𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐍² , 𝗧𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗣.

𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤, 5

"rose?" i snapped out of my memory and looked at jeremiah. both of them were looking at me.

"the house is legally julia's." adam said and we looked at the phone.

"so you've known we're losing the house since the funeral?" jeremiah asked.

"jere, i'm not your evil father trying to ruin to your life." adam said. "and believe it or not i'm just as upset as your are about it."

"that's such bullshit. that's such bullshit." conrad said. "you never cared about this house, dad. you never cared about it cause you never cared about mom."

i looked at conrad, hoping he won't say something bad after that.

"you know, that's not true." adam exhaled.

oh really?

"jere, come on. you get it, don't you?" adam asked, chuckling.

"dad, i-i don't, i don't get why we can't just use our trust to buy it, and then we can sell it later if we need the money." jeremiah said.

"no, julia's gonna go ahead with the open house tomorrow. i really appreciate the attempt here, but this is the end of the conversation. you just make sure that julia gets everything that she needs. you got it?" adam asked.

"conrad was right. talking to you is pointless." jeremiah said and cut the call.

"it's like he doesn't even want to try." i said. "but he's also right in a sense."

they both looked at me with a 'are you kidding me?' look.

"what? the money is for your future. as much as susannah loved this house she loved you guys more. she wouldn't like it if you disregarded your future to save the house." i said, slightly unsure.

"yeah, but you don't know her, do you?" conrad asked, annoyedly.

we became quiet and then the main door opened and belly, taylor, and steven walked in.

"surprise!" steven yelled.

"oh, shit." he said. "i-i knew we should have told them we were coming." he said after seeing our faces.

"how did you guys know we're here?" i asked.

"lucky guess. be serious, you have no other friends whose house you could go to." belly said.

"it's not that. it's..." conrad trailed off.

"we're losing the house." jeremiah said. "they put it up for sale."

belly dropped her bag on the floor as she stared at jeremiah and then at me, tears gathering in her eyes.

"oh, cinderbelly." taylor said, hugging belly. "they're selling the house?" she asked.

"yeah." i said, quietly.

"i-i bought you raspberry." steven said, handing me a box of pie.

"glad you're here." i nodded.

-

"we should leave snakes around the house tomorrow." i said.

"yes." belly agreed.

"and then how would we get rid of them?" steven asked.

"animal control." i answered.

"i think this julia will also have that in mind. she wants the money so badly." taylor said.

"how's jere?" i asked conrad as the others got engrossed in their own conversation and banter.

"good. i told him we're not giving up." conrad said.

"good. cause we're not." i smiled and he looked at me, smiling.

"thank you." he said and i shrugged, smiling before walking to the couch and adjusting between steven and belly after pushing them.

"i ordered pizza. it should be like 30 minutes, but i only ordered one with pineapple, so i call dibs on two slices, all right?" jeremiah said.

"jeremiah, i think that's all you." conrad said as we all laughed and jeremiah made a confused face.

"what?" jeremiah asked as we laughed.

"somebody order a pepperoni." i said, smiling.

this place is really magical. and cousins is a fantasy world. susannah was always right and she made me believe it too. so i gotta make sure it stays that way.

"so, what do you guys want to watch?" conrad asked still standing up.

"ooh! can we watch the taylor swift documentaries?" i asked and then looked at taylor and belly who nodded excitedly looking at conrad.

"oh no way!" steven exclaimed.

"shut up, steven!" i exclaimed.

"oh, wait let's watch... it happened one night." i said, picking up the cd.

"that's a better choice." steven said as conrad took the cd from my hand.

the movie started and conrad sat on the armchair. i noticed how he saw something on his phone and then got up, leaving. steven looked at me after looking at conrad aswell.

he gave me a look and then stood up, following after conrad. i stayed silent, looking as he left and then slowly looked back at the screen, confused.