Our Beloved Summer | A TSITP Story

Chapter 6

"Beck?" I called out, knocking on the door frame to Susannah's bedroom.

"Yeah, sweetie?" I peaked further in and saw her putting on her shoes. When we made eye contact I walked all the way in, knowing I was welcome.

"Do you think I could wear some of your makeup? Just, like, lipstick or something?"

"Sure." She said, with a smile. We both moved towards her vanity and she pulled open a drawer. "What's the mood tonight? I've got pinks, maroons, reds?"

Her excitement made me smile. "I think I should go pretty subtle, since mom would flip if I wore red, but I want it to still be flirty..." It ended up sounding like a question since I didn't really know makeup had a mood.

"Flirty, huh? Is this because of that Cameron boy Conrad told me about?"

"Conrad told you about him?" She nodded her head, handing me lipstick.

"What did he say?"

Why did I care?

"Not much. Just that you met someone. He said he didn't really seem your type, but you looked happy."

I just nodded my head slowly without saying anything. Conrad hadn't said a word to Cameron and still had the nerve to say he wasn't my type. Interesting.

As I was putting on the light mauve lipstick Susannah gave me, Mom came into the room. "What's the lipstick for?"

"Just thought I'd spruce it up a bit, tonight." I glanced at Beck through the mirror, giving her a 'I told you so' look. She looked back with a 'You're right, you did' eyebrow raise.

"Well I'm glad somebody is in the mood for sprucing, I don't even want to go to this thing anymore. No offense." Mom said, looking at Susannah for the last part. She slumped into the bed with a sigh.

"Laurel, you're like an old hag now. You haven't done anything since the divorce." I couldn't help but giggle at Susannah's brazenness. "This will be good for you and your book."

Mom didn't look any more inspired by Susannah, so I turned around,  "Mom, I hate people more than you do but I still know social interaction is beneficial sometimes." I took a pause before breaking the big news. "That's why I'm going on a date tonight."

"A date?" She perked up, looking surprised.

"Don't worry, I'm still going to the book signing." I said, making my way out of the room.

Outside, Jere, Steven and Conrad were all laughing about something, and Belly watched while leaning on the car. I must've made a lot of noise closing the front door, because once I stepped out, everyone was looking at me.

"What are you so dressed up for?" Steven was the first to say something, instead of gawking. I wasn't even wearing something out of the ordinary. Sure, I hadn't worn a skirt in five months, but I wasn't a tomboy either.

"If you must know, I have a date tonight." I said, walking down the front steps over to the group.  Belly pushed herself off of the car.

"What? No way, we've been here for four days." She looked astonished. I remembered her telling me one time that I had a 'natural boy repellent' and that I 'wasn't appealing', whatever that meant.

"I don't know what to tell you, Belly. Life is just not fair." My sarcastic tone made her roll her eyes and go back to leaning on the car.

"You're going with the guy from the bonfire?" Conrad said from behind me. I turned around and squinted at his dumb face.

"You mean the one you talked to your mom about? Yeah, his name is Cameron." I would've laughed at his embarrassment, but Mom and Susannah came out of the house.

"All right, kiddos. Let's roll!"

—

The book signing had only been going on for about thirty minutes when I got a text from Cam saying he was close by. My heartbeat began to pick up as I made my way closer to the door to watch for his car. I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

There were so many older people asking me about what I planned to do with my life, who my favorite author was, if I could give them a free copy of Moms new book. My social meter was running low.

Just as some lady began to approach me, I could see headlights coming up. I said excuse me and rushed to open the door. Cam started getting out of the car.

"Hey." He said first, shutting the door.

"Hey. You ready to go?" I asked. I was itching to leave.

"Oh, well, I thought I could talk to your mom, first." Cam coughed slightly and shoved his hands in his front pockets.

"You want to meet her?" I'd never been on a first date and the guy actually want to meet my mom first thing. I was surprised.

"I figured she should just meet the guy who's taking her daughter out."

"A gentleman. I like it." I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the book store. Now this place wasn't so bad with him behind me. Mom was still at her signing table, but she was tapping her fingers against it like she was anxious too. When she saw me, and who I was with, she looked confused but quickly understood.

"Mom, this is Cam."  I said, pointing to him next to me. He stuck his hand out.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Cameron." He was quiet but kept his gaze, which was something I knew Mom could appreciate.

"Hello, Cameron." She shook his hand. "So you guys are going on a date tonight?"

"Yes, Mom. To the drive-in theater."

"Oh, that should be fun. Just be back at a reasonable time alright?"

"Sure thing, Ms... Dani's Mom." Cam started off strong, but I realized I never told him my Moms name.

"It's Laurel." She said, with a smile I'd never seen before, not even with Toby when things were still good.

It just made me like Cam Cameron even more.

"Well, we should get going if we actually want to watch the movie." I said, pulling back on Cam's arm to get him to the exit.

"Hey, it's your buddies. Should we say hey?" I looked across the room to where Cam had been looking. Steve, Jere and Conrad were all on a coach. Only, Conrad was the one looking back at us, with a sort of dark gaze. He kept eye contact as he took a sip from what could only be some alcoholic beverage.

"Uh, no. Looks like he's in a bad mood." I said, now pushing Cam out of the door. He laughed as we opened our doors. I looked at him as he started the car and smiled. He smiled too, a blush evident.

Oh my god, he was so cute.

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Word Count: 1121

Authors Note: another short chapter before we get into the fun stuff hehehe