GUILTY | CONRAD FISHER

the dress.

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Sara was wearing the saddest facial expression she could, observing teens outside the country club every time she appeared at rehearsals.

She was a debutante now, so, she needed to sit between Shayla and Belly in a weird hat and listen to something about manners and...maturity? Maturity didn't sound as fun as pushing Jeremiah into a pool for her, honestly.

She was a debutante now, so, she had to practice dancing with Conrad every single day, sometimes, he made her dance twice a day. Because she was the worst, she said. Because she didn't want to be taught, said Conrad.

He was right, though. She let Fishers to drag her into that sheep show only because she loved Conrad, firstly, and, secondly, she wanted to wear her dress, to feel like she was the most incredible woman in the world wide. With the most incredible escort. With the most terrible dancing skills, too.

"Let's try this way," they were at Fishers now, rehearsing all by themselves. Conrad didn't let her hand go, like, never. He held Sara every second of their trainings as he was expecting her to run away.

Sara rolled her eyes but did what he wanted her to do. "We tried it for hours!"

"No, it was different!"

"No, it was different," she mimicked, pecking boyish lips the next moment in attempt to calm him down.

She knew that, as a tutor, he could easily get mad. Especially, when Sara was his student, she was unbearable. But she had some priority, girlfriend priority she was happy to use. He couldn't be mad at her, particularly, when he enjoyed her kissing him the way he did.

Edwards planned to pull away only seconds later, but Conrad's plans were different. Wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her closer to him, the boy kissed her again. Sara cupped his face, going on tiptoes. They both were smiling during the kiss, they both still couldn't get used to that reality.

Conrad noticed that Sara always tasted like hard liquor, no matter he kissed her in the middle of the day or night, every time he could catch remains of whiskey she drank with Theo or Jeremiah earlier, sometimes, she did it by herself. There was a taste of weed she thought he had no idea she kept smoking. The truth was, he always felt it and, honestly, even saw her doing it for a couple of times. But he said nothing, he was too afraid to lose her again. He went on a bender since he learnt about the second round of his mother sickness, Conrad was the last person who could judge Sara.

But Conrad didn't taste like alcohol, at all, which was weird. His lips were sweet as he was eating candies hundreds of times a day. The cherry taste muffled even cigarettes and blunts, it had always been a whole new secret of Conrad Fisher, the most mysterious boy her age she'd ever met. Sara, herself, was spending long minutes to cover the terrible smell, using gums, brushing her teeth, and the smell still stayed with her, she could feel it. Conrad did nothing to taste the way that made her addicted to kissing him, to counting minutes without his lips on hers.

The boy began brushing her hair with his fingers, the thing that became theirs too quickly. Conrad was obsessed with the fact that he was the only person in the world who was allowed to do that, to tuck her hair behind the ears, to play with strands, to brush and braid her. Sara's hair became Conrad's weakness.

Someone's cough made the couple pull away, finally. Sara blushed and tried to hide her face in the boyish chest. Conrad didn't let her waist go but squeezed it, comforting, he didn't see who interrupted them, either, as he was watching his girl. Every moving of her was an actual art for him, he couldn't stop looking at her.

"Didn't wanna interrupt, but Susannah's waiting for you, Sara," Belly spitted, observing the pair with jealousy; it was almost tangible. It seemed like Conrad didn't notice anything, but Sara did. She couldn't say what would be better, who should notice Belly's reaction.

Conrad cleared his throat. "Yeah, of course. Let's go, princess," with that been said, they left the Conklin girl alone in the room. As soon as the door closed, she collapsed on the couch, took the pillow and started screaming.

Belly tried her best to tolerate Sara and Conrad's relationship, to ignore feelings towards the elder Fisher as she was with his younger brother now. Unfortunately, she couldn't.

Her rage woke up every time she saw the pair, she couldn't stand them talking to each other, how could she endure the view of them kissing? Belly should be on Sara's place, she deserved it more that anyone, she was the one who loved Conrad her entire life, not Sara. They met in the beginning of the summer, they didn't know each other the way Belly and Conrad did. They were infinite, not Sara and him, they were meant to be, not Sara and him. That what she knew her whole life, that what she thought when he asked her to the ball, when they won the tournament, when he messaged her later that day.

However, she ignored that Sara was the one who wanted Conrad to ask Belly, that Fisher didn't even hug her when they won because he saw Jeremiah and Sara running away, that he confessed he loved Sara while messaging her the other day. She saw only what she wanted to see, what she needed to see to feed her hope, hope of being Conrad's girl one day.

Little did she knew that she wasn't the only one observer of the whole scene. Jeremiah saw and heard everything, he noticed Belly's jealousy and his brother's cluelessness, he watched her suffering from not being Sara, from being with him, not with Conrad.

A/N:

next chapter is the debutante chapter,

can't believe we're almost there.