ɪɴ ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴛᴀʏʟᴏʀ ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴇʟʟʏ ɢᴇᴛ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴀ ꜰɪɢʜᴛ
ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴ ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ꜰʟᴏʀᴀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴀʟʟᴜᴍ ꜱʜᴀʀᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴏᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ꜰʟᴏʀᴀ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇꜱ ꜱʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ꜰᴇᴇʟ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇʀ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ɪᴛ ꜰᴇᴇʟꜱ ᴡʀᴏɴɢ...
𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 Taylor walked up to Nicole's house, Cam following behind the two friends. The big house was booming with music and lights. Belly spotted Flora step out of Callum's car, walking up to the house with him. She sighed and followed behind them with Taylor. Belly told herself to not worry about her confusing love life and enjoy tonight. Flora was thinking the same exact thing while Taylor was thinking the opposite.
"Belly! Flo! You guys came!" Nicole squealed happily, embracing the two of them.
"Hey Nicole! You look so pretty!" Belly gushed.
"Me? Oh, look at you!" Nicole gushed as well. "You too Flo! Oh, my goodness your both so pretty! Are those real flowers?" She asked, nodding to Belly, Taylor, and Flo's flower crowns.
"Yeah." Belly grinned, Taylor fell behind, her smiled dropped. Flora glanced over at the girl and gave her an "are you okay?" look. She nodded back sadly to Flora.
"Imma go find a drink." Taylor stated, walking away as Belly and Flora were pulled over to a table with cakes surrounded by the Deb girls. They all gushed over Belly, wishing her a happy birthday.
"Oh wow. Is this for me?" Belly grinned, ear to ear at the cakes and her friends.
"Who else would it be for?" Nicole smiled, lighting the candles.
"Make a wish, Bells!" Flora grinned. Belly smiled at Flora, eyes glittering and closed her eyes, blowing out the candles. Every year, every birthday, she'd wished for Conrad. What was she wishing for this time? Still Conrad? Maybe Cam? Or maybe something completely different.
"Hey so you and Conrad a thing?" Marisa, one of the deb girls asked.
"Or what!?" Her girlfriend, Dara finished.
"I think 'or what'." Nicole sighed.
"Hey, you're his sister you live with him, and Belly you live with them. What's he up to? Seeing any girls?" One of the debs asked.
"Oh. Uhm no he's always off by himself." Flora chuckled. Belly nodded.
"Anyways, have you two asked Cam and Callum to the ball yet?" Nicole asked, changing the subject.
"Oh no not yet" They answered. Gigi began a speech about how they needed to ask their boys right away and quickly changed it into a dirty joke. Belly zoned out, starring at Conrad who was holding a drink, chatting with friends. She searched her heart for any lingering feelings, but somehow, she found very little. A part of her was still waiting on Conrad, but something had changed, her feelings for Conrad weren't the same and she had no idea why.
Flora wandered away, going to find Callum. She waltzed over to him, and he turned around grinning.
"Hey! Been wondering where you were!" He smiled.
"Sorry, but here I am?" She smiled back.
"Don't worry about it. But hey, it's pretty loud, wanna find somewhere quiet?" He suggested. Flora nodded, Callum took her by the hand and lead her upstairs into a quiet bedroom.
Flora and Callum sat on the bed together, chatting away. There was a quiet period of time, and then Callum spoke up breaking the silence.
"Hey, listen. I don't really know how to say this, but I really like you, Florence. More than friends." He spoke, in a hushed tone. Flora froze. She felt her stomach churn because the first thing she thought of when he said those words, was Belly. But she told herself she was done waiting for Belly. She told herself she was done being confused about herself. She told herself that she was allowed to like this boy.
Suddenly, before she knew it. His lips were gently pressed against hers. She slowly melted into the kiss. She kissed him back. Feeling his hands on her waist and hers around his neck. A thought of Belly flashed into her head, and she almost pulled away. This was good. She told herself. This was what she wanted. She thought. She convinced herself.
Callum, leaned forward, slowly climbing on top of her slightly. She shivered when she felt his cold rings touch her skin, they slowly slid up her leg, and under the skirt of her dress. She felt his kissed become more rushed and forceful. And then it felt wrong, when she felt his hands glide up to the zipper of her dress. She pulled back suddenly and slid away out of his touch.
Flora sat on the edge of the bed, lip stick smeared, still clothed, and a confused Callum sat up by the spot on the bed that the two had just been making out on.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm just not ready for that yet. I mean it's all way too fast." She breathed.
"No, I get it. I'm sorry I rushed it. That was stupid of me and I'm sorry." He spoke, sliding over to where she sat, putting a hand on hers. "I really do like you Flora. Is there any chance I could get a re-do?" He asked hopefully.
