This morning I get out of bed and find that Belly was gone. At first I was confused but then it dawned on me that she was supposed to meet up with Cameron. It was some type of boat thing, I'm not really too sure.
I get out of bed and get ready for the day. My hair, my makeup, my outfit. I wasn't sure of my plans for the day since I would usually hang out with Belly.
As I look myself over in the mirror I notice how much my head had bruised. I try covering it with makeup but it wouldn't fully cover. I try to pull my hair towards my face to cover it and just hope that my mom doesn't see it.
"Morning." I say as I enter the kitchen. I notice that Belly was here as well. She must have changed her mind.
"Why do you look...nice?" Steven asked as I enter the kitchen.
"Am I not aloud to look nice?" I asked as I went to grab orange juice from out of the refrigerator.
"She's probably gonna FaceTime her boyfriend." Josh teased making kissy faces.
"Real mature, Josh." I said sarcastically.
"Hey, you're the one that's supposedly "reached maturity". He said referencing the debutant thing.
"Would you leave your sister alone?" Laurel said lightly hitting Joshes chest. I send her a smile.
"You have a boyfriend?" Jeremiah asked.
"Yeah, so what?" I asked.
"Nothing, I just didn't know." He said. Jeremiah sounded hurt that I hadn't told him about Myles.
"Yeah, back home they can't go five minutes without texting each-other." Josh laughed.
"Yeah, well at least we can go five minutes without making out." I responded seeing as Josh and his girlfriend are constantly all over each-other when she's over.
"Ooh, solid burn my dude." Jeremiah said.
"Can you guys not be so loud? My head is still killing me." Conrad called from the living room.
"Good morning everyone." My mom says as she now enters the kitchen with groceries.
"Morning, y/m/n." Jeremiah responded.
"Did you go to the store?" Laurel asked.
"Yeah, I had to pick up some stuff so I went ahead got some things for dinner." Mom explained. "Y/n, what the hell happened to your face? Your nose looks swollen."
I stood there for a moment unsure of what to say. I turn to see Conrad was sitting up, eyes locked on me as everyone waited for my response. "Uh, yeah. I uh, I ran into a pole yesterday."
"You ran into a pole?" My mom asked confused.
"Yep." I said taking my glass of orange juice to the table.
"Oh my god!" Susannah said entering the kitchen. "Both of our girls are going to be debutantes."
"Wait, Belly too? My sister? That thing over there?" Steven teased.
"This is going to be so much fun." Susannah exclaimed. "Oh, I can't wait. There's the tea, the auction, of course there's the ball, the rehearsal. We need to go shopping."
"This sounds...expensive." Laurel said.
"Oh, don't worry. It was my idea so both of our girls are completely on me." Susannah said.
"Belly, are you sure you want to do this?" Laurel asked. "It doesn't seem very you."
"It's not. It's not either of them." Conrad spoke up from where he still sat in the living room.
"Conrad, could you please be a little more supportive?" Susannah asked. "Now, whose going to be belly's escort and whose going to be y/n's? To the ball, I mean."
"Don't put me down for either. I went last year." Conrad said.
"Yeah, and I swore off balls." Jeremiah said, causing both Steven and Josh to laugh. "The dances, you idiots."
"Wow, there's no need to fight over us, guys." Belly joked. "Also, I'd actually like to find my own date."
"Is a date necessary?" I asked.
"Of course. You're going to need a dancing partner and someone to walk with when you are first introduced."
"Wait, couldn't Y/n and I just go together?" Belly asked.
"Your date can't be another debutant." Susannah explained.
"Maybe Myles could come." Belly suggested.
"What?" Conrad interjected.
"I mean, she could take Myles, couldn't she?" Belly asked as we turned to Susannah.
"I don't see why not. But he would have to learn the dance and be able to attend the practices." Susannah explained.
"Do you think he come up here?" Belly asked, turning back to me.
"I'd have to ask him. Would it be okay if he could?" I asked the moms.
"Uh, yeah. How else am I gonna get to meet that handsome boy of yours." Susannah said.
"What? No." Conrad said from where he still sat in the living room.
