Seaglass Promises in the Midnight Sky

The Fourth

Susanna went all out decorating for the 4th of July. It looked like several patriots were murdered in almost all the rooms downstairs. She had woken up extra early to do it all, which meant that Lorraine woke up early and helped. It took her a while, but eventually, she embraced the chaos of it and had fun trying to cover entire surfaces in red, white, and blue.

Laurel offered no physical help but seemed to greatly enjoy criticizing their work while nursing a cup of coffee. However, she was admittedly a great DJ, changing from Susana's eclectic playlist of songs she deemed worthy of the day to one with songs that were actually good.

When Susanna headed back upstairs for more decorations, Lorraine settled in across from Laurel and asked her what a typical fourth looked like here.

Surprisingly, Conrad was the next one down the stairs. Lorraine had just moved to take her coffee from the machine while listening to Laurel's recount of Jeremiah's firework escapades.

"Ooh, coffee." He said, stealing the mug out of her hands.

"Hey!" Lorraine gave Laurel a look that hopefully conveyed her annoyance with the older boy's actions. Laurel shrugged.

"I hope you choke," Lorraine told Conrad as she pulled another mug from the cabinets and set about making another cup.

"Mhm. I think this is the best coffee I've ever had." He retorted. Lorraine rolled her eyes, even though there was no way he could see her face.

Before she could come up with a response, Susanna came down the stairs followed by Jeremiah.

"Look who I found!" And then the three of them were set to work.

As much as Lorraine loved parties and alcohol, she was not a fan of fireworks. She had often tolerated them just to see the joy it would bring Taylor, but this year the other girl was busy with a different audience. Unable to find Belly and unwilling to interact with the mess of parents, Lorraine headed inside.

The spacious living room felt isolating and the silence made the cheering from outside sound even louder so Lorraine sat on the stairs looking at different colleges on her phone and trying not to feel the impending doom of her future weighing on her.

"So you don't like the ocean or fireworks, what do you like?" Lorraine was startled by the voice, jumping a little, before raising her head to see Conrad leaning against the banister in front of her.

"Weed." She pointed out. It made him laugh and she knew at that moment she would do some utterly humiliating things to hear that sound again.

When silence fell between them again, she got a distinct feeling that Conrad was studying her. She watched him back, but he was keeping up the same front as always. Another firework went off and Lorraine flinched from the sound of it breaking the quiet.

"Come on. My headphones will drown out anything."

He headed up the stairs and inexplicably Lorraine followed. Another one of her no-good, very bad ideas. She seemed to be making a lot of them these days.

His bedroom was simple, four walls, a closet, a desk with a computer, a queen size bed, a rolling chair, a shelf with books on it bracketed by two model cars, and a tv. All typical of a teenage boy, well maybe not the books but still.

Lorraine sat in the chair, watching Conrad mess around with his phone. Finally, he picked up a set of wireless headphones and put them on her ears. A second later music was pumping out of them.

It took her a second to recognize the song. "Imagine Dragons?"

"I'm surprised you know them."

"Everyone knows them," Lorraine argued. Taylor didn't necessarily like them but she knew them, even if it's only because Lorraine forced her to after being subjected to all of One Direction's songs. They had like four albums it was only fair.

"Yeah, but only how everyone knows the backstreet boys, they know it existed but none of the actual music." He countered. She shrugged figuring that he was probably right. Everyone has heard at least one song by One Direction, but to her knowledge Belly's never heard more than five seconds of Imagine Dragons. Belly's always been a stubbornly loyal Taylor Swift fan.

Lorraine started spinning in the chair, singing quietly along with the song. The sounds of the others were drowned out completely once she convinced Conrad to dance with her. Jumping around his room, throwing her head up and down, she felt free. It was an addictive feeling.