FIVE ❀ LOVE FOOL.
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[italics=flashbacks]
bella's pov:
the house is empty. it's like she was never here at all.
i see jeremiah run upstairs to check if everything is actually gone.
he runs back down to us and says "everything's gone."
my heart shatters. this can't be real. this is mom's house. it doesn't matter if it's in aunt julia's name, mom made this house the way it was. and now it's ruined.
we all hear the back door open, and see julia walk in with a trash bag.
conrad walks up to her and says "what the fuck julia."
she shakes her head and says "i'm sorry. this must be such a shock. i-i spoke to your father this afternoon, and he and i decided that it would be best not to drag this out any longer than necessary."
"i don't give a shit about what the two of you decided on" conrad exclaims "you had no right to touch anything in this house."
steven leaves my side and goes to conrad to get him to calm down as aunt julia says "everything's in storage" she continues "i made sure that everyone was very careful with every single thing. i'm just doing what i have to do to sell this house."
"that is such bullshit" i speak up to defend conrad.
everyone looks over at me and aunt julia gives me a tight lipped smile.
"you could've said something. you could've warned us, all you want to do is fight our mom constantly" conrad says angrily.
julia shakes her head and says "ok enough, you're not the only one hurting. and i'm not the one you should be angry with. your mother could've warned you that this was gonna happen. she just wanted to make me the bad guy as usual."
i scoff and conrad says "i'm so sorry that she was too busy dying to make your life a little easier. you know, it sucks that our grandfather loved her more than you, but i'm not surprised."
conrad walks away angrily and we all follow him.
we end up outside on the front porch, with conrad dialing someone's number.
the line rings and we all conclude that it's our dad.
"of course dad did nothing to stop her" conrad spits out.
"connie what can he do?!" jere says, just as angry as conrad.
conrad scoffs and exclaims "jere he doesn't care about us. me, you or bella!" the ringing ends, signaling that dad didn't answer and conrad continues "and this asshole won't even pick up my calls."
he turns around and stomps up to skye and says "did you know about this?"
"conrad stop" i warn him, i don't think skye knew about this, and even if they did, they would've said something.
"i'm, no, i'm serious, did you know about this?" conrad continues.
skye shakes their head and says "i-i didn't know anything, ok, i swear i would've told you."
"would you have really? because we haven't seen each other in ten years. would a day at the boardwalk have been enough to make you betray your mom?" connie says, scoffing loudly.
"listen, i know we don't know each other very well, but i-i wouldn't have sideswiped you like this." skye says, defending themselves.
"connie come on" steven says from beside me, once again trying to get conrad to calm down.
"what are we gonna do?" i hear belly ask.
conrad shakes his head and says "i don't know."
"we can't just leave ok" i exclaim to everyone "the house isn't sold yet."
"yeah, we still have a chance, even if it's slight" jere agrees with me.
skye agrees and says "yeah very slim, i mean full disclosure, mom's realtor is expecting multiple cash offers, all over asking no contingencies."
jere scoffs and says "thank you skye, for that bleak as fսck assessment. also, where are we going to sleep tonight?"
"i think there's some sleeping bags in the garage" i say.
"i'm not sleeping in this house" conrad admits.
belly shakes her head ok and says "ok well we don't have to then."
"ok well, hotels are usually all booked up around this time of year" jere says, looking at me.
i hear cam cameron clear his throat and say "i feel like i should go. and i'd totally invite you guys to come stay with me, but it's a pretty small place, so i'm sorry."
i shake my head and say "no, it's ok, it's not your fault."
cam gives me a sweet smile and shakes his head saying ok.
i hear steven shift from beside me. i look up at him and he furrows his eyebrows and then looks away.
what was that about?
"ok well, i have a place that we can crash at for tonight" jeremiah says.
we get our bags, that aunt julia left for us, and head to get into our cars.
i'm driving my car, and i'm following jere.
we pull up to the country club, and we all get out confused.
"are you sure about this man?" i hear steven ask.
we walk up to the front doors and jere pulls out a keycard.
"you kept that?" i ask, pointing to the card.
jere shakes his head and says "yeah, perks of not cleaning out your wallet" he continues "it's been closed for hours and there's never any night guards, so there's no one in here."
he puts his keycard up to the electronic lock, and it's beeps, signaling that it's not working.
