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THE BONFIRE

act one ━ chapter five

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━ ISABEL "BELLY" CONKLIN ━
june seventeenth 2022

          JEREMIAH KNOCKED ON THE JACOBS' DOOR THE NEXT DAY. He came bearing gifts ─ a basket of goodies and his signature wide smile.

          "These are from my mom," he explained. The basket was the length of his wingspan and filled with various bottles of alcohol and baked goods, all wrapped in plastic and finished with a big bow.

          August was astounded. In all of her years of moving from state to state, not once has her neighbours done something as nice as this. But then again, she had never had neighbours as rich as this.

          "Tell her we said thank you," she chuckled, trying to take the basket from his hands. After a slight wobble, and with Jeremiah's assistance, they managed to wrangle it onto the floor of her hallway.

          "How's work going?" Jeremiah asked her. It had only been one day but he felt as though it was still a valid conversation. 

          August invited him inside for a drink, and he followed her through the front rooms to her decking. "Great, actually," she said. "Free food and friends? Can't really say no, can I?"

          She then asked when he would be starting his job at the country club, before getting them both two iced cold teas. They soaked in the sun and beachy breeze over idle conversation. August, in that moment, saw that her future in Cousins was bright. Jeremiah wouldn't be here all year long, but he would at least make settling in much easier.

          "There's the annual bonfire tonight," he told her after necking his drink. "You should come. Everyone goes."

          This piqued August's interest. Meeting new people was terrifying, but she had to rip the band-aid off at some point, and if Jeremiah was going (and Evan probably was too), she was sure to have fun.

          "I'll be there."

❀°。🌺 .ೃ࿐

          AUGUST WAS RIGHT TO ASSUME THAT EVAN CHAPMAN WOULD be at the annual start of summer bonfire. Not only did Evan suggest they go together, but she also invited August over to hers to get ready together.

          Evan had three triplet brothers ─ Emmet, Eli, and Easton ─ and her house was always loud. August remembered this from when they were little, but now that the boys were considerably bigger than they were back when she was eleven, seeing them as teenagers was a bit of a shock.

          While August added the finished touches to her makeup, Evan browsed her wardrobe in an attempt to pick out the perfect outfit for the event that signified the start of the summer.

          "Do you think you'll do the deb ball if you get invited?" Evan asked, shifting the conversation from pop culture to local news.

          None of that made sense to August. "The what?"

          "Oh my God, of course," Evan laughed. "You don't know."

          Evan then went on a ten-minute explanation of what the annual Cousins Debutante Ball was, her opinions on it, and who she thought would go with who.

          August knew it wasn't for her within the first few seconds of Evan's description. Being paraded around in a white dress like a doll on display for people she didn't know? No, thank you. And the idea of having to ask someone to accompany you made her feel physically sick. Considering August didn't know anyone in this town, even if she had an invite, she was definitely going to make a pass on the anticipated Deb Ball.

          Evan still insisted they attend just to see the couples and rank the dresses.

          When it was time for them to head for the beach, they stopped by Sawyer's house to pick him up, and the three of them walked down together. She only recognised a handful of people, but, even when she could only count them on one hand (Jeremiah, Belly, Cam . . . Conrad), it was a nice break from the swarm of unfamiliar faces.

          This was the key chance for August to get to know people, according to Evan. Everyone their age would be there and everyone of relevance would be there. So naturally, August had to be too.

          The beach was littered with people, either standing in groups or hunched over on the sand. In the middle was a glorious fire that blazed a brilliant orange, crackling and sparking against the backdrop of a smooth, black sky. Music thumped from a speaker somewhere and the beat mingled with people's idle chatter and laughter. The sea wasn't at full tide and left a vast expanse of beige sand for more people to inhabit. The sun had fully set, and a sprinkling of stars lit up the sky.

          Because Evan had already established herself as August's personal tour guide and had a connection to apparently every single person who has ever lived/stayed in Cousins, she took it upon herself to tour August around the bonfire to ensure she was acquainted with absolutely everyone.

          Conrad immediately spotted August arrive. He was simultaneously shocked and unnerved by her appearance. He told himself he better get used to seeing her around but he feared he never would.

          Skirting around the scattered groups of people, Conrad picked himself up a beer from one of the tubs of ice and settled on the sand next to Nicole, a girl he had been hanging out with a little bit during last summer.

