Seaglass Promises in the Midnight Sky

The Good Stuff

The inside of the house was just as impressive as the exterior. However, the goods promised by Conrad were slightly disappointing, candy was not what she was expecting to be presented. Though that could be her own fault for assuming he would be talking about more unsavory things, this was after all Belly's crush, he was probably as vanilla as they come.

Belly found them after that sitting at the kitchen island sharing a chocolate bar. Conrad kept trying to give her half of his pieces. She was a second away from shoving the candy in his ungrateful mouth.

"Lorraine, are you really not going to come to the beach with us?" Belly asked, disbelief strong despite the numerous times Lorraine answered her question on the way here. Lorraine braced for Conrad's reaction, sure that it would be similar to most people's if not worse because of his upbringing.

"I told you, I don't like the ocean," she explained. To her immense surprise, Conrad didn't react at all, busy licking melted chocolate off his fingers.

"I will never understand you." Belly declared, taking the seat on Conrad's other side. She shifted her attention to the older Fisher brother in a way that made Lorraine think she had only walked in with the intention of talking to him.

"You're coming though, right Con?" Her friend asked, smiling and leaning against the counter. Conrad shrugged.

"Maybe later." He offered neutrally. Belly's smile slipped off her face. She got up dejectedly with a mumbled, "Okay."

Conrad glanced at her retreating form before turning back to Lorraine.

"You don't like the ocean?" He questioned.

"Salt belongs on french fries."

He laughed like the stars.

The day passed quickly. Conrad did eventually go down to the beach, claiming it was for good luck. The most experience Lorraine had with traditions were holidays. She ended up spending the afternoon playing card games with the adults. Even after hours of practice, she couldn't fully wrap her head around poker.

She finally caved just after the sun set, heading down to the sandy shoreline to walk along the waves and listen to music. It was too dark to look for sea glass or cool shells but she made a note on her phone for the inevitable time she's forced to come by Belly or the others.

As she walked back she noticed that there was someone sitting at the pool. Upon closer inspection, she found that it was Conrad and he was smoking.

"I knew you were holding out on me." She came to a stop beside him, looking up at the sleeping house before taking a seat, putting her legs in the water in an effort to remove the excess sand.

The pool light illuminated Conrad's face in an interesting way. He turned to her and the way the shadows danced made her wish she had her sketchbook.

"Aren't you like six?" He mocked. Lorraine just smiled and kicked her feet in the pool idly.

"Seven actually, and you know sharing is caring."

"What makes you think I care?" He inquired, tilting his head to the right.

"Your infuriating resistance to eating half a chocolate bar." She pointed out. He just scoffed and looked ahead, toward the other side of the pool.

"Well I don't." He told her, his voice unwavering, little whisps of smoke trailing off into the night from the hand furthest away from her.

"Fuck you then. Now you really have to give me some."

"No, my mom will freak."

"C'mon, it's not like it's my first blunt." She regretted the words the second they slipped out of her mouth. There were certain things she and Taylor kept from Belly. Certain secrets that wouldn't be safe in the hands of Belly's oldest crush.

"It's not?" He asked, as if genuinely surprised. Then again, she probably wouldn't be Belly's friend if the other girl knew the complete truth of all the shit Lorraine has gotten up to in her life.

"Poor Conrad Fisher, not all of us girls are as innocent and pure as your little Belly."

"Shut the hell up. I'm not- it's just- fine, whatever, take it." He held the blunt out to her. She plucked it from his fingers deftly, making sure to really get her bang for her buck.

"Now that, is the good stuff," she said already planning on blowing the next round of smoke into Conrad's face and wondering how that would affect the beautiful picture before her.