more than friends? || c.f.

chapter sixteen - the volleyball tournament

I was in the kitchen, already wearing my shirt for Team Belly. I combined it with some blue jean shorts and my white high converse. I cleaned up after eating cereal for breakfast.

Belly and Laurel were picking up Taylor from the bus. The girls made up, so Taylor is supporting her best friend at the volleyball tournament today.

Since they weren't home yet, I decided to mix them each a drink with my pre-workout. I always use this stuff before cheerleading practice or the gym. It heavily boosts you and gives you a lot of power.

I was standing at the kitchen island, preparing the bottles, when Conrad walked in. He had one of his sailing lessons before. "Hey, Millie", he greeted me. Wow, he was talking to me? What happened? "Oh, hey", I replied.

"What's that?", he asked. "My secret weapon for the girls", I told him. "Feeling good about the tournament?" "Yeah. I mean, your mom and I worked really hard preparing everything. I'm ready", I answered his question.

"If you stay ready, you won't have to get ready", Conrad stated. Uh, what the hell was that about? Did he smoke pot on that boat with Cleveland?

I looked at the boy, he seemed to regret what he just said. I chuckled softly. "Mhm. That was... cheesy", I said with a grin. "Yeah. You try coming up with a motivational quote with no cheese", he countered with a nervous laugh.

I clicked my tongue and thought about it. "Hmm... I'm thinking..."

"Millie?" "Yeah?", I replied and stopped mixing the drinks to look at him. "I'm sorry", Conrad said. "What, for being cheesy?", I joked.

"For being a jerk the other day. And the past week, actually. Pretending like the kisses never meant something and.. and ignoring you all the time. I just keep replaying everything, especially the kissing, over and over in my head", he finally admitted.

That was a lot. I thought we were clear now, that we would stay friends. "I-I don't know what to say." "I know. It's too little, too late. I get it", Conrad agreed. We just looked at each other, like we always did.

"Um..", he hesitated. "Can I take you to the ball?", he suddenly asked. "What?", I looked at him in confusion. "I mean, I already know all the dances. It's no problem", the boy told me.

Belly, Taylor and Laurel just walked in through the front door. "Uh, I'll-I'll think about it", I said and grabbed the two bottles. I walked around the kitchen island past Conrad. "Yeah, think about it", his gaze followed me.

"Heeyyy, Lia, what's up?", Taylor greeted me and gave me a hug. "Good to see you, Tay", I replied. "What's up, Taylor?", Conrad said.

As he walked out of the room, Belly stopped and looked at me. "What happened between you two?", she asked me confused. "Ugh, that's too much to go over. I'll tell you guys later", I replied and gave them their bottles. "Drink these, they'll give you power."

I called Serena per Facetime and told her everything that happened today, while I sat outside by the pool. It wasn't even 12pm and so much had happened already. Then Susannah came to me. "Darling, let's go. We gotta be there in 10", she said.

My mom was driving us, Susannah sat down on the passenger seat. As I got into the car, I realised that Jeremiah and Conrad were already sitting there, which meant I had to go in between them.

It was an awkward ride, sitting between the two brothers when I've already kissed both of them. Luckily they didn't even know about each other.

I was jokingly playing volleyball with Shayla as the preparations were still going. Jake decided to join me, so the girl called Steven over to help her out. I got us a point, which made my brother cheer proudly. He gave me a high-five. Conrad was watching us as he set up a parasol.