all too well , jeremiah fisher

chapter one

amelia would be lying if she said she wasn't anything but excited to go back to cousins for the summer. she'd been going ever since she moved in with her cousins at the ripe age of 8.

her mother died leaving amelia with her father who was angry at the world and took it out on her. so when laurel showed up one day at her doorstep amelia happily went with her, and has lived with her ever since. sometimes she even caught herself calling her 'mom', to which laurel just smiled. laurel looks nothing like amelia's mother because the two were step sisters but she does act a lot like her so that's what made amelia fill the void of her mother's absence with laurel.

"mel, we're leaving in 15 minutes!" her cousin, belly, called. amelia huffed a frustrated sigh. though she was excited, she was also nervous. she'd be seeing him for the first time since last summer.

jeremiah fisher. the boy she'd been hopelessly in love with since she first met him all those summers ago.

well, that's exaggerating a bit. she wasn't entirely sure of her feelings until she was 10 and he comforted her when she was sad about her mom. that little moment brought the two closer.

though she's liked him for a long time, not a single soul knows. if there's one thing she learned from her father, it was how to mask her feelings. so it was really easy to pretend that her and jeremiah were nothing but best friends.

the two flirted and were attached at the hip so to everyone who didn't know them they were just an average teen couple, but everyone who did know them knew that they were nothing more than best friends.

"amelia!" belly yelled, opening the girls door. "oh. okay good you're awake. we're about to leave are you ready?" she asked.

amelia nodded, zipping her suitcase and dragging it, "yeah, tell steven to come get these."

belly stared at her, "we both know he's not going to do that." she laughed. amelia laughed as well, "you're right."

belly stared at her cousin with a smile as she tried to pull her abnormally large suitcase. "here," belly laughed, helping her cousin pull it. "what's in here, a bunch of bricks?"

amelia laughed, "yeah for when the boys piss me off." belly held her hand up and amelia clapped it. "i like your thinking, mel."

"girls!" laurel called. "time to go!"

•••

laurel, belly, steven, and amelia were all in the car. belly was singing a the top of her lungs in the back seat with steven judging from the driver and their mother smiling in the passenger, while amelia was texting jeremiah. they text like everyday and are constantly on facetime. the moms were betting that they end up married.

'i can't wait to see you' amelia read with a smile on her face, which belly noticed.

"what are you smiling at?" she asked peering over at amelia's phone. the girl pushed her faced away playfully, "none of your business, isabel."

when belly went back to singing her song amelia took it as her time to stare at the text jeremiah sent her before typing her reply.

soon after, laurel motioned for steven to turn the volume down so she could start talking. "i want you to be better about helping out this summer. like, don't just leave your dishes in the sink. load them into the dishwasher." she paused. "and not just your own dish, steven."

"what? but i-"

"i want you to be good houseguest." she finished. "mom, susannah has people who clean, doesn't she?" steven asked. "steven." his mom scolded hitting his head causing him to whine.