estrellas~jeremiah x oc (TSITP FANFIC)

estrellas~chapter 25

I thought I was dreaming when I heard my Mother yelling, unfortunately, it was not a dream.

"Lauren!" She yelled, "Wake up!" She had yanked the blanket off of Jere and I.

"You told me you were helping Conrad! Not sleeping with Jeremiah!" She began, "I can't believe I trusted you, you tell me some lie and I find you half-naked on an air mattress with Jeremiah!"

I sat up in the bed, "I did come to help Conrad and other shit went down Mom! I was too busy to let you know..."

"Too busy? Too busy! Don't make excuses Lauren, I can't believe you guys. Pack up your things we're leaving!" She had stormed off to check the other bedrooms.

"Fuck..." I say while rubbing my head, Jere just watched me.

"How did she even find us?" I ask.

Next thing I know she and Belly start to yell from Belly's bedroom. I learned from a young age to never talk back to my mom, especially if she was angry.

"I'm not leaving!" Belly yelled back. I heard some kind of thumb and then the room went silent. I ran to check and I saw Belly's hand on her face. Did my mother hit her? She had never laid hands on us before.

"Belly..." My mom said, she sounded apologetic.

It felt like everything had stopped.

I walk down to the kitchen and see a basket of muffins, naturally, I help myself to one.

"Who brought muffins?" I ask aloud.

Connie appears in the door frame, "I went and got some, to help everyone's hangover."

I put my hands up in a prayer position as I munch on the tasty treat. Eventually, Jere, Steven, Skye, Taylor, and Belly join me at the table. We all stay silent and eat.

My mother appears, I remain quiet and continue to eat my muffin.

"I want this place spotless and for every single thing of Susannah's to be put back exactly where it belongs," She announces to all of us kids, "If even one thing is broken or missing, I swear to God!" She continues.

"Mom, we weren't the ones who moved her stuff," Steven says bravely.

"It was Aunt Julia," Jere says softly.

"She's the one who emptied it, not us," Connie finishes.

"But, I thought Susannah talked to her lawyers. She told me she reached out to Julia right before things got bad." My mother says while questioning her thoughts.

"I just assumed they resolved it before Susannah... Connie, does your dad know?"

"Of course, he knows! And of course, he's done nothing at all to help us!" Connie yells, not at my mother, but just to yell.

"Yeah, that's why everyone came here," I say.

"I see..." My mother trails off.

Belly runs off and my mother follows her, hopefully, they could make up.

Later, as we started to clean up the mess, Belly and my mother entered inside hand in hand.

"I owe you all an apology," My mother starts, "You guys have been there for each other, and I haven't, and I'm deeply sorry for that." She had started to tear up.

"We've all made mistakes, Mom," I say as I go to hug her.

"Well, my biggest one is trusting that Beck and Julia had come to an agreement about the beach house before she passed. It's probably too late to change things, but I'd like to try." She gives us all a hopeful smile, "I'll talk to Julia, see if I can't change her mind."

"Thank you, Mom," Steven says.

"Thank you, Laurel," Connie and Jere answer.

"Before my mom gets here, though, we should probably try and make this place look less... shitty," Skye says, we all enjoy a laugh and get back to cleaning.

Taylor heads out and we all start to clean and scrub. Jere finds a speaker and we start to jam while cleaning.

I'm dancing while the front door opens, "Oh, we have a visitor," I say. Shit, it's Julia.

"Um, you're... early," Jere says while scratching his head.

"I'm also in breach of my sales agreement. What happened to this place? It's a disaster!" She yells.

Thank god my mother walks in, "Hey, Julia. Thanks for coming. Can we have a chat while the kids clean up?"

They walk onto the dock and we all huddle at the window watching them. I try to read their body language but it's useless.

"She's too stubborn," Jere says, "There is no way she's going to pull out."

A little while later they come back.

"I've decided to pull out of the sale," Julia says.

"Yes!" I scream as I run over to Jere, we have a big hug and we all are jumping for joy.

"Let's not celebrate yet," My mother says, "We still need to convince your dad to buy the house from Julia."

~

In order to pursue Adam, we all start to cook up a feast.

We hear the front door open so all of us kids go to hide in the living room.

"What's this? You don't cook," Adam said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Figured you'd be hungry after your ride so I made you breakfast, for lunch," My mom says in response.

"Where are the kids?" He asks.

"I think they're giving us space so you and I can have an adult conversation about the house," My Mom answered bluntly.

"Thanks for coming all this way to back me up," Adam answers while shoving food into his mouth.

"Oh, I'm not here to back you up. I'm here to back up the boys. You can't let them lose this house, Adam," I love how my mother can get so sassy, she does not put up with any bullshit.

"Well, it's done. Julia sold it," He says confidently.

Julia enters the kitchen, "Actually, I, um, changed my mind."

"Okay, well, let's get something straight here. I'm not letting them lose anything. This has been out of my hands since the start. So don't go making me the bad guy here."

I feel Jere tense up, I grab his hand and rub it in some way to comfort him.

"Why is it that those boys have been trying harder for the last three days to save this house than you have in the last several weeks?" My mother asks him. It may be harsh but it was the truth.

"No, shut up, Laurel!" Adam yells at my mother.

I feel fire light up in Conrad's eyes. He storms into the kitchen, and all of us follow him.

"Where do you get off saying shit like that?" Connie yells at his father.

"Can't you get past your own grief and see what it means to the boys?" My mother pleads.

All of us kids just stare at him.

"Please," Jere pleads to him.

I see Adam feel pain in his eyes. I hate to give a cruel man sympathy but it felt needed in this moment.

I speak up, "We know you miss her," I start to choke, so Belly chips in, "We all do." I feel tears form in my tear ducts.

"Please do this for us Dad," Conrad begs.

Adam finally considers something, "If I sell the Boston house, that could give us enough. You'd both be at school mostly anyway, but we can't afford both houses. Is this really what you want?"

"Yes," Jere and Con both agree eagerly.

"Okay then," Adam clears his throat. I see my Mom satisfied.

With that, Adam is heading back to Boston to finalize everything. I see everyone seem lighter, filled with relief that the house will stay.