⌗ . . chapter one

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

( august, taylor swift )
salt air, and the rust on your door, i never needed anything more . .

taylor looked up at lacy, practically taking up the whole bed. taylor swift's cruel summer quietly played on a speaker in the background.

"drews bummed youre missing the beach matchup with the boys' team next weekend." taylor looks back down at her phone, scrolling through her homepage on instagram.

completely ignoring taylor's comment, lacy suddenly remebers, "make sure to tell stacy to square up for the block."

lacy walks towards, taylor, folding a green tube top.

"drew martinez is texting me about you, and youre talking about volleyball?" taylor gives lacy a are-you-out-of-your-mind stare.

she chuckles, "like, are you serious, right now?"

lacy shakes her head with a smile, shoving the top into her suitcase. "drew doesn't care if im there or not, he just wants an excuse to text you."

taylor doesn't respond, so lacy speaks up again. "and you better take this game against the guys seriously. i mean come on—" lacy scoffs "team pride is on the line, taylor"

"please," taylor interrupts lacy, "you know me better than that. i would never let a boy beat me at anything."

lacy laughs, and the room goes silent for a minute, the two girls just listening to cruel summer.

"i thought you came here to help me pack." lacy looks over at taylor with a smirk. "fine. ill help" taylor unwillingly gets up from the bed and slowly walks over to lacy.

"heres a tip, dont bring that speedo." taylor starts, and rips the speedo out of lacy's suitcase.

lacy looks over at her confused.

taylor smiles and playfully rolls her eyes. "it doesnt do a thing for your new boobs."

lacy glares at taylor, before sighing, "its not a speedo."

"im just saying, babes. like you need to pack cute things."

"well, i always buy a new suit when i get there!"

"okay? so buy one that doesnt look like youre trying out for the swim team." taylor attempts to hide her smile, but she cant help it.

"are you serious?" lacy lets out a small laugh, before trying to keep a straight face again to stand her ground. "yes, i am." taylor laughs.

lacy walks over to her bed and sits down on the floor next to it, looking up at taylor. "okay, before i let you go you have to tell me your summer wish." lacy doesnt respond, so taylor continues. "like one thing you want to happen this summer."

lacy looks away and shrugs slightly, "i dont know . ."

taylor laughs, "you little liar, yes you do! you want a hot make-out with matt sturniolo!"

lacy blushes, then pulls her hands up to her face in embarrassment as taylor continues.

"you want his tongue in your mouth, you dirty little slut!"

lacy glares at taylor, "shut up taylor" she laughs and pushes her away.

"im just saying.." taylor sits up, while lacy walks across the room to grab her suitcase. "like, youve been in love with him since we were 12."

lacy sighs and looks over at taylor, she knew she was right, she just didnt want to admit it.

lacy has been in love with matthew sturniolo since she could remember. it was something about him that drew her in. but of course, she wasnt going to do anything about it. in her mind, he saw her as a annoying little sister, or even his mom's friends daughter. nothing more, nothing less.

she thought about what it would be like if her and matt were together, but in her head it would end up badly. not that it would happen to begin with.

"youve got to shit or get off the pot." taylor raises her hands, laughing.

lacy gives her a weird look. "a, thats disgusting, and b, it doesnt matter what i do. he doesnt see me that way."

"oh he'll see you. whether he wants to or not.." taylor gestures to lacy's body.

lacy rolls her eyes at her friend, before turning away to grab her necklace.

"you look a lot different than last summer, lacy."

cant do better by kim petras blasted through the car speakers, as lacy horribly sung along, throwing her hands out the car window.

"you cant do better!" lacy shouts right in her older brother steven's ear as he gives her a side glare.

"uh, can you guys turn it down a little, please?" their mom speaks up from the back, worry covered her face.

"yes, please." steven scoffed and turned the music down.

"thank you," their mom paused while steven turned the music down, then continued. "i want you guys to be better about helping out this summer. like, dont just leave your dishes in the sink, load them into the dishwasher."

steven rolled his eyes, "and not just your own dish either, steven." his mother said sternly.

"what? but i—"

"i want you to be good houseguests."

"mom," steven groaned, "susannah has people who clean, doesnt she?"

"steven!" their mom yelled and wacked him on the head, before leaning back in her seat and folding her arms.

"ow!" he shouts, dragging it out to be dramatic. "all right, all right. sorry."

lacy laughs in the passenger seat, looking out the window listening to their banter.

"just be considerate and act like i raised you right." their mom said sternly.

"steven, that means dont stay out too late."

"mom!" he groaned, "im too old for a curfew!"

lacy sighed. her mom had always been weird about money, considering susannah had a lot, and they didnt.

