𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐅 𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓, jeremiah fisher

two. debutante invitations

WHEN I GET to my room upstairs, I look around. Nothing has changed. Everything is exactly the way I left it, and I'm not sure why I thought it would look different. 

The lavender sheets I've had since I was ten cover the queen bed Susannah insisted on getting for me and Belly each. The walls are a pale bubblegum pink color that has faded over the years. You can barely see the actual paint, though, because the walls are mostly covered in posters and paintings. Every phase I ever went through—it's all here. Plastered onto these walls. Each year, less and less of the pink can be seen.

I haven't taken anything off. I can't because I'm a hoarder and getting rid of things—even if they're junk and Mom presses me to throw them out—makes me feel sick. These aren't just random band posters and art on my walls. They're memories, and throwing them out would mean erasing them. Like the small Stevie Nicks bobblehead I have sitting on my dressing table. If I threw it out, how would I remember the day Conrad and Jeremiah took me out for donuts in the middle of the night without the moms knowing and we saw that bobblehead sitting at the counter where we paid? How would I remember how Jeremiah sweet-talked the cashier into letting me have the bobblehead because I loved it so much and I was going through a phase where I only listened to Fleetwood Mac?

And the paintings. From my very first one at the age of five all the way to the latest one I painted last week. I have almost half of them up on the walls or somewhere around the room. I have more here than I have back home.

Susannah taught me everything I know about painting. She's the one who inspired my love for it, and she's the reason I continued it even when I gave up one year because I wasn't any good. She said that if I don't give it a chance, I'll stay right where I am and won't improve. So, me being the stubborn brat I was, I practiced every single day even if it was only for a few minutes.

A month before the end of junior year, one of my paintings got selected to be shown at this exclusive art show. Mom and Susannah were both really proud, which made me even more proud of myself.

I start to unpack because I hate leaving things until the last minute. When I'm almost done, Belly comes into the room without knocking like she always does.

"Hey, sis," she says in this annoyingly sweet voice she only uses when she wants something.

I give her a pointed look. "What?"

"What?" She furrows her eyebrows and plays dumb, so I just turn around and finish unpacking.

"Can you go to Whale of a Tale with Mom?" she blurts.

"And there it is." I chuckle without turning around. "Why can't you go?"

"Jeremiah asked me to go swim with him." I can hear the way she's carefully choosing her words. "So, please? Pretty please? Pretty pretty please with sprinkles and cherries—"

I throw a pillow at her and roll my eyes, ignoring the sadness creeping up my body. "Fine, whatever."

She squeals and jumps up to hug me. I laugh and hug her back.

"I love you!"

She's out of the room before I have a chance to mumble, "I love you too."

My smile falls a few minutes later when I hear two voices chattering excitedly from my open window. I sigh lightly and go downstairs.

✧ ✦ ✧

SUSANNAH JOINS US, and we're laughing all the way home because Mom accidentally insulted this writer dude right in front of him. Mom is so embarrassed that it's funny.

I help set up the table for dinner, and soon everyone is sitting down to eat. I sit beside Conrad with Belly and Mom on my other side. Susannah is on one end of the table, and Jeremiah is across from me with Steven next to him.

I zone out while Mom chides Steven for using his phone.

"Oh, you're just jealous because Jere has a better body than you," Belly states.

I glance up and see Jeremiah with pink cheeks but quickly look away before he catches me staring.

The conversation quickly turns around to the topic of Conrad quitting football, which I already know about because he called me when he decided to quit. I was shocked because he loves football but understood why he did it. His dad.

I offer him a small smile and squeeze his hand under the table. I know this is the last thing he wants to be talking about right now. He squeezes back but doesn't look at me.

My attention is caught by Steven and Jeremiah saying they're working this summer.

"I'm lifeguarding, and Steven's working at the snack shop," Jeremiah tells Belly, giving Steven a side fist bump.

I stare at the side of his face before he suddenly turns and our eyes connect. The smile on his face slowly drops, and the tension between us seems to rise. My heart starts to beat a little faster than normal, and I pinch the side of my thigh to distract myself.

I break away first because I hear Susannah calling my name. I turn my head, and everyone is staring at me and Jeremiah. Internally sighing, I see Susannah holding two envelopes. Just as I'm about to ask what they're for, she gives one of the envelopes to Belly and the other one to me.

My eyebrows knit together as I stare at the paper in my hands. I see Conrad looking and rolling his eyes before he goes back to eating his food.

I rip open the envelope and see a fancy sort of invitation. I immediately know what it is.

"I wrangled both Dani and Belly invitations to be debutantes," Susannah declares with an excited look on her face.

"Is that the thing where girls wear white dresses and curtsy?" Belly asks.

"It's when a girl comes of age and is presented to society."

I look back down and scrutinize the invitation. Honestly, I don't have anything better to do this summer. I couldn't give a shit whether I was a debutante or not, but seeing that bright look on Susannah's face makes me want to do it.

When Conrad calls deb balls bullshit and debs sheep, I stifle a laugh because I know he went to a deb ball with that girl last year. I think her name was Nicky or something.

Jeremiah is looking at me, I know he is. I can see him out of the corner of my eye, and I don't look back at him. We haven't said a word to each other yet, and I think our new way of showing our distaste for each other is by ignoring the other.

It sure beats the verbal screaming matches we had last year. I think they surprised everyone so much that we now have this unspoken rule of not bringing up our poor relationship.

"When a girl has a coming out, it's a formal recognition she's reached maturity," Susannah patiently explains.

The boys, Steven especially, snort out laughs. I glare at him and roll my eyes when he brings up Belly's cat's funeral.

"Dani?" Susannah calls out. "You've been awfully quiet."

I look up at her just when Mom says, "I just don't think this is either Belly's or Dani's kind of thing."

I agree. It isn't. But lately, I haven't been able to figure out what my 'thing' is.

"I'll think about it," I mumble quietly.

"Same," Belly follows.

Jeremiah and Conrad both turn to look at us. Conrad just raises an eyebrow and shakes his head. For some reason, Jeremiah glares at me but I can't find it in me to care.

Susannah looks so happy and hopeful in that moment that I know. I'm going to cave and so is Belly. It was never a question. The second Susannah asked, we were going to agree. No one can say no to Susannah.

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 !

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