          On the other side of the bonfire, after speaking to a total of three people, August was already overwhelmed. It was, after all, her third day here.

          But her overcoming feelings of being swamped were just getting started because next up on Evan's rotation of all the people surrounding the bonfire was Conrad Fisher. Who happened to be seated next to possibly the most gorgeous girl August had ever seen.

          "This is Nicole," Evan said. 

          Nicole (vibrant eyes, smooth dark skin, and the softest smile) held out her hand for August to shake from where she was sitting on the beach with her knees up to her chest.

          "Nice to meet you, August," she said. "Welcome to Cousins."

          August shook the girl's hand, and she couldn't help but feel the most uncomfortable she had ever felt since all these introductions started. Conrad watched just as uncomfortably as the two girls interacted. He looked as though he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.

          "And you've met Conrad," Evan said, ready to dismiss these two teenagers and move on to the next.

          But Conrad's eyes pinned August to the spot. Evan had just outed the new girl, and she felt her cheeks flare. Luckily, there was a massive fire behind them and she could blame her red cheeks on the heat of that as opposed to the fact that Conrad's brows were now briefly twitching. August could read his mind: she's been talking about me.

          A sour taste filled her mouth, her eyes trained on the Fisher boy, as she said, "I'm familiar."

          Both she and Conrad could feel the weight of that statement. No one else could, but something palpable passed between them that both Evan and Nicole could feel. Tension that could be cut with a knife.

          He stared up at her, his chin dipped backwards. The blaze of the fire illuminated his face in an orange glow. It made his eyes look brighter. But August ignored all of that because he looked as though he wanted to laugh. Familiar was one word for it but August sent him a brief expression of warning. She stood over him and both of them knew she had the high ground in more ways then one. They had both asserted that they weren't going to tell anyone about their history but August came off lightly in that story. If anyone were to find out, it would make him look bad, not her.

          Conrad swallowed his words and opted for a mute, punctuated tip of his head. August and Evan made their departure a second later.

          August could barely focus after that. If that was how every interaction was going to go for the rest of summer, her original thoughts on Cousins might just change.

          On the one hand, if people knew that they had a past, then maybe people would act accordingly. At least Evan would probably stop mentioning either Fisher brother and definitely not make them interact if she could help it. But on the other hand, August very much just wanted to bury it all. Seeing Conrad for the first time in years resurfaced a lot of feelings she thought she had put to bed and it wasn't very pleasant. It might just be better if they just pretended the other one didn't exist.

          Which is what both of them did for the rest of the night. 

          August occasionally caught him looking her way but then he would get all cosy with Nicole again as if to overcompensate. She couldn't help but throw a glance his way every now and then but the bonfire was hard to look at what with its immense heat and intensity. She was distracted enough by the new people she was meeting anyway.

          The drinks flowed, the music didn't stop, and the fire hardly dwindled. It was the East Coast summer she was promised, ex-boyfriend aside.

          Jeremiah briefly made an appearance, talking to August and catching up with Evan after a long time away from the coast. But he made a swift exit when Isabel Conklin arrived.

          August did her best to smile in Belly's direction but the latter didn't notice. As soon as Isabel arrived, looking rather uncomfortable anyway, she was met with a guy August didn't notice. She then called out to another one who responded rather aggressively to her arrival. Evan didn't hesitate to inform August that the guy Belly was bickering with was her brother Stephen.

          This was crucial to know when the pair started pushing each other and Isabel fell to the floor. Drawing unwanted attention from the crowd, Belly's cheeks pinkened, her fingers intertwined in the sand. And as shocking as this was to see, and not very nice, there was something considerably more disturbing happening at the same time.

          And August didn't have it in her to make sure Belly was okay because she was looking at Conrad Fisher kissing Nicole. 

          August had predicted Conrad would go on to be involved with many other girls after her and she had even had this confirmed to her by Evan the day before. But that didn't make it any easier to see. 

          Their knees knocked, his fingers were in her hair, her hand caressed his cheek. It physically pained August to look. She scrunched up her eyes as if on impulse and rubbed her knuckles into her sockets as if she was trying to wash her irises from what they had seen. She felt sick. She hated the guy but she felt sick.

