every year since before Maria Martinez could remember her family had spent every summer in Cousins with the Fisher's and Conklin's. after the death of her mother Maria needed this summer to be the same as any other, happy, carefree, loving. little d...
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Maria was sauntering through the house grabbing necklaces and earrings she'd left all over the place when she bumped into Luis
"Morning Mari" he smiled
"Why are you here?" She frowned
"I live here?" Luis squinted awkwardly
"I thought you were going back to Seattle to see Greyson" Maria questioned suspiciously
"Did Dad talk to you before he left last night?" Luis pulled her to sit on the couch
"Yeah, great news you won't have to be responsible for me" Maria laughed breathlessly
"Well...truth be told I wasn't going to see Greyson. I was actually going to meet with our lawyer and...get Dad declared unfit so I could have temporary custody just to buy us some time" he admitted shamefully. Maria looked at him in pure, silent shock for a while as she came to terms with what he had told her. Then without even a whisper she pulled her brother into a hug which was SERIOUSLY unusual for the pair. She buried her head into his shoulder and his arms wrapped around her middle
"Thank you" she whispered
"Always" he promised
____
"We should really talk about last night" Jeremiah started the inevitable conversation as he sat across from Maria at breakfast. He'd taken her out to her favourite coffee shop in Cousin's, knowing she didn't like breakfast he knew she couldn't resist the croissants so it was his loving way of tricking her into eating
"Do you...regret it?" Maria asked awkwardly as she sipped on piping hot coffee
"No! Oh my god No you have no idea how long I've wanted to em...do you- do you regret anything?" Jeremiah stuttered around
"No no I don't at all no not at all" Maria agreed and they both nodded before breaking into smiles
"So um what now?" Jeremiah laughed
"I think we...hang out for a little while before labelling it" the blonde suggested
"Yeah ok cool sounds good" Jeremiah nodded
"Good" Maria giggled and there was a thick silence "You wanna see if we can beat your record?" Maria broke off a bit of croissant and held it up
"Yes! A million times yes!" Jeremiah grinned and opened his mouth ready for her to start throwing food into his mouth. They were children at heart and soulmates in all walks of life. By the time either of them had remembered dance practice for the ball they were way late, not that they cared.
"These won't go on" Maria huffed and threw her gloves at Jeremiah as they sauntered up the stairs to the country club
"Here I've got it" he stopped them and slipped the white lace gloves on her carefully "There's a button" he pointed out
