the summer you noticed me ↠ conrad fisher {1}

t w e n t y - t w o

"I don't remember you telling me Jeremiah would be here," Belly whispers stopping just as the beach came into view. Jeremiah had picked a spot on the beach, laying out his towel and a beach chair.

I stop walking too, sudden panic building up my body. I was scared I missed something. I never thought to question why Jeremiah suddenly had so much free time, we're him and Belly fighting? They used to hang out a lot, at least they did last summer.

     I didn't want Belly to leave, because I needed her. I haven't seen her much since we got here and I miss her. I need her positivity optimistic innocence in my presents. I wanted to see her smile, and watch her face light up over the smallest things like a baby walking into the ocean and toppling over, but I also needed Jeremiah.

Jeremiah has been helping me a lot with this Conrad thing, even though it only happened yesterday morning. He spent the whole day with me, like he promised. We watched movies, he bought me $25 worth of junk food, and we shared a tub of ice-cream.

     He even sent me a goodnight text yelling at me making sure I was in bed and not out partying. Then he texted me this morning, an actual nice text message that still made me warm and fuzzy because it still meant I mattered to someone.

He only said:
good-morning, claire bear☀️🧸 everyday is a new beginning, keep your head up my beautiful best friend😚.

"Did something happen with you and Jeremiah?" I ask. She doesn't look at me, which only confirms that it's true. "What happened? Please Belly, I need you two today." She bites her lip and looks down at the sand.

"Something did happen, it—" she pauses and finally looks into my eyes. "I called him out after the whole Cam Cameron thing, it's been pretty weird since."

"What do you mean by, call him out?" I ask.

"I said something along the lines of you only crashed my first date because only wanted me to remember you exist, or uh something close that?" she says, sounding embarrassed.

"We'll, you're not wrong, I hope you know that," I say. She chuckles quietly and I know she knows she's right. It's just the fact that she showed him she cares enough to confront him about it. "But I don't think it'll be weird. I'll be here to ease the tension. We'll have a fun beach day, I promise. Like old times!" I smiled giving her arm a shake.

I'm forcing my lip into a pout, and it takes all of five seconds for her to groan and rip her gaze from mine. "Fine, only because your puppy dog eyes are so intense that I can't help but give in," she teases.

"Yay, come on he probably knows we're talking about him," I laugh, giving her a shove.

"Claire, why you would say that!" She whines, but walks with her head head high all the way over to the blanket where Jeremiah is laying.

* * *

It wasn't awkward. If anything it was so normal it was almost unusual. A lot has changed since we last spent a day like this. I got a taste of what it would be like to be dating Conrad Fisher, then lost it. I also experience a lot of panic attacks over my parents "non" separation. Belly has gone out on her first date, and it wasn't with Jeremiah Fisher like she always pictured it would be. Also, Belly is in a debutante ball. That's something new and different.

One thing that is the same is the fact that Jeremiah and Belly like each other, still, but they're both too obvious to notice the other persons attraction.

I wonder what it would be like to date Conrad on a day like today; I imagine it's a double date with Belly and Jeremiah. Conrad would race me to the water, and even though I had a head start I still lost because my 5'2 self couldn't never run fast enough to beat his 6'1 self. Because I lost he'd throw me over his shoulder, dumping me into the first wave he saw. I'd come up laughing, saying how annoying he is and pout until he comes to help me up. Then I'd pull him under with me and we'd kiss under water and —

"Hello? Clare!" Belly's hands snap me out of my dream bubble.

I suddenly feel so sad. So so sad. My chest physically hurts. I force a smile though, and look up at her and Jeremiah. "Yeah?" I ask.

"We're gunna go to the water, you want to come?"

      "No I'm okay, I'm not too hot yet. I'll meet you guys down there in a second." I say.

      Belly accepts my response and runs to the ocean. I can't blame her for not reading my mind. I did tell her I was okay, but Jeremiah knows me better then that now. Which is why he's lingering.

      "Claire," he says quietly. "What we're you thinking about? You have that crease in your forehead and you only get that when your thinking too much about deep stuff."

      I sit up on my elbows and frown. "Get out of my head."

      "Nope," he smiles, popping the P. "Conrad?" He asks.

      "Yeah I was thinking abou—"

     "No, Conrad. He's right there. He's walking over to us right now."

      I spin around and sure enough I see Conrad walking over to us with a chair, a towel, and a water bottle.

      "No way," I groan.