♡Cruel Summer♥︎ Steven Coklin

Ditto (Ditto New Jeans)

After finishing her dinner, Danielle got ready for the bonfire down by the beach with the other 3 boys. She wore a baby blue top paired with blue denim shorts from Hollister. Besides her outfit looking good, her hair needed some TLC. She would have asked Belly to braid her hair, but she didn't want to bother here. So instead, she decided to quickly curl har hair.

While doing so, she was thinking about her brother, Conrad. She loved her brother, deerly, but she knows that he's changed. He became much more quiet, and distant with the family. He quit football for some reason. Dani missed her brother, but deep down, she knows he's still the same Conrad who would always listen to One Direction and Twice with her.

When her curling iron beeped, she sapped back to reality, finishing up her hair before touching up her makeup. She added some black mascara and some hilighter before deciding to pick an eyeshadow color. She was gonna pick a shade of dark purple, but was stopped when she heared a voice.

"Blue."

She spoke up to the person without turning to see who it was, "Jere, what?"

"It's not Jeremiah." It was Steven who spoke.

She turned around towards the door to see him standing by the door frame. "Blue?"

He walked closer to where she was, sitting on the floow next to her vanity. "Blue, yeah. '1989' blue specifically."

She slightly smiled at him, "What do you want, Steve?"

"Nothing, just that blue fits you amazing."

"So I've been told."

"Girl, you don't need to wear my favorite color to just get my attention, August." She closed her eyeshadow pallet as she cleaned up. Steven put a hand on her wrist.

"Steven-"

"I didn't mean to do what I did. I made a mistake last summer, Danielle. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to walk away from you."

Danielle noticed how Steven sounded very vulnerable with his apology.

"Why don't we talk about this after the bonfire." She grabbed his had from her wrist as she plastered a small smile on her face, as she pulled him down the stairs. She dropped his hand once they reached the main level when Laurel walked into the room.

"You guys ready?" Jeremiah asked.

They all nodded and followed him out through the door. Danielle sat in the passenger seat, with Conrad and Steven stuck in the backseats.

_________________

Just a few hours into the bonfire, Danielle caught up with a few friends while keeping her eye on the boys. She mainly had to keep her eye on Jeremiah, since her twin brother can get very stupid at times. He seemed to just be flirting around with everyone. Conrad was with Nicole. Belly appeared to te bonfire just about ten minutes later. She and Steven had gotten into an argumen, causing everyone's attention to switch over to the Conklin siblings.

"Danielle? Danielle Fisher?" A voice spoke from behind her.

"Jacob. Hey, what's up?" Danielle turned around to face her ex, who still remained good friends.

"I'm doing good. Just, came to visit some friends. You, though. You look amazing. Are you still coming to Cousins with the Conklin's?"

"Yeah, yearly tradition. And, thanks for the compliment."

They stood in an awkward, but calming silence.

"Well, I'm gonna take a walk around the beach. I'll see you around though."

Jacob smiled at her before she turned around to walk around the beach area. Danielle walked as far as she was able to from the party as she put her earbuds in and played one of her playlists. The first song that came up was Spread My Wings by Stray Kids.

Walking around the quiet beach was always one of Danielle's favorite things to do. Especially on summer nights. Normally, the beach is empty around sunset. To her, it's like a break from reality as she gets to think about herself. The house seemed chaotic at the moment. It always is during the first days in Cousins beach. Belly's been stressing about Conrad, and she's been trying to help her. But when it comes to her and Steven, Belly's never there to help her. It makes her feel, stupid.

As Danielle continued to walk on the warm sand, she heard Steven call her name.

"August!"

"What, Steven?"

"What'cha listening to?"

"Uh, 'Sorry, I love you'." Danielle kept her answer short, as she continued to walk forward.

"Stray Kids. I love that o-"

"Okay, what do you want, Steven? I mean, you follow me almost 3 miles away from the bonfire. There has to be a reason as to why you followed me."

I want us to talk about last summer."

She turned to the right to face him eye-to-eye, "Steven, what is there to talk about? You hurt me, Steven. Really badly. You hurt me, just so we can end up as 'friends'. I left Cousins to go back home because I couldn't be around you without breaking down!"

"Trust me, Danielle, I wanted us to be more. I had a feeling for you. Something strong to the point where a piece of me died when I decided to walk away. I really regret what I did that night." He started chocking up his words. He sounded much more worried, or even scared.

Regret?

"Did you regret trying to kiss me?"

"No, I didn't."

"They why didn't you follow through, Steven!"

"Because I couldn't be what you really need."

"Bullshit. That's fucking bullshit!"

The two just stared into each others eyes as they stood there in silence. He looked so far away from her.

"You're acting exactly like Jacob. Steven, I lost myself because of you. You saying that you can't be what I need is a fucking lie. You're exactally what I want and what I need. Not Jacob, you, Steven. I was stupid enough to lean in that night. I was stupid, thinking that Steven Conklin would actually have feelings for me. Everything that you said, was only to make you feel better about yourself and your ego. I'll see you back home."

Danielle ran. She ran back home as fast as she was able to. She wonders, if this is what real heartbreak feels like.

When the girl reached the front door, she stopped and picked up her phone to make a phone call.

"Danielle? What's up?"

"Uh, I need you. Like, urgently. Come to Cousins, please. I already sent you the adress of the house." Danielle hung up the phone in tears. She opened the door and saw her mother at the dining table when she walked in,

"Sweet girl, what happend? Why are you crying?" Susannah asked her as she pulled her into a hug.

"It's Steven. He... why did he do that last year, mommy?"

She backed away from the girl and looked down at her, "Dani, Steven was always the complicated one. He's been your whole words since you were 8. I see the was he looks at you every single summer and it's with as much love as he has for anyone else. You two are ment fro one another. He's your Steven and you're his August. You just need to give it time. It's been almost a year since you saw each other."

"I guess you're right, mom." Susannah wiped away Danielle's teard as she smiled at her mother.

"Go get some rest, Danielle."