𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑰𝑳𝑬𝑵𝑪𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑺𝑨𝑳𝑻𝑾𝑨𝑻𝑬𝑹
✸ 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗼 ───
everything starts with bad ideas
🍉☀️🌸 ﾟ･ׂׂૢ࿐
WHEN Vivica got up the next day, she was ready to kill Jamie, hide the body, and make the whole thing look like an accident. And of course, he had no idea because he was hungover and dead asleep, just like her mom.
She had been feeling bad enough about herself thanks to the bruise when she'd gotten a text from Cam, asking her where she was. She'd totally forgotten about him inviting her to the marina with him; not that it mattered, since she had work and couldn't just up and leave her mom and JB alone all morning.
With a sigh of regret, she shot him an apology text and pocketed her phone. Next task: wake up the bewildered beast that was hungover Jamie Brinns.
The girl pounded on the door to Jamie's room four times, and when he didn't answer, she just barged right on in.
"Jamie!" She shouted, hitting the boy across the head with one of the pillows from the bed. She would've felt bad about doing it if it weren't for the damage he'd done to her face.
Jamie groaned as he woke up, immediately bringing a hand up to rub his eyes. "Oh my shit." He grumbled. "Dude—"
"Look at what you did." Vivica cut him off, her hand flying up to her face to point at the bruise on it. When he didn't look, she slapped the boy's arm and exclaimed, "Look!"
"Ow— I'm looking, I'm looking." he said, his eyes still closed. When he was slammed in the face with yet another pillow, he opened his eyes for real.
He wished he didn't when he saw the purple and blue splotch between Vivica's brow and cheek bone. Wincing, he shut his eyes again.
"Yeah, exactly. I've got work today, asshole." She complained, tossing the pillow she'd been using as a weapon to the side.
"It's Saturday." Jamie told her, because she wasn't gonna make him feel bad about something that wasn't true.
"It's Friday." She corrected him, dead-panned.
"Still! You don't work on Fridays!" He exclaimed. He held a hand up to his forehead in regret, for even his own voice sounded too loud.
"No, but I have tennis lessons to teach." Vivica sighed. "Breakfast is waiting for you and Mom downstairs, please make sure she's all good before you go anywhere."
Jamie stuck a silent thumb up in the air, letting her know that he'd gotten it all.
The girl took a look down at the watch on her wrist and then bustled towards the door.
"I'm gonna be late, I've gotta go." She mumbled, leaving his room with a quick bye and then flying down the stairs and out the front door.
✸ ⁺. ✿ ˖ ࣪
I love my job, she thought, trying to convince herself. I love my job, I love my job.
Vivica did not love this part of her job. Her lessons were over for the day, which meant all that was left was the worst part: cleaning the court and lugging two huge buckets full of tennis balls to the storage shed.
With the makeup she'd used to cover her bruise sweated away about an hour or so ago and her limbs almost breaking off from the weight of the buckets, she knew she looked like a hot mess. A very hot and sweaty mess.
What made it so bad was that she had to cross through the pool area to get to the stupid shed. The bad thing about the pool? The employees that worked there.
Halfway across the slippery concrete, one of said employees called out to her.
"Yo Crestview, you need a hand?" Hollered the lifeguard, after he had blown his little red whistle at her first, of course.
She dropped both the buckets to the ground with a huff, looking over to the boy. She wanted to tell him no, but she really could use the help.
Not that asking for help was a bad thing, but this was her best friend's little brother, which meant that annoyance came free with the assistance.
Hanging her head into a sigh, Vivica gave in. She looked back up to him, squinting at the sun in her eyes as she shouted back, "That'd be great, yeah!"
And so, Jeremiah Fisher paraded on over.
Taking one of the buckets from her hand, Jeremiah let out a whooping laugh.
"Did you get in a fight with these things or something?" He asked her humorously, eyes scanning over the horrific bruise on her eye.
"Ha ha," she mocked him, resuming her walk to the storage shed, him following behind. "If you must know, I got jabbed in the elbow last night when your brother started fighting some rando."
"You were there last night?" He asked her, brows perked up.
