sweats and tees ─ steven conklin

i. family things

“We have to finish everything up — And Connie, honey, no. We already have five of those.” she pointed to the bag with five controllers while looking at Jewel who was at the side, looking cheeky.

“Why does Jules get to bring all her controllers and not ours?”

“Because you brought yours last summer.” the mother pointed at Jeremiah who nodded as if to say "That's fair."

“And because you and Conrad stole my tablet.” Jewel perks up snapping her fingers while Conrad had the same look as his brother's, agreement. But, a piece of him felt guilty for other reasons.

“Right, right...” the brunette mumbled, running a hand through his hair.

Jeremiah noticed Conrad's eventual silence, but never really pointing it out as to avoid any inconvenience. He thought that maybe his two siblings were cool... but they weren't even close to that.
                              

“Okay, I did say that Jewel loves both her brothers equally... But to be honest, it wasn't entirely like that. Jewel wasn't exactly close with Conrad to begin with, but she still loves him, of course... in her own way. Okay, maybe like... showing less than what she usually showers Jeremiah and Susannah with. I didn't know why, at the time. I was too young. But now, I can understand why Conrad isn't exactly in a more closer relationship with Jewel like Jeremiah is with her.”
                        

“So... Mamí,” the oldest suddenly says, earning the attention of her family once more. And Jewel bit her lip nervously, “Is Dad gonna come with us?”

This made them stop — some had tensed, even. It was Susannah who kept on opening and closing her mouth, but at the end, a reluctant smile finally came across. Her eyes... apologetic. In a way that had Jewel nod wordlessly, turning to the boys who rushed to look away, doing whatever it is that they were doing in the first place — placing their luggage in their car.

“Okay — uh...” she trailed off before looking up the ceiling, her feet tapping the floor repeated — quick, “He'll come soon, right?”

“Oh, yes,” Susannah quickly agrees, and a piece of her heart broke when she saw just how her daughter was excited at her answer, “Not now, but maybe later in summer, right?”

“Mm.” Jewel merely hummed, but the trio can still hear the satisfaction in it. before walking to her own bags and placing them in the car. “We have to be complete this summer.” she said, referring to last summer where they, well, weren't complete.
                    

“Now, Jewel's relationship with her dad isn't the best. But if there was anything I do know about it, is that Jewel admires her dad. It was him that she looks up to, but her mom — well, Jewel loves the woman more than anything in this world. She loves her dad, sure — but her admiration towards him definitely is more than her love for him — true story. But, at the end, it wasn't the greatest and sometimes, I wished I didn't know the reason why.”
                          

“We aren't missing anything?”

“No... Yeah — No. Everything's packed here, ready in the summer house — and I heard from mom that Laurel is bringing some for us just in case.” Jeremiah replies, locking the door and turning on his phone.

Curious, Jewel eyed him from the mirror, “Some what?”

“Food, probably.”

“Shh! You two are talking about food when you can talk about Belly, Steven and Laurel.” Susannah intervened and both siblings were immediately defensive, their own reasons clashing as Conrad and Susannah smiled from the side, letting the two 'judge' their own answers. But they all know it was all for fun during the long ride to their summer home in Cousins.

              
                     
                  
                  
               
             
                
                   

00. italics is belly speaking :)
i really liked doing it so i might
do it again, but not often, only
when needed and when she
knows something about jewel.

a very short start but i will make
it longer eventually! this start
is mostly about jewel and her
relationships with her family
but all will be explained more
in the upcoming chapters.

and yes, she speaks a little
bit of spanish :)