hearing a groan from next to her, viviana herself groaned as she rubbed her eyes tiredly, and opened them to try and adjust to the light, but she failed, and her head was hurting.
“move away viviana” lilith grumbled as viviana huffed “ shut up”
but all lilith did was push the girl out of the bed and onto the floor. “bitch” viviana yelled as she fell on her butt groaning
peaking her head inside, was a certain blonde woman who stared at the two girls confused “ do i wanna know why you came back asleep and you and justin were arguing? or why justin was arguing with jeremiah?”
jeremiah, oh jeremiah.
“what happened last night?” viviana pushed her hair away from her face as she looked at her aunt who shrugged and her cousin who sighed “you don't remember anything from last night?”
“well yes i do remember what happened, and i remember justin and jeremiah bickering like kids, but i don't remember how i got up here or why i am not home?” viviana sarcastically said as lilith huffed while cordelia nodded “yea i wanna know what all the bickering was about”
“ you are here because jeremiah didn't want you to go home, and he carried you up here by the way, and you are in my room because justin said you were too drunk and so was jeremiah which i don't believe by the way and something could happen that you will regret later” lilith said in one breath as cordelia and viviana nodded
“wait hold on, you didn't have sex yet right? i still need to give you that talk” cordelia suddenly said, as viviana tried to stand up quickly and close the door “ you can't just say that out loud!”
“he doesn't know?” cordelia frowned as viviana nodded quietly “ and it's not like you haven't given me that talk already, because if i remember correctly i stopped listening to it when you gave it to me for the fifth time”
“ you stopped listening” cordelia raised a brow as viviana nodded quietly “ you are such a brat viviana”
“oh auntie , i love you too” just then a knock was heard on the door, as cordelia pulled it open only to reveal jeremiah standing with two smoothies
“ you are awake” jeremiah beamed at the only brunette girl in the room as she nodded “ betty pushed me off the bed”
“i didn't do that” lilith whined “how could you accuse me of such things?” noticing the looks she was getting from the now three other people in the room she huffed
“so what if i did? just go sleep all over jeremiahʼs bed, i need my beauty sleep” lilith admitted as viviana scoffed “what if i broke my neck or something?”
“ it's not broken vivi, if it was you wouldn't have been giving me a headache now” lilith groaned as she put a pillow over her head and turned off the lights from next to her bed.
“ we should get out before she starts throwing stuff ” cordelia whispered not so quietly “ i heard that!” lilith said, as cordelia pulled the two teens away
“ oh you made them your hangover smothie, how sweet of you” cordelia smiled once she noticed what was in jeremiah's hands.
“ i am not drinking that thing again” lilith said from her room as viviana huffed and peaked her head through the door “just go back to bed already”
lilith cursed viviana, while jeremiah stood laughing at the duo of cousins. cordelia nodded towards the smoothie, “i will take that in her room, hopefully safely . . . and you two can just go to your room but no funny business”
viviama groaned as jeremiah chuckled awkwardly “please just stop” viviana pleaded as jeremiah pulled her away by her hand.
his hand was so soft on hers that she almost didn't feel it, and she wouldn't have if it wasn't for the heat coming off of him that almost burned her.
jeremiah pulled her in the room as he then closed the door behind them, then he finally looked down at the girl in front of him. “ how are you feeling?” jeremiah wondered as viviana shrugged
“ i am never drinking again” viviana mumbled as jeremiah nodded “here” he gave her the smoothie as she was immediately hit with the smell as it was really close to her nose
“that's so sweet of you, but maybe i should just stick to the painkillers” viviana tried to get out of having to drink the smoothie as jeremiah laughed at her
“ it tastes good, don't worry ” he smiled down at her, but something was different, almost as if he wanted to talk to her about something, and he was itching to do so.
“oh please, i would never drink that or let it touch my lips, like ever” viviana laughed softly, trying a sip from it as jeremiah smirked “ but you already did”
and viviana almost chocked when she was taking the sip, but she brushed it off and took a big sip of it hoping he didn't mean what she thought , even though she was hating the smell of it, it didn't taste as bad. the banana somehow being the only thing she could taste except, there was the taste of a strawberry along with it too.
seeing the small smile on her face as she pulled the glass away he smiled at her “ i added some strawberries to it, i know how much you love it” jeremiah informed the girl who nodded, her smile never leaving her face “yea i can taste it”
“about last night —” jeremiah started but was cut off by viviana whose smile fell just as the words fell from his lips “ yea i am really sorry about that” she sounded so embarrassed
jeremiah was about to say something when the door was pulled open without a knock, and standing in the doorway was belly.
and just then, viviana truly realized what happened last night, what is happening right now.
“oh i didn't know you were still here” belly said awkwardly, as the two never truly talked about what happened on the fourth yet, she then turned to jeremiah with a smile
“ i will come back later” belly said as she closed the door and walked out, and in that moment, viviana moved to make space between her and jeremiah.
jeremiah, her fake boyfriend who liked another girl, the one she foolishly kissed last night and was staring to like his presence way too much for her liking.
it was almost everything conrad warned her from, that she, like any other girl in cousins or boston — any girl who ever saw him — would fall under his charm.
