The next morning when Avery returned home, she braced herself for questions from everyone inside. She expected some type of interrogation from the moms and teasing from Steven- which she received. What she didn't expect was how passive-aggressive Jeremiah would be.
"So? Who is this Harper girl?" Laurel questioned with a smirk. "What's she like?"
Avery blushed at the woman's expression. "Harper's great. She's from West Virginia, she's a musician, and likes iced coffee a little bit too much."
"A musician? Never took you to be the 'serenade' type," Jeremiah snarked from behind the counter.
"I think it'd be pretty cool to be serenaded by her. She's really good." The curly-haired boy just snorted, earning him a glare from Avery.
"That's adorable," Belly cooed. "I love Harper. She's perfect for you."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Harper was the first person she'd even thought of romantically since Tyler, not including Jeremiah. It was something she wanted to take slowly.
"Anyways, do we really have to physically sit for our portraits?" Jeremiah said, changing the subject. "Can't she just look at a picture on her phone or something?"
"She needs to see you in the flesh in order to capture your essence. While you're still young and full of hope." When all of the kids turned to look at Laurel with confused faces she added, "Her words."
"Well, Conrad doesn't have hope actually," Avery retorted, making everyone chuckle as Conrad made a crude gesture at the girl.
"He's hopeless, but my hangover smoothie... it cures all." Jeremiah flashed a smile Avery's way, the first one she'd gotten that day. It finally felt like things were normal between the two of them and not weird like they had been all morning.
"Can you please just hurry up?" Conrad called from the couch.
"All right, Steven, get out. This is a delicate science and your heavy breathing is going to break the yolk." Steven sulked over to Avery, scowling at her as she ruffled his hair.
"She hasn't painted you since you were little. I think it would be nice for you to have the portraits for when you're older," Ariana added.
"When I'm older, I'm sure there'll be, like, holograms I can watch myself on, you know?"
"Just sit for your portraits." At this point, Laurel was done with the kids' shit. "I don't see Conrad complaining."
"He'll complain when he's conscious," Jeremiah said. Conrad merely grunted in response.
Jeremiah gave Conrad his smoothie and the two working at the club got ready to go. Avery smiled to herself as she watched the dynamic between the three families. She had missed what life was like with the Conklins in the mix.
"Oh my god!" Susannah yelled from the hallway. "Belly and Avery are going to be debutantes!"
Conrad shot Avery a look and mouthed 'suck up' and she returned the crude gesture from before.
"I'm sorry, Belly? Like, my sister? That thing over there?" Steven said. "And Avery?"
"Shut up, cretin." Belly then threw cereal at her brother as Avery lightly slapped him on the arm.
"Okay, this is going to be so much fun!" Susannah continued. "Just you wait. There's the tea, the auction, and of course the ball... I need to write all this down. Oh, and we need to go shopping!"
"I don't know, it sounds expensive."
"Oh, don't worry, Laur. It's on me. It was my idea after all, and we still need to style you and Ariana for your book party, so..."
"Belly, are you sure you want to do this? It doesn't seem very you," Laurel said to her daughter. Ariana merely hugged Avery and whispered a quiet "thank you" in her ears. She knew how important it was to Susannah and was glad her daughter was going outside of her comfort zone.
"It's not," Conrad added from the couch. "It's not like either of them."
Susannah just rolled her eyes. "Conrad, could you please be a little more supportive? Now, who is going to escort who to the ball?"
"Not me. I went last year." Avery raised her eyebrows at this, giving Conrad a side-eye. He merely rolled his eyes in response. She knew he'd take her if she didn't have a date in time despite what he said, but she figured he'd offer to take Belly.
"Yeah, and I swore off balls," Jeremiah added. Avery and Steven made eye contact and started cracking up. "The dances, guys."
"Wow, guys. Stop fighting over us," Belly said. "I'm not going with either of you. I'm going to find my own date."
"I might see if Harper's free if the club will let me bring a girl as my escort." Jeremiah seemed to stiffen as he rolled his eyes in response. Avery just glared at him. She had no clue what his problem with Harper was.
"They will be! There's a girl debbing this season and she's bringing her girlfriend. The club was fine with it!" Susannah assured.
"How progressive of them," Ariana added sarcastically after a shared glance with Laurel. "Alright, let's go shopping!"
The women of the house left to visit the main stores in town. Ariana and Avery had always hated shopping and (as it was a shared hatred between them) did their best to avoid "Hurricane Susannah" in the shops. Most of the time, they'd pretend to be trying something on in Avery's dressing room while actually doing a Sudoku puzzle on Ariana's phone.
"I know you two aren't trying things on!" Susannah called from outside the curtain. The mother-daughter duo looked at each other in a panic before scrambling to put Avery in a white dress.
"We don't know what you're talking about," Ariana lied as they presented an option to the group. It was a poofy white dress with an A-neck outline and Avery absolutely hated it. It was itchy and she thought it made her look like a cotton ball.
"It's pretty," Susannah cooed while Laurel shook her head emphatically. "Absolutely not," the former jumped in, saving Avery.
The girls continued to try on dresses until Belly finally found one that Susannah deemed perfect. Avery hadn't had as much luck until she was presented with a satin dress. The bodice was embroidered with flowers that reached down into the skirt before it flowed to her feet. It was gorgeous and everyone immediately knew that it was perfect for Avery.
As they left the store, the Cooper girl started to feel a little bit better about the ball. Maybe being a debutante wouldn't be that bad.
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lina speaks !
hey everyone! i'm so so sorry i've been mia this month, i've been out of town for about four weeks now and i haven't had time to update :(
anyways, here's a little bit of a filler chapter! i'm excited to get into the story again (especially after re-watching the show with my sister)
love you all and i hope you're having an amazing summer (if you're in the northern hemisphere lol) <3
thank you for reading!!
song: only the good die young by billy joel
YOU ARE READING
out of the woods • jeremiah fisher
Romansaavery cooper was in love with jeremiah fisher. she always had been. he was her sun, her best friend, her favorite person in the whole world but she knew he'd never feel the same. because even though she loved him with everything in her, she'd never...
