Tuesdays (Afternoons) with Ari

I arrived at Ari's house that afternoon. Ms. Kanto, the lady she was staying with, was in her garden, and I asked her if Ari was home. I knew the answer was yes, as her bike was there. But I wanted to see if Ms. Kanto was going to lie to me. To my surprise, she didn't, and directed me to the living room where Ari was watching TV.

Ari, as usual, was a ready ear for my complaints. I ended up telling her everything, about my argument with my mother, about learning that my kid brother had gotten his first kiss before me, and about my attachment to Satis Amin. "What is my problem?" I asked her. "I don't know why all this is bothering me." Under my breath I wondered, "Why is social stuff so easy for Bassy and so hard for me?"

Apparently Ari heard my last comment because she replied, with a little bit of a mischievous grin, "Because, Savannah, you have the charisma of a dirty dishrag and the social skills of a slug."

I was a little flummoxed by her comment, so I asked her to explain it.

"Savannah, you walk around with your nose in the air like you're better than everybody else. It's like pulling teeth for you to even talk to other sims. The only reason you talk to me is because I'm about the only person you know who's as weird as you are. You're an introvert. Face it, you are. You like painting, and writing, and chess, and classical music, and hanging around in cemeteries. That's introvert stuff. Being an introvert is okay, it's not a crime. It's just who you are. Your brother is who he is and you are who you are. You're different people and that's okay too. And every time you do meet someone, you start talking about the four different colors of ghosts." She let out a chuckle.

We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around, she painting and me playing chess on the computer. We didn't say anything to each other after that, each of us working on our own pursuits in companionable silence.