𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐗, 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙧𝙖𝙙 𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧

004

CHAPTER 4

ever since he saw elani that day he arrived in cousins, conrad had been beating himself up for being a complete idiot and letting her go.

it hurt him to see how she entirely ignored him, all the time, all he received were dirty looks. and when she finally did talk to him that day in the living room, it was just to ask him where his brother was.

it made him fume, he wasn't angry at her, more so his brother. conrad blamed him to a certain point for the way his relationship with elani ended. but of course he couldn't tell elani that, and since he was a good brother, he also wouldn't tell jeremiah.

with a sigh he got up and went to the backyard, he wanted to wait there until the conklin's got there later that day. lani was back in her room, sat on the ledge of her window, reading field notes on love.

her phone dinged beside her and she saw belly had texted her. 'we're almost there, can't wait to see you :)' it read.

lani smiled and from that point on she looked up from her book every few minutes to see if she saw the conklin's approaching. about half an hour later she heard a car nearing, and to her delight, it was the conklin's.

she shut her book and left it on her bed, running down the stairs with her phone in hand. "mom, they're here!" she announced. soon, she heard her mother's footsteps.

the ramirez girls walked out of their house together and crossed the street to the fisher's. lani rushed towards steven and hugged him. "you're tall." she noted.

"you're not." she pulled away and glared at him.

"jokes aside i missed you." he smiled.

"i missed you too you idiot." jere came outside and lani let go of steven so he could go greet him. she walked over to laurel who was greeting fernanda and susannah.

"lani! you've grown so much." the older woman said as she saw her. lani smiled and gave her a hug. lani looked up when she heard belly. she turned around and saw her hugging jere. "i'll be right back."

belly saw lani over jere's shoulder and immediately let go of him. she ran towards lani and jumped into her arms. "you ass, how could you leave me alone with boys for two summers."

lani laughed. "i'm sorry."

they pulled apart. "why did you go for so long?" belly asked.

"there were some things i needed to do." lani vaguely answered.

"lani come here for a second!" susannah called her. she muttered a small 'be right back' to belly and walked over to the adults.

she was stood in a group with the moms in an angle where she was still facing belly, so she saw the exact moment that conrad walked out from the backyard and the smile that spread across belly's face and the half-hearted one that graced conrad's, more than she'd seen from him the entire week she'd been here.

she saw their exchange. how belly talked to him in a different way than she talked to jere and lani. she messed around with him and made him smile, it reminded her of how she used to act around conrad, which begged the question, what the hell had happened between those two while she was gone?

"lani?" fernanda said, making her realize they had asked her something.

"i'm sorry could you repeat that please?"

"what university do you have in mind?" laurel asked.

"oh, nyu or columbia maybe." she replied.

"hey, hey guys." steven said, putting an arm around lani and pulling her towards the group with jere, belly and conrad. "i mean i-i don't know about you, but i, well i-i think it's time for a belly flop!"

the boys went to grab belly but she tried to run away, eventually they caught her and carried her to the backyard. "1..., 2..., 3!" on the third count they threw her into the water. lani watched from a safe distance knowing she was probably gonna be next if she got closer.

"you really thought you would save yourself? after leaving us for two summers?" she heard jere say.

"shit." she whispered, accepting her fate, knowing she wouldn't be able to get out of it. she let the three of them pick her up and threw her into the pool. she emerged and coughed a bit for the effect. "guys coke on, help me out, it's really hard to swim with shoes on."

jere and steven were doubled over in laughter, so much so that lani was almost sure they hadn't heard her. so, conrad offered his hand, she took it and with all her might she pulled him in, the force however, pushing her back into the water as well.

they both emerged and they were now both laughing, they might've not been laughing together but conrad still felt like it was a good time. he watched as she swam with ease to the edge of the pool and got out.

when she was stood up and had drained her hair, she looked over her shoulder and gave him a small smile. he was confused, yesterday she wouldn't have spared him a glance, and now she was smiling at him? he wasn't complaining though.

this summer he was gonna put himself first, he wanted to win her back. but belly didn't look like a fan of the idea as she watched their exchange with slight jealousy, and when she looked up towards jere she saw that he had a similar expression on his face.

lani is usually smart but she was really oblivious to the feelings of everybody around her and she had no idea what that summer would bring her.

luck speaks! 🌱

i can't for the life of me get austin butler about of my head, i want to write a fanfic about him but would you guys read it?

hope you enjoyed the chapter, ily