𝙎𝙐𝙈𝙈𝙀𝙍 𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙕𝙀!
05 │forever wild.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐙𝐙𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 of orange hue crackled through the wind. A charcoal smell protruded from the fresh wood tossed into the fire a couple of minutes ago. Sitting on the sand with a cold can of beer dangling in your hand and people surrounding you from each side only means one thing⎯ bonfire night.
Eviane laughed as Nicole danced wildly to the songs playing out from the portable Bluetooth speaker someone had brought. Continuing to sway, Nicole excitedly rushed towards Eviane, grabbing one of Eviane's outstretched hands to pull her up, "Dance with me!"
"But my beer," Eviane halfheartedly protested, unable to keep the smile off her face as Nicole placed her beer dangerously on top of a pile of sand. Shushing Eviane, Nicole joined both of their hands, song lyrics tumbling out of their mouth as they endlessly screamed into the night.
"Wear this," Nicole mumbled, placing her Red Sox cap on Eviane's head, "It looks better on you." Before Eviane could ask why, Nicole leaned close to her, the distinct chatter and music making it difficult to hear one another, "I'm going to get another beer," and with a kiss on Eviane's cheek and a quick goodbye, Nicole rushed off.
Slightly frazzled and worried, Eviane picked up the can of beer which had grains of white sand surrounding the bottom rim and walked to another spot which was located near the beach's entrance. Somewhere much quieter and a perfect spot to keep an eye out for Nicole.
"Hey," a voice interrupted her thoughts, breaking Eviane's stare from Nicole. Eviane let out a smile as Conrad settled himself beside her, "Hi!"
"I see you're wearing my flannel," Conrad commented, nodding towards the piece of cloth which Eviane put over her thick strapped tank top.
Eviane gratefully nodded her head, "You were right, it's pretty chilly tonight."
"How were your swimming competitions?" Conrad questioned, clearly trying to make small talk.
Groaning, Eviane shook her head in frustration, "Don't even get me started on most of the competitions because first of all, they decided to have multiple judges?? Who the fuck has judges who do nothing but sit on the opposite side of the pool, check the big screen, and have them declare the winners. The only judge that matters is the turn judge but apparently, he had no say because this entire competition was bullshit and biased from the start."
With his mouth bobbing open and close like a fish, Conrad stared at Eviane dumbfounded as everything she said made zero sense to him but he didn't want to interrupt her as she continued to vent.
"That's not even the worst part, when I and other people clearly won, the judges decided to announce this other girl as the winner and you know why?" Not waiting for Conrad to answer her rhetorical question, Eviane continued, "Because one of the judges was her dad. HER DAD!?"
Furrowing his brows, "Didn't anyone file a complaint?" Conrad asked.
"Oh they did," Eviane smirked, "You should have seen how scared the judges looked when my mom stormed into their office after telling the head of the swimming foundation what had happened."
Conrad and Eviane chuckled as they imagined the scared judges being chased by Natalie.
"Evie," Nicole whistled for her friend, drunk of her mind. Spotting Conrad sitting quite close to Eviane, Nicole made her way with narrow eyes and a determined face, squeezing herself carelessly in the middle of the two.
"Ouch," Eviane muttered, shielding herself from Nicole whose elbow hit her ribs, "What are you doing, Nicole?"
Cheekily grinning at Eviane, Nicole answered, "Sitting." Eviane stared at her, unimpressed, although it quickly vanished when she saw Nicole groaning, placing her hand on her head, "Why is it so bright. My head's killing me."
"That's what you get for having too many drinks," Eviane reprimanded, removing Nicole's cap from her head and placing it back on Nicole's head, trying to shield the glow emitting from the fire from shining into Nicole's eyes. The whole scene reminded Conrad of Eviane portraying a disappointed mom and Nicole listening to her with a pout as a scolded child.
Humming in appreciation from the light not getting in her eyes, Nicole turned to look at Conrad who stared at her bizarrely, "Well, don't mind me, continue with your conversation."
"Actually," Eviane stated, wiping the back of her pants with a hand to remove the sand that stuck to it as she got up, "I'm going to meet Jere."
"I'll come with you," Conrad replied.
"No cause you need to take care of Nicole," Eviane stated, as a matter of fact, pointing at the drunk girl who gasped outrageously, "I don't need anyone to take c-care of me, I'm an adult."
All Eviane did was stare at her unamused before targeting her pleading eyes to Conrad who nodded his head, sighing.
