I watched silently as both the boys fall in love with Belly this summer.
Susannah told me that I too was destined for one of her boys. That she reserved Jeremiah especially for me. We complimented each other so well. We both knew how to make each other laugh and stay comfortable. With just one look at each other we would know exactly what we were thinking.
I could remember the first time we used facial expressions to each other in order to figure out each others emotions.
I was 8 and Jeremiah had just turned 10. We were outside during spring break, Conrad was with Susannah and Jeremiah and I were playing at the arcade.
It wasn't cousins beach, but it sure was close to it.
Laurel yet again wasn't able to make it, their family was having a trip of their own.
Jeremiah and I spent hours playing this one game, dance dance revolution. I could always beat him, and he hated me for it.
On that day a girl around his age asked to play next with him. I felt a pit of jealous in my stomach, but I didn't know what it was at the time.
After a few minutes Jeremiah turned around and we made eye contact. I gave him a bored look and he sent one back.
I knew we were on the same wavelength, because we then both pretended to spare our ankles to hopefully get her to go away.
When she didn't leave I finally just threatened her to leave, and she finally left.
-
"Stay still my sweet girl please don't move." Susannah says to me as she puts Jeremiah and I looking at each other face to face for her portrait.
"Are you going to make Belly and Conrad do this too?" Jeremiah asks which a slight venom behind his words. His mom looks up at him giving him her mom look.
He moves his face back to looking at me and he smiles, which I couldn't help but to return and blush.
"You two are so cute together." Susannah says to us and that causes me to blush more, so I react by looking away.
"Allie cat! I told you to stop moving." She says to me slightly upset.
"I'm sorry." Is all I could say and Jeremiah shakes his head at me.
He mouths something to me but I had no idea what he said so I choose to pretend to know what he's talking about.
"Hold hands you two, I think it will look really good for the painting." Susannah says to us sounding really high.
Jere and I do as asked, but this time I knew what he was mouthing to me. "I think she's high out of her mind." He says to me continuing to look me in the eyes and laugh.
I gave his mom a side eye because I didn't want her to yell at me for moving. We both just laughed and that was the end of that.
Once she was done we wanted to see what she painted and it looked so terrible it was almost cute. Jere and I looked at each other then he called for Belly to see what his high mom created.
Belly, Laurel and my mom all came out to see what Susannah made, after Laurels comment. Susannah looked to see what the moms were laughing about.
Neither of us laughed so we wouldn't hurt her feelings. Susannah started laughing as soon as she saw the painting. We then all started to laugh together. It felt nice, it reminded me of the second summer we all spent together.
Belly and I were playing princess, we finally convinced Jeremiah and Conrad to play with us for one round. Steven wanted nothing to do with this so he just stayed in his room.
Our moms were the ones who chose the guys for us. Our princes, Susannah put Conrad with me and Belly got Jeremiah. We were like 5 years old. Neither of us had crushes on the boys yet.
We were so innocent, so pure. Boys weren't on our minds at this age, only princes and princesses.
The game only lasted for what felt like 10 seconds, but in reality it was an hour.
Steven decided to come out of his room and jump on Conrad and farted on him.
We were in the middle of our wedding ceremony, something Belly and I commonly put into our game. We were obsessed with getting married and dressing up. It made us happy.
We all bursted into laughter including the mothers as Steven did that. It was funny, fart jokes were the best laugh you could get out of us kids.
-
I sat at the dock watching the fireworks go off and sighed. I was thinking about how could I come in between Belly and Jeremiah.
I had over heard Taylor on the phone with belly. Taylor knew there was something going on between them. She said she was team Jelly. The only comment Belly gave back was the fact that I called dibs.
Taylor laughed at that comment, and completely disregarded our packed. "Oh come on, you two were like 10 that doesn't count. You were kids! You aren't kids anymore you can't call dibs on boys that's like wrong." Taylor's comment stuck to me.
Belly still didn't budge. But I couldn't help but feel like I was the thin wall between them. I could imagine Jere trying to break me down and Belly letting him.
