i forgot that you existed | jeremiah fisher or conrad fisher

chapter 2: cruel summer

I'm drunk in the back of the car and
I cried like a baby coming back from the bar

Cruel Summer
Season 1 Episode 1

As we park the car, I see Jeremiah open the house door.
"What's up?" Jeremiah asks, a huge smile creeping onto his face.
Jeremiah runs up to Mom and hugs her.
He then goes up to Steven for a "bro hug", as they used to call it.
Belly and I get out of the car as everyone else is hugging it out.
Jeremiah turns toward the car and looks at me and Bells.
Sussanah jogs to Belly and gives her a big hug, while Jeremiah does the same.
"Look who came back all grown up," He says as we hug.
He picks me up in the process and I scream a little.
When he puts me down, Steven gestures for him to come over there with everyone else.
I see Conrad walking out of the house.
I smile at him and he smiles back, he slowly walks to me and says "I liked you better with your long hair and glasses,".
I'm a little disappointed that was the first thing he says to me after not seeing me for a year.
"Too bad, I like me better without them," I reply, playfully.
He puts his hand on my head and ruffles my hair.
Belly comes to my side as Jeremiah and Steven closer to us.
"You know, well I don't know about you, but"- he and Jere put their pointer fingers at their wrists, like a watch- "but, I think it's time for"-Steven says, elongating the "r"-" a Belly flop!!"
Belly starts running away from the boys as I stand with my hands over my chest.
Steven catches her, but she manages to get out of his grasp. But Conrad gets her with his left hand.
Jere looks back at me with a mischievous grin.
"Oh no. No, no, no," I scream as he leaps forward.
I run for the door of the house but Jeremiah has already caught me.
He carries me wedding style as I yell "My name isn't even Belly!! It doesn't work!!"
"Whatever," Jere replies.
Steven is holding Belly by her feet as Connie holds her from under her arms.
They start counting back from three as Bell screams her head off.
The boys finally drop her in and Jeremiah hands me off to them.
Steven holding my right foot, Jere holding my left, and Conrad holding my arms.
I land on the water hard, the cold of it shocks me, though I'm not sure why.
Belly mouths to me "Ask for help, then pull 'em in".
I nod my head in agreement.
I go up above the water and say "Ow, I hurt my ankle, seriously, can I have some help?"
Jeremiah holds out his hand and I grab it pulling him in, as the boys are distracted Belly pulls them in.
I swim as fast as I can away from Jere as he says "Este,", chasing me.
He finally gets me and he tackles me.
I laugh as I close my eyes, so as not to get water in them.
We go above water and I splash him in the face and he does the same to me.
***
Bells and I walk into the kitchen drenched head to toe in water as Susannah cuts lemons.
We laugh and say "hi" as we take a seat on the chairs by the island.
"You're dripping water all over the place," Mom says, getting us some towels.
Susannah mouths to Mom "They're gorgeous".
"I know," Mom mouths back.
Susannah walks up to Belly and says "You've always been lovely, but oh honey, look at you,".
I smile at the cute comment as she comes over to me and says "And you, you're blossoming into a beautiful young woman,".
I blush at the comment.
"I think I look pretty much the same," Belly says, looking down.
"You do not look the same," Susannah replies.
"Same to you," she says looking over at me.
She gestures for me to join the group hug.
I smile, Susannah has a way of saying things that makes me almost believe her.
I walk to Belly and I's room to change into some dry clothes as Mom, Belly, and Susannah continue talking.
***
I procrastinate putting on dry clothes.
I put my headphones on, lay down, and start listening to Taylor Swift.
I'm on track five of the album Lover when Belly loudly opens the door and slams it shut.
I take my headphones off, get up from my laying position and ask her why she's upset.
"Dad's coming down here for the fourth," Belly says, annoyed.
"Yesh, is Mom ready for that?" I ak.
"I don't know, I really don't want any awkward moments," She replied.
"Let's hope everything will be okay," I say as I lay back down.
Belly and I start talking about random things as I hold Junior Mint, the white bear Jere won for me and Belly, like five summers ago.
Jeremiah plops down on my bed and says to me "I can't believe you still have that bear,"
"We'd never throw away junior mint," I replied, snuggling up to the bear.
"Come on, let's go swim before dinner," Jeremiah whines.
"Because we're supposed to go with Mom to Whale with a Tale," I reply, elongating the "s" to mock him.
"But, I've been wanting to go to the ocean forever, but I wait for you two to get here," He explains.
