𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫: 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠
𝐍𝐎𝐀𝐇 𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐔𝐏, 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 the weight of a certain girl on top of her. she opened her eyes as she sat up, looking around her room in a haze. when she saw that her room was empty, she breathed out a huff before she plopped back down into her bed. she began to stretch out her body, feeling her limbs pop and crack as she did so. she then relaxed, not wanting to move from the comfort of her bed. she felt an ache appear in her head, making her pull the blankets over her head like she did the night before. what if she just stayed in bed for the rest of the day?
she wanted to, but someone had other plans. she heard her door open, the curly haired girl popping her head out from under her blankets. she saw that it was jeremiah, having a glass in his hand. inside of the glass was the boy's infamous smoothie that cured the worse hangovers known to man. noa slowly sat up in her bed, doing grabby hands towards the older fisher. jeremiah chuckled at that, walking towards the bed before he handed the smoothie to her. noa practically chugged the drink down, jeremiah watching with an amused look on his face.
"little parched there?" jeremiah teased, which only made noa stick up her middle finger without pulling the glass away from her mouth. "just a warning, mom might come in here and try to drag you to go with them."
"go with them where? and who's them?" noa quizzed once she was done with the smoothie, having a little mustache right above her lip.
"dress shopping for the debutante ball. and them is mom, laurel, and belly." jeremiah replied, trying his hardest not to laugh.
noa nodded, handing the older boy her empty glass before she brought her hand up to her eyes. she then froze, seeing the look on jeremiah's face. "why're you looking at me like that?"
"you have a mustache." jeremiah simply said, shrugging his shoulders.
noa rolled her eyes as she stuck out her tongue, licking her top lip. "better?"
"yep." jeremiah nodded, turning around to walk out. "i'm out! it's me and steven's first day."
"good luck. have fun." noa mumbled, plopping back down into her pillow.
"thank you, my beautiful little sister!" jeremiah yelled as he walked down the stairs.
"please stop yelling!" the voice of conrad echoed through the house, which only made noa laugh.
she laid back down, planning on going back to sleep. but someone had other plans, that someone being isabel conklin. belly ran into noa's room, immediately jumping on the older girl. noa let out a painful grunt once belly had landed on her stomach. belly then moved around until she was straddling noa's waist.
"good morning to you, too, bells." noa groaned, placing her hands onto belly's thighs.
"get up." belly demanded.
"what? why?" noa quizzed, looking at belly with furrowed eyebrows.
"we're going dress shopping." belly answered.
"oh, jeremiah told me that but i thought that my mom would be the one to come in here to tell me that." noa said.
"she sent me instead since she knew that you'd get up if i was to ask." belly informed.
"that's not true." noa denied.
belly tilted her head, giving noa an oh, really look. "are you gonna get up and come with us?"
"yes. but not because you told me to." noa replied.
"yeah, sure." belly hummed, climbing off the taller girl.
noa smiled at that, sitting up from her bed. she got up and walked over to her dresser, rolling her shoulder as she did so, a loud pop echoing through the room. belly grimaced at that, hating the sound of it. noa pulled out a pair of shorts, pulling them on before she buttoned them. she then pulled out a muscle tee that she had stole from wes, pulling the shirt she was wear now off and throwing it onto the floor. she had fell asleep in a sports bra the night before and had decided to just leave it on. belly watched noa closely as she pulled the muscle tee over her head. she watched as noa's abs flexed, feeling her own stomach flutter at the scene. she then furrowed her eyebrows at the feeling.
"i'll meet you downstairs. i'm gonna go brush my teeth." noa said, snapping belly out of her thoughts.
"yeah, okay." belly nodded, getting up from the bed and walking downstairs.
noa walked into the bathroom, doing her morning routine. she brushed her teeth, washed her face, and made her curls less wild, not really caring in that moment. when she was done, she went into her room to grab her phone before she went downstairs. when she got down there, she saw that belly, laurel, and susannah were at the door already, waiting for her. she smiled at the three of them.
"morning." she greeted as she grabbed her wallet and keys.
"ah, there's my beautiful daughter." susannah smiled opening her arms up to pull noa in for a hug.
"hi, mama." noa groaned as she clipped her keys onto one of her belt loops.
susannah then grabbed noa's chin, tilting her head to the side. "how is it that you both have black eyes?"
"i ran into someone." noa mumbled, gently pulling her mother's hand away from her face.
susannah hummed, knowing that her daughter had a knack for getting into fights with people. she didn't push on the subject, seeing how neither noa or belly didn't want to talk about their black eyes. with that, the four of them left the house. they drove into the heart of town where all of the shops were, going into almost every one so belly and laurel could try on clothes. somehow, noa had ended up carrying most of belly's bags, which she didn't mind. i mean, she was a gentlewoman after all. the four of them walked up to another shop, susannah having an excited smile on her face as she guided the others towards the shop window.
