𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞: 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲
𝐍𝐎𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐏 of her bed, scrolling through tiktok. wes was at the bottom of the bed, doing the same as the curly haired girl. they had been like that for hours, a bowl of chips being in the middle of the bed — susannah being the one to bring the bowl up for them. the only time the two would say anything was to tell the other to look at the video that they had just sent. that would lead to a few minutes of conversation before the both of them would go back to saying nothing. the peace was interrupted when the sound of footsteps were heard coming up the stairs quickly. noa tapped her screen to pause the current video that was on her fyp, looking at her door to see who it was. she wasn't surprised when she saw belly slide into her room, an excited smile on her face.
"how was it?" noa asked, shifting around on her bed so that she could face the younger girl.
"it was good. but i'm not in here to tell you about debutante." belly answered, quickly jumping onto to the bed. she then crawled onto noa, the older girl shifting so that they could both be comfortable.
"so what did you come in here to tell me?" noa questioned, noticing the way that wes was looking as the two of them.
"i have a date." belly announced, immediately making noa's stomach drop.
"w -what?" noa asked, looking at belly with raised eyebrows.
"cam cameron asked me out on a date." belly elaborated. "i want you and your mother to help me choose what to wear!"
"right now?"
"no. in, like, thirty minutes. i have to shower and get all this makeup and stuff off." belly shook her head, gesturing to her face and dress she was wearing.
"okay. just come and get me when you're done." noa told her, forcing a smile onto her lips.
"okay." belly nodded, getting off the bed and running towards the bathroom. "hi, wes!"
"hi, bells!" the campbell boy called after her. he then looked over to where noa was, seeing that the fisher girl was staring up at the ceiling, looking defeated. "so much for this summer being different."
"don't be a dick, wes." noa mumbled.
"i'm just tired of seeing you get your hopes up just for them to get crumbled." wes told her. he looked down at his phone, checking the time. "look, i have to go to work. i'll text you when i get there. call if you need anything, okay?" he said as he got up from the bed. he walked over to her, placing a gentle kiss onto her forehead before he walked out of the room.
noa sighed, brining her hands up to her face. she then felt her stomach rumbled. she sat up from her bed, grabbing ahold of the bowl of chips that was on her bed. she made her way downstairs, going straight to the kitchen. she placed the bowl onto the kitchen island before she opened the fridge up. she scanned the fridge for any leftovers, but decided that she would just eat her second bowl of cereal for the day. she grabbed the milk and placed it onto the island before she grabbed a bowl and the cereal that she wanted. with that, she fixed herself a bowl before she sat down at the island, munching on it. she scrolled on tiktok while she did, replacing the silence that a surrounded her.
sooner or later, noa was finished with her bowl of cereal and belly was out the shower. noa and susannah helped the conklin pick out an outfit, much to noa's dismay. susannah had seen how deflated her daughter was, deciding that she was gonna talk to her at a later time. now, the two fisher women were watching as belly applied lipstick, watching herself in the mirror. noa watched her closely, not being able to help herself from staring. belly was beautiful.
"you look really cute." susannah told belly. "you are gonna have so much fun tonight."
"we're just going to see a movie." belly said, looking at herself in the mirror still.
laurel walked into the room, a smile pulling at her lips once she had seen her daughter. "you look nice, hon."
"i can't believe crop tops are back. remember how i thought i was such hot shit in that baby tee i wore freshman year?" susannah said, making noa smile from her spot on the bed. she then looked over to belly, the younger girl giving her the lipstick back. "have fun tonight."
"are you not driving with us?" laurel questioned, looking at her daughter with furrowed eyebrows.
"um. . ." belly tried, her voice trailing off.
susannah got up from her seat. "didn't belly tell you? she has a date."
"sorry, mom. um, his name is cam." belly apologized.
"yeah, his mom works at the club. really nice boy, very smart." susannah explained.
"like, harvard smart." belly interrupted.
laurel shrugged, forcing a smile onto her lips. noa knew that feeling. "it's fine. of course you can go. i've dragged you to enough of these book parties over the years. have a great date."
"thanks." belly said as she began walking to the bedroom door.
"do we need to talk about consent before you go?" laurel stopped her, making noa snort.
"mom." belly groaned, continuing to walk to the door. "elle, wanna walk me out?"
"sure." noa nodded, getting up from the bed. she looked over at her mom, the blonde sending her a smile.
she trailed behind belly, the both of them going downstairs. noa had a small scowl on her face, not liking the fact that belly as going out with a boy she barely knew. the both of them stopped in the doorway that led to the living room, seeing that the boys were playing a game. noa nodded her head, having been wondering where they had all been for the last few hours and why it was so quiet.
"see you guys later." belly said, gaining jeremiah's attention.
"damn!" the middle fisher exclaimed, placing his controller down as he shot up from his seat. noa looked at him furrowed eyebrows. this earned some annoyed words from steven, but jeremiah ignored him as he walked around the couch. "you. look. hot." he told belly, grabbing her hand and spinning her around.
