Ok so I didn't proofread this chapter so let me know if anything is wrong, please!! All feedback is appreciated <333
"It's sold??" Conrad pauses, "You sold this house in the last twelve hours??"
"Yes, to a lovely family with three children and some kind of a poodle mix," Julia tells us. She didn't need to add in the unnecessary information about the kids and the dog. We. Don't Care.
"It can't just be over," I tell her.
"It is. I'm going to need your keys, please?" Julia says, turning to the boys.
While Conrad takes his house key off of his key ring he tells Julia, "I'll bet you're really enjoying this."
"Mom don't do this..." Skye is finally defending us for once.
"Skye, really?" That's right, Julia, Skye isn't under your control anymore. Suck it! "I told you two that I was selling the house. You just refused to believe it. I'm not enjoying it, but I will admit that I'm relieved it's finally over. Come on, Skye," Julia says pushing through the group we had formed around her, "Excuse me."
Skye follows their mother, hopefully to tell her to back out of the deal. Jeremiah turns to me and wraps me in a hug, mostly to comfort himself but it comforts me a little too. It seems Skye's conversation with their mother is going to take a little longer than we expected so we group in the kitchen. After a moment of silence Jeremiah pulls us from our thoughts, "Ok, so I know things aren't going to great right now, but it's always the darkest before the dawn, right?" Not going so great is a big fucking understatement.
"Yeah, not this time," Connie is always on the downside of things, jesus christ get this kid a therapist.
The door shuts and Skye walks in, "I'm sorry, I couldn't get her to back out of the deal."
"It's not on you, Skye," Conrad's voice is the quietest I've ever heard it. He's so defeated it's hard to look at.
"I know, but she's my mom so I would get it if you guys were angry with me too. I just can't deal with her right now."
Jeremiah pulls them into a side-hug, "No one is mad at you, Skye."
"So what? We're supposed to go home now?" I recognize that tone in my brother's voice, mischievous.
"Yeah, it's over," This house holds all our most important memories and Connie is just letting it slip away.
"No!" Belly exclaims, "This can't be our last memory here. Everyone miserable and defeated. This place deserves a better goodbye than that!"
"Like what?" Hope sparks in Conrad's voice.
"Mom came to the beach house with Susannah, for the first time after her dad died. It was supposed to be just the two of them, but Susannah hated how empty the house felt, so she decided to throw a huge party. Everyone danced and drank. They went swimming at midnight. Susannah said it was like Gatsby." Steven fills in for Belly.
"Let's throw a party too!" Belly said, speaking what everyone was thinking.
"I'm in!" Jere says, looking at me.
"Me too!" I lay my head on his shoulder.
"Me three!" Taylor and Skye say at the same time.
"Oh, I love this for us!" Cam says like an excited puppy. I hope Jeremiah doesn't mind if I chip off a piece of my heart and give it to him.
"You in?" Steven says, turning to Connie.
"I think it's exactly what mom would have wanted," Connie says, giving us his approval.
"Alright, great! Everybody take a shower then a power nap. I'm putting you guys to work after!" Belly tells us excitedly.
After I shower, I find Jeremiah waiting for me right outside my door. His hair is still wet from the shower he took before me. Without a word he takes my hand and guides me to his room. Jere takes a seat on the floor and tugs me down with him, "Nap time!"
"We're seriously sleeping on the wooden floor?" I give him a I'm not doing that look.
"It's good for your back but, whatever," Jeremiah sighs, "I guess you don't have to sleep on the floor."
"What does that mean?"
"You can just sleep on top of me," Jeremiah shrugs. And then he picks me up and lies me down on top of him, with my head on his chest. Jere's arms wrap around me, and he lets out a long sigh. I look up and see a smile playing on his lips. I shuffle to get more comfortable and not too soon after, I fall asleep.
"You didn't make them do anything because they're cute?!?" I hear a voice say from outside the room, slowly pulling me from my slumber.
"Just take a look, they're adorable," Taylor's voice registers but I still can't open my eyes. Too tired.
"Awww, they are cute!" I hear my sister whisper before the click of a photo being taken jerks me awake.