“i should get going” viviana spoke up, handing him the almost finished smoothie
“ it's still too early, you should stay for breakfast” jeremiah tried to stop the girl from leaving, but instead she gave him a forced smile “ it's okay, i can just eat something at home”
“or you can stay and i will make your favorite” jeremiah tried to be persuasive and he almost succeeded, if it wasn't for the girl's heart that was beating erratically, or her swaeating hands she would have hugged him with how adorable he looked
“thanks, but i should still go” viviana walked away towards the door as jeremiah frowned and caught her wrist “ could you at least stay and hang out with me?”
all jeremiah did since they became friends again was make things easier for her, but with the look he was giving her now, his innocent touches, anything he did, he was hurting her.
she knew she did everything she told justin not to worry about, she knew this was her doing not his, but he wasn't making things easier for her either.
“ i can't, i have to be home before my mom wakes up” she probably didn't even sleep yet.
“are we going to talk about last night?” he asked as viviana sighed “last night was . . . a mistake”
“a mistake?” jeremiah repeated, his statement coming off as a question as viviana nodded “ we were both drunk, it didn't mean anything”
and they stood in silence for a few seconds, until jeremiah went to say something, but viviana beat him to it “i am gonna go now, and you should see what isabel wanted, seemed pretty important ”
but jeremiah wasn't having it, he still tried to talk her into staying a little bit longer “ i am sure it can wait, and we could watch the vampire diaries”
viviana sighed “ i don't think that's a good idea” she didn't look at him around and left his room and all jeremiah did was watch her walk away, taking away his bright mood and souring it immediately.
and suddenly, jeremiah was upset with belly, did she have to barg in his room without even knocking? when his girlfriend was there?
except viviana was only pretending to be his girlfriend, and he had no idea why he was so upset she didn't stay, why he was so upset with belly herself too
𓆉︎
viviana was in her room, binge watching the vampire diaries alone.
which she usually did alone and didn't mind it, she didn't mind it until she refused jeremiahʼs offer to watch the show with her, even though they both knew jeremiah didn't watch that kind of stuff, and he definitely hated watching a show filled with blood.
viviana doubted if belly knew that, did she knew he was scared of heights too? or his fear of insects?
realising she was getting too much into her head, viviana got dressed into a pair of sweetpants as she walked out of her room silently, taking her sketch and painting tools with her as she carefully yet fastly went towards the front door.
and as viviana sat calmly, drawing the ocean like the many times she did before while listening to soft music, she heard a cough from next to her making her look at the person.
steven conklin smiled down at the girl who offered him a smile back “mind if i wait for shayla with you?”
viviana shook her head “it's alright” so steven sat down, watching the waves with viviana, who got lost again into painting.
steven took a deep breath “ you know i always see you drawing the ocean but i don't think i ever saw you go near it”
“itʼs scary” viviana shrugged as steven raised a brow at her in confusion “what is so scary about the water?”
“one moment you could be swimming and then the other moment you could be drowning or already dead” viviana stiffly answered her old friend who stared at her in confusion
“so you like to watch it, but you are terrified of it?” steven pointed out as he checked his watch to see the time
“that's the thing about beautiful things, you like watching them, you cherish these things but you are always afraid of it”
“is that why you were so afraid of that vase when we were younger?” steven asked suddenly, as viviana nodded quietly making the boy brust out laughing
“shut up steven” viviana grumbled as the boy tried to catch his breath “i am sorry i am sorry, it's just you didn't even walk in the room”
“i was afraid i would accidentally break it!” viviana defended herself as steven laughed, and while the boy laughed, viviana suddenly realised that wasn't why she was so afraid of the water.
she was only afraid because it was unexpected. anything could happen without it being planned, and viviana had her whole life ahead of her planned,
but the ocean couldn't be expected , and neither could jeremiah be.
the sun was gone when viviana returned from the beach, as shayla insisted that viviana stayed a little longer with her and steven.
so as viviana tiredly walked in from carrying her stuff in, fearing that her art would be ruined, her mom walked towards the door.
and from the moment viviana heard the womanʼs slipper clicking against the ground, she prepared herself to get scolded.
except, her mom had a smile on her face as she greeted the girl “you are back just in time for dinner!” the womanʼs happy voice shoxked the girl
“and you painted too! that's amazing honey, bring it with you” vivianaʼs mom went to walk away as viviana coughed awkwardly
“i am not done with it yet” her mom scoffed and turned to look at it “you could do anything babe, and it would still be beautiful”
babe, beautiful.
and just as viviana followed her mom towards the dining table, she was met with someoneʼs back, no not someoneʼs, it was conrad's , viviana would notice his hair anywhere.
and as viviana sat in the seat in front of him, the boy didn't even meet her eyes. “i am so glad you two are talking again” phoebe smiled warmly at the two
and viviana found her heart clenching at the way her mom was so happy of something that was simply a lie.
she had no idea what lies conrad told her mom, but whatever it was, it made her so happy that she didn't bring three bottles of wine for dinner.
instead it was a strawberry milkshake.
“and for the new information i got you milkshakes from your favorite place!” her smile was so bright that viviana almost didn't recognize her mother and all sje saw was her mom
she hadn't seen her that happy in so long, and suddenly, viviana felt at peace knowing her mom was happy, but the sickening feeling that it wouldn't last made her peace go away immediately as it was replaced by worry.
her mother's therapist had worried her about this happening , after she had started claiming that luna was not dead and instead, she was at college.
“oh! how about we have breakfast tomorrow morning? like the old days?” the woman's smile was irresistible to viviana as she nodded with a soft smile.
“what about you connie? any plans tomorrow morning?” conrad shook his head “ i will try to make it”
all while viviana felt anxious for when conrad would leave and her mom would be back to normal.
authorʼs note!
this has been sitting in my drafts for three days sorry for the long wait babes <3
this is officially the first new chapter after editing the book! hope you enjoy it