𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐘 | 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘯

𝐢𝐯. love game.

"the mall has good ac" i joke to everyone, trying to lighten the mood.

after a few minutes of taking conrad into going somewhere, he finally agrees.

we were about to walk out of the kitchen to leave when belly says "hey, you should come with us skye."

"oh, um, sounds very state fair. i think i should just stay with you, right?" they say, turning towards their mom.

aunt julia smiles at them and says "no. wasn't my favorite, but you might like it."

"i shouldn't just stay with you?" skye asks their mom.

"no, i'll be fine. after this, i'm going to go back to the hotel for a nap" aunt julia states.

"guess i'm coming with you guys" skye says smiling at us.

we all walk out of the house to leave, belly, jere, connie and skye get in jere's car, while i get into my car with steven driving.

once we drive away from the house, i connect my phone and play, never really over, by katy perry,
as steven rests his hand on my thigh the whole way there.

----------

once we get to the boardwalk, we get ice cream.

we head out of the ice cream shop to sit a little closer to the water and decide what we want to do from there.

"susannah used to force my mom to come here when they were kids. my mom always hated it, but susannah loved it so much" skye states, walking with us.

"you know what else my mom loved, the beach house" conrad says back to them.

skye let's out a scoff and says "my mom's not evil conrad. and your mom wasn't a saint."

why would they say that to any of us. mom just died, and skye's talking about how mom wasn't a saint, when clearly her mom definitely isn't.

belly notices the tension and says "so, skye have you ever played shoot your shot?"

"no, and i'm fine keeping it that way" skye says back.

"well do you wanna watch me beat conrad's ass?" belly asks, laughing.

conrad laughs before saying "you could not do that."

"i wouldn't hate watching that" skye says to belly.

belly smiles wide before saying "you think you still got it conrad?"

"ok, no, please, not another great boardwalk showdown" steven says, as i laugh.

belly argues back and says "oh, come on please?"

skye looks confused for a minute and so i say "so we used to do this big tournament every year when we were kids."

"yeah, well every year until belly and conrad got to competitive, and then my mom banned us from ever playing again" steven states, laughing.

"are you down jere?" conrad asks, looking over at jeremiah.

he shakes his head yes and then skye says "ok, well i should um- i should head out."

"no" i say to them before continuing "it's to late you're already on me and belly's team."

skye smiles and shakes their head.