chapter 2
[play: what you know by two door cinema club]
i can tell just what you want, you don't want to be alone
-
maisie
i was sat on the seat by my window reading my book in silence. the house was always silent. i hated it. it never felt like we had fully lived in any of the places we had called home. to my parents a home was a roof over our heads. to me it was so much more, but they never understood or tried to.
the doorbell rang and i could hear my mom go to get the door. voices exchanged and eventually i was called down. before me was conrad. he was stood with his hands in his pockets, barely making any direct eye contact with me. regardless he seemed to have made a great impression on my mom compared to the one i got from him last night.
"conrad from next door was inviting you over." my mom told me, smiling at conrad before leaving us.
the thirty second walk to the fisher house was silent which made it even more agonizing. there was a hatchback parked in the drive way that i didn't remember seeing last night. maybe these were the other kids susannah had been talking about. i felt relieved walking into their house full of conversations and chaos. this was a home.
"maisie! i hope connie didn't talk you're ear off on your way here." susannah sarcastically joked in the most light hearted way possible, knowing her son too well from the way he walked in.
"hi im laurel." the other woman beside susannah greeted me, offering me up a muffin that they had gotten from the bakery and i took it after introducing myself.
"connie take her back to meet the others." susannah told him, whilst she was busy cleaning up the kitchen.
i followed conrad outside to the backyard where the other three were sitting around the pool. a boy with bright blue eyes was the first to introduce himself to me, rushing ahead of the other two siblings. once i was able to become acquainted with everyone, we they were all throwing out ideas of what to do while i couldn't contribute much.
"we could honestly just spend the day on the beach?" jeremiah suggested, but was shot down by steven who said it was boring.
"no we should take her into town. show her around a bit." steven put out another option.
"or we could ask maisie what she wants to do?"belly turned, smiling at me.
all eyes were on me now, even conrad.
"um what do you guys usually do every summer? or what haven't you guys done in a while?" i asked since i was the absolute worst at making a decision.
"come on maisie, tell us what you want to do. you're new to cousins." jeremiah pushed me to come to some sort of suggestion.
"we could take her down to that wooden park 10 minutes from here. play hide and seek." conrad suggested, looking at me for all half a second before looking at the others.
"what are we four years old?!" steven laughed.
"no that sounds fun. i can't tell you the last time i got to play like that." i agreed, smiling back at the rest.
"hide and seek it is!" belly cheered, and we all got up and headed towards the front of the house.
in the garage were bikes for everyone and i realized that i didn't have one. my dad was supposed to take me into town to get a new one. i watched the rest claim theirs. i stood off to the side thinking of what to do, how to tell them. i didn't want to ruin our plans. conrad brought a bike towards me, waiting for me to grab the handle. once i did, without saying anything, he went back to grab his.
we were on our way to the park, riding in the empty road that was shaded by the lanes of over-grown trees. the sun barely peeked through the leaves, making it feel a lot nicer. conrad, steven, and jeremiah biked ahead of us at a faster pace. the three of them seemed to be racing. meanwhile belly and i followed behind listening to their horrible trash talk.
"so you like it here so far?" belly shifted the attention back to us.
"it's really pretty here. im more used to the city so this is a big change." i told her.
"our family and the fishers have always come to this house. i can't tell you a summer we haven't come. i look forward to every year and i just know you're going to love it here too." she told me.
"so you guys have basically all grown up together? i wish my sister and i had that." i gushed.
"well now you're going to be part of every summer here. i wont be completely out numbered anymore." she looked at me and then made a face at the boys who had just parked their bikes.
"we might be out numbered, but we aren't outsmarted." i joked, getting a good laugh out of belly.
i knew she and i were going to be great friends.
we threw our bikes down gently next to the rest. the park was completely empty, meaning we wouldn't have to worry about any actual kids that were here to play. i thought we would be hanging around the play set, but belly took us further and further into the woods. in the middle was a run down tree house. it was painted all kinds of colors and had a ladder going up to the top.
"alright. this tree house is base. no hiding outside of the woods or running off too far. you have to count out loud to 30. who wants to be it first?" conrad explained the rules and there were no takers for who was going to be it.
"steven is it!" belly called out, and everyone ran off to go hide somewhere.
belly had quickly disappeared and my idea of sticking in the area she was in was completely out the window now. i ran off in the same direction as conrad but decided to hide a far from him as i could. i didn't want to be alone with him. there was a huge tree that bought me time to hide behind until i could find a better place. i knew this wasn't going to be enough to get me through the round.
"ready or not here i come!" steven yelled out.
i wondered who he would look for first.
quietly, i looked from behind the tree to see he was headed in my direction. shit. i watched carefully as he decided where to go. i picked up a pinecone from the ground. i could either throw it in the opposite direction of me or towards me. i had no idea how he was going to take that since im sure it was the oldest trick in the book back when they all used to play.
i took the risk and threw it near me. steven froze in his steps, debating which direction to go in. i held my breath, hiding back behind the tree now only being able to rely on the sound of his feet on the ground covered in dirt and thin branches.
steven had taken the bait and i was right. he went in the opposite direction of where i had thrown the pinecone, thinking he had outsmarted me. boys were so predictable. i waited for his footsteps to trail off farther and farther away from me. the coast was clear to look to see where he was. he was far enough for me to find another place to go hide.
i was quiet on my feet making my way towards what seemed to be a ledge leveling off downhill to a small stream. the stream would be loud enough to muffle my footsteps so i could comfortably find a new hiding place. the ledge looked steep from afar but wasn't really up close. i slowly went over, ducking down.
i crawled alongside the ledge until i saw a tree that had fallen over. the roots was huge. big enough for me to crouch behind and not be caught. i slowly rushed over. i bent down behind the roots, claiming it as my new hiding spot.