"shit, it's not working" he exclaims.
he does it again, and it still doesn't work.
"not a great plan" skye says. we all look over at them and they continue "it's from avengers, rdj."
"i understood that reference" cam cuts in, and they both start laughing.
jeremiah let's out a deep breath and says "can you guys, like not. for just two seconds?"
they stop laughing, and jere tries the keycard one more time.
"dude it's not working" i say him. "there has to be another way in, like maybe the pool gate."
cam speaks up and says "uh, we could also use my mom's keycard."
"wait are you sure, your mom?" belly asks him.
"yeah, it's fine. she's the manager at the restaurant here."
"i mean wouldn't she get in trouble though if someone checked the logs?" jere asks.
cam gets the keycard out and opens the door so we can head inside.
"no, no. she works the randomest hours, so that alone shouldn't raise any red flags. so long as we don't make a mess, like at all, should be good" cam explains.
he holds the door open and we all head inside and say thank you.
jeremiah calls out "hello" to see if anyone is in the building. no one answers, signaling that no one is in the building.
"so what do we do now?" connie asks.
"um we can get food, the kitchen's over here" cam says pointing to the kitchen, skye and steven following him.
"uh-uh steven you're coming with me" i say, grabbing his hand.
he yanks it out of my grasp. i shake it off, and i say "we'll go find blankets and stuff."
"no, i'm on snack patrol right now" he disagrees.
why is he being like this? did i do something?
"ok, well i guess i'll go alone" i suggest, walking away.
he shakes his head and says "yeah right, this place could be crawling with murders."
"yeah, ok" i say to him as i roll my eyes.
we walk away to go find blankets and pillows to sleep on.
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022
i was sitting at the dinner table with jeremiah, sorting out bills, when conrad walks in the front door.
i jump up out of my seat and run over to hug him. he wraps his arms around me and then we pull away, going to sit down.
"what are you doing here? don't you have classes?" jere asks him confused.
"yeah, but class got canceled" conrad says to him before continuing "just thought i'd come see you guys and mom."
i smile at him and say "mom, got the full sized snickers for halloween, she loved them."
conrad smiles at me and is about to say something when jere interrupts and says "you think mom's insurance is going to accept a sandwich bag full of receipts? because that's about all i got."
"yeah, it should be fine. if not we'll figure something out" he says, before continuing "how's uh, how's junior year going for you guys?"
i smile and say "it's good, jere got prom prince and i um, you know didn't get anything."
connie laughs and says "you went with steven right?"
i shake my head yes and jere says "yeah and i went with blake."
"cool, cool" conrad says, shaking his head.
jere puts his pen down and asks "are you seeing anyone?"
i can sense a lot of tension between the two about what happened with belly.
"you and i never talked about what happened with belly" conrad says before continuing "jere, what happened last summer was fսckеd up. i didn't even know that-that you two had kissed until after. i was just hoping that you could..."
jere interrupts and says "what? give you my blessing?" he scoffs before saying "i can't believe you came here like this. you know what? just do what you want. you always do anyways."
"jere, i wanna be with her" conrad admits "and i think it's what she wants, but she doesn't wanna hurt you."
jere scoffs and says "yeah well, i don't wanna keep you two apart, so go for it" before getting up and going upstairs to his room.
i move to a seat closer to conrad.
he sighs and says "bella it hurts, like, my chest physically hurts, to not be able to tell her that i'm in love with her."
"well then tell her" i say to him, grabbing his hand.
"well i don't want to hurt jere. he's my brother, that's the kind of thing you never do" he admits sadly.
i let out a big breath and say "i can't believe i'm saying this about my literal twin brother, but screw what he thinks."
conrad furrows his eyebrows and says "what?"
"yeah" i say before continuing "he's only thinking about himself. he's being selfish. you're hurting yourself by not telling her. jere might love her, but you're absolutely consumed by her connie."
conrad's eyes soften and he lets out a breath that he's been holding in for months and says "yeah, i am. thank you for being so understanding b. i love you so much."
he pulls me into a hug, and then gets up to go to his room.
i really hope he doesn't break her heart in the end. i really hope he does the right thing.
