chapter 11
[play: compass by the neighbourhood]
i might get lost without you
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maisie
conrad and i had barely talked since that night 2 weeks ago. we interacted in group settings, performing the bare minimum so no one would suspect anything. anyways, he was only here for the summer. along with that, he would be back every summer and it wasn't worth ruining the group dynamic for. we would get over this with time.
i never really understood why conrad had snapped at me the way he did. i had been replaying that moment every night before bed. i just could not get it out of my head. what had i done wrong? what boundary had i crossed? it didn't really matter because there was no way on earth that i was going to ask him about it. i took his hatred as my sign to leave it be.
those thoughts had kept me tossing and turning all night leaving me groggy and tired this morning. i was sat alone at the granite island, shoving spoonfuls of cereal in my mouth because i was too lazy to make anything more filling. i was on my phone, catching up on texts from the group-chat, not seeing many from conrad.
just then belly had texted me asking if i wanted to come over and watch some movies since it looked like it was ready to storm all day. so much for a laying on the beach type day. i texted her back that i'd be over in 15 minutes. i would really only be changing from my sleep hoodie to my outside hoodie.
before i knew it i was on my way to the house next door, not really thinking about an umbrella because it was such a close walk and i didn't mind being rained on. i rang the bell to be met with belly within a few seconds. she was dressed the same but had a bigger grin on my her face as she pulled me inside.
belly had decorated the living room in blankets and fairy lights. she had all the lights turned off and with the grey clouds it felt pretty dark. on the brown coffee table was bags of chips and some sweets. it was the cutest little set up. i plopped down on the side of the couch that faced towards the kitchen while belly sat on the opposite end that faced the front door.
belly grabbed the remote, switching on '10 things i hate about you.' it was an absolute classic and her first time watching. i just knew she was going to love it.
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a few hours had gone by and we were starting our third movie. the set up belly had initially was all messy now from food being eaten and the both of us shifting around the couch. the rain had also picked up a little as well which made it all the more cozy. we hadn't seen the boys much. i think belly had said something about them all leaving to go check out some arcade type store in town.
i got up to go pee real quick before the next movie started, making my way upstairs since belly took the half bath downstairs. after finishing up, i made my way down the hall, hearing what seemed to be a pretty vocal conversation between laurel and susannah. it was so wrong of me to slow down and listen but i couldn't help it with the way conrad had been that one night. something else was definitely going on.
"susannah, how could you not tell me?" there was a hint of betrayal in laurel's voice.
my stomach turned at what i was doing right now.
"laurel. i've been managing. its okay." susannah sounded defeated and tired.
"i can start making flights up to help. don't keep something like this from me." laurel's voice cracked.
"that's what i was afraid of. belly and steven need you too. you can't just leave because this is back." susannah explained.
"let me decide that. do the boys know?" laurel's voice got quiet.
"no. i don't even know how to tell them. conrad's already down to begin with and jeremiah is so full of life. it's going to devastate them. i just want this one summer." susannah sounded like she was fighting back tears.
what were they talking about? was this something to do with their dad? conrad had seemed stressed about that.
"are you considering your options?" there was a long pause of silence followed by laurel's comment.
at that point i had realized i had overstayed during this conversation that didn't involve me one bit. i quietly made my way down the stairs, not being noticed. belly was already sat on the couch with her phone in her hands. i quietly sat beside her, trying my best to get out of my head with what i had heard and trying to piece it all together.
belly pressed play on and i made the conscious effort to stay focused on nothing else but the movie.
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i helped belly clear up some of the mess we had made after we finished the third movie. laurel had come downstairs to yell at us for sitting in front of the tv too long while susannah argued that it was summer break. when the two had come down, it was like that conversation hadn't even happened. they seemed absolutely fine and i knew it was for show, but it had still thrown me off a little bit.
i grabbed the finished chips bags and candy wrappers, gathering them in my hands. as i made my way over to the kitchen to toss them, i heard voices and the front door open. i could only assume it was the boys. my stomach filled with knots at the thought of seeing conrad. i just wished it could be normal between us again. id promise to be more cautious around him.
the boys piled in, absolutely drenched from the rain outside. all three were shoving each other and laughing about god knows what. even conrad was playing along and seemed happy which was a good change from his usually reserved demeanor.
"belly!" jeremiah yelled out, dragging the 'y' and making a beeline right for her.
me, steven, and conrad watched as he smothered belly in a hug, getting her all wet as she squealed. susannah and laurel laughed at the sight of it. suddenly my attention was diverted to the two of them as i tried to piece together what their conversation was about even though i said i would leave it be.
my mistake was letting my guard down for too long because before i knew it steven had tackled me into some bear hug, yelling for conrad to join in. i couldn't even focus on what conrad was going to do as i was more focused on getting a drenched steven off of me.
"you're such an ass." i screamed, laughing a little and all he did was laugh back.
the floor was now slippery from all the water that had formed a puddle on the hard wood. i stuck out my hands to keep my balance but steven was relentless with trying to ring out his soaked sweatshirt on my head. i stumbled backwards, feeling myself losing my balance, and a shock of anxiety flew through me. before i knew it i was on the ground, landing on my wrist which did not feel right once i was off of it.
"ouch." i mumbled carefully bringing my wrist up from the ground, keeping it close to my body in a protective position.
"maisie! are you okay?" conrad was crouched beside me instantly, looking at my wrist which i was starting to swell a little bit.
"yeah im fine." i lied, and it was so evident. the last thing i was gonna do is cry in front of conrad because of the embarrassment and pain.
