(chapter three)

Mickey stared at herself in the mirror, the green bikini top contrasting with her eyes, then she passed a hand over her face, trying to get rid of the hungover. She knew it wouldn't work, but she at least tried.

The promise made to Jeremiah the night prior was haunting her head, and she wasn't now so sure if she would be able to pass the summer with her sobriety promise.

Pulling up the black jean shorts and walking out of the bathroom. She was on the last steps of the stairs when Jeremiah turned on the blender, making her jump and her head scream back at her. Mickey found Conrad in a similar situation as he was lying defeated on the couch.

Her fingers touched his calves as a way of asking him to make room for herself, and she plopped by his side as he did. Conrad then let his legs fall back on her lap as Jeremiah appeared holding two cups.

"Here, you two," he gave it to his brother, then to his best friend. Mickey gave him a pained smile as she grabbed the cup.

The oh-so-famous juice to cure their hungover, that just like by its looks, also doesn't taste good either. Mickey then tilted her cup to click it against Conrad's as closed her nose with her free hand's fingers and started to drink it.

She could hear Conrad clicking his tongue with a grimace as he watched her try to drink all of it in one sitting.

"Where did you get that bruise?" Laurel asked, looking at her own daughter who came through the back door, and Mickey took the empty glass from her mouth, swallowing the last bit of the gross juice.

"I bumped into someone," Belly answered, and Mickey's eyes turned to Conrad who just stared down at his own cup.

"Doesn't look that bad," he said, this time being his turn to bring the glass to his lips and start drinking.

Belly made an annoyed face when he downed it just like Mickey had done before, and they did a standing fist bump.

Susannah appeared with a huge smile on her face while holding a piece of paper with an envelope in her hands. "Belly's gonna be a debutant! Oh my God, I'm so excited! There is... uh, there's the tea, the auction, the ball — of course — the rehearsal. We need to go shopping!"

"This sounds... expensive," Laurel says with a nervous smile and Susannah only shakes her head.

"And boring," Mickey whispered to Conrad, who only held in a snort.

"Don't worry, Laur. It's on me," she said with a smile, then she turned to the girls. "And Mickey, you're coming too."

The redhead's eyes widened and she pointed at herself. Conrad smirked and kicked her thighs while Jeremiah tilted his head sending a smile to his friend.

"Well, which one of you will escort Belly to the ball?" The woman asked, and Conrad scoffed.

"Not me, I went last year," he grumbled while finally sitting up.

"Yeah, and I swore off balls," Jeremiah completed.

Mickey looked down at her phone once more, seeing it dry from messages. Her good morning text she sent over to her parents was once again seen but with no replies.

Conrad ignored whatever Laurel and his mother were saying when he saw Mickey's frown. Looking over her shoulder silently, he stared at the screen, also frowning in understanding. Maybe he should talk to his brother but in the meantime...

He nudged her shoulders with his own, taking off her attention from the phone. "Wanna go for a swim?"

"Oh, we're going shopping now," Susannah interrupted before Mickey could answer, so she sent a forced tight-lipped smile back to the boy, who sighed and nodded, as he got up and went outside by himself. "Ready to go, Belly?"

The younger girl nodded, placing the plates on the sink while Mickey got up from the couch, grabbed her sunglasses, and passed by Jeremiah. The boy only sent her a light kick on the back of her knee, seeing her almost falling.

"Enjoy the shopping time," he teased as the girl rolled her eyes, leaving the kitchen after the three women.

"Hope you get fired."

++++

Mickey was now sitting down on the outside couches of the many shops they'd been to, the bags by her feet as she held her phone against her ear, waiting for her father to pick up the call.

She grew frustrated once more when the call didn't connect, sending her straight to voicemail. Mickey bit down a huff as she typed her mother's number, not noticing the door opening and closing behind her as Susannah walked carefully towards her.

While she knew Mickey appreciated the dresses and clothes that Susannah bought, she and Laurel had seen the way the girl was not really there.

