College Buddies (Conrad Fisher X OC)

Chapter 22

Amelia started partying and dancing through the night. That was until Belly pulled her to the side "Come here. Steven's gonna take a picture." everyone gathered and smiled at the camera lens.  

"Ready? Three, two, one, cheese." Steven said taking a photo of the group "That was a good one." 

"Group shots!" Taylor exclaimed holding a trayful of little glasses.

"If that's gin, I'm killing you." Jere said.  

Taylor smiled "Aw, it's tequila, come on." 

"Okay, cups up. Listen, no matter how much time passes or how far apart we are, we're always gonna love you guys, okay? All right?" Jeremiah toasted.  

"Aw, Jeremy, you cheese ball." Taylor said "That's so cute." 

"All right, to the last night!" he proclaimed. Everyone cheered "To the last night!" They all went their separate ways to have fun again when Amelia heard some people yelling.

"Fight! They're fighting!" 

Amelia followed the crowd and saw Steven and a blonde haired guy she'd never seen before. 

"Bro, you need to go." Steven said. 

"I don't think that's up to you." the guy replied. 

Taylor pleaded with them "Can we just go outside and-and cool off a moment, please?" 

Steven yelled "She doesn't even want you here." 

Taylor scoffed "Shut up, Steven." 

"Oh, trust me, she wants me." he assured Steven "Everywhere. All the time." 

"Can you not do that right now?" Taylor begged. 

The two started to fight rolling around on the floor punching each other. 

"Milo, stop!" Taylor said "You're embarrassing me right now."

"Man, fuck this. Come on, Taylor, let's go. These people are too pedestrian for us anyways." Milo said.  

"These people are my friends." Taylor said gesturing to them "Do you even know me? Like, at all?"  

"Babe, what are you talking about? You're my girl." Milo reminded her.  

"What's my middle name?" she asked him. He didn't answer her "Yeah, I can't do this anymore. It's over." She stormed away. 

"Taylor..." Milo called out.  ( laughter ) 

"It's Madison." Steven interrupted "Her middle name is Madison." 

Amelia smiled at him as he went to find Taylor. Meanwhile Amelia decided she needed a breath of fresh air. 

That was when she saw Skye talking to the other. "Guys, so... I've been texting with my mom, and she was able to put a condition into the sale. Since the buyers are only gonna use this place as a vacation home, they've agreed to let you rent the place for one week every summer." Skye explained. 

"Wait... Wait, are you serious?" Amelia asked excitedly.  

Jeremiah cheered "We get to come back?" 

"Oh, my God, Skye, this is amazing. Oh, my God!" Belly said pulling them in for a hug. 

"No, it's not." Conrad sighed "You can tell your mom thanks, but no." 

"Come on, Connie, at least hear them out." Amelia said.  

"It's over." Conrad told her sternly.  

"Why are you the only one that gets to make this decision?" Jere asked him.  Conrad argued "Jere, we're not gonna pay another family to rent our house." 

"This isn't our house anymore." Jere reminded him. Conrad yelled "Exactly. Let it go." 

"Yeah, 'cause you're an expert at that." Jere commented.  

"Jere." Belly warned but he shook his head "No, no, this is the shit he does. When things aren't perfect, instead of trying to fix it, he just decides to throw it away. And it-it's not just the house. You did it to Belly, too. You came to me, you fucking begged me for my blessing to be with her." 

"Is that true?" Belly asked.  

"Jere, that was between us." Conrad said angrily.  

"Yeah, it's fucking true." Jeremiah told her "You know, when shit got tough, he couldn't handle it, and he dropped you."

"Shut up, Jere. Don't use me to get at him." Belly argued. 

"Belly, come on." Jere said gesturing to Conrad, clearly annoyed she wasn't taking his side.  

"You know what? I shouldn't be a part of this. I'm leaving, okay?" Amelia said giving them all some space. Belly nodded and ran away from the house. 

Conrad called out to Belly on the beach "Belly! Belly, come back inside. I'm not dragging your dead body out of the ocean if you drown out there. Come out of the water, Belly." 

"Leave me alone." Belly yelled back. Conrad shook his head "I can't." so he picked her up much to Belly's protest "No. What are you... No! Hey! Hey! Hey, put me down!" 

"You're drunk, Belly." Conrad stated.  

"Just put me down! Conrad!" she screamed.  

He told "I'm not gonna put you down. Belly... Come on. Let me help you. Come on."

"J-Just go, okay?" she told him. 

Conrad sighed "I'm not leaving you, Belly." 

"But you already did." she reminded him "Why didn't you tell me you went to Jeremiah about us? Why? Why? Why didn't..." 

"I don't know." he admitted.  

"If I had known... If I had known that you'd done that... That... that you cared that much about me, and about us... If I had known, then I would've fought for you. For us" She explained.  

"What do you mean? What do you mean? Fought for us." Conrad asked. 

"I would've fought for us. I mean, at prom and at the funeral. I mean, I..." she started sobbing "I would've been there for you, through everything. I would've been..." 

"I thought you knew. I thought you knew. From the moment we kissed on the beach, I thought you knew." he told her sadly.  

"Then why?" Belly asked "Why? Why did you throw it all away? Why? I... I th... I thought that we loved each other." 

"We did." Conrad promised her. Belly shook her head "I guess not enough." 

Amelia had seen enough and she stormed back into the house. How could he do this to her? How could Belly do this to her? She couldn't deal with this right now everything hurt. Each step to the house felt like her heart was shattering. When she got there she ran through the party upstairs with a bottle in her hand where she got so drunk she passed out in an empty room.