering. He knew why he was so nervous. He’d called Johanna before, but never about something like this. Still, he knew he had to do this for his peace of mind, so he took a deep breath and tapped call.

The phone rang a few times. Then, “Dylan? What’s up?”

“Not much. But I wanted to ask you about something.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“So… there’s this girl. She gave me her number, and I wanted to know if you would be okay with it if I -”

“Went out with her? That’s fine.”

“Really?”

“We’re not together, Dylan. Maybe we will be someday, but for now -” Her voice cut off, and Dylan heard the faint sound of another voice in the room with her. “Look, I have to go. It was sweet of you to call me about this. We’ll talk later, okay?” Then she hung up.

Dylan was more than slightly discombobulated. He hadn’t expected that conversation to go well. At all. But he was terrible at people, so what did he know?

He picked up the phone once more, this time to dial a different number. “Officer Rose? Okay, Tara. Yeah, it’s Dylan. I was wondering…”

Author's Note: I thought I'd gift you all an extra-long chapter for the beginning of the second generation, but it ended up longer than I planned. I figured that would be okay, though.

Fun fact! Miraj Alvi is actually Sandi's ex-boyfriend. I got rid of her and Darlene in this town when I sent them to Bridgeport, but now I'm kind of regretting it because she and Miraj would have had gorgeous kids, and now he's married to elder Dorie Hart. Hopefully she dies soon and he finds somebody else, because he's pretty and I don't want him to go to waste.

I had lots of plans for Johanna, but then as soon as she became a YA, she got pregnant with Hank Goddard's lovechild and then immediately started dating Malcolm Landgraab. I decided that if Story Progression wants her that much, it can have her. She'll have a final write-out later, but I'm effectively done with her.

Ayla becomes a YA between this chapter and the next one, so here's her final age-up picture. Her traits will be up on the Rolls and Traits page shortly. I didn't get to pick the last one because I fail as a simmer.

The chapter title is because three out of the five people who speak in this chapter are police officers. I've decided to start doing my chapters the way a lot of the rest of you do them, because the way I was doing it was inefficient and I wanted to start adding titles. Next time... I'm actually not entirely sure what will happen. I haven't written it yet. Probably, Dylan will move out and I'll show a little more of his job.