𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 !
↳ 𝖆𝖑𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖙 𝖐𝖎𝖘𝖘 . . .
𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 some sort of trance while playing with the already half dissolved cornflakes that were swimming in her milk.
She suddenly snapped out of her trance when she heard Conrad's voice, "Yo— I'm gonna go wash the clams. Did you get any lighter fluid?"
Jeremiah nodded at him, "Yeah, it's already on the beach."
Conrad whistled before he left the house and went down to the beach. Steven and Susannah entered the kitchen, "Are we done with the portrait yet?"
The blond woman gave him an amused look, "Yeah, for today. But you do look good in a dress shirt, Steven."
She suddenly turned towards Grace, Belly and Jeremiah, "Uh— which makese think— if Belly doesn't hurry up and asks Cam to the ball, you should take her."
Belly frowned deeply, "Ew— no way!"
"No, no, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm already going with Shayla", Steven immediately stated while he placed the milk onto the counter.
Their mother entered the kitchen, "To the debutante ball?"
"Yes."
Their mother frowned at her son, "As an escort?"
Steven let out am amused chuckle, "Yes. Wrap your head around it, mom, all right? Shayla's coming today with Nicole and Gigi, so you'll meet her."
"That's wonderful."
Susannah pointed at Belly, "Oh, and don't forget— Ms. Covington's first dance rehearsal is tomorrow, so, uh, tick-tock."
The girl smiled shyly at them, "I'm asking Cam today." Grace had to suppress a smile from forming on her lips while she saw Jeremiah's death glare.
Laurel glances at her best friend, "I don't know my kids anymore!" Susannah smiled before she frowned at her, "Wait, are you wearing makeup?"
"Yeah, she's wearing makeup!"
"Oh, my— she definitely is!"
"Ohh!— Mom!"
Laurel's eyes widening before she smiled at them, "So what? We're having a party!"
Susannah started peeling a mandarin, "Mhm, I'm sure it has nothing to do with John coming to the clam bake?"
Laurel shrugged, "Oh, please! The husbands always come for the Fourth.
"He's not your husband anymore."
"Oops— yeah. Ex-husband."
Steven's mood immediately changed, "You know, I still don't understand why you invited Dad's girlfriend."
Their mother gave him a shrugg while she folded a blanket, "Her name is Victoria, and your father wanted us all to meet her— Oh, Gracie, I need you to make up the gehst bed."
Belly's face expression immediately fell while she leaned onto the table, "Wait, dad and Victoria are staying here— in the room next to mine!?"
Laurel nodded shortly at her youngest daughter, "Yeah."
Belly gorand loudly, hitting her head onto the table. Jeremiah chuckled amused before Susannah spoke up, "Oh, speaking of dad's, yours called. He's closing a deal, so— he can't come."
Jeremiah seemed taken back by that information, "What?"
Suddenly Conrad entered the room, "Did you say Dad's not coming?"
"Mhm."
"But I got some serious fireworks for the show this year", Jeremiah tried to argue but Susannah shrugged at him. "We'll take a video."
Jeremiah looked away from his mother, obviously annoyed by the fact that his dad was not there for the fourth. "It's not the same."
"I know."
Suddenly Jeremiah addressed Conrad, which made everyone's attention turn to the older Fisher boy, "What are you smiling over there for?"
Conrad still smiled slightly while he answered, "No reason."
Grace gave him a questioning look, but Conrad just avoided her gaze before he left the kitchen once more.
Twenty minutes later Grace decided to go upstairs and prepare the guestroom.
The girl had finished cleaning the room and was now currently trying to tuck the blanket in, but she was failing over and over.
"You're not gonna succeed that way", Conrad suddenly stated form behind her, an amused smirk on his face.
Grace immediately spun around to him, an embarrassed smile on her lips while she stepped away from the bed.
She let out a small laugh, "I need help."
Conrad nodded his head at her, "Yeah, you do." The boy passed her and the two kneeled down onto the ground, tucking the edges of the blanked under the mattress.
Grace wanted to break the silence between them, so she spoke up, "Isn't it weird that my dad is staying here, with his girlfriend?"
Conrad shrugged at her, his eyed meeting her's, "Well, I'm sure they're not gonna have loud sex."
Grace snorted loudly before she raised her eyebrows, avoiding his gaze, "I hope so. I don't want to hear that."
The two began laughing before they slowly went silent once more. Grace met his gaze, her brown eyes staring into his blue ones. "I'm sorry your dad isn't coming."
Conrad smiled slightly, "Don't be. I'm not." Grace gave him a questioning look before she suddenly heard her name being called from downstairs.
"Oh god, they are here." Conrad gave her a shocked expression before he broke into a wide smile. Garce gave him a glare, "That's not funny."
She then got onto her feet and left Conrad behind before she stormed downstairs.
The boys joined them only a moment later and soon the teenagers were all gathered infront of the door, peeking through the window while pushing each other aside.
