tidal wave

• chapter seven •

Bre ran down the stairs at Brown to catch up with the rest of the group who hadn't waited for her. It was usual for her to be the last one in the group.

"Here she is" Finn pointed at her when she came out of the door at the bottom. Belly and Jeremiah were looking everywhere but at each other.

"So I'm gonna head to Cousins, you guys can head back home if you want," Jeremiah said pulling out his phone. Bre and Belly gave each other the same look, knowing they wouldn't let him go by himself.

"No we're coming with you" Bre said sternly, she wanted to be there for Jeremiah and Conrad. This is what she needed to do.

"You sure? I can go by myself" Jeremiah answered looking up from his phone shocked that they were gonna go with him.

"I wanna see my parents so if y'all are going back to Cousins, I'm coming," Finn said interrupting.

"Okay Finnley, who wants to come with me?" Bre asked juggling the backpack and Conrad's laptop in her arms. Belly looked at Jeremiah trying to decide if she wanted to have this conversation now or later.

"I'm going with you, I can be DJ," Finn said putting his arms around Bre. Bre nudged him off. He wasn't helping with these little comments.

"Are you okay with going with Jere?" Bre asked rolling her eyes at Finn who was making weird noises.

"Yeah, just like old times" Belly smiled. The group headed to their separate cars and agreed to meet in Cousins.

Bre would rather stay silent the whole journey than talk to Finn. She was getting on her nerves recently and didn't know what to do. The Journey so far was Finn changing the song every minute and singing badly.

"One day you're gonna get a record deal for the amount of headaches you give out to people with you singers" Bre said looking across at him and smirking.

"FINALLY THE DEVIL SPEAKS!" Finn shouted, Bre looked at him briefly in shock he shouted that loudly.

"There goes my eardrums," She said sarcastically, two teenagers started laughing.

They both looked across at each other and smiled. They had become reliant on each other and this had begun to separate them.

"Are you worried about seeing Conrad?" Finn asked quietly not knowing if this would hit a nerve. Bre looked over at him thinking about how she was gonna react.

"Honestly haven't thought about it, I'm not sure I'm ready but I always throw myself into these situations" Bre nervously laughed.

"You do, for someone who overthinks a lot about basic normal situations, you never think about the big picture" Finn commented.

"Very true" Bre muttered.

"How come Jeremiah called you?" Bre asked, she didn't even know they were still in contact let alone the fact he answered.

Finn looked at Bre blankly for a moment, it seemed like he was arguing with himself, to tell the truth, or to lie.

"I reached out to him a month or so ago, when you weren't doing too good and we just texted a few times. Then because you hadn't answered his calls he phoned me" Finn said, it seemed genuine to Bre like he wouldn't lie about it.

"Is it weird how heartbroken I am about the situation?" Bre asked, she had been asking herself the same question and wanted someone with an actual answer.

"No I wouldn't say so, you grew up with him. Yeah, you guys were officially together for what six/seven months?" Finn asked, Bre nodded she hadn't even registered the break up yet not even Susannah's death. She kept on distracting herself with other things. Finding Conrad was just another one.

"Yeah, our whole lives were building up to it though," Bre said, she didn't know how to feel about it. For the first time in her life, she didn't have someone else looking up to her on how to act or feel and that's why she felt so lost.

"Maybe that's the issue, you're constantly trying to please others. But what do you want?" Finn asked, it was a serious question. Finn never seemed to ask because he didn't want to upset Bre but she needed someone to be honest with her.

"I want to be able to sleep and live without this soul-crushing weight on my shoulders" Bre breathed out.

"Is that why you constantly fall asleep on my shoulder?" Finn asked laughing.

"I have no recollection of doing that"Bre started laughing.

"For someone scared to drive Keegan's car you sure are a safe driver" Finn said putting the window down. They were nearly at Cousins, about a thirty-minute drive now. They fell back into silence but this time it was a comfortable silence. Finn was typing on his laptop so was finishing off his final essay and Bre was concentrating on the road. It was weird she hadn't seen Jeremiah since they left Brown. Returning to Cousins wasn't exactly on their list to do this summer but Bre wasn't mad about it. She wanted to be back, but just not under these conditions.

"Shall we stop off at Russels?" Bre asked breaking their silence, but they were just about to pass it.

"Uh sure, I probably need to get my mom some flowers or something" Finn said letting out a sigh.

"Damn you're so nice" Bre said turning in and parking.

They were in and out within a few minutes as Bre wanted a drink and there were no flowers there. But they saw Jeremiah's car drive past so rushed back out to catch up to him.

"Ugh I didn't even get a drink" Finn said moaning as they started driving again.

"Well you can have some of mine" Bre offered out to him.

"Thank you," He said, Bre didn't even have to look over to know he had finished it within a few seconds.

"You could've saved me some at least," Bre said smiling, it was something Finn always did so Bre didn't even think twice about it anymore.

"You know me," Finn said. Bre started getting a bad feeling in her stomach pulling into the Beck house. Jeremiah and Belly were stood waiting in front of his car.

Bre took a deep breath before getting out of her car. The house looked no different.

Jeremiah headed in first without even thinking about waiting.

"Are you ready?" Belly asked taking Bres's hand.

"I've got to be" Bre whispered back.

"You've got both of us" Finn smiled. Belly headed in first going towards the sound of talking. Bre then followed holding back a little bit before also following.

"Jere the house has been put up for sale," He said, Bre hadn't heard his voice in weeks and a part of her wanted to run up to him but the other part wanted to get back in her car and drive away. She wasn't ready but she had to be. As they all came into view, Conrad looked no different. More grown up in a way.

"What do you mean the house is for sale?" Bre asked without even thinking. He didn't even look at her. He kept his eyes fixed on Belly and Jeremiah.

The moment Finn walked into the room, Conrad finally looked at her. Almost wanting to know who else had come, Conrad was silently hoping Steven had come. But he was wrong.

"What are they doing here?" He asked, he was angry. His eyes didn't move off Bre, it was like he was stuck. The person he wanted to talk to this whole time was in front of him but a stranger.