"Yeah, you were too, weren't you?" She responded, trying to hide a grunt that came from the effort that stupid bucket was extracting from her.
"Yeah. Why, you miss me?" He grinned, a stupid devilishly handsome grin that she wanted to slap right off of his face.
"Definitely not," She stopped to put her bucket down with an unwanted slam, for they had made it to the storage shed. She pulled the keys out from the pocket of her tennis skirt, sticking them in the lock as she continued.
"I just assumed that since Con was there, you were. Besides, you're everywhere and I can't ever seem get rid of you." She added with a sarcastic smile.
"Ouch, Crestview. You make it sound like you don't like me or something." Jeremiah remarked, holding a hand over his heart in mock hurt.
She looked him up and down and then curved her lips into a frown. Shrugging, she hummed, "Well . . ."
At that, Jeremiah interrupted her with a playful shove to the shoulder. "Shut up."
Laughing, she went to pick up her bucket of tennis balls, only for Jeremiah to stop her.
"I've got 'em." He assured her, picking up both of the heavy buckets with ease, shoving them into their rightful spots in the shed.
She mumbled a thanks and then re-locked the shed, the two then heading back from the outskirts of the club.
Jeremiah opened his mouth to say something else, but snapped it shut when Vivica's eyes lit up and she screamed, "Cam!"
The boy's eyes followed Vivica's, finding the same guy that'd shown up outside of his car the night beforehand jogging on over.
"Hey, Viv." He smiled at her, shoving his hands in his pockets. He looked at Jeremiah then, trying to remember his name. "And . . . Jeremiah, right?"
"Right." The boy smiled politely in return, nodding.
"What're you uh, doing here?" Vivica asked him, running her fingers through the ends of her hair, straightening them out even though there were no curls in sight.
"Oh, I had to pick something up for my mom, but I just ran into Belly in there." He responded, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the clubhouse.
"Belly?" Vivica asked, her nose crinkled. She didn't know why she was playing dumb, like she hadn't identified the girl from the bonfire already. Still, she asked, "Like, Conklin?"
"Yeah, she's the girl I went over to last night." Cam explained. His cheeks were tinted pink and he was smiling so happily that Vivica wondered if his cheeks hurt. "She and I are actually going to see a movie together tonight."
Vivica felt her stomach tighten. It might've meant nothing, they might've been going as just friends, but she had to know for sure.
Through the corner of her eyes, she caught Jeremiah's jaw tighten, his eyes slightly narrowed. He didn't look to fond of Belly and Cam's movie date either.
"Really? You've got a date with the bonfire girl?" She asked, using a teasing tone to hide the fact that she desperately wanted to know.
"Yeah," He smiled again, and Vivica couldn't help but wish she was the reason he was grinning so much. "She came to the marina this morning too, since you couldn't."
Ouch. Sharp tug on the heartstrings there. So he hadn't asked Vivica to go with him because he liked her, he asked just because he thought she'd be available.
"Oh." Was all she said.
Quickly realizing how pathetic and self-conscious that sounded, she quickly recovered and replied with the first thing she could think of.
"Well um, I've got to get back to work, but you'll have to tell me about it tomorrow." She said, patting him on the shoulder in a friendly goodbye.
She didn't have to get back to work, she was actually done for the day. But she needed to get away from this conversation before she said something she regretted.
So instead of saying something she regretted, she did something she regretted.
Turning to the boy at her left, Vivica pressed a chaste kiss to Jeremiah's cheek.
"See you later." She told him with a falsetto smile, ignoring the confusion approaching his face and quickly turning over her shoulder afterwards and strutting away.
She couldn't have gotten out of there quicker.
But as she suspected he would, Jeremiah quickly reappeared at her side, laughing.
"What was that, Crestview?" He asked her, trying his best to keep his voice low just in case Cam could still hear.
"Don't think too much on it, you just happened to be right there." She huffed, not looking at him.
"Wait a minute," Jeremiah spoke, invading her path and bringing Vivica to a stop. "Do you have a little crush on Cam Cameron back there?"
"Shut up," she grumbled, shoving past him. "It's none of your business."
But he wasn't letting her off the hook that easily. Catching her wrist, Jeremiah spun the girl round to face him, wearing a shit-eating grin the whole time.
