THE SUMMER I LOVED HER, Conrad Fisher

TWO, Rumours Fly.

CHAPTER TWO. Rumours Fly.

• DAISY BARDOT'S POV •
• 13 MONTHS BEFORE •

    I NEVER had enjoyed the dinners over at the Fisher's much. They were a nice family, sure, but I wasn't much of a public diner. I had an odd insecurity when it came to eating around people, especially new acquaintances.

Susannah Fisher was the sweetest person I had ever met; with two boys she had raised incredibly polite and kind. Well, Conrad was running on thin ice, after the snarky remarks he had pulled at the Eastland Heights party, but then again, we had it coming. I was humble enough to know that. But I also didn't care much, as I barely knew the guy. Him and I hadn't ever spoken, expect that first evening I had joined my mother and father to the Fisher's dinner party, where I had stayed silent the entire time, up until I was in need for a beverage cup, and asked Conrad for advice on where to find the location of said cups.

After that, I had found myself making excuses after excuses on reasonings to not make an appearance to the dinners. My two older sisters, Mabel and Estelle always had a grand time accompanying my parents, though. They would flaunt themselves around the Fisher brothers like bait ready to be caught, throwing flirtatious sayings their way in hopes of a romantic glance being tossed back.

I had never understood the fascination with the Fisher brothers. They were two ordinary guys with the basic personalities of any other Cousins boy. What was so special? What made them so intriguing that the girls were pining their way into their life's? I never knew, and I probably will never know. I truly had no interest in them. And no, I'm not trying to be different. I just simply don't understand it. It was the one thing in the entire world I didn't know better than the rest.

    I had always been the top of my class with the highest grade imaginable. My parents had raised me to focus on school and my future, and only that. As much of a rebel I may seem, I keep myself in line. Sure, I smoke my brains away and drink till my liver is rot, but I knew what the most important thing was, my life. I couldn't ruin it all just by rookie mistakes the usual teen makes. I knew everything and anything, and I intended to never lose myself or my head in a way I'd risk my future.

    Those risks include boys, which is why I've never, ever had a boyfriend. I've kissed, had sex, the usual, but never and will never commit to someone unless they understood my ways and my priorities, which wouldn't include them. Yes, I had crushes, but would easily lose them after realizing they had done nothing but give me restless nights and distractions from the important things in life. Such as school, or my job at the Rosemary Tide, the surf shop my father owned. It was an inheritance object that my father was gifted after the passing of his dad, my grandfather.