Chapter 3 - The Great Shower Compromise

"Madonna santa! What is this?!" Mariah cried out.

After waking up early yesterday to fly in from Tartosa, and spending most of the day unpacking herself and Miranda, she had collapsed onto her new bed and slept soundly. Now, all she wanted was a nice shower and a decent breakfast. 

It was bad enough, in her mind, that the coed dorm had a shared bathroom, but this was too much.

Glancing around to make sure she was alone, Mariah managed a lighting quick shower. Wrapping herself in a towel, she made a dash back to her room, before any of the guys from the other side of the floor walked in on her.

"Morning," Miranda said brightly. As usual, she was already up and ready for the day. How did I manage to fall in love with a morning person, Mariah wondered not for the first time.

"Have you seen the showers?" she demanded.

"Yeah," Miranda replied, puzzled. "I took one before you got up."

"They're just open," Mariah ranted, "They don't even have shower curtains."

"Right?" Miranda said.

"It's a coed dorm!" Mariah couldn't understand why Miranda wasn't getting this. "Anyone could just walk in and see me naked! This doesn't bother you?"

"I didn't really think about it," Miranda admitted. "I mean... it's a shower. You kind of expect people to be naked in the shower."

"Yeah, well, I don't want some college guy peeking at me," Mariah said firmly. "Wait, does this not bother you?"

 Miranda shrugged, "Like I said, I didn't really think about it... but yeah, I guess it is a little weird."

"Mia amata, you're a little weird," Mariah smiled.

 "Whatever," Miranda laughed. "Naked... shower... no big deal because you expect it. Like now... you're naked and we're talking... no big deal."

"Yeah, but you're my girlfriend," Mariah shook her head, "It not like you're some guy."

"Fair point," Miranda allowed. "Well, you're probably not the only person who's bothered by this. Let's talk to the other women on the floor and see what they think."

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"So," Miranda was saying, "We thought we'd get all of us together and talk it through."

"Wait," Angela put in, "if this is a meeting of all the women on the floor, why is he here?"

"Girlfriend," Aadi replied in exaggerated tones, "first, my pronouns are 'they' and 'them' and second, I don't want any o' the boys lookin' at my cute little soapy bootie either. Not unless they buy me dinner first."

"Oh, sorry," Angela blushed.

"Anyway, we're agreed, the shower thing is a problem," Mariah said. "What can we do about it?"

"Well," Genie said, "we can ask maintenance to put up shower curtains, for one thing."

"Don't hold your breath on that, sugar," Aadi replied. "There aren't even curtain rods and we can't be the first to ask."

"Why don't we talk to the guys," Miranda suggested. "Maybe we can agree to a kind of shower schedule... times when the showers are ladies only and times when they're men only. I mean, they probably don't want to be peeked at any more than we do."

"Don't bet on it," Mariah muttered.

"No, I think it's a good idea," Angela said, "I mean at least until we can get a better solution."

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"So, what do you guys think?" Miranda said, after laying out the proposal to the guys. She and Angela had been designated spokespeople for the Great Shower Compromise.

"I mean, that seems reasonable," Anthony replied. "As long as everyone has time to get a shower before classes and all... but yeah. We certainly don't want anyone to be uncomfortable. Right guys?"

"Absolutely," Carlos nodded cheerfully. "We're all friends here."

Sheldon nodded his agreement from the couch. 

"Great," Miranda smiled. "Thanks for being understanding."

"No problem," Anthony smiled.

Author's Note: This chapter is prompted by an oddity of the Sims Discover University setting... a coed dorm with shared, completely open showers. Having personally gone to college in the conservative American Midwest shortly after the Age of Dinosaurs, I don't have experience with coed dorms, much less coed shower facilities. So, it felt like a topic worthy of exploration. Among other things, it lets me showcase some differences in Miranda and Mariah's attitudes toward things.

Secondly. I want to give credit to Sims creator Simmaddness for their collections of NPCs, including the Britechester Roommates - Anthony, Carlos, Sheldon and Gabbie (the fifth woman on the floor). They have saved me from either having to create piles of background characters or deal with the random oddities of game generated townies.