holy ground ★ conrad fisher (1)

i think he knows ★ taylor swift

twenty seven

"Come in!"

Belly turned the doorknob to Rory's room and entered to see the girl already dressed for the day, pinning her hair up in front of her vanity mirror.

"Morning," Belly said, going to sit on the bed, pushing back the messy covers Rory had opted not to fix that morning. "We need to talk."

"I was just coming over, actually," Rory revealed, turning on her stool and folding her hands on top of her lap.

"Oh?" Belly asked. She needed Rory's advice (like always) on everything that had happened last night, unaware of what had conspired between the two oldest teenagers in the house.

Last night, Conrad had kissed Rory two more times before they heard footsteps coming up the stairs and he pulled away from her. He bid her goodnight and closed the door behind her. He leaned his back against it outside in the hall, rubbing his face while Rory leaned her forehead against the closed door with a lovesick smile.

"Holy shit." She had mumbled into the quietness of the night.

It was morning now, and like every year, Rory would have breakfast with her dad in town before he left for home. It was a tradition they had started when Ed had noticed that during his trip to the Summer House for the 4th of July, he would spend more time with his son and the other fathers and boys, and he wanted to remedy that by spending the next morning with just Rory.

"Okay, you first." The older girl urged and Belly pulled her socked feet onto the bed and sat crisscrossed, facing her.

"Alright so, so a lot happened last night but I'm just gonna tell you everything in the order it happened." Rory nodded, encouragingly.

"Killing me with the suspense Bells."

"Okay so, last night during the fireworks, I went downstairs for a swim." She started, "First, I stopped in the kitchen, and I'm like ninety-eight percent sure my mom had a one-night stand."

"What?" Tory sat up straighter.

"Yeah. Her dress was untied and her hair was a mess and her makeup was smudged and just..."

Rory smirked, grabbing a bottle of lotion from behind her, "Go, Laurel."

"That's not even the wildest thing." Belly continued, and Rory moisturized her hands, "So I went out, and I was going to swim, but then I saw Theo on the dock and we had a conversation earlier in the day that even thinking about gives me so much second-hand embarrassment for myself."

"What did you do?"

"I walked in on him showering."

"Oh my god!" Rory stood up in shock, setting her bottle of lotion down.

"But he was in a swimsuit! It was the outdoor showers, in the backyard." Belly explained and Rory came to sit in front of her on the bed.

"But I, uh, told him he looked romantic with wet hair. Rory, I called him dreamy."

"You didn't." Rory grinned teasingly.

"I did." Belly groaned, covering her face and Rory laughed a little before pulling her hands away.

"Oh god Bells. And then?"

"I asked him about my birthday gift, and that's it." Rory squeezed her hands, "So when I saw him on the dock, I was going to say sorry for acting so stupid, and we kept talking and he gave me the necklace he got me, and then he just leaned in and we almost kissed, but– "

"My brother tried to kiss you?!"

"Yes, and we would have, but then Jeremiah shot a firework and it almost took our heads off."