truly mine

005. long live

Belly

I stumbled down the stairs at one in the morning after waking up and realizing Conrad hadn't gotten me up yet... which meant Jeremiah wasn't awake yet. I wondered if Conrad had fallen asleep himself, but I doubted it. He never fell asleep when something so scary happened.

"Belly? Why are you awake so early?" A voice asked from the living room as I tried to quietly make my way down the stairs. It was Conrad. How did he already know it was me? I hadn't said a word.

"I-- I wanted to see if Jere was awake yet. You didn't wake me up," I replied. 

I heard a faint sigh come from the living room as I slowly made my way there in the dark. "Yeah, well, Jere was only awake for a few minutes. It was late, and I told him to go back to sleep. He needed it, and so did you. You still do. You sound exhausted."

"Thanks," I muttered. "Did he remember everything that happened last night?"

Conrad hesitated before saying, "I don't think so. He wasn't scared or angry. He was just... tired."

"Are you telling the truth?" I asked. "Yes," He replied immediately. "I just don't want to worry you with how I word things. I'm sorry. I'm not good at communicating," He muttered.

I snorted, remembering almost all of the interactions I'd had with him the summer prior. "Yeah, you don't have to tell me."

I thought he was about to say something when Jeremiah's sleepy voice softly said, "Belly?"

I immediately rushed to his side and threw my arms around him. "Jere! You're awake!"

Jeremiah

"Yeah, I'm good, but are you? I think you're gonna make my lungs collapse with how tight you're hugging me," I said with a tired chuckle. 

"How am I not supposed to make your lungs collapse after last night?!"She exclaimed. "You could've died if you hadn't been more careful!"

I frowned, not understanding what she was referencing. "What?"

"You passed out in the pool in front of Belly last night, Jere," Conrad commented quietly from the chair across from the couch.

I shook my head. "No, I didn't. I got tired after swimming. Belly was tired and went to sleep too. But you came back while we were sleeping," I said to Conrad. "Right?" I asked Bells for confirmation. I couldn't have a foggy memory. Nothing bad had happened at all.

"No," Belly said distantly. "You passed out in front of me, and I thought you were dying."

I blinked harshly, trying to keep the tears away. "Belly, I'm so sorry--"

"It's okay," She said, hugging me even tighter. "I'm just glad you're safe. Please just be more careful next time."

Conrad didn't say another word. He just got up and went to leave. "Wait, Con," I called. I could hardly see him turn around to face us in the dark. "When did you come back from Cali?"

"I didn't. I came back from the Cousins airport when Belly called me," He said before turning away and leaving. "Oh," He said as he began walking towards the stairs, "by the way, Laurel's coming in the morning."

Steven

Taylor and I woke up to utter chaos. All we heard was the shouting from downstairs. She looked over at me and said, "I think Laurel's here."

I rubbed my eyes and dragged myself out of bed to scurry downstairs with Tay Tay trailing behind me. 

"If you three don't get the house cleaned up by tonight, I swear I'll be staying down here the entire summer to supervise your irresponsible asses!" Mom shouted at Belly, Con, and Jere by the front door.

She then looked up to see me and Tay Tay and glared at us before saying, "And you two! Where were you last night?! You can't just leave these three at the house alone! You know they'll make a mess!"

"I'm sorry, Laurel. Someone came and tried to piss me off, and we just decided it would be best to leave. I promise we'll help clean up," Taylor said.

I looked at her and said, "You know that's not true. I was the one who wanted to leave the party. And I don't regret it, but I'm sorry that I wasn't here for Belly and Jere. I'm glad Conrad was," I said, looking back at Mom. 

Laurel stopped for a second and pondered over something in her head before looking back at Conrad. "Connie, you were the most responsible last night out of everyone. These four threw the party, and they will clean it up. You don't have to."

Belly opened her mouth to object, but Laurel turned to her and said, "Don't even start, Isabel. You know it was a bad idea to have the party when Conrad wasn't around. He's the only one who takes these things seriously enough."

Jere looked ridiculously guilty when he said, "She-- She didn't want to. When Conrad said he was leaving, she said it would be better to have the party when he was back. But I didn't listen to her."

"This isn't the time for accusations or apologies," Laurel said with a sigh. "All four of you are at fault, and all four of you need to start cleaning now."

Conrad

I glanced over at Belly's face, and I could tell she was more than annoyed that Laurel was making her clean after last night. 

"I don't think you should make Belly do anything," I commented quietly. "She had a pretty shitty night and needs time to process what happened."

Laure's face softened when she said, "Everyone had a rough night, Connie. But Belly was a part of making this mess, and she's going to be a part of cleaning it up."

I nodded and said, "I'm going surfing, but I'll be back by lunch. Is there anything you need me to do before?"

"Actually, I need to talk to you alone for a little while," Laure said.

Belly's eyebrows scrunched together, and she asked, "Why? It's not like he was here for anything we weren't."

Laure shook her head and said, "This doesn't concern you, Belly. Now do what I said and go clean up your messes," She said, looking at all of them.

We went outside to the front porch and sat on the rocking chairs to talk. I couldn't imagine what it was about.

Laurel

"How are you holding up with all of this?" I asked Conrad. It was no news to me that he still had feelings for Belly, and it was all a mess.

He shrugged. "It's fine. It's weird that Taylor's around now. I know Steven's happy about it, though. But everything else is... normal."

"Connie, I know that it has to be hard," I said with a slight shake of my head, "but I promise it will get better. Belly and Jeremiah are still young. They still have to learn that they shouldn't be all over each other in front of other people."

His face turned emotionless. "I don't care about them being a couple. They want to be together. It's fine by me."

"You don't have to be so strong all of the time, Conrad. Your mom knew it. She knew what was going to happen," I said. 

He nodded. "I know. I just... can't be anything else here. I feel so distant from everyone this summer."

"I know this probably isn't going to be something you want to hear, but I need you to watch over Belly this summer. Steven is so busy being in love with Taylor that he isn't watching out for her enough. She isn't as experienced as she acts, and you know that too," I told him.

He nodded, not asking anything, but I could tell he was going to look out for Belly anyways. "I will, Laure. I promise."