while stella was looking for conrad's keys, she found the little bag with the infinity necklace in it. he still hadn't given isabel the necklace.
dipshit behavior, she thought then laughed to herself.
the car ride to the bakery was peaceful. i mean, as peaceful as it could get. there was obvious tension from the night before because of daniel, but jeremiah fixed that one with the magic of the aux. he played some of her favorite songs from a playlist that they had made when they were 13.
they were waiting in line at the bakery. there was only one person in front of them. it was an older-looking woman with a cardigan that reminded the two teenagers of taylor swift.
the bakery was never busy. not many people got up early and chose to go to the bakery on cousins beach. they had recently installed a starbucks last summer so the bakery's sales had gone down.
once they reached the counter, an old woman behind the counter greeted them. "good morning. what can i get for y'all?"
stella smiled at the woman and looked at jeremiah expectantly. he always ordered what they needed. it had always been this way. whenever they went anywhere, she always had someone else order for her because, to her, it was nerve-wracking.
it was usually conrad who did the ordering for her, but jeremiah felt more than honored to fulfill that role occasionally.
the woman filled up the box of muffins as jeremiah was describing their order. stella liked the muffins that tasted like coffee cake. those were her favorite.
after stella had insisted to pay for the muffins, jeremiah handed the woman some cash and told her to keep the change. the woman smiled at them. "you two are just darling. you remind me of my husband and i back in the day."
stella let out a little laugh and shook her head. "oh- no, we're just-"
"that's adorable," jeremiah smiled sweetly at the woman. "tell joe i said hi, by the way."
"will do!" she replied then pointed at stella. "don't let her get into too much trouble."
jeremiah laughed and put an arm around her. "i do my best."
and that was stella's morning. she ate her muffin that was basically a coffee-cake equivalent in jeremiah's car, ignoring his warnings to not make too big of a mess.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
isabel was waiting in the car with laurel, leaving only stella to say her good-byes to taylor. taylor was leaving cousins beach and going back home.
"i'm going to miss you so much, you don't even know," stella said in her hug with the blonde girl. "i can't believe i won't see you until next summer."
"i can't believe i don't get to see you or the hot boys until next summer," she added, making stella think back to this morning and her daydream about jeremiah.
she smiled awkwardly. "yeah, whatever. they're not much fun anyways," she joked, knowing that that was a complete lie.
"easy for you to say." taylor rolled her eyes playfully. she poked at stella's shoulder. "you have both of the fisher boys wrapped around you finger."
stella's jaw dropped. "what? no, i don't," she denied.
at least, not jeremiah, she thought.
taylor's smile dropped, making stella wondered what could have possibly been so disappointing to look at behind her. she turned around and was greeted with an uncomfortable looking isabel.
the two started talking about how taylor had kissed steven. stella laughed awkwardly and started backing away. "okay, i'll leave you guys to it."
when both isabel and stella was buckled up and settled in the car, laurel had a sad smile on her face and said, "you know, boys might come and go, but a best friend is once in a lifetime."
what if my best friend is a boy? stella smiled to herself, referring to conrad.
"we have to hold tight to our friendships... because we never know what the future will hold," laurel continued, her voice cracking slightly towards the end.
stella's smile quickly faded, remembering what conrad had told her about susannah. she assumed that laurel knew too. she also assumed that isabel had no idea what was behind laurel's comment. isabel had no idea what was going on with susannah.
stella settled uncomfortably in the backseat of the van. she shook off the unsettling feeling that the thought of her and conrad's secret gave her.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
the fourth of july in cousins is all about traditons. susannah decks out the whole house, the dads come up for the weekend unfortunately, and the boys steam clams and shoot off fireworks.
all the other fourth of julys, stella had spent the most of her time with conrad. well, more than most. they were practically stuck to each other.
but this year was different. yes, they were still best friends. but this year, she had expanded her social bubble. she had always been friends with jeremiah and steven and everyone else. but this year, she had really let them in.
especially jeremiah.
stella sat at the kitchen table with her almost finished bowl of cereal. she took her last bite and glanced over at the curly headed boy sitting next to her at the head of the table.
he's gonna ask if he can have my cereal milk, she thought.
as expected, jeremiah watched her take her last bite and asked, "can i finish your milk?"
"here." she handed her cereal bowl to him. it only had the leftover milk in it.