I shake my head no.
Jeremiah grabs junior mint and moves his paws, as he says "Pretty please,", over and over.
Belly laughs, and I glance at her, saying "You want to do this?".
Her eyes reply with "Yes".
"Okay, fine," I sigh.
Jere grins as he says, "I'll meet you outside, okay,".
He practically leaps out of the room with joy as Belly and I laugh with amusement.
***
Once Belly and I are changed, we walk out to the side door where Jere is standing.
Bell and Jeremiah start talking about how Dad is coming down for the fourth.
I just walk with them, listening, though I'm not really listening, I'm thinking about Taylor Swift.
The subject gets to Dad's new beard, I start laughing and giggling as Jere and Belly look at me smiling.
We finally get to the beach and Jere asks us if we want to race.
"No, you're legs are too long now," Belly complains,
"You're too buff now," I joke.
"Please," Jere insists.
Bell and I share a glance and start running.
Jere is at first confused but runs to catch up with us.
I run faster than both of them, as I have more practice than Bell in running.
I'm on the track team at school.
I make it to the water safely and look behind me to see if everything is okay.
Jere is running right at me with his arms open.
I try to move, but it's too late, he already landed on me.
Belly laughs at us as I try to get up but Jere continues to push me down.
We play for more than forty minutes before we head back to the beach house.
***
Once we're back at the house, I go to the bathroom ti take a shower, while Bell listens to music on her phone.
I finish my shower, get dressed and we head downstairs for dinner.
***
I quietly eat my dinner as Jeremiah and Steven are laughing at something on their phones.
"I swear to god, Steven, if you don't put that phone away, I will put it in the screen bin," Mom scolds.
I silently laugh at the comment as Steven looks at her like she's the rudest person on the planet.
"We just want to see your beautiful face. Can dinner be a screen-free zone? Like in the olden days," Susannah says sweetly.
Jeremiah quickly grabs Steven's phone and throws it in the screen bin.
Steven gets upset and they start talking about how Jere's body is more muscular than Steven's.
It's a weird conversation, so I stay out of it.
In the heat of excitement, Steven asks Conrad when he's going to football training.
The whole table goes silent after he says "I quit football".
I knew that he wasn't happy with football,  he was much more interested in music and poetry, not football.
He was just pushed by his father to do it.
But I'm curious about why he quit.
Steven, Sussannah, and Connie start to talk about it as take a sip of my water.
I start to zone out until Susannah says, "Belly, Este, I have something for you two,".
She hands both of us an envelope. 
I open it and it says Cousins debutante Ball.
I'm confused about why Susannah would give this to us, it really either of our things.
Apparently, my face shows my confusion because Jere asks "Did you finally get your Hogwarts letter,"
"I wish," I reply, reminiscing on the huge Harry Potter phase I had in fourth to early seventh grade.
"I wrangled Belly and Este invitations to be debutants," Susannah says excitedly.
"Is that the thing where the girls wear fancy dress and curtsy?" Belly asks.
"It's when a girl comes of age and is presented with maturity," Susannah says matter a factly.
"Girls come from all over New England to come, and you'll make so many new friends, and it'll be so much fun!" Susannah convinces.
I zone out and stop listening, until Steven spits out his soup and it lands on my face.
I make a face of disgust as I grab my napkin to get the droplets off.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, mature?" Steven laughs.
"Belly? And Este? Mature?" He asks.
"A couple of months ago Este made us have a cat funeral, and Belly planned!" Steven bursts.
My face goes red as I see everyone at the table other than Mom, belly, and Steven looking at me, laughing.
"SHUT UP! I saw you crying in your room," Belly retorts.
"Mochi died? Dang, I'm sorry Est," Jeremiah says.
"Este, Belly, don't you want to get all dressed up?" Susannah asks.
"It's not really their thing. Belly's are feral alley cats and Este is our dreamy, quiet little kitten," Mom replies as she strokes Belly's hair.
"I'll think about it," Belly says.
"I as well," I agree.
***
As Belly is changing into her bathing suit for our night swim-reading tradition, I look for my notepad, already changed into pajamas.
Recent;y, I've started to get into writing stories. So I got a notebook and I've been writing a novel.
"Okay, I have my suit on, shall we go to the pool?" Belly asks.
"Yeah," I reply.
***

