𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃, jeremiah fisher

five. you're so gorgeous

Rey smiles, pulling me in for a tight hug.

"Thanks, Rosie," he says. "Who knew I'd be getting advice from my baby sister?"

"You're only a year older than me, dipshit."

Our laughs are cut off when footsteps sound from the entrance of the kitchen. Vanessa stares back at us, expression half-worried and half-smiling.

"Hey," she says quietly, eyes darting between me and Rey before resting on him. "Can we talk?"

Rey swallows before nodding. I take that as my cue to leave. I send Vanessa a thumbs-up before leaving the room. I start walking back to the living room when I get a text.

Grabbing my phone from my back pocket, I look down and tap Steven's contact.

꘏

JEREMIAH ISN'T THE only reason I'm in front of Laurel Park's party for her new book.

I'm genuinely a fan. I've read Party's Over about a million times, and every time, it's like I'm reading the book for the first time again. It's painful in a beautiful kind of way, and I can't stop admiring the way Laurel writes.

I wasn't originally planning to go, but then Steven texted me about Jeremiah being there, and I thought what the heck? I might as well.

I think I caught him off-guard when I appeared as a new lifeguard where he works, and I'm not sure if it was a good kind of surprise or a whatever kind of surprise. Either way, I'm determined to keep moving forward in this plan.

I'm about to open the door's entrance and go inside when I stop.

I bite my lip. Is this really a good idea? I feel like I'm not being subtle about popping up out of nowhere in front of Jeremiah. This feels stupid. Everyone's going to think it's strange that I'm there.

My body turns on its own accord, but my head bumps into a solid chest. Stepping back, I look up and see Conrad Fisher.

He nods in greeting, so I nod back, feeling awkward.

"You going in?" he asks, reaching out to touch the handle of the door.

Well, it would look ridiculous if I said no now.

"Yeah," I answer reluctantly. "I'm a fan of Laurel's book."

The brunette boy lets out a small smile, looking down at me. For a second, I think he sees straight through me.

"Sweet. Laurel would love it if you went in and told her that."

Yeah, he definitely knows I was about to leave.

Before I can answer, the door opens and Steven steps out.

"Look who actually made it!"

He greets Conrad and then ruffles my hair. Conrad laughs and says he'll meet us inside before slipping in through the door. Steven grins down at me.

Our friendship was unexpected, but not unwelcome. Although I've known him for years, I didn't really know him until last summer when he found me sobbing after the surfing competition last year.

He thought it was because I had lost to Jeremiah, but that wasn't it. It was because I had just seen him with another girl. And at that moment, I guess the confession had been weighing down on me for too long, so I spilled everything. I told Steven about my feelings for Jeremiah, how long I'd liked him, how pathetic I felt about it.