"Thank you, thank you," Eviane chanted before she jogged to the blue-eyed boy who was waving her over.
"Heyyy," Jeremiah called out as he put his arm around her shoulder. Eviane smiled up at him, hesitating to lean into him as she saw Gigi uncomfortably shift around when she saw the two friends together.
Leaving Jeremiah's embrace, she went to stand beside Gigi and the multiple girls stood there, "Seems like you have a fan base," Eviane teased, watching as Jeremiah and the rest of the girls laughed.
"You look so hot," Gigi commented, giving Eviane a hug which Eviane quickly responded to, "Have you looked at yourself, you look amazing."
"So Jeremiah, tell us more about your lifeguard job," one girl asked, shifting closer to him.
Chuckling, Jeremiah took a sip of his beer before launching into a conversation, grinning at her attempt to flirt with him.
"You need to tell him that you like him because he's Jeremiah and every minute, he flirts with someone new," Eviane whispered towards Gigi, who glared at the girl⎯ possibly another tourist given that they've never seen her.
"I know," Gigi sighed in dismay, "I don't know how dumb people can be with feelings, I thought the only oblivious ones were you and Conrad."
Narrowing her eyes, Eviane tilted her head, "What does that mean?" But all Gigi did was snicker at what was behind Eviane.
"Looks like lover boy needs help," Gigi said, smirking when Eviane turned around to spot Conrad.
Double-taking at the scene, Eviane couldn't help but laugh as she watched Conrad dodging Nicole's hand which kept touching his hair. Knowing Nicole, she probably wanted to style it.
"Well, since my services are so needed, I'll go save him," Eviane snickered, turning to hug Gigi one last time and saying goodbye to Jeremiah.
The pair of eyes that stuck to the back of her head like glue seemed to be unknown to her. Sighing, all Jeremiah could do was watch her go back to his brother, the grin on his face slowly slipping away.
"Fuck," Eviane muttered, another body crashing onto hers. Picking her phone off which fell onto the sand, Eviane brushed the grains away.
"I'm so sorry," the sound of a male voice spoke up.
Glancing up, Eviane paused, her eyes scanning the boy in front of her. All she could think of was that he was handsome. "It's okay."
The boy seemed to assess her as well, taking in her appearance before a thought rushed into Eviane, "You're the boy I saw on the beach?"
"Well you're seeing me at a beach right now, so I think you need to be specific," he chuckled.
Shaking her head, Eviane responded, "Right, sorry, you're the one with the dog, t-the brown dog."
Clicking his tongue, he nodded, "Odin, yeah, he's my sister's dog," he clarified.
"Are you new? I've never seen you here before," Eviane asked, still unfamiliar with who this was.
"Kind of, I'm only here for the summer to see my sister's place."
Just then, Eviane spotted Belly falling? "I'm sorry but I need to get going, it was nice to talk to you," Eviane offered, her mind wandering to how Belly came to the bonfire.
"Nice talking to you as well, by the way, I'm Eli," he smiled.
Smiling back, "Well, Eli, I'm Eviane, my friends call me Evie."
"So does that mean I can call you Evie and give you my number considering we're friends?" Eli mischievously grinned.
"Sure does," Eviane replied, taking Eli's phone from his outstretched hand and typing her number in.
"I'll message you later," he smiled at her.
Passing back his phone, Eviane smiled back at him, "I'll look forward to it."
Soon enough when Eviane turned around, she rushed toward Nicole and Conrad who seemed to be talking to pissed Belly.
"I thought you hated the Red Sox," Belly stated, crossing her arms, pointedly looking at Conrad.
Squinting her eyes, Nicole asked, "Who are you?"
"Who are you?" Belly scoffed.
"Nicole, Evie's best friend."
Eviane decided that now was a perfect time to but in, "Belly, hey what are you doing here?"
Drunk Nicole narrowed her eyes as Belly ignored Eviane, still glancing at Conrad who couldn't care less, "Evie also made Conrad and I got to the deb ball last summer."
That seemed to get Belly's attention, head whipping so fast to look between Eviane and Nicole who smiled smugly.
"I thought you said that deb balls are bullshit, and all debs are sheep," Belly stated, looking back at Conrad.
Nicole's smile dropped and Eviane shook her head, "Belly, that's enough."
"I didn't," Conrad muttered, jaw ticking, "You're such a brat."
"Well, you're an asshоlе," Belly rebutted.
Rolling her eyes, Eviane scoffed, "He didn't do anything and neither did Nicole or I, you're the one who came up to them and started to throw a fit."
