truly mine

008. bad blood

Belly

Conrad got back from work a lot sooner than we'd expected. He walked into the kitchen to get something and stopped and stared at the cake Steven and Whit had been making for a whole minute. "What the hell is that supposed to be?"

"Gosh, sounds like someone had a bad day at work," Jere said with a cute little laugh from the couch. Steven looked so incredibly offended. "It's a cake, dude! We spent three hours on it. You gotta give it a little respect!" Conrad raised an eyebrow as his jaw dropped wide open. "That's supposed to be a cake?" 

Taylor and I started giggling at Steven and Whit's reactions. "Well, what does it look like to you, then?" Whit asked. "Uh, I'm not really sure, man. Maybe a spongy, and really, really moldy old loaf of bread, and even that's a stretch," Conrad said with a laugh.

"He's not wrong. It kind of looks like someone had a really, really bad night," Taylor said to Steven, trying her hardest to contain her laughter. Steven gave her a really serious look. "Come on, Tay, it doesn't look like that at all. Try a piece." She raised her eyebrows and said, "You're kidding. I'm not trying that moldy old thing. Seriously, how old was the cake mix box?"

Steven's shoulders sagged. "Come on, Tay Tay. Pleeeaaaaase. We spent hours on it." I clamped a hand over my mouth, trying to hide my laughter at the face Taylor was making. "Oh my god. Please, Steven, don't make her try it. She looks like she's being tortured right now." Taylor gave me a grateful glance, but Steven was keen on her trying it. "Come on, Tay, we'll do it together. It can be our first couples trying new food together."

"Ugh," Taylor groaned, "fine. I'll try it, but only one really, really small bite." Steven beamed with pride. "Hell yeah! Let's do this, baby." I watched as they each took one small bite, and Taylor spit it out immediately. Steven swallowed it and looked green within seconds. "How are you feeling, babe?" Taylor asked with a raised eyebrow.

Steven gave her a thumbs up and smiled wearily as he slowly replied, "Great. I'm absolutely... great." Whit nodded coolly. "Alright, I'm up next. Who's trying it with me? Marissa, that's your name, right? You in?" He asked Marissa. She shook her head immediately. "Definitely not. Ask Nicole." Whit's eyes flickered to Nicole. "You in?"

Conrad

Nicole gave a small, hopeful smile and said, "No. I'm doing it with Conrad." I raised an eyebrow and shook my head. "Yeah, there's no way in hell I'm doing that." Jere turned from the couch and said, "Aww, come on, Connie, just give it a chance. I'm sure it's not that bad. Steve-o downed it. So can you."

I didn't get why Nicole was wanting me to do it with her. It just wasn't sitting with me right. I rolled my eyes, but nodded reluctantly. "Fine. One tiny bite." Nicole smiled deviously and said, "Perfect. Oh, and this round the rules change. If we can't down the cake, we have to say something to someone that they don't know yet that we've been keeping a a secret from them."

"I didn't agree to that," I muttered as I stared in disgust at the so-called cake. The only person I was really keeping anything from was Belly, and I wasn't willing to do anything to screw things up with her again. "That's fine. You'll just have to down the cake, then," Nicole replied. "I can do that," I said as I stared her down, head-on.

We both took the smallest bite possible at the same time, and we both utterly failed. Neither of us could down it. It was even worse than I imagined. It tasted like a gruesome mix of rotting bananas, bitter cocoa, and purely repulsing baking soda.

"Guess I'll go first," Nicole said with a shriveled nose after spitting her cake out. "Conrad, you're the one I choose to say what I have to say to. I always kind of knew you had a thing for Belly while we were dating from the way you looked at her the first night at the bonfire, but I didn't say anything because I thought I could gaslight myself into believing that you wouldn't choose her over me."

I just stared at her in awe. How could she even say something like that to me? Sure, Belly had always been special to me, I grew up with her, but I wasn't in love with her then. I wasn't even close to it then. I just thought she was really pretty, but a lot of girls are pretty, so that's not saying much. I didn't want anything with her back then. At least not that I remember. It didn't start until a few weeks after that. 

"Now it's your turn," Nicole said very directly. "Who are you choosing to say something to share a secret to?"

I closed my eyes for a split second and shook my head. "This is childish, and I don't have anything that I need to share with anyone in this room." Nicole tilted her head and smiled sadly. "You really think they'll believe that, don't you? That you're not still in love with Belly after all this time?" 

I felt every bone in my body turn rigid. She did not just say that out loud. Belly's face... I couldn't even bear to look over in her direction. I shook my head and started running out towards the beach. Anywhere, anyplace was better than the situation I'd just been in.

Jeremiah

Red. All I could see was red. My hands balled into fists. I wanted to fight him. I wanted to go run after him and choke him. I wanted to never see him again. How could it be true? I thought he was over her. He didn't look at her the way he used to.

But the second he closed his eyes... and the second he turned and ran instead of denying the statement, I knew. I knew he still had feelings for my girlfriend. My Isabel, my Belly, my Bells. 

No wonder he wanted to run away to California. This entire time, he's just been wanting to get away from me. He never wanted me and Belly to get together. He just wanted her to himself. 

But she chose me, and he's about to learn a lesson that will teach him his place.