𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞: 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
𝐍𝐎𝐀 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇 time had passed since wes had handed her the joint. she didn't know how much time had passed since belly had came to the bonfire and yelled at her. but since then, the fisher girl had gotten high out of her mind, thanks to wes' good ass weed. a girl had became attached to noa's hip, it not being the girl that she wanted. the girl she wanted was sitting next to a curly haired boy. noa hadn't been paying attention to what the girl that was sat next to her was saying, her eyes concentrated on belly and the boy. she noticed that they would laugh every few seconds, which only made noa jealous.
"noa!" the girl beside yelled, grabbing the girl's attention. "are you even listening to me?"
"not really, no." noa answered truthfully, her words slurring a little.
the girl scoffed. "so why am i even sitting with you?"
"i don't know. i went to get a beer and you just decided to follow me back." noa replied before she took a swig of her beer.
that then led to the unknown girl saying something, but noa quickly tuned it out. the sound of her brother's voice caught her attention, making her turn towards the bonfire to see that conrad and some guy was arguing. . . over a beer.
noa got up from her spot in the sand, watching as conrad and the guy start taking turns in pushing each other. she slowly walked towards the two, trying to see if things were gonna escalate. what she didn't notice was that belly had gotten up from her spot as well, quickly moving towards the two boys. and when noa had noticed the conklin girl, it was too late. belly had gotten elbowed by the guy conrad was fighting with, falling into the sand. that immediately sobered noa up, the curly haired girl quickly moving towards belly to see if she was okay.
noa quickly crouched down, helping belly sit up before she gently cupped her face. belly looked at noa, noticing how close both of them were. her eyebrows furrowed slightly when she felt her stomach fill with butterflies. noa, on the other hand, she was too angry notice the distance between them, too focused on the fact that belly was holding a hand up to her eye. the fisher girl stood up, seeing that conrad and the guy had started throwing punches. she quickly ran towards the two boys, tackling the one guy that wasn't her brother to the sand. conrad had still managed to fall down with them, the unknown boy having a firm grip on him.
noa started throwing punches without thinking, conrad immediately jumping up to try and pull his sister off of the guy. but before he could even do that, the guy had managed to punch noa in the face, sending her onto the sand next to him. the guy shot up from his spot, getting ready to continue his task at hand. but conrad wouldn't let that happen.
"don't fucking touch her!" he spat as he pushed the guy away from his sister.
that started a wrestling match between the both of them, jeremiah wedging himself between them before he pushed them apart. and just as that happened, the sound of sirens appeared, gaining everyone's attention. that made every teen grab their belongings and run in every direction, not wanting to get caught. jeremiah and conrad pulled noa up from the sand, the youngest fisher look to where belly was to help her up. but she was already gone, which only confused noa.
"noa, come on! we gotta go!" jeremiah urged, pulling the girl towards his red jeep.
"wait, no. i drove here. i can't leave without wes." noa said, trying to get out of her brothers' grip.
"as soon as i saw you pick up a beer, i snagged your keys off you. wes left with your car an hour ago." jeremiah told her as he dragged her with him.
noa gave up trying to get out of his grip, a huff escaping her lips. she could feel a dull ache appear on the right side of her face, knowing that she'll have a bruise in the morning. "such a beautiful way to end the night."
"yeah, i guess." jeremiah mumbled as he guided his two siblings over to his car.
once the three of them were close enough to jeremiah's jeep, all of them could see belly and the boy she's been with all night standing beside it. noa perked up at the sight of belly, glad to see that she was okay. she was gonna go towards the younger girl, but jeremiah dragged her in the other direction.
"seriously, noa." the middle fisher muttered as he opened the back door. "come on. the both of you get in the car." the oldest and youngest fishers did as told, noa scooting over to the other side so that conrad could get in as well. "watch your head. legs. legs."
"yes, i know how to get into a car." conrad slurred just as jeremiah closed the door. conrad laid down, placing his head into noa's lap. the curly haired girl immediately started to play with his hair.
jeremiah ignored his brother's comment, climbing into the driver's seat. he then turned his attention to belly, who was still talking to the unknown boy. "belly, let's go. get in."
"cam can give me a ride home. right, cam?" belly said, looking at cam with raised eyebrows.
"yes. that's no problem." cam answered, shaking his head.
"no, you're not gonna get in a car with a guy you jest met."
"i'm cam. cameron." cam introduced, reaching his hand through the passenger window.
"your name is cam cameron?" jeremiah questioned, ignoring the boy's hand.
