Pulled in by the Current ~ Steven Conklin

~ The Bonfire ~

My phone buzzes as Shayla lets me know she's almost at mine. I chuck on a floaty blue floral dress that reaches my mid-thigh and clip my hair back. We are going to the first bonfire of the summer with people from all over Cousins. I pull on my sandals and grab my phone rushing out the back door and round the side of the house to avoid confrontations with the moms. 

Her car pulls up and I hop in giving her a big hug. She's just come back from her vacation so I haven't seen her in a month. 

"I missed you so much," I say, refusing to let go.

She laughs, "Well you'll be sick of me by the end of summer, we are going to see each other every day," she pulls away and starts driving us to the beach. "So do you think you'll talk to anyone tonight, you're going to have to find yourself a date for the deb?" Shayla asks like she usually does before a party.

"Not tonight, it's the first party of the summer, I have to keep my options open.  What about you? You have to find yourself a date for the debutante as well, princess." I riggle my eyebrows

"I'll worry about that later, if you're not planning on chatting anyone up then neither am I."

"Oh, look! The bean bags are free." I cheer as we pull up to the beach. She giggles and hops out of the car, running ahead and claiming two of them. I walk over to the drink stand and get us a couple of cans of soda.

I see Steven, Jere, and Conrad enter the party, Conrad going straight to meet Nicole. She is his new girl, she's apparently really nice but I've never really spoken to her as she's in Conrad's grade in school. Jere immediately gets a drink and finds someone to flirt with. As for Steven, he looks a bit lost, not knowing the local kids. He hovers around a bit, sipping his drink until he catches my eye. I smile at him and motion for him to come over.

"Hey Amaya, fancy seeing you here."

"Well, you can't expect me to miss the first bonfire of the summer. Steven this is Shayla, my best friend, and Shayla, this is Steven, one of the Conklins." They smile at each other, Steven finds another bean bag and drags it over to us. "Speaking of Conklins, where's Belly?"

"Ah, She's staying back home, probably watching a film with the moms like they usually do." I nod. 

"Steven" The three of us turn to see who is calling him, speaking of the devil.

"What are you doing here?" Steven stands up and walks over to Belly, Shayla and I glance at each other, knowing this could turn nasty. After all the guy Belly was standing with was Jumper, a nineteen-year-old dick, who had been held back in school for two years, he was most likely drunk. "And, I'm sorry. What are you wearing?"

"I invited her," Jumper buts in, "Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm her brother, who are you?" Steven walks closer before Jumper can respond, I cut in.

"Jumper she's fifteen, don't be a creep. Leave her alone." I yell, from my seat.

"I-I'm almost sixteen," Belly stammers, Jumper shakes his head and walks away.

Steven walks up to Belly and grabs her wrist, guiding her away. Shayla and I sit awkwardly a few meters away. They started arguing, pushing each other, and blaming each other for embarrassing themself.

"Should we step in?" She whispers to me, but it's too late, Belly has fallen to the ground, right in front of Conrad and Nicole.

"Nah, let her learn from her mistake," I whisper back, "She'll only drag us into trouble if things go wrong," she nods. We watch as Belly talks to Conrad and Nicole and judging by all three of their faces none of them are enjoying their conversation. Jere runs up and greets Belly, we can hear Steven saying they are going to leave but Jere tells him to chill out and go hang out with Shayla and me.

I quickly walk over and I gently grab his arm, "Let's go" I say and guide him away.

"Fine," He eventually gives in and begins to follow me, but turns around and tells Belly to stay where she is. Jere tells him to chill, and I pull him away back to the bean bags. I catch Shayla's eye and smirk when Belly curses at Steven, but thankful he ignores it and she stays with Jeremiah. We reach our bean bags again and sit out of the way of the commotion. 

The three of us talk, enjoying the heat of the bonfire. I notice Belly sitting next to a guy I don't recognize, at least he looks her age. Shayla gets up to go get us more drinks leaving me and Steven to guard her bean bag.

"So, you're doing the deb?" Steven asks. 

"Unfortunately" I roll my eyes, "Mom has been asking me for years, and I finally just gave in." 

"Why do you hate it so much?"

"I just think it's a ridiculous rich people thing to do. 'Present your daughter when she comes of age' Why not let her do what the fuck she wants and spend your money on charities or something that will help the world rather than your status." I explain.

He laughs, "You seem like you hate it."

"Nothing gets past you Sherlock." I laugh.

Shayla returns with our drinks and falls back into our conversation when Conrad and Jumper start fighting over a beer, both of them are drunk. Great.

Belly runs over from where she is sitting like it has anything to do with her. She tries to intervene and of course, gets in the way and is knocked over. Turning the fight physical. A total Bella Swan move.  Of course, Jeremiah jumps in to help our brother and break up the fight. He's unsuccessful. However, the fight easily stops when a siren goes off. Fan-fucking-tastic. The cops are here.

Jeremiah jumps in once again, dragging a tipsy Conrad back to his car and motioning for Belly to join. 

"See you back at the house," Steven says to me, as he sprints back to his car

I grab Shayla's hand as we begin running for her car, everyone scrambles away, a few guys chucking water over the fire to put it out. I climb into Shayla's Jeep, and we drive off. Knowing the police would probably stop any car traveling on the main road, we took the back route to her house. 

I sit on Shayla's porch, as we eat some pizza, planning on going back to mine later, until I get a text from Conrad saying how they were pulled over by the police and to come home straight away as Laurel is pissed. We quickly drive over to my house, I'm not looking forward to walking through that front door. 

"I hope you realize this night could have ended a lot differently if your family wasn't your family" I entered the house, interrupting Laurel. "Oh look who decided to show up! I thought you were sleeping over at Shayla's." I look around the others and catch Conrad staring straight at me, rolling his eyes, what's got his pants in a twist, he told me to come home.

"I was, but when I heard the police had stopped the bonfire and pulled over these guys I came home to check you guys were ok," I explained.

"What are you talking about? You were at the bonfire, you left with Shayla when the police came" I groaned, of course, it was Belly who had to ruin things.

"Is this true?" Laurel glares at me, I avoid eye contact, glaring at her daughter, "Amaya! I said is this true?"

"Yes," I mumble. There's no point in lying to her, Belly pretty much confirmed it, Laurel just wants me to admit it.

"How dare you lie to me," She seethes, "And how irresponsible can you get?"

"Don't act like you care," I roll my eyes and push past her. I hear her tell the others to get to bed and I begin to make my way up the stairs