How could I go between their happiness?
"You okay Allie cat?" I hear Conrad's voice behind me. I quickly wipe away any tears I had, not even noticing I had been crying.
"Uh yeah, Im f-fine. Why are you here?" I ask Conrad as I continue to look out at the fireworks over the bay.
"This is my thinking spot. I come here when my minds racing. And if I remember correctly, this is your place too." He says to me and I could hear his smile beside me.
I weakly smiled as I could remember the first time we were both here.
I was 13. A lot happened that year. My parents got separated. It was the first summer we went to the house without my dad. My dad moved back to his home state in Nebraska.
He wanted me to come with him, but all I could think about is my mom and my favorite golden retriever as a human.
I wanted so badly for Jeremiah to be the one to confort me, but it was Conrad who had pried the information out of me.
The first week of the summer, Conrad and I spent time together at the dock just talking.
He was the first person I ever had an adult talk with. He could be a therapist if he wanted to. He knew all the right words to say to me.
"Alright princess, what's got you down? Why isn't your dad here? He's like always around." Conrad says to me as we both sit down on the dock floor.
I shrug my shoulders. "They got separated." I whisper to him and he turns to look at me and he pulls me in for a hug.
"Hey, Allie it's okay. You got us, don't shut us out just because a family member left. I'm here for you, your dad is an idiot for leaving you and your mom behind. I can't relate to your parents splitting. But I do know that my dad is a dick. You just have to learn how to cope with it." He says to me and I look up at him already looking down at me.
I smile at him and hug him tighter. He smiles at me. "Your aura gives off the best feelings. I hate to see your light dimming." He says to me and we both get up and act like kids again. I tag him and we chase each other all the way to the beach.
-
"Your aura gives off the best feelings. I hate to see your light fade away." I say to Conrad and he says nothing for a few seconds then chuckles lightly.
"Actually it's your lights dimming." He replies back and I give him a breathy laugh.
"Of course." Is all I say, "what's got you in your feels Conrad Fisher?" I say to him trying to lighten his mood.
He becomes serious again and hesitated with what he wanted to say.
"My dad cheated on my mom 3 years ago. Around the same time your parents got split it." He says to me and I look up at him with sadness.
"I'm so sorry Conrad, are you okay? How did you find out?" I ask him very concerned for him right now.
"Well, it's not your fault Atlas. Don't apologize. I found out when I came home early one day from school. My mom was crying, she was broken Allie. I wanted so badly to punch my dad in the face. Make him go to the hospital, but I didn't want my mom to get mad at me. So I left and came back later that night." Conrad hadn't opened up to me since last summer.
It made sense now why he was so closed off all summer this year.
"Do you have an escort to the ball?" He asks me and I shrug.
"I was going to go with Steven, but he kind of already has a date." I reply to him and he chuckles.
"Yeah, that man is in love." He says back to me and laughs.
Conrad opened his mouth to say something, but we were both startled by Belly coughing. We both turned around and saw her.
"Can I speak to Conrad, alone?" Belly says and I nod my head leaving the two of them.
I headed back to the house where I saw Jeremiah looking intensely at them.
"What are they talking about?" He asks me and I shrug.
"She just said she wanted to talk to him about something." I say to him and he nods his head.
"Want to see something funny?" He says as he lights one of the fireworks in his hand. Before I could stop him, the firework already left his hand and almost hit them.
"Jere, that's not funny. What if you hit them?" I ask him very disappointed, and he shrugs laughing a little.
"But it didn't." He says and starts walking back inside.
"Are you jealous?" I say to him and this causes him to stop in his track.
"Why would I be jealous? It's just Belly and Conrad." He says back and I shake my head.
"Like I haven't seen you flirting with Belly all summer." I say to him jealousy shinning through my teeth.
"I flirt with everyone, including you." He says back and playfully rolls his eyes.
All I could think about is when would he be flirting with me?
"You're cute when you have your thinking face you know. Your face gets all soft, like a puppy." He says to me and I look away from him.
"Whatever." Is all I could say and we went up to our rooms.