The Summer She Turned Pretty

Drunk Belly

half rewritenn: june 17th, 2023

The Fourth of July in Cousins is all about traditions. Susannah decks out the whole house, the dads come up for the weekend, and the kids steam clams and shoot off fireworks. And of course, I have plans with my friends. Every year my close friends in Cousins change, yeah, I've been friends with Nicole, Shayla, and Gigi for a long time but we were never as close as we are now.

I was finishing my bowl of cereal, with Jeremiah next to me. I was in my picnic red plaid dress from Mumu. I also had a dark blue head band on, with red jewels and pearls. My Fourth outfits were always my favourite, esspecially since I had so many options because half my closet was red and blue. WhenI finished my cereal Jeremiah practically burst out a question, "Can I finish your milk?" I was used to it by now, his obsession with milk has always been around.

"Here," I answer, handing him the bowl. He eagerly slurped it down while i watched in a mix of disgust and amusement. He was acting like he hasn't been fed in days, he was just finishing the bowl when Conrad walked in.

"Yo, I'm gonna go wash the clams. Did you get the lighter fluid?" Conrad askes him, stopping in front of us. "Maybell, you look... nice." Conrad says it barely above a whisper. I just smile and I was about to reply when Jeremiah rudely, answers Conrad's question before.

Jere hummed a yes, "Yeah, it's already on the beach." Conrad whistled in reply, before leaving the room. I give Jeremiah a glare and he just shrugs as a response.

Then, Steven and Susannah walk in, "Are we done with the portrait yet?" Steven asks her. I don't think it mattered what she said, he looked absolutely over it already.

"Yeah," she replied, "For today, but you do look good in a dress shirt, Steven." She then looked over at Jere and I who were whispering about some drama I heard a couple days ago, Belly was sitting next to me as well. "Which reminds me if Belly and May don't hurry up and ask Cam and Devin, Steven you should take Belly and Jere should take May." Jermiah and I both freeze at the thought, and out proximity suddenly felt way to close.

"Ew, no way." Belly groaned.

"No, no, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm already going with Shayla." Steven replied. Steven never told Shayla about what happened with Taylor. I feel bad for her but, it's not my place to tell. Plus, family comes first. I mean, if someone cheated on me of course I would want to know, esspecially if anyone in this house knew, but I would also understand if someone didn't tell me, to a certain level, but if I was serious about it, I would most definitely want to know.

"To the debutante ball?" My mom asked she looked so confused and shocked as she walked in with some more Fourth of July decorations.

"Yes." Steven laughed at her confusion.

"As an escort?" She raises her eyebrows before furrowing them again, making me giggle just a tiny bit.

"Wrap your head around it, Mom, all right? Shayla's coming today with Nicole and Gigi so you'll meet her." Steven looks so happy, I doubt he meant to hurt Shayla, I mean he probably just felt not good enough, or he was missing her, she was in New York that weekend.

"That's wonderful." Susannah sighed, she looked like she just heard the sweetest love story of her life. She then looked at Belly and me. "And don't forget Ms. Covington's first dance rehearsal is tomorrow so, uh, tick-tock you two." I almost roll my eyes at how fast the time is flying.

"I'm asking Devin today." I nod, and I was suddenly very excited for him to get here. It seemed like this could be something more then just a summer fling and every second I hung out with him more I was starting to like him more and more.