more than friends? || c.f.

chapter twenty three - the tiara

"Good morning, bean", my mom greeted me joyful. I sat up straight in my bed. "Holy shit, mom", I whined. "Sorry? You better get up now. It's your big day", she said and sat down next to me with a cup of coffee in her hand. "Am I late or something?", I asked, still half asleep. "No, but I'm so excited", mom said and caressed my cheek.

"I can tell", I groaned and grabbed the cup out of her hand, taking a big sip. "You aren't?", she asked me. "Not at all." That made my mom sigh in disappointment.

"Susannah's waking up Belly right now. I'm gonna go over there and see if she's in a better mood. I love you, bean", mom said and gave me a kiss on the forehead. Then she ran out of my room. I haven't seen this woman that excited about something I've done, since I became cheerleader captain one and a half years ago.

I kept drinking mom's coffee and nearly fell asleep again while sitting. "Good morning, Lia", Susannah greeted me and also sat down on the bed next to me. "Excited?", she asked. "Uh, not yet", I sighed. "What? You are!", she corrected me. "What if I trip?", I asked her. "You won't. Just hold on to Jeremiah's arm. He won't let you fall", the woman reassured me.

"You know, I still can't believe you got him to go with you. He swore up and down he'd never go to one of these things", Susannah told me. "He said he doesn't mind", I chuckled. She took a few strands of hair out of my face. Just like her older son always did to me.

"Well, he'd do anything for you. They both would", the woman said. If only she knew. I swallowed and looked away, thinking about the past few weeks. Especially yesterday, when I made out with Conrad.

"Everything okay?", Susannah asked me. "Yeah, sure." "Did we push you into this? Mom and I? Y-You can tell me the truth", she wanted to know. "Um, maybe... A little, at first. I mean, I mainly did it to see mom happy after she had such a hard year. And to make you happy", I answered her question.

"Look, honestly, we don't even need to go tonight if you don't want to, okay?" "No, I want to go. I wanna finish what I started. It's fine, don't worry", I assured her.

Susannah started to smile and pulled me into a hug. Then she held my face with both her hands. "I love you so much, beautiful girl", she said with tears in her eyes. "I love you, too", I replied. Then we both started laughing because of her crying.

"Now get ready, darling. Can't wait to see you and Belly all dressed up tonight", the woman said and walked over to my dress which was hanging on a door. I looked at it and suddenly my tummy got all tingly again.

After my shower I blow dried my hair and put on clothes. I chose to simply wear biker shorts again and a cropped shirt. Then I went downstairs into the kitchen. Belly wasn't there yet, only the two Fisher brothers.

Jeremiah was eating some blueberries. He threw them into the air and tried to catch them with his mouth. Conrad was pouring himself some coffee into his cup.

"Hey, good morning. I, um...", Conrad greeted me and turned around to get a little box, "I picked up some of those good muffins. Chocolate chip, of course." He opened the box and looked at me with a soft smile.

I also looked at him, smiling back. "Thank you", I told him and took one. I bit into the muffin and felt, like my tastebuds experienced an orgasm. "You're an angel", I said as I swallowed.

Conrad's grin made my day. He looked so proud. Then Belly came downstairs and greeted everyone. "Muffins! Can I have one?", she asked. "Sure. But leave the other chocolate chip one for Millie", Conrad replied. The girl took a vanilla muffin and clearly enjoyed it as she took her bite.

"Oh, girls, you should get going. Oh, and everyone, stay out of the family room. I've done all your paintings and tonight after the ball we'll have a big unveiling", Susannah said. Then she asked Jeremiah to bring our dresses into my moms car.