Afterglow, Steven Conklin

five

The Fourth of July in Cousins was my favorite day of the year. 

My mom went all out with decorations, I helped her with the cake, and the boys shot off fireworks. What was there not to love about that?

"Can I finish off your milk?" Jeremiah called from across the table.

Belly slid him her own bowl and Jere tipped it up to his mouth until he was left with a milk mustache.

I groaned, "That's disgusting."

"Yo, I'm gonna go wash the clams, did you get the lighter fluid?" Conrad walked into the room. Things had been awkward between us since our argument, but I decided to push away any negative thoughts to enjoy the holiday. 

Jeremiah looked up, "Oh, yeah, it's already on the beach."

When Conrad walked out of the kitchen I let out a breath of relief until I heard Steven's voice, "Are we done with the portrait yet?" he asked as my mom followed him in.

My mom smiled, "Yeah, for today. But, you do look good in a dress shirt Steven," I glanced up and he was already smirking over at me, "which makes me think, if Belly doesn't ask Cam to the ball, you should take her."

I snorted and kept my head down while Belly protested, "Ew, no way!"

Steven turned around, "Uhhh, yeah, no, no, no I'm not gonna be an escort."

"I invited Shayla, Nicole, and Gigi over for later," Belly changed the subject, "And I will ask Cam tonight."

Laurel sighed, "I don't know my kids anymore."

I laughed and looked up at her before stopping, "Dang, Laurel! Who are you getting all dressed up for?" I hyped her up.

My mom gasped, "Are you wearing makeup?" and everyone started to tease Laurel, "Are you sure it has nothing to do with John coming over for the clam bake?"

"Oh, please. The husbands always come for the Fourth," Laurel scoffed.

Belly snapped, "He's not your husband."

An awkward tension filled the room and I looked up to see Steven pushing his food around the plate.

Last night with him was literally like a dream, but I didn't know where we stood now. It was an awkward thing to just casually bring up myself, so I was hoping that he would eventually do it later in the night. 

Like he said, I didn't want our kiss to just be another random make out session, but I also had a lot of stuff on my mind between my mom and dad, and I didn't want to drag him into my issues. 

"You know, I still don't understand why you invited Dad's girlfriend," Steven pondered and I sent him a sympathetic look.

"Her name is Victoria, and your father wanted us all to meet her... Oh, Belly. I need you to make up the guest bed."

"Wait, Dad and Victoria are staying here? In the room next to mine?" Belly groaned.

My mom spoke up, "Oh, speaking of Dads, yours called," I looked over at her, "He's closing a deal, so, he can't come."

"What? Are you serious?" Jeremiah asked sadly. 

I stood up and pushed in my chair before walking upstairs muttering, "I'm going to get ready." Sitting around and talking about my dad was one of the last things I wanted to do, but it also hurt that he couldn't even put in the effort to come to the Fourth of July.

Ruffling through my closet, I finally pulled out a white sundress that had small blue flowers on it. I threw on a light blue bikini underneath, just in case we went swimming later.

Just as I was finishing up getting ready, Jeremiah walked in, "Hey, you okay?"

I nodded and put on a smile, "Yeah, I'm good. What's up?"

He looked like he didn't believe me but didn't push me anyways, "Come on, John and his girlfriend are here."

"She's hot," Jeremiah spat out as we crowded around the front door windows to peer outside. I slapped the back of his head, "Hey, I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking."

"Shit, they're coming" I said and pushed my brothers away from the door, leaving the Conklin siblings standing there.

A while later, everyone was standing outside talking, and I was wrapped in my mom's arms as Gigi tried to butter her up. "Oh, do you know what you want to do yet?" my mom asked.

Gigi laughed, "I'm not sure yet, I was thinking about helping my brother take over my Dad's business... What about you, Malia?"

"I  haven't really looked into it yet, but I was thinking marine biology," I nodded.

The conversation continued on and I zoned out, glancing across the lawn to see Con and Nicole swimming, and Shayla talking with Steven and Laurel. 

I hoped that Laurel liked me better than she liked Shayla.

I quickly looked away and pretended to be involved in the conversation with Gigi again when Steven caught me staring over there. God, this whole kissing thing was really making my life more entertaining.

"Where did everyone go?" my mom asked as we walked into the kitchen together.

My dad was standing there. Are you kidding me? 

"Hey," he awkwardly muttered.

"Adam," my mom tightened her grip around my shoulders and I looked at Jere before suddenly my shoes became the most interesting thing in the room, "you managed to get off work."

My dad smiled awkwardly, "Yeah, couldn't miss the fourth with my family."

I quickly hugged my mon and muttered that I was going down to the beach when the room was filled with silence.

A while later all of the kids were sitting in a circle on the beach, "I present to you, the Belly special!" Belly handed us all margarita glasses.

I was sitting in a giant inflatable and gasped when a weight fell down next to me. Looking over, I saw Steven placing his arm on the rest behind my back and sending me a sympathetic smile before bumping his knee on mine.

I'm guessing that he also knew we would have to talk about it at some point, but right now he was comforting me through my dad's appearance, which I appreciated more than anything. 

Shaking out of my daze, I offered a solution to our boredom, "Let's play a drinking game."

Everyone sent me simultaneous smiles, and next thing I knew, we were all laughing and trying toss coins into a cup, telling each other to drink. I laughed when Conrad finally got one in and pointed at me to drink. 

Even though I didn't necessarily agree with the things he said during our argument, I guess this was us silently getting over it.

Later on, the girls were dancing while Belly handed us more drinks, and the boys played cornhole off to the side. 

Walking back up to the house, everyone was joking about the games as me and Steven walked in the back of the group. 

He nudged me with his shoulder, "So, you didn't invite kale?"

I looked over at him with a smirk, "No, I think I'm done with kale honestly. I'm more into sweeter things now."

Steven smiled, "Yeah? Like what?"

I hesitated, "Uhhh, stevia."

"That was so stupid," Steven busted out laughing.

I couldn't help but laugh too and shoved him away playfully, "It's the only thing I could think of!"

He shook his head smiling and threw his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer for the rest of the walk towards the house. 

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