↳ COME BACK TO THE SEA ༉‧₊˚✧ C.F

18

⋆·˚ ༘ *INNOCENT
"wasn't it easier in your firefly-catchin' days?"

Juliette ran her hand through her hair, yawning as she walked towards the kitchen, her body halting as she heard the voices of Julia and Skye. Juliette saw their silhouettes in the kitchen, she backed away quietly.

Not to queitly, apparently. Skyes voice calling out to her made her turn around with a crooked smile. "Oh. Hey, Julie."

"Hey. Sorry. I just, um, smelled muffins." Juliette chuckled awkwardly as she furthered into the kitchen by the counter.

Skye pursued their lips. "You want one?"

"Yeah, sure." Juliette nodded, her stomach grumbling. She reached for one of the large muffins, Julia's voice had her pulling her hand away.

"Uh, those are for the open house." Julia revealed, her tone scolding as Juliette stood still.

The back door shut with a click, Jeremiah and Conrad walking in with towels thrown over their shoulders.

"Mmm, did somebody get muff..." Jeremiah's brows furrowed as his eyes fell on his family. "Muffins. Hi."

"Hey, Jeremiah." Skye greeted the two, theirs eyes giving Conrad a once-over. "Conrad."

Conrad's face twisted up in confusion. "Skye." His eyes peered over to his younger brother. "You didn't tell me she was here, too."

"It's "they." Not "she."" Skye corrected him, shifting uncomfortably. "God, I guess it's been like a decade since I saw you guys. Um, how are you doing since your mom?"

"It's been rough." Conrad answered flatly, his gaze shifting to his aunt. "Rougher now that our aunt's stealing our house."

Julia fought the urge to roll her eyes at her nephew as she tidied up to the kitchen. "I'm not stealing anything, Conrad." Her hands fell to her hips. "Like it or not, I get to choose what happens to this house and I choose
to put it on the market. You boys should get on the road beat the traffic back to Boston."

"There's no chance. We're staying for the open house."
Conrad chucked, his brow cocking at her.

Julia's face fell, growing more serious as she shook her head rapidly. "Uh, no, no, no. I can't have a bunch of teenagers chasing everybody away. Call your father,
because this isn't an Aunt Julia problem."

"Except it is." Conrad shot back. "Because you are the problem."

"I don't have time for this." Julia threw her hands up, storming out of the kitchen.

Juliette shifted her feet, her eyes falling to an annoyed Conrad. Her shoulders shrugged lightly. "Conrad, she's still you're family."

"Then why is she doing this to us?" Conrad asked, narrowing his eyes at the blonde.

"This is hard for her, too." Skye butted in, defending their mother.

Conrad raised his brows with a scoff. "Really? Seems like she's doing this all pretty fucking easily." Conrad exited the kitchen, his feet scuffling on the ground.

Juliette sighed, running her palms over her face as Jeremiah sat beside Skye. Skye's lips rolled into their mouth. "He's grown into quite the asshole."

"You have no idea." Jeremiah replied in agreement, blowing air from his lips as he crossed his arms on the counter. "Hey, Julie. Where'd you disappear off to last night?"

Juliette opened her mouth, pulling her brows together. "Oh, I just went for a walk on the beach."

Jeremiah hummed. "Hm. With Conrad?"

"No." Juliette replied flatly with a headshake. "He was on the phone with someone but I didn't hear much, or anything. You know him." She played it off, grabbing a muffin from the plate despite Julia's denial.

Juliette hurried out of the room to avoid further questioning from the Fisher boy. She headed into her room, setting the muffin down on her sheets as she sighed.

Knocking on her door made her flinch. She sat up, staring at the door. "Come in."

Taylor opened the door, Juliette breathing with relief. She crawled onto the bed, her eyes widening at the large muffin accompanying her friends hand. "Ooh, give me some." Juliette broke her off a small piece, Taylor shooting a look at her. "Bigger than that."

Juliette chuckled, breaking off a larger piece as she handed it to Taylor. Taylor ate half before speaking. "So, why are you hiding up here? Are you avoiding that aunt or Conrad?"

Juliette shook her head. "Taylor, I'm just eating breakfast." She paused, watching the muffin crumble in her palm. "Maybe a little bit of both? I honestly have no idea."

"I know that you came here with the best intentions, but this is, like, their family drama." Taylor remarked. "I just don't want you to get sucked back into it."

"I'm not going to get sucked back into it." Juliette shook her head. "But I know that if the open house happens today and someone makes Aunt Julia an
offer, then it's game over."

Taylor opened her mouth to speak, cut off quickly by Juliette. "And I just, I don't understand why she's in such a rush to sell."

"I don't know, Belly. I mean, I'm sure that she has her reasons." Taylor dropped her shoulders, switching the subject. "Let's go do some drills down by the beach. Volleyball camp starts in like five days. We'll grab Belly."

"I haven't touched a volleyball in months." Juliette rolled her eyes, her head tilting. "I can forget about
getting my captaincy back. I'll be lucky if I even make the team."

"Look, did blowing it at regionals crush your confidence? Clearly." Taylor adjusted the robe on her body, sitting closer to the girl. "Are you Coach's favorite player right now? Hell no. Have you gotten incredibly rusty in the offseason? Like, without a doubt." Juliette face scrunched up with offense. "Am I helping by acknowledging your worst fears? Probably not. Okay, look, all I'm trying to say  is that the past doesn't determine your fate. It's-it's the choices that you make today." Juliette's eyes fell to her lap. "Trust me, I know things. Um, are there more of these downstairs?"

Juliette laughed lightly at the sudden question. "It was hard enough for me to get this one." The two shared laughter.

authors note<3
awk