College Buddies (Conrad Fisher X OC)

Chapter 7

After they found some of Susannah's paint and unused canvas's Amelia could see Conrad was going down his mood spiralling from seeing things his Mom used to have. That was when she suggested that they go down to the beach asking Conrad to teach her how to surf. It was a fun morning of watching Conrad laugh as he tried to teach her but failed and they ended up just messing around in the ocean. 

When they both started to get cold they headed up to the house and arrived just in time to see Belly, Jeremiah and Alex pull up. 

"You guys went to the store?" Conrad asked. 

"Uh, we actually thought about leaving, but then we decided not to listen to you." Alex joked making him and Jeremiah high-five. 

"We didn't just get groceries." Belly explained "We actually went to see Aunt Julia."

"How did that go?" Conrad asked unenthusiastically.  

"Not great." Jeremiah admitted before asking  "Talk to Dad yet?"

Conrad shook his head "No." 

"Um, I'm-I'm gonna take these inside." Belly said gesturing to the shopping bags she was carrying.  

Jeremiah nodded "Thanks." He turned back to Amelia and Conrad "How were the waves?"

"Um... break's a little choppy. Maybe we should go out later when it's, uh, smooth out." Conrad explained awkwardly. 

"All right. Hey, listen, um... I want to be there when you talk to Dad. I'm-I'm better with him lately, and once he sees how passionate we are about keeping the house, he'll have to let us use our trusts." Jeremiah explained to his brother.  

Conrad paused "Our trusts?" 

Amelia looked at him and he looked at her "No more doing everything alone remember." 

Conrad sighed and turned to his brother "All right."

"Cool." Jeremiah commented looking between Amelia and Conrad" 

They all went inside and once Amelia had changed out of her bathing suit she helped everyone put the shopping away. After everyone had helped tidy up the house they all sat down at the dinning room table "Dad should be calling soon"

"Do you guys want to talk to him alone?" Belly asked. Alex and Amelia got the hint and started walking away as Amelia said "We'll wait upstairs."

"No, stay." Conrad pleaded. "Stay. You helped me and J get this far."

Jeremiah added "Plus, it's your house as much as it is ours."

Everyone nodded and sat back down as Conrad's phone began to ring. He picked it up and answered putting it on loud speaker. "Dad, hey."

You could hear Adams voice on the other end "Hey, Con. I only got about a few minutes here."

Jeremiah jumped into the conversation "Hey, Dad." 

"Jere? You're in Cousins, too?" their Dad asked. 

"Yeah, just got here last night." He explained to his father. 

He sighed "All right, look, I got a heads-up from the bank telling me you're trying to access your trust. That's not gonna happen."

So you've already made up your mind? 

"Yeah. I mean, that money is for your future." Adam explained "I'm not gonna let you blow it on a beach house."

"It's not just a house, Dad." Jere started. 

"You want me to beg, Dad?" Conrad asked "'Cause I will. I will. I'll do whatever you want..."

Adam sighed ignoring Conrad's question "Guys, I had my lawyers look into any possible loopholes right after the funeral, but there's none. Okay? The house is legally Julia's."

Jere paused and asked "Wait, so you've known we're losing the house since the funeral?"

"Jere, I'm not your evil father trying to ruin your life. And believe it or not, I'm just as upset as you are about it." Adam told his sons sadly. 

Conrad stood up nearly knocking his chair over "That's such bullshit. That's such bullshit. You never cared about this house, Dad. You never cared about it 'cause you never cared about Mom." 

Adam exhaled loudly with a sigh "You know that's not true. Jere, come on. You get it, don't you?" 

"Dad, I-I don't, I don't get why we can't just use our trust to buy it, and then we can sell it later if we need the money." Jeremiah said sadly not understanding where his Dad was coming from.  

"No." Their Dad said sternly "Julia's gonna go ahead with the open house tomorrow. I really appreciate the attempt here, but this is the end of the conversation. You just make sure that Julia gets everything that she needs. You got it?"

"Conrad was right. Talking to you is pointless." Jeremiah said and he hung up the phone with a sigh.  

At that moment two people burst in, a tall black-haired boy and a blonde -haired girl. 

"Surprise!" the boy exclaimed. 

"Oh, shit. I-I knew we should have told them we were coming." the girl said to the boy.

Jeremiah shook his head "No, it's not that. It's... " 

"We're losing the house." Conrad said bluntly with a hopeless look on his face. Amelia felt so bad for them. These guys were too to have a father like that. Conrad was right about his father.

"They put it up for sale. Oh, Cinderbelly..." the blonde girl said running to pull Belly in for a sad hug. 

"They're selling the house?" The boy asked confused.  

"Yeah." The Fisher brothers said in sync. 

"Um, I-I brought you blueberry." the tall boy said to Belly offering her one of the box's.

"I'm glad you're here." Belly said. 

"It's gonna be alright Connie" Amelia assured him trying ti keep him hopeful. She could see the way everyone looked up to Conrad and if he gave up hope everyone else would to. Amelia had a promise to fulfil. 

"Um sorry but who are they?" The black-haired boys asked gesturing to Amelia and Alex. 

"I'm Alex" Amelia's twin said sticking his hand out for him to shake. 

Amelia smiled "I'm Amelia. We're Conrad's best friends from school"

The girl with blonde hair asked "Why do you two-?" 

"Look so similar?" Alex finished her question. 

Amelia answered her "It's because we are twins"

"Cool I'm Steven" The boy with black hair said.

"I'm Taylor Belly's bestie" the blonde girl introduced pulling Amelia in for a hug. Amelia immediately hugged back. 

"Nice to meet you both" Alex said.