𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫.

008.

shopping was exhausting. all morning belly and cindy were in and out of changing rooms, trying on various pieces that susannah pulled for them.

the girls were now in front of the country club. cindy walked a bit in front of belly while she talked with laurel.

a familiar figure approached her, holding a stack of towels in his hands, "hey," cindy called out to jeremiah. he was shirtless, wearing the same swim shorts he'd been wearing at home.

"jeremiah." cindy yelled out.

"oh, my god." jeremiah's eyes scanned the girl's outfit. "uh, cindy. wow, i didn't even recognize you."

"tell me the truth," cindy looked down at her blue dress. "do i look like a fool?"

she knew she didn't, she just wanted to hear it from someone else.

"you look beautiful, just like a princess." jeremiah reassured. "the actual cinderella." he chuckled. "here, let me walk you over."

"thanks." cindy thanked him. "belly should come in a few minutes, she's taking to laurel."

"they have these strawberry and raspberry, type cookies. oh, they're to die for." jeremiah rambled. the two had just arrived in front of two double doors.

jeremiah's loud comment earned the attention of the whole room.

"jeremiah." a woman sighed as she walked towards the pair.

"paige." he greeted with a dashing smile.

"where's your shirt?" paige questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"it's always a pleasure." the boy replied sarcastically. "this is cinderella. i mean, uh, cindy kimberly, my future wife." jeremiah smiled, gesturing to cindy who glared at him.

"'i already know cindy." paige said. "and she's late, you're at table two."

"are those those little brie and fig jam sandwiches with the prosciutto?" jeremiah asked, eyeing up the pastries on the table.

"don't you dare." paige exclaimed watching the boy grab a couple off of the table. "those are for the girls. jeremiah, those are for the girls!"

"knock 'em dead." jeremiah shouted rushing out of them room.

just then belly rushed up to the door. "i'm so sorry for being late."

"table two." paige walked off.

the girls found their way to the designated table, and cindy's attention was immediately drawn to nicole, whom she recognized as the red sox girl from earlier.

"i told my my mom the only way i'd do this is if i could bring my girlfriend, 'cause i thought it would be a deal killer, but the club has been surprisingly chill about the whole thing." marisa explained as steven poured tea for shayla.

"i'm honestly shocked." dara replied.

"literally, dara, i was expecting a conversion camp to spring out of the bushes. no, lesbians and debutantes are, like, a completely
juxtaposing idea." marisa agreed.

"yeah, but cousins likes to pretend to be woke. trust me, my family deals with it constantly." nicole added.

"the things we do for college applications." marisa nodded.

"don't worry, marisa. you'll get in everywhere." shayla assured her.

"wait. where are you applying?" belly asked.

"you know, the usual. every ivy minus cornell." marisa said casually as belly had a surprised look on her face.

"ugh ithaca is so bleak." gigi gagged making the girls laugh.

"¡ know. what about you?" marisa asked belly.

"oh, belly is only a sophomore. she still has a year to think about all of this." nicole spoke and the girls nodded.

"yeah, i'll be a junior in the fall." belly answered.

"same as cindy." gigi nodded.

she had seen these girls around, cindy doesn't quite remember them except for shayla and nicole but apparently they remember her.

"so, is this your first summer here in cousins?"

"no, i've been coming here for my entire life." belly laughed.

"yeah, she's also like family friends with conrad and jeremiah." nicole stated as belly stuffed a sweet in her mouth.

"uh, so cindy are you and jeremiah, like-a thing, or are you gonna take him to the ball?" gigi asked.

"um..." cindy furrowed her eyebrows.

you've got the wrong brother.

"oh my god, back off, gigi." nicole teased making all the other girls laugh.

"it was a question."

"their basically related, okay? you have nothing to worry about." nicole said and gigi scoffed.

"i'm not worried." she said.

"definitely, gigi," cindy said sarcastically. "keep telling yourself that."

"come on you have to be into one of them." gigi urged on.

"i'm not into any of them." she lied, looking over at nicole.

"gigi, has had this thing for jeremiah-"

"ever since he got abs?" shayla asked, cutting nicole off. all the girls at the table laughed at her comment. "relax, i'm not into jeremiah fisher." shayla said.

"yeah, and you're noticing his abs?" gigi said turning to shayla. marisa pointed to shayla.

"she's too busy eye-fucking the waiter." marisa said, everyone saw her whispering things to him when he came by their table.

"dude, that's belly's brother." cindy said sending the girls into fits of laughter. belly made an disgusted face and looked down.

"so what's it like to live with jeremiah and conrad? conrad's so mysterious-"

"hello debutantes." the woman spoke up, making the girls look up to the front of the room.