She sighed. "I just wanna take things slower." She spoke.
"And I can do that." He smiled. "It's getting pretty late; do you need a ride home?" He asked.
"No, thank you." Flora smiled gently. He nodded, kissed her forehead and told her goodbye.
Flora sat on the bed for a few minutes and got up and walked out of the bedroom. She was just about to go find Belly when the noise of shouting stopped her. She followed the noise, hearing Belly's voice and cracked open the door to reveal a scene of chaos.
"I dont even know who you are anymore!" Taylor yelled, angrily.
"Oh, why? Because I'm not just going along with everything you say anymore? With everything you wanna do? Is that why you threw yourself at my brother? So you could get back at me!?" Belly accused.
"You know, you act so innocent, Belly, like you're the victim! I think YOU are the self-absorbed one! How do you not know I've had a crush on Steven for years!? If you weren't so obsessed with Conrad- No! You know what? It's not even Conrad anymore, is it? I see the way you look at her, Belly! You gonna just hide the fact that now you're into Flora Fisher and girls now or something?" Taylor yelled, making Flora, who was hid behind the door, freeze. Belly wouldn't be. Belly would never be.
"What's wrong with you!? Someone's gonna hear!" Belly scolded in a whisper shout.
"Who cares!? There is more than one story going on here and you're only interested in the one where you're the main character!" Taylor said, hurt and angry.
"I can't deal with this right now." Belly spoke. Flora heard her begin to walk away to out of the room and she quickly darted into another room so as not to be seen. She fell onto the ground, back against the wall, taking in the events of the night. Was she forcing herself to like Callum? Did she have a real crush on Belly or Callum? Flora had no idea. Well, she had some idea, but she was only just coming to terms with it.
Flora was downstairs the next morning, munching on breakfast with Jere. Belly had told her about Taylor and Steven hooking up and how Taylor and Belly had fought. Flora pretended not to have heard any of it.
"Morning." Belly greeted, walking into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Bells." Flora said.
"Want one?" Jere offered Belly one of him famous smoothies. She didn't respond and took the box of Lucky charms cereal and poured some into her mouth from the box.
"Okayyy." Jere chuckled and Flora giggled.
"I take it you and Tay Tay haven't made up?" Flora asked.
"Nope. We haven't talked since last night." Belly grumbled. Jere raised his eyebrows and slid the milk and a bowl over to Belly who thanked him and poured herself cereal.
"When does she leave?"
"In a few hours. Hey, do you guys wanna go on a muffin run?" Belly asked "I gotta get out of the house."
"I'm down." Jere smiled.
"Me too, grab the keys out of my room, I'll meet you up there." Flora said, grabbing the bowls and beginning to clean up. Jere ran up to his room to change into his day clothes and Flora cleaned up the dishes and headed up the stairs to throw on a day outfit. She appeared in the doorway and saw Belly. Belly was sitting on Flora's un-made bed, flipping through the scrap book. Flora had completely forgotten about the book she'd made Belly for her birthday. Belly's eyes were filled with tears of happiness. Each page had a picture of the two and the pages were decorated beautifully, some pages having small notes from Flora or explaining the memory. Belly had never gotten a better gift.
"Hey." Flora spoke softly.
"Hi. Sorry. I found it while trying to look for the keys." Belly sniffed, quickly closing the book. "Is-is it.... Can I keep this?" Belly whispered, happy emotions spilling down her face. She hugged the book to her chest, lovingly.
"Of course, Bells. It's for you. I forgot to give it to you yesterday." Flora smiled. Belly stood up and hugged Flora with all the love in her heart.
"Thank you, Flory. I love it, it's perfect. I love you, Flory." She cried.
"Love you too, Bells." Flora hugged back.
Flora stepped into the guest room where Taylor was staying, she was packing up her things into a suitcase, getting ready to leave.
"Are you mad at me too?" She asked, looking up at the slightly older girl in front of her.
"Kind of. But I don't want you leave with us on some bad note." Flora spoke, honestly. Taylor looked down in shame.
"Belly hates me too." She whispered.
"Taylor, I don't hate you and neither does Belly. What you said was kind of low, but to be honest you really can't deny feelings, Taylor. Feelings are natural. I can understand some of where you're coming from, but you did say some shitty things, but you were also feeling your emotions. And I know you aren't a bad person, Taylor." Flora spoke. Taylor gave a small smile and hugged Flora tightly.
"You're a good friend, Flora Fisher." She whispered.
"See you around Taylor Jewel."
𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧-𝘽𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙚 𝙀𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝
A/N: ok but the part where Belly gets the scrap book from flora, i imagined the song was: i hear a symphony by cody fry