"Owww, try to be a little gentler when you get off of me next time, Cass!" Jeremiah says from below me.
"Come on, Cass, we're setting up the food downstairs," Belly informs me before dragging me away. I cast one last glance at Jeremiah, of course that stupid pissbutt is smirking at me.
While setting up the food and stuff, Skye brings up the topic of kissing, "So, do I immediately put my tongue in their mouth?"
"If the spirit moves you," Of course that's Taylor's answer.
"What if I don't have the spirit?"
Belly comes in jugging mass amounts of supplies, "Help, please!" We rush to help her.
"Ok so I part my teeth first and then stuck my tongue out?" Someone get Skye step by step instructions on kissing so we don't have to continue this conversation!
"What are you guys talking about?" Belly asks with the most horrified expression.
"Apparently, Skye's never kissed anybody," Taylor answers.
"Which is completely normal and fine!" Belly reassures them.
"I know! Externally imposed societal expectations of 'normal' have no effect on me," I give Skye a half-hearted high five, focusing on how to open this stupid bag. "That being said, I have decided I am ready and willing and would like to know what to do. Is there any situation where it's all teeth and no tongue?"
"Jesus, just let yourself be in the moment," I tell them, hopefully ending this godforsaken conversation.
"Just make sure they moisturize," Taylor says. When we all give her puzzled looks, she elaborates, "Milo is obsessed with lip balm. It honestly changes the game." I'll make sure to lock that little piece of information in my head to let Steven know.
"Just don't overthink it." Belly utters, exasperated.
I step outside intending to get some fresh air after Taylor, Skye, and Belly collectively attacked me to get me to share my experience kissing Jeremiah. But instead, I find Jere about to head inside with a box full of stuff. Great, now I'm blushing even harder. I look away for a second, intending to cool my face off before he sees my tinted cheeks. We meet halfway and I see Susannah's old roller skates. I rush forward quickly meeting him. "Oh my god! I haven't seen these in forever!" I say picking up the roller skates.
"Go ahead," Jere says. I look at him with a confused expression etched on my face. "The roller skates, Cass. I remember every time my mom put them on when we were younger you were waiting for the day, they'd fit you so you could skate too. I saw it on your face, I still know you better than anyone ya'know."
I look down at my feet hiding my smile, because it's true. Jeremiah has always known me better than anyone, besides Steven. Before I can say anything back, Jeremiah is taking the skates from my hands and kneeling on the floor. "What are you doing??" I ask him when he begins untying the laces on my shoes.
"You were taking too long to put them on." Jere slips my converse off my feet and then slips the roller skates on. He repeats the same process on my other foot. As soon as he finishes tying the laces, he stands, towering over me. Jeremiah takes my hand and spins me around, I nearly lose my balance, but I regain it and as soon as I do, Jere latches his hands on my waist so I can't almost fall again.
"Umm well, Taylor said she wanted to dress me up, so- I'm going to go!" My voice breaks from nervousness.
"You do that," Jeremiah says, giving me a look that means he knows what he does to me.
"Ahhh! You guys look so cute!" Taylor tells us excitedly.
The party gets started and I see Nicole and some other debs walk through the door. I have to control my jealousy. Nicole is not trying to become my little sister's big sister. I am Belly's older sister. Calm. I'm skating through the house when I hear my name, "Cassie! Cassie, Cassie! Come here," Conrad says, he's holding a camera in his hand, and he looks the happiest I've seen him since we got here. "Take a picture with Steven."
I roll my eyes jokingly and pose next to my brother. Conrad snaps the picture and I'm on my way again skating through the house, but not for long because I trip on something. I'm falling and I'm prepared to land flat on my ass, but someone catches me. I look up and see Jeremiah, he leans down and says quietly in my ear, "You don't need to hurt yourself to get my attention," His voice is barely above a whisper but it's still somehow deep enough to make my stomach stir in an unfamiliar way. He brings me back up so I'm stable on my feet. I giggle nervously and look around for a way out. Belly brings over shots and we form a circle. The circle consists of Belly, Jeremiah, Conrad, Taylor, Steven and me. We each grab a shot and Jeremiah makes a toast, "No matter how much time passes or how far apart we are, we're always gonna love each other," he says it while looking at me, but he couldn't possibly mean that he loves me, right? We never actually never said the L word to each other, it was just kind of an unspoken thing.