"Why not?" I asked confused.
"Because. Other people live in this house, you know? We don't need some guy that none of us know staying here." Conrad explained.
"He's not some guy, Conrad. He's my boyfriend." I responded.
"Honestly, I'm not too sure it's a good idea either." Jeremiah said.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"How about this. The three of us will discuss it and we will get back to you." My mom said, ending the conversation.
"I'm going for a swim." Conrad said as he was soon out the door.
*•*Daylight - Taylor Swift*•*
The moms proceeded to talk about how times have changed when it comes to debutantes but I couldn't hear what they were talking about as I was watching Conrad through the window.
Why was he so upset? Why did he seem...jealous? No, no, no. There's no way. Conrad was just being Conrad.
"Breakfast is served." Jeremiah said placing plates in front of both Belly and I.
"Thanks, Jere." I said more faintly than I meant to.
"Hurry, up. We've got shopping to do." Susannah said.
•••
Store, after store, after store. We've been shopping for hours. We bought jewelry, hairpieces, fancy outfits, makeup, shoes. Now all we needed was our dresses for the actual ball.
"What about this one?" I asked as I came out in my dress.
"No." Susannah said almost immediately.
"I think it's nice." Laurel said.
"It's not the right look. We need something more...big." She said.
"Big?" My mom asked.
"Okay, here's mine." Belly said stepping out.
"You look so pretty." I told her.
"So do you." She smiled.
"Girls, girls. I love you both and you look very pretty in these dresses. However, we need to think bigger. This is a ball." Susannah explained. So we changed out of the dresses and continued to search. Susannah found Belly's first and sent her to the dressing room as we continued to search for mine.
"Oh my god." Susannah said stopping in her tracks. "This is it. I know it is. Come one, you've got to try this one on."
"Okay?" I said as she grabbed the dress.
"Wow, Beck, when you said big you really meant...big." My mom commented as she watched Susannah and I return with the dress.
"Belly, that's beautiful. Oh my god." Susannah gushed.
"It's definitely something." Belly said. I tuned out the rest of their conversation as I continued to pull my dress on.
*•*Mirrorball - Taylor Swift*•*
The older I got the harder it became to love myself. I've always had so many insecurities and would constantly talk down on myself and on my body but high school has made it the worst it's ever been. However, there was something about being in cousins that makes those insecurities faded. It was Susannah.
Susannah has always told Belly and I how beautiful we were, even in our awkward middle school years. She's always treated me like a Princess.
I look myself over in the mirror and stare at myself in awe. A smile crept onto my face as I did so. This is the prettiest I have ever felt. Was the dress out of my comfort zone? Yes. But I didn't hate it, not even close. I was in love with it. Susannah was right, this was the perfect dress. It compliments me better than I could have imagined.
"Alright, Y/n, we are dying to see yours now." Susannah cheered.
I let out a small breath before pulling back the curtain.
"Oh my god." Susannah said. "This dress was literally made for you."
"You think so?" I ask.
"No, I know so." Susannah said.
"Mom?" I asked turning to my mother. Her lips were parted as she stared at me.
"I think you look beautiful." She finally said. "I'm gonna be honest, it really shows how grown you really are and I was not expecting it."
"You look so good." Belly smiled. Her smile was faint as her eyes moved off of me.
"Belly, you look amazing." I said in hopes of cheering her up. I could tell that Belly was uncomfortable with her dress.
"What about this one, for Belly?" Laurel asked as she and an employee had brought over another dress. I watched as Belly's eyes immediately lit up.
"No, no. That's too simple. I'm telling you, these girls go all out." Susannah said.
I looked at Belly once more before we both went to change.
•••
Laurel had drove Belly and I to our debutant tea. We thank we thank her as we get out of the car and make our way up to the building.
"Okay, I'm officially nervous." I said.
"Me too." Belly agreed. "But, we've got this. Walk in confidently."
"Belly?" Laurel said from the car.
"I'll catch up with you." Belly said.
"Okay." I smile.
My nerves grew stronger as I continued walking. They seemed to have calmed once I had made it closer to the building and saw a families face walking by.