"Mouse?" The girl turned abruptly when she heard the voice, the phone falling from her ear as it directed to the voice mail once more. "What's wrong?"

Mickey felt a wave of guilt washing over her when she saw the worried look on Susannah's face. So she licked the back of her teeth, putting up on a fake smile.

"No, no. It's fine I was just..." but she knew that she couldn't keep lying when the woman gave her a look, so she just sighed and looked down at her phone. "It's just that... my parents haven't answered me since yesterday, and now they're not picking up."

Susannah smiled sadly at her as she put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "I'm not going to say that maybe they're just busy, but maybe they are not answering because they have a lot going on in their heads at the moment, and they are trying to avoid lashing out at you."

The girl looked up to the woman, who reached out her hand to brush Mickey's red hair away from her face.

"Just give them a little time, because even adults sometimes need to be left alone to sort out their thoughts," she continued as the girl licked her lips, nodding her head when Susannah's hand rested on her cheek for a second. "Is there something else bothering you?"

Mickey hesitated for a second.

"I think Belly doesn't like me that much," she confessed, looking around quickly to make sure the younger girl was not around, and the woman's eyebrows raised in surprise. "I'm not sure but I think she's jealous of Conrad."

Susannah opened her mouth a little, tilting her head to the side, and then nodded. She bit her lip before continuing, holding back a laugh, "Yeah, you should probably talk to her about this. But now, even if you're not going to be a deb, I really want you to try a few gowns, please?"

And how could Mickey say no to her when she gave her the pleading look?

"Okay," she agreed, and Susannah let out a small cheer, helping the girl grab the shopping bags and pulling her back inside.

When they got to the dressing room, Belly was just leaving with one extremely puffy white dress, and Susannah spoke clearly. "Oh, God, no."

"Put that away," Laurel said, and Mickey pressed her lips onto a line.

"I'm going to ask for them to grab a few dresses for you, okay? Just go inside the fitting room," the woman instructed, grabbing the bags from Mickey's hands, pushing her, and closing the drapes.

After both she and Belly had tried a few dresses, Mickey finally got out of behind the curtains and Susannah stopped talking. She put her hand under her chin as she stared at her.

The white dress was strapless, and it had lace sleeves hanging her upper arms down to her wrists. The entire rest of the dress was also detailed with lace. It was the only one she had found pretty in. And apparently, so did the two women.

Mickey turned to look at herself in the mirror, and she smiled a little. "You look beautiful, Mouse."

She gave her a small thanks, and when she looked back, Susannah took off her phone so she could take a few pictures. Once she was done, Mickey could finally put on her clothes again, this turn having to wait out for Belly.

And after the same happened to Belly and her dress was bought, the four of them made their way back to the house. Mickey couldn't help but notice how the younger girl avoided talking or standing closer to her. Maybe then she needed to find a way, or even a place that she could tell the girl.

But that could wait for another time, since Belly needed to get ready for the debutante meeting, and Mickey wanted to see if she could catch some waves.

The sea breeze blew her hair back as she stretched her arms and legs. Her surfboard on the sand by her side and the bodysuit protecting her from the hot summer sun could make her look worse than a cooked shrimp.

Her green eyes trailed on the waves, smiling to herself as she did the last stretch, moving to sit on the board to strap it on her ankle.

"Hey," a new voice took her away from her thoughts as a boy, probably the same age as her got closer. He had his own board under his arm, and the blonde hair ricocheted around from the wind. "There's any good ones?"

Mickey put her hair behind her ears as a way to tame them and she nodded. "A few, actually. I've never surfed here before, though."

"Where'd you usually go?"

"Florida," she answered, playing with the strap on her ankle as the boy whistled.

"The waves there are great, but I think that here's better.... And a lot of fewer people," he confessed, sinking the top of the board on the ground, offering his hand. "I'm Jake, by the way."