"okay, they're called fascinators, and all the girls will be wearing them." she informed, looking at everyone with expectant eyes.
"seriously?" laurel asked, looking at her best friend with furrowed eyebrows.
"seriously." susannah nodded.
"i don't know about this." belly chimed in, her voice hesitant.
"come on!" susannah urged, going to open the door for the others.
belly looked at the fascinators, noa doing the same. it looked like it was some sort of a head piece, almost what rich housewives wear to funerals. the two girls looked at each other, belly silently asking noa what she thought of them.
"i'm just glad i'm not in this year's ball." noa mumbled, which only made belly smile.
with that, the two girls followed their mothers into the shop, susannah somehow ruffling noa's curls as she walked by. that then led to belly trying on, what felt like, a million white dresses. but, each and every dress that belly tried on, noa looked at her like she was the only girl in the world. susannah turned down almost all of the dresses, noa looking at her like she was crazy. in her eyes, belly looked beautiful in each and every one of the dresses. fast forward about thirty minutes, and belly was standing in front of a mirror, looking at the dress she was currently wearing. noa didn't know how to describe the dress, which actually means that i don't know how to describe the dress. i apologize. belly turned around to face her mother, susannah, and noa, eyebrows raised.
"oh, my god." susannah and laurel said in unison, although their voice carried two different tones.
"yeah, uh, it's - it's something." belly stuttered, not sure how she felt.
"oh, you look like a princess." susannah breathed out.
"she looks like the tooth fairy." laurel chimed in.
"look at that detail." susannah gushed, standing up from her seat so she could get a closer look at the dress. she turned belly around so that she could look at her reflection once again. "everybody's eyes will fall out of their heads when they see our girl."
laurel chuckled from her spot. "i love you so much, but you're ridiculous."
"i love you so much, and i know i'm ridiculous." susannah shot back. she then looked at her daughter through the reflection, noticing the way that she was staring at belly. "right, ellie? tell laurel that belly looks beautiful in this dress."
noa stumbled over her words for a few seconds, her cheeks heating up once everyone was looking at her. belly looked at her with raised eyebrows, really wanting to know what noa had thought. "you - you look. . . yeah." noa let out, closing her eyes in embarrassment.
belly smiled at that, knowing that was the closest thing she was gonna get to a serious compliment from the older girl. noa mirrored belly's smile, sending her a reassuring nod to silently tell her that she looked gorgeous. belly's smile then dropped as she looked away, noa seeing that this wasn't the dress that belly wanted.
"or what about this one?" the lady that owned the shop questioned, holding out another white dress.
"oh, no, no, no. that one's much too simple." susannah immediately shot down.
noa looked over at the dress that the lady was holding up before she turned to looked at belly, seeing the smile that had taken up the conklin girl's features. "but it does seem more like belly, mama."
"ellie, you know more than anyone that these girls go all out." susannah reasoned.
belly let out a huff as she turned around, noa quickly catching this. noa doesn't like seeing belly sad in any way. she'd convince her mom to get that dress for belly, somehow, someway.
✹ ❀ ✧ ❀ ✹
𝐍𝐎𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐃, wearing only a t-shirt and a pair of boxers. she had been in bed all day, not really having anything to do. belly was at the country club, one of the debutante rehearsals going on. steven and jeremiah were working, and conrad was surfing. noa had no idea where wes was, but she knew that he was gonna make an appearance at some point. she was surprised that her mother hadn't asked her to get dressed and come downstairs so that she could start her portrait. but she wasn't complaining about it.
but, after awhile, noa had decided to stop lounging around and get dressed. she threw on a striped shirt before pulling on a pair of carpenter shorts. she then pulled on her low top docs, tying them loosely. she went into the bathroom to fix her hair, not really caring about how messy it looked. she brushed her teeth for the second time that day, completing her morning routine before she went downstairs. when she had seen that no one was in the house, she went to look outside, stopping when she had seen her mother and conrad out on the dock.
noa smiled, glad that conrad was the first one to be getting his portrait painted. she pulled out her phone to text wes, asking him if he wanted to come over. the boy immediately answered back, saying that he was already on his way. noa fixed herself a bowl of cereal as she waited, having missed breakfast. as she ate her cereal, she scrolled through tiktok, humming along to the songs that would be attached to each video. she paused the video she was currently on, the sound of the back door opening gaining her attention. she looked towards it, seeing conrad entering the house.
"oh, look who finally decided to wake up." he commented, walking over to noa.