"mm," he hummed before slurping down the whole thing.
stella let a cringe creep onto her face, almost as if it was painful to watch him drink that.
conrad walked through the room, quickly saying, "yo, i'm gonna go wash the clams. did you get the lighter fluid?"
jeremiah lifted his face out of the cereal bowl and looked around clueslessy before his eyes settled on his brother. "yeah, it's already on the beach," he replied.
conrad whistled, pointing to the door and leaving. everything was chaotic. as soon as conrad had left the room, steven and susannah had entered it.
"are we done with the portrait yet?" he asked with susannah following him closely.
"yeah, for today," she said. she couldn't help but mention, "but you do look good in a dress shirt, steven."
susannah interrupted herself and looked at the two girls sitting at the table. isabel was sitting at the opposite end of the table near andy.
"if belly doesn't hurry up and ask cam to that ball, you should take her," susannah said to steven.
the corners of isabel's mouth turned down. "ew. no way."
"no, no, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. i'm already going with shayla," he stammered, trying his hardest to avoid that sitaution.
laurel walked in at the perfect time to replenish the kitchen cloths. "to the debutante ball?"
steven nodded and let out a small chuckle. "yes..."
"as an escort?" she raised an eyebrow.
"wrap your head around it, mom, alright?" he smiled proudly. "shayla's coming today with nicole and gigi so you'll meet her."
susannah threw hands up happily. "that's wonderful. oh, and don't forget, ms. covington's first dance rehearsal is tomorrow, so, uh, tick-tock," she reminded the girls, tapping her wrist as if there was a watch there. "and i assume you're asking daniel?"
stella's little laughs turned quiet. she glanced at jeremiah before leaning back in her chair. "yeah, probably not," she replied hesitantly. "didn't- it's not working out."
"oh, that's too bad," susannah shrugged. "seemed like a nice boy."
jeremiah let out a subtle scoff that only stella could hear. "i don't know about that," he muttered under his breath.
"i'm asking cam today," isabel said suddenly.
laurel furrowed her eyebrows and paused what she was doing. "i don't know my kids anymore."
susannah studied her best friend's face. "wait, are you wearing makeup?"
a chorus of cheers and hype sounded in the kitchen. laurel waved them off. "so what? we're having a party."
"mm-hmm. i'm sure it has nothing to do with john coming to the clam bake?" susannah teased her.
"oh please," laurel scoffed playfully. "the husbands always come for the fourth."
"he's not your husband anymore," isabel mentioned.
laurel hesitated before chuckling and saying, "oops. yeah. ex-husband."
steven had a sour look on his face. "you know, i still don't understand why you invited dad's girlfriend."
laurel was feverishly folding towels, probably trying to distract herself. "her name is victoria," she explained. "and your father wanted us all to meet her."
jeremiah and stella both looked at each with wide eyes and shook their heads.
laurel looked at isabel and started handing out chores. "oh, belly, i need you to make up the guest bed."
isabel and laurel bickered about the placement of the rooms and how isabel's room would be right next to where her father and his girlfriend were going to stay.
susannah interrupted, tilting her head at jeremiah. "oh, speaking of dads, yours called. he's closing a deal, so he can't come."
"what?" jeremiah said disappointedly.
in perfect timing, conrad walked into the room. "did you say dad's not coming?" he asked optimistically.
susannah hummed as if saying, yes. jeremiah shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "but i got some serious fireworks for the show this year."
"we'll take a video," susannah suggested.
"it's not the same," he sighed in response.
susannah returned the same sigh. "i know."
conrad smiled smugly to himself, leaning against the sink. one thing that stella and conrad had in common was their disliking for their fathers.
anne had joined the conversation while jeremiah and susannah were talking. she sat down near andy and announced, "surprising news. your dad is going to be here."
this was surprising news because stella's dad didn't really bother to show up on half of the fourth of july weekends. he either had other better things to do or he just didn't want to go.
stella rolled her eyes, making eye contact with conrad from across the room. he sent her an apologetic look before smirking to himself again about the fact that his dad wasn't going to be joining them this year.
stella crossed her arms grumpily and looked down at her shoes.
you've got to be kidding me, she thought.
"what're you smiling over there for?" jeremiah interrogated conrad in a sour tone.
conrad's head shot up. he shut off his little smile quickly. "no reason."
he sent stella a cocky smile. she sent him a look that said, okay, we get it. you win.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
author's note
this was more of a filler chapter. sorry if it's boring. there wasn't really anything great going on in this one. if this chapter was super boring, pls let me know how i can make it less boring for the future chapters that might be like this. hopefully not a lot of chapters will be like this though.
pls vote, comment, etc. THANK YOUU :))
if you guys have any ideas, please comment them down below :)
[ unedited ]