𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 | 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫

V

After a tiring walk we arrive at the party. I'm glad that belly decided to sneak out because I know no one here apart from her. Steven, Jeremiah and Conrad are nowhere in sight.
We take a seat on the beach and talk for a while. Considering we're at a party, it's honestly peaceful.
"Steven!" Belly shouts as he passes across the beach, beer in one hand, girl in the other.
I cringe. I don't think belly should have done that. Steven looks pissed.
"What are you doing here" Steven storms up to belly.  Oh god. I hate it when Steven is annoyed- he's loud and hot tempered.
"You brought her here?" He directs the question to me.
I look at belly, unsure of what to say.
"I- yes." I answer, partly telling the truth, part covering for belly sneaking out.
"Why!" He yells. I almost flinch at his volume. I see him process his action and his eyes soften apologetically. He knows I hate confrontations. Part of trauma I guess.
He grabs her arm and pulls her up. "We're going home."
Belly retaliates. "No!"
She pulls out of his grip and tumbles towards the floor. I use all of my strength to prevent her from following the direction of gravity.
By now they are in a full fledged argument, gaining the full attention of the beach. I look around in hopes of finding a way to resolve the conflict. My eyes land upon Conrad, sitting near with a girl. His eyes are already on me before I silently plead for him to come help. He looks at belly and Steven, then one last time at me, before averting his glance. I could cry. I don't know how to stop this. A feel a cold wave of relief rush over me when I see Jeremiah's golden hair emerge from the crowd.
"You okay?" He asks, planting his hands on my shoulders. I nod and move to the side as a way of saying 'please sort this out'.
"Hey! Everyone's here. Now we can all hang out together" jere aims at Steven, hoping to relieve the tension.
He's still not happy about it, but I see his shoulders relax. "Fine but stay with addy. And don't move from right here". Steven walks away.
"Fuck you!" Belly screams at his back.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Thank you jere'" I smile warily at him, which he returns.
A girl shouts his name from across the beach before we can resume conversation. He tells us he'll be back in a minute, before jogging off in the direction of the voice.
Me and belly find a quiet spot on the beach before plonking onto the sand.
"Are you ok?" I ask her.
"I think so. Are you okay? Sorry for that back there."
I nod and smile so as to alleviate any guilt she feels. I make small conversation in hopes of forgetting the events that happened just a moment ago. After a few minutes a figure emerges from behind us. I assume it's Jeremiah, but as I crane my neck, it's an unfamiliar tanned boy with dark hair. Him and belly must know each other because they start to engage in friendly chat. I don't recognise their inside jokes and overall it feels weird third wheeling so I excuse myself to get a drink to leave them to each other's company.

I make my way over to the drinks table and reach for a beer. at the same time, a strong grip reaches for the same bottle. our hands touch, i look up. the hand belongs to a tall, pale boy with black hair and beautiful green eyes.

"oh sorry, its all yours" i laugh awkwardly. he smiles and hands the beer to me.

"for you m'lady" he jests.

"well thank you.."  i grin whilst waiting for his name.

"Dylan" he answers me.

before i know it i'm five beers deep into a conversation with this boy. i lost track of how many times i scanned the beach for jeremiah returning from his friends. he didnt end up coming back so i gave up searching. i am actually enjoying myself and have almost completely forgotten about the earlier events of the night. that is until a loud roar is heard from the other end of the beach and i am broken out of my drunken, naive state.

i whip my head towards the noise, and there his is. conrad. im captivated by his face, and forget the reason he captured my attention, until he swings his fist into the nose of another boy. A crowd forms around them, and before i can think about acting rationally, i see bellys pink dress running towards the boys. i know shes going to do something caring, but stupid, like try to stop a fight between two overpowering 17 year olds.

i excuse myself from dylan and stumble behind belly. she reaches the fight and tries to pull the boy away from conrad.

"stop it!" she screeches to both of them, yet goes unheard. i watch in what feels like slowmotion as the boy pulls him arm back to swing at the older fisher, his arm hurtling towards bellys face. i push her away from the flying limb, saving her from injury for the second time that evening.  in our inebraited states, conrad fails to stop his arm from throwing another punch, and i, unable to dodge it, feel it connect with the skin of my cheek.

the crack of skin colliding is enough to sober conrad up and realise what hes done. i, on the other hand, am shocked, face numb and not yet realising the extent of my injuries. the world around me rings, and i briefly hear jeremiah scolding his brother whilst wrapping his arm around me to move me away from the kerfuffle of the beach.