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"there's so much good stuff in here" i say to steven, while going through the lost and found.
steven mumbles "mhh-mhh."
i stop what i'm doing and say "did i do something?"
he turns towards me and says "you like cam? don't you?"
i scoff and say "what? no. god no. he's like a brother to me. i can't believe you'd even assume that."
"well i don't know, it really seemed like you did when you were like staring right into his eyes" he exclaims.
"um, what are you talking about, i was being nice. and if anyone should be mad in this situation it's me" i say, getting a little mad.
steven scoffs and says "why would you be mad? god you're so over dramatic sometimes."
"excuse me?" i say, my voice faltering a little before continuing "i'm talking about you were like defending taylor with your life. and crowd surfing to get her attention and to impress her, just because her boyfriend was."
"that was to get your attention!" he yells.
i jump back a little and his face falls.
"what?" i ask, confused now.
he sighs and says "i thought since taylor liked when someone did it, maybe you would."
i look up at him and let a small smile form on my face.
"that was for me?" i ask him.
"yeah. i mean i tried bella, i tried so hard to get over you. but i don't think i could ever get over you. seeing you brought back everything i tried so hard to get over. your smile, your beautiful hair. you're tan skin. i mean i tried so hard, but you are impossible to ever forget" he admits.
the smile on my face grows. i walk over to him and wrap my arms around him.
"i-i can't believe that i ever broke your heart. you're such an amazing person. you have the biggest heart out of anyone i've ever met. you are the best thing that's ever happened to me" i say, bringing him into a hug.
he hugs back, bringing me in tighter and says "i love you with my whole heart bella fisher."
i smile and say "i love you too, with my whole being, steven conklin.
we stay like that for a while, before pulling away and going into another room to find more supplies.
we walk for a while before we reach two big doors, we push the doors open before walking in.
it's the deb room.
there's so many memories in this one single room.
dancing with steven, and being a debutante with belly.
but the only person really on my mind right now is mom. i look over to where she was sitting that night and see her in her black dress and her hair half up and half down.
being in this room hurts my heart. it reminds me that mom will never get to see me in a white dress. that she won't be there on my wedding day. that i'll never see her ever again.
"are you ok?" steven asks me, noticing that i'm zoned out.
"yeah-yeah" i say, before going to put more supplies in my bag.
a few minutes pass and i hear steven say "i remember when we did deb season last year."
i giggle and steven looks over at me as i say "yeah, me too."
steven looks away from me and checks his phone, before turning it back off.
"what was that?" i ask him.
"oh, nothing, just spam" he replies.
i look back down at my bag to put something in it when i hear labyrinth by taylor swift start playing.
i glance over at steven and say "what are you doing?"
he giggles before saying "ok, ok, just imagine this, yeah" he continues "the perfect song playing. perfect guy, obviously me."
i giggle as he smiles at me, before walking in front of me and does a formal dance.
"your perfect man meets you on the dance floor, wearing um, a suit and tie" he says. he clears his throat before saying "now this um, this guy, sees you in your dress, and then he tells you how beautiful you are and then he um..." steven then starts doing the dance from the deb ball last year, as he puts his hand out for me to grab.
"you're so cute" i tell him.
he smiles back and stares into my eyes lovingly and says "please. he really, really wants to dance with you."
i reach out to grab his hand before we start dancing to labyrinth by taylor swift.
he pulls me into him, and we keep dancing for a while, before he pushes he lips onto mine. i kiss back and then i hear the doors open.
i pull away from the kiss before turning my head to see jere and connie standing together.
"oh, sorry" jere says, pressing his lips together.
me and steven are still standing together as conrad says "where are you guys phones?"
steven points to his phone and i say "i left mine in the car."
conrad shakes head ok and says "well we were texting you guys, we found somewhere to sleep."
"yeah steven dude, why didn't you answer?" jere asks him.
"i wanted to dance with bella alone" he admits, as i smile up at him.
