truly mine

004. eyes open

Belly

"I'm on the way to my car. I'll be there as soon as I can, Belly. I promise. Just stay on the phone, okay? Tell me what's happening," Conrad said to me over the phone.

Tears continued streaming down my face. "I-- I don't know what to do! Jere's unconcious, Conrad! What do I do?! What do I do?!"

"Belly, listen to me. I know you don't want to do this, but you need to call your mom. I'll get there sooner than her, but Laurel still needs to know what's happening," Conrad said.

"No!" I cried. "My mom can't know what's happening! She'll never let us stay at the house alone again!"

Conrad sighed wearily through the phone. "Belly, you know that's not true. Jere is like a son to her. Call her. Please. I'll stay on the phone with you. Just call her."

My hand shook as I gave in. "F-- Fine," I said as I pulled the phone away from my ear and shakily started scrolling through my contacts to find her number.

"Mom?" I asked when picked up the phone. "Can you come down to Cousins tonight?"

I heard a tired sigh. "Belly, what's this all about? Are the boys and Taylor okay? You didn't do anything reckless, did you?"

"Yes," My voice cracked, "Yes, we did. We-- We threw a party and Steven and Taylor left and-- and Jeremiah won't wake up." I began crying again.

"What?!" Mom exclaimed. "You have to start being more responsible, Belly! Where's Conrad?! Put him on the phone!"

I shook my head. "I-- I can't. He's on his way home from the airport. He was leaving to go to California."

"Oh my god," She muttered back through the phone. "Belly, have you checked Jeremiah's heartbeat? Is he still breathing?"

"Yes," I said with a shaky nod. "He's still breathing."

There was a pause for a split second before Mom said, "Alright, that's fine. I'll drive down in the morning. Tell Conrad to call Steven and figure out where the hell he and Taylor are. Then have him call me when he gets to the house and again when Jeremiah wakes up."

Steven

Taylor and I were at Bruster's eating ice cream when Conrad started calling. I frowned at my phone. "Is everything okay?" Tay Tay asked.

"I-- I dunno. Conrad's calling. Hold on," I said as I picked up the phone. "Hey, man. What's up?" I asked.

"Where the hell are you?!" Conrad exclaimed. "Jere's unconscious at the house and Belly's freaking out! She needs you!"

I felt my stomach drop. "What? Tay-- Taylor and I are at Bruster's." 

"Well, get your ass back to the house! We need you! Even your mom knows what's going on!" Conrad exclaimed. 

"O-- O-- Okay! We're leaving now! Do you need us to get anything for Jere on the way back?!" I exclaimed.

"No! Just come back to the house! I'm almost there, and Laurel's coming in the morning!" Conrad exclaimed.

"Okay," I said loudly. "We're coming. We'll be back in like twenty minutes," I said before hanging up. 

Taylor grabbed my arm and looked me in the eye as she asked, "Steven, what's going on?"

I shook my head. "Jere-- Jere's unconscious at the party, and it's a fucking mess. We need to go."

"Wait-- is Conrad at the party?" Taylor asked. "I thought he would be in California by now."