❛︎ For what it's worth Con, ❜ he then looked up at her with a blank expression. ❛︎ I don't think of you as that anymore. These past few days, I've noticed that- ❜
❛ Don't do that, ❜ he took a puff out of the cigarette, before killing it completely...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
❛ IT'S COMPLICATED ❜
❁ ❁ ❁
The mothers and girls went shopping for hours, finally reading the town's local ball gown shop. "You two are going to look so beautiful in white," Susannah cheered them up while they looked exhausted and practically close to falling on the floor with the amount of bags they were carrying.
"Hello there, how can I help you ladies today," the young woman asked. "These girls will be debutants, we need your finest gowns." The young woman nodded and directed the four to an open changing room with seats. It hadn't taken long for Iris and Belly to get fitted into their first dresses.
"Oh that's so beautiful," Susannah awed at the two. "That is too much, for both of them," Laurel countered. Iris had instantly felt uncomfortable with the dress, the back itching her badly. Belly too had an uncomfortable expression but chose to be less blunt about it.
Their second dress felt more comfortable but it hadn't met Susannah's standards; so did the third, and fourth, all the way to their seventh dress. By the eighth dress, Susannah had started to feel hopeless, but when she saw Belly in hers, she fell in love right away.
"Oh my god," she said, shocked, the good kind of shocked.
"Oh my god," Laurel also said, but more of a confused shock. "Belly that one's perfect. You need to get that." Belly smiled, she really liked the dress and Iris could tell. However, Iris herself still felt as if the dress wasn't meant for her.
Iris settled and said she'd come back again to try on more, but Belly had bought her dress, and Susannah was excited to see Belly in a white gown. "I know you'll find your dress Iris, it doesn't always come on the first go," Susannah claimed, cheering her up because she noticed that Iris had felt bad about not picking out a dress for herself.
❁ ❁ ❁
Conrad came back from surfing outside, the sounds of just the ocean, the isolation he had, he felt at peace. During his surf, he spent a lot of it thinking about what to do, about what to do with his mom, his dad, Jeremiah, college, and especially her.
While walking back inside, he came face to face with his mother. She looked up from her book, "Had fun?" she asked. Conrad nodded, beginning to walk backwards to the stairs to change, but Susannah had other ideas, "Why don't you go get changed quick and come outside to the back porch, I want to paint you first."
Conrad gave an unenthusiastic look, "Mom, I have other things to do." She put the book down and crossed her arms over her chest, "And what are the other things you have to do?" Conrad couldn't argue with his mother, sighing and giving in. "Meet me out back in ten."
And that's exactly what Conrad did.
❁ ❁ ❁
"So how are you and Iris?" Susannah asked nonchalantly, painting an elegant portrait of her firstborn. Conrad cringed, "Can we not do this."
Susannah's smile turned downwards, "I'm sorry for wanting to have a conversation with my son." This had risen guilt out of Conrad, "It's complicated Mom," he admitted. "It's always complicated," she claimed.
Conrad hesitated on telling his mother about Iris, about Aubrey even. He hadn't confided to anyone about what happened between him and Aubrey, and maybe it was time for him to finally talk about it.
He knew he should talk about it with her, his mother would be the only person to understand, Susannah always understands. "I'm only joking Connie, you don't have to tell me, not yet at least."
Conrad looked at his mother, relieved he wasn't pressured into confiding to her, knowing he wasn't ready to tell anyone, or he wasn't ready to tell anyone that wasn't Iris.
"Now sit still so I can finish this," she laughed, "Straighten up."
❁ ❁ ❁
SPIDEMEISTER SPEAKS
mini filler pt 3 because chapter 10 will be a big fat doozy.
i've decided that in this alternate universe that conrad and nicole do not affiliate with each other romantically after the bonfire scene please do not hate me <3
