viviana stood with a beer in her hand, talking with shayla who was updating her about her relationship with steven, the two girls had somehow grew closer as they were at the mall shopping with natalie and nicole.
and from afar, blue eyes were staring at her in awe watching her laugh, he wished he could hear her but he was not close enough, and it's not like the music blasting around them was helping either.
he saw nicole and natalie walking towarde the two, so he immediately excused himself from his friends and walked towards her, ready to be her knight in shining armor withen seconds.
“mind if i steal my girl?” jeremiah stood behind viviana, his hand rubbing her back soothingly as shayla smirked “sheʼs all yours”
jeremiah immediately puller viviana away, as she stared at him confused, though her smile didn't waver, not since he called her his girl
she knew it was for the sake of their pretending game, but that didn't stop the butterflies from swimming in her stomach, tickling her.
“is everything okay?” they stopped walking and jeremiah sat the both of them on the couch, which surprisingly was empty , his arm resting behind her head as he stared in her eyes, almost as if he could look in her soul
“mhm” viviana nodded taking another swing of the bottle of beer though she looked down avoiding his gaze as he frowned thinking he had done something wrong “um no it's actually like suffocating me in here”
her voice was so small he almost missed it “ do you wanna go somewhere else? we could leave or stay outside or even upstairs” he was quick to want to do something that would help her feel at ease
how was he so perfect?
“can we go out?” viviana looked up at him with the cutest look he had ever seen on her face “like just for fresh air, we can come back inside if you want”
“ i am okay with whatever you want” jeremiah smiled at her as he stood up taking her hand in his while making sure she was walking in front of him, so that he wouldn't lose her or someone would bump into her, before they went out though, viviana got them another beer each.
so as they sat on the stairs of the back door outside, laughing together while gazing into each otherʼs eyes and taking not so secret glances, jeremiah suddenly reached his hand towards her face
she didn't really know where his hand was touching her face, it was on her cheek though, possibly under her eye as he held out an eyelash “ make a wish” he smiled down at her, as he noticed her gazing in his eyes then blew the eyelash as jeremiah smiled down at her “ so tell me, what happened after you saved that turtle?”
“ i feel like i am bothering you with all these stories” viviana whispered shyly as jeremiah shook his head immediately
“dont be, i like the sound of your voice” jeremiah smiled warmly at her “ whenever i hear it, it's like coming back home from a really bad day and you just know that something you love is waiting for you home”
“really?” viviana looked up at him and they caught eyes as jeremiah nodded “yea via, really”
but this time, neither of them looked away, instead they kept staring at eachother, and viviana had just realized how close the two were really sitting in that moment.
so as she glanced down to notice their legs were touching jeremiah stayed staring at her until he let his two fingers touch her chin as he made her look up at him again.
his touch burnt her, and the air around them felt so cold, she felt cold altogether until he crashed his lips on hers, kissing her.
and while jeremiahʼs lips were moving, vivianaʼs stayed in there place not moving an inch, so as he pulled back in embarrassment he scratched the back of his neck
“ i shouldn't have . . . i am sorry” jeremiah mumbled, but all viviana did was grab his face in her hands, her touch like feathers as she pulled him closer
“ don't be” she whispered, gazing in his eyes one more time until she crashed her lips back on his.
she could taste the alcohol on his lips and he could taste it on her lips too, he kissed her passionately yet tenderly, and viviana found her breath being taken away immediately as he kept kissing her while his hands stayed cupping her cheeks.
it felt like three seconds maybe, but in reality it was much longer, but then again, time was the biggest enemy when something you like is happening.
but they didn't like it, no they loved it.
he didn't seem to be wanting anything more than to kiss her, he seemed so into it, that if viviana was able to kiss him a little longer she would have.
and just as viviana was about to pull away for breath, lilith walked towards them, not that either of them noticed her anyway “hey” lilith coughed awkwardly making the two pull away immediately almost jumping away
“ can i talk to you for a second?” lilithʼs eyes stayed on viviana who nodded silently, eager to get away from jeremiah as she suddenly realized what really happened.
and as the two walked away together, jeremiah sat there, his fingers touching his lips feeling her lip gloss smugged on his lips and if it was any other person, jeremiah wouldn't like it.
and he had no idea why, but he knew he wanted to kiss her again — whenever he wanted
⠀
“ is everything okay?” viviana asked quietly noticing lilith standing there silently and she silently shook her head
“ did i do something wrong?” lilith whispered and viviana could smell alcohol, though she didn't know whether it was coming from her or her cousin “what are you talking about?”
“ you have been ignoring me” lilith frowned “ is this because belly is my friend? i dont know what she did to you but . . . but if you want me to i would cut her off”
it was a silent agreement since they were kids, if someone hurt one of them, it was forbidden for the other to even be their friend, and lilith had no idea what happened between the two at the fourth, but she heard steven and belly arguing about it, and it seemed steven himself did not know either
but he told belly that she had been ruining vivianaʼs summer with jeremiah way more than conrad was.
lilith didn't understand that either , but she thought maybe viviana and conrad disliked eachother
“what? no, no, she's your friend” viviana immediately shut down the idea “ but you . . . you are my sister” lilith whispered back as viviana looked at her with a guilty smile
“you matter to me more than anyone” lilith continued as viviana nodded “and you too matter to me betty” viviana wiped away a tear that fell from her sister's eyes
“ and i promise we will hang out more, it's just things have been —” sober viviana wouldn't even think to admit that things were getting harder for her, but somehow, a voice from behind her stopped her “ do you go around making everyone cry?”
his voice was so annoyed, almost as if he was annoyed at her, and he was, they both knew that while lilith stared at them confused “what do you want ?” viviana turned around to look at him
“ why have you been avoiding me?” he asked suddenly and stupidly , as if she didn't try to talk to him during the fourth and he pushed her away ripping her heart out in the process and crushing it
“ we are not friends conrad” she crossed her arms, leveling him with an annoyed look painted all over her face
“ so you decided to get back at me and date jeremiah?” he laughed bitterly as she scoffed “not everything is about you” viviana argued as conrad shook his head
and before he could talk, lilith stood between the two trying to calm them down “ could you both just take a breath and calm down?” lilith tried but conrad wasn't having it.
