truly mine

006. aftermath

Belly

It ended up taking us almost four hours to clean up the house after the party. Mom and Conrad were talking outside for a while, but Conrad decided to join in two hours after. 

I don't know why, but the second he walked into the room, my heart started beating out of my chest. Jere looked at me a few minutes after Conrad had walked in with confusion and asked, "Hey Bells, are you okay?"

"Y-- Yeah," I stuttered. "I'm great. Just a little on edge after everything that happened, I guess." Conrad glanced over in our direction, and the next thing I knew, he left to go clean up outside.

Steven

Taylor and I were outside cleaning up when Conrad came out. He looked pale in the face, and I could tell something was wrong. "Hey, Connie, man, you alright?" I asked.

He shrugged and nodded once. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why? Did something happen?" I sighed and rolled my eyes. "To you, obviously. Why are you so down? Everything's okay. Nothing serious happened last night."

"Jere could have died last night," Conrad said, narrowing his eyes. I shook my head. "There were enough people to keep him safe, Conrad. I promise. No one was even hurt."

Conrad's eyes flickered to the ground as he said, "If Belly hadn't been there, he would've been dead. You weren't there for the bad part, Steven. She was hysterical. If I had been there, this never  would've happened. I should've known not to leave, but I was a piece of shit and let my feelings get in the way."

"No offense, Conrad, but you didn't actually do anything other than calm Belly down... which isn't that hard of a job. I think Jeremiah and Belly are just fine without you," Taylor commented.

I gave her a disapproving look before turning back to Conrad. "Don't listen to her. You helped Jere and Belly. That's what matters."

Conrad shook his head once more. "I still should've been there the entire night. Then you two wouldn't have run away, and someone could've watched over them."

"Do you really think they're that immature? Seriously, Conrad, they don't need you anywhere near as much as you think they do," Taylor interrupted.

"Taylor!" I exclaimed. "I'm just being real, Steven," Taylor defended. 

She turned back to Conrad and said, "Look, I'm not trying to be a jerk. I'm just saying that you can have a life away from them. You don't need anything approved by them or anything. Go do what you want, Conrad. Jeremiah's fully capable of making his own decisions, so is Belly, and so are you. Playing the supportive older brother is not what you need. You should be able to go and make your own plans and your own friends without having ties to them."

Conrad sighed in frustration. "I appreciate your advice, Taylor, but you don't understand. There's more to the story than just being Jere's older brother."

"Yeah, I know. Belly's like your little sister, and you want them to both be safe. I get it. I have a younger sister too. But I'm not with her now, am I? I'm here because I want to be here," Taylor replied.

Then it hit me. He was talking about his feelings for my sister... and how he'd messed everything up last summer. He wanted to try to make it up to her. He wanted her to know he still cared.

"That's not what he means, Tay Tay," I said softly. "Connie, do you wanna go back inside?" I asked.

Conrad

I shrugged. "Sure." I expected to go back in and clean, but Steven made me go talk to him upstairs instead. Just what I needed. More therapy. I'd been enough times in the past year.

"Do you think you're going to talk to Belly about it?" He asked while I sat on my bed watching him pace around the room. 

"No," I said immediately. "I'm not doing that to her and Jere. I've treated them like shit enough. I just... I just want her to know that I still care. Because I do. I want to be with her all of the time. It's just, when they're together, it feels like a part of me is dying."

Steven frowned. "Well, I know where you're coming from, but if you do decide to tell Belly about your feelings, don't fuck it up this time and take it back. It'll just make things worse. I know my mom wants you to protect them, but they don't need it. They just need a reality check."

I laughed humorlessly "A reality check? I think I'm the only one who needs one of those, Steven. I'm still in love with my ex-girlfriend from a year and a half ago who's been dating my brother for over a year."

Taylor

I heard Conrad's love confession about Belly to Steven when I was walking to ask him a question and stopped in my tracks. After all of the shit he'd put her through, he was still in love?

I knew I couldn't go in and talk to Steven because they were in the middle of a bromance moment, but I couldn't leave. I had to know what Conrad was feeling so I could protect Belly from getting hurt by him again.

Conrad

"Okay, but she still has feelings for you. I know she does. You're soulmates," Steven emphasized. "Well, after last night, I don't think they're splitting up any time soon, and I'm not going to do anything to fuck with them," I replied. 

Steven nodded. "I know, man. I know. Just... be careful, I guess is all I'm saying. This could get really messy. Especially if Jere or Belly found out."

"Believe me, I know," I muttered.

Taylor

After a few seconds passed by of neither of them talking to each other, I was about to go and talk to Steven when Jeremiah walked behind me and waved. "Hey, Taylor. Going to see Steven?" He asked with an insinuating smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Jeremy. Leave my relationship with Steven alone." He laughed and shrugged while saying, "Oh, no, I didn't say a word. You guys are definitely the best couple. Don't let me get in your way from seeing him."

I rolled my eyes again, and seconds before I was about to open the door, Steven opened it from the other side. "Oh, hey, Tay..."

He pulled my arm inside the room and crossed his arms and shut the door behind him before asking me in a low whisper, "How long were you there for?"

"What?" I asked in defense. "I wasn't there for long. I was just talking to Jeremiah."

Conrad didn't say a word, but kept frowning at me from the corner. "She's lying," he said. Steven frowned. "I know. She's not a good liar."

I shrugged. "Okay, fine. Neither of us are. I just came up here to talk to you, but you were already talking to him so I didn't want to interrupt," I told Steven.

"How... How much did you hear?" Steven asked. I raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, I know that Conrad still has feelings for Belly, but as long as he doesn't say anything about it or act on it at all, everything should be fine."

I saw the panic flare in Steven's eyes. "Okay, okay, well, whatever you do, just don't tell Belly or Jere! This is the last thing that they need to hear!"

"I definitely wasn't planning on telling either of them," I muttered. "I'm team Jellyfish, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. Now, can you please go join Belly downstairs so she doesn't get suspicious why we're all up here?? Thank youuuu, you're the best," He said as he gently pushed me towards the bedroom door.

I sighed. "This is hopeless, Steven. Jeremiah and Belly are perfect for each other," I whispered as he pushed me out the door. 

Steven stepped into the hallway and gently touched my arm as he said, "I know, I know. I get that you don't like Conrad. But he really cares about Belly, Tay Tay. You gotta have at least a little respect for that."

"Okay, fine, but he better not say a word," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

He leaned down and kissed the top of my head before saying, "I promise he won't, Tay Tay. You don't need to worry about it. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay, fine. Just don't take that long. The house is still a mess," I said with a smile. He gently pulled me in for a kiss and said, "We'll be back downstairs in no time."