When we walk outside, I see Conrad by the pool with his feet in the water.
He's smoking.
I remember a conversation we had when I was nine and he was eleven.
"Why is smoking bad?" I ask with my toes wiggling in the sand.
"Because it messes with your head," He replies, seriously.
I start to giggle.
"Why are you laughing?" He asks.
"You're so serious, you don't sound serious," I laugh.
"Oh really?" He says.
"Est?" Belly asks.
I zoned out.
I'm only just realizing how much I zone out.
I take a seat next to Conrad and start writing.
"What are you doing?" Connie asks, peering over my shoulder.
"Writing," I say softly.
"Well, I know that. What are you writing," He confirms.
"I book," I reply.
"About?"
"Stuff,"
"Wow, now that is a book I'd like to read," Conrad jokes.
I place my head on his shoulder as I write.
He breathes heavily, though I'm not sure why.
Belly starts to talk about why Conrad shouldn't continue to smoke.
He gets annoyed.
I only hear snippets, but one part really stuck out to me "and what'll you give me if I do?".
Conrad says it in almost a flirty way.
I wasn't sure how I felt, I mean I'd always had a crush on Connie, but this summer it's almost as though my brain completely forgot about my crush, but I'm reminded by the comment.
Conrad and Belly start to talk about the deb ball, and how it isn't like bells.
The conversation got awkward, luckily the other boys came out of the house to get con.
"First bonfire of the summer, let's go!" Jeremiah excitedly says.
I grin at his demeanor.
I lift my head from Conrad's shoulder because I know he's leaving.
"Can we come to?" Belly asks with the same energy as Jeremiah had.
"Uh, no," Steven replies quickly.
"And anyway, the moms are getting your movie night ready," Jeremiah says, trying to cheer her up.
***
Belly and I are back inside and going to our room to get changed into our pajamas.
"Belly, could you put the dvd in the player?" Mom asks as she puts some popcorn in the microwave.
"Uh, do we have to watch It Happened One Night, can we watch something else ?" Belly replies.
"But we always watch said movie on the first night," Mom insists.
"We could watch the Philadelphia Story instead," Susannah shrugs.
I just stand and watch.
They wait in uncomfortable silence until Susannah asks "Everything okay?".
"Yeah, yeah, it's just, I'm a little tired, so I think I might skip the movie and get to bed," Belly replies.
She goes up stairs to our room, as I go to the moms and help with the snacks.
***
Mom, Susannah, and I are on the couch all cozy and warm.
It felt great to just be with the moms and not the boys, though I wish Belly joined us.
I get up to refill my water and see Belly sneaking out.
"Hey, what are you doing?" I ask.
"Going to the bonfire," she replies, nonchalantly.
"Hey you should come to," Belly says, though it was more like a "you're coming whether you like it or not" phrase.
She grabs my wrist and I don't resist.
"Hey I'm going to bed!" I yell to the moms.
"Okay," they reply in unison.

A/N: hi! I'm sorry I haven't been updating, I just haven't felt very motivated to work on this project. But with the season two of tsitp coming out soon, I say "why not write this fanfic?". Anyway, thanks for reading!!! love you!! - kay