✸  ANYONE ELSE
chapter one ━━ cousins beach

SUMMER HAD ALWAYS been Julie Fisher's favourite season. Not because it was the one to hold her birthday — no, she didn't turn seventeen before September — and not because of the long vacation, because the girl never hated school the same way her twin brother did.

She most certainly loved the warm weather, but that wasn't the answer either. The main reason to why she favoured summer above everything else, was the time her family spent in Cousins.

It was in the small coastal town that the family's beach house was located. The  house where she had some of her fondest memories.

She couldn't remember a summer not spend in that house, accompanied by the Conklin's — her mothers lifelong friend, Laurel, and the woman's two children, Isabel and Steven.

Along with the girl's two brothers, Jeremiah and Conrad, the five of them — sometimes along with her friend, Anya, who lived in Cousins all year round, or one of the boys' friends — spent their summers laying on the beach or walking aimlessly around in the little town centrum.

And that was exactly — or almost exactly — what she was doing in that moment: laying on a sunbed by the pool belonging to a girl called Leila — a friend of Anya who had debuted with the two at last year's annual debutant ball.

The sun was burning on her bare back, she had discarded her shirt a long time ago, leaving her in nothing but the blue bikini her mother got her at the start of summer, but after basically being drowned in sunscreen by her brunette friend — Anya had insisted on applying rather too much than not enough — she wasn't scared of getting sunburned.

The soft tones of a song the girl didn't recognise played through the speaker Leila had set up in the garden. Surrounding her was about ten others girls, all laying down on one of the loungers to catch some colour from brightly shining sun.

Checking her phone, the girl sat up and swung her legs over to one side of the sunbed, stretching out her arms as she looked around her, not really wanting to leave.

"I need to go now," she stated, agreeing with her friends when they groaned about her staying a bit longer. She still stood up, though, packing away her things and pulling her denim shorts back on.

As she slowly made her way through the large backyard, the girls all murmured a small goodbye to their friend. After returning the greeting, she made her way over to say more thoroughly goodbye to Anya, before moving along to thank Leila for inviting her.

"Of course, Jules," Leila pulled up her sunglasses to look at her friend. "I expect you to come at the bonfire tonight, too?"

"Sure," she nodded. "Just gotta ask my mom,"

"Susannah will say yes," Leila remarked, knowing Julie's mother barely said no to her only daughter.

"Gotta ask anyway!" She remarked grabbing her bag tightly as she exited the backyard through the decorated garden gate.

The blonde girl slowly trudged down the stone step outside the house, laying down her bag in the basket of her black bike when she reached it, before driving off, a wide smile on her face. The Conklin family were arriving that day, and then the summer could officially start.

☼  ☼  ☼  ☼

THE CHILDREN USED to joke about Laurel's hugs being magical, saying that it could heal any harm to be in the arms of the older woman. That was perhaps a dumb, childish idea, but the sixteen-year-old girl felt absolutely amazing when her mother's best friend took her into her arms, hugging her tightly.

"It feels like years since I last saw you," Laurel pulled back slightly to look at the teenager in front of her, "And you just grow more and more beautiful — just like your mother," she gushed.

"What about me?" Jeremiah came up behind his sister, "Don't you find me beautiful, Laur?" he cheekily winked at her.

"The most beautiful in the world, Jere," the woman played along with a fond smile as she pulled him into a hug as well.

Julie continued to watch the interaction until she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her turn around.

Her smile widened as she recognised the person, pulling him into a hug that was immediately returned by the taller boy by pulling her into his chest, resting his face in the crook of her neck.

When they pulled apart, Julie was quick to take in his features; his hair had grown out a bit and he was at least two inches taller, but his face held the same crooked smile as the last year, and his voice sounded the same as he said her name.

"Jules," he beamed at the already suntanned blonde, "You look great,"

"Thank you," she smiled back just as brightly, surprising herself by not blushing scarlet red at his compliment. "You look great as well,"

"I know," his face turned cocky. "Been working out just for you," he joked, kissing his bicep.

"Wow, I'm so honoured," she answered, letting out a giggle when her older brother appeared behind the brunette, already knowing what was coming.

"If you call that muscle, you're definitely even weaker than I thought, Stevie," Conrad laughed at the look of mock offence on the younger boy's face, bringing him in for a quick hug. "Welcome back to Cousins,"

✸ author's note ✸
first rewritten chapter!

i removed the weird thing with her ex, because i honestly forgot about him in the rest of the story...