Dazzling Haze-Conrad Fisher

C1 - 20 Seconds or 20 Years

Cousins Beach looked the same as it did every year. Shops on every street, tourists on every corner, and the beach house belonging to Susannah Fisher and her two boys.

The sign reading "Welcome to Cousins" flew past the car as we rolled down the street into the summer destination I was lucky enough to call home.

"It feels like forever since we've been here, right?" My mother, Abigail, asked.

"Yeah, it does. I can't wait to see everyone. The boys, and Belly too." I responded. A smile popped onto my face after thinking of the long-awaited greetings.

"It shouldn't be too much longer. Just a heads up, Laurel asked me to come to Whale of a Tale with her and Susannah later."

"Okay!" That would give me time to unpack, I thought to myself.

The car pulled in front of a large beach house with a long gravel driveway. I unbuckled and my mother was already out of the car greeting Susannah. We arrived just after Belly, Steven, and Laurel did. I looked over to see Jeremiah and Steven talking.

Belly was looking off into the distance towards someone.

Conrad.

He approached her and spoke. "I liked you better with glasses."

Belly raised her eyebrows. "Too bad. I like me better without them." She giggled and he ruffled her hair with his hand.

I opened the door on the passenger side of the car and stepped out. I locked my eyes on Conrad and he exchanged the glance.

Before I knew it, Belly was in a sprint towards me and crashed herself into my arms.

"Madison Cooper, where have you been?!" She giggled.

"Hey, Bells!" I smiled and hugged her back. "Holy shit. You are gorgeous."

"Are you kidding? Look at yourself, Mads. You don't look a day under 18."

"Oh, shut up." I pulled away and elbowed her side.

I pulled my eyes away and noticed a pair of eyes on me in the distance. Conrad began to walk towards me with a half-smile on his face. A familiar dazzle in his eyes forced me to stop in my tracks.

He stopped a couple feet in front of me. "Hey, Mads. Long time no see."

"Hey, stranger." I laughed and wrapped my arms around him. It really was starting to feel like forever since I've seen him.

He hugged me back and rested his chin on the top of my head. A warm feeling of belonging filled me up inside.

"Madison! Hey!" A voice called out. It was Jeremiah.

I pulled away from Conrad and gave him one last smile before approaching Jeremiah. "Hey, Jere!"

"Look who's all grown up!" He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a hug. He spun me around once before smiling and going with Steven to talk to Belly, who was standing with Conrad.

I greeted Susannah when a sudden scream caught my attention. Conrad, Steven, and Jeremiah had lifted Belly off the ground and dragged her to the back of the house. I giggled and ran after to watch the "Belly Flop" go down.

I stood in the open fence gate as the countdown ended and Belly was tossed into the pool. She surfaced out of the pool and swam to the edge. Conrad reached a hand towards her to help her out, but she grabbed it and pulled. Conrad fell forward and flipped over into the pool.

I laughed and shook my head as Jeremiah and Steven joined me to walk back towards the moms.

Jeremiah helped grab my bags out of my car and drag them up to Belly and I's room, which was directly next to his.

"You down to head down to the beach and swim?" He asked, flopping onto my bed.

"I don't know, Jere. I have a pretty big amount of unpacking to do. A whole summer's worth, actually."

"Come on, I've waited all day for you to get here so we could go. Pretty please? Pretty pleaseeeee?" He begged with puppy dog eyes, holding Belly's stuffed bear, Junior Mint.

"Okay, fine. Let's go swim." I smiled at his childish behavior. Same old Jeremiah.

"Yes! Meet you downstairs in 5?" He stood up and started towards the door.

"Yeah, I'll be right down." I smiled and nodded.

Jeremiah walked out of the room. I unzipped my suitcase and lifted it open to find a foreign swimsuit on top of my own clothes.

"You have got to be kidding me." I looped my fingers through the spaghetti straps of the peach-colored top and held it up. "No way." I giggled and grabbed the matching bottoms. There was a sticky note stuck to the butt of them. Honestly, I was surprised there was enough room for a sticky note given the lack of fabric. It read, "this should come in handy this summer. good luck. xoxo -hannah".

I stood in the path of my mirror and looked at myself. I looked... good? I gave myself a good twirl and grabbed my blue towel off of my bed and started downstairs.

"Finally!" Jeremiah whined and stood up out of his seat at the kitchen's island. A swift look of his eyes up and down at me made me wince slightly.

"Hannah left it for me. Is it that bad?" I questioned.

"No, actually... you look amazing." He grabbed my wrist at this and dragged me out the door in the direction of the beach.

Jere and I approached where the grass met the sand when he stopped to look at me.

"Want to race?" He said with a smile.

"No, no, I cant. Your legs are way too long I would never be able to-" I cut short and threw my towel down. I darted towards the water when Jeremiah shouted.

"Hey, no fair!"

My feet had just broken the surface of the incoming waves when I turned around. I had no time to react when Jeremiah was just a foot away and collided head-on with me, knocking us both into the water. I pushed my hair back as I stood up. I laughed and gave him a big splash in the face.

"Well played." He smirked. He pulled me into a hug and held me as he fell backwards, pulling me with him. We crashed into the water together, and that was that.

I was home.