"hey, hey, hey, stop flirting with my sister." steven demanded, glancing back at the two.
"shut up, steven." belly spat.
"no, you shut up." the older conklin shot back. he then did a double take, taking in what his sister was wearing. "well, you do look good, though."
jeremiah laughed. "you driving with, or are you meeting us there?"
"she's actually not going to the book party." noa mumbled, looking down at the floor as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet.
belly nodded. "i'm going to the drive-in."
"with who?" conrad asked just as belly's phone dinged in her pocket.
the shorter girl pulled her phone out, looking down at her phone to see who it was. a smile pulled at her lips when she noticed that it was cam texting her. "uh, okay. bye."
the conklin girl walked towards the door, stopping at the mirror that next to it. she checked herself, making sure that she looked all right. noa saw this, walking over to her. she watched as she fixed her hair, not being able to stop the butterflies that appeared in her stomach.
"you look beautiful, bela." noa told her, making the girl in question look at her through the mirror.
"thank you, elle." belly said, her voice soft. she ignored the fluttering feeling in her stomach.
with that, belly walked out of the house. noa let out a loud sigh once she heard the front door close. she turned around and walked over to the couch, deciding to squish between conrad and the end of the couch. the oldest fisher looked down at her, a smile puling at his lips as he looked down back at the tv screen to focus on the game. she spent the rest of her free time watching the three boys playing whatever game was on the tv.
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𝐍𝐎𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐀 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 was in the corner of the cousins' book store. she had been coming to these book parties for as long as she could remember, being there to support laurel. but as she got older and older, they became more boring. what made them less boring was belly, but because the conklin girl was on a date, noa was bored out of her mind. conrad had snuck her a few glasses of chardonnay, the oldest fisher basically going through a few bottles by himself. noa knows that she should've told him to slow down, but she didn't want to start anything while all these random people were around. so, instead, she joined him.
for majority of the party, jeremiah and steven had been finding ways to entertain themselves. noa was just glad that someone was having a good time. wes had joined at some point in time, coming to the book store right after he got out of work. he was high out of his mind, which wasn't really new. just felt like i needed to announce it. sooner or later, the rest of the boys had joined them, all five of them squished together on the couch. steven and jeremiah had ran out of things to entertain themselves with.
"you know, this shit is so boring. can we go somewhere?" conrad spoke up, saying what noa was thinking.
steven chuckled. "yeah, where?"
"we could go into town, i don't know, buy some weed from that guy with rainbow dash tattoo?" jeremiah suggested, looking up from his phone.
"his weed is ass." wes muttered, looking at jeremiah with hooded eyes
"and he got arrested last summer." noa added.
"we could go to the drive-in." steven suggested, making noa look at him with raised eyebrows.
"dude, gross. i - i don't wanna watch belly hooking up with some kid in the back seat of a minivan." jeremiah immediately shot down.
"yo, actually. . . let's go to the drive-in." conrad said.
"no." noa said, shaking her head.
"wait. like - like, really?" steven asked, ignoring the fisher girl.
"yeah, why not?" conrad nodded.
"guys, come on. why can't we just leave her alone?" noa said, watching as conrad and steven got up from their seats.
her complaints fell upon deaf ears, the curly haired girl groaning when she felt conrad pulling her up from her spot. she tried to fight against his grip, but he was too strong, the oldest boy pulling her onto her feet before he dragged her out to jeremiah's red jeep. wes trailed behind them, not wanting to be left alone at a book party in the middle of his high. the five of them piled into the jeep, steven being the one to get in the driver's seat. noa was was sat behind steven, wes being next to her, while conrad was on the other side of him. the whole way to the drive-in, noa complained about how stupid the boys were being and how they should do anything but that. but, as usual, no one listened to her.
the group of them pulled up right beside cam's car, just as him and belly were about to kiss. noa let out a sigh as she looked down at her lap, feeling her chest ache. steven laughed as he put the car in park, jeremiah joining in on making fun of the conklin girl. cam got out of the car, walking over to the concession stand. while he did that, belly got out of the car and walked over to the jeep, looking at noa as she did so. with that, belly threw open steven's door, clearly angry.
"what the hell do you think you're doing?!" she asked, her voice raising slightly.
steven, who still had a huge grin on his face, clearly didn't care about the fact that his sister was upset. "uh, just catching the end of our favorite movie."
"i mean -" conrad tried from the back seat, a grin on his face as well. jeremiah just laughed, wes and noa sitting in the back awkwardly.
"you have no right! you have to go!" belly demanded.
"oh, belly, relax. we - we were just joking around." jeremiah told her.
"steven, if you don't leave, i swear to god i will send everyone in this car your dramione fanfic." belly threatened.
that made the boys start to laugh, even noa letting out a snort. steven's smile dropped. "you wouldn't."
"oh, he spent an entire chapter talking about draco's wand." belly continued, which led to the rest of the car making fun of him for it, including noa.
