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Taylor flicks on her lighter as she brings the apple to her mouth.

"Taylor, volleyball camp is in four days."

Taylor shrugs as she blows out the smoke, "It's not like they're going to drug test us." Her eyes go wide, "Coach would have had to put that in her email, right?"

"What email?"

"The one that we got yesterday about camp. Have you talked to Coach yet?"

"Um... No, not yet." Belly says as she looks around

"Belly, wait. Why? I swear to God, if you bail on us again..."

"No, no, no. I'm not bailing. I want to go."

"Okay, well, don't tell me. Tell Coach that." Taylor says as she goes to hand Liz the apple.

"I'm not smoking that." She says as she lays on the blanket with her arm over her eyes.

"Okay. Okay, yeah. I'll text her right now."

"Yeah. Great. Here." She says as she hands Skye the apple

"All right. You know, I-I... I really just don't want to... I don't want to have to have a big conversation with her about last season, and, I don't know, I feel like I just want to show up ready to play and prove myself on the court."

"Okay. I love that. It's very Killa B." Taylor nods

"Right?" Belly smiles. River groans again at the nickname, "Yeah. So I don't have to text her, right?"

"Give me your phone." Taylor smiles. Belly groans as she hands her the phone, "This is ridiculous. "Hey, Coach, I'm planning to come to camp next weekend. I already talked to the rest of the squad and they are cool with me coming. Can't wait to see you on the court." "

"Yeah, that's good. Yeah."

"What's happening over here? Hmm?" Steven says as he and Dakota walk up. Dakota leans down and kisses River before sitting next to her.

"We playing Truth or Dare or what?"

"All right. Yeah. You in?" Belly says, "Um... I dare you to eat the apple bong."

Taylor chuckles, "Ew."

"I'm not scared. I've done worse." Steven says

"Yeah, we know." Dakota laughs as Liz uncovers her eyes to look up at Steven.

"We worked so hard on this."

"I am so sorry, Skye." Steven says as he takes the apple, "I'm so sorry."

"And now it's..." Skye trails off as Steven bites the apple.

"What does it taste like?" Taylor says

"It tastes so..." He stops as he gags. He gags again as he spits the apple out on the blanket.

"Oh, my God!" Belly yells as the girls jump

"What the fuck, Steven?" River yells as Dakota laughs

"Dude." Liz says as she scoots over. Taylor shouts as she throws a bag of chips at him.

"Oh, my God." Steven groans as he steps away

"Gross." Belly grimaces

"Goddamn it!" Taylor exclaims as she wipes herself off

"Wait, wait. He knows he's going to have to clean that up, right?" Cam says

"We'll make him clean it up. We'll make him clean it up." Conrad says as he kneels down with the food.

"Apple all over my leg." Taylor says

"You guys trying to keep playing Truth or Dare? Conrad?" Cam says

"I'm not playing."

"Come on, dude."

"No." He says pushing his hair back

"What, you scared?" Jeremiah says as Taylor laughs

"Come on, man. Where do you, uh, see yourself in the next ten years?"

Conrad sighs, "Here, honestly. Coming back to Cousins. Fourth of July barbecues, digging for clams, surfing with Jere..."

"Making pomegranate margaritas." Belly nods

"Right, right. I don't know, I just feel like whatever kind of shit you got going on, you just come back here, you forget about it."

"Come on, man. Nobody's playing Truth or Dare right. It's either you go big or you go home." Steven says as he sits by Skye

"Exactly, Steven. Thank you." Dakota says

"Agreed. This needs to get way more Euphoria." Taylor laughs

"Okay. Um... I'll give it a whirl." Skye says, "Belly. I dare you to, uh, kiss Jeremiah."

Everyone goes silent as they look around. Liz tries to hold her laugh, but ultimately fails as she starts laughing, "I'm sorry." She laughs as she covers her mouth. River chuckles as everyone smiles.

"You know, aren't we too old for that kind of shit?" Jeremiah says as the laughter dies down, "Right?"

Dakota clears his throat loudly as he looks around.

"Yeah. Cam, you know the drill." Taylor says

"Yes. Truth, please."

"What's your biggest regret?" She asks as she eats a piece of fruit.

"Um..." He chuckles, "I'd probably say, um, not spending enough time with my sister before she died."

Liz uncovers her face again as she looks at Cam.

"Whoa, I'm sorry. I didn't know." Taylor says

"It's okay."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Belly says

"It's okay. It was ten years ago. She was 16. Um, I was just a kid. I really looked up to her. Mm, I still look up to her."

