The Summer I Turned Pretty - The Years Later✔️

chapter 14

Dedicated to MistyManushree for wonderful comments always:)

He's holding my hand, he's looking at me fondly but then...something happens. He leaves my hand and he walks into darkness. He's fading slowly. He's drifting away from me. I'm screaming at the top of my lungs. I'm screaming his name but he's not able to hear it. I'm sweating. I'm shaking. He's leaving me. Conrad is leaving me. I'm crying now. The floor under me is shaking.

I opened my eyes and saw Conrad staring at me with worry on his face. "Belly what happened?You-you were screaming and crying and I don't know.What's wrong?",Conrad stuttered.

"I must've had a nightmare",I said wiping the sweat of my forehead.

"Why were you screaming my name then?"

"You-you were leaving me."

"I will never ever leave you. I love you."

I just looked at him and realized that I loved him so much that life without him was out of my capability.That I'd never really valued his presence,his being in my life.I could never imagine what I'd do if he wasn't there with me,by my side.

"I-I never realized how much I had. I had you Con and I never valued it."

"Belly, people say that you don't know what you have until it's gone. The truth is,you know exactly what you had,you just thought you'd never lose it."

"You're right ."

"Yes. Now get some sleep."

"Okay. And Con?I've seen hunger games too by the way."

"So you knew that I wasn't quoting on my own all this time."

"Always."

"Belly?"

"Yes?"

"I've seen Harry Potter."

We laughed. He always made me laugh. But what he said was true. I never thought about losing him and I still couldn't.

***

The night was passed and the day had started. I had forgotten all about the dream and had welcomed a new cold day.The months were flying by with the excitement of returning to Cousins.

Christmas was near, clothes shopping was almost done and our arrival at Cousins was drawing near. It was always summer but why not give winter a try?

The first sixteen years of my life I'd just been counting summers but now that Conrad was a part of my life forever I had finally started counting the rest of the year.

Summer's usually went busy so we all decided to visit Cousins in winter. Conrad will be on a long  break,I would continue writing articles,Jere and Steven would have holidays and mom and dad will be there too and so were Sherely's family. Jere and Sherely were getting engaged on Christmas Eve.If this wasn't perfect then what was?

"When are we going shopping then?",I asked.

"Shopping?"

"Yes ,Christmas shopping. I have to get presents for everyone. And now that Sherely's family will be there we'd have to be extra organized."

"And why is that so?",he said coming near me and pulling me close to him. My heart did another summersault,another flip,some more tangling. It did that a lot.

"Because they're getting engaged",I chuckled.

"I don't remember you being organized for our engagement",he said softly and tapped my nose.

"I was",I protested.

"No, you were all over the place",he laughed.

"Okay okay. Let's just go shopping today."

"How about now?"

"Okay."

We were striding through the long mall corridors searching for the most perfect store to shop for Sherely's family. "Maybe we could get some candles",I suggested. "That sounds good."

We went inside bath and body works. It seemed as if all the people thought it to be the perfect Christmas present. "Agh,why is it always us who get so much crowd",I complained."Because my silly wife always chooses the most crowded stores."
"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

We bought three perfect candles for Sherely's mom,Rose. Conrad wanted to by some deodorant for her dad and I thought I'd buy Sherely some lingerie.

"Just like Taylor and Anika bought for you huh",Conrad chuckled.

"It was a great gift,wasn't it?"

"It was",he said and gave me a small kiss.

We put a lot of thought in buying a present for her little brother. He was fifteen and we had no idea what to buy for him."You were all about tanning when you were fifteen",Conrad said to irritate me.

"And you were in love with your guitar",I threw back annoying him the slightest. After a lot of thinking we decided on getting him gift cards. Netflix and Amazon and stuff.

I got my mom some vinyl disks, my dad some novels I'd seen in his to-read lists and Mr.Fisher some fishing hooks. I got Steven a ticket for a concert to his most favorite band. It was preplanned.I wanted to get Jere something special as it was his engagement we were actually going for.

He'd be wearing lots of suits lately,for his engagement,wedding and he goes to lots of business meetings so I thought about a tie. Conrad said it was the most perfect idea but he didn't know the real reason. I never told him this. It was something that only I and Jere knew. It wasn't something so special that I couldn't share but it was close to my heart. And Jere had never mentioned it to anyone so I wanted to honor that.

Age 19

We were going to shop for Jere's wedding suit. He told me to accompany him so I did. While shopping I was hungry all of a sudden so I'd left Jere to continue while I grabbed some food. I passed a store with handsome elegant ties and I couldn't help myself looking inside.

I came across this really pretty fancy blue tie. It was so perfect. It'd look great on Jere, I knew it. I didn't know what kind of tie was he looking for but whatever he said I was going to buy this for him. It was beautiful.

When Jere had picked the right suit and selected his shirt he decided to look for ties. When I showed him the tie he had this expression of delight and happiness that I couldn't take my eyes off. He said that it was perfect.

He was a bit sad though,because it didn't match my dress I was supposed to wear at the engagement party. So he'd promised me instead that he'd wear it on the wedding day and on every important occasion.

Well,the wedding never happened but he did wear it on every important occasion. I guess he kept it as a souvenir. A souvenir of love. And Jere told me that they wanted to do a small engagement just like we had planned for us but a big wedding because Sherely had a big family and they were all close. I kept wondering if he ever got over me.

***

I told Conrad the story of the tie that night. I don't know why but I did. He said,"Seems like a part of Jere still loves you. But it's fine."

"Yeah",I said,"It's just likes a  part of me always loved you on Jere and my wedding day."

"Does a part of you still love Jere?",he asked softly. "I think it always will. A very small part."

"I'm okay with that." He leaned in and kissed me. He tried telling me that it was okay. That he was fine with it but that he didn't want to lose me again. He wanted me for the rest of his life. And I knew that I would be his. For the rest of my damn life.
______________________________________
Did we like it?? Don't forget to comment and vote:D New chapters coming soon.