Suddenly Jeremiah spoke up from besides Grace, "She's hot." The girl shot him a look while Steven exclaimed, "Dude!"
"What? I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking", the boy stated before he peeked out of the window once more.
"I wasn't thinking that", Belly immediately made clear while her and Grace exchanged an annoyed glance.
"Yo, that could be their future stepmom", Conrad suddenly stated, a smirk spreading across his face before Steven pushed him. "Dude, what the hell!"
Conrad slowly spun around to face Steven, "Don't push me!" He then suddenly started fighting with Steven for fun.
"Guys, they're coming! They're coming!", Jeremiah exclaimed before he and Conrad quickly disappeared into the kitchen.
The three Conklin siblings quickly straightened up before the door swung open and revealed Susannah, Laurel, their Dad and his new girlfriend.
Their father flashed them a bright smile before he closed the door behind himself. "Heyyy! Come give your old man a hug, huh?"
He approached his three children, making them all chuckle in return whole they hugged their father. "Dad!"
Their dad seemed excited, "Oh my gosh—" He took a step back before he motioned towards the younger and brunette woman that stood besides him. "That is Victoria."
The woman smiled warmly at them, "Hi, guys. It's really great to meet you. I've heard nothing but five-star reviews." The woman gave them a thumbs up and the teenagers gave her an awkward smile and a nodd in response.
Suddenly their dad interrupted the pretty u comfortable interaction, "Here, let's put this in the kitchen."
Grace immediately exchange a look with her siblings, "There's no way she's 27."
"We definitely have to grab her wallet and check her ID", Belly whispered back at her with wide eyes.
Steven gave her an annoyed glance, "She's in grad school. Chill."
Belly's eyes were still wide while she grabbed onto Steven's shoulder, "I can't chill. I mean, kick-off Dakota Johnson has her claws in our dad."
"Yeah."
Grace gave Belly a considering look before she shrugged, "Maybe— she's not that bad."
Belly stared at her with a serious look on her face, "You're joking, right?"
Grace chuckled before she shrugged once more, "Just saying— I'm gonna go upstairs and—", she glanced outside before she continued. "— avoid the uncomfortable situation down here with mom and dad."
The dark haired girl then made her way upstairs where she was walking past Conrad's room.
The girl glanced at the half opened door, her sanity saying that she shouldn't be snooping around the boys room, but in the end her curiousety got the best of her.
The girl quickly moved inside, leaving the door opened behind her before she made her way through his room.
There hadn't been much changes in Conrad's room since last year and Grace smiled at all the memories that pooped up into her mind.
The girl continued her way through the room before she came to a stand in front of his desk. Her eyes moved over the wood, stopping by a little blue velvet box.
The girl hesitate for a small moment, but then she quickly opened the box and her eyes widened when she saw the silver infinity necklace that was reviled to her.
Her heartbeat fastened and the dark haired girl let her finger trace over the infinity symbol before she heard voices coming from downstairs.
Grace immediately closed the box before she shook her head, realizing how wrong it was to invade his privacy like this before she quickly left the room and made her way back downstairs.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐊𝐋𝐈𝐍 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 could already hear the voices coming from the kitchen when she skipped downs the last couple of stairs. She pushed her hair out of her face, trying to suppress the smile, that was still on her face.
Grace raised her eyebrows at the boys while she came to a stand next to Belly, "What are you guys up to?"
Her heart was still beating loudly in her chest when her eyes fell onto Jeremiah, who beamed at her, "Margaritas!"
The dark haired girl quirked an eyebrow at him before she leaned onto the kitchen counter.
Conrad was still mixing the pink substance, before he stopped for a moment and looked at the other's, "You know what I really miss?"
Jeremiah gave him a questioning look, before he went on, "Watching Laurel put Dad in his place— you know, she'd walk in and be like 'Adam!'—" The boy tried Laurel's angry voice, but failed, making the whole group laugh.
Suddenly Laurel's voice reached them, sounding a lot happier than Conrad's had just now, "Adam!"
The teenagers where completely confused before their attention was caught by Conrad's and Jeremiah's dad entering the kitchen.
"You came."
Their dad smiled at the group, "Happy fourth!" Jeremiah immediately jumped onto his feet in excitement that his dad had made it, "Dad! You came!"
After the two had hugged the man faced them once more, "Hey guys!" His eyes fell onto his oldest son, "Hey, Connie."
Grace eyed Conrad, who sat infornt of the mixer, his eyes avoiding to look at his father while his face expression darkened.
"I'll have a little of what you're mixing up there", the man stated, still smiling from ear to ear.
"Yeah, sure", Belly immediately stated before she quickly handed him a margarita. The man took it from her hands, "Hey, thanks Belly."
"Oh, you're gonna love the firework show this year. It's gonna be the best one yet." Jeremiah had his hands in his hips while he gave his dad a satisfied look.