"drop it. drop it." steven ordered, not finding any of this funny.
belly looked at noa in the back seat, the both of them meeting each other's eyes. "hey, seriously. please, leave."
noa's smile dropped, nodding her head slightly. "alright. let's go, guys."
this earned a bunch of complaints from steven, jeremiah, and conrad, all three of them turning to look at her. meanwhile, wes was staring up at the jeep's ceiling, not wanting to be dragged into whatever argument might happen.
belly slammed the door shut. "steven, drive the car."
"there's no way we're leaving." steven said, turning around in his seat to look at noa.
noa let out a huff, looking at belly once more. when she saw the look on the younger girl's face, she turned around to look at her oldest brother. conrad saw the look on her face, his smile immediately dropping. since they were kids, noa knew how to make conrad do whatever she wanted, all she had to do was give him a certain look. maybe it was because she was his little sister and he cared about her, but whenever noa gave him that look, he did anything she wanted. and noa knew this.
"yeah, let's go, guys." conrad said, jeremiah and steven turning to look at him now.
"you ere the one who wanted to come, conrad." steven reminded as he put the car into drive. he then slowly pulled off.
as they pulled off, noa spared another glance at belly, the both of them making eye contact briefly. during that brief second, belly could see this look on noa's face. she couldn't exactly pinpoint why, but the look made her chest ache. belly furrowed eyebrows, watching the car drive off before she climbed back into cam's car.
she would have to talk to noa later.
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𝐍𝐎𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐖𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 in the pool, going from one end to the other. she would've went out on a run, but it was really late and she didn't want to worry anyone. she had counted how many laps she had did in her head, planning on going until she tired herself out. but someone had different plans. the fisher girl could hear the muffled voice of someone calling her, making her stop swimming and break the surface. she pushed her hair from out of her face before she wiped her eyes, seeing that belly was standing at the edge of the pool.
"hey" belly greeted as she kicked her shoes off.
"hey." noa repeated, panting slightly as she started to swim over to belly. she watched as belly sat down at the edge of the pool, putting her feet into the water. "how was your date with cam cameron?"
"you know it's one or the other, right?" belly questioned, looking down at noa.
"i'm aware. answer the question." noa nodded, leaning on the edge of the pool.
with that, belly started to explain her night with cam cameron, including the part where they got rudely interrupted by noa and the boys. while she was talking, noa admired the way belly looked in that moment. the way the lights lit up up certain parts of her face, making it seem like she was glowing. she couldn't help the small smile that appeared. belly noticed the way that noa was staring up at her, making her stomach fill with butterflies as her cheeks heated up.
"what?" belly asked, looking away from noa and down at the pool so that her hair could cover her face, wanting to hide her blush.
noa felt her own cheeks heat up, not liking the fact that she was caught. "nothing. i'm listening to you talk about your date."
"sure you are." belly nodded, a knowing smile on her lips. "why're you swimming?"
noa looked at the conklin girl with raised eyebrows. "i can't swim?"
"no, of course you can swim." belly quickly said, a laugh escaping her lips. noa smiled at that. "it's just that, you're usually in bed by now. or you're walking around the house in a baggy shirt and your underwear. is something bothering you?"
noa opened her mouth to answer, but she stopped herself. how was she gonna explain that she didn't like the fact that belly went on a date with cam cameron? how was she gonna explain that she wanted to be the one to take belly out on a date? she planned on doing it before the summer was over, but she didn't expect it to be so soon. so instead, she closed her mouth and nodded.
"yeah, i'm okay. just needed to clear my head and i couldn't go for a run, so. . ." noa explained, shrugging her shoulders.
"why couldn't you go on a run?" belly questioned.
"it's, like, nearly midnight. plus, i didn't want mom and laurel to worry." noa answered.
"yeah, you're right. they would lose their shit." belly laughed.
"yep." noa nodded, a small chuckle escaping her mouth.
silence fell over the two for a few minutes, the sound of noa splashing around being the only noise. noa was looking up at the stars, seeing how many constellations she could see. belly noticed this, the younger girl watching noa search the night sky. belly never really understood noa's love for the stars and anything involving space, but she loved to listen to the fisher girl rant about it. it was one of her favorite things to do; listen and watch noa go on about the things she loves.
"so. . . you wanna watch a movie?" belly suggested.
noa looked away from the sky and towards the conklin girl, her heart skipping a beat when she saw that belly as already looking at her. "of course i wanna watch a movie. just gimme, like, twenty minutes."
"see you in twenty." belly nodded, taking her feet out of the pool and standing up, grabbing her shoes as she did so.
noa climbed out of the pool, going over to where she left her towel at. she dried herself off before she went inside the house, both her and belly going upstairs to get ready for their plans. belly went into her room to change while noa went to the bathroom to shower. a little over twenty minutes later, both girls were in noa's room, watching whatever movie belly had picked on noa's laptop. the two girls fell asleep in each other's arms, like always.
daij speaks!
heyyyyy guyssss 😅. i know it's been a minute. i've had this chapter in my drafts for MONTHS and just lost motivation for it. but i found it again. so here is this kinda okay chapter.
hope u guys enjoyed this chapter 🫶🏼