𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋, conrad fisher

𝟏𝟏. no hard feelings

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧. no hard feelings
:: bellysbonrad

the fourth of july party susannah threw every summer was truly unforgettable. she went all out with the barbeque, the punch, the swimming, the beach, it was amazing.

however, the fourth of july from when stella, steven, and conrad were 11 was her favourite. she still remembered everything about it. every little detail was engraved in her head.

the day was hot, but the occasional breeze made up for it. laurel and susannah were talking to the dads. steven, like usual, was being idiotic and was teasing belly.

"steven! get back here!" laurel yelled.

"shoot, stella if mom asks where i am- say i'm out of the country. no wait- just tell her i drowned." steven told stella.

"okay..." stella answered hesitantly.

"elle, wanna cannonball?" conrad asked stella.

"mom just said no."

"on the count of three! one... two... three!" conrad shouted, jumping and dragging stella into the pool with him.

"guys!" laurel frowned. "i said after the pictures. just twenty more minutes!"

"also, where is steven?"

"oh. he drowned." stella told laurel.

"just go get changed and dry your hair, please." her mom responded.

"okay." she shrugged.

"i knew mom wouldn't like that."

"well, it was fun anyways," conrad replied.

"hey, guys! why are you guys soaking wet?" belly leaped up from the couch and made her way to the duo.

"because conrad decided to push me in the pool." stella rolled her eyes, messing up his already wet hair.

"i don't regret it," conrad told belly and stella, looking into stella's eyes with a mischievous look.

"jerk." stella giggled as she messed up his hair once more and ran away from him, up the stairs.

"elle!" conrad shouted, laughing along as well.

something was different that year. what happened that night proved it.

stella's hair was loosely in a braid and she was in a blue and white sundress, dipping her feet in the pool. she swirled her legs around which created ripples in the water. conrad sat down next to her comfortably, mirroring stella's actions.

stella hid her smile, leaning her head on her best friend's shoulder. they fit perfectly together, like two puzzle pieces.

"today was a really good day." stella said, breaking the comfortable silence.

"oh, yeah?"

"yeah. i feel like this one beats all the other fourth of july's." stella nodded.

"i think so, too."

"did you know i heard mom yelling at steven for running around in only his underwear?"

conrad laughed at that. stella loved his laugh. she wanted to make him laugh just to hear it.

"what did laurel say?" conrad asked.

"she said if he was so comfortable running around in his underwear in this house, he should do it all around cousins. that made him pull his pants back up."

conrad laughed again. stella smiled at his laugh.

"did you know it was jeremiah who squeezed too much lemon into the kid's punch today?" conrad questioned.

"it was him?!" stella sat up straight in surprise.

"it was." conrad nodded all seriously. "he was saying something like it was too 'unflavourful' and said he needed to fix it."

"he ruined the punch." stella rolled her eyes at the irony.

"i know."

they went silent again, but this time, holding eye contact.

perhaps it was conrad who gave her a peck on her lips, or maybe she kissed him, but it shocked both of them.

stella looked at conrad, her mouth a little part from the surprise of it all. conrad looked at stella like he wanted to do it again. she wanted to do it again.

but what would happen to belly? what would happen to all of them? what happened if it didn't work out? it was too confusing for stella's 11-year-old mind.

"elle..." conrad interrupted her thoughts.

stella put on a smile and said, "let's not do that again. friends don't do stuff like that. let's just pretend as nothing happened. no hard feelings."

conrad stared at her mouth as she kept saying words she didn't want to say.

"okay." conrad replied quietly. "no hard feelings."

there were no hard feelings after that though- stella and conrad acted as nothing happened. jeremiah and steven were still troublemakers. belly continued to crush on conrad. it was all good.

no hard feelings.

author's notes:
the little flashbacks of when they were best friends 🫶🫶 (this is a filler so the next chapters gonna be pretty long)

can you guys tell from stella having these flashbacks and memories that something is gonna happen 🤨

i dont wanna hear anything about how conrad had feelings for her before they kissed because conrad is ME and he realized after everything went down

also i tested positive for covid so you guys are being spoiled w updates 😘😂😂🤘