AS I CHANGED into my bathing suit, I stared at myself in the mirror and frowned. I exhaled, smiling at myself before leaving my room so I can go to the pool.

As I walked down, I noticed Jeremiah and Belly were missing, I guess they did go to the beach after I rejected their offer. Meanwhile, Steven and Jacob where playing,.... Mario Kart? I think, it's been years since I've played that game.

The only one I didn't see was Conrad, it wasn't that I cared or anything, I just noticed.

I grab my sunglasses from the table and walk outside, I leave my towel on a chair and head into the pool. But right as I was about to go in the water, I catch a glimpse of Conrad who was coming from the beach, shirtless.

I look away, afraid that he would catch me looking, I quickly got underwater and start swimming. A few seconds passed so I finally came up for air, assuming that Conrad had already left but instead, I found him sitting on the chair where my towel was.

"Shit! God, you scared me." I gasped when I saw him. I turned around, embarrassed. Conrad seemed to enjoy my reaction because he just sat there, staring at me with slight smirk plastered all over his face.

"Why aren't you at the beach with Belly and Jeremiah? Thought you'd be into that." He kept his eyes locked with mine as he walked over to the pool. He then sat on the edge of the pool with his feet dangling in. He was watching me the whole time....

Please kill me.

"It gets kinda awkward when I'm with them, like a third wheel...so, I'd rather take some laps alone." I smiled at him. I swam over to the wall and rested my arms on the edge, "what're you doing here?"

"Just came back from the beach, I was with belly and Jeremiah." He said, looking away. I chuckled, "Was it awkward?" I asked.

"Yup." He stated.

I look directly in his eyes and smiled, "We're you excluded the whole time?"

"All the time." He says, looking at nowhere. I rolled my eyes and splash a little bit of water on his face. "There's definitely something going on between those two!" I laugh.

"Your assumptions about people are always wrong, Lenn. I don't think I'll believe this one." He says as he lies down on the floor. He turned to me and I look at him, "Conrad, since we arrived, the only thing I've seen is Belly drooling over Jere's abs, I don't blame her, though. Have you seen his abs? A literal Greek God." I say, tilting my head at him.

"Stop talking about my brother like that! It's weird and ugh." He says, covering his face with disgust. I laugh and take his hands away from his face, "Oh, come on, Con, don't be jealous, you're also attractive."

"Okay, im leaving." He says as he stands up from the floor. I laugh and say nothing but when he's at the door, I yell, "What a nice way to take a compliment, Conrad!"

I go underwater once I finished my sentence, not noticing him turning around to see me one last time before going back inside.

⎯

    I LOVE FOOD, and since it's the first night in the beach house, Susannah always makes a big ass buffet, I'm not complaining, thought. The food she makes is incredible.

"Steven, I swear to God, if you look at that phone one more time, I'm putting it on the screen basket." Laurel says to Steven. Jeremiah and I immediately stop laughing at the meme Steven showed us and backed away from him.

"You two, Lennon." My mom says right after she saw me backing away. I open my mouth without saying anything while shaking my head, "I wasn't even doing anything," I quickly looked at Jacob who was silently laughing at me, "Why aren't you saying the same to Jacob? He's laughing at me."

"I was not." He fights. I turn to look at him once again, "Yeah you were!" I fought back. My mom covers her face in embarrassment, whilst the teenagers were laughing.

"I'm literally going to punch you in the face if you look at me one more time." I shot, my eyes widening. Jacob rolls his eyes at me, "You're just saying that because you're in defense classes."

"At least I work out." I smile sarcastically at him. Jacob furrows his eyebrows at me and shots back, "I have genetic abs, Lennon. I don't have to work out." He says as he points at his abs.

I scrunch up my nose in disgust. "Wouldn't hurt to do it, thought." I whispered, loud enough so he could hear. Jeremiah looks up when we mentioned abs and said, "Oh you guys want to see my abs?"

"No one wants to see your abs, dude, relax." I say, laughing at Jeremiah. Jeremiah sits back and rolls his eyes, "I do." Belly suddenly says.

We all go quiet and look directly at Belly, she shifts back to her seat awkwardly and keeps eating. I turn to Conrad who was looking at me from the other end of the table in front of me, and then I mouth, "Told ya." He rolls his eyes and chuckles.

"Your upper arms are amazing, though." I say, munching on my food, trying to save Belly from embarrassment. Conrad glanced at me and grinned shyly before chuckling.

"What're you laughing at?" Jeremiah asks, thinking he was laughing about Belly's comment. Conrad looks at me then at his brother, "Uhh, nothing, sorry."

