in which the life of the party cannot live anymore.
when noah carter heads back to the cousins beach, she is the shell of what she used to be. no more parties, no more hookups, no more nights out.
after the incident, she never wanted to trust anyon...
Shots of the Henny, bottles of Patròn Blunts to your face, you don't wanna sing no more, lost your C notes Cabbed all day, took the bus back home, evictions on your door.
"Noah!"
The curly haired girl pulls her airpods out of her ear and cranes her neck to look at her mother.
"Yeah?" The teen questions, eyes widened and annoyed.
"Did you hear any of what I just said?" Maria Maybank asks her daughter. Noah, in return sighs and begins cracking her knuckles.
"Noah, come on. You need to pay more attention when someones talking to you." Maria lectures as Noah keeps her music playing in one air pod, pretending to be listening to her mother's rant.
Maria, however, must have noticed her daughter's ignorence and smacks her on the back of her head.
"Noah!" She exclaims as her daughter groans.
"Alright, ma, I'm sorry!" The teen groans, rubbing the back of her head.
Maria smiles and rolls her eyes at her daughter who simply continues to look outside the car window, intently.
"It's summer break, so I need you to have some fun. That's why your father and I are sending you to Cousins. To move on, and get away from everything." Maria continues. "We love you, you know. No matter what."
"Yeah, love you guys too." Noah quickly chirps, chewing on the strings of her sweatshirt.
Despite her mother's words, Noah knew the true reason of her visit to Cousins.
Noah allows her music to continue, her ocean eyes gazing at the sign with "Welcome to Cousins" painted over its chipped wood.
Every summer, the sixteen year old would return to Cousins beach. She would meet up with her mother's high school friends and their families, where they all stayed together in a beach house.
Summers were the highlights of Noah's life, she loved going there more than anything.
As a child, Noah thought the house and Cousins was magical. She refuses that there could be any magic left in this cruel world. Magic was for kids, some fairy tale that would keep them happy. At sixteen, she had gone through too much to believe in fairy tales or magic.
Soon enough, the women had arrives at their destination.
There was already two other cars parked in the driveway of the cozy house, implying the others had already arrived.
"We're late." Noah deadpans causing an eye roll from her mother.
Opening the car after her mother does, Noah nimbly steps out, the heat engulfing her. Dropping her chewed up drawstrings out of her mouth, Noah grabs her suitcase and follows behind her mother.
Maria knocks on the door and finally it opens to reveal Susannah Fisher. Susannah was Maria's high school friend, the mother of two boys and a second mother to Noah.
"Maria! Noah!" Susannah exclaims and Noah can't help but smile at the blonde woman. Susannah was like that, she could make anyone happy.
After hugging Maria, the woman engulfs Noah into a hug, Noah immediately tensing up. She couldn't even stop her body from feeling like this, no matter how hard she tried.
Fortunately, Susannah pulls away, Noah softly looking up at the woman as she places a hand on the teen's cheek.
"You've become even more beautiful than the last time I saw you." Susannah kindly smiles and Noah lets out a soft blow of air.
"That's a lie." She quips and Susannah chuckles.
"Oh honey, please. I bet you have all the boys chasing after that beautiful face of yours." Susannah comments, letting the women into the beach house.
Dropping her bags on the side, Noah takes a moment to let everything in.
The beach house looks the same as last summer, it was cozy, elegant with a touch of Susannah.
It was perfect.
"Everyone has already arrived. You late birds are the last." The blonde states, leading the mother and daughter into the kitchen where another woman was cooking up a storm.
"Is that Park I see?" Maria jokes as the raven haired woman looks back with a grin on her face.
"Is that you, Maybank?" Laurel quips as the women greet each other.
After their little meet, Lauren turns to Noah. "Noah, my sweet child!"
"Hey Laurel." Noah smiles, her hands in the pockets of her hoodie.
"Did you get taller?" The woman asks and Noah snorts and shakes her head.
"I swear, you say that every time." Maria states and Laurel slaps her arm.
"Yeah, that's cause of all the basketball your daughter plays." Lauren says. "How was basketball season, sweetie?"
Noah swallows. "Oh, I uh, I quit."
The room fell silent at Noah's words. She used to be so passionate about the game, joining teams in and out of school, going crazy while watching games, basketball was her thing.
And now it wasn't.
Noah clears her throat, cutting through the silence.
"I'm gonna go find everyone." Noah nods and heads outside to the beach.
She was walking for a while until finally she saw the figure of her two friends.
Making her way over to them, she grins, pushing one of the boys into the water.
"The fuck?" He shouts, resurfacing as the two turn to the girl.
"Noah!" The taller one exclaims, wrapping his arms around her, twirling her around.
Noah could feel her heart beat quicken as she pushed away memories.
"Hey Jere." She greets as he puts her down.
"You're so short." The green eyed boy comments, ruffling her head.
"Gee, thanks." She rolls her eyes and looks over to her other friend.
"You look a little wet over there, Steve." Noah jokes as he makes his way towards her, doing their famous handshake.
"Ha ha, real funny, Noah." Steven says, sarcastically. Both boys had grown quite a lot since the last time Noah had seen them.
Jeremiah had gotten almost a foot taller, his voice deeper and Steven finally got rid of the braces Noah used to make fun of.
"What are y'all doing?" Noah asks, sitting in the sand and pulling off her shoes and then her socks.
"I'll tell you once you put those dogs away." Steven gags, watching the girl playfully wiggle her toes at him. He kicks sand at her and she throws some back.
"You're so mature. Really, both of you." Jeremiah groans as Noah and Steven both flip him off.
Getting up out of the sand, Noah brushes off any excess and starts to head back towards the beach house without another word.
The boys were used to her dramatic tactics as she marches away and begins to look for someone else to meet.
Maybe, just maybe, this summer would not be terrible.
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