Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
DRIVING PAST A SIGN welcoming Cassie and her mother to Cousins, she sighed. Here we go, She thought, just act normal. The girl was not looking forward to seeing everyone greet her with smiles but have that pity look in their eyes. It's all anyone does, they look at her like she's about to fall apart and constantly ask if she's doing better. It's the normal thing to do when someone's life was uprooted, but hearing the same shit over and over from everyone in your life every time you get up the courage to leave the house is very irritating.
Her mother, Valerie, hadn't healed much since the accident, but she wanted to act strong and happy for her daughter. And she hoped that if she did it enough, it would eventually happen. Cassie knew her mother was faking all of it, no one could be healed from and incident like that so soon. She had heard her mother crying in her room late at night when she went to go get another bottle of alcohol.
The car pulled into the familiar driveway of the beach house and a small smile graced Cassie's lips. She couldn't wait for one of Susannah's infamous hugs. Valerie honked the horn before climbing out of the car and Jeremiah came running out as fast as he could. Jeremiah and Cassie were extremely close and he couldn't wait to see her.
"Cass!" He yelled as he swept the girl up and squeezed her tight. "I missed you so much." He put her down and she smiled.
"I missed you too! I'm glad to be back." She told the boy, that was a lie. She loved seeing them but all she wanted to do was be laying in her bed right now watching Jane the Virgin eating an edible. "How've you been? Wow, someone's been working out." She threw him a wink before slapping his shoulder playfully.
"Yeah, check it." He flexed his muscles and Cassie rolled her eyes before turning to go hug Susannah.
"Cassie!" Susannah said into her ear as the girl squeezed her tight, "We have missed you so much." Cassie smiled at that and pulled back.
"Don't tell anyone but I've missed you the most, Sue." Cassie smiled a genuine smile, she had missed Susannah dearly and didn't realize how much until she was in the woman's arms. Cassie didn't know what she would do if Susannah wasn't here. Susannah gave the girl another hug, not asking her how she's been holding up. She knew that even though the girl would give her a nice answer, it wouldn't be truthful and she knew Cassie would probably hate her asking.
They heard another car honk and they turned to look, the Conklins had finally arrived and Belly ran out of the car over to Cass. "Oh, Cassie, I can't believe you're here!" Belly squeezed the girl tightly.
"C-can't breathe." Cassie muttered, "Bells, Belly!" She but the girl's back, making her release the blonde. "God, you got strong."
Belly chuckled, "I have been drinking a lot of milk." Belly joked. "I'm so glad you came this year, there was too much testosterone last year, it was suffocating."
"I bet, so sorry dear but I'm here now." Suddenly, she felt a hand messing up her hair and turned to see Steven standing there with an evil smirk on his face. "Steve, if you don't cut that out I'm gonna castrate you." His face dropped slightly but she noticed it. Normally, Steven hated when she called him Steve, but he decided to give it a pass this time.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Try me." She said, trying to be intimidating while holding eye contact but the two could only take so much and broke out into giggles before sharing a hug, over his shoulder Cassie saw someone walk from the backyard into the driveway.
Her eyes widened when she realized it was Conrad, he had changed a lot since she had last saw him. He didn't wear his glasses anymore, the boy was taller along with much more muscle. He looked good, she thought, and then quickly stopped herself from going there. That was not what she had come to Cousins for.
Conrad entered the driveway and he saw Cassie standing there joking around with Laurel, he immediately took in the changes about her. She had gotten curvier of course, but he noticed she cut a couple of inches off her hair, she didn't wear those blue braces anymore, and she didn't have that sparkle in her eyes anymore. He always noticed it when she spoke to Susannah but it didn't even appear when Susannah pulled her into a side hug.
He knew the reason of course, they all did. But no one wanted to bring it up. He never reached out to check on her and he hated himself for it, it would've been so easy to call or even just send a text letting her know she could talk to him if she wanted. But the farther they got into summer, the more he loss the courage.
Conrad shook the girl out of his thoughts, he wasn't going to do that, not again. He couldn't let her into his head. Conrad had gotten this far by 'hating' her, he just needed to forget Cassie.
This was going to be a long summer.
authors note
okay so first chapter, how do we feel??
i cant wait for them to interact, there's gonna be sm angst