"I believe it", the man stated while he smiled at his younger son and chuckled.
Suddenly Susannah's voice reached their ears and the blond woman entered the kitchen, "Where did everyone go?"
As soon as her eyes landed on her husband, the happiness disappeared from her face. Grace frowned at that reaction and continued watching their kind off weird interaction.
"Hey."
Susannah had a serious look on her face, "Adam— you managed too get off work."
"Yeah, couldn't miss the fourth with my family", the brunette man answered her before he chuckled shortly.
There was an uncomfortable silence laying over them before Susannah spoke up, "All right, well, let's get back to the party!"
"Okay, let's go kids", Laurel told them before Grace and the other's left the room and spread out when they stepped onto the large porch.
The afternoon continued and everyone had fun, playing drinking games and chilling at the beach until the sun slowly began setting.
Grace had succeeded to avoided getting as drunk as everyone else was currently and was quiet proud of herself that she was only slightly tipsy.
The girl walked past the little table, where Belly's margarita stood and quickly snatched the glass and took a sip of the drink.
The dark haired girl let out a humming before she slowly started wandering around the garden.
Suddenly she heard water rushing and her gaze was moving towards the sound.
"Oh— oh— sorry. I did knew you were here", Grace quickly exclaimed before she took a step backwards, taking her eyes off of Conrad.
"Just—showering", Conrad stated simply while he let the water flow over his body, facing her.
"Everyone else left", Grace informed him while she leaned against the wooden shower. "Just thought you should know—"
He nodded his head in silence and the girl gave him a small smile before she took a step backwards, still looking at him. "I'll see you later."
She wanted to walk away from the shower before she turned back around to him, "Hey— that infinity necklace in your room— that isn't for me, is it?"
Conrad's face expression dropped immediately and Grace thought now was the time he would yell at her for going into his room without permission, but instead his cheeks turned into a bright red and a small embarrassed smile made it's way onto his face.
"I knew it." Grace exclaimed, also a small smile plastered on her face before she then spun on her heel and walked away from him
"Uh— see— see you later." Conrad's awkward voice reached her ears, before she rounded the house, the wide smile still glued onto her face.
After that the two didn't really talk to each other again, Grace was rather preoccupied with looking after her hungover little sister. After a while the two had decided to go downstairs into the kitchen, searching for something to eat.
They were already down there for quiet some time, when they saw their mother entering the house through the front door.
Belly didn't really pay attention to her before she spoke up softly, "Hey!"
Their mother jumped in surprise, "Jesus! What are you doing?"
"I'm just having some cereal", Belly stated and Grace added, —And I'm going for a late night swim."
Belly's eyes were questioningly, while she glanced at her mother, "Where were you?"
"Uh— just went for a drive", their mother answered them before she grabbed herself a glass from the cupboard.
"Aren't you going to yell at me?", Belly suddenly questioned her, a worried expression on her face. Their mother sigehd, "Do you want me to yell at you?"
The young Clonklin girl chuckled, "No." She gazed down onto the counter, "I want us to go back in time— and change that I completely ignored Cameron all day. He's probably mad at me too."
"I'm gonna make Hangover soup— you can have it for breakfast", Laurel stated before she got up from her seat.
Grace gave them a quick glance, "Okay, I'm outside. Bye." She then quickly made her way outside, a a towel in her hand.
The dark haired girl stopped in her track, when she saw Conrad standig down by the docks. The dark haired girl sighed deeply, already knowing that she couldn't resist to join him while watching the fireworks go off.
After a minute, the girl had reached the boy and the two were standing in a comfortable silence. That was until Conrad choose to speak up, "Grace, about the necklace—"
The girl immediately frowned at him, surprised that he mentioned the topic, "Oh, God— please I'm sorry if it's awkward that I brought it up—"
"No, no. I, um— I did get it for you", the brunette boy admitted to her, making her heart beat faster in her chest.
She leaned against the railing, playing with the rings on her finger's, "And why didn't you give it to me?"
Conrad was staring into her eyes, his voice only above a whisper, "I don't know. I got embarrassed— I guess."
Grace took a step closer to him, eager to know what had stopped him, "Why were you embarrassed?"
Conrad scoffed softly under his breath before he shook his head, "You really don't know what effect you have on people."
The girl frowned at him in confusion, her throat went dry the minute she heard his words, "Connie— I really don't— know what you're talking about." Her heart was beating in her chest and she was watching the boy closely.
"Yeah, you do." Conrad didn't break their eye contact before he slowly leaned down to her, due to their hight difference.
The girl had tightened her grip on the wooden railing, her chest feeling like it would explode while she leaned upwards to meet his lips.
She could already feel his warm breath on her face, their lips only centimeters apart, theri noses almost brushing against each other when suddenly a firework went off near their house, making them jump away from each other.
Grace's eyes immediately snapped towards Conrad after that, noticing how he forced himself to keep staring forward, avoiding her gaze.