My Summer Girl ( Steven Conklin x OC )

14.

Cordelia still couldn't quite make sense of what she'd heard. Belly said that Steven loved her, but she said in a way that sounded like he loved her romantically and not like a best friend. But then she said he made out with Taylor, Belly's best friend.

This was so confusing. As she paced around Steven came over to her. 

"Hey Lia what you thinking of?" he asked, "Want to come swim with me?" 

She shook her head "I'm fine, well actually Belly said some interesting things while drunk." Steven smiled "Oh yeah what did she say?" 

"Oh she was telling me all about and you and Taylor at Nicole's party." she told him and the smile immediately fell off of his face "Taylor? No. No, no, no, no. S-She's just Belly's best friend." 

"I know you guys hooked up." Cordelia accused. She didn't know why but it hurt her, these past few weeks Cordelia had found herself seeing her best friend differently.  

"Lia...Cordelia, that doesn't... That really doesn't mean anything. Look, she doesn't mean anything. It's not..." he begged. 

"You can relax." she said trying to hide her feelings "I mean, it's not like we're dating. I mean you made out with her at the party, made out with me today. It's no big deal. We're just having fun, right? We're  best friends it's not like we'd ever become that serious." 

She regretted the words as they came out. Steven took a step back and nodded "Yeah. Yeah, no, w-we're just, uh, having fun. Yeah. I'm glad we're on the same page. I'll, uh, I'll see you later."

Cordelia didn't try to follow him. All she wanted to do was hide in her room surrounded by her books. Books helped, they never changed. She could always rely on them.

Meanwhile on the beach that night Steven and Jeremiah were setting off their firework display "Yeah! That was awesome!" Jeremiah exclaimed, he paused noticing his friends face and scoffed "Come on. That was your best one yet. What's wrong?"

"Cordelia knows about Taylor." Steven admitted. Jere pulled a face and said "Oh, shit." 

Steven sighed "That's the thing, man. Like, Lia didn't even seem mad or upset. I don't... I don't know, she didn't even seem to care. She said we were best friends so we couldn't become anything serious anyways."

Jeremiah rolled his eyes and scoffed at Steven and his stupidity "And you bought that? Dude, she was wanting you to say you wanted to be with her. To say that you loved her." 

Stevens eyes widened in surprise "What? No." Jere nodded "Yes, dummy."

This knowledge sent him into his own little spiral of panic "No. No, no, no, no."

"Yes. I know how these things work." Jeremiah reminded him. "Oh, fuck!" he yelled. He admitted "Dude, I don't know, man. I'm just... I am just crazy about her. I swear, I've just never felt this way about anyone else." 

"Well, quit your fucking moping and go tell her." he said pointing to the beach house "Give me some. Come on."

Steven nodded and he ran all the way to the beach house and up the stairs to the hallway outside Cordelia's bedroom. 

He knocked and she opened the door. She wiped her eyes seeing it was steven but he could tell she'd been crying. "Hi." he said quickly. 

"Uh... What's up?" Cordelia asked. Steven sighed "Look, can we revisit, you know, that whole thing about you and me being casual?" 

"Steven-" she began but he cut her off "Please" he begged "Uh, can I come in?" he didn't want to confess to her in the hallway.  

"Yeah, go ahead." she invited him in and he sat down on her bed.  

"All right. Um... So, look, I-I fuckеd up before. Uh, uh, no. Actually twice." he corrected himself as he carried on explaining "First, when I hooked up with Taylor... w-which was the dumbest thing I've ever done, okay? And then... and then earlier today, when you said we were just best friends and couldn't be anything serious, and I agreed with you. I-I didn't... I don't know. I didn't mean that shit." 

"Then why did you say it?" she asked him puzzled. "Because I choked. I..." he sighed "Look, I'm sorry. All right? I-I'm sorry. You just make me so nervous." 

This surprised Cordelia, Steven never got nervous around people "Why?"

"Why? W..." he paused "Because you are you. And I ... I love you. I'm in love with you and I don't... I don't want to be with anybody else. All right? I mean, do you?" 

She paused and thought about it, being in her room had given her time to think. Cordelia shook her head staring into his eyes "No."

He got down on one knee before her dramatically "Then will you Cordelia grant me the honours of being my girlfriend?"

"No" she said. 

He stood up confused "Wait what-"

"I haven't fully forgiven you yet." she explained to him "I'll give you a chance to make it up to me. But I'll let you be my escort to the Debutante Ball because I know you're already looking at suits." 

He hugged her gently and whispered to her "Thank you Lia. You won't regret this."