Fame

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Ripp had dreams to make it big in the music industry.
The first thing he did when he woke up from the double bed that was squeezed tightly into the narrow trailer space, was pick up his acoustic guitar from in front of his bed. Ripp wanted an electric guitar too, it would be the first thing he would buy as soon as his next pay check came in. For now it was just this acoustic one but it didn't matter-he thought any guitar would make him look attractive. Girls (and guys) loved guitar. Plus, it was a gift from his mum before her disappearance, and he wasn't going to get rid of that. "You got her a guitar Lyla?" His father had said disapprovingly on his fifteenth birthday. "The loud rock music is already bad enough, this is going to make things worse!"
"Erm, it's him, not her. And come on Buzz, you can't just expect our children to follow your military lifestyle all the time and not have any fun! Ripp's wanted a guitar for years! And it can't be louder than the way you shout and demand things from us! Be thankful it isn't an electric guitar." His parents had had conflicting opinions on this that's for sure, and they also argued-a lot. But for Ripp, that guitar was the best birthday present he'd ever gotten. It was a start, on his journey to becoming a famous rock star, with his name on the Starlight Shores Boulevard, and a huge mansion in the Del Sol Valley hills, and a legion of swooning fans that would think he was the sexiest guy in the world.
Ripp sat down on the bed and strummed at the guitar strings for a while, making up a rhythm that he thought sounded good. Something that reminded him of the desert outside, of the loneliness of the place he lived, and the strange things that happened here. He began to think of lyrics as he played that he would write down to sing with later.
Pretty baby, pretty baby, I play guitar, I'll play guitar for you, sing your song
We're on the road to nowhere, the road to fucking nowhere, i'm lost on the road to fucking nowhere with you, all night long...
Ripp was interrupted by a knock on his door. He put down his guitar and got up to open it. It was Lana.
"Oh, hi Lana. So you found my place all right."
"Hi!"
"So how's it going with the car?"
"Oscar said he'd be there to pick it up to take it to the garage in about an hour," Lana replied.
"Hopefully it is just an hour, knowing Oscar," Ripp pondered.
Ripp allowed Lana inside and her eyes darted around the single, tiny room-which had a small kitchen area at one end, an door to an even smaller room in the middle, presumably the bathroom, and the bed squeezed into the other end, where Ripp was sat-and she immediately noticed the guitar.
"This is a nice little place you have here, and I see you play guitar."
"Yeah, I was practicing before you came round actually."
"Aw, you should continue. I don't mind." Lana even looked slightly disappointed.
"Oh, sure." Ripp went to pick up the guitar again, and Lana sat next to him, looking strangely eager.
Ripp had thought offering to play guitar would be overzealous of him-As an outgoing romance sim, Ripp loved flirting and showing off but not everyone liked it that quickly. Apparently not for Lana though. Now that it was the day time, Ripp could see Lana even better now and thought, not for the first time, she was one of the most beautiful girls he'd ever seen. She had a white jersey on today and a blue cap covering some of the cascades of red hair that went down her back. Her smile as she watched him strum the same tune he was working on before was infectious. They were sat very close to each other too. Ripp could lean in to kiss her if he wanted to...
Another knock at the door interrupted their moment together.
"I think that's Lilith," Ripp said, getting up again and putting his guitar back where it was. Opening the door confirmed that it was indeed, Lilith Pleasant.
Lilith could be described as "goth". She had a short black dress on over a white blouse, black knee-high boots, black nail polish, black eyeliner and black lipstick. Nearly all of her was black except for her pale skin, green eyes and striking red hair flowing down her back. Ripp of course, thought Lilith was attractive and the whole goth thing was an added bonus. Also she was another red-head (something a few of the sims he had the hots for had, by coincidence.) Ripp knew Lilith was off-limits though so he couldn't try with her-she had a boyfriend back home in Pleasantview she would text regularly, Dirk Dreamer. Ripp didn't know much about Dirk except that he was also transgender (something Lilith had shared after Ripp had told her about himself). Despite her being gone for a year, they were still together and apparently making the long distance thing work. She uttered a quick "hey" to Ripp before entering the trailer.
Lilith instantly noticed Lana sitting on the bed.
"I didn't know you had a new girlfriend, Ripp," she said teasingly. "Who's this?"
Lana blushed at being called Ripp's girlfriend and Ripp was slightly embarrassed himself, trying to cover for them both. "Fuck Lilith, she's not my girlfriend! She just wanted to hear me play guitar that's all!"
Lilith looked unconvinced. "Ripp the romance sim brings home a girl and plays guitar for her but there's no romance involved. A likely story."
Lana piped up. "I came round myself and asked him to play for me... I was just interested that's all. He helped me get to a motel last night after I crashed near the service station and had to wait until morning for my car to be fixed. I'm Lana by the way" she added, greeting Lilith with a smile.
Lilith introduced herself. "Nice to meet you Lana, I'm Lilith. So what brings you to Strangetown?"
"Well you see, I don't actually know," Lana replied, confusion on her face. "But I'm here now so I might as well stay for a while."
"She has amnesia," Ripp chipped in for her. Mind got completely wiped as soon as she entered Strangetown for some reason. Doesn't know where she came from either."
Lilith looked at Lana in disbelief. "You don't know anything?" She exclaimed, the same way Ripp had when he met Lana the night before.
"Yeah. It's really weird. But I don't mind being here, Strangetown is a really nice place."
"That's strange... Bella also lost her memory here," Lilith continued. Lana was getting more curious as to who this "Bella" was. She seemed like a very interesting sim. "Bella is from Pleasantview, where i'm from actually, but she doesn't remember yet, even though I've talked to her. She doesn't seem to want to even leave Strangetown anymore either. I've heard she's been getting close to this guy, Ajay Loner... Anyway," Lilith changed the subject. "Enough about Bella and more about me. I'm not from here myself, like I said, I'm from Pleasantview. I actually ran away from home... that's how I met Ripp" she said, glancing towards him. Both our families were pretty shit to us so we have something in common. Also Ripp recognised me from the tv show I was on-long story. We literally said something like: My life is shit. Me too."
"For me it was my father and brother." Ripp said. For Lilith it was her twin sister and both her parents. We were both sad teenagers leaving behind a fucking miserable life and ending up in a trailer park together which is actually kind of funny," he laughed, showing off the tooth gap in his teeth. Lilith also laughed, a little more shyly.

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