"Aw, Jere you cheeseball! That's so cute!" Taylor coos, giving me a wink.
We all take the shots, the taste of alcohol burns my throat, but it's the good kind of burn. That was officially the first drink I had tonight, and it will officially be my last. Everyone splits shortly after, I'm over by the drinks table making sure no one is spiking shit, and I have no idea where anyone else is. This drunk guy who said his name is Caleb is flirting with me and it's honestly really entertaining. "Life is like a bus, without you, it's just BS!" Caleb says over the loud music, I laugh but immediately stop when someone shouts 'fight!' I rush over to see what's happening and see my TWIN BROTHER fighting TAYLOR'S BOYFRIEND. The guy at the dj setup starts playing All the Small Things by Blink-182, and honestly, I can't help but laugh. It's super fitting, I'm still laughing when I see who is the current dj, it's the creepy gas station guy from last summer!
"Kick his ass, Steven!" I hear Connie and Jeremiah cheering Steven on, we so do not need their encouragement right now. God, boys are so stupid. Taylor and Belly try to break up the fight but the overpowering masculine energy coming from my brother and Milo right now is too overbearing. Finally, Taylor says something that gets through to Milo.
"Cmon Taylor, let's get out of here. These people are too pedestrian for us anyways," Milo says, whatever the hell that means.
"These people are my friends! Do you even know me?" God this is so dramatic I might actually take another shot. But Taylor is right, Milo doesn't seem to know Taytay whatsoever.
"Babe, what are you talking about? You're my girl!"
"What's my middle name!" You can clearly see Milo hesitate; bro doesn't fucking know. "Yeah, I can't do this anymore. It's over." Taylor finally ends things. Then she walks out.
"It's Madison! Her middle name is Madison!" Steven yells at Milo. Then he goes after Taylor. I can already sense what's gonna happen when he finds her, and I sure do like the idea of it.
Before I know it, Skye is pulling Belly, Conrad, Jeremiah, and I outside to talk about something. "Guys! So, I've been texting with my mom, and she was able to put a condition into the sale. Since the buyers are only gonna use this place as a vacation home, they've agreed to let you rent the place for one week every summer!"
"Wait, are you serious!" Belly begins jumping up and down.
"We get to come back!?" I start jumping up and down too.
"Oh my god, Skye! This is amazing!" Jeremiah says before he takes Skye into a bear hug and spins them around.
"No, it's not," Conrad says, totally bringing down the mood. "Tell your mom thanks but no."
"Come on, Conrad, at least hear them out!" Belly tries to talk some sense into that thick head of his.
"It's over," Connie tells us with finality.
"Why are you the only one that gets to make this decision?" Jeremiah is asking all the right questions here.
"Jere, we're not going to pay another family to rent our house," Connie does kind of have a point. But renting is still a good compromise. It's not ideal, but at least we'll get the house for a week.
"This isn't our house anymore!"
"Exactly, let it go."
"Yeah, because you are an expert at that."
"Jere-" I think Belly and I can both see where this is going.
"No! No, this is the shit he does. When things aren't perfect, instead of trying to fix it, he just decides to throw it away," Dear god, please don't bring Belly into this Jeremiah. "And it's not just the house," Nononono, "You did it to Belly too!" This stupid fucker brought my little sister into it. "When shit got tough, he couldn't handle it. So, he dropped you!"
"Shut up, Jere!" Conrad says, and honestly, I agree with him. Dragging Belly into this is not right.
"Don't use me to get at him. I don't want to be a part of this," Belly walks away.
"Belly-" Jere calls after her. I go after my sister, and I hear him call out my name too. I'm pissed at Jeremiah, that is not a feeling I have towards him often. Belly gets away from me and I can't find her anywhere. While I'm searching the house for her, I catch a glimpse of Jeremiah, it looks like he's looking at me, but when I turn my head, he's staring at Conrad. They must have gotten into a bigger fight after we left. Everything is so messed up.