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Jeremiah turns on the blender causing Conrad to jump in his place on the sofa. Liz comes down the stairs as Conrad lays back down. 

"Just sit for your portraits. I don't see Conrad complaining." Laurel says

"He'll complain when he's conscious." Jeremiah says as he brings Conrad his smoothie. He smiles at Liz, "Morning Liz."

She smiles back as he taps Conrad, "Hey. Here."

"Thank you." Conrad mumbles

"Come on, man. Hurry your ass up. All right? I can't be late for my first day of work." Steven says

"We won't. We're good."

"Come on, man. Ooh! Those old country club boomers are gonna tip me so hard, man, they won't know what hit 'em." Steven says as he thrusts his hips in the air

"Oh!" Jeremiah cheers as Laurel and Liz grimace

"That's disgusting, Steven." Liz says as she leans on the counter

"Steven, I swear." Laurel groans

"What?" He says

"Come on, my boy's got to get that bread."

"Thank you." He laughs

"Liz, is that a bruise?" Laurel asks as she leans in to look at her cheek

"Oh, um. I just bumped into someone." She stutters, "No big deal."

"Bumped into someone?" She asks again.

Liz looks towards Conrad to see him already looking at her, "Doesn't look that bad."

She sighs as Belly walks in.

"Good morning." Jeremiah says.

"Belly, where have you been?" Laurel says

She sits by Laurel as she shrugs, "Nowhere."

Laurel sighs as Jeremiah speaks up, "Um, cereal?"

"Yeah, hit me." Belly sighs

"Sure." He mumbles

"Oh, my God!" Susannah gasps from the other room, "Belly is gonna be a debutante."

"It's really not that big of a deal." Belly chuckles as Susannah hugs her

"I'm sorry. Like, Belly?" Steven mocks, "Like, my sister? Like, that thing right there?"

"Shut up, cretin." She says

"Okay, this is gonna be so much fun. Just you wait. There is, uh, there's the tea, the auction, the ball, of course, the rehearsal. I got to write this down." She gasps, "We need to go shopping."

Liz laughs as she goes to sit at the table with her food. Belly follows her as Susannah sits by Laurel.

"This sounds," Laurel says as she scratches her head, "expensive."

"Oh, don't worry, Laur." She waves her off, "It's on me. It was my idea after all, and we still need to style you for your book party, so."

"Belly, are you sure you want to do this? It doesn't seem very you."

"It's not." Conrad mutters

Susannah sighs, "Conrad, could you please be a little more supportive?"

Dakota comes stumbling down the stairs with a pair of glasses on. He groans as he leans on the wall to stable himself.

Liz laughs, "Well, don't you look chipper."

"I feel like I'm falling from an airplane." He groans as the boys laugh at him

"Now, which one of you is gonna be Belly's escort to the ball?" Susannah smiles

"Not me. I went last year." Conrad says drinking his smoothie

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

Dakota and Steven start to laugh, "The dances, dude." Jeremiah laughs with them

"Wow, guys. Stop fighting over me." Belly chuckles awkwardly, "Um, I'm not going with either of you. I am going to find my own date." She says as Liz nods with a smile

"Wikipedia says debutante balls require instruction in morals and social etiquette." Laurel says

"I'm going for a swim." Conrad says. He and Liz look at each other before he walks out.

"She could use some etiquette. Yeah." Steven chuckles

"No offense, Beck, but I don't feel like a country club is the best place to teach Belly about morals." Liz looks out of the window to watch Conrad.

"Laur, times have changed. There's a girl debbing this season, and she's bringing her girlfriend as her escort, and the club was fine with it."

"How very progressive of them." Laurel says sarcastically

"Here you are, Belly Button." Jeremiah says. Liz looks back down at her food.

"Well, hurry up! We have shopping to do." Susannah smiles

"It's not like I was getting any work done anyway." Laurel says

Liz smiles at Belly who looks hesitant to spend the day shopping.

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Liz and River sit at the bar in the kitchen as Susannah sits on the couch with her book.

"We should go to the drive in tonight." River says

Liz shrugs, "I don't see why not." River smiles as she eats a grape. Liz squints, "But I have a feeling there's an ulterior motive."

