LAVENDER HAZE - J. Hughes

Eleven

No Deal

It's been a few weeks since the incident. I've been doing ok. Ignoring Jack, once in a while hooking up with Trevor, haven't spoken to Alayna, living my best life at the lake. Like I said, I was ok. There was still this lingering feeling in my chest every time me and Jack accidentally made eye contact, or when Jack would 'accidentally' brush past me. Those moments made it hard. Those moments still sent shivers down my spine and made my insides melt but he doesn't need to know that.

It was the Fourth of July. There was absolute chaos down stairs as my parents prepared for the barbecue that we hosted every year. Our two houses, us and the Hughes, open both our backyards and host a conjoined party. It's a fun and very festive one that we always look forward to. The set up was the shit we dreaded.

There was one good thing about being the only girl, I really didn't have to do much. I helped my mom and Ellen with some of the food and that's it. I always offered to help out my dad but he always said the same thing: 'just go get ready so I can show everyone my beautiful daughter'.

I could hear the yelling from all the guys from outside and my balcony door was shut. This was going to be entertaining. I opened the doors and leaned against the railing, watching in amusement as Luke, Jack, Quinn, and Jackson tried to set up some tables yet couldn't decide where to put them. "They're not even. Are your fucking blind?" Luke yelled at Jackson and Jack who were arguing they were good where they were.

"They look fine Luke, your getting on my nerves. Stop acting like a pussy" Jack snapped back. They continued bickering as a soft giggle bubbles out of me. Idiots.

"Hey boys!" I greeted waving. They all looked up and stopped bickering. "I think Luke's right, they're uneven and it looks trashy" I teased.

"Why don't you come down here and love this shit then?" Jackson yelled.

"I cant I have things to do" I shrugged. "Have fun and fix the table" I blew them a kiss and walked back inside as they all began fighting once again. I laughed as I ran down the steps to the kitchen to help my mom.

"Hey sweetheart, cut some fruit and make the fruit salad please?" She asked kindly.

"Sure" there was watermelon, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, green and red grapes, raspberries, and a honey dew. Kind of trying to keep a red white and blue theme. "Am I making chocolate covered strawberries too?"

"Yeah but Ellen is going to help with those so when your done here go run over there" I nodded my head and began cutting up the fruit and setting up the fruit salad. However when it came time for the watermelon I walked outside and grabbed Ethan to come help me.

He easily cut open the watermelon for me and made it into pieces I'd be able to cut. "Thanks E!"

"Yeah Yeah, love you Lily" he kissed my cheek before going back outside to continue filling the abundance of coolers we had lined up against the houses. Making the fruit salad was easy, just throw the cut up fruit and berries in a big bowl with some lemon juice and sugar and your done.

I covered it with some cling wrap and made my way over to the Hughes' to help with the strawberries. "So I was thinking some white chocolate with the fun sprinkles and then some milk chocolate red, white, and blue drizzle" Ellen explained her thoughts to me as all the stuff was lined up and ready to go. She was always so organized.

"Let's do it" I loved this part. Baking with my mom and Ellen. My mom usually was here but she was doing so much at the house, I had a feeling she woke up late. So right now it was just me and Ellen in here, dancing and singing to some Taylor Swift while we dipped strawberries and made them all pretty and festive.