CHAPTER TWELVE.
( FOURTH OF JULY )
"SHE'S HOT." both jeremiah and finny said as they looked through the glass in the door. patrick, naomi and scott were in the kitchen while belly, steven, jeremiah, conrad and rory were stood at the door.
"dude" steven turned to them. "what?" jeremiah asked defensively. "we're just saying what everyone else is thinking." finny shrugged.
"i wasn't thinking that." belly told them as she looked out of the window. "yo that could be their future step mom." conrad hid his smirk knowing it would piss steven off.
"no shit sherlock." rory peeked through the window. "dude, what the hell!" steven nudged him. "don't push me" conrad turned around, play fighting with steven.
"hey! hey! they're coming!" jeremiah started running with finny, conrad and rory while belly and steven situated themselves at the front door.
"shit" finny whisper yelled as he tripped over laurel's handbag by the stairs. rory began laughing at him, almost falling to the floor. "fuck me" jeremiah quietly laughed as he helped the blonde boy up and they made it into the kitchen.
"sit down" conrad chuckled as he dragged rory to one of the seats next to the table and sat her down while she continued laughing and pointing at finn.
finny pushed her face away, "shut up bitch."
"what are you even laughing at?" scott snickered at his two siblings. "f-finn, he- he fell" she burst out laughing again. "what have you done to her?" naomi giggled.
"i haven't seen her laugh like that in a while." patrick smiled. rory, being the youngest, was still struggling deep down with processing their moms death. it hurt her, but she didn't show it. it was just over a year ago now.
rory finally managed to pull herself together, taking the glass of water jeremiah offered her.
the conklins, susannah and an unknown woman, who was victoria, walked into the kitchen. "patrick, man. how you doing?" john walked over to the older man.
"good to finally have another dad around, the moms are fun but can't watch soccer with them can i?" patrick chuckled and hugged him.
"she's not a bitch." belly whispered to rory. "i told you"
everyone greeted victoria. it turned out she was actually a really nice and interesting woman. a bit young for john though.
the fourth of july party began, shayla, gigi and nicole showing up and everyone spreading out and talking. john, laurel, victoria, steven and shayla began talking. jeremiah, scott and naomi sat talking to victoria about whatever artists they were into.
patrick sat with susannah looking through photo albums of the past few years while rory and conrad swam and messed about in the pool.
"stop splashing me you dick." she splashed the boy back as he suddenly disappeared. rory was suddenly pushed up out of the pool as she sat on conrad's shoulders.
"fucking hell" she laughed. "3... 2.." conrad began counting down. both belly and nicole were looking at them.
"conrad no!" she hold her nose closed with her hand and took a breath in as he got to one. he threw her backwards into the pool.
"i swear, fisher." she came up, pushing her hair back. "sorry con, gonna have to steal rory from you." jeremiah stood at the side of the pool. "don't take too long." he told his little brother.
rory was helped out of the pool by jeremiah as she wrapped a towel around herself and followed him inside.
"hey, rory." victoria smiled as she turned the blender off for a second. "hi, hi bells." the two of them sat down opposite victoria and belly. "how'd you learn to make these?" belly asked the brunette woman.
"so i actually spent a summer in this desert town in texas near the border called marfa." she poured the blended juices into glasses.
"and there was this bar there that served these, and i told the bartender that i would not leave until he showed me exactly how he made these." she explained to the three teens.
"the more you know" rory smiled as she watched her. belly looked at rory and jeremiah before turning to victoria, "can i try a sip?"
"are your parents cool with that?"
belly nodded, "yeah, yeah, they don't care." laurel would be pisseddddd. "oh, then sure." victoria picked up two of the glasses.
"i'm gonna take these out to your dad, do you mind taking those out to susannah, patrick and your mom?" she asked belly. "yeah sure."
as soon as victoria made it outside, belly picked one up and took a very big sip. she made a sour face as she put it down. "well, how is it?" jere asked.
"strong?" rory giggled at her face. "that is amazing." she told them. jeremiah then took a sip, "no wonder you like it, tastes just like a slurpee."
