𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄. 𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐩.

𝟎𝟔. 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐞

BEFORE I WENT downstairs, I covered up my bruise with makeup. The last thing I wanted was someone to see it, and feel bad for me. I also threw up once in the toilet.  As I was walking down the stairs, I could barely even feel my head. Definitely one of the worst hangovers ever. I sat down on one of the stools next Laurel, and leaned on the counter with my head in my hands.

"Jeez. Lilah you look like a hurricane hit you." Steven said, laughing.

"Shut. Up." I said quietly. When Jeremiah started the blender I almost jumped out of my seat. Jeremiah poured the smoothie in 3 cups and slid one over to me. 

"Here." He said, then walked over to the room Conrad and Luke were in and gave one to each of them. 

"Come on man, hurry your ass up, alright? I can't be late for my first day of work." Steven yelled.

"We won't. We're good."

"Those old country club boomers are gonna tip me so hard, man, they won't know what hit 'em." Steven said.

"Steven, I swear." Laurel said.

"Come on Laurel, my boy's got to get that bread." Jeremiah told her. I almost laughed. Belly walked in the room a couple seconds later.

"Belly, where have you been? Is that a bruise?" Laurel asked her. 

"Uh, I bumped into someone." She lied. 

"You bumped into someone?" Laurel asked. 

"Doesn't look that bad." Conrad said  from the living room. My mom walked in the room and sat at one of the chairs at the table. I stood up to go talk to her.

"Yo, mom-" I was cut off by someone else's excited voice. 

Susannah came rushing downstairs. "Oh my god! They're gonna be debutantes!" I turned my head, and widened my eyes. I completely stopped moving for a second, waiting for someone else to say something. Susannah walked over and pulled me and Belly into a big hug.

"It's really not that big of a deal." Belly told her. 

"Belly? Like- my sister? Like that thing right there?" Steven asked.

"Shut up cretin." Belly yelled. It's those sibling moments that made me wish I had a sister instead of a brother. 

"Ok, this is gonna be so much fun." Susannah said." Just you wait. There is the tea, the auction, the ball, of course, the rehearsal," She could go on and on giving examples, but I still wouldn't be interested. "I got to write this down." Susannah gasped. "We need to go shopping." Belly started laughing while she had food in her mouth.

"This sounds... expensive." Laurel added.

"Yea, I agree. And I'm not gonna spend a bunch of money on Lilah for something she doesn't even know if she likes or not." My mom explained. I sat down in the chair next to Belly with my cup in my hand.

"Oh, don't worry, It's on me." Ooh, a whole day of shopping and my mom doesn't  have to pay for anything. She's gonna be in heaven. "It was my idea after all, and we still need to style you for your book party." Laurel's job was so interesting, I just think it's cool how so many people read her books, and know who she is. My mom, on the other hand, has a boring job. My mom works at a nail salon. I'm not complaining though, because it means I get free manicures whenever I want.

"Are you girls sure you want to do this?" Laurel asked, looking at me and Belly. "It doesn't seem like either of you at all." 

"It's not." Conrad spoke up from the other room. 

"Conrad, could you please be a little more supportive?" Susannah told him. "Now, who's gonna be who's escort to the ball?" 

"I'm not, I went last year." Conrad explained.

"Yea, and I swore off balls." Jeremiah said. Steven started laughing in the corner. "The dances, dude."

"Wow, guys. Stop fighting over us." Belly yelled at them.

I looked at Belly with the biggest side eye, until my mom looked at me with that face, so I stopped.

"I'm not going with either of you." Belly told them.

"Me neither." I said.

"We will find our own dates." Belly said, speaking for both of us. 

"Wikipedia says debutante balls require instruction in morals and social etiquette." Laurel explained.

"I'm going for a swim." Conrad told all of us.

"They could use some etiquette. Yea." Steven said, laughing.

"No offense, Beck, but I don't feel like a country club is the best place to teach them about morals." Laurel said. 

"Laur, times have changed, There's a girl debbing this season, and she's bringing her girlfriend as her escort. And the club was fine with it." When Susannah said that, a thought came up. My best friend Sarah, came to Cousins soon, and she would still be there by the time of the ball. What if I got her to pretend to be my girlfriend, and she could be my escort? I know it's probably a horrible idea, but I don't think I'm gonna find anyone else to be my escort. I was staring into space until Belly snapped her fingers in my face, and started laughing.

"How very progressive of them." Laurel said.

"That's cute." My mom said.

"Here you are, Belly button." That was the nickname the boys always called Belly. I never had a nickname. I do love the name Delilah, or Lilah, but it's weird not having a nickname like that.

"Well, hurry up! We have shopping to do." Oh shit. Shopping. I've always loved shopping. 

"It's not like I was getting any work done anyway." Laurel said, shutting her screen. 

___

It felt like we had been shopping for hours. But the good thing was, in each store, they had variety. And most of the things that I saw, I liked, so it was actually kind of fun. We went into tons of stores, I swear Susannah spent at least $5,000. Both me and Belly got to pick stores to go in, so whenever we saw one we thought was interesting, they would let us go in. We ended up trying like, 20 things on in each store, but it was totally worth it.

Susannah also made us go into this store that had hat looking things. Apparently every debutante wore one. Susannah called them 'fascinators'. But, while we were at one of the stores looking for dresses for the actual ball, I saw the perfect one for me. My mom let me try it on, and I ended up loving it. The moms decided that we wouldn't buy the actual dresses for the ball, until a couple days before the ball. But, the trick was, they had to choose our dresses. They said they would choose the ones we liked the most, but I didn't really trust that. 

___

𝑾𝜪𝑹𝑫𝑺 : 1157

𝑨/𝑵 - i have nothing to say bye