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7. the past

"So can I call you tonight? I'm tryna make up my mind."
—Can i call you tonight?, Dayglow
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JULY 1ST, 2020 belly's 14th birthday.

Madi was woken up early by Susannah.
She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she slowly started to wake up. Susannah ran her fingers through Madi's hair, "I woke everyone up, we are all going to meet downstairs in 5 minutes. Her ready honey." Susannah gave her a kiss on the head walked out of her room.

Madi was extremely tired, she was no morning person, unlike Belly. But it was Belly's birthday, and she loved her so she got out of her comfortable bed.

Madi pulled out her denim short overalls and one of her moms Baby tees from when she was in college. They fit her perfectly, her mom gave Madi all of her clothes. So she basically had a new wardrobe, that she was inlove with.

She put her hair in two pigtail braids, applied her favorite strawberry lipgloss, and headed down to the kitchen.

The smell of Maple engulfed Madi as she walked in. Laurel made her world-famous Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes. She did it every year, for both Madi and Belly. Since they were the only two who had a birthday during the summer.

Madi loved the tradition, it was the thing she looked forward to the most. And the birthday dinner Susannah cooked for them.

Everyone in the house was miserable, Jeremiah couldn't even finish his bowl of cereal, he just plopped his head down on the counter. Steven just was staring blankly at the pancakes, every-time he tried to reach for one Laurel would slap his hand out of the way. Conrad was reading the newspaper, like a old man.

Madi loved her family, as she came down she scanned the room for her Dad. But he was nowhere to be found. She opened the fridge slowly and grabbed some orange juice, "Hey, where's dad?" Everyone looked up, it seemed no one had noticed expect for Madi. Susannah quickly answered, "Oh, he left for some business meeting." That stung Madi. She loved her dad. But she also knew he was not on a business meeting. She heard her Mom and Dad fighting late last night. It was around 2:00am and she sat on the stairs and just listened, until he dragged his suitcase and himself out the door.

Belly ran down the stairs, "Good Morning guys!" her energy made everyone sick. How the hell could one be so energized at 8:00am. Especially during the summer.

Madi tan over to her first and tackled her with a hug, everyone followed suit.

It was time to sing her, Happy Birthday. They didn't have a traditional cake, they just stuck a candle into the pancakes and called it a day.

Not that they were lazy or cheap, but that was just the tradition.

It took Belly a second to blow out her candles. But she finally did and she was glowing with excitement. "Well, what'd you wish for?" Jere asked, as he cut himself a piece of her pancake. Steven envied him, he tried to do the same but Laurel hit his hand, once again.

Belly rolled her eyes, "If I told you, it wouldn't come true." Jere shrugged and finished off his Cereal.

Madi knew what Belly wished for. She wished for Conrad.

BELLY WANTED TO GO TO THE BOARDWALK for the day. So Laurel and Susannah dropped the kids off and headed for the beach.

Conrad grabbed Belly's shoulders, "So, where to Bellybutton?" Conrad snickered and Belly rolled her eyes, "How about the arcade! And then we can hit some rides later?" everyone agreed

"Last one to the Arcade is a loser!" Steven said as he started running. The rest of the kids started running too. Conrad and Jere kept pushing each-other back, unfortunately Jere was the last one there. He was upset, he kept blaming Conrad.