truly mine

004. eyes open

I shook my head. "No, he's on his way. Guess it fell through when Belly called. Let's go."

Conrad

When I made it to the house, most of the people who I was told were going to be at the party were gone. But my focus wasn't on them. It was on Belly and Jere.

"Belly!" I exclaimed as I rushed out to the pool deck. "Has he woken up yet?"

She could hardly meet my eyes when she shook her head and faintly whispered, "No."

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She blinked, looking distant from her feelings. "No."

Well, shit. Jere wasn't okay. That was fucking brutal enough. But Belly too? I wasn't going to be able to sit and watch Belly fall apart. Not like this. Not when I couldn't even comfort her in the way I should've been.

"Belly, I think you should go inside. I'll watch over Jere. Steven and Taylor are on their way back, and I'm sure they'll get everyone else to leave. You should go upstairs and get some sleep," I said, sitting down next to her.

"I-- I can't," She said, wearily shaking her head. "Jeremiah needs me. I need to be here for him when he wakes up. I need to know he'll be okay."

"Belly, the best thing you can do right now is go inside. Waiting for Jere to wake up isn't going to make it happen any faster. If he were awake, he'd want you to go inside and not have to be here for this. Just go inside. Okay?" I said.

Belly frowned as more tears began trickling down from the corners of her eyes. "I want to be here for him when he wakes up."

"I'll wake you up when he wakes up," I told her. 

She wiped her eyes with her hand and stood up. "Fine. I'll go inside. But I'm not going to sleep. Steven and Taylor need to know what's going on when they get here."

"I already told them," I said. "Just go upstairs and try to sleep, Belly. It'll be best for all of us."

"I'm not a kid anymore, Conrad. I don't need to go upstairs when these kinds of things happen. I don't need stupid protection. I need to be here for Jere," Belly argued.

I looked at the ground and said, "I didn't say you were a kid, Belly. I know you're not. I just don't want you to have to sit with the kind of thoughts that come when these kind of things happen."

She looked at me with a strange face before saying, "Okay. Fine. Just let me know when he wakes up."

"I will," I promised.

Taylor

When Steven and I got back to the house, there were still a ton of people around. We didn't have any good way to get them out, so he grabbed my arm and pulled me into the kitchen before he started rummaging through the cabinets.

Steven handed me a large metal pan and some salad tongs before telling me to follow him. He had a cast iron pot and a whisk, and when we got into the living room he leaned over and said, "Start banging the pan."

I made a face but started banging it with the tongs while he banged the pot with the whisk. "This is Steven traffic control! Everybody, out!! There's family business to attend to!" He shouted. 

I continued banging the pan but started doubling over in laughter when Steven literally walked in between a couple that had been making out and made them run for their lives. 

He smiled when he spotted me. "Hey, don't make fun of me! It's serious business!" He said with the most unserious smile I've ever seen.

"Yeah, okay," I said with a smile. 

As people scrambled out the back door, Belly came stumbling in. 

"Taylor?" She asked. Her cheeks were tear-stained pink and she looked exhausted.

"Oh, Cinderbelly, I'm so sorry I wasn't here!" I cried, dropping the pan and tongs onto the couch before running over to her and engulfing her in a bear hug. "How's Jeremy?" I asked.

Belly clung to me tightly as she told me, "He still hasn't woken up. Conrad made me come back inside because he didn't want me to be there for him."

"I'm sure that's not why Conrad made you come inside. He just doesn't wanna see you hurting," Steven commented from behind me, "but I'm sorry that we weren't here. It's my fault."

"No-- No, it's okay," Belly said with a muffled voice on my shoulder. "Shayla shouldn't have come like she did and gone ballistic on you two."

"Do you want to go back out there?" I gently asked her. "You don't have to listen to Conrad if you don't want to. Jeremy is your boyfriend."

Belly pulled away from my shoulder and shook her head. "No. I think-- I think I'm just gonna head to bed. Conrad said he'll get me when Jere wakes up."

I nodded. "Okay, but if you can't sleep, just go out and spend time with Jeremy. I know he's not awake yet, but don't let Conrad tell you what to do just because he has that ridiculous older brother savior complex."

"Hey!" Steven exclaimed. "I'm an older brother! And I don't have a savior complex!"

I smiled softly at him with a humorous look. "We both know that's not true."

He crossed his arms and looked at me with the most serious look when he asked, "Oh, yeah? Give me one good example. See?! You can't! I've got you beat, Tay Tay."

"Okay, that's not fair. You didn't even give me time to answer. And if you didn't have a savior complex, I highly doubt you would've intervened with my shit relationship with Milo last summer," I said. 

"Yeah, right," Steven scoffed. "I already had pretty strong feelings for you, Taylor. I don't think anything could've stopped me from coming in between you and Milo."

"Okay," I said with a shrug, "if you say so."

Jeremiah

My eyes felt extra heavy when I started to open them again. I slowly tried to sit up, but couldn't before I opened my eyes all the way.

I almost thought I hadn't opened my eyes at first because it was so dark, but then I heard Conrad say, "You should go back to sleep. It's late, and you need it."

What was he doing back at the house? He'd left for California hours before.

"What... What are you doing back here?" I asked. "I thought you were going to California."

I didn't see his face, but I could tell he was pissed by his voice when he said, "I was. But that didn't end up happening. Go back to sleep."

I sighed and heaved out a heavy breath. "Where's Belly?" I asked. "She was right here before I fell asleep."

"She's upstairs in bed asleep. Don't bother her. You need to go back to sleep too," Conrad said. 

I rolled my eyes and shrugged lightly before closing my eyes and saying, "Thanks for watching over her, Con. You're a good brother. I'm sorry for getting mad at you before."

"It's okay. Just go back to sleep, Jere," Conrad said. He didn't sound angry anymore, and I fell asleep moments later. 

Everything was as it should be.