"no, it's - it's just cam." cam stuttered, retracting his hand. "but we actually - we know each other. seventh grade. latin convention. so, like, we're not total strangers."
jeremiah chuckled, it being bitter. "okay. no offense, but no. belly, get in the car."
"just in the car." conrad chimed in, his voice monotone.
belly didn't move, looking at the two boys like they had three heads on their shoulders.
"bela, please." noa practically begged, moving so that she could stick her head out the window. she ignored the small groan that she got from her older brother.
belly's eyes softened when she looked at noa, seeing the spot on her face where she had gotten hit, a bruise already forming. all of her original plans to rebel that night had gone out the window as she looked at noa, wanting nothing more than to take of the older girl.
the conklin girl sighed, shaking her slightly. "uh, i should probably go."
"yeah, okay." cam cameron nodded. "um, the whaling boat that i intern on, it - it leaves at dawn every morning from the piers. i was wondering if you would, uh, want to come."
"uh, yeah, yes. sure." belly smiled, nodding her head. "i mean, how else wold you get your hoodie back, right?"
"that's true." cam laughed.
without any warning, belly leaned forward, letting her lips meet cam's. noa quickly sat back in her seat, screwing her eyes shut so that she wouldn't see the kiss. her chest ached at that, still keeping her eyes shut as she heard the car door open. she didn't even open her eyes when jeremiah had started to pull off. she did open them though when jeremiah had stomped on the brakes.
"god, jere." she muttered, almost hitting her head on the passenger seat in front of her.
"fuck! steven!" the blue eyed boy exclaimed as he put the car into park. he turned towards belly. "watch them. i'll be right back."
without another word, jeremiah jumped out of the jeep, slamming the door behind him. that left the three teens in silence, belly smiling in the front seat. conrad had started to doze off in his sister's lap, which left the two girls. noa released a sigh, being able to feel belly's happiness. but that didn't really affect her own.
"i was gonna come back." noa said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"what?" belly asked, turning her head slightly.
"i was gonna come back." noa repeated. "wes was supposed to say hi to his boy toy and then we were supposed to leave so that i could come back. i didn't want to be at that stupid bonfire, i wanted to be with you."
belly didn't say anything, her stomach filling with butterflies again at noa's words. belly turned around all the way, looking at noa. the fisher girl looked back, nerves suddenly climbing up her spine. belly opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the window. the two girls looked over towards the window while conrad jumped awake. their was a police officer.
"have you kids been drinking tonight?" the office questioned, looking at all three of them.
✹ ❀ ✧ ❀ ✹
𝐍𝐎𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐘, the two girls, conrad, jeremiah, and steven watching as laurel and two police officers talked. the five teens had gotten escorted home by the two officers. conrad and noa had sobered up, although they were still very much fucked up. noa knew that she was gonna be hangover tomorrow, having smoked and drank. belly had her arm around the older girl, helping her stand up straight. laurel and the two officers talked for a bit, noa not paying any attention to what they were talking about. all noa could think about was her bed and how she couldn't wait to knock out in it.
"have a good night, officers." laurel bid goodbye as she closed the door behind them. noa snapped out of daydream of her bed, looking at the older woman with raised eyebrows. "how could you guys be so irresponsible?"
"mom, it wasn't a big deal. all right? seriously. the cops were just looking to break up the bonfire." steven tried, stepping forward.
"not a big deal?" laurel repeated.
"yes." steven nodded.
"i would say getting picked up by the cops for underage drinking is a pretty big deal, steven." laurel told her son.
steven sniffed the air before a scoff left his mouth, a smirk pulling at his lips. "were - were you guys smoking tonight?"
"what?" laurel asked. "keep your voice down. susannah's asleep on the couch."
"wha - i wasn't yelling. you - you - you were yelling." steven quickly defended.
jeremiah then stepped forward. "just so you know, laurel, i - i didn't drink tonight. i was the dd, i swear."
laurel seemed to ignore what the middle fisher had said, turning to the oldest, who was sitting on the bench. "you're the oldest. what the hell's gotten into you?" she then turned to her daughter. "and when did you leave the house without telling anybody? and what in the world are you wearing?"
"it's taylor's." belly answered, taking her arm from around noa so that she could wrap cam cameron's sweater around her. "and why am i the only one who's not allowed to go out?"
"it's not that you're not allowed, it's that you should have told us you were going. how did you even get there?" laurel pointed out.
"i walked." belly mumbled, making noa look at her with wide eyes.
"jesus." laurel breathed out. "you know better than to walk down the beach alone late at night."
"can you stop treating me like a kid?" belly snapped.
"if you want to be treated like an adult, you need to act like one." laurel shot back.
"then maybe you guys should, too." conrad spoke up.
"what does that mean?" laurel questioned, only earning a shrug from the college boy. "i hope you realize this night could have ended a lot differently if your family wasn't your family."
"we're sorry, laur." jeremiah apologized.
the park woman sighed. "just go to bed, guys."
"yes!" noa exclaimed in a hushed voice, basically taking off and going up the stairs.
belly followed after her, noticing how the taller girl could barely stand up by herself. the group of teens all went their separate ways to their rooms, getting ready for bed. everyone let noa take a shower first in hopes that it would help sober her up faster, which it did. kinda. her words were still slurring, but she definitely sounded better. jeremiah had forced her to drink a tall glass of water, not leaving her room until she was finished. the curly haired girl basically chugged the water, wanting to go to bed so that she could forget the evening's events. once she was done with the glass, she handed it back to her older brother.
"goodnight, ellie." he whispered, walking towards the door.
"g'night, jere." noa slurred, practically plopping herself down onto the bed.
with that, jeremiah flicked the light off before he closed her door. noa shifted around in an attempt to get more comfortable, pulling at the sheets and blankets on her bed so that she could cover her head with them. she huffed out as she closed her eyes, ready to let sleep take over her. but that all went out the window when she heard her door open. she stuck her head out from under the blankets, wondering who it could've been. she smiled when she saw that it was belly, immediately pulling the blankets back for the girl to get in bed with her.
belly quietly climbed in beside noa, getting as close as she could to the older girl for some extra warmth. noa always kept her room freezing cold, even when the sun had gone down and the humidity had vanished. noa threw the blankets over belly, knowing that she was cold. her breath hitched when belly scooted closer to her, wrapping her arms around noa so that she could be as close as possible. belly was practically on top of noa, the fisher girl pulling her on top fully so that the both of them could be more comfortable. belly stuffed her face into noa's neck, feeling noa pull the covers over their heads so that they would be warm. once she was done, noa gently placed her arms around belly's waist.
"how's your eye?" noa questioned, her voice barely above a whisper.
belly sucked in a breath, breathing in noa's scent. "it hurts. starting to bruise. how's your eye?"
"it hurts. starting to bruise." noa repeated, feeling belly smile against her neck.
"okay, smartass." belly mumbled.
"i mean, at least we're gonna having matching black eyes." noa pointed out, tightening her grip around belly. she loved how they were laying and wanted to stay like this for the rest of her life.
"o-m-g! twinsies!" belly said in fake enthusiasm, earning a quiet chuckle from noa.
silence fell over them, the both of them shutting their eyes and basically melting into one another. noa could feel belly's breathing starting to even out, meaning the conklin girl was starting to doze off. noa was gonna let her go to sleep, closing her eyes so that she could do the same. but then she thought about what had happened earlier.
"bela." she whispered, earning sleepy hum from the girl in question to let her know that she was listening. "i was gonna come back. you know that, right?"
belly didn't answer right away, making noa think that she had slipped into slumber. "yeah, i know. i - i was just feeling left out because of how the boys were treating me."
"i asked them if you could come. i really tried to convince them." noa admitted, which made belly's heart flutter. "i had a feeling that wes was gonna take long with his boy toy, so i wanted you to be there. i knew that i would have fun if you were there."
"you didn't have fun, elle?" belly asked, her breath hitting noa's neck.
"no." the fisher girl answered truthfully. "all i did was sit in the sand and stare up at the stars. which i love doing anyways. but. . . it would've been better if you were there, not mad at me."
"i'm not mad at you." belly told her. "i don't think i could ever be mad at you."
noa could only smile at that, butterflies appearing in her stomach. "you're birthday's in a few days. it's your sweet 16."
noa felt belly smile against her neck again. "yeah, i know. i can't wait to be the same age as you."
"it's only for six months." noa reminded, eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"and it's gonna be the best six months of my life." belly mumbled, shrugging her shoulders slightly.
"yeah, yeah, yeah." noa said, rolling her eyes. "we should go to sleep."
"yeah, you're right." belly sighed, snuggling more into the noa. "goodnight, elle."
noa smiled slightly. "goodnight, bela."
daij speaks!
heyyyyyy. i know it seems like i'm only really updating this book, which i am, but i am working on brutal, cause i want to get to season four so bad. BUT, i am struggling writing out the rest of season three because i decided to break up runa for some time. just so i can do the secret relationship thing for them in season four.
but, yeah. i hope you guys enjoyed