𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫.

007.

"can't she just, like, look at a picture on her phone or something?" steven furrowed his brows, peeking over jeremiah's shoulder.

"okay, get out." jeremiah placed his hand up, laughing as he shooed steven away.

laurel and sophia rolled her eyes playfully at the two boys, sitting at the kitchen counter, "she needs to see you in the flesh in order to capture your essence. while you're still young and full of hope. her words."

the two shared laughter, jeremiah grabbing a glass, "well, conrad does not have hope, actually. he's hopeless, but my hangover smoothie-it cures all."

cindy laughed at his comment as conrad glared at her. they were both on the couch, conrad's head in her lap as she played with his hair.

"can you please just hurry up?" conrad groaned.

"just go back to bed, all right?" jeremiah shook his head at his brother, "all right, seriously, steven, get out. this is a delicate science, and your heavy breathing is gonna break the yolk."

"yeah you'll infect the eggs with your breath." cindy commented as steven glared at her while jeremiah laughed.

steve put his hands up in defense, stepping away from the curly headed boy and near his mother who began to speak, "she hasn't painted you since you were little. i think it'd be nice to have these portraits for when you're older."

"old. no. when i'm older, i'm sure there'll be, like, like, holograms or something i can watch of myself, you know?" steven furrowed his brows, chuckling to himself.

"just sit for your portraits. i don't see conrad complaining." sophia pleaded with the boys, talking over the loud blender whirling.

"he'll complain when he's conscious." cindy called out.

jeremiah held the cup, as he walked over to conrad, "hey, here."

"thank you." conrad mumbled, bringing the cup to his mouth, shooting down half of the drink.

"come on, man. hurry your ass up. all right? i can't be late for my first day of work." steven called after jeremiah, adjusting his tucked in shirt.

jeremiah nodded, hurrying back into the kitchen, "we won't. we're good."

"those old country club boomers are gonna tip me so hard, man, they won't know what hit 'em." steven humped the air, grabbing his crotch as her mother shook her head.

a disgusted look washed over her face, "steven, i swear."

"gross dude." cindy gagged.

"come on, laurel. my boy's got to get that bread." jeremiah chuckled.

"is that a bruise?" laurel spoke looking over at belly who had just walked downstairs.

"um, i-i bumped into someone." belly stammered.

"you bumped into someone?" laurel furrowed her brows, pulling her lips together with a small head shake.

conrad eyed the girl, "doesn't look that bad."

"oh, my god!" susannah shouted running into the kitchen. "cindy and belly are going to be debutantes."

everyone knew cindy was gonna agree but belly had waited to make her decision. she knew that it wasn't her thing but she wanted to try something new.

"it's really not that big of a deal." the conklin girl shrugged.

"i'm sorry." steven questioned looking at belly strangely. "like, belly? like, my sister? like, that thing right there?"

"shut up, cretin."

"okay, this is gonna be so much fun." susannah cheered. "just you wait. there is, uh... there's the tea, the auction, the ball, of course, the rehearsal." she trailed thinking of something. "i got to write this down. we need to go shopping."

"we need to go right now." sophia agreed.

"this sounds... expensive." laurel sighed unsure of this whole thing.

"oh, don't worry, laur. it's on me. it was my idea after all, and we still need to style you for your book party."

"nonsense, i'm paying for cindy." sophia shut it down.

"no way i have to spoil my daughter in law." susannah protested.

"huh?" cindy furrowed her eyebrows.

"belly, are you sure you want to do this? it doesn't seem very you." laurel asked her daughter.

"it's not." conrad huffed.

"conrad, could you please be a little more supportive?" susannah rolled her eyes at her son. "now, who's gonna be cindy's escort and who's gonna be belly's?"

"i went last year." conrad shut it down.

"i swore off balls." jeremiah shook his head before looking at steven who was giving him an amused look. "the dances, dude."

"wow, guys. stop fighting over us." belly said sarcastically. "um, i'm not going with either of you. i am going to find my own date."

"wikipedia says debutante balls require instruction in morals and social etiquette." sophia read.

"wanna go swim?" conrad had asked cindy.

"sure." she shrugged.

"we're going for a swim." the older fisher brother announced as they walked out the back door and laurel continued to ramble on about the negative aspects of a debutante ball.

"she could use some etiquette." steven laughed.

"yeah. no offense, beck, but i don't feel like a country club is the best place to teach belly about morals."

"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." susannah reassured her.

"how very progressive of them."

"well, hurry up! we have shopping to do." susannah clapped her hands excitedly.

"it's not like i was getting any work done anyway." the conklin woman sighed shutting her laptop.