↳ COME BACK TO THE SEA ༉‧₊˚✧ C.F

12

⋆·˚ ༘ *  SAD BEAUTIFUL TRAGIC
""distance, timing, breakdown, fighting. silence the train runs off its track."

"Conrad?" Juliette said in a hushed tone, peering down at him while he slept. The fire crackling and illuminating his bare chest. "There's only you. There's only ever been you."

She blinked with a head shake as she could hear the intense conversation between Jeremiah and Conrad, she glanced at Susannah's portraits hanging on the walls of the staircase. She swallowed, her feet steps silent as she entered the room.

"Jere, the house has been put up for sale." Conrad revealed, his chest heaving as his back faced her.

Juliette's face twisted, her lips parting in shock. "What do you mean, the house is for sale?"

Conrad cocked his head over towards her the second the words left her lips, he breathed deeply, staring at her, his expression seemingly angry. "What is she doing here?"

Juliette frowned slightly, shifting her feet uncomfortably as she stared at the ground.

"So this is why you haven't answered any of my phone calls of texts?" Jeremiah sneered at him, Conrad's eyes leaning Juliette and back to his brother.

Conrad pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Jere. Jere. Did you not hear what I just said? We're going to lose this house. Mom's house."

"Why would your dad sell this house?" Juliette asked, staring at his side profile as he pursued his lips.

"He's not." He paused, his eyes remaining on everything but her. "Our Aunt Julia is."

Juliette furrowed her brows, moving deeper into the room but not close to Conrad, she crossed her arms. "Susannah's sister?"

"Half-sister. Apparently." Conrad corrected her slightly, clutching his phone as he glanced at his brother. "The house belonged to the both
of them. And then when Mom... Now Aunt Julia owns
the whole thing, so..."

"Okay, we'll just call Dad and figure something out." Jeremiah shrugged, still angry with the brunette. "That's it."

Conrad shook his head. "You think I haven't already done that? He says legally the house is hers."

"Okay, then he'll buy it." Jeremiah shot back, not understanding the big commotion Conrad has caused.

"He doesn't have the money to buy it." Conrad acknowledged, his shoulders dropping, as-well as his serious expression, "Between Brown and the
medical bills and the..."

Jeremiah didn't let him finish, his lips rolling into his mouth as he fumed. "Yeah, I know how much
the medical bills cost because I was there." Conrad's face twisted with guilt. "How long did you know
about this and not tell me?"

"Jere, this was all happening so fast." Conrad explained. "I was going to tell you after I'd taken care of it."

Jeremiah chuckled to himself, practically laughing in his face. "And this is you taking care of it? Going AWOL, ditching school, not talking to us."

"Fuck school!" Conrad whined, throwing his hands up. "I don't care!"

"Connie, you have to go back or you'll fail your class." Jeremiah revealed. Conrad's face remaining the same, completely unfazed.

Juliette stepped closer, attempting to get in line of eye. "How are you going to become a doctor if you fail
out of college, Conrad?"

Conrad's whole demeanor switched. His finger lifting towards her, shaking at her like he was scolding her. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Seriously?" Jeremiah chimed in. "We went to Brown to check on your ass." He gestured between the both of them. "You know what? I didn't think you'd pull this shit again. But you don't give a shit about anyone but yourself."

Jeremiah stormed out of the house, the front door slamming with anger behind him. Juliette remained still as Conrad wondered over to the fire pit, resting his elbows on it.

He refused to look at her. She couldn't tare her eyes from him. She slowly walked towards him, keeping a good distance from him. "Sorry if me being here is weird. So, the-the house..."

"It's for sale. And Jere doesn't even care." Conrad finished her sentence, his pointer finger picking at the bottom of the picture frame.

"Of course he cares. But he cares about you more." She shook her head, defending the dirty blond. "After everything that happened... you go missing? I mean, he thought something really bad happened to you." She paused. "We both did."

Her last words finally made him pick his head up to look at her. The same look that's he given her for seventeen years, the same look that her crumbling time and time again. "I got a call two days ago.
From Nick. He was asking me about a "for
sale" sign in our front yard. I thought it was a misunderstanding, so I drove straight here. I pulled the stupid sign out of the ground, and I
threw it in the garbage." Conrad paused, his Adam apple bobbing. "Seeing that sign was like losing her all over again, and I didn't want that for Jere. I'm going to use my trust as down payment for the house. Talking to my mom's financial guys in the morning."

Juliette parted her lips, knowing no words could soothe him. "Oh." Was all she muster up.

"I didn't mean to worry anybody." Conrad admitted, his back coming to press against the fireplace as he stared at the couch. "I'm handling things. You guys can go."

"You're not the only one who cares about this house." Juliette shot back. His eyes falling on her with shame, his lips turning into a slight frown. "If Jere wants to stay here and help figure things out, that is his decision." She bit into her bottom lip. "And you don't get to make it for him."

She left him in silence as she headed out the backdoor, feeling her entire body shake. Since the funeral, guilt had eaten her up. She ruined it.

She found herself at the beach, the sky panted a light pink and white. She had her hands in the front pockets of her jean shorts as she stared at the white foam as the water hit the sand.

There's nothing more beautiful than this.

authors note <3
manz couldn't even look at her...
anyways thank u for 1k reads
smooches to all of u