That's the way I loved you ~Jeremiah Fisher~

Tea and Talking

                         Song of the chapter
                     Sparks fly - Taylor Swift

I wake up to the sound of belly showering and getting dress. I sit up and look at her, she's wearing shorts and a baggy tee.
"We're going shopping today," she says while applying sunscreen in the mirror. After getting yelled at my Laurel and my mother it completely slipped my mind we have shopping and deb tea today.
"I forgot," I say fully waking up and rubbing my eyes. "You could have woken me up"
"I wanted to let you sleep in," She says, brushing her hair.
"Aren't you supposed to be with Cam right now?" I ask.
"I missed the boat" She replies with a frown.
"Oh sorry," I say getting out of bed and putting on clean clothes.
"So you agreed to be a deb?" I ask
"Yeah, early this morning" she replies, I put my hair into a ponytail and then go downstairs.

"My two girls are gonna be debs!" Susannah says the second belly and I walk into the kitchen. I just smile and awkwardly go to stand next to Jeremiah, who's making something on the stove. Steven's standing very close behind him. I go to do the same thing. I walk up to his left side and rest my chin on his shoulder.
"Watcha doing," I ask.
"Making eggs" He replies.
"And it's a delicate science and your heavy breathing is gonna break the yolk," he says gesturing to Steven.
"Cool" I say. I stay where I am because I'm honestly still exhausted and it's comfortable here.
"So which two of you are escorting belly and Sophie to the ball," My mom asks. I can feel her eyes staring into my soul from behind me. She also thinks Jeremiah and I would make a great couple. And me practically laying on him does not help my case.
"Not me I went last year," Conrad says from the living room. I didn't even know he was there.
"Nah I'm not I don't do dances," Steven says moving away from Jeremiah.
"I can't either I swore off balls" Jeremiah says smirking. He then quickly turns to his left and looks down at me. I suddenly become aware that we are standing very close.
"What are you looking at, come on you're so dirty-minded", He says then goes to give a glass to Conrad. I look over to Belly who's giving me an "omg that was so cute" look, so naturally, I have to ruin the moment.
"I'm probably gonna ask Ben to escort me" I say nonchalantly even though I know it's gonna cause a conversation.
"Who's Ben?" My mom asks and before I can answer Jeremiah says,
"A boy she met last night, she's wearing his hoodie right now"
"Oh my god Jeremiah shut up for once" I say.
"Never" He replies as he walks past me and bops me on the forehead.

"Oh my goodness you look beautiful!" I hear say Susannah from the dressing room. I assume belly just walked out in the dress she picked. I'm currently trying to put on the fifth ball gown Susannah picked out. We've been shopping all day and this is our last stop. I finally get the dress on and step out. All the moms turn and gasp.
"That's the one," My mom says standing up to come check out the material of the gown. I look in the mirror, I have to admit it's beautiful. It's a white strapless satin dress with a flowy skirt. It's my favorite one yet.
"What do you think belly?" I ask turning to her. She's wearing a dress that has a tulle puffy skirt with off-the-shoulder straps and sequin detail on the corset part. It's pretty but not belly.
"I love it. It's very you" She answers. "What do you think of mine?" she asks. I can tell she doesn't like it.
"It's ok but not you" I reply.
"I agree" Laurel says. "What about that one?" She says pointing to a gorgeous yet simple satin dress.
"No, it's far too simple," Susannah says. "These girls go all out"
"But it does look like belly" My mom chimes in.
"No, it's ok this one is great" Belly says. I know she likes the other one but doesn't want to disappoint Susannah.
"See belly likes this one too," Susannah says happily and that's the end of that conversation.

"Ok girls if you don't like it, if the girls are mean, or even if the food is bad you can call me" Laurel states as Belly and I get out of the car.
"Mom we're ok really," Belly says.
"Humor me," Laurel says. "Text me our code phrase from when you were younger, lemon jelly belly"
"Ok lemon jelly belly, " Belly says and I nod next to her. She drives off and we start our walk to the club. Up ahead I see someone familiar.
"Look it's Jere" I say to belly. We walk up to a few feet away from him and belly calls his name. He either didn't hear us or he ignored us.
"Jeremiah?" I say to him. He heard this time and turned to look at us.
"Oh I didn't recognize you guys sorry," He says.
"Be honest do we look stupid?" I ask. I definitely feel a little dumb with this hat thing on my head.
"Uh No-No you guys look great" He answers laughing a little. "Here let me walk you guys," He says setting down the towels he was holding then going in between us and hooked our arms in his.

Once we get to the tea party room I push open the door and all three of us walk in. A woman who was walking from table to table spots us and comes to greet us at the door.
"Hello these are the two young women my mom told you about," Jeremiah explains."Belly, uh, Isabel Conklin and Sophie Summers. My future wives, "He says winking. I pull my arm out of his and slap his side.
"They're late." The woman says.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," I say.
"You two are at table two" She says looking behind at the table. I notice that the girl Conrad was kissing at the party is sitting there. I glance over to belly she notices too.
"Are those the little fig and brie with prosciutto sandwiches?" Jeremiah asks dropping his arm away from Belly.
"Yes but they're for the girls," The lady says. Jeremiah then runs over to the table and snatches one up.
"Jeremiah! Those are for the girls" She says hitting him with her clipboard.
"Good luck," He says to us then runs out. Belly and I walk over to our table and sit down.
"Hi," I say after getting comfortable in my chair.
There's a quiet hi from a few of the girls at the table.
"Hi, I'm Nicole " the girl Conrad was with says.
"Hi, I'm Belly and this is Sophie" Belly says around at the table. I look next to me and see the girl Steven was hanging with at the bonfire, her name is Shayla I think. I'm not really  paying attention to the convo until someone says,
"So are either of you like a thing with Jeremiah"
I nearly choke on my tea.
"Gigi!" Nicole says. "They're like siblings"
"What? It was just a question" Gigi says.
"Gigi has had this thing for Jeremiah" Nicole explains.
"Yeah ever since he got abs" Shayla says laughing. Gigi looks at her with a hint of jealously.
"Relax I am not into Jeremiah fisher" Shayla says.
"Yeah but I bet Sophie is" Belly says. This time I do choke on my tea.
"What?" I cough. Under the table I kick her in the shin. "I'm so sorry gigi. No I do not have a thing for Jeremiah"
"Ok just checking" Gigi laughs.
"So what's it like living with them?" A girl asks.
"Yeah Conrad's so mysterious what's it like" Another one says.
"Uh wait a minute" belly says then gets up. I look to where she's headed and see Cam walking in the hall.
"What's that about?" Gigi asks.
"A boy," I say then I see Ben walking behind Cam.
"And there's my boy," I say then run off towards them.

"So I'll pick you up at seven?" Ben asks.
"Yeah perfect," I say I can feel my cheeks turning red so I turn to leave.
"Bye I'll see you tonight," I say then go back to my seat at the table.