Best I Ever Had

Warning: To those of you who may be reading this from a work environment, this post contains nekkid Sims, and although everything is covered/cropped out of all screenshots, you have been advised to refrain from reading this until later.

Due to this, I have enclosed that portion under a 'Read More' link. Thanks!

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For listening with the post if you want. Love this song!

Life for Bradley Kane had never been better. A best friend... A soul mate. He had begun to believe, from the moment that she took his hands on the bridge that day, that they were destined to be together -- that he had found the rare occurrence in the fabric of space-time where a boy and a girl, perfect for each other, were set on the path towards growing old together.

Bradley Kane was in love.



As time went on, he began to spend more and more time with Emerald; when they weren't working on their calculus homework, they were hooking up a computer connection and playing video games, taking a walk through Twinbrook's gardens, swinging at the park, trying on funny clothes at the consignment store, or killing time at the pool... all until the sunset, and Emerald had to run home before her parents got upset.

While she certainly was a polar opposite of Bradley in some cases, it always surprised him how much they had in common. Emerald loved science, loved plants and animals, even loved all the ridiculous Star Sims trivia that Bradley knew -- in fact, she was the only girl he'd ever met who'd actually seen the movie more than once.



His luck with Emerald seemed to be a fluke, though. He tried so hard to be interesting, but even his own father was bored silly by the things that Bradley was interested in...



... and his mother, who was brilliantly hilarious, found his jokes 'not half bad', at best. He knew though, deep down, as much as she loved him... she had begun to wonder what had happened to her 'funny' gene. "Must've all gone to Travis," Bradley was sure.



And as for Travis, Brad hardly even got to spend any time with him at all -- when Travis wasn't at sports practice, he was with Jade... And when he wasn't with Jade, he was at the gym, with June, or someone else vastly more interesting. He supposed he still had Amelia, but it's not like she was capable of making any opinions on his personality, yet.

"Give it time, Amelia. You like me now, just give it a couple of weeks, until you're a big kid..." He made sure not to waste time, though; he'd get in all the snuggles on her he could before then.



But then, there was Emerald... She found him funny. She found him interesting. How someone that pretty, that kind, that popular, had any interest in him... It was beyond him.

Maybe she wasn't as popular as she was when she first befriended Brad, but she didn't seem to care. "Man, I am so lucky."

One Saturday morning, Bradley was awoken by a phone call, and the rather excited voice of Emerald on the line. "Brad! Wake up, you sleepy head! We've got a special day planned ahead of us!"

"Nnngggh," Brad moaned sleepily. "We do?"

"Of course we do! It's the weekend! Go get your chores done, then give me a call sometimes this afternoon, okay?"



After Bradley had gotten all his jobs done and finished his homework, he called Emerald back, and she gave him a set of bizarre directions that led further into the outskirts of town than Bradley had ever been. He was a bit worried he'd get lost, but after a fair bit of driving, he finally arrived at the back-water location that Emerald had described.

"There you are! I was so worried you'd taken a wrong turn and ended up across town!"

"I'm not that directionally challenged, Emerald," he mumbled as she tugged him into a tight hug. "So what is this place, anyways?"



"Hot spring! Not many people know about it, it's kinda tucked out of the way, but my family's been coming here for generations. I figured you'd like to see, since you're always excited to see new things."

Bradley smile and nodded, but without even looking away, he responded, "It's beautiful."

"Sure is! Anyways, I brought us lunch. I walked here, so I'm famished. Let's eat!"



Bradley had started to get used to the taste of tofu burgers -- and in all fairness, it wasn't actually that bad. Emerald preferred grilled cheese, and while Brad was a bit jealous that she actually got to eat something that tasted somewhat normal, he figured it was one of her torturous jokes to get him to stop eating meat -- it still hadn't worked, but it'd become such a normal tradition that he would probably miss the terrible food even if she stopped making them.

"So, you wanna go swimming after we're finished eating?" Emerald asked with a wide, cheeky smile.

Brad blinked, now surprised. "Bu' I din't bring any schwim trunksh," he mumbled through a mouthful of tofu.

"Braadd," Emerald chided with a laugh. "You don't need a swimsuit to swim, you know."

At that, he just blinked... Wh-what? That wasn't funny... But she wasn't joking... was she?



Once they'd finished eating, Emerald quickly put everything back in the picnic basket, and pointed back to a small area sectioned off with an old, overgrown divider. "I'm gonna go, ya know... 'Change' over here. Go ahead and go jump in, I'll catch up with you in a minute."



Emerald quickly began to tug off her clothes, but after a minute, a slow smile started to grow across her face. "Brad, you haven't moved from where you were standing... Go get in the spring already!"

"Right, right!"



Emerald bobbed around the corner as soon as she heard Bradley run off, but the second she got a look at the water, and watched Brad strip and jump in, realization set in -- she hadn't been this nervous about anything, ever.



"Em, what's taking you so long?"

"Nothing, I just..."

"Come on, you talked me into this, and I'm a bloody coward! And you're the bravest person I know!"

"Alright, alright!" In a spring of courage, Emerald bolted out from behind the bush, and hastily dived into the pool -- but she smiled, when she re-surfaced and realized that Bradley had had his eyes covered the whole time.

He really was so sweet.