"i've been up for hours. i just didn't want to get out of bed." noa shrugged, chewing on the mushy cereal in her mouth.
conrad hummed, nodding his head as he sat down next to her. he looked around for a few seconds before he decided to look down at his hands, a few strands of his hair slipping down into his face. noa put another spoonful of cereal into her mouth, looking over at her brother, eyebrows furrowing when she saw the distant look on his face. she chewed on her cereal for a few seconds before she swallowed it, turning slightly in her seat.
"what's up, connie?" she asked, her voice gentle.
conrad looked up with raised eyebrows, "nothing."
noa tilted her head. "everyone else thinks that it's because you got your heart broken by some girl that you didn't even have feelings for. but i'm your sister, and i can tell that it's deeper than that." the walls that conrad had built around his heart started to crumble, noa seeing this. "tell me what's wrong, con."
conrad thought about it long and hard, wanting to tell noa that he had figured out that susannah's cancer had came back. he wanted to tell her how scared he was. but instead, he built his walls back up and shook his head. "nothing. i'm just tired."
"you've been sleeping in later than me." noa pointed out, not believing a word he said. "look, i'm not gonna push. just know that you can talk to me."
"i know." conrad nodded, forcing a smile onto his lips.
noa nodded at that, watching as conrad got up from his seat and went upstairs. she went back to eating her cereal, patiently waiting for her best friend to make an appearance. and then the sound of the front door opening echoed through the house.
"honey, i'm home!" the voice of wesley campbell announced, making a smile pull at noa's lips.
"in the kitchen." noa yelled through the cereal that was in her mouth.
noa heard wes walk towards the kitchen, an excited smile on his lips as he sat down in conrad's previous seat. "hey, pretty mama!"
"someone's in a good mood." noa pointed out.
wes hummed, opening his mouth, silently telling noa that he wanted some of her cereal. the fisher girl rolled her eyes, scooping some up before she gently pushed the spoon in wes' direction. the taller boy took the spoon in his mouth, moving his head back so that the spoon could slide out. he started chewing on the cereal, nodding his head. noa watched him with an amused smile, waiting for him to finish.
wes swallowed the cereal. "i hooked up with this guy last night."
that made noa stop in place, having a spoonful of cereal an inch away from her mouth. she looked at the spoon before she looked at wes. "did you suck his dick?"
"i did." wes nodded.
noa hummed, placing the spoon back into the bowl before she pushed it towards the campbell boy. "you can have the rest."
"you know i clean my mouth out twice a day, right?" wes challenged, gladly picking the spoon up and placing it into his mouth.
"doesn't matter. the dick still lingers." noa reasoned, getting up so that she could place the cereal back into the pantry. "plus, you react the same way whenever i tell you i hooked up with a girl."
"speaking of which. . ." wes started, his voice trailing off as he swallowed. "when are you gonna hook up with another girl? it'll help take your mind off of belly."
"wes." noa huffed out, turning to look at the curly haired boy.
"dude, it's summer! why are you worrying about one girl, when you can worry about five?" wes shrugged, bringing the bowl up to his mouth so that he can drink the rest of the milk.
"i don't know. i just - i feel like this summer is gonna be different." noa mumbled, going to lean on the kitchen island.
"different how?" wes asked.
noa shrugged, not having an answer. she couldn't explain it. she just had this feeling that things were shifting between her and
wes hummed, going into thought for a few seconds. "three days ago, you were the one saying how much your chances have dropped and everything. what's changed?"
noa thought back to the night of the bonfire. "the other night, at the bonfire, she had gotten mad at me because i had gone out with you. shows and that i left her. and then this fight broke out. that's not the part that matters. that night, i was already in bed, getting read to knock out. she just comes in and gets in the bed with me. we fall asleep with her on top of me, wes."
"that's hella fucking gay, nelly." wes concluded, earning a chuckle from noa. "okay, so clearly something is happening. but, that doesn't mean that you just put your sex life on hold. kiss a few hot girls."
"you know that's only gonna happen when i'm either drunk or high." noa pointed out.
"luckily for you, someone's throwing a party every goddamn day of summer break." wes shot back.
"well, when you hear of one, let me know." noa told him.
"sir, yes, sir." the skater boy said, bringing a hand up to salute the fisher girl. "so, i have a shift at the country club in two hours. what do you wanna till i leave?"
"lay in bed and scroll on tiktok?" noa suggested, her eyebrows raising slightly.
"i'm down." wes nodded, getting up from his seat.
with that, the two teens went up to noa's room, wes making sure to put his bowl in the sink. for the next two hours, they did exactly what noa had said, showing each other tiktoks that they think they would like.
daij speaks!
heyyyyy. it's been a few months since i've updated this book. i've been going back and forth between books for the last week, deciding on what i wanted to update. i chose this one. i'm also rewriting my cobra kai book, cause i'm struggling with how i'm writing it now. but yeah.
i hope u guys enjoyed 🫶🏼