𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒛𝒆, 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒌𝒍𝒊𝒏

chapter twenty nine. we'll be alright

the past.

Daphne knew Belly told Jeremiah when she walked out of her bedroom and he barely looked at her when he left his. He glared at her momentarily before making his way out of the house.

She walked out of the house, trying not to seem like she was following him, she found Jesper and Ash at the pool, the two of them eating hot fudge. "Knee." Jesper greeted, using an old nickname he had given her that she'd learned to live with. "What's up, Jes?" she sat down beside Ash, taking a spoonful of fudge.

Ash just looked at her, slightly smirking as she pushed her sister, nearly making the girl fall in the pool. "We know." Jesper dips his spoon in the fudge as Daphne frowns, looking between the couple. Why were they trying to drown her? "Know what?" she had some more fudge which she felt she deserved after the attempted homicide.

"You really hurt Jere Bear." Daphne isn't sure if Ash is teasing her or not. She knew it would happen, she knew her happiness would result in his heartbreak and she hated it but the larger part of her couldn't stop being happy about it, she hated herself for it but she was in love. She would never stop being in love with Belly, she didn't know if Jeremiah could say the same.

"I'll make it up to him, I always do." Growing up, regardless of how mad she and Jeremiah were at one another, they couldn't stand fighting. Well Jeremiah couldn't stand fighting, Daphne just hated being upset at anyone.

"I don't think taking him to a Dominic Fike concert is going to fix this." Jesper warned, she took another spoonful of fudge. She highly disagreed. "I could bomb his house and take him to a concert and it would be water under the bridge." the two had planned to save up enough money to go see SZA soon, she hoped those plans didn't die.

"I just think you need to figure out if being with Belly is worth ruining your friendship with Jere." before Ash's words were cold, Daphne saw Belly approach. She didn't look half as happy as she was when they were having breakfast in her room that morning but Daphne tried to ignore that. She asked to talk and Daphne suggested sitting on the beach.

She tells Daphne everything that happened between her and Jeremiah, Daphne doesn't say anything, listens to her, uses her hand to play with Belly's hair, the loose pieces that seem to highlight her face structure. "I mean, he was so angry at us and he has every right to." Belly tries to fight back tears. "We're going to be okay, Belly. Everything is going to be fine." Daphne wipes away a tear that spills down Belly's cheek, her skin soft under Daphne's thumb.

"How?"

"Listen, Jere is going to be fine. He can't hold a grudge longer than five minutes."

"No, I don't think this is like anything that's happened before. This is not like the time you ate all the ice cream." Belly brought back a silly memory of Daphne eating the last ice cream and Jeremiah being upset at her for five minutes before she bought him a new pint.

"I think we should maybe hit pause on us." Belly seemed to force the words out. They were hard to say, Daphne felt something inside her pause. She needed time to think about what Belly had just said. Hit pause on them? God, for Daphne, that's probably the worst thing she's ever heard, aside from the obvious.

"What? No. That's crazy."

"I don't want to make things harder for you. You're going home with the boys at the end of the summer, and with everything with Susannah, you'll need each other." Belly rested her hand on Daphne's thigh, her eyes darting up.

"I need you." Daphne tried to hide how her voice seemed to break. "Trust me, when it comes to it, you'll be glad to have them. This is going to be so hard on you. And I can't do that to Jere or you, I can't steal you from each other."

"You're not stealing me from him, you've always had me. I told you, I'm yours." Daphne's hand caressed Belly's cheek. "And I'm yours, wholeheartedly. We'll have our time in the sun." Belly, sweet Belly. Daphne couldn't help but love her, for some reason she knew this would make her love Belly more. "I hate this." Daphne took in a shaky breath. "But I'll be alright, we'll be fine."

"We'll be alright."