"ok well break it up lovebirds, we have food and drinks now, so come on" jere says in a teasing matter.
we all head to the movie room, where they have everything set up and we start to watch a movie.
we sit down and start to eat, before steven spills something and cam say "there's extra napkins, and can you like be a little more clean everyone?"
i laugh as jere says "all right uh, well, why don't we take this outside before cam cameron has a stroke?"
everyone laughs as we go outside to go on the golf course.
the boys are playing around on a golf cart, cam driving, with connie in the other seat and steven and jere on the back.
us girls and skye are walking behind them.
i look over at steven screaming at jere, and smile.
i hear belly laugh and i look over at her. "what?" i ask her.
"you guys are so cute" she admits before continuing "i've never seen two people so in love with each other."
i smile and say "yeah, well you and conrad are the same way, you just don't know it."
we keep walking until the golf carts battery dies and the boys hop off of it.
they walk up to us and jere says "wanna just crash up here tonight?"
we all agree and then sit down so we can play a game. we decide on truth or dare.
cam goes first and says "alright conrad man, i uh, where do you see yourself in the next ten years?"
we all look over at conrad and wait for him to answer. "honestly here" he says as he sighs. "coming back to cousins. fourth of july barbecues, digging for clams, serving with jere."
"belly drinking to many margaritas and spilling everybody's secrets" i say, as everyone lets out a laugh.
belly goes next and says "bella truth or dare?" i reply with truth as she says "who do you love most in the world?"
i smile before glancing over at steven and saying "mr. conklin over here."
he smiles a huge smile back at me before grabbing my hand, as everyone laughs.
"skye you ask someone" i say to them.
"belly truth or dare?" belly says dare, and skye says "i uh, i dare you to kiss jeremiah."
i audibly gasp and i feel steven squeeze my hand.
a few seconds go by and then jere says "you know aren't we to old for that shit?"
"cam you know the drill" i say to him, to get the awkwardness of belly and jeremiah out of the way.
"yes, uh truth please" he replies.
conrad looks at him and then says "what's your biggest regret?"
"um, i'd say not spending enough time with my sister before she died" he admits.
we all apologize and then he goes on to tell us about what happened.
"the pain starts to go away after a while, it starts to feel more like a scar than a scab" he says sadly before continuing "like, sometimes something totally random will set you off. like, um a song she used to play for you or, um little yellow tree air fresheners she had in her car and the pain just feels brand-new again."
i let out a sigh and say "yeah, i felt that."
everyone looks over at me and i say "everywhere i look, i see her. like you guys might hate me for this, but a tiny part of me wants the house to be sold" i start to tear up before continuing "mainly for the reason of not wanting to set foot in it with her not being alive. i feel like apart of my life lost it's magic because i'm having to live without her. but on the other hand, i want to have something to remember her by. i want to be able to tell my kids one day, this was your grandma susannah's house, she loved it here."
"i didn't know you felt like that" conrad says, looking over at me with soft eyes.
i smile softly and cam says "i'm so sorry about your guys mom, she was really cool."
"thank you man" jeremiah tells him.
i hear skye say "well this got depressing quick, you guys ready for bed?"
we all say yes, and then lay our stuff out to go to sleep.
i'm laying on steven's chest, his arm wrapped around my waist.
"i'm so sorry you feel that way" he tells me sweetly.
i smile before saying "it's ok, at least i still have you guys."
we talk for a few more minutes and then we both fall asleep.
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i wake up the next morning with steven's hand around my waist, and a lady yelling at cam.
i quickly sit up and hear him say "they needed somewhere to stay. i'll clean everything up i promise."
we all agree that we will help. and get up to do so.
when we're done, we pack all our stuff up and head back to the summer house.
we pull up to the house and get out of the cars.
"so we'll lock up" i hear julia say.
"i'll be in touch" the realtor says before walking away.
aunt julia turns around and says "oh, i wish you guys had gone home when i asked you to."
"you're not getting us to abandon our house julia"conrad says to her.
she's sighs and says "it's not your house conrad. and, um it won't be mine for long, either."
"julia, please hear us out we have an idea" jere says, trying to reason with her.
"a buyer has made an offer on the house and i've officially accepted it. i have to go to boston to finalize the details, but um, it's done" she says, as my heart drops.
she takes a deep breath and says "the house is sold."
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<3
i really really hope you guys enjoy this, if you can please let me know what you think!