holy ground ★ conrad fisher (1)

mess it up ★ gracie abrams

eighteen | 1x03

"HEY WHERE'S EVERYONE?" LAUREL AND Susannah walked into the kitchen to find only Rory, with music playing on a speaker set on a side countertop.

She was working on the floral arrangement for the dinner table and looked up at the arrival of her aunts.

"Belly and Taylor just got back from the beach, Theo's shucking corn in the backyard, Conrad's in his room and Steven and Jeremiah are getting changed for dinner and the party after."

"You guys are having a party?" Laurel asked as she handed Susannah items to put into the fridge from the grocery bags they brought.

"Going to a party." Rory clarified, "Nicole's having it at her house, Belly wanted to stop by."

They continued to work, and a few minutes later Rory grinned, holding up two small vases with flowers in different shades of red and orange to match the flower crowns she and Susannah had made after breakfast for the girls to wear.

The blonde woman had wanted to base Belly's sweet sixteen dinner on a theme and chose Midsomer so she could decorate with Belly's favorite flowers all over the house.

"They look perfect honey." Susannah complimented as Rory set them down to tie ribbons around the necks of the vase.

"Rory, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

She came to stand next to her, and Rory now stood in between the two older women, "Have you noticed something about Connie?"

Rory shrugged, not sure what answer Susannah was looking for. She could have lied, said nothing seemed out of the ordinary and put the mother's mind at ease.

But she also knew that she would never be able to lie to her aunt, and if she was asking Rory, it meant she had already noticed that something was off.

"He's different this summer, right?"

"Uh, kind of, I guess so." Rory nodded, retying the ribbons to keep her hands busy and her gaze lowered to the kitchen island.

"He's been shut down like this since April," Susannah added.

"When he and his girlfriend broke up?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah, but he won't talk to me about it."

"Did something else happen around that time too maybe?" Rory tried, and over her head, the two best friends shared a look, and Laurel shook her head slightly.

"Not that I can think of." Replied Susannah.

"Well, Mom has the same problem with Theo, Aunt Susannah," Rory said, moving away from the kitchen island and carrying the flower vases to the oval table across them to set them down by the rest of the decorations. "Dad says it's just teenagers being teenagers."

"Well, he's not wrong there." Laurel chuckled, "But I don't think you had one of these phases, Rory. At least, not that I remember."

"There's a reason I'm all your guys' favorite." Rory joked, making them both her aunts smile.

Susannah sighed, "I just want to make sure he's okay."

"Remember that time he broke his arm and didn't tell anyone because he didn't want to be a bother?" Laurel sent her an assuring smile, and Susannah nodded.

"How did we even find out about that?"

Laurel thought for a second, and Rory smiled softly to herself, her back turned to them, "Rory forced him to tell Marie."