whatever it takes ( conrad fisher )

002, debutant invitations

━━━━━━ ☀︎,━━━━━━━...‥

"HI!"

Leilani and Belly left a trail of watery footprints and droplets of water behind them as they walked into the kitchen, and sat down at the island as they watched Susannah cut fruit.

      They both said, "Hi!" as they smiled up at Susannah, then over to Laurel.

      "You two are dripping water all over the place," Laurel complained, as she turned around to go get the girl's towels, but stopped in the hallway as Danielle Hayes walked in.

Danielle walked into the kitchen, laughing at the two teenagers who were dripping water all over the floor.

"Since when did the boys throw you into the pool, Lei?" Danielle asked, smiling at her daughter, before being met with a sarcastic eye roll. "Don't ask me,"

"Laur, she's gorgeous," Susannah whispered, pointing at Belly. Danielle nodded her head in agreement, as Laurel whispered back a small "I know." before leaving the room to get towels for the teenagers.

"Wow, thanks, guys!" Leilani laughed, sarcasm in her tone as she pushed a piece of wet hair behind her ear. "Oh, Lei, you've always been very beautiful, you never went through the ugly duckling phase," Susannah smiled softly, walking around the counter, and over to Belly and Leilani.

"Bells, you have always been lovely, but honey, look at you!" Susannah smiled, as she grabbed Belly's hands. Leilani looked over at Belly, with a slight smile on her face. Susannah wasn't wrong, Belly looked completely different since the last time Leilani saw her.

"I think I look pretty much the same."

      "No, you don't." Leilani laughed, stealing a piece of fruit from the brown cutting board on the other side of the counter.

"Oh, you do not look the same, at all." Susannah said, pulling Belly in for a hug, "You're growing up."

"You're in bloom."

      "Laur, she's you all over again." Danielle chimed in, coming up behind Leilani and placing one of the towels Laurel grabbed on her shoulders, dragging her fingers through the girls, now — wet curls

      "People always say I look like my dad," Belly said, turning her head to face Leilani and Danielle.

"No, when us three first met, Laur looked exactly like you," Susannah said, pointing between the two older women in the room.

"Yeah, like identical." Danielle laughed, still raking her nails through her daughter's wet hair.

"Except, I had no boobs at all."

"Gross, Mom," Belly said, with an embarrassed expression as she looked over at Leilani, who sent her a sympathetic smile.

"That's disturbing," Leilani laughed.

       Laurel set the towel on her daughter's shoulders, as she walked over to the table to continue unpacking boxes of food, which she was doing before the two teenagers walked into the house.