Jolene's World: (Companion to video episodes #2, #3 and #4) - Spotlight on Ashley and Darrel

Hi! It's Ashley, Jolene's BFF!

Jolene is happily married and has a baby now while I'm still trying to finish school and start my adult life.

 I think I finally found Mr. Right. His name is Darrel Buzzerby, and we went from acquaintances to romantic interests after sharing our stories of heartbreak and betrayal. 

I had been dating this guy, Lane Vogel, who had a girlfriend who "didn't understand him." He swore he was breaking up with her, so we went on a few dates, and I was really starting to fall for him. Then I found out he had no intention of breaking up with her and was just stringing me along!

He was shameless, claiming he never said he intended to break-up with her and thought we had an "understanding" about our relationship. What a creep!

Anyway, I digress. I told Darrel my sad story, and he told me his. He said he had a crush of a girl from college named Chen, and they were really good friends, but she always kept him in the "friend zone." 

After graduation, he and a group of friends, Chen included, went to Lucky Palms to celebrate. They got pretty wild - you know what happens in Lucky Palms stays in Lucky Palms. The whole weekend was really fuzzy and he doesn't remember much, but he swears he confessed his love for Chen before blacking out. He woke up in his room in a puddle of his own puke to a ringing phone. It was his mother. She said she pulled some strings here in Sunset Valley and got him an interview for a teaching job, but he had to get here by that very afternoon. 

It seemed all his friends had gone to breakfast, and he'd barely have time to catch the bus to Sunset Valley if he grabbed his bag and left. He sent them all a group text, "Gotta go! I'll miss you all! Especially you, Chen. Thanks for all the good times!" He hoped to hear from them, but none of them ever reached out to him again. He decided it was best just to cut ties with them if they wouldn't respond to his heart-felt text. 

Some of  my sorority sisters showed an interest in Darrel, but he never was that interested in them. 

 

 

I think Hannah and Shannon even got in a few fights about him. 

But he's mine now! We have such a good time together.

I was hoping he would ask me to move in with him. My sorority sisters are really hard to live with. Hannah bullies everyone, and there's so much drama!

But Darrel didn't ask me to move in with him. He did something even better!

I couldn't wait to tell Jolene! I met her at the Fall Festival and broke the news!

She was happy for me and said she wanted to have Darrel and me over for dinner. I told her that I had not yet met his mother, and was kind of nervous about it, and asked if she would look her up and invite her as well. Darrel doesn't mention her much, so I don't know what to expect. I hope she likes me. 

Jolene said she's look her up and invite her. Then I went to class and Jolene played with little Sammy for awhile before going home. 

Then I called Darrel and told him what time to show up at Jolene's. "I'll be there!" he said, but when I got there, he hadn't arrived yet, but his mother was there. Bea Buzzerby is an intimidating woman. I hope she likes me. 

Jolene prepared some lovely vegetarian grilled salmon, but Darrel was still nowhere to be seen. I texted him several times. "Where are you? You're missing the party! Your mom's here!" but there was no response. Jolene and I did our best to entertain Bea, but it was an uncomfortable situation for all involved. 

Shortly after finishing the meal, Bea made her excuses and left - just as Darrel arrived.

He made his apology to Jolene for missing her party. "I guess I got so engrossed in my book, that I forgot what time it was. My phone's battery was dead when I went to check the time, so I didn't get any of Ashley's texts. I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed. 

After he had a helping of cold salmon, we all parted ways. I love Darrel, but he's so forgetful! On more than one occasion, I have invited him out and he has forgotten to show up, forcing me to call him and remind him! I guess nobody's perfect. His mom confided that she calls him every morning to remind him to get up and go to work! It's the main reason she pulled some strings to make sure he got a job back in his hometown where she could keep an eye on him. 

**** Spoiler Alert: When filming the companion video to this story, Darrel was getting the option to confess to cheating when talking with Ashley. I checked his relationships to see if he had a love interest or girlfriend I didn't know about as I was playing with Story Progression and autonomy on. There was no girlfriend in town - but there was an out-of-town wife named Chen! Then when I was having Jolene set up the dinner party, I noticed Bea Buzzerby, an NPC, listed, so I decided to make her Darrel's mother. I still don't know where Darrel came by an out-of-town wife because, to my knowledge, he is just a randomly generated townie created by Story Progression and placed in to populate the town. I haven't been playing him - he hasn't been traveling anywhere! It's a real head-scratcher, but oh, the drama!😉****