summer like no other

sweet sixteen

i woke up next to belly and snuck out of her room, careful not to wake her. belly's birthday was full of tradition. she was finally 16, all grown up.

i walked down the stairs to see the birthday preparations beginning. susannah was decorating, laurel was making mickey mouse pancakes, and they boys were 'helping'. "good morning guys," i said. "oh is belly still sleeping?" laurel asked. "yeah yeah we were up late," i responded.

i went to the cabinet and grabbed our candles to top the pancakes. finally belly walked down the staircase. she was wearing the cutest floral dress. we all greeted her with a big happy birthday and she got tons of hugs.

"your mickey mouse pancakes are ready," laurel said. "actually i'm not really hungry," belly replied, which shocked laurel. susannah eased the slight tension by suggesting we do presents.

we all gathered in the living room and gave belly her presents one by one. laurel gave her a poetry book, that had the poem susannah made us all learn when we were kids. susannah gifted her some pearls that were a family heirloom. jeremiah gave her a charm for her bracelet. steven got belly a princeton sweatshirt. conrad gave belly a flower necklace.

finally it was my turn. i gave belly a beautifully wrapped box and she opened it up to find three things, a seashell key chain, a costal blue dress, and a framed photo of us. "omg thank you elle," belly squealed and i got up to give her a you're welcome hug.

all the sudden conrad got up saying he had to leave to go show cleveland some knots. normally we all spent the whole day together on belly's birthday. jeremiah then asked belly if she wanted to practice driving and pick taylor up from the bus station.

taylor was belly's best friend back at home. i liked taylor, even though i didn't know her all that well. and like that those two left, leaving just steven and i. i left and went back to my own house.

both my parents were busy during the day, they never took the summers off like most people in cousins. i was going to treat myself to a beach day so i went to my dresser and chose a bikini.

i chose a bright pink string bikini and started to pack my beach bag. i threw in my sunglasses, a towel, my book, some sunscreen, and my water bottle. i tied my hair into a messy bun and threw on my shoes and started to go down to the beach.

i tanned for a bit before deciding to get in the water. whenever i need to clear my head, i know the beach is a great place. it seemed like i had spent hours alone at the beach so i decided to head back home.

although i planned on going home, my feet led me on the path back to the fisher house. i took a quick outdoor shower to wash off the remaining sand from my body and started to walk up to the pool.

steven, jeremiah, belly, and taylor were playing chicken. i sat on the edge dipping my legs in when belly and jeremiah celebrated their win. suddenly nicole and conrad walked in. she wished belly a happy birthday and taylor and nicole did little introductions. the four in the pool then started playing volleyball while the other three of us watched. something about conrad and nicole made me slightly jealous and i wasn't sure why. i couldn't like conrad, he would never like me like that.

i was suddenly pulled from my thoughts when i beachball went flying at nicole's head. taylor accidentally hit it towards her. this caused nicole and conrad to walk away. i was left feeling so awkward just sitting there with everyone now.

i got up and walked back to my house, where i should have originally gone. i needed to get ready for belly's birthday dinner and then her party the debs were throwing, but first a nap was calling my name.

there stood conrad, in my bedroom. "elle i've been meaning to give this to you, i got it when i got belly her necklace," he said as he held out his hand with a velvet black bag. i took the bag from his hand and opened it, inside was an infinity necklace. infinity was something he told me about years ago. he said that we were infinite. "aww thank you con-," i started to say before he stopped me and kissed my lips.

then i woke up. it was all a dream. but it gave me a really odd feeling. i tried to shake it off as i woke up. i got up out of my bed and connected my phone to my speaker as i sat at my vanity. i sat there for about 5 minutes before i finally chose a playlist to get ready to.

first i started with my makeup, a simple look that i did basically every day. i then curled my blonde hair and put it up into a high ponytail. then i had to choose an outfit for tonight.

i dug all through my clothes to find the perfect outfit for belly's sweet 16. i finally decided on a white mini skirt and a green floral tube top. i then pulled on my converse before grabbing my white purse and heading back over to the fisher home.

i walked in as susannah was setting the table and everyone was sitting in their unassigned assigned seats. cam sat where i usually did so i sat by conrad. a shiver sent down my spine and i still felt something off about the dream i had earlier.

susannah has prepared the perfect birthday feast. she made plenty of food, lobster, corn, asparagus, and miyeok-guk . everyone was immersed in their own conversation when jeremiah started at cam.

he was making fun of the original cam cameron interaction we all had and the fact that he's a vegetarian. this whole situation made me a bit uncomfortable and i think conrad could tell, but he didn't say anything.

belly finally kicked jere under the table and that kinda shut the conversation off. not long after steven began poking fun and belly until laurel shut him up. the rest of dinner was super fun and we all had a great time.

afterwards we all went upstairs to begin getting ready for belly's party. i got ready with belly and taylor. i started to touch up my makeup as taylor did belly's. we talked all about how much fun tonight would be and belly said she was a bit nervous. taylor then went and picked up the headbands susannah got her and belly and said they should wear them to the party. i felt like this was more of a best friend moment so i walked out of the room discretely.

i didnt want to impose on their fun. i knew belly and taylor were best friends and i liked having taylor around, i just felt like a third wheel sometimes.

the boys must have gone back downstairs because they were no where to be seen. i wondered into conrad's room and i wasn't quite sure why either. i started to peek through his drawers for no real reason when suddenly i saw a black velvet bag. i opened it and saw the same thing from my dream earlier, an infinity necklace. i hurried and put everything back when i heard taylor and belly walking out of her room.

"you ready cam is here? hey what are you doing in here?" belly asked. "oh yeah im ready i was just seeing if the keys were still in here or if the boys had left yet," i said walking out of conrad's room.

cam was waiting in his car. he was going to be the dd for belly, taylor and i since he didn't drink. belly sat in the front and turned on the summer playlist as we drove to nicole's house.