"By the way, when are you leaving for training camp, man?" Steven asks.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Conrad plays football and he is good at it. I used to watch him play in awe, cringey, I know, but it was nice seeing him play something he genuinely liked.

We were all waiting for Conrad's answer but he didn't respond, he kept playing with his fork, poking his food. "He quit football."

"What!? Why?!" Jacob, Steven and I ask at the same time. Conrad looks at me then hums, "Mm-hmm."

"I thought you loved football," I assumed, looking at Conrad who was now looking at his mom. Susannah tilt her head and smiled at me, "He can always change his mind."

Conrad shakes his head, "I'm not gonna change my mind," he pauses for a second, "I was gonna sit on the bench all season, anyway."

"Well, if you're not playing football anymore, what're you gonna do all summer?" Laurel asks. Conrad hesitates before shrugging his shoulders, not saying anything else.

"Oh, dude, you can work at the club! With me, Steven and Jere." Jacob says, grabbing the other guys' arms. Steven and Jeremiah both nod and agree to my brother's suggestions. "I not gonna work at the club." Conrad laughs.

I got caught off guard and shook my head, "Wait you guys are working at the club?" They all nodded and i scoffed, "Mom, that's so unfair, why can Jacob work there but I can't."

"Jacob needs money," my mom says, looking at me. Jacob looks at me before mocking me, "Yeah, bitch."

"Oh my god." My mom says, taken back. Susannah and Laurel both gasp at the language, "Jacob!"

"She started it!" He yells. I open my mouth wide open, offended. "No I didn't!"

Conrad seemed to enjoy the interaction because he was laughing the whole time. Jeremiah and Steven were covering their faces because they didn't want Jacob to see them laughing, Belly on the other hand, was silent.

"You don't need to work this summer, sweetie." Susannah suddenly says, stopping the Crawford siblings from fighting. We all look at her, "Why?" I ask, curious.

"I have a surprise for you and Belly." She smiles, handing both of us a letter with our names written in ink.

Laurel rolled her eyes and looked at my mom, "So this is why she had to stop by the country club." The three of them laughed, "Mm." Susannah grinned.

I stared at the envelope and realized it was an invitation to be a debutante. I smile at it then turned to Susannah, "Are you serious?" I asked, smiling at her. She nodded.

"What— what is it, can I see?" Jacob asks, he stretches his hand out in front me. I furrow my eyebrows and back away from him, "What, no, get away."

"I wrangled Belly and Lennie invitations to be debutantes."

"And that is?" Steven asks, looking at Jacob before turning to Susannah once again. I look up at Steven before saying, "It's like a dance where girl wear white dresses and are very courtesy."

Steven nods, not understanding what I just said. "It's when a girl comes of age and is presented to society." The four guys looked at Susannah with a lost look, "I-I know it sounds silly, but I swear it's fun."

"I'm definitely in, I've been dreaming about this since I was 7." I said, smiling at Susannah then looking at my mom for approval. She nods and smiles.

"The whole deb scene is bullshit. It's for sheep." Conrad suddenly shots. The boys agreed with him but I let out a laugh, "Oh don't say that, we used to practice those dances when we were little, and literally two years ago."

"That's because no one wanted to practice with you, I felt bad." He said, not looking at me. I raised my eyebrows, why was he acting so different, he used to love this stuff.

"It's not for sheep. Ifs when a girl has a coming out, it's like a formal recognition she's reached maturity." Susannah says.

Steven laugh and looks up from his plate, "Oh sorry, I'm sorry. Mature? Them?" He says in between laughs, he looks at Jacob who also starts laughing.

Belly and I look at each other and roll our eyes, "Belly literally had a funeral for a cat just a few months ago."

"Shut up, Steven. I saw you crying in your room." Belly tilted her head at him.

"Mochi died?" Both Jeremiah and I say at the same time. "Dang."

"Yeah and Lennon is definitely not mature, she literally reads w—" Jacob starts saying. My eyes widened and before he could finish, I throw a piece of bread in his face, "Jacob!" I scream.

"Ow! That's my face." Jacob grabs his face in pain. I smile at him, again, not noticing Conrad looking at me with pure joy in his eyes.

"I'll think about it, thank you, Susannah." Belly nods at her. I smile at Belly, "She'll think about it." Susannah smiles before taking a sip of her drink.

⸻꧂❣☼—㋡✺

Third chapter!! I hope you liked it <3
I don't really have a schedule in which I'll post the chapter, it depends on my mood. So don't expect a chapter everyday!

Love you 💗

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