"Good morning," Tatyana whispered to Steven as she rubbed her eyes "hey" he responded, his arm numb from her resting her head on it "you slept ok?" she questioned "after last night I did, my arms are giving out though" he smiled "oh shit I'm sorry" she giggled.
"it's okay, you excited for today?" he questioned "I don't know, the deb ball means the end of summer, the end of my time with you." she replied with a somewhat somber smile.
"We have holidays together" he reminded "are you sure? you haven't even asked me to be your girlfriend yet," she replied, trying to debate him "what do you mean? I thought you wanted no titles."
"I did say that but like, look at how I'm just giving myself up to you.. isn't it obvious I want to be your girlfriend," Tatyana mumbled "but Taty I'm not forcing you to have sex, it's okay if you don't want to because we're not officially together" he let her know.
"Didn't say that, what I said was you should've asked me to be your girlfriend by now"
"Why do you always go back on your word? if you told me multiple times that you don't want to get into titles don't expect me to ask you to be my girlfriend," Steven sighed, this was one of the many issues Tatyana had, she was just way too indecisive "but— I'm not going back on anything I just thought you'd have enough sense too ask me."
Steven shook his head at the girl as she grabbed her from off the floor and stormed into her bathroom "I'm not doing this with you Tatyana, I'll text you later or see you later.. whatever it is"
"Beautiful" Tatyana smiled as she stared at Nicole and Isabel through the mirror, she had just finished fixing up Nicole's and Isabel's hair as well as prompting Belly and Nicole to make up, things were right on track "you belly, are ready for the ball" Tatyana grinned.
"Wow, I look pretty" Isabel laughed as she checked herself out in the mirror "yes you do, now put on your pearls" Tatyana handed her the small silk gift bag that Susannah entrusted to her, just to make sure belly got them.
"I can't believe after tonight it's going to be our last day in cousins," Nicole began "I know, it's crazy isn't it? every summer here feels so surreal.. I can't believe it's ending" Tatyana acknowledged, this summer definitely took her on an emotional roller coaster but everything seemed to be working out now.
"I know, this was like the best summer of my life!" Isabel exclaimed clutching onto the pearls "of course it was, you got to hoe it up!" Nicole said, genuinely joking "I'm sorry but this summer reminded me of one of those wattpad stories" Belly laughed "I'm so proud of you though, I feel like I can live vicariously through you" Tatyana expressed, sitting down in one of the comfortable chairs.
"Please Taty, I basically learned from you," Isabel let her know "don't blame me cause you know how to break hearts" Tatyana scoffed pulling out her phone to see a text from Steven asking where she was in which she replied letting him know she was at the country club helping the girls get ready for the ball.
"Well belly, who's your date for tonight?" Nicole inquired as she leaned in to hear her answer "it's Jeremiah," she responded with a small grin "he said he wanted to take me and I couldn't say no." she laid back.
"poor Connie, if only he wasn't a cheater" Nicole shrugged her shoulders, then standing up from the chair "come on Taty, let's go see what's going on out there,"
"ok, good luck bells, see you later." Tatyana gave her a side hug before her and Nicole walked out the dressing rooms.
"Taty, you look so beautiful it's a shame you didn't become a deb this year," Susannah smiled pulling the girl into a tight embrace "thank you su, if anything I'll see if I can do it next year, for you." she smiled hugging her back even though she was struggling to take a breath.
