the next morning, stella threw a grey zip-up sweater over the clothes she woke up in: pajama pants and a t-shirt. she found a small notecard on her night stand. it was asking if she wanted to do the debutante ball or not.

maybe it was because she was still tired from just waking up or maybe it was because she needed a distraction from all the mixed feelings going on in her heart, 

but she checked yes. she would participate in the debutante ball.

stella picked up her phone and looked at the time. to make sure that she would be on time for daniel's gig that was apparently at dawn, she told herself that she would only give herself five more minutes to sleep in.

five minutes turned into ten minutes.

ten minutes turned into thirty minutes.

thirty minutes turned into an hour.

an hour after the time that she was supposed to get up, stella's back was being rubbed to wake her up.

"stel?" stella knew that voice anywhere. jeremiah. "stella... stel..."

she groaned and turned her body the other way. "what?" her voice was muffled by her blankets.

"didn't you have plans to see daniel perform at the ass crack of dawn, stel?" jeremiah teased her about her timing.

stella promptly lifted her face out of her blankets and looked around for her phone. "shit! what time is it?" she frantically searched for her phone.

"it's already, like, seven o'clock," he chuckled. it was much too early for either of them to be awake. he didn't want to be too mean though. "you know what? you can probably still make it for the very end of the set if you leave, like, now."

stella smiled and hugged jeremiah tiredly. "ugh, you're the best."

"i know," he sighed, standing up and fixing her pillows for her. "come on. i'll drive."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"oh god, i think i'm too late." stella jumped out of jeremiah's car and searched the beach, since that was where daniel's performance was.

at the last minute, stella caught the eye of a certain boy who had just performed for two hours. "hey! stella!"

she turned around and saw the boy whose show she had accidentally missed. "daniel, oh my god. i'm so sorry for being so late. i slept in way too late but luckily, j woke me up just in time to catch you on your way out," she rambled all in one breath. 

daniel laughed and gave her a hug. "don't worry 'bout it. it's all good. this show was hella early so i completely understand," he smiled.

stella sighed of relief. "okay, okay. i love live music though. i wish i would've seen you perform!" she tilted her head to the side.

"oh cool! do you play any instruments?" daniel asked. "i play drums, guitar, piano, you know."

stella's eyes widened. "wow!" she laughed. she wasn't going to lie. she was impressed. "i mean i play guitar and piano, but i'm still learning drums. i'm doing terribly."

"i'm sure it's not that bad," daniel smiled. "how about i come by and help you out? maybe we can try and write a song?"

stella didn't hate that idea. "sure. that actually sounds really fun."

they exchanged numbers and talked a little more. daniel ended up having to leave with his band, so that left stella to find jeremiah. he had gotten distracted during their conversation and had started cluelessly playing the drums that hadn't been taken down yet.

"j! what are you doing?" stella laughed loudly. she ran towards the makeshift stage and watched the boy attempt to play the drums.

jeremiah scrunched his nose and pretended to get really into the beat. "oh yeah!" he hollered, hitting the snare one last time to finish his performance. he pretended to talk to an audience. "thank you! guys, no, i'm blushing. stop it."

stella rolled her eyes playfully. "that's enough. let's get back home before the parents worry too much."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

when they got home, conrad was lying idly on the couch. andy was sitting at the table near the kitchen and laurel was sitting at the island near stella. steven was monitering jeremiah's cooking. 

"do we really have to physically sit for our portraits?" jeremiah said, while pouring something into a pan. 

stella wasn't a cooking expert whatsoever, so she stayed out of it. "yeah, can't she just, like, look at a picture on her phone or something?"

steven was starting to play jeremiah a little too close while we was cooking. "okay, get out," he pointed.

steven laughed quietly. "what? why?"

laurel continued the conversation from earlier about the portraits. "she needs to see you in the flesh in order to capture your essence. while you're still young and full of hope."

stella glanced up from her bowl of cereal and stifled her chuckles. everyone except conrad started laughing, looking among themselves.

"her words," laurel clarified.

jeremiah checked on the food and smirked, turning back to the rest of the kitchen. "well, conrad does not have hope, actually. he's hopeless, but my hangover smoothie-- it cures all."

"can you please just hurry up?" conrad groaned from the couch.

jeremiah returned to his cooking with steven, again, playing him too close. "just go back to bed, alright? alright, seriously, steven. get out."

"oh, come on," steven scoffed, backing away.

"this is a delicate science," jeremiah explained. "and your heavy breathing is gonna break the yolk."

"yeah, steven," stella teased jeremiah. "it's a delicate science."

"okay, okay, okay," steven finally backed away for good, silently laughing at her joke.

jeremiah smiled crookedly at stella. "whatever, stel."

laurel was still on the topic of the portraits. "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 said.

stella rolled her eyes at him and stood up when she saw jeremiah putting things in the blender. it had always been a thing since they were little that stella would start the blender. she was terrible at cooking but she knew how to press a button.

jeremiah kept his hand on the lid and waited for stella to push the start button, which she did. conrad shot up at the sound, then relaxed again. she turned the blender off and smiled at jeremiah, who gave her an approving look.

"just sit for your portraits," laurel said, almost irritatedly. "i don't see conrad complaining."

"he'll complain when he's conscious," jeremiah laughed softly and delivered conrad's smoothie to him. he slapped him on the shoulder gently. "hey. here."

conrad looked up. "thank you."

"come on, man. hurry your ass up," steven groaned. "alright? i can't be late for my first day of work."

stella scoffed. "steven, relax. we literally have so much time."

"we won't," jeremiah assured him. "we're good."

"come on, man," steven slapped jeremiah's ass on his way back into the kitchen.

jeremiah pretended to be surprised. "ooh!"

"those old country club boomers are gonna tip me so hard, man, they won't know what hit 'em," steven said, doing some sort of michael jackson dance move. stella was assuming.

"oh!" jeremiah reacted dramatically, making stella roll her eyes playfully with a smile on her face.

laurel cringed. "steven, i swear."

"what?" steven said cluelessly.

"come on, laurel," jeremiah tilted his head to the side. "my boy's got to get that bread."

steven laughed. "thank you."

just then, isabel entered the kitchen, looking a little grumpy. 

"good morning," stella smiled before isabel could get interrogated by her mother.

"belly, where have you been?" laurel questioned. "you could've gotten hurt!"

jeremiah and stella looked at each other subtly, knowing that they had been smart and looked up youtube tutorials on how to cover bruises earlier that morning. they used some of isabel's make-up but she'll never know.

"um, cereal?" jeremiah said, still smirking at stella.

isabel leaned against the island. "yeah, hit me."

"sure," jeremiah replied. stella had playfully pushed his shoulder to get him to stop looking at her.

they only got a moment of peace before susannah stormed into the kitchen. "oh my god!"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note

i feel like this chapter was kind of boring but don't worry

TEA IS COMING

i might update again today but i've been so busy for no reason lately like what

[ unedited ]