Seasons Changing

Fireworks

We walked into the kitchen with Belly and Jere laughing. "What are you guys making?" Conrad asks them. "Pomegranate margaritas, but with a twist" Belly excitedly says. "Well you gotta use the good blender" Conrad responds as he goes to grab said good blender.

"Oh, I haven't used that thing since the great Kool-Aid debacle of 2011" Jere announces. "I remember, the counters were sticky for... two summers?" Conrad laughs. Jere joins in on the laughing, "Yeah just about". As did I, "I still don't understand why you made Kool-Aid in a blender".

Belly and Conrad messily put the ingredients in the blender together. "We don't need another debacle" Jere warns. "You know what I miss? I miss when Laurel would put dad in his place. She'd walk in and be all like, 'Adam!'" Con said making a stern face.

"Adam!" Laurel says as she enters the room, "you came". "Happy Fourth" he says with a smile. Jeremiah rushes to give him a hug. When Adam greets Con, he just ignores him.

"Ryan, how have you been?" Adam asks me. "I've been managing" I responded. Susannah then came inside and the room fell silent. As we started to go back outside Adam attempts to talk Conrad. "I'm gonna go to the beach" he responded. Not giving the slightest attention to his dad.

••••

We met up with Nicole, Steven, Shayla, Gigi, and Lucas at the beach. I sat in the sand on a towel with Conrad. Jeremiah came a little after us with Cam.

Belly suggest a drinking game and we go in and have a good time. I slowed down after the second game. I didn't want to get too messed up. We left for the dock and Con was throwing a football with Jere.

When Steven, Lucas, and Cam left us, Nicole took it as an opportunity to have girl talk. "I don't get Lucas. It's like, one minute he's all over me, and he stays over, but then we don't even fuck, right? And then this morning, he's like, super into me, he's all over me, and now he's like, "Oh, anything else". "Well first, ew" I say as I shook, "Remember that our mom is here though. This is our first summer without her. Then he starts school." I defended as Cam returned with a water for Belly. "Do you think he likes me?" she asks Belly. "I mean, yeah. He talks about you a lot" she admitted. "Why didn't you ask me?" I asked. "I didn't want a programmed sister response" Nicole responded. I nodded my head and drank out of my water acknowledging she wasn't wrong.

"I love your dress" Shayla tells Belly. "Thank you, Taylor got it for me". "Well Taylor has great taste". "You know what? You and Taylor are, like, twins. Because you're both mega-fashiony. And you're both baddies. And you both like the same summer boys, which is..." My face drops. Clearly Miss Conklin has had too much to drink. Cam gets up to try and guide her to go for a walk. "Look, Shayla, like, don't worry, because my brother is an idiot. And it didn't mean anything. It didn't mean anything." "What didn't mean anything?" Shayla asked clearly confused. "Them, them kissing. It was like... He-he, like, loves you. He loves you. And... Wait, does anyone want another drink?" she asks as Cam keeps guiding her away.

"Shayla, I am so, so sorry. About... that". "Um, it's fine. I think- I think I'm just gonna go." she tells me. "Are you- are you sure?" "Yeah, thank you for having us" she says before she leaves.

••••

"You know, you could help us, right?" "I wasn't asked to". "That's cause you're a girl" Lucas tells me. "And so it may" I say with a smile.

"Hey, the three stooges, go set up the fire works, I'll clean up here" Conrad tells the boys. And they leave to do just that.

Once they cleared out, Adam came outside. I don't think he saw me based on what he said to Conrad.

"Why'd you let her get so drunk? You're lucky she and your mom didn't get hurt." "I didn't know she was drinking that much." "You're the oldest. You're supposed to look out for the younger kids" "I don't know why, but I thought I could talk to you" Conrad said as he went back inside.

"You know, Adam-" "Oh, Ryan I didn't know you were out here". "Well I am, and just because he's older doesn't mean he's responsible for us. He's not our parent. So maybe don't blame your kid for not doing your job" I burst as I followed Con inside.

••••

The sky was falling dark as I was in the living room with my family. I decided to go outside and watch the fireworks from the pool. I saw Conrad at the dock, alone.

"Hey Con, why are you out here alone?" "I didn't want to be around... that". "Oh, I can go then" I say as I turned to leave. He grabbed my arm. "No, you can... I want you to stay". I stopped and walked back to him. "Oh, um, okay"

"Jeremiah wasn't playing about the fireworks this year" I joked. "Do you actually want to talk about fireworks?" he asked. "They are pretty, you know. The way they light up the night sky. From just one spark". "Kind of like you".

I was thrown aback. What did he mean like me? He could tell I was a little confused because he proceeded to explain himself. "Your smile can turn a room of Scrooges into rays of sunshine. You don't know the effect you have on people, do you?" "Effect? What what are you talking about? I don't know what you mean". He stares at me then nods his head. "Yes, you do".

We stood there for a couple seconds. Then he started to lean in towards me. So I did the same to him. Our lips connected. Fireworks are the only way I can explain the way it felt. We've kissed before but this one felt different. Better? He pulled away.

"What was that for?" I asked. "Stop the confused act Ryan. You know how I-" "I-I know. I'm sorry" "You don't have to apologize". "Well, I'm going to do what I came out here to do, which is swim. Do you want to join?" "Yeah, maybe,  in a bit". "Okay" I replied as I walked back up to the pool.