"Does it get any easier?" Jeremiah asks

"Yeah. It's always there, you know. But, um... the pain starts to, uh... you know, feel more like a scar than it does a scab. Like, sometimes something totally random will set you off. Like, um... a song she used to play for you or, um... little yellow tree air fresheners she had in her car and the... pain just feels brand-new again. But, um... everything... everything goes back to normal. Eventually. Whatever the hell that means."

"Yeah, the fuck if I know."

"I'm sorry, man." Conrad says

"No. I'm sorry about your mom. She was really cool." Cam nods. He laughs as Taylor yawns really loudly, "Sorry, Taylor, where did we lose you there?"

"Oh, my God. No, you didn't lose me at all. All right, just, like..." She says as she rubs her head, "No, I really love talking about mental health. Like, you should look at my TikTok. It's, like, 70% therapists." Belly nods in agreement, "I'm just, like, really fucking tired right now."

"Yeah, I guess it is getting kind of late." Jeremiah smiles

"I'll, uh, I'll go get you some blankets." Steven says as he stands up

"Yeah, let's do it." Dakota says

"Yep."

"Is this camping? 'Cause I got a badge for that shit in Girl Scouts." River says

"Gonna take my leave." Jeremiah says

"Did anyone find an air mattress, by chance?" Taylor whines

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Everyone laid out blankets as they stayed in a group. Cam and Skye laid by each other. River laid on Dakota's chest, the both of them already out as Steven laid by Taylor and Belly and Jeremiah laid near each other.

Conrad looked up from where he was laying as Liz dropped her pillow and blanket down by him, "I'm okay to lay here right ?"

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." He says as he puts his phone down

She nods gratefully as she lays down on her side by him. She looks over at him as he sits up on his arm, "What ?"

"Nothing." He says looking down, "I actually wanted to say thank you."

"For what?"

"A lot of things, but for this one I'm saying thank you for helping me through my panic attack."

She smiles, "It's no big deal. I know those suck, I used to get them when my mom and dad would argue."

"Really?" She hums in agreement, "I didn't know that."

"I never told anybody. Only person who knows is Dakota and that's because he would catch me in them." She chuckles, "I know how helpless you can feel when it's happening." He searches her face before he gives a quick smile, "If it ever happens again," She pauses, "you know you can come to me right?"

He blinks slowly as she waits for him to answer. He gives a simple nod, but it seems to be enough for her as she smiles. She turns over and gets comfortable as he sits there. He sighs as he picks phone up again and lays down.

______________________________________

"Ugh, Dakota get off of me. You're gonna crush my ribs." River whines. The boy just mutters at her. She groans. She leans her head back and flings her arm out to hit Liz's head.

"What the hell?" Liz stretches as she sits up

"Get him off of me." She says as she motions to Dakota. He had basically his entire body on top of her.

Liz chuckles as she rubs her eyes, "Yeah, good luck with that."

Jeremiah sits up and groans as he stretches.

"Get off of me." Taylor says as she jumps up

"Ow." Steven says

"What time is it?"

"What's going on out here?" They hear a woman say. All of their heads turn as Cam sits up.

"Hmm? Mom. Hi. I'm so sorry. Um... They... they needed a place to stay because they lost their house." He says as he stands by her

"Cam..."

"Um... I'll clean everything up, I swear."

"No, we'll-we'll all clean." Belly says as she sits up

"Good. And don't forget to return the cart."

"Yeah, yeah." Cam says as she walks back

He turns back to the group as he lets out a deep sigh. Skye gives him a thumbs up as he walks back over. Liz sighs as she lays back down.

______________________________________

Liz was very hesitant to come back to the Beck house, but considering they had no where else to go and Conrad's plan, they had no choice. She jumped out of the car as the group walked up to the house. Julia and her real estate agent were standing on the porch.

"Wow. Look who it is." Jeremiah says

"Hi." The woman waves

"It's okay. I'll handle it." Julia says

"Thank you very much. I'll be in touch?"

"Yes, thank you." She says as the agent walks back to her car, "Oh, I wish you boys had gone home when I asked you to."

"You're not getting us to abandon our house, Julia." Conrad says

"It's not your house, Conrad. And, um..." She clears her throat, "it won't be mine for long, either."

"Julia, please. We have an idea, okay?" Jeremiah tries

"A buyer has made an offer on the house and I've officially accepted it. I have to go to Boston to
finalize the details, but, um, it's done. The house is sold." She nods

Everyone looks around at each other in disbelief. Liz exhales deeply as she covers her face.

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ᴛʏsᴍ ғᴏʀ 10ᴋ ʀᴇᴀᴅs !! ᴏᴍɢ ɪ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇ ɪᴛ. ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴜʏs ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙsᴏʟᴜᴛᴇ ʙᴇsᴛ <3