"gimme gimme." rory took it from him after hearing that, drinking it. "oh shit that's good."
"i have an idea" belly's smile dropped as she went serious. "oh god."
"sous-chef, i'm gonna need some more pomegranate juice." she walked over to the cupboards grabbing whatever she needed as jeremiah began juicing the pomegranates.
"what're you guys making?" conrad walked in, finally wearing a shirt. "pomegranate margaritas." belly told him excitedly.
"but with a twist, apparently." rory giggled, watching him. "well you gotta use the good blender." he told them, walking to the cupboard that it was in.
"oh, we haven't used that thing since the great kool-aid debacle of 2011." jeremiah chuckled. "the counters were sticky for like, two summers." rory smiled, remembering what happened.
"yeah, just about." conrad placed it on the counter. "dad kept his, uh, briefcase in my room for a year."
"as a reminder that all mistakes are not reversible." jeremiah mocked their dad when he told them that years ago. "wait, won't he be mad if he finds out?" belly sighed.
conrad turned to her, "well he's not gonna find out, he's not coming." she smiled, pouring in the ingredients.
"yeaaahhhh"
"thank you m'lady." conrad took the lime from rory as she fixed the towel around her. "oh she's going for the good stuff." jeremiah told them as belly picked up a bottle of vodka.
conrad poured in a cup of ice, "we don't need another debacle."
belly started pouring in the vodka while conrad kept nudging her arm further up so she poured almost the whole bottle into the blender.
he started it up, taking his hands off it every now and then and getting told off by jeremiah.
"man, you know what i miss?" the oldest fisher asked them as he turned the blender off. "what?"
"watching laurel and amelia put dad in his place. you know, she'd walk in, she'd be like. adam." his smile quickly faded as laurel said his fathers name.
"you came." laurel smiled at the man. "dad!" jeremiah walked over and hugged him. "happy fourth!"
"hey guys, hey connie." adam smiled at them. rory walked around the island to conrad and stood behind him, drawing small shapes on his back.
it was one of the things she noticed started to calm him down a little more. "i'll have a little of whatever you're mixing up there." he exclaimed.
"yeah sure" belly smiled and handed it to him. "oh, you're gonna love the firework show this year. it's gonna be the best one yet." jeremiah told his dad proudly.
"oh, adam. my dad and john are in the backyard." rory told him with a half smile as he nodded thanking her.
and then susannah came in. "where'd everyone go?" rory watched her face drop as she saw her husband. "adam."
"you managed to get off work" she spoke uneasily. "yeah, couldn't miss the fourth with my family."
the room was in an awkward silence for a little before susannah saved the day. "alright, well let's get back to the party."
laurel smiled confused, "okay then, let's go kids." she lead them out. belly walked off first, followed by jeremiah then rory. "hey connie can i talk to you for a minute?" rory heard adam ask his oldest son.
conrad walked straight past him, catching up to rory. "we're gonna head to the beach."
—
EVERYONE was on the beach. steven and shayla sat together on a floaty, nicole sat with finny, gigi sat next to the empty space left for belly and rory was sat next to conrad.
"may i present" belly walked over with the pomegranate margarita blender in her hand. "the belly special?"
"we saved you the inflatable unicorn" gigi laughed as belly thanked her and sat down on the deflated unicorn.
"hey!" jeremiah's voice sounded. "look who i found." they all turned to him. "cam cameron!" rory cheered.
conrad held up a cup of the margarita for him as he shook his head. "no i'm alright, thanks but i don't drink."
"yes, that's right. more for me." conrad clinked his cup with rory's as he drank it rather quickly. "it's not a race conrad." nicole snickered.
"yeah, save some for the rest of us please" jeremiah chuckled.
"okay, wait, wait. what if it was a race?" belly questioned them, an eager look on her face. "isn't that like, the premise of every drinking game?"
"you, belly conklin, want to play a drinking game?" rory giggled at the girls already tispy state.
"why not? It's the fourth of july right?"