Afterglow, Steven Conklin

two

Music blared from surrounding speakers as flames from the fire grew into the sky. We were truly living the teenage dream. 

Getting drunk on a beach.

After I talked to Conrad by the pool and convinced my brother and Steven to hurry up, we headed towards the beach, and by the time we arrived, most people were already there.

Feeling a hand grab my arm as the four of us walked towards the fire, I turned to see Kai, "Hey, Lia! I'm glad you could make it." he sent me a wide smile.

Kai was undeniably cute, and one of the guys that most girls in Cousins were crazy for, but he just wasn't really my type. That didn't mean that I wasn't going to flirt and hang out with him though.

"Yeah... I-I wouldn't miss it," I stammered when he threw his arm around my shoulder and pulled me away from the others, towards the drink table. 

Peering back over my shoulder, I could see that Conrad was already walking off with Nicole, and Jere was pulling Steven towards his friends while he watched me walk away, looking like he was sizing up Kai.

Oh, boy.

A while later, I was quite a few drinks in and sitting in the sand, making out with Kai. Don't be disappointed in me, we did talk for a long time, and he was really nice, but there was just something holding me back from catching feelings for him.

We were laughing about something when I looked up to see Belly standing in the sand with some guy, "Hold on, one second." I told him and headed over towards her.

"Belly! What are you doing here?" I asked walking up to her with a smile.

"Uhh..." she began before she looked up, "Steven!"

My head snapped over to see Steven walking by with Shayla. She had been clinging to his side all night, I tried not to notice.

"Whaaat are you doing here?" he asked walking towards us, "And I'm sorry, what are you wearing?"

Looking down I noticed that Belly was wearing a tight pink dress. It was something I would've never imagined her wearing, but she looked cute. I grimaced when I compared her outfit to my sandy jean shorts and cute top.

"I invited her. Who the fuck are you two?" the older guy Belly was with snapped.

Steven got defensive, "I'm her brother. She's 15, you pedo."

"I-I'm almost 16." Belly stammered and I slapped her arm.

The guy stepped away with his hands held up, "My bad."

"Jesus Christ, Belly, Come on." Steven grabbed both of our arms and started pulling us away. I'm not sure why I was being drug along with her, but it started to get annoying when they were shoving each other complaining about being embarrassing.

I was pushed away when Belly hit the ground, and found myself being held up by Kai, "Is everything alright over here?" he asked, blue eyes blazing from the fire.

"Everything's fine." Steven snapped.

My eyes flashed between the two while they stood there sizing each other up. Finally having enough, I tried to think of something to say but was relieved when Jeremiah ran up, "Belly! You came! Great, we can all hang out you guys."

I laughed awkwardly, "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea."

Steven turned towards us, "I'm about to take her home."

"What?" Jere asked.

"Yeah, we're leaving. Are you kidding me?" Steven snapped.

Jere held out his hand, "Okay, Steven, chill out."