"Mickey," shaking his hand, the boy helped her get up, before pointing behind him to the sea.

"Shall we?"

++++

The sun had just set when Mickey arrived at the beach house, she entered by the back and went straight to the backyard shower head to try to take the sea salt water and sand from her body and the bodysuit.

"Mike!" She heard Jeremiah call, and the girl rolled her eyes. It didn't matter how much she asked him to never call her that, he still did it anyway. "You're coming with us to the book signing?"

"What?" She furrowed her eyebrows, as Jeremiah hung outside the door one towel for her.

"At the bookstore. Laurel's book signing that my mom's preparing."

"Oh..." she whispered, rinsing the conditioner from her hair. "Yeah, yeah, sure. What time?"

"We'll be leaving in 10," with that, Mickey pulled the towel, dried herself, and left the stool with the towel wrapped around her body, as she winked at her best friend and scurried back to her room, trying to avoid anyone on her way.

Putting on a simple white dress and applying mascara as fast as she could, Mickey finally finished brushing her hair, pulling on her low heels, and walking down the stairs.

"I'm ready," she said with the bag hanging from her shoulder, stopping by Conrad and Jeremiah's sides. The older boy looked down at her, giving a small nod along with the annoyed face that seemed to be always on his face lately.

"Great! We're all set to go- We need to go in two cars," Susannah stopped, finally counting the number of people. Mickey looked around, not seeing Belly — Jeremiah taking notice of that.

"She went out on a date at the drive-in with that Cam guy," he whispered to her and Mickey let out a low 'oh'.

"I can drive," Conrad suggested, bumping his shoulder with the girl by his side and she got the hint for her to tag along — they needed to talk, but of what was that she didn't know. But it seemed that the other two boys weren't as bright, because they both tried calling shotgun with him. "Mickey's going in front."

"She's tiny! She doesn't need all that leg space," Jeremiah retorted and Steven crossed his arms. Now it was Mickey's turn to kick the back of his knee.

"She's the girl," Conrad stated as it was obvious, and Jeremiah put his hand on top of his thigh, trying to regain his balance after the kick.

"Exactly, you little shit" Mickey stared in victory at the boy, and he only mocked her words with a sassy voice. The girl held the strap of her purse in her hands, throwing it directly at his arm while Steven ducked to avoid being hit too.

"Hey, hey!" He tried to grab the purse flying in his direction but failed in doing so.

"Just get in the car," Conrad said annoyed as they watched the two older women who decided to ignore the bickering between the two closing the door of their car.

Mickey strutted to the passenger seat, putting her tongue out to Jeremiah as she hopped inside the car.

Conrad shot her a side glance as he put on the seatbelt. He did want to talk to the girl in private, but now he wasn't so sure she would tell him the truth.

The drive to the bookstore was everything but silent, as the three of them sang their hearts out to Neon Trees, not without Conrad threatening to turn the radio off in annoyance.

Mickey wasn't an expert in book signing, but as she walked around the shop, she could tell there weren't a lot of people there. She grabbed one of the many copies of the book, finding a comfortable place to sit as she started going over the pages.

She could understand why this type of book would not actually grab people's attention — of course, who would've wanted to read a biography about an author talking over two hundred pages about her ruined relationship with her ex-husband, mainly now that what most people decide to read is fantasy and comic books. But as she went through the pages, Mickey started feeling a lump growing in her throat. How the arguments described there looked so familiar, how Laurel had started closing herself from her family instead of telling them how she felt.

Was that what her mother was also going through? Was that the reason why none of her parents would pick up their phones just to tell them to enjoy her day? Was she pushing them too much?

Were their parents on the verge of a divorce?

She was so immersed in the book that she didn't even notice when Steven sat by her side, arm over where she was resting her back, and Jeremiah by his other side. Steven peeked over the book a little bit — he was never really interested in his mother's books, he thought that if he read them, he would be stepping over her privacy. He preferred to be more ignorant about it.