"Why would you think that?" She says hesitantly

"Because I know you and I know you wouldn't go there just because." Liz chuckles

River goes to wave her off before Liz raises her brows. She sighs as she rolls her eyes, "Fine. It's a double date."

"No." Liz says 

"Come on, Liz. Please." She begs

"I'm not going on a date with some random guy I've never met before." She chuckles

"You have to experience the regular experiences of an 18 year old girl. You have yet to do that." Liz sighs as she looks at her. River immediately pulls puppy dog eyes.

Liz thinks for a couple of seconds, "Fine."

"Yay." River cheers as she hugs her. Liz laughs as Conrad walks in the kitchen from the outside. He looks and sees his mom on the couch before turning the other way.

Liz frowns as she watches him try to tip toe to the stairs. River laughs as he almost makes it. Almost.

"Honey?" Susannah calls out. Conrad freezes, "Hey, hon?" Conrad comes back down the stairs slightly.

"Yeah?"

"Would you change and meet me out back? I want to paint your portrait first."

"Why me?"

"Cause everyone else has things to do." She says

Conrad comes back down the stairs and stands in front of her, "I have things to do, too, Mom. Why can't you do Liz?"

"I think you can spare a few hours for your mother, hmm?" She says as she raises her brows

He sighs, "Sure."

"Great. I'll see you outside in ten?"

"See you there." He then starts to walk away

"Put on something nice." She says

River looks at Liz to see her staring where Conrad was standing. She laughs as Liz blinks out of her day dream. Her cheeks turn pink as River continues laughing.

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It was a couple of hours later and Liz just finished getting ready for her "date". She would definitely rather be going to Laurel's book party, but she knew she'd never hear the end of it from River. She hears her phone go off with a text from River telling her that she was outside.

She sighs as she puts her phone in her pocket. She walks out of her room and bumps into Belly.

"Oh, sorry." Belly smiles

"No worries." Liz looks her over, "Really wish I was going to Laurel's party. Let me know how it goes?"

Belly smiles again, "Oh um," Liz frowns, "I'm not going either. I have a date."

Liz gasps, "No way." Belly chuckles as she looks down, "Oh, I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks. Uh, where are you going?" She frowns

"I, unfortunately, got stuck going on a double date with River."

Belly's face scrunches as Liz nods, "Oh, no."

"Yeah." She sighs, "Hopefully your date goes a lot better than mine." She chuckles as they make their way downstairs. The girls see the boys on the couch playing a video game. Liz laughs as Dakota yells at the game. 

"See you guys later." Belly says

Jeremiah turns and his eyes widen as he stares at the Belly, "Damn." He says as he tosses the controller and gets up

"Are you kidding? No." Dakota groans

"Yeah, fine, just abandon the game completely, Jere." Steven says sarcastically

Conrad looks back and his face softens as he stares at Liz.

"You look hot." Jeremiah says as he spins Belly. He then turns to Liz, "You too, of course."

She smiles as she rolls her eyes. Belly giggles.

"Hey, hey, hey, stop flirting with my sister." Steven says as he looks back

"Shut up, Steven." Belly sighs

"No, you shut up." He says turning back to her, "You look good, though." He mumbles turning back to the game.

Jeremiah laughs, "You driving with, or are you guys meeting us there?"

"I'm not going to the book party. I'm going to the drive-in." Belly nods with a smile

"With who?" Jeremiah asks as he looks between the girls.

"Going on a double date with River." Liz says as Jeremiah smiles. Belly looks down at her phone as it dings

"A date with River?" He smirks

"Not like that." She sighs as he laughs

Conrad looks back at Liz again, "Dude, dude, focus. Come on." Steven says

"What guy?" Dakota asks. Liz's phone goes off again with River telling her to hurry.

"I don't know. Some random guy." She says quickly, "I've gotta go."

"Yeah, me too." Belly smiles as she puts her phone away. Liz walks over to the mirror to check herself over, "Uh, okay. Bye."

Belly walks over to the mirror and stands by Liz. The girls giggle as they walk to the door. Conrad watches as Liz walks out of the door with Belly.

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Liz sat in her date's car as Sabrina played on the screen. The guy was very polite and pretty funny. Making jokes during the movie she'd seen a million times that she actually laughed at. She wouldn't admit it to River, but she enjoyed his company.

