love me like you • jeremiah fisher

chapter twenty three

song: you're on your own, kid - taylor swift

"What the hell are you three doing here?" Reign said, surprise clear in his voice.

"Didn't you hear, Conrad is missing?" Jeremiah said sarcastically with a raised eyebrow.

"God of course I know that, I'm the one that told you." Reign said, rubbing a hand down his face. "Then why are you so surprised?" Jeremiah replied, crossing his arms.

I sighed, taking a step back as I watched the two go back and forth.

"No offense but when I told you that I expected you to call him or I don't know, not drag my sister all the way here with you!" My brother argued, glaring at Jeremiah.

"He didn't drag me here Reign. I'm not five anymore, I told him to pick me up." I defended my boyfriend.

"Does mom know you're here?" He retorted, my face paled. "Not exactly, but please don't tell her. Look we're just worried about Conrad and we're trying to figure out what happened." Reign sighed and I could sense that he was trying to figure out what to do.

I turned to look back at the group and that's when I noticed Belly was looking around.

"Look man just tell us what happened." Jeremiah said, trying to even it out with Reign. "I haven't seen him since Thursday afternoon. He got into it with someone on the phone like he was yelling and shit." I winced as I began processing the information he was telling us.

"Was that the last time you heard from him?" Belly finally spoke up.

"No, he texted me this morning saying that he was going to miss bio lab and asked if I could take notes." I nodded, turning to look at Jeremiah.

"I mean that's a good sign, right?" I asked the group who just nodded. "Hey Reign did I leave my jacket in here?" I raised my eyebrow at the girl who just walked into the room.

"No sorry Sophie, oh actually Sophie might know where Conrad went. They're tight like that." I had to physically stop myself from strangling Reign.

Was everyone insensitive to Belly's situation?

I felt Belly stiffen from beside me. "Right, uhm, do you know where my brother might be?" Jeremiah asked the girl.

"I think he said he was going to visit his cousin by the beach or something." She answered blandly as we immediately turned to each other.

"We should get going then." Jeremiah said quickly, beginning to walk out. It was now obvious that Conrad had gone back to Cousins, but why?

"Wait Fisher, you are not taking my sister with you." Just like that I whipped back around to face my brother. "Cut it out Reign, I'm helping them." I was already fed up with his overly protective antics.

"Bro, I'll watch her I promise. Scout's honor." Jeremiah fake saluted. "We both will." Belly stepped up smiling, alongside Jere. "No offense Bells, but I'm older than you." I whispered to her.

"Not helping." She warned causing me to laugh. "I swear if I hear something happened, I'll end you Jeremy." Reign pointed a finger accusingly at the boy.

"Alright, alright we're wasting time. Bye Reign." I yelled out as I pulled the two out of the room and closed the door. "Well that went well." Belly laughed once we were out of earshot. "We learned what we needed to know, that's all the matters." I said as we made our way to Jeremiah's car.

"Why was he yelling at someone over the phone? It had to be my dad, right? I can't get dragged in the middle of Conrad's bullshit again. But if something we're to happen I wouldn't forgive myself." The stress was getting to Jeremiah and I didn't know how to help him.

"It's going to be okay babe. We're going to find him and he's going to be fine." I touched his shoulder lightly as he shifted his gaze to the floor.

"Now let's go." I told them without waiting for a response and getting into the passenger's side.

The window's were slightly down so I could still hear their conversation.

I tried my best to give them privacy and tune them out but I couldn't help myself.

"Do you want me to come to Cousins with you?" I heard Belly ask. "I didn't need you to come here." It wasn't until now that I realized how distant Jeremiah has been with Belly. I figured that I heard enough and I grabbed my headphones out from my backpack.

I let my eyes close and didn't open them until the two of them were in the car.

I didn't bother taking my earphones out.

There were too many thoughts swarming around in my head.

I heard mumbling so I guessed the two were still continuing their conversation.

'Something different bloomed.'

'Writing in my room.'

'I play my songs in the parking lot.'

'I'll run away.'

I let the thoughts enter my head, mixing with the music until it felt like I would overflow.

Was Jeremiah upset that Belly "hurt" Conrad? Now that I really thought about it whenever Jeremiah and I were together, Belly was never really a topic of conversation.

Why was that?

I was cut off when the car began to jolt. I took out one earphone when I heard Jeremiah muttering "Great. Great." We had a flat tire.

The three of us stepped out of the car. Belly had informed us that she knew how to change the tire so Jeremiah was currently following her instructions on how to replace it.

"Move a little bit closer." She told him. "I can't. You need me to move?" I could tell he was getting frustrated.

"You need to move closer, I don't know how much more clear I can be." Belly ran a hand through her hair while she was explaining.

"Guys, maybe we should-" I said quietly, but was cut off by Jeremiah falling.

"Shit. Fuck. Great idea, Belly." Jeremiah threw his arms out. "It's not my fault." She whispered, moving closer to him. "It was your idea!" He yelled out, causing me to take a step back.

This really felt like a conversation I was not supposed to be overhearing.

"I'm sorry!" Belly screamed back. "Real helpful."

"About everything the funeral, this, everything." She began pacing back and forth. "I- I was so focused on Conrad and on being there for him and I should have been there for you too, okay?" I took a step back, putting myself behind the car and away from their view.

Nothing was adding up.

I closed my eyes tightly as I put the other earphone back in and raised the volume enough to fully tune them out. After a few minutes, I peek through the side and saw them hugging as Jeremiah cried.

My heart pained to see the sight so I took out my earphones and was about to make my way over when I heard.

"I had my dad and Conrad sorted, but I needed you." "I'm here now." I stopped in my tracks, putting my earphones back in.

'You've got no reason to be afraid.'

'You're on your own, kid.'

'Yeah, you can face this.'

'You're on your own, kid.'

'You always have been.'

word count: 1234
Hahah the word count's silly..ANYWAYS thank you guys for reading! Don't forget to leave a vote/comment!🤍