“ yea? and whose fault is that?” conrad wouldn't want to look wrong, that's how he has always been, and viviana wasn't planning on giving him what he wanted
so as she stepped next to lilith to see him clearly “ you are the one to blame not me”
“just stop, okay? you are both drunk” lilith tried but her attempt didn't do anything as the two took a step closer to each other still with their leveled looks on their faces
“ oh so you . . . you ruining my relationship was my fault?” conrad spat the words out not thinking as viviana scoffed and shook her head
“ that wasn't my fault”
“if you weren't so annoying and had other friends to hang out with maybe it wouldn't have been ruined” conrad was never mean to viviana, not until this summer at least, but then again, the summers before when they stopped being friends, they never spoke to eachother
“conrad!” “fuck you” lilith and viviana said simultaneously as conradʼs face stayed the same
it wasn't until he looked at viviana to see the tears in her eyes “ oh i am so sorry me concidering you my friend ruined your precious relationship”
“ i didn't mean it —” conrad tried but viviana cut him off “ i hate you”
“no, no you don't” conrad shook his head, trying to get closer and calm the shaking girl down but she only took three steps back, while he only took one forward.
it was like she didn't even want to be his presence let alone be close to him “ i should . . . i should hate you” viviana nodded slightly, her tears being held back
before conrad could say anything though, justin was there pulling viviana away from the older boy.
and justin wanted nothing but to scream at viviana, he wanted to scream at her for getting hurt, so instead he just took conrad away, while keeping his eys on the who stared at the ground sniffling
“are you okay?” lilith whispered while viviana didn't look at her, her eyes stayed watching the grass she stood on “ i am fine ”
“ do you want a hug?” lilith offered the girl a hug, knowing she wouldn't like it if she hugged her so suddenly while viviana only shook her head.
“ do you want me to get jere?” lilithʼs voice stayed soft as viviana shook her head violently “no, no, dont tell jere anything about this”
“viviana” lilith mumbled “jere is right there” lilith gestured to where the boy stood, as if he was searching for something until his eyes fell on the two girls, catching eyes with lilith who mentally slapped herself
that wasn't what made him confused, it was vivianaʼs hands that were wiping her cheeks every now and then.
had the two been fighting? was viviana crying?
and against his sober self, his drunk self was immediately walking towards the two trying not to trip until he reached the two girls
“everything okay?” jeremiah asked, not yet being able to see vivianaʼs face as he was facing her back
“ yea vivianaʼs just not feeling well” lilith lied “ i was actually about to take her home”
“oh via, what's wrong?” jeremiah asked softly, trying to get the girl to turn around, but instead, she took a step forward, away from him and towards lilith
“ i just don't feel well” viviana lied and if it was anyone else, jeremiah would have believed it, but jeremiah knew that tone, it wasn't her voice when she was sick, it was a sad voice.
and as confusing as it sounded, her voice was like melody in his ears, he knew almost every tone in her voice, and he didn't like this one — not at all
“can you give us a minute?” jeremiah asked lilith quietly while viviana stared at her with a helpless look
“um yea, yea sure” lilith walked away, leaving the two alone while jeremiah stayed standing behind viviana
“aren't you going to turn around or even acknowledge me?” jeremiah hated the way she was facing away from him, he hated being not acknowledged by her too.
he didn't want to feel like that again
and when viviana didn't turn around, he ended up walking around her until he was in front of her, and viviana didn't even notice he had moved, she was too busy staring at her hand while her nails were removing the skin around her nails.
“stop doing that” jeremiah held her hands in his, and just then she realized that he was actually in front of her and no longer behind her
“do you want to tell me what's wrong?” jeremiahʼs tone was soft, a softness viviana last heard when luna was still alive
“ stop doing that” viviana mumbled with a broken voice “doing what?”
“acting as if you care about me when you don't” she pulled her hands away from his, hugging herself as a shield instead
“i do care about you” jeremiah frowned in confusion, how many times does he have to say it until she decides to believe he really does care about her?
he didn't mind how many times, he minded the fact that she was always doubting herself and her worth
“ no you don't ” viviana murmured as she turned around trying to walk away towards the road, all while jeremiah followed behind her to make sure she was okay
“ how do you know that?” he was so patient with her it made her heart clench that she could live a thousand years but would never be with someone like him.
viviana didn't reply though as justin walked towards them annoyed “come on, i am taking you home”
“ you look like a frog” viviana seethed as justin raised a brow “ great and you are drunk, so i have to take drunk viviana, lily and conrad home”
he then looked at jeremiah with a worried glance “ don't tell me you are drunk too”
at the silence he was met by, justin groaned “ just my fucking luck”
authorʼs note!
the upcoming chapter is a new one! for all the people who read rhe book before it was edited, yk what i mean
and if you haven't already noticed, i dont even know how to write kissing scenes or like romantic things ig, so bare with me