"Took you long enough, chicken!" Bradley teased, swimming towards Emerald with a smile on his face. "And you call yourself brave... Bwockbwockbwockbwockbwock--"



Emerald turned around and splashed Bradley as hard as she could; Brad was surprised to find a face and mouth full of water.

She began to giggle, as he sputtered and choked on the surprise tactical attack from his friend.



After a fair amount more of sputtering, wiping his eyes and trying to squeeze the water out of his nose, he grumbled, "What was that for?



"For being a jerk! There's only one chicken in this pond, and it definitely isn't me."

Emerald continued to smile, and so cutely, Bradley couldn't help but forgive her; how could you be upset with that face? ... Even if she looked smug.

Ruddy manipulative girls!



They began to swim closer together; as they did, Brad could feel his face starting to turn pink, once again... Man, this was weird.

"So, you think I'm a chicken, huh?" he said, chuckling.

"Sure do, you said so yourself," Emerald replied with a smile. "If you weren't, then you wouldn't be keeping your distance from me, would you?"



She just had to pull that card, didn't she? Bradley's blush deepened even further, but... He was a boy, and he had to prove her wrong.

"How about this?" he mumbled as he pulled closer, draping his arms around her back. Their faces were so close... He could even feel her slight breath against his cheek. At that moment, he felt about ten thousand times more awkward than he had the first time she'd touched his hand -- this was so, so much different.

"Better, but..." Emerald's smile widened, into something almost devilish. "You're obviously still a chicken."

Dammit!



After several moments, realizing how uncomfortable he was, Emerald pulled away and began to swim to the edge of the pond; for the next few hours, they explored every crevice of the pool, discovering lost trinkets, rusty gadgets, and joking about how many adults probably came here to 'do it'.

Bradley thought to himself, though, that he couldn't blame them if they did. This place had a mesmerizing effect on people... Even him.

But they eventually drifted back near the water's edge, and found themselves talking about their older siblings.

"Travis seems pretty smitten with Jade. I mean, he was never happy with Lolly, she talked him into dating her from the get-go. All he ever wanted was out of that relationship, but I think he does really like your sister. I mean, he wouldn'tve asked her out if he didn't, right?"

"Well, I guess not," Emerald remarked. "But Jade seems pretty convinced he's not as into the relationship as she is. Maybe she's just in denial that it's her that's not, or something..."

"You really think so?"

"Yup, bout as sure as I am that you won't have the courage to finally kiss me."



Ugh, there she was at it again. "Oh yeah?" Brad was determined, this time! A lady doth not say such things and not face the proper punishment!

But... as his lips neared hers, that clammy sensation began to overtake him all over again. It was like the moment that her body was that close to his, he suddenly froze up -- she had a power over him that he couldn't control... And he was beginning to hate how funny she thought it was.



After several moments, he finally braced himself, and pulled himself just close enough to her cheek to plant a small, quick kiss... but it sure didn't feel short. As he did so, time seemed to stand still... Everything froze.

But the moment it wasn't any more, he quickly pulled away and began to swim to shore.



Emerald followed, as she was both surprised and concerned.

"Brad, are you alright? What's wrong?! Come back!"



She began to pull herself up from the pool, but Brad continued to keep his eyes shielded.

"I just..." Bradley paused. He wasn't sure what was wrong. "I dunno. I'm sorry, Emerald, I dunno what's wrong with m--"

"Nothing is wrong with you, Brad! Except that you should get back here, this instant!"



Boy, was she demanding... But Brad still didn't mind. In fact, he preferred it that way -- he didn't seem to be able to do anything around her unless she told him to, anyways.

"You still haven't looked at me, have you?" Emerald asked, her face seeming to glow in the soft moonlight from above.

"How'd you guess?" Bradley said; he was actually able to smile about it, at least.

"Cuz you're still blushing like mad."



"Why'd you tell me to come back, anyways?" he asked, rather confused on her reaction to.. well, his reaction.

"Well, there's something I wanted to give you," Emerald briefly looked away, but when she turned her face back to him...



... he felt her lips pressing gently against his.

Bradley was, to be blunt, utterly flabberghasted -- she must be insane. Or drunk. Or hypnotized by the power of this place... There was no way she could like him, like that. Right?



But, as she closed his eyes, he realized... It didn't matter. Even if this was the last kiss he ever got... It was the best.

At that moment, he knew: he was in love with Emerald Greenwood, and he would be for the rest of his life.



When she finally pulled away, and he saw the look in her eyes, he did something he never thought he could do: he reached out his hand, and gently touched her cheek. Bradley was certain he'd never felt anything more beautiful. Beautiful isn't a touch description? Well, Bradley is changing the dictionary -- it sure is, now.

"Emerald..."

"Yeah?"

"I really like you."



Realizing the courage it took for him to say that, Emerald's smile deepened -- sweetened, Brad would say -- and she took the back of his hand briefly against hers.

"I know. I've always known, Brad."

The heartbeat began to beat, hard, in Bradley's ears...

"And," she continued. "I really like you, too."



After they'd dressed, they realized they couldn't say goodbye -- not yet. They laid back in the dirt, and watched the stars rise and fall in the sky. They called out the stars they knew, and named the ones they didn't... And even when it was silent, Bradley never felt alone.

He didn't want it to end, that night... the best he'd ever had.