𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ━━ (the summer i turned pretty)

𝐈𝐈. 𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

───── ONCE ALTHEA GOT HER BATHING SUIT ON, she went to knock on Belly's door to see if she'd want to join the pair. "Nah, I'm okay. Plus I know how much you've been looking forward to seeing Jeremiah this summer," Belly teased.

Althea shoved the girl, "You and my mother... Seriously I'm never telling you guys anything ever again!"

Jeremiah waited patiently for the brunette to arrive, and when she did, he looked at her, like really looked at her. There was something about her that just made her different from last year.

The two best friends rush towards the beach like they always have but this time without Belly. Althea waited all year for this moment. For the breeze to hit her. For the smell to linger under her nose. For Cousins magic to let her begin her life.

"You want to race?" Jeremiah inquired the brunette, his eyes already on hers as she turned her head away from the view.

"No, no, I can't," she shook her head.

"Oh, come on," Jeremiah complained.

"Your legs are too long now. I can't do that," Althea said. Not a moment later, she dashed off with her towel bouncing around her shoulders, discarding it on her way to the water.

Jeremiah had taken off behind her. And for the rest of the afternoon neither had much to say to one another — they were just happy to finally be together again.

The moms called the children to the dinner table — there was so much Althea couldn't wait to dive into once she sat at the table. Althea sat in between Jeremiah and Steven. Every year, it was like an automatic reflex when the moms and kids would sit in the same seat. Personally, Althea loved that she had Steven on one side and Jeremiah on the other, it always made for a fun dinner with the two boys constantly goofing off.

"Steven, I swear to God, if you look at that phone one more time, I'm putting it in the screen basket," Laurel lectured her son who was giggling with Jeremiah about something funny on his phone.

"It's just we want to see your beautiful faces," Susannah smiled at the boys.

"Can dinner be a screen-free zone? You know like the olden days," Victoria chuckled drinking some of her white wine.

Steven continues to pay no attention which Jeremiah takes notice of and tries to call out for him but his eyes were still occupied by the bright screen. Jeremiah reached for Steven's phone, away from his hands and threw the phone across the room onto an empty chair.

"Dude, are you kidding me?" Steven hollered toward his friend. Jeremiah cheered for himself as Steven rolled his eyes complaining about his friend only showing off because he's been working out so much.

Belly scoffed at her older brother, "You're just jealous because Jere has a better body than you."

"Ouch!" Althea exclaimed, sharing a smile with Belly.

Steven looked over at sister annoyed, "Uh, no actually. It's all about the lean look now. Otherwise, you can't wear tailored suits." The rest of the table couldn't help but laugh at Steven.

When the laughter settled down after a bit, Steven goes on to ask Conrad about when he would leave for training camp. It came as a shock to the table when Jeremiah announced that Conrad actually quit.

"Wait, really? You quit?" Althea looked over at the boy with furrowed brows. He silently hummed her an answer. It didn't seem like him — something was up. The boy loved football more than anything, it was his escape from real life for a bit. It was often the topic of his dad and football that he refrained from, so eventually Althea connected the dots.