tidal wave

~ chapter 5 ~

"Thank you, Yeah I'll get Mr. Fisher to arrange that meeting," Laurel said shutting the door.

Bre, Conrad, Steven, Jeremiah and Belly all stood and sat near the door waiting to get told off. They knew they were in deep trouble.

"How could you? You all would've been in so much more trouble if your family wasn't your family" Laurel said, it was true. If the Fishers weren't so favourable then they would've been in more trouble.

"Bre and Conrad, you are the oldest you are meant to look after everyone. And Belly since when do you leave the house without telling anyone? And how did you get there?" Laurel asked, Shit Bre thought she was in trouble.

"I went with Bre and Finn, and she told Susannah we were going," Belly said.

"No she said she was going out, and since when do you know someone called Finn" Laurel said frustratedly.

"He works at the bookstore, It doesn't matter what we all say we messed up okay? But you can't blame us. You and Susannah act like teenagers as well" Bre spat out, her head hurt and she just wanted to go to sleep.

"It still doesn't change the fact you know better" Laurel said, to argue with Laurel was to argue with a wall at some points.

"Bre and Conrad I expect so much more," Laurel said disappointedly.

"I'm so sorry I never met up to your instance expectations Laurel" Bre shouted before storming off upstairs.

She made it to her room without breaking down in tears but the moment her head hit the pillows the tears streamed out. No matter what she did, she was fifty steps behind everyone else.

All the doors upstairs shut soon after but one. She heard a knock at the door and she assumed it was Belly.

"Go away Bells," Bre said turning over and wiping her tears.

"I bought you some Ice and wound cleaner" Conrad whispered.

"You can go too," Bre said annoyed.

Conrad stood there trying to decide whether to go but he didn't. Instead, he went into the cupboard and got out a big t-shirt and some shorts.

He walked over to where Bre was lying and knelt to where he could see her face.

"You gotta get changed so you can go to sleep, and also so I can clean your lip," He said softly, It was the first time Conrad had spoken with such care to Bre since Christmas.

Bre sat up slowly and took the shirt and shorts and stood up to change.

"Are you gonna like turn away or something?" Bre asked she didn't want this to be the first time he saw her with no clothes on.

Conrad instead of walking to the other side of the room left.

Bre thought she messed it up again, After she got changed she pulled her curtains to a close turned on her lamp and turned off her ample light.

Conrad came back in with his Pjs on and an oversized hoodie.

"You can borrow this," He said holding it out.

Bre took it and put it on. It smelt like him.

She sat back up so Conrad could clean her lip.

"How badly am I going to bruise then?" Bre said trying to make a joke.

"Badly, I'm sorry" Conrad whispered. They both said in a whisper while he cleaned up the rest of her lip and put ice on her head.

"I know why you've changed," Bre said, It was a long reach but she knew he knew about Susannah.

"What do you mean?" Conrad asked confused.

"I saw something in Susannah's room earlier," Bre said looking at Conrad, They both knew the same thing. Maybe they weren't as alone as they thought.

Conrad nodded.

"How long have you known?" Bre asked, she wanted to know how long he'd been holding on to this.

"Since Christmas" Conrad answered, the pain in the back of his eyes came to the front. Like all his suffering could finally be felt.

"I'm so sorry Connie" Bre said pulling him into a hug.

The two teenagers needed each other, as much as they hated it they needed it.

"You could've told me," Bre said tearing up.

"I didn't want to burden your senior year of High school with it," Conrad said.

"You wouldn't have, I would've been there for you," Bre said moving some of his hair out of his face.

"I'm sorry" Conrad whispered.

"You have to tell me things, I thought you hated me," Bre said laughing.

"I could never hate you Bre," Conrad said so seriously.

"At Christmas, when we were outside. When I nearly fell, we had a moment didn't we that wasn't in my head right?" Bre asked, this had been spiralling around her head for the last few months.

"Bre, I've wanted to kiss you since you poured flour on my head when we were fourteen. Or when you made me teach you how to dance when we were twelve" Conrad started spilling out.

Bre looked at the boy sitting in front of her just seeing the person he's known this whole time.

"I've missed you, I thought I did something wrong," Bre said looking down at her hands. They were shaking and she didn't know why.

"You didn't, I wanted to reach out so many times but I didn't want to make things worse" Conrad replied, they weren't too different and it was showing.

Bre leant her head towards Conrad's. She was so tired.

"My head hurts," Bre said feeling the pain again.

"Lay down and go to sleep," Conrad said standing up and pulling the blanket off the end of the bed.

"Do you want me to stay?" Conrad asked after putting the blankets over Bre.

Bre nodded, she didn't want to be alone.

Conrad slipped into the bed next to her. At first, the two teens seemed so far apart but by the time they woke up, they were in each other's arms. Like they'd done this millions of times before.