          Once August confirmed Belly was okay, and the hustle and bustle about her fall had passed, she knew she couldn't hang out there for much longer.

          The last thing August wanted was for Conrad to think she was leaving because he was kissing someone else. But something about the heat of the fire made her uncomfortable and for an entire hour, she had been smiling and getting to know new people ─ it made her exhausted. She yearned for her bed and she knew she didn't want to be on the beach for much longer.

          She said her goodbyes to a disappointed Evan and an even more disappointed Jeremiah before getting to her feet, and dusting the sand from her shorts.

          Conrad noticed August getting up to leave almost immediately. He had barely taken his eyes off of her this entire time to give his brain a chance to catch up and process that she was truly here. That she was in Cousins. On his beach. At one of his traditions.

          Nicole was lovely and obviously gorgeous and he had no problem having his fun, but now that his ex-girlfriend was somewhere close at all times, he couldn't manage any kind of enthusiasm for another girl ─ it felt wrong.

          Conrad watched intently as August headed for where the sand ended and the pavement started. She looked agitated as she started up the beach towards the gate. Almost like she had done that final night, when he ended things.

          That almost put him off speaking to her, but Conrad concluded that he needed to say something to her. Then at least he could say he tried.

          He got to his feet, excusing himself from Nicole. He hurried after August, both of their feet getting caught in the sand's heavy grip.

          "Hey, August, wait up."

          And just like that, August was back where she started. Back on that beach, with the wind in her hair and sand beneath her feet. That feeling of sinking, both literally and figuratively, into a depressed hole that she never saw herself getting out of. With Conrad Fisher calling her name, a blank expression on his face, because another thing that hadn't changed was the fact that Conrad Fisher was unreadable.

          Locking all of her emotions firmly inside, August turned to face the boy jogging over to her. She took a breath and repeated a message in her mind over and over again. This is easy. He means nothing. He is nothing.

          Panting slightly, Conrad stood in front of her. "I sent you a message?" He said. "Did you get it?"

          August didn't understand in what circumstances she wouldn't have received the message but this was probably his way of saying: why didn't you text me back?

          But August liked living in a reality where Conrad Fisher was trying to get her attention and she wasn't giving it back. God knows she wishes she had done that three years ago.

          Feigning nonchalance, August folded her arms over her chest. "Yeah, I got it."

          A flash of shock reached Conrad's face and August mentally celebrated.

          He swallowed, readjusted how he stood on the uneven floor, and said, "Well?" 

          When she didn't immediately respond, one of his brows flickered. He waited, somewhat impatiently for August to say something but she wasn't going to act according to what he wanted.

          "I don't have anything to say to you, Conrad," she said.

          His lips parted and then closed again. Another round of feet shuffling, a glance to the side, and then his eyes were pinned back on her. "What if I had things I wanted to say to you?"

          August just shrugged. She was surprised by how calmly she was handling this. It had been three years after all, and as much as seeing him again was unearthing a whole bucketload of feelings, August knew she had to get over it.

          "It's been three years," she reminded him. "I don't see how anything you could say to me now is relevant."

          Conrad sighed. "It's relevant because this is the first time I've seen you in three years."

          August's eyes narrowed on the boy. She took a step closer, maintaining the high ground but still reminding him that she wasn't that young girl anymore. She wasn't afraid of him. He couldn't hurt her anymore.

          "No," she said. "You just feel like you have to say something because of this fucked up reunion just so you don't look like the arsehole."

          Conrad's jaw ticked. His eyes fell to the floor. Eye contact was no longer easy and part of him wished he had just stayed by the bonfire. August Jacobs was nothing like the girl he remembered.

          "Well, let me tell you something, Conrad," she continued, "you always were the arsehole. And I don't have any interest in talking to you just so your moral compass can stay intact."

          August had imagined this moment for three years ─ what she would say to the boy who broke her heart after all of this time. And it made her realise that she wasn't going to let that boy ruin her new home or her summer or her experience living in this glorious place. Life was too short for that.

          She let her arms fall to her side and she took a step back. Conrad had gone pale.

          "Have a good night, Fisher."

          And for the first time in her life, August Jacobs didn't hate some part of herself for walking away from Conrad Fisher.

❀。🐠 ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 🌊 ❀°。🌺 .ೃ࿐