Just Keep Driving - Jeremiah Fisher

006

"Good morning everybody" I said entering the Fisher residence with my grandma "We come bearing gifts"

Steven came running over, and took the pack of freshly made chocolate chip muffins from my hands.

"Yup definitely taking these suckers from you before your clumsy ass drops them" Steven said sarcastically

"Steven language" Laurel said from behind her computer screen.

As my grandma and I got deeper into the house we noticed that Conrad was half dead on the couch. Jeremiah was bouncing back and forth between the stove and blender. And Laurel was nose deep in her laptop.

I went over to the cabinets and retrieved a cup. I then poured Jeremiah's hangover blend into a cup, and grabbed a muffin. Walking over to the half dead Conrad, I decided to poke him with my foot.

"You alive my friend? I have a muffin and Jeremiah's concoction for you"

"Yes, yes. I'm alive for fucks sake" Conrad said grabbing both the things from my hand like a dead man.

"Yeah pal it really looks like it" I said, rolling my eyes, and heading back into the kitchen. Sitting next to Laurel I bent my head to the side to catch a sneak peak of what she was working on. She quickly shooed me away.

"Come on man. Hurry your ass up! Alright? I can't be late for my first day of work" Steven nagged Jeremiah.

"We won't. We're good." Jeremiah sighed back at Steven's eagerness. The taller boy then slapped Jeremiah's ass which made me cover my mouth to hide my laugh.

"Ooh! Those old country club boomers are gonna tip me so hard they won't know what hit them" Steven said hip thrusting the air.

"Steven" Laurel and I both said gagging.

"Come on Laurel, Rachel! My boy's gotta get that bread." Jeremiah said, clapping back at us.

"I truly don't know what to say" I said, shaking my head in disbelief at the two.

The next thing I knew Belly and Susannah entered the kitchen.

"Oh my god! Belly is going to be a debutante" Susannah said excitedly.

"Wait, what!? I thought we were going to talk about it" I said to Belly

"Well now that Belly is doing it, that means you should too Rachel" my grandmother chimed in. Making me roll my eyes, and moan in frustration.

"Fine, fine. I'll do it! Do you still have my invitation here?" As soon as I asked for it, it was in my hands. I marked the box yes and signed my name. That's when Evelyn and Susannah started grabbing each other and shrieking. "Okay children please!"

"Alright this is going to be so much fun! Just you wait. There is the tea, the auction, the ball of course, the rehearsal. I got to write this down!" Susannah said, pacing the kitchen.

"We need to go shopping!" My grandmother chimed in which made Susannah gasp.

"This sounds expensive" Laurel said unenthusiastically

Right after Laurel turned to Belly, and said it didn't seem much like her. Conrad agreed from the other side of the room. The awkwardness was about to come in and suffocate us all, but Susannah stepped in.

"Now out of the three of you, which two are going to be Rachel and Belly's escort to the ball?"

"Not me. I went last year." Conrad grumbled from the couch.

"Yeah and I swore off balls" Jeremiah said looking over at me with a look that said sorry. I gave him a shrug, even though he would be my first pick for a date. I would never force him to do something he was going to hate.

Steven then started bursting out laughing.

"Ew gross Steven he meant dances!" I said in disgust.

"I'm going to find my own date" Belly said confidently

"Ooo Belly can you ask if Cameron has any friends" I said taking a seat next to her.

"What about that guy you were talking to at the beach?" Belly questioned which got everyone's attention.

"Tyler Shirnup, mom's friend's son who gave me surfing lessons a few years back" I clarified getting everyone off my back, besides Jeremiah.

"That dude did a horrible job then! You suck at surfing Rachel" he said ruffling my hair on his way out of the house. I know his words were meant to sound playful, but Jeremiah doesn't do a good job at hiding his tone. He had the same tone as the other night.

As soon as all the boys left Susannah gathered up all the girls for a little shopping trip.

***

To say shopping was tiring was an understatement. Especially when you go with two shopaholics like my grandmother and Susannah. They. Made. You. Try. On. Everything. In. Sight.

I knew I shouldn't be complaining since it was quality time with Susannah, but I would much rather be sitting and painting with her. She was my mentor when it came to painting. We could sit and talk for hours while working on a blank canvas.

Belly at least was having fun. She liked having attention on her which was new, but she finally grew into herself. I was happy to see that she was comfortable with herself. We always talked about how she felt like she was in everyones shadow, but she is really trying to turn that around. Which I think is why she decided to be a part of all this.

I had different reasons, but I'm glad we could do it together.

I think Susannah and Evelyn were having the most fun out of all of us. They probably secretly wish they could be the ones trying on all this stuff.

We finally made our way to the dress shop which I was dreading. I didn't think I would find anything, so I decided to FaceTime my mom. I filled her in on everything that was going on while we shopped "together". We were in the midst of a conversation when we both stopped talking.

There she was. The dress I would be wearing to the ball.

"Please try that on" my mom said "I don't care if they say no to blue that is your dress"

Susannah and Evelyn agreed that it was my dress as well so I went to try it on.

Once I had it on in the dressing room it was honestly one of the first times I could allow myself to feel beautiful. It was perfect, I loved it so much. The only thing that hurt was Jeremiah wouldn't be my date while I wore this, and my mom wouldn't be able to see it in person. I shook those thoughts away, and went back out to the common area.

"My god I don't care what the board says, you are wearing that dress!!!"