"It's my business now that you decided to plant one on me. Are you— are you jealous of Cam and Belly?" He asked.
For a kid that only knew her via her friendship with his brother, he could read her like an open book.
"Oh please," She scoffed. "Don't act like I didn't see your reaction to it too. You've had goo-goo eyes for that girl every time I've been to your house since forever."
You know what they say— if you can't beat them, join them. And whether he liked it or not, Jeremiah was joining her.
"Hey! What does this have to do with me?" He asked defensively, sticking his hands up in surrender.
"Look, I just didn't want Cam thinking I'm some loser who freaks out when her friend has a date. He doesn't know I like him, and it's going to stay that way." She sighed.
Then, she rose her brows and looked at him with a stern expression. "Right, Jeremiah?"
Trying to contain his laughter at the absurdity of the situation, Jeremiah nodded. "Yes ma'am."
✸ ⁺. ✿ ˖ ࣪
JEREMIAH didn't think about his interaction with Vivica until he needed a similar excuse to hers when in front of his friends and brother.
There Belly was, all dressed up and practically bouncing around with excitement for her date, glowing with joy. Jeremiah wished that he was the one taking her on that date.
"You driving with, or are you meeting us there?" Steven asked his sister, who stood in the doorway between the living room and front door with Jeremiah.
"I'm not going to the book party." Belly informed the boys, who were playing video games to kill their time before going to Laurel Park's book party. "I'm going to the drive-in."
"Oh yeah," Jeremiah quipped, like he'd just remembered that information and hadn't been thinking about it all day. "With Cam Cameron."
He said the name in a flaunting tone, poking Belly repeatedly in the shoulder.
"How'd you even know that?" She giggled, shoving his hands away.
"Vivica and I ran into him at the club today and he told us." Jeremiah shrugged, finding satisfaction in the crinkle of Belly's brow at the mention of another girl's name.
"Vivica?" Conrad questioned from the couch. "Like, my Vivica?"
"Dude! Pay attention!" Steven chided him, gesturing towards the game on the tv.
"She's not yours, but yeah, Crestview." Jeremiah told him. Seriously, how many Vivicas did he know?
"Who's Vivica?" Belly asked curiosity.
"You know that girl that Connie goes surfing with every summer?" Jeremiah asked, receiving a head shake from Belly. "Bells, she's around literally all the time."
Belly still frowned, starting to realize just how few people she knew at Cousin's.
"Well, it's her. She's friends with Cam too." Jeremiah explained. "Which reminds me, I'm not gonna be making it to the book party either."
"What? Dude, c'mon!" Steven complained from the couch, now abandoning the game as well to swivel around and look at his friend.
With three sets of eyes on him, Jeremiah quickly realized that he couldn't take back the stupid idea he'd already put into motion. They were all expecting him to give them a reason for his absence, so he took a page out of Vivica's book and said something stupid.
With Belly's expectant eyes on him, and knowing that she was about to go get in another guy's car for a date, made it all that much easier to blurt something out.
"I've got a date of my own." He said, trying to sound as casual as possible.
Shut up, he told himself. Just stop while you're still ahead.
At that, Steven let out a whooping laugh.
"Aw man, I thought you were serious for a sec. You had me fooled there." He laughed.
"I am serious!" Jeremiah exclaimed. "I asked Vivica out today."
Why couldn't he had just stopped talking?
"You really expect me to believe you're going out with Vivica Crestview, of all people?" Steven scoffed. He wasn't believing it for a second.
"What's wrong with Viv?" Conrad asked, raising a brow.
"Nothing's wrong with her, I'm just saying it's a little hard to believe." The boy shrugged in response.
Great, now Jeremiah was going to have to prove it.
Belly looked down to her phone as the screen lit up, and a smile spread across her face.
"Well, as fun as this is, I've gotta go." She told the boys, heading towards the door. Over her shoulder, she called back, "Have fun!"
Once she was out the door and the other boys had turned back to the television, their attention returned to the game, Jeremiah let his head fall back and knock against the doorway frame.
He was definitely not going to be having any kind of fun tonight.
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