"Jere!" I called. No response. "Jeremiah, hello?"
"Y/n?" He said, almost questioning if it were really me.
"Uh, yeah." I chuckled.
"Sorry, I just didn't recognize you." He said.
"Oh, no. Do I look stupid?" I asked freaking out. "I'm starting have doubts about this entire thing and I thought I looked stupid and now confirmed that I look stupid and now I can't stop saying the word stupid and I-"
"Hey, hey. No, no, no." Jeremiah cut off my intense rambling. "You look great."
*•*Sweet Nothing - Taylor Swift*•*
"Really?" I asked. "Because if I look stupid I'd rather you just tell me now."
"You don't look stupid, okay?" He said. "You look...beautiful."
I sent the boy a genuine smile, similar to the one he was already sending my way. Jeremiah has always been my brother. He's never looked at me in this way. I feel my cheeks start to get warm as our eyes are still locked.
"Hey." I heard, causing our gaze to break. I turn to see Belly now with us.
"H-hey, Belly button. You look great." Jeremiah said shifting his attention to Belly as well. His eyes went back to me for a second before he spoke again. "Why don't I walk you guys over."
"Yeah, for sure." Belly said. Jeremiah walk us to the building and upstairs to a room in which we find several girls our age already sitting down and conversations amongst themselves.
"You know that cliche scene in the movies when the character walks into the cafeteria and everyone just stares at them? This is it." I said.
"Let's just find a place to sit." Belly said as she went ahead and entered the room.
"Maybe I should just go home, I'm sure your mom can return all of the stuff she bought." I said trying to dart out.
"Hey, hey." Jeremiah said grabbing my arm. I turned to face him and he put an arm on each of my shoulders. "You're going to kill this. You're going to walk in there, head high, and act like you know what you're doing, okay?"
"But I don't know what I'm doing, Jere." I sighed.
"That's why I said act." He responded. I nodded at his encouragement and took a deep breath. "You got this."
I've got this. I thought to myself. I straightened my posture, held my head up, and out a smile on my face as I walked in.
"Y/n? Y/n Hart?" The lady who seemed to have been in charge had asked as she stopped me in my tracks.
"Y-yes. That's me." I responded nervously.
"You're late. That wouldn't have anything to do with Jeremiah Fisher, would it?" She asked as I looked back to see Jeremiah still standing there. Jeremiah sent us a small wave as he made his way towards us.
"I'm really sorry about being late." I told her.
"You're at table two." She said. "Ah, Jeremiah."
"Paige." He said.
"Where's your shirt?" She asked.
"Always a pleasure." Jeremiah said kissing Paiges hand. "Are those the little sandwiches with the prosciutto?"
"Don't you dare. They're for the girls." Paige said as she began to walk away. Jeremiah ran to grab one the second her back was turned. "Jeremiah, those are for the girls!"
"Just one!" He said before returning back to me. "You've got this." Jeremiah kissed my cheek before heading on his way. I head back to table two and see that Belly was already sitting there and there was an empty seat across from her, specifically for me. As I get closer to the table I recognize one face in particular. Next to Belly was the girl that Conrad was kissing at the bonfire.
I take a seat without saying anything, hoping I could be unnoticed. "Oh, this is Y/n." Belly introduced me.
"Hello." I said awkwardly.
"Hey." A few of them responded. I met eyes with Belly and she looked as awkward as I was. It was comforting that I wasn't alone.
•••
"So, how was your first tea?" Susannah asked as we sat in her bedroom while Belly got ready for her date with Cam.
"Well, Belly seemed to have fit in pretty well." I smiled.
"That's great, and what about you?" She asked.
"I don't know. Maybe I should just let this be Belly's thing, I think she's better at it than I am." I said.
"Hey, that's not true. You both are beautiful, elegant young girls. You just have to get used to it." She explained just as Belly had re-entered the room.
"What do you think?" She asked as she gave us a 360 of her outfit.
"You look hot!" I exclaimed.
"You're going to have so much fun tonight." Susannah told her.
"We're just going to see a movie." Belly said as she started on her makeup.
