daniel and stella had picked up some trashy foods from the local 7-eleven that they met at. they were sat on a large blanket at the beach with a 6-pack of pepsi, some caprisuns, and an assortment of chips and chex-mix.

he had shown up wearing a white, button-down shirt and black pants which lowkey made stella feel underdressed. he said that she looked pretty though, which made up for it.

daniel had a guitar in his hand and he strummed a few chords. "i've always wanted to write a song with this chord," he said, playing the Bm7 chord that stella recognized immediately. she had also wanted to use that chord in a song.

"you're a genius," she smiled, opening the notes app on her phone. she always wrote down ideas for songs on her phone. one of them caught her eye. 

note: june 15
sorry i didn't kiss you

note: june 15
you look so nice in your shirt

"hey, maybe try the Bm7 to an E7 then to an A," she suggested, thinking of the chords in her mind. 

is it weird to write a song about a memory with someone else while you're on a "date", she thought. it's not a big deal. it's not like i like j or anything. it was a one time thing, that night in the bathroom after the bonfire.

"uh, i have an idea," she said, staring at her phone.

"what is it?" daniel let his hand relax in front of the strings of the guitar. 

stella tore her eyes away from her phone. "it's about confused feelings, i guess. about regretting not making a move even though you're not sure if you even like them, you know?"

daniel nodded with his eyebrows focused. "yeah, i get that. i've always liked that metaphor of, like, when people swallow bubble gum and it leaves that sick feeling. kind of like regret."

stella opened a new note on her phone and titled it bubble gum. 

bubble gum

cause i swallowed the bubble gum

"where'd you get seven years from?" daniel asked her.

she shrugged. "i don't know it sounded nice in the lyrics, i guess. play the chords again."

stella was going to try that thing where she just kept humming and spitting out random words until she got the lyrics that she wanted. daniel started playing that same chord progression over and over again while she hummed. he stayed quiet and watched in admiration of her thinking process.

"duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh, duh-duh."

"sorry i didn't kiss you, duh-duh-duh, duh-duh."

"bubble gum down my throat and it's a curse... duh-duh, but my luck couldn't get any worse."

"i love that," daniel sighed after she looked like she was done. "like i actually loved that."

"we'll work on it," she said, opening another caprisun.

daniel swallowed nervously before putting down his guitar and scooting closer to stella. they looked out at the view in front of them. the beach was practically empty. it was empty actually.

they hadn't said a word to each other in a while. they were both admiring the ocean and the sky. the sun was starting to set. the lighting was warm against their skin.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

conrad was downing endless glasses of chardonnay and the other three teenage boys were sitting on one sofa, dying of boredom.

"aye, look at connie." andy found energy to sit up. "he's talking to laur and some old guy."

conrad made his way over to the sofa, making the other three boys automatically make room for him. "you know, this shit is so boring. can we go somewhere?" he muttered.

jeremiah chuckled softly. steven kept his eyes glued to his phone and said, "yeah. where?"

"we could go into town, i don't know," jeremiah shrugged. "buy some weed from that guy with the rainbow dash tattoo?"

"nah, he got arrested last summer," conrad declined.

jeremiah threw his head back on the sofa. "oh, shit. really?"

"yeah," he nodded.

jeremiah sighed before andy could even suggest his idea to the group. "i mean, we could go to the beach."

"dude, gross. no, i- i don't want to watch stel hooking up with some kid in the middle of a beach," conrad cringed and scrunched his nose up.

jeremiah slowly turned his head to look at steven while he was relaxed against the couch. "yo, actually... let's go to the beach."

"wait. like... like, really?" steven made sure he wasn't joking before he got too excited.

"yeah, why not?" jeremiah smirked.

hurry, before i change my mind, he thought.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

stella and daniel were laying on their backs now, stargazing. "that's gotta be the little dipper right?" stella pointed out.

daniel shrugged. "i don't know. usually corbyn knows this kind of stuff."

"corbyn?" she raised an eyebrow.

"he's a friend of mine. you'll have to meet him one day," he chuckled softly.

stella shook her head, hiding the smile that was taking over her face. "i guess i do."

it was getting darker outside. the sun had already set so the sky was a nice dark purple color. the stars were settling into the sky and it was the perfect time for them to admire it. the silence only built up more tension. 

daniel sat up and propped himself up on his elbows. "hey, stella?" he said in almost a whisper.

she copied his movements and propped herself up on her elbows. "yes?"

the silence said everything. daniel's face got closer to stella's. soon enough, he was hovering over her face and she hadn't moved from the position she was in.

daniel's lips softly brushed hers, just to test the waters.

fuck it, she thought. this is my hot girl summer.

she grabbed his shirt and pulled him back in for another, deeper kiss. daniel was caught off guard for sure, but of course, he wasn't opposed to her actions. they both let themselves relax into the kiss more. the only sound was their breathing until they heard a twig snap in the corner.

"ugh, what the fuck?" stella knew that voice as her brothers.

she stopped daniel by putting a hand against his chest. "who was that?" he asked her nervously.

"andy, if you're fucking spying on me, i'm gonna kill you." she rolled her eyes and stood up with her phone flashlight on. daniel followed closely behind her. he told himself that he wasn't scared. okay, he sort of was.

"andy? who's andy?" he asked confusedly.

stella looked around for any silhouette of a person. she spotted four silhouettes that looked very familiar. they were jogging away by now. "oh god, all my friends were here for a minute," she mumbled, jogging back to the blanket and grabbing her phone and the plastic bag of food. 

"your friends?" he tilted his head to the side.

she paused as soon as she realized how suddenly she was picking up her things and leaving. "i'm really sorry about how terrible this date ended," she said guiltily.

he noticed a frown forming on her face, making him bring her into a hug. "hey, we'll try this again later maybe. we'll finish that song?"

stella smiled softly. "okay, yeah. that's sounds good."

"alright," daniel pressed his lips together and rolled up the blanket that was on the floor. "let's get back to the car. i'll drive you home."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note

i'm lowkey excited to write the next chapter but i'm also nervous to write an argument between stella and jeremiah 'cause they're so cute when they're not mad at each other yk?

pls vote, comment, etc. THANK YOUU

if you guys have any ideas, PLEASE COMMENT THEM. I LOVE THE COMMENTS THAT YOU GUYS LEAVE EVERY CHAPTER. they're so funny lmfaoo but anyways, yeah. PLEASE comment your ideas because i love them and they actually do help me write faster

the more ideas you guys comment, the faster i can write this thing

i guess that makes sense :)

PS guys i just added some stuff to the beginning of the chapter so if you somehow already read it because you were, like, super early then go back and reread the beginning i guess... THANK YOU :))

ANOTHER SIDE NOTE: the songs that they write do not belong to me or anyone else besides the writers of the songs... if that makes sense. so that song that is being used at the song being written in this chapter is bubble gum by clairo <3

[ unedited ]