birdie | a tsitp story

two

"i wrangled belly an invitation to be a debutante!" susannah giddily tells us at dinner.

"is that the thing where girls wear white dresses and curtesy?" belly asks.

susannah explains to us what it is, and it's met with immediate laughter from steven.

"a few months ago, she had a cat funeral, she made us all dress in black!" steven laughs.

"shut up steven!" belly retorts.

"i saw you crying in your room" i say.

this is what dinner's at the beach house we're always like. arguing, laughing, gossiping, it was quite normal for us.

"you done yet audrey? we could go night swimming" louis asks, snapping me out of my trance.

"yeah sure" i tell him, putting my plate away.

i grab another swimsuit out of my bag, this one being a plain pink two piece i got last summer, and quickly change.

"audrey! hurry up" i here louis yell through the door.

"coming!" i say, throwing open the door.

"what's with you and pink this summer?" he asks as we walk down to the porch.

"pink is in!" i laugh.

"yeah sure, like it was when we were 4" he says tossing his towel on a chair.

"louis, has conrad been this, i don't know weird this year?" i ask.

"he and aubrey broke up before spring break. he's been like a slump since then" he says.

"weird, i didn't know they were so serious" i reply, swimming a lap around the pool.

"me either" he admits.

we swim for a while, forgetting about our conversation till louis decides to go back up and shower.

"you sure birdie?" he asks as i nod.

a little while later, i see conrad walk out of the side door smoking, another thing he said he'd never do.

"what happened to real athletes not putting shit in their bodies?" i question conrad as he walked past.

"i said a lot of stuff, and i'm not a real athlete anymore" he irked.

"are you serious?" spinning around to face him.

"i was just going to sit on the bench all season" he claims.

"and when do you curse audrey?" he adds.

i roll my eyes in his direction, "now?" i say.

"i remember when you were like what this tall," raising his hand a mere two feet up.

"you were the quietest one, louis would be a rampage and you'd just sit curled up with a book" he says laughing.

"why are you like this?" i ask out of the blue.

"what?"

"like this!" i repeat.

"birdie-" he starts.

all of a sudden, jere and steven run out yelling about the bonfire tonight.

"can i come?" i joke.

"yeah audrey, mom would be so cool with that" he answers.

"whatever, don't get too drunk" i breezily say, getting out of the pool.