"You look really nice, Belly." Laurel said as she now entered the room.
"I can't believe crop tops are back." Susannah laughed.
"Y/n?" Belly asked as she held out her eyeliner. Belly knew I had been practicing my wings all year and had gotten pretty good at them.
"You really are gonna have so much fun." I said as I began the first wing. "I can't wait to hear all about it."
"I'm nervous." She said.
"Oh, honey, you have nothing to be worried about. You are gorgeous and you're going to have a blast." Susannah said.
"Okay, all done." I said comparing the two wings and being sure that they were even.
"Okay." Belly smiled grabbing her phone.
"Have fun." Susannah said.
"I'm gonna go make sure the boys don't try to embarrass you if he pulls up." I said racing downstairs.
I run to the door and watch out the window. I see a car pull up just as I get to the front windows.
"Belly, he's here!" I call up the stairs.
"Who's here?" Steve asked.
"Belly's date." I said playfully. Belly came running down the stairs soon after.
"Okay, okay. I've got this." She pep talked herself.
"You've got this." I said grabbing her hands and looking her in the eye. "You're hot, smart, funny. You've got everything going for you. Don't be nervous."
"Don't be nervous." Belly agreed.
"Have fun." I smiled before giving her a hug and sending her on her way. I smile as I watch her get into Cams car and they drive away.
"Okay, I know that Belly just left but we have a family announcement." Susannah said as the three moms entered the living room in which I stood and the boys were all playing video games.
"Y/n, if you would like to invite him, we have agreed that Myles is more than welcome to come stay at the beach house." Susannah said.
"Conrad, come on man. You made us die." Steven complained.
"Wait, really?" I asked.
"As long as you follow the rules. No hanging out behind closed doors, no breaking curfew, and please, no pda." My mom said.
"Okay, okay. Thank you!" I said excited.
"He can stay in the spare bedroom downstairs." My mom clarified as my room was upstairs.
"You're joking, right?" Conrad complained.
"No, Conrad. Myles is very much welcome to come and support Y/n, especially since none of you were willing to be her escort.
"Bro, what are you doing?" Steven said as Conrad up and left without saying a single thing. I look over to see that while both Steven and Josh were into the game Jeremiah looked a little off. Why were both Jeremiah and Conrad against Myles coming up to cousins? I don't get it.
•••
While Belly was having fun on her date the rest of us were at Laurels book signing.
"You guys are idiots. It's gonna fall." I said as Josh and Jeremiah were stacking books into Stevens arms in attempt to see how high they could go. I see the moms chatting it up on the other side of the room as I scan the rest of it. My smile fades when I see Conrad chugging away at a bottle of wine across from where I stood. I left the boys to hopefully be able to talk to him.
"Hey." I said as I approached y the boy. He said nothing. "How many have you had?"
"As does it matter?" He asked
"Maybe that the last time you drank too much we had to be escorted home by the police." I suggested.
"I don't see any police." He said before taking another drink.
"Okay." I said as I continued to stand there. I thought for a moment before speaking up again. "Can I ask you something?" Conrad shrugged his shoulders.
"Why does the idea of Myles staying in cousins upset you so much?" I asked.
"It doesn't." He shrugged.
"But it does. You literally had a whole argument about it when we first brought it up." I said.
"I'm not comfortable with some stranger staying in my house." He said.
"Right. Your house." I said.
"That's not what I meant. You know that's not-" he started.
"No, I get it Conrad." With that I walked away. I almost didn't want Myles to come anymore. It would be weird and awkward. Don't get me wrong, I miss my boyfriend but cousins was a whole different world. It would be weird to combine the two.
I sit outside, in the quiet, thinking how good some of that wine sounded right about now. Breaking the silence was my ringtone. I look at my phone to see that it was Myles.
"Hey." I answered.
"Hey, how's it going?" He asked.
"Good. It's going good." I lied. "I just-"
"You're never gonna believe what happened today." Miles began completely cutting me off. I sat on the phone and listened as he went on about his day. I felt bad but I honestly couldn't care less.
All I could think about was Conrad.