"mom— its not our first time, we know how to behave" lacy butted in, trying to reassure her mother.

her mother gave her a look, before looking away. lacy ignored it and looked back out the window, as they passed through the small, quaint town.

"wait," lacy suddenly realized. "what about me? i dont have a curfew either, right?" lacy asked her mom.

steven laughs, glancing over lacy. "what do you need a curfew for? you dont go anywhere!" he continues to laugh, unable to hold it in.

their mom rolls her eyes. "dont be a jackass, steven."

"what?" he asked, genuinely confused about what he did wrong.

she sighed, and looked over at lacy. "lacy, we will talk about it when something comes up, okay?" lacy just smiles and nods at her mom.

"oh and dont forget," lacy looks over at steven, "you promised you'd take me driving."

"lacy, i told you id take you." her mom says, confused.

"yeah but youre too.. judgey." lacy mumbles under her breath.

"excuse me?" her mom leans forward as steven begins to laugh again.

lacy and her mom walked into the tiny gas station, while steven stayed outside to get gas for the car.

lacy immediately raced over to the chips while her mom went to the bathroom.

she grabs a bag of cheetos and opens it right away, shoving some of the chips into her mouth.

suddenly, she feels eyes on her, so she looks up and notices the cashier watching her. she gives him a weird look, and as shes about to look away, he gestures her to walk over and gives a small "hey."

lacy quickly grabs a soda from the fridge behind her, then walks over to the register.

"are you new this summer?" the guy asks, as he scans her items.

"uh, me? no im not new."

"really? hm." he hums, as he finishes scanning her items before adding them up on the register.

"thought i knew every pretty girl in cousins.." the guy mumbled to himself as he bagged the items.

lacy glanded around, hoping her mom would appear, but she didnt. she laughed awkwardly, hoping the guy would get the hint to stop.

"coming to the bonfire tonight?" he asks, trying to get a conversation out of her. "first of the season." he adds.

"uh, maybe?" lacy attempts to play it cool, but it came off as un-cool.

"come!" the guy smiled widely. "i'll introduce you to some of my friends!"

lacy remembered her conversation early with steven and her mom about curfews and a specific comment from steven about her never going anywhere.

"maybe i will." she says, surprising the guy and herself.

the guy smirks, and hands the bag over to her. lacy gives him a smile that doesn't entirely meet her eyes, and she walks back out to her car, her mom right behind her.

the car slowly comes to a stop, and lacy looks at the house in front of her, memories rushing back to her.

god she missed this place.

their mom, laurel is the first to get out of the car. as shes closing the door, a familiar figure opens the front door with a massive smile. "whats up!" he shouts excitedly.

chris.

"hi!" laurel shouts back, while steven struggles to get out of the car.

chris runs over to laurel and gives her a big hug, before ditching her for steven, practically tackling him.

laurel runs over to susannah with open arms, and while they embrace, lacy still sits in the passenger seat, smiling at the small reunion.

lacy gets out of the car just as steven and chris are wrapping up.

steven walks away from chris to say hi to susannah, and its like all eyes were on lacy.

with his mouth slightly agape, chris watches lacy stands there awkwardly

after standing in a daze, chris suddenly dashes over to lacy. "look who came back all grown up!" he picks her up and spins her in a circle.

"chris! chris—" he continues to spin her. "put me down!" she laughs.

"chris!" steven shouts, "come over here, come
on!"

chris rushes over to steven and the mothers, joining the conversation immediately.

lacy turns around, and all of a sudden, taylor swift's lover starts playing in her head as her eyes land on him.

the boy she's liked forever. in her mind, her one true love.

matt sturniolo.

he breaks into a smile, and walks over to her.

lacy's heart starts to speed up, and she feels her palms get sweaty.

the boy she never could give up was finally in front of her again.

she could feel her face heat up as he stopped in front of her, watching her.

matt's face was always hard to read, as he didnt really express emotion.

this could be it, lacy thought. this was her summer.

"i liked you better with glasses."

oh.

oh.

lacy felt her heart drop to her stomach, as it just shattered.

she hated her glasses.

her breath hitches, and her smile falters. "
too bad. i like me better without them." she responds, sadness laced in her tone.

and just as the song had started, it abruptly stopped.

matt just stares at her, expressionless.

so much for this being her summer.

BROOKLYN'S NOTES !

i lowkey wasnt planning on writing AND publishing a chapter right away, but i got into the grind at 1 AM.

so i ran with it.

im EXHAUSTED and its now 3. wish me luck tomorrow, gang.

word count: 1877

MWAH !!