"okay guys enough of this." laurel called out, stopping belly and jeremiah who had not noticed till now of what had happened.
both her and susannah rushed over to me, trying to check out my wrist but even the slightest touch hurt so bad. from the looks on their faces i just knew this wasn't good. however i was still able to move my wrist around which meant it definitely wasn't broken.
"maisie we need to call your parents." susannah said, feeling awful of what had just happened.
i loved the concern laurel and susannah had, but knew something like this wasnt worth pulling my parents out of work for.
"i'll just call them up. seriously don't worry i'm fine. i just think i should go home. maybe take some tylenol." i got up from the ground with one hand.
"i am so sorry masie. i never meant for this to happen." steven looked just as upset as me, and i knew he wasn't going to hear the end of it from laurel.
"steven i fell, you didn't even push me. what on earth are you apologizing for." i tried my best to make him feel better.
"maisie are you sure you don't want us to take you to urgent care for this?" laurel asked again, not convinced about me just going home.
"in this weather? its not worth it. i'll go tomorrow if its still bothering me." i assured them, but they didn't look that convinced however knew they could only do so much to convince me.
"masie let me know if you need anything or need me over until your parents are back. you sure you're fine?" belly ran over, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.
i assured her i was fine and turned towards the door. before me was conrad who also had a worried look washed over his face as much as he tried to hide it from me. i lowered my gaze from him, and made my way past him and out the door, closing it behind me. before me was the pouring rain, and so i pulled up my hoodie to shield myself. i looked back down at my exposed wrist, seeing that it was a little pink now.
"maisie wait!" conrad called out and my head shot back to see him right behind me. "i really think you should get this checked out right away. i'll drive you." he sincerely offered.
"conrad i'm fine-" i began but was only cut off by him.
"just get in the car. im not taking no for an answer." he rushed past me, pulling open the passenger side door of the jeep.
he gave me no choice as i ran over to him to get in the car so he wouldn't be standing there soaked in the rain for any longer. knowing how stubborn he was, he would have stood there until i got in, no matter how long it took. he shut my door and made his way over to the drivers side, rushing in, drenched all over again.
we sat in silence as he got adjusted and began backing out of the driveway. we were soon on our way down the neighborhood road to get onto the main one. it was raining cats and dogs outside, and i knew driving out like this was not worth it. the rain was loud so it filled any kind of awkward silence that could have been between us. that was a plus i guess.
after about 10 minutes of driving around, he pulled into a small urgent care clinic.
the both of us got out and carefully ran to the entrance, trying to avoid another fall. as i filled out my information on the clipboard, conrad was up talking to the receptionist about god knows what. he seemed so restless like he couldn't sit still until they checked my wrist out. i swore i was okay and he was acting like i had lost a limb.
i finished filling out the form and returned it to the front, and conrad walked back with me to sit down. the two of us were sat in silence again, focused on the tv in the waiting room since there was quite literally nothing else to focus on.
"you know im fine right?" i told him, hoping to get him to ease up.
"we will let the doctor decide that." he told me, eyes still on the tv.
"wanna bet about it?" i asked and i had finally caught his attention properly.
"oh easy money. he is gonna say you have a sprain and put you in some brace or whatever." conrad looked at me, determined that he was correct.
"i hate to break it to you but he is actually gonna prescribe some light pain killers and ice at most." i confidently said back as conrad shook his head in disagreement.
my name was finally called by the nurse and the both of us got up to follow her into the examination room. conrad followed behind me as we made our way to the designated room. the nurse began taking my vitals as routine while conrad sat in the spare chair just watching. i could tell he was a little nervous for me from the way he was bouncing his leg restlessly. this was going to be an agonizingly long visit for him and he wasn't even the one hurt.
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"what did i tell you?" conrad boasted as we walked out of the emergency room with my wrist brace on.
he was right. what else was new?
"yeah yeah. you got it." i rolled my eyes trying to minimize his 'i told you so' tone.
"see, aren't you happy we listened to me and went to urgent care?" he kept poking fun at me.
"oh so are we going to glaze over how you were worried to death about me?" i brought up which got him quiet real quick. "you couldn't even sit still."
"hey i was just carrying out what my mom and laurel wanted." he shrugged as if he didn't come out on his own accord to take me to urgent care.
"hey if that's what you need to tell yourself." i patted his shoulder with my other hand.
"oh shut up." he lightly shoved me and in that split second i decided to mess with him.
"ah!" i winced, scrunching my face and holding my wrist close to my chest as if he had accidentally hurt it.
"oh my god. maisie are you okay?" he stopped in front of me, hands on my shoulders, and was crouching a little so he could meet my gaze which was on the floor. "should we go back-" he was frantically word vomiting.
"conrad." i laughed. "conrad, im kidding. im so sorry." i continued laughing, holding my stomach.
he shook his head and walked fast to the car, completely ignoring me and i couldn't tell if he was kidding anymore. i chased after him, calling his name to try and get him to turn around. he just continued getting into the car and so i ran over to my door. as i went to pull it open, i soon realized he had locked me out. he bursted into laughter once he saw that i had realized.
i knocked on the window, signaling for him to roll it down so i could talk to him.
"say i was right." he called out from inside the car with the window just barely cracked a few inches.
"you're so annoying." i shook my head, clearly stallong. "yes, you were right." i groaned and he finally unlocked the door.
i hopped into the passenger seat, closing the door behind me. conrad was still laughing a little. i couldn't help but just look at him and smile a little. once his laughter died out, he found himself smiling back at me. it was a genuine smile too. that was short lived though. it was only a matter of seconds before that same 'dead' look was back on his face and we got on with out drive back home.
i could only wonder what was going on in his head these days.
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such a long overdo update i am SO SORRY lol i just kinda forget about this app and come back to it. bc new season is coming im hoping to get more updates out!!!
hope yall enjoyed (: