A Not So Hot Girl Summer- Jeremiah Fisher

[twelve]

the Fourth of July. the one day of the year where all of the dads come to cousins to celebrate their country with the rest of their families. this year, no one was really looking forward to the dads coming up besides Jeremiah and Katie.

Jeremiah was especially excited to show his dad his fireworks that he got for this years party, meanwhile Katie was just excited to see her dad in general. the both of them hadn't been doing well the last time she saw him, so she was eager to see if he'd improved at all.

Katie had woken up later that morning, making sure she was well rested for the big party that would be going on later. she got ready quickly, seeing that she slept in way later than she anticipated. it was 1:30 pm by the time she was done getting ready.

her curly hair sat neatly against her red, white, and blue tie dye t-shirt, her light blue denim shorts helped by showing off how tan she had gotten. she didn't really have a certain shoe that she wanted to wear, so her white crocs would have to do.

running down the stairs, Katie went into the kitchen to grab a quick bite for breakfast when she spotted John Conklin, belly's dad, and another woman, along with the moms and the Conklin kids. Katie stopped in the middle of stuffing a bagel into her mouth, realizing fully that they were there.

"hey." she said with a mouth full of bagel, covering her mouth as she spoke.

John laughed. "hi Katie." he said, "gesturing to the woman beside him, "this is Victoria."

"hey Victoria."

"hi!"

the moms glanced at Katie and let out a little laugh. "oh, Katie, Jere was looking for you whenever you get the chance." susannah said, gesturing to the back door.

Katie nodded and took her bagel to go, ignoring the kissy faces Steven tried to tease her with. she glared at him in return as she walked to the back door.

"jere?" she called, not seeing him anywhere outside.

"in the shed!" she heard him faintly shout from inside the shed.

Katie laughed and made her way to the shed, opening the door to see him proudly staring at a stack of fireworks. "wow jere, you called me out here to show me the fireworks?"

Jeremiah smirked. "trust me, I know you're not interested in them until they're being blown up." he said with a laugh, dramatically twirling her around and closer to him. "I just needed to catch you before anyone else gets here."

"how come?" she asked, playing dumb to see what his reaction would be.

Jeremiah smiled widely, looking into her eyes. the moment was perfect before there was a pounding on the shed door, it slowly opening right after.

the two separated quickly, staring at the fireworks to try and look casual while Conrad came in. "what are you two up to?" Conrad asked suspiciously.

"you know.. fireworks." Katie said, pointing at the boxes. "I bet your dad is excited to see the show later, he always is."

the fisher boys didn't say anything. "actually, he isn't coming this year." Jeremiah said.

Katie furrowed her eyebrows. "he isn't? how come?"

"work. mom said he has a new deal that he can't miss." Conrad said, "but I don't mind, we don't exactly see eye-to-eye anyways."

"I'm sorry." Katie said, scratching the back of her neck. "hey, you guys can hangout with my dad and I when he gets here, he loves you two."

the boys laughed. As much as they would have loved to accept the offer, they knew that the Gregg White they once knew was different now compared to how he used to be. Who wouldn't be after losing their wife and almost their daughter within the same year?