as it was ~ conrad fisher

four.

𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊

i walk into the kitchen to see my mom at the stove and susannah making brownies, "brownies are going in."

mom turns around, "go put the dvd in."

"uh, do we have to watch it happened one night? cant we do something different?" i ask them, i like the movie but watching it over and over gets really old. don't get me wrong, im all for traditions.

"but we always watch it happened one night on the first night." mom says.

"well, we could watch the philadelphia story instead." susannah offers. i shrug my shoulders, i'm not really up for a movie night to be honest. what i really want to do is go upstairs and try to convince belly to go to the bonfire with me, "everything okay?"

"yeah, no, i-i'm just... i'm kind of tired, so i think i might skip the movie and go to bed." i tell them.

"okay, hon, yeah, sure. we can, uh... we can do the brownies another night." susannah says, mom smiles at me but it's that 'i'm kind of upset so go away' smile.

i take that as my queue to go and walk upstairs.

𓆉

i go upstairs, straight to belly's room, "facetime taylor. now."

she looks at me confused, "wh-what? what happened?"

"now belly! come on! i'll explain!" i say, the both of us laughing as she pulls her phone out.

the phone rings a few times before taylor answers, "why am i hearing from you? you guys never call me on the first night." it's obvious she's getting ready to go somewhere.

"um, where are you going?" belly asks her.

"to a show. what's wrong?" she asks.

belly hands the phone to me, "lilah desperately needs to tell you something, she can't even tell me first."

"alright, what's up?" taylor asks.

"tonight, conrad and i were talking by the pool, just the two of us, and it... felt different." i tell her. belly looks at me with raised eyebrows.

"good different? see, i told you." she says while putting on mascara.

"i don't, i don't know. i mean, jeremiah and steven came down, and then they all just left and went to this bonfire thing on the beach." i tell her.

"oh, why didn't you go with them?" she asks.

belly scoffs, "like she cares about a beach bonfire."

i look at her, "i mean, i'm not opposed to going. but it's not like they invited me either, so..."

"they don't own the beach." taylor tells us.

"well, w-we did talk to this one guy, um, who asked us to come." i tell her, referring to the guy from the gas station.

"see? come on, babes. go have fun." she tells us.

"yeah, but... i don't like that guy. i don't think belly does either." i say, looking over to her.

"yeah, i don't." belly says.

"but that's not the point. conrad will be there. so will jeremy. go to the bonfire, get in their eyeline, let them see you all dressed up and looking cute. look in your duffel bags." she begins, i run to my room and open it, "i've gifted both of you my secret weapons. not to keep, obvs, just to borrow." i pull out the piece of sage green fabric and walk back into belly's room holding it out in front of me, "you see it?"