𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 || 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗿𝗮𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘅 𝗬/𝗻 𝗟/𝗻

𝟙𝟜.

"Oh my god..."

Looking around a little, I looked back at the anxious brunette. "What? What is it?" I ask. "Table two." She replies. "What about it?" I stare at the table we were assigned, and those that sat there. "That's the girl Conrad was kissing at the bonfire last night." She points to the girl in pink. 

"Oh, and that's Shayla. The one Stevie was with." I notice the girl with the bright red fascinator. 

"Ugh, fuck my life-" She curses under her breath as I drag her along with me to our table. "...Hi." She awkwardly greets the chattering girls, taking the seat next to Shayla, as I took the seat between her and Nicole, not saying a thing.

"Hi..." The girls greet back awkwardly, some of them casting snobbish stares at us. "Hey girls." Shayla smiles warmly, and I just smile back in return. "Hey." Belly deadpans. "Oh my- is that from the other night?" Shayla notices the bruise on her face. "Uh, yeah..." She sighs in reply.

"Here, let me fix it." Shayla says, rummaging through her purse for some concealer.

"You look like you just arrived from some funeral." Some random idiot observes after 2 minutes. "Indeed. It is as you have guessed." I play along. "Oh my god, for real?" She then asks, feeling genuinely sorry. "Who's was it?" Another girl questions, equally upset. "My ex's." I lie.

"I'm so sorry..." Nicole frowns. "When did you guys break up?" One of them asks. "An hour ago." I answer flatly. "And when was the funeral?" Shayla questions, not really buying it. "Also an hour ago." I reply monotonously, and one of the girls drops a cookie in her tea.

The others, who seemed to have realized that I was just messing around, just start laughing.

"Oh, we thought you were being serious, right there." Nicole sighs. "As did I." I reply gravely. "I--" Someone stutters, only to be cut off by Belly. "Relax guys... She's just joking." She sighs. "Are you sure about that?" A frightened girl asks. "Only time will tell." I remark.

"Although, I must confess... No one who ever found out, lived to tell the tale." I muse.

"Okay, change of topic-" Nicole coughs, evidently uncomfortable, before I could further mess with any of their heads. "Awh, you guys are no fun..." I mutter, crossing my arms and leaning back, prepared to get bored outta my mind by their awkward small talks.

"I told my mom, the only way I'd do this is if I could being my girlfriend, cuz I thought it'd be a deal killer, but the club has been surprisingly chill about the whole thing." Marissa explains about 15 minutes into the conversation.

I would participate from time-to-time, and found a few of them to be pretty cool too.

But Belly, on the other hand, felt extremely out of place, so she remained in her own world, just nodding and smiling a few times. "I'm honestly shocked-" Dara comments. "Literally, Dara... I was expecting a conversion camp to spring outta the bushes." Marissa rolls her eyes.

"No, cuz like, lesbians and debutantes, are like- a completely juxtaposing idea." She scoffs. "Yeah, but Cousins likes to pretend to be woke." Nicole shrugs. "Trust me, my family deals with it constantly." She adds. "The things we do for college applications... it's insane." Marissa sighs. 

"Don't worry, Marissa. You'll get in everywhere." Shayla assures. "Wait, where are you applying?" Belly then asks. "You know. The usual." Marissa shrugs. "Every Ivy, minus Cornell." She elaborates. "Ithaca is so bleak." Gigi chimes in, making everyone else laugh.

"I know..." The girls agree. "What about you two?" Marissa then asks us. "Still in high school." I answer. "Oh, and Belly's only a Sophomore, right?" Nicole speaks. "I think that's what Conrad told me." She then adds. "Yeah... I'll uh, I'll be a junior in fall." Bels confirms.

"So, is this your first summer in Cousins?" Dara asks.

"Nah, we've been coming here all our lives." Belly replies. "Yeah, they're like family friends with Conrad and Jeremiah." Nicole shrugs, which was annoying in my opinion, cuz the question wasn't asked to her. And why does Conrad even talk about us so much?

"Uh, so are you and, uh... Jeremiah like, a-a thing? Or are you gonna take Conrad to the ball or something?" Gigi asks me. "Um..." I think of an answer. "Oh my god, back off, Geeg-" Nicole scoffs. "It was just a question." Gigi shrugs.

"They're like basically related, okay?" Nicole rolls her eyes, making my face drop a little. Is that how everyone else sees us? "You have nothing to worry about." She adds. "I'm not worried." Gigi rolls her eyes at me.

"Yeah, you don't have much to worry about." I smile sweetly at the girl who was smiling smugly at me. "The Fisher boys don't really need to be interested in other people in order to just... overall be disinterested in you." I deadpan.

"About time someone told that to her-" Marissa snorts, enjoying that sudden ego-crush, as do the others, including Belly who just snickers silently, knowing how aggressive I could get at times. "Gigi has had this thing for Jeremiah, ever since he got abs." Nicole chuckles.

"Pun intended, absolutely-" Shayla laughs.

"But her obsession for Conrad ever since 5th grade has only resurfaced ever since he started dating again." Nicole rolls her eyes, not bothered by Gigi's pathetic crush on her beau. "Relax, I'm not into the Fishers." I then quickly say to everyone here before they could stir up any rumors about us two, spoiling our precious friendship.

"Neither am I babes." Shayla teases this... Gigi person.

"And yet you're noticing his abs?" Gigi raises her brows. "Nah, cuz she's too busy eye-fucking the waiter." Marissa chuckles. "Dude- That's Belly's brother." I laugh, informing the others. "Oh my god, really?" The girls chuckle, aware how extremely awkward hearing this must be for Belly. 

"Oh, that's gross." Belly just rolls her eyes. "So, what's it like to live with Jeremiah and Conrad?" Dara questions. "Conrad's just so... mysterious." She adds. Everyone at the table turn to face Belly and I, super interested to know.

"It's cool." I answer on Belly's behalf, since I could already see her get all flustered, just by thinking about Connie. "Jere's basically the family's golden retriever." I shrug. "And as for Connie..." I trail off a little.

"Well, he's just Conrad." I shrug. "Okay but-" Nicole tries to say something, trying to figure out some more, but fortunately, she was cut off by the boss lady herself, as she walked to the center of the room, about to announce something.

"Hello, Debutantes..."