The Summer I Turned Pretty - The Years Later✔️

Chapter 13

Dedicated to @theswimreader for my first comment.......

The month of May brought slashes of rain ,gloomy grey sky and hot coffees. I saw one huge cloud coming from the west. It looked angry,ready to strike,ready to cry more precisely. The roads were wet and vehicles rushed on them and people in umbrellas and raincoats walked along it. Conrad was yet to return from his hospital and I was waiting for him. I could never remember what I did the whole day without him.Conrad would ask sometimes, but it was usually spent at home alone or in some coffee shops typing rapidly on my computer. Nothing more.I wrote articles daily but compared to Con it felt nothing. He even suggested to write a book of my own but I never felt like it.

I sat in the window seat with my third cup of coffee and a book when the door bell rang. I expected it to be Con but it was Jeremiah drenching in rain, rubbing his hand through his hair to make it dry. "Jere?What was the emergency?",I said jokingly and gave him way to come inside. 

"Mm I actually need my brother right now",Jere said slightly shivering. 

"Man talk huh?",I said.

 "Hmph".

"Whatever that is has to wait. You have to dry out first."

He followed me to his usual guest room where he had a cupboard filled with clothes. Jere spent a lot of time here. We'd hang out,the four of us. Steven would turn up too. Jere changed quickly and I made him a cup of hot coffee. We were seated on the couch with Tom and Jerry on when Jere said,"I love watching Tom and Jerry with you. It's like we never grew up."

"Don't change the topic Jere, why are you here?"

"What?You don't want me to come over?"

"You know I do. But not drenching wet. You could fall ill."

"Okay okay just kidding. Where's Con?"

"Hospital."

"Workin late huh?"

"Yeah."

"So?",I said impatiently.

"Let Con come and I'll tell."

After a half an hour the door bell rang again. Conrad stepped in to find himself a surprise: Jeremiah sitting on the couch. I gave him a soft kiss and went to the kitchen to get him some coffee. "You really don't like Boston do you?",Conrad joked and gave Jeremiah a hug. 

"I need to talk to you about something",Jere said. I returned back with a cup of coffee and sat down on the couch with the guys. "So?",I said impatiently again. 

"You really don't like to wait Belly, do you?",Jere said. "No. She gets anxious in fifteen",Conrad answered as I was opening my mouth. "That is not so",I said and made a grumpy face at which both of them laughed.

"So I need your help in mm a proposal."

"A proposal?",Con and I said together with sudden interest.

"Yes. I want to ask Sherely to marry me."

"Woah.Congrats Jere. I didn't know this was coming",Con said smiling.

"Yeah I didn't tell that we were really serious."

"But if she's serious too then what's the prob?"

"Yeah, I know that she'll say yes and all but I want to make it special you know. And I don't think hopeless romantic nature always works.",Jere said giving me a side accusing glance.

"Hey, who you're calling a hopeless romantic huh?",I said.

"You",the brothers chorused.

I made a I'm-not-so face and kept mum.

"And how am I supposed to help you?",Con asked.

"Well you have experience."

"I could tell you how I did it."

"Yeah, that'd be great. You're good at all this."

Two years back

It was spring and I and Con were going on a date. Con had arranged it and denied telling me where we were going. He took me to a beautiful garden restaurant with lanterns hanging between trees, white tables with roses in the centre and soft songs on piano playing in the background. It was beautiful. I precisely remember what I wore that day. A baby blue dress with a black chocker and a pair of medium size heels. I had some of my hair tied back and I had even curled it a little. Conrad wore a nice black button-down shirt with his favourite pair of jeans. He looked charming.

After dinner we went for a stroll in a park nearby which was empty and had a nice miniature hall in the middle which to my surprise was decorated with lights and candles. A small speaker played a nice slow song on it. Conrad asked me to dance with him. We danced like that for some time. Me in his arms,our bodies moving on the song's beats. Looking in his eyes and controlling the urge to kiss him. Ignoring my little heart that was doing all sorts of flips and summer salts. It belonged completely to him or it was full of him, I couldn't choose. Then he twirled me around and suddenly my heels slipped and he caught me in his arms. I chuckled,"Sorry." 

"It's okay", he chuckled back. He had stopped dancing. He was holding me in his arms, looking in my eyes. I couldn't cease the urge to kiss him this time so I just tip-toed to kiss him. It was a soft kiss before,full of passion and love.Then our tongues moved in and then it was soft again. 

When we broke apart he looked at me for five seconds.Then he sank down on his knees and removed a ring from his pocket. I knew what was coming. I had already started tearing up softly. He took my hand and said,"Isabel Conklin. I love you so so much. I know I'm an idiot and I've done wrong things but I love you. I can't live without you and I so can't lose you again. I need you to stay with me forever. What I'm saying is, Belly, will you marry me?"

My tears started rolling down on my cheeks. "Yes." That's all he needed to hear, I knew it. He slid the ring gently on my finger and got up. I saw his eyes tearing up. It's not a big deal when a girl cries for a guy, but when he cries for her it's true love and no power in the world can change that. We kissed. It was nothing like our previous ones. It was magical.

***

Con had just finished the story and a silence had fallen. I knew what Con was thinking. He was playing the same night over in his head because I was doing the same. As for Jere, he was trying to imagine how perfect that night must've been.

I finally decided to break the silence,"I think what Con meant here was follow your heart Jere. Do something that you think is special. It doesn't have to be something big or fancy. Simple and romantic usually works better I think. But if you don't have to listen to a hopeless romantic then I can't help it." I said the last line with a little mock tone. 

"The hopeless romantic is right Jere",Con said. I slapped him on the arm and snuggled in his arms. He gave me a soft kiss on my forehead. 

"Thanks guys, it really helped",Jere said gratefully,"Just PDA please." 

"We live here",Con said laughing. 

"Whatever I'm gonna go sleep. You guys can snuggle up or do whatever you want",Jere said mockingly.

"Shut up Jere,what about dinner though?You don't want food?",I laughed poking my head out from Con's arms. "Nah,I had three burgers.Goodnight peeps",Jere said. "Good night junkie",I and Con chorused.

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I know, it's a small chapter but it felt appropriate. Hope you liked it. Don't forget to vote and comment and also check out My other story 'Before is After.'