I slept in on my birthday. The night before, I'd drawn my shades closed, not wanting to be woken by the sun like I usually am. I can hear voices in the kitchen as I pull myself out of bed, tiredly dragging myself around my room to get somewhat ready for the morning. I pull my hair out of the braid I'd twisted into before falling asleep, not bothering to change out of my PJ shorts and the Cousins t-shirt I'd been wearing.

I was supposed to be grabbing Isla at the bus by now, I think, slipping on a pair of flip-flops before leaving my room. Instead, she'd called me last night at midnight exactly, singing to me in a quiet whisper to not wake her parents. She promised me she'd call again before heading out to her grandparents, shooting me her brightest goofy grin as she hung up.

"There she is," Jeremiah sprung out of his seat as soon as I entered the kitchen, pulling me into a tight hug, my feet lifting off the ground, "Happy Birthday, Flo." He cheered, spinning me around excitedly.

Despite my somewhat dampened mood, Jeremiah's excited greeting makes me giggle, a genuine smile making its way onto my lips, "Thanks, Jere," I ruffle his hair once I'm back on the ground.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart," Mom moves over, sweeping me into her arms. Things have been somewhat better with mom, I guess. She doesn't really know that sometimes what she says can hurt me, so she always bounces right back after our serious convos.

"Thanks, Mom," I hug her back. As we're hugging, the backdoor swings open, followed by someone's arms grabbing my waist, startling me.

"Happy birthday, big sis," Steven chuckles at my startled reaction, throwing his arm around my shoulder. Steven's never been one for affection towards Bels and me, so I'm slightly thrown off by the action, until he moves his knuckles up to my head, messing up my already somewhat messy hair.

"You're such a jerk," I giggle, playfully pushing him away.

Before Steven can argue, Susannah steps over, engulfing me in one of her world-famous hugs, "Our first baby is all grown up," she says to mom, running her fingers through my hair. Whenever Susannah hugs me, I feel like a little kid again. I don't doubt that mom loves me. It's just that sometimes I think she forgets I'm not that much older than Belly, who she treats like her precious little girl still, "Happy birthday, my love."

"Thank you," I smile at her once she's pulled me out of her arms. 

    "We made your favourite for breakfast," she nudges me, "Nutella French toast, with extra strawberries."

"And..." Jeremiah ran over to the fridge, pulling out an iced coffee from my favourite place in town, "the largest caramel iced coffee I could get."

We all move to the table, which is already decorated with fourth of July décor. Belly sits across from me as Jere takes the seat beside me. I've gotten used to her silence towards me, so I don't expect a smile or even a brief nod, "Happy birthday, Florence." She looks down at her French toast, speaking so quietly I barely hear her.

"Thanks, Belly." I smiled. It wasn't perfect. Other years on my birthday, Belly usually woke me up by flopping on top of me while I slept, singing happy birthday at the top of her lungs until I got out of bed. It was something, though, a small glimmer of things maybe getting back to normal between us one day.

"Alright," Susannah sits at the head of the table, mom taking the seat beside her. I can't help but notice the empty seat that Conrad usually sits in, "dig in."

"Is Conrad not joining us?" I ask, trying not to sound too disappointed by his absence. I guess I deserve it. He was the one who wanted to figure things out, and like the coward I am, I pushed him even further away.

"He had some errand to run," Mom shrugs, popping a strawberry into her mouth.

"On Flo's birthday?" Jeremiah questions, confused, "why couldn't he just wait."

Susannah and mom both share a look, one so quick I barely notice it. They've always been able to do this thing where they can have mini conversations with just their eyes. They could tell what the other was thinking without a word, "So, Flo, how's your novel coming along?" Susannah changes the conversation, taking a sip of coffee.

From there, Conrad isn't brought up again. We chat about everything but him. It seems that both of the moms were steering the direction in which our conversations go. When we finish breakfast, and soon after, we go into the living room, "shouldn't we wait for Conrad?" Steven asks, sitting on the couch with my gift in his hands.

"No, it's fine," Susannah brushes him off, shooting me an excited smile, "here, open mine first." She hands me a box, an excited expression on her face as I tear the paper off. Inside the box is a pair of heels, far nicer than any other shoes I've ever owned. Their material is satin, with pearls around my ankle, "I thought you could wear them for the Deb. Do you like them?"

"I love them," I reassure her, running my fingers along the soft satin material, "thank you, Susannah. These are really beautiful." Then, before I could move on to the next present, she held out another gift, this time in a bag, "you didn't have to get me two things," I tell Susannah, shaking my head at her with a smile on my face.