But she did notice when Conrad decided to drop his body by her free side. The entire couch shook at his action and the book almost closed as he let out a huge sigh, taking his friend's attention to him. "This shit is so boring. Can we go somewhere?"

"Yeah. Where?" Steven asked, still looking at his phone as Mickey brought the book closer to her chest.

"We could go into town, I don't know. Buy some weed from that guy with the Rainbow Dash tattoo?"

"Nah, he got arrested last summer," Conrad answered, and Mickey deflated a bit but Steven tilted his head side to side pondering his options.

"We could go to the drive-in-"

"Dude, gross. I don't wanna watch Belly hooking up with some kid in the backseat of a minivan," Jeremiah complained, and Mickey pushed his leg with the heel.

"Stop projecting, she's not like you," Mickey grumbled annoyed but Conrad piqued up.

"Actually- let's go to the drive-in."

The three of them looked at the older Fisher sibling like they were not believing what he was saying. "Really?"

"Yeah! Let's go!" He nodded his head, grabbing the keys from his pocket and throwing them at Steven. "You're driving."

The two boys got up excitedly and Mickey pursed her lips, looking at her best friend who was still sitting with her. "You're really going?"

"It's better if I'm there so we can somehow control them a little," Jeremiah sighed, getting up and offering his hand for her to take. "You coming, right?"

Mickey gave him a small smile, before scrunching her nose and shaking her head. "I don't really wanna crash Belly's date, and you shouldn't either. She already doesn't like me a lot."

"She just doesn't know you that much yet," he tried, putting his hands in his pockets. "But I get it. We can pick you up later if when we leave they are not done with this."

"Okay," she nodded a little while she watched her best friend walk away.

Mickey looked down at Laurel's book, gripping the edges as she got up, making her way to the author sitting patiently.

"Can you sign it for me?" She asked, Laurel had a surprised look on her face, which was quickly covered by a small smile.

"Of course."

++++

Back at the beach house, Mickey was lying on her stomach while Andrew's Spiderman was playing on her phone. She had been waiting for the younger girl's arrival since the boys arrived thirty minutes after her and the moms.

So when she heard the girl's voice downstairs, so she was quick to get on her feet, opening the door as fast as she could. Belly froze for a second with the door opening all of a sudden.

"Belly, can we talk?" She tried, and the younger girl looked behind her, then to the sides, and nodded hesitantly, mentioning for them to go to her room.

When Mickey stepped inside the blue room, Belly closed the door and she crossed her arms — as she was telling Mickey to continue.

"I don't like Conrad," she started, and Belly's eyebrows pulled together.

"Okay... but I don't see why that's my problem?" Belly said almost like a question. Mickey knew she wasn't trying to be rude, but much more Belly was confused about how she started the sentence.

"I know you like Conrad. Don't give me that face, it's kinda obvious. I don't know how they haven't noticed yet," the red-haired girl continued, playing with the hair tie around her wrist. "But I don't like him. And I don't like Jeremiah either."

"Then why-"

Mickey interrupted, putting her hands together. Maybe it was better if she just ripped off the band-aid.

"Belly, I'm gay," the younger girl's eyes widened and she stopped talking almost instantly. She just didn't know how to continue after that. "I like girls, always have."

Belly pressed her lips onto a line, nodding a bit as she let the thought sink in as she sat down on her bed. "I'm sorry I was such a jerk. I really thought you and him were a thing. I swear I'm not usually like this."

"Oh, I know, guess they never told you. So I needed to sort this out with you," Mickey took that as a chance to sit next to Belly on the bed, and then she bumped her should into hers. "But hey, if it makes you feel any better, you're a lot more my type than them."

Belly snorted, now smiling back at the teasing smile Mickey sent her way.

"So you gonna tell me how was your first date?" Mickey clapped her hands and Belly's smile got a lot bigger.

Hey! It's been a while!

I'm sorry for going MIA, I'll try to writing more.

Taylor is in the next chapter!!

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