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COOPER MURPHY REALLY HADN'T experienced a "summer vacation" since he was six years old. after his parents split he was kicked out of his house with his mom and told to find somewhere new and far away from his dad. his dad had never really been a good person—which was one of the reasons why his parents had gotten divorced. they'd moved in with his grandmother, but she died only a few years later, leaving cooper and his mom alone in her large house. they ended up having to downgrade because money was tight and now eight years later the seventeen year old boy and his mother were just making enough to get by.
vacations weren't ever in their plans because cooper's mom never had time off and when she did she had other things that had to be taken care of. he'd spent every summer hanging out with the few friends he had and as he got older he started smoking weed and getting high all the time, causing some of those friends to drift away.
cooper identified himself as a loner. he didn't mind being alone and he definitely didn't mind not having to share his stash. however, when he spotted conrad fisher under the bleachers of the football field one night during a game looking depressed he offered some over and the two smoked for hours, talking about random shit. he'd told cooper about his mom's cancer returning and how his dad had cheated on her. he made cooper swear not to say anything and cooper told him he would take it to his grave. the two started hanging out more, sharing weed and keeping each other company.
susannah, conrad's mom, loved cooper. she knew of his drug use, but still treated the boy like he was one of her own. conrad's brother, however, was not a fan of the blond. he thought cooper was a bad influence on his brother and couldn't stand him. cooper was offended in the slightest. he didn't care about his or anyone else's opinions on him.
it was the summer after conrad and cooper (surprisingly) graduated high school and conrad insisted that cooper spent the summer with them in cousins. cooper was hesitant because he wasn't sure how his mom would feel about it, plus he wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with jeremiah's existence while he was there. he'd debated for a week before deciding to talk to his mom about it. she was more than happy for him to go and was so grateful that susannah offered to pay for anything needed while they were away. his mom ended up giving him as much money as she could to bring along and told him to enjoy his vacation. she'd said he definitely needed it. it only made his decision of going easier and he put jeremiah and his issues into the back of his head.
they'd arrived to cousins only an hour before and conrad was in his room unpacking while cooper laid on the guest bed, scrolling through the apps on his phone waiting for the boy. he was too lazy to unpack—he'd do it eventually. he'd left his bedroom door open so that conrad could come right in when he was done. a car honking it's horn caught his attention and he sat up, looking towards the door to see jeremiah rushing passed as susannah announced that their friends were there.
