Beautiful Boy (Jeremiah Fisher)

Chapter 9

"Connie?" I slowly opened the door to Conrad's room. He was sitting on his bed with his face in his hands.

"I'm fine." He said while quickly wiping away tears. I closed the door and walked towards him sitting next to him.

"Don't listen to him Conrad. Belly is not your responsibility." I said trying to make eye contact with him but he wouldn't look up.

Conrad sighed as he finally looked up at me. "Everyone expects me to watch over everyone. Be the perfect role model."

"We're all over 16 now, we're old enough to make our own choices and decisions. Belly drinking so much was her choice. There's nothing you could've done about it." I assured him.

Conrad had another tear fall from his eye but he quickly wiped it away again. He's trying to hide the fact that he's crying from me.

"You don't have to hide that." I pulled his hand away from his face so his tears can fall freely. "It's okay to cry, it's okay to be upset."

"There's so much going on that I wish I could tell you." He said his voice breaking.

"Why can't you tell me? We've proven that we can trust each other." I told him.

Conrad sighed. "My mom-"

"Did you know dad just left?" Jeremiah barged into Conrad's room. Conrad quickly wiped his tears away. Hiding it from Jeremiah.

"I'm sorry Jere. He's got work to do." I gave him a soft smile.

"It's the first Fourth of July weekend without him." Jeremiah laid across Conrad's bed.

I let out a soft laugh. "I know exactly how you feel."

"Shit Scar, I'm sorry I didn't mean that." Jeremiah quickly said. Sorry was written all over his face.

"Don't be sorry, I know it's hard for you." I put my hand on his leg. I looked over at Conrad to see he has became completely silent.

"I'm going down on the dock. Can we finish this conversation later?" Conrad asked me.

"Of course." I nodded at him. He got up and left the room.

"What we're you guys talking about?" Jeremiah looked confused. A bit of jealousy written on his face.

"Just life." I shrugged. "It seems like he has a lot going on."

~~~

Belly and I stood in the deb room. Today was dance rehearsal for the ball. We looked around, every girl had a date besides Belly and I.

"You still haven't asked Cam?" I asked her.

"I've been meaning to." Belly trailed off.

"Someone else is just holding you back?"

"Conrad and I almost kissed last night." Belly said trying to hold back her smile

"Holy shit Bells!" I yelled.

"Language!" Paige the deb leader yelled at me for using the word 'shit.'

"I don't know. He told me I don't know the affect I have on people." Belly shyly admitted to me.

"Belly, that's amazing. So Cam is out of the picture now?"

She sighed. "I might ended it later on today. He's a great guy but he's just not Conrad."

"I understand." I grabbed her hand to assure her that following her dreams is okay.

"This is Ms. Covington. She came all the way from Newton to teach you all today." Paige grabbed everyone's attention. My mind wandered off. Who am I going to take to the ball? Jeremiah said he'd never go to one of these things. Would he change his mind for me? I noticed Steven and Shayla were here together. I'm happy they figured things out.