"Do you want a drink or anything?" He asked

"No, no. I'm okay." Liz smiled. He nodded as her turned back to the movie, "Are you liking it?"

He nods as he smiles, "Yeah. It's pretty good."

She chuckles, "You don't have to lie."

He smiles again before laughing, "Okay, it's not my favorite."

"That's okay." Liz laughs with him

Their laughter dies down as he looks at her, "You're really pretty." Liz stops as she starts to blush.

"Thank you." She says softly. They hold eye contact as they start to lean in. Her eyes start to flutter closed before she hears familiar laughing. She turns to see the boys pull up beside her. Her eyes widen as she turns back to the guy.

"Hey, could you, um, grab me that drink, actually?" She says quickly, "Maybe like a Pepsi or something else?"

"Yeah, it's no problem. Sounds good." He smiles

"Thank you."

"Yeah, I'll be right back." He says as he gets out of the car

"Thanks." She says again as he closes the door. Dakota, Steven, and Jeremiah start making kissing noises as Liz gets out of the car. She swings Steven's door open as she huffs, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Uh, just catching the end of our favorite movie." Dakota laughs

"What is your problem? You have to go."

"Oh, Liz, relax. We were just joking around." Jeremiah laughs

"Dakota, if you don't leave, I swear to God I will send everyone in this car your Harry Styles fanfic."

The boys start to laugh as Dakota's face drops, "You wouldn't."

"Oh, he spent an entire chapter talking about Harry's toned abs." She mocks

"Oh, bro." Conrad laughs harder as he hits the back of Stevens seat.

"Oh, my God." Jeremiah laughs as his hand covers his mouth

"Dakota, come on." Steven laughs

"You know, don't be embarrassed, man. Harry's hot." Jeremiah jokes as he puts his hand on Dakota's shoulder

"Drop it. Drop it." Dakota says. Liz looks through Conrad's window.

"Hey, seriously?" She says. His laughter dies down as he looks at her, "Please just go."

He continues to hold eye contact before ultimately looking away, "All right, let's go, guys." He puts his head down.

"What?" Steven says

"Wait. What?" Jeremiah says

"Are you kidding me?" Steven asks

"Steven, drive the car." Liz demands

"You were the one who wanted to come, Conrad." Dakota complains as they drive off. Liz stands there before getting back in the car. A couple of seconds later, her date comes back.

"Here you go. Pepsi." He smiles as he hands her the cup

"Thank you so much."

"For you. No problem." She sips the drink as he looks between her and the movie

"How is it?" He asks

"It's good." She nods as they go back to awkward silence.

______________________________________

Liz sighs as the enters the kitchen. Fortunately, her date didn't make things too awkward after her encounter with the boys. They went back into comfortable conversation as the movie continued. He was really sweet to her as well as he brought her home. She smiled at the thought.

"How was your hot date?" Her smile drops as she turns and sees Conrad entering the kitchen

"Excuse me?"

"Okay, relax. We were just having a little fun."

"You guys are assholes." She nods slightly

"Liz, come on."

"All I wanted was to go to a drive-in with a guy that I think is cute and sweet, and," She sighs, "and you guys had to come and ruin it." She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes

"You were set up by your friend. It wasn't even someone you wanted to go with, but us showing up, for, like, two minutes ruined that, really?" He says as he raises his eyebrows, "Grow up, Liz."

Her eyes follow him as he makes his way around the counter, "Why couldn't you let me have this one thing?" He stops as she leans on the counter, "Huh? Admit it. You knew what you were doing."

"What?" He squints, "What was I doing?"

"Reminding me that you existed." It's quiet for a couple of seconds as they look at each other.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He shakes his head

"You cared where I was, who I was with." She lists as she waves her hand around before placing it back on the counter

"No, I didn't. I don't care." He says

"Stop lying!" She exclaims.

"Stop being such a baby!" He yells back

"Oh, and you're such an adult?" She chuckles humorlessly, "You spent your Saturday night
crashing my date for fun."

Conrad stands there silent. She watches as he takes a sip of his beer.

She shakes her head in disappointment, "Fine. Fine. Forget it." She chuckles softly, "Why don't you go smoke some more pot?"

She turns to walk out of the kitchen, "Why don't you go look in the mirror some more?"

She stops and turns to see him already staring at her. She scoffs before nodding and he watches her walk out of the kitchen.

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