FEELS LIKE • CONRAD FISHER

003, match maker

THE KIDS ALL sat by the doorway while laurel talked to the officers. conrad, daniel, and carolina sat on the bench that was in the hallway. daniel propped his head up with his arm. then there was carolina who was leaning on conrad. the three were definitely going to be hung over tomorrow. the rest were just standing by the door frame.

"officers, thank you. it won't happen again, i can promise you that much." laurel said with her back turned to the kids.

"tell mr. fisher the chief wants to set up a tee time when he gets back in town." the male officer said. "absolutely. sorry again for all of the trouble. have a good night, officers." laurel said closing the door after they left and she turned to the six teens.

"how could you guys be so irresponsible?" laurel asked.

"mom, it wasn't a big deal. all right? seriously. the cops were just looking to break up the bonfire." steven said waking towards his mom and explaining the situation to her. "not a big deal? i would say getting picked up by the cops for underage drinking is a pretty big deal, steven."

steven took a deep inhale of the smell coming off his mom "we-were you guys smoking tonight?" he asked.

"what? keep your voice down. susannah's asleep on the couch." laurel scolded.

"well, i wasn't yelling. well, yo—you were!" steven said as jeremiah stood up straighter. "just so you know, laurel, i didn't drink tonight. i was the dd, i swear." jeremiah promised.

"you guys are the oldest and you two are gonna be in college soon!" she said pointing to the two on the bench "and what the hell's gotten into you? and when did you leave the house without telling anybody? and what in the world are you wearing?"

"it's taylor's and carolina is wearing like the same thing! and why am i the only one who's not allowed to go out?" belly asked covering herself up with gray zip up jacket. "it's not that you're not allowed, it's that you should have told us where you were going. how did you even get there?" laurel asked.

"i walked." belly answered.

"jesus. you know better than to walk down the beach alone late at night." laurel scolded.

"can you stop treating me like a kid?" belly asked.

"if you want to be treated like an adult, you need to act like one." laurel said and belly rolled her eyes and leaned back on the door frame. "then maybe you guys should, too." conrad said making carolina sit up straight. everyone turned their head to him.

"what does that mean?" laurel asked. "i hope you realize this night could have ended a lot differently if your family wasn't your family."

"sorry laur," carolina said looking down at the converse on her feet.

"just, go to bed, guys." laurel said "i'm letting your mom know when she gets here." she said to the harper siblings. they nodded and headed to their house. carolina checked the mailbox and it had a white rectangle card. it was an invite to be a debutante. there was a sticky note on it.

try it if you want to, i think you'd be great
-  susannah

she smiled taking the paper into her room. she quickly checked the "accepts with pleasure" box.