"found you belly!" steven yelled and i heard quick foot steps around the woods that were getting close to where i was.
there was someone running in my direction and i braced myself to see steven. i got into a position that would get me ready to run if i had to, but instead before me was conrad. he was just as stunned to see me as i was to see him.
"belly's out!" steven yelled out, his voice echoing in our direction.
conrad quickly crouched down beside me and the two of us peaked from either side of the tree to check if steven was headed in our direction. thankfully he wasn't. only a little bit down was the tree house, which meant we could get to base before steven even had the chance of finding us.
conrad and i returned behind the tree, huddled closely together so the bulky roots covered the both of us. our arms barely brushed and with that conrad practically jumped to keep his distance even if it was at the expense of him getting caught. i was staring at trees in the other direction trying to figure out how i had gotten him to dislike me in the 14 hours we had known each other for.
i peaked again from behind the roots, seeing steven contemplating making his way down the ledge. he hadn't scoped out the fallen over tree but it would only be a matter of time before he did. as he began to make his way down, i instinctively grabbed conrad's arm, pulling him closer to me so he was hidden again.
"steven's coming." i explained myself, taking my hand back just as quickly as i had just pulled him down.
now that the game was involving us as steven's next target, conrad said, "i'm going to distract him. you run for the tree house-"
he was quickly cut off as we heard foot steps around the stream. we sat quietly, trying to figure out where he was. steven had made himself known once we had heard a splash. conrad and i's heads shot towards the left where we were met with the sight of steven drenched in the stream. my hand went over my mouth to keep myself from bursting out laughing. conrad seemed fine holding it in until he saw my eyes watering from how much laughter i was holding back.
a smile crept on his face and he finally looked at me like he didn't hate me for once.
"conrad! maisie!" steven called out, ringing out his shirt probably calling for help.
neither of us were falling for his trap and made a mad dash for the side of the ledge that was in the direction of the treehouse. i gripped onto the edge, trying to pull myself up and conrad did the same but with much more ease. steven was running in our direction, so conrad quickly pulled me up from the top by holding onto my wrists. once i was up with him, the both of us ran as fast as we could towards the treehouse that was getting closer and closer. belly was sat there, here eyes now on us and then behind us.
"steven's getting closer! maisie run!" belly cupped her hands around her mouth, yelling out.
conrad was a good distance ahead of me, meaning i was most likely going to be tagged between the two of us. i pushed myself to run faster as base was not as far away. i could make it but steven was also speeding up now that he was focusing on getting me over conrad. i watched as conrad intentionally slowed himself down a bit.
no one else seemed to notice, but i did.
i had soon matched his pace, and was even close to surpassing him. the two of us ran, palms reaching out ahead of us to touch the tree where belly was sitting. i looked back to see steven with his hand house getting close to touching conrad. at last the two of us made it to the tree, hunched over and out of breath. i hadn't ran like that since the eighth grade when i thought i could run track.
jeremiah had made it to the tree seconds after us, meaning steven was only able to get belly. steven slowed his pace, trying to catch his breath too. running with wet clothes weighing him down must have exhausted him. however, his shirt had started to dry up from the breeze going against him while he had been chasing us.
"i'm done with this game." steven looked just about ready to lay on the ground from how tired he was.
"last one home is the rotten egg." jeremiah joked, knowing steven was going to be the last to race to his bike.
"i'll be the rotten egg. i don't care. i need to go shower." steven looked down at his soiled clothes and dirty covered shoes.
"yeah we should head back." conrad laughed, pulling a pine needle that had been caught in steven' hair and looked right at me as he did it.
i let out the loudest laugh, and soon enough the others had joined in too. even conrad.
"fuck you guys!" steven frowned, walking ahead to the bikes with belly and jeremiah chasing behind him with more taunts.
conrad
maisie and i followed behind the others, and she was still giggling to herself. i stole a glance at her as she was more focused on listening in on the way jeremiah and belly were pulling steven's leg. her short, brown hair had fallen our of the messed up bun sitting on top of her head. the hairs near here forehead were glued to her face from the sweat. her cheeks were pink from how hot and tired she had gotten from running.
she was beautiful.
i shifted my attention back to the others as we made it out of the woods and towards our bikes. the last thing i wanted was for her or any of the others catching me staring at her. instead of steven being the butt of the joke, i wouldn't be hearing the end of it.
everyone reached for their bikes and maisie was now talking to belly. the both of them were sniffing themselves, making faces at the way they smelled. maisie had a lot of innocence. she seemed more tense when i had gone to get her. i could see it from the way she crept down the stairs when her mom had called her down. with everyone else, now that she was comfortable, she was completely different.
i realized i had gotten so in my head over analyzing all these things about her that, jeremiah had nudged me back to reality.
"you ready to head out?" he looked at me.
my bike was still on the pavement. jeremiah and steven were stood with theirs waiting for me. meanwhile belly and maisie were far ahead of us. i was now out of my thoughts and picking up my bike so we could move past waiting on me.
"i swear to god you're dead if belly gets the shower before me." steven turned to taunt me, and i smirked to pedal ahead of him.
-
do you guys like the conrad povs in each chapter? i wont include them every chapter but i wanna know if they are worth including!!
next chapter things will pick up a bit. conrad and maisie are going to be a slow burn type deal. im not totally sure on the enemies to lovers thing.
hope u all enjoyed xo