Riven Lomax never really got along with the eldest Fisher brother, Conrad, he'd always teased her, annoyed her and spent most of his time with the boys and Belly. When she arrives at Cousins for the summer, as she always had, the atmosphere is diffe...
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Conrad got stuck shucking the corn for Belly's birthday dinner by his mother. When he'd returned home with her, Nancy and Laurel, he'd wanted to go upstairs and knock on Riven's door, hoping she hadn't changed her mind about agreeing to talk to him. Now he was sat outside ripping leaves off of vegetables, trying to think about what he was going to say to her.
Nancy shouted her daughter down to come help prep the meal, telling her to go and help Conrad with the corn because he was taking too long.
Riven took one step out of the back door, seeing Laurel sitting beside Conrad on one of the sun loungers, a brown bag on the floor between his legs and a plate of stripped corn beside him.
Riven was about to turn back inside, not wanting to feel the awkwardness of standing in front of them both. The moms had no idea that Conrad and Riven disliked each other, that they'd even had one argument let alone several. When they were younger, the moms saw it as playful banter but now they were older and better at hiding it, they were oblivious.
Laurel stood up and began walking towards the house, "Hey, sweetie. How are you doing?"
She gave a weak smile, "I'm good. Where's Belly?"
"She went for a walk with Taylor on the beach." Laurel told her. Her eyebrows knitted together, "She didn't invite you along?"
Riven kept the frail grin on her face as best she could, "It's okay, Taylor's only here for the weekend. I'll see her at dinner."
Laurel gave her a gentle squeeze on the arm before heading inside. Cold, salty air filled Riven's nostrils as she sucked in a breath, her eyes fleeting to the boy still peeling corn. She had no idea what he was going to say to her, or her him. She'd been going over it in her mind in the hours he'd left but all she had was emotions of confusion, anxiety and still anger.
Riven forced her feet forward until she was close enough to Conrad for him to notice her presence. He lifted his head, his eyes slightly widening as though he hadn't expected her. Conrad straightened his back, "Hey, uh, I was gonna come and find you but Mom got me shucking the corn for dinner."
Why was her throat burning again?
"Yeah." She said, "I've been roped into helping because you're being too slow apparently."
His eyes dropped to the corn and he went back to peeling its leaves again, "Got a lot on my mind."
Taking a unpeeled corn in her hand, she sat on the lounger, "You wanted to talk?"
Conrad stopped, a twist occured in his stomach and chest telling him he was anxious and that he had no idea what to say. They stayed silent for a while, Riven took to ripping off leaves as she waited for him to speak.