"It's your eighteenth birthday," She disagrees with me, handing me the bag. "It's just a little something. Open it." I smile at her before taking the tissue paper out of the bag; nestled in the gift bag is a ton of journals, all worn and old looking, "they're mine, from when I was your age. I always dreamed of having a daughter to give these to one day, so they could back on them whenever I wasn't there with them. I figured you could take them to college?"

Mom squeezes her best friend's hand, and I look up at her in shock. When we were little, I remember seeing Susannah write in her journals every night; she said that she was writing down all her wisdom and that one day I could read it, "Susannah," I shake my head at her, "I can't..."

"I want you to," She cuts me off, "maybe one day you can write a book about me based on my journals." She winks at me teasingly, her smirk so similar to Conrad's.

"Thank you," I say, standing up to pull her into a quick hug, "I promise that I'll still you for advice anyway, though, okay?"

"I wouldn't want it any other way, my sweet girl," She tucks a piece of hair behind my ear before I move to sit back down.

"It's gonna be hard to top that," Mom chuckles, handing me her gift next. I open her gift, "it's a-"

"First edition Little Women," I finish her sentence for her, my fingers running along the spine. It was hardcover, a deep burgundy shade with gold writing that had faded slightly with age. When I was little, I made mom read me this book every single night. The character Jo was the reason I wanted to start writing in the first place, "Mom, this is amazing," I tell her, smiling up at her, "thank you."

Mom smiles as Jeremiah springs up, "me next," Jeremiah exclaims, handing me a wrapped present. I take it from him, carefully unwrapping the paper.

"Did you make this?" I ask him, tilting my head to the side. In my hands was a photo frame covered in 3D seashells that he'd glued on. In the center was a picture of all of us from two summers ago. I stood in the center, my head leaning against Belly's, whose tongue was sticking out of the corner of her mouth. On her side was Jeremiah, holding a pair of bunny ears above her head, his curly hair gelled down. At the end was Steven, grinning with his head tilted upward. Conrad stood beside me, he wore his glasses back then, and unlike the rest of us looking at the camera, he was looking at me, smiling.

"I figured you could put it on your desk or something at school?" He shrugs, smiling, "to remember us by."

"She's going to university, not a different planet," Steven reminds him, though he reaches for the picture, a fond smile on his face at young us. Belly even leans over to look, though she doesn't say anything.

"I love it," I say to Jeremiah, reaching over to ruffle his hair, "thank you."

"Alright, Steven," Jere nudges my brother, "you're next."

Steven throws a present over to me, which mom scolds him for, but I just laugh, tearing the paper carefully. I'm shocked to find a pair of sunglasses in the box, carefully wrapped in tissue paper, "Shayla helped me pick them out," He explains, shrugging nonchalantly.

That made sense. These were way too trendy for my brother to pick out on his own; they were black pair of sunglasses, round at the bottom with a cat-eyed style flick, "I figured," I say to him, shooting him a cheeky grin, "these are way too cute for you pick up on your own."

Everyone laughs while I place the sunglasses on my face, "those are cute," Susannah nods her head in approval, "I might just have to steal those from you, Flo."

"Let me try," Jere makes grabby hands towards me, like a little kid. I shake my head, amused, before handing him over the sunglasses. Jeremiah strikes vogue poses with his hands, sliding the sunglasses on, "how do I look?" He asks Belly, nudging her knee with his hand.

She laughs, "fabulous."

"You're next, Bels," Steven nudges her, nodding for her to hand me my gift.

"Oh," Belly looks down at her hands awkwardly, "I actually don't have anything." I'm not surprised, though a tiny bit of hurt courses through me, "I've just been so busy, with the Deb and-"

Before she can finish her excuse, the front door closes, clicking as whoever entered locks it, "Conrad?" His mom calls. She's smiling excitedly, the awkward moment with Belly sliding off everyone's shoulders.

"Yeah," He calls back. I hear his flip-flops make noise against the wooden floor as he approaches the living room, louder than usual as if he's not alone. I share a look with Steven, who seems to have the same thought as me, when Conrad enters the room, someone else falling behind him.

She moves so she's no longer hidden behind Conrad's broad shoulders, and I gasp. Standing beside Conrad, with a giant grin and a birthday bag in her hand, is Isla.

 Ahh! So excited to write the friendship between Isla and Flo, also just super excited for the Fourth of July chapters in general!!

Hope you enjoyed!

Okay, also in case you're curious what the shoes and sunglasses look like...

https://img.ltwebstatic.com/images3_pi/2022/02/11/1644548305c59d52e2224184aa22a7b055db35d4e1.webp

https://img.ssensemedia.com/images/b_white,g_center,f_auto,q_auto:best/221418F005054_4/saint-laurent-black-sl-456-cat-eye-sunglasses.jpg