Certainty | TSITP

T W E L V E .

"Oh this is cool." Jere said, opening the door to the theater room, letting himself and belly in.

"Oh, wow.. this is perfect." She responded, looking at all of the couches.

"This is the most glorious sleep arangement one can ask for while spending zero dollars." He smiled.

"Yes... you do have a flair for the epic." She responded scratching the back of her neck,
"can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Do you think Conrad and Ana are... starting to uhm-"

"Yes." Was all he said, looking down at his hands.

They both sat there in silence. Not knowing what else to say. But belly had a thought.. what if they got jealous? Would they want them then?

"Wh- what if we 'dated'?" She asked, looking at the boy with giant eyes and a smile.

"What do you mean 'dated'?"

"What if we pretended to be interested in each other... only in front of Conrad and Ana. What if we made them jealous? Do you think they would want to uh- be with us?" Belly explained, watching as his face contort in confusion, "do you want Ana?"

Jere nodded his head and took a deep breath, "but what if they found out we were lying just to get to them? Don't you think they'd be mad?"

"So we won't let them find out."

The boy sat and thought about it for a moment. He thought if he did this he would have ana but if she found out.. he'd lose her again. But trying is better than not.

"Okay..."

~

There was a knock on the door, it was Ana... she had been invited by Jere and Susannah to come and have thanksgiving dinner with their family and Ana didnt have the heart to tell Susannah no. So, reluctantly she agreed.

She ended up being late though. Only because she had gotten caught up and missed her bus back to Boston. But the fisher boy and his mother didnt care.

'We have plenty of leftovers' Susannah said, and suddenly she was at their door, holding a pumpkin pie and freezing her ass off.

"Ana!" Jere said, opening the door and letting the girl in, "you're finally here. Only took you ten years."

"Yeah, the bus- I told your mom.. long story." She muttered, walking into the house.

When the door closed behind her she was met with Conrad and belly just staring at her awkwardly.

"Oh... lise. Hey." Conrad said.

"Ana." She corrected, "no one calls me Lise."

Belly rolled her eyes at the girl. She thought she was being dramatic. Conrad had only ever called her lise... that was his nickname for her. And even though she didnt even like it, she thought it was rude to enter the boys home and already have an attitude.

"Sorry..." he whispered.

She didnt even look at him, this was before the funeral... they hadn't talked in a couple of months other than the night she had blocked him completely. So she was definitely still pissed.

"Uh... where's your mom?" She asked, turning to jere.

"Belly! Come up here. Beck found a bunch of 90s clothes she wanted you to try on!" Laurel yelled, letting her eyes drift to the other girl, "Ana! You're here. It's so good to see you!"

"Anas here?" Susannah yelled from the room, walking next to laurel and looking down at the girl, "Ana! You must be starving. Oh! You can look at the clothes too! But you should eat-"

"Thank you, mom." Jere cut off with a laugh.

"I will come see you the moment I'm done eating your delicious food." Ana smiled, receiving an air kiss as Susannah walked back into her room, laurel following her.

"I don't know how I feel about you wearing my mom's baby tees from college." Conrad joked, looking at belly.

"You let Ana." Jere spoke up.

"Jere.. please don't." The girl sighed, looking down at the ground.

Belly sighed loudly and walked up the stairs, going to her mother and her best friend. Obviously ignoring Jere's comment.

"Uh... Steven's setting up the Wii in the other room if you want to play some games..." Conrad spoke softly, looking between Jere and Ana.

"Uh... I don't think so." "Nah, we're going to my room." The two spoke at the same time, stifling a laugh when the realized.

"But we always play games.."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't want to make Ana sit there and watch you and belly be all lovey dovey. It's not fair to her." He said.

Conrad nodded, sadly,
"no, yeah. You're right. I'm sorry."

The other fisher boy watched as Jere took Ana into the kitchen to get some food before they both walked up the stairs.

He was upset. But what right did he have to be? He just felt like Ana did when she saw him and belly together. And he hated it.

~

Everyone was sitting in the theater room now. Conrad and cam sat next to each other. While Jere and belly sat close together on a couch, holding hands. And Steven and Ana sat on one couch.

"Taylor that's gross." Belly spoke, watching as her best friend tried to make an apple bong.

"No it's not. I saw this on tiktok." She huffed.

"You can't just smoke random weed."

"It's not random weed. It's rich people lost and found weed."

Ana laughed as she listened to the two bicker. She didnt even realize belly and jeres position. Same for Conrad. He just watched ana as she sat in front of him giggling and his smile grew.

Belly finally looked at the two who weren't even paying attention to her and the other fisher boy and silently groaned.

"We have to try harder." She whispered to Jere, motioning the other two.

Jere looked at saw Ana and Conrad not even sparing the two a look. He flared his nostrils in annoyance and sighed.

He didnt want to pretend to be with belly. He just wanted to be with Ana already.