"Belly," Jeremiah called as he came running to them, "You came! Great, we can all hang out, you guys."
"I'm about to take her home," Steven said, latching his hand on Belly's arm.
Belly pushed Steven's hand away from her, "Are you kidding me?"
"Okay, Steven, chill out," Eviane spoke up, "Go hang out with Shayla, Jere and I'll make sure she stays with us." Eviane was 100% sure that Belly was pissed at her, for what reason, she wasn't sure but Eviane couldn't see her leave when it was her first time at a bonfire.
Shayla nodded her head at Eviane's words, sending the girl a thank you look, "Let's go Steven."
Sighing, Steven agreed, "Fine but make sure she stays right here and doesn't talk to anybody."
"Fuck you!" Belly screamed, flipping Steven off as he and Shayla walked away. Due to the argument, they've caught quite a crowd, watching their moves and letting on unnecessary comments.
Jeremiah laughed before turning to Belly, "Listen, for one, I'm really happy you're here."
"Jeremiah," Eviane recognized Gigi calling for him.
"Okay, I will be right back," Jeremiah promised Belly, running back to his previous seat where girls flocked around him.
So much for being happy to see me here, Belly thought.
Eviane didn't want to leave Belly alone but she knew that inviting her to sit with Conrad and Nicole would only make things worse. "Let's go sit there," Eviane pointed to a spot that was a good 10 feet away.
"When Evie hugged him, I swear I saw a smile on Connie's face," Susannah hummed, bringing the cigarette to her mouth.
Natalie smiled in agreement, taking a sip of her beer.
"He was in a better mood today than I've seen him since he and Aubrey broke up last month," Susannah sighed.
Furrowing her eyebrows, Laurel took the cancer stick from Susannah's hand, "I didn't realize they were that serious."
"Neither did I," Susannah answered, causing the three to laugh.
Sitting on the bench on the patio, the three women stared out into the dark night. The only source of comfort is from the warm puffs of smoke and the chilly beers.
Natalie looked at Susannah and Laurel who sat on either side of her, "I only thought he was dating her to get a reaction from Evie."
"Yeah, that was torture to watch," Susannah sighed, "He's just in a bad mood also. So unlike himself."
"When did he quit football?" Laurel asked.
"A couple of weeks ago," Natalie answered, indulging the warmth as she inhaled the cigarette.
"He only ever played football to please Adam," Susannah explained, "I told you both they weren't getting along."
Passing the stick to Laurel, Natalie nodded, "I tried talking to Evie about him but she did not let a single thing slip out of her."
"Conrad and Evie are meant to be, where one goes the other follows." Laurel smiles.
"She seems to make him in less of a bad mood," Susannah agreed, "I'm just gonna... let him have his space. You know? Let him do his thing."
"Don't you think maybe it's time you talked to him?" Laurel knowingly asked.
"There's nothing to talk about," Susannah answered.
"Look," she glanced at her best friends, "Can we just have a really great summer like we said we would?"
"I'm sorry," Belly mutters, bringing her knees to her body.
"It's okay," Eviane smiles, "You were mad and that's understandable."
"It's just, like the boys especially Steven think they can tell me what to do just because they're older." Belly sighs frustrated, "Like you and Jeremiah are so close to my age but they keep babying me."
"They're protective over you," Eviane rephrases, "And Jere and I have experiences with these things, you don't really go to parties like these which is why we tend to worry."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Belly sighs, "I'm pretty sure your friend hates me."
Eviane winced, "Hate? Probably not but she sure got the wrong impression of you."
"Can you apologize to her for me?"
"Alright."
"And you don't need to sit beside me the whole night," Belly added, "It's my fault for coming here and I'm not going to be the reason you don't have any fun, you should go back to your friend and Conrad."
All Eviane did was shake her head, "There's no way I'm leaving you here."
"You're so stubborn," Belly groaned, "Besides I'm not going to be alone, Jeremiah's here."
"He's flirting with the girls," Eviane raised an eyebrow.
"Fine, if you don't leave, I'm going to tell everyone about what you said the time you drunk called me," Belly threatened.
"You wouldn't," Eviane exclaims, narrowing her eyes.
Belly smiles calmly, "Oh I would, I really would."
she speaks!
this scene led me to have mixed feelings for belly but other than that how cute are nicole, eviane, & conrad.
𝙎𝙐𝙈𝙈𝙀𝙍 𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙕𝙀!