They'd been driving for what felt like seven thousand years
Sarah's older brother by one year, Liam, drove slower than their grandma while Sarah sat next to him with her feet up on the dashboard. Their mother, Jackie passed out in the backseat, looking alert even in her sleep.
"Go faster." Sarah urged Liam, poking him in the shoulder. "Let's pass that kid on the bike."
Liam shrugged her off." Never touch the driver and take your dirty feet off my dashboard."
Sarah wiggled her toes back and forth, insisting they were clean. "It's not your dashboard. It's gonna be my car soon, you know."
"If you ever get your license." He scoffed. "People like you shouldn't even be allowed to drive."
"Hey, look." Sarah said, pointing out the window. "That guy in a wheelchair just lapped us!"
Ignoring her, Liam focused on driving, and Sarah started fiddling with the radio.
One of her favourite things about going to the beach was the radio stations. She was as familiar with them as she was with the ones back home, and listened to Q94 made her feel like she was really at the beach.
Sarah found her favourite station, the one that played everything from pop to oldies to hip-hop. Tom Petty was singing 'Free Fallin'.
She sang along with him. "She's a good girl, crazy 'bout Elvis. Loves horses and her boyfriend too."
Liam reached over to switch the station, and Sarah slapped his hand away.
"Sarah, your voice makes me want to run this car into the ocean." He said, pretending to swerve right.
Sarah sang even louder, waking up their mother, who started singing too. They both had terrible voices, and Liam shook his head disbelief. He hated being outnumbered, especially being the only guy in the family without their dad to take his side.
They drove through town slowly, and even though Sarah had just teased Liam about it, she didn't really mind. She loved this drive, this moment. Seeing the town again, Jimmy's Crab Shack, the Putt Putt, all the surf shops. It was like coming home after you'd been gone a long, long time. It held a million promises of summer and of what just might be.
As they got closer and closer to the house, Sarah could feel that familiar flutter in her chest. They were almost there.
She rolled down the window and took it all in. The air tasted just the same, smelled just the same. The wind making her hair feel sticky, the salty sea breeze, all of it felt just right. Like it had been waiting for her to get there.
Liam elbowed his sister with a teasing smirk. "Are you thinking about Conrad?"
"No." Sarah snapped.
Jackie stuck her head between the two seats. "Sarah, do you still like Conrad? From the looks of things last summer, I thought there might be something between you and Jeremiah."
"WHAT? You and Jeremiah?" Liam questioned, looking sickened. "What happened with you and Jeremiah?"
"Nothing." Sarah told them both. She could feel the flush rising up from her chest. "Mum, just because two people are good friends, it doesn't mean there's anything going on. Please never bring that up."
Jackie leaned back into the backseat. "Done."
"What happened with you and Jeremiah? You can't say something like that and not explain." Liam spoke, keeping his eyes on the road ahead of him.
"Get over it." Sarah told him. Telling Liam anything would only give him ammunition to make fun of her.
And anyway, there was nothing to tell...
Conrad and Jeremiah were Beck's boys. Beck was Susannah Fisher, formerly Susannah Beck. Jackie and Laurel were the only ones who called her Beck. They'd known each other since they were nine- blood sisters, they called each other. And they had scars to prove it- identical marks on their wrists that looked like hearts.
Susannah told both Sarah and Belly that when they were born, she knew they were destined for her boys. She said it was fate. Jackie, who didn't normally go in for that kind of thing, said it would be perfect, as long as Sarah had at least a few loves before she settled down.
Actually, Jackie said 'lovers', but that word made Sarah cringed.
Susannah put her hands on Sarah and Belly's cheeks and said. "Girls, you have my unequivocal blessing. I'd hate to lose my boys to anyone else."
They had been going to Susannah's beach house in Cousins Beach every summer since Sarah was a baby, since before she was born. For her, Cousins was less about the town and more about the house. The house was her world. They had their own stretch of beach, all to themselves.
The Summer House was made up of lots of things. The wraparound porch they used to run around on, jugs of sun tea, the swimming pool at night- but the boys, the boys most of all.
Sarah always wondered what the boys looked like in December. She tried to picture them in cranberry-colored scarves and turtleneck sweaters, rosy-cheeked and standing beside a Christmas tree, but the image always seemed false. She did not know the winter Jeremiah or the winter Conrad, and she was jealous of everyone who did.
She got flip-flops and sunburned noses and swim trunks and sand. But what about those New England girls who had snowball fights with them in the woods? The ones who snuggled up to them while they waited for the car to heat up, the ones they gave their coats to when it was chilly outside. Well, Jeremiah, maybe. Not Conrad. Conrad would never; it wasn't his style.
Either way, it didn't seem fair.
Sarah would sit next to the radiator in astrophysics class and wonder what they were doing, if they were warming their feet along the bottom of a radiator somewhere too. Counting the days until summer again. For her, it was almost like winter didn't count. Summer was what mattered. Her whole life was measured in summers. Like she didn't really begin living until June, until she was at the beach, in that house.
Conrad was the older one, by a year and a half. He was dark, dark, dark. Completely unattainable, unavailable. He had a smirky kind of mouth, and Sarah always found herself staring at it. Smirky mouths make you want to kiss them, to smooth them out and kiss the smirkiness away. Or maybe not away... but you want to control it somehow. Make it yours.
Jeremiah, though- he was Sarah's friend. He was nice to her. He was the kind of boy who still hugged his mother, still wanted to hold her hand even when he was technically too old for it. He wasn't embarrassed either. Jeremiah Fisher was too busy having fun to ever be embarrassed.
Sarah bet Jeremiah was more popular than Conrad at school. She bet the girls liked him better. She bet that if it weren't for football, Conrad wouldn't be some big deal. He would just be quiet, moody Conrad, not a football god. And she liked that. She liked that Conrad preferred to be alone, playing his guitar. Like he was above all the stupid high school stuff.
Then there was Isabel 'Belly' Conklin. She is sweet, kind, spunky teenager who longs for the freedom that comes with being older. She's been a sheltered young girl for her entire life, never going to parties and opting to stay home instead. She vocalizes what she wants, goes out and gets it, and does what she wants. While this freedom helps her grow, she is rather impulsive and doesn't always weigh the consequences of her actions.
Belly had an older brother, Steven. He's snarky, sarcastic, always in search of a good time, and a bit immature for his age. He often lobs childish insults, remarks, and pranks at his younger sister Belly. His antics are usually entwined or amplified by the presence of Jeremiah, Conrad or Liam. Steven is remarkably intelligent as far as book smarts, aiming high as to attend Princeton when he graduates from high school.
Their mother, Laurel is a novelist with a wry sense of humor and an aversion to technology. Since her divorce a year ago, she has been stressed and unfocused, which is affecting her writing for the first time in her career.
This was going to be an interesting summer.
••••
It took them a couple of minutes to finally pull up to the house. The Summer House was large, gray and white, and it looked like most every other house on the road, but better. It looked just the way Sarah thought a beach house should look. It looked like home.
When Liam parked the vehicle beside the Conklin's car, Sarah leaned over him and honked the horn twice, which in their summer language meant, come help with the bags.
A wide smile appeared on Sarah's face when she noticed Belly looking at her through the windshield with a bright smile across her lips. Sarah instantly got out of the car and rushed towards her best friend.
"Belly!"
"Sarah!"
The two teenage girls ran towards each other excitedly and smashed into a tight hug. Belly was like a sister to Sarah. They did everything together during the summer.
"I missed you so much!" Sarah exclaimed happily when they pulled apart from the hug. She then looked up and down at her best friend with wide eyes. "Holy shit, Bells! You're gorgeous!"
"Says you! Look at that body!" Belly responded just as enthusiastically, gesturing to Sarah's figure.
Sarah couldn't help but laugh and looked around to see Laurel, Jackie and Susannah hugging each other while Steven, Liam and Jeremiah were catching up on the past couple of months.
Sarah noticed that Jeremiah's hair had gotten longer, so he looked a little shaggy but in a good way- like a 1970s tennis player.
When he was younger, it was curly yellow, almost platinum in the summer. Jeremiah hated his curls. For a while, Conrad had him convinced that crusts made your hair curly, so Jeremiah had stopped eating sandwiches, and Conrad would polish them off.
As Jeremiah got older, though, his hair was less and less curly and more wavy. Sarah missed his curls. Susannah called him her little angel, and he used to look like one, with his rosy cheeks and yellow curls. He still had the rosy cheeks.
Jeremiah did a double take when he noticed Sarah. He looked at her like he didn't even recognize her. All of this happened in the span of about three seconds, but it felt much, much longer.
"Jere!" Sarah called out passionately with a wide smile.
"Look who came back all growed up." Jeremiah cowed as he rushed over, wrapped his arms around her and lifted her into the air.
"Put me down." Sarah laughed. "You smell like BO."
Jeremiah laughed loudly and placed her feet back down on the ground. "Same old Sar." He said before tilting his head to the side, staring at her like he wasn't quite sure who she was. "Something looks different about you, Sar."
"Hmm, I wonder what it could be. Maybe it's because I dyed my hair blonde." Sarah revealed with a smirk.
Jeremiah smiled. "It's not that. You just look different."
"Jere! Come here!" Liam called over his best friend. Jeremiah ambled up to him and hugged the way guys do.
Then a certain someone caught Sarah's attention.
He was walking slowly towards everyone, hands in his pocket and a soft smile on his face as he made his way over to Sarah. He gave her a quick glance-over the way boys do at the mall. He had never looked at her like that before in her entire life. Not once.
She could feel the flush from the car return.
Conrad was eighteen now. He'd just had a birthday. He was taller than last summer, if you can believe it. His hair was cut short around his ears and was as dark as ever.
Conrad hugged Sarah, but a faraway kind of hug, careful not to get too close. He'd just gotten a haircut, and the skin around the nape of his neck looked pink and new, like a baby's. He smelled like the ocean. He smelled like Conrad.
"I liked you better as a brunette." He said, his lips close to her ear.
Sarah rolled her eyes and shoved him away. "Well, too bad. I think blonde suits me much better."
Conrad smiled at her, and that smile- he just gets in. His smile did it every time.
"I think you got a few new ones." He said, tapping her on the nose. He knew how self-conscious she was about her freckles, and he still teased her every time.
"Hey, hey, guys, guys." Steven called out dramatically, gaining everyone's attention. "I mean, I-I don't know about you, but I... Well, I think it's time for a...."
"Belly flop!" Jeremiah, Steven and Liam all shouted at the same time.
Belly inched away from them uneasily. Too fast a movement, and it would be all over- they'd chase her then.
"No way." She said.
"You can't fight tradition." Sarah said as she and Conrad began circling around her.
Belly walked backwards, and that's when they grabbed her. Steven and Jeremiah each took a wrist, Conrad and Sarah took a leg while Liam held her torso up.
The five teenagers dragged Belly through the gate that led into the backyard and stopped when they reached the edge of the pool while she continued trying to wiggle out of their grasp.
"Are you ready?" Jeremiah said, lifting Belly up under her armpits.
The group began to laugh as they swung Belly back and forth like she was a sack of flour.
"I hate you guys." Belly yelled over their laughter.
"One." Jeremiah began.
"Two." Steven said.
"And three." Conrad finished.
Then they launched Belly into the pool, clothes and all. She hit the water with a loud smack. Underwater, she could hear them busting up.
The Belly Flop was something they'd started about a million summers ago. Probably it had been Steven. Belly hated it. Even though it was one of the only times she was included in their fun, she hated being the brunt of it. It made her feel utterly powerless, and it was a reminder that she was the youngest.
Belly used to cry about it, run to Susannah and Laurel, but it didn't do any good. The boys accused her of being a tattletale while Sarah remained silent.
Not this time, though. This time Belly was going to be a good sport. If she was a good sport, maybe that would take away some of their joy.
_______________
PUBLISHED: 6.06.23
A/N: I'm actually pretty proud of this chapter. What did you guys think about it?
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Votes and comments are very much appreciated!