<You're my safe haven<3 >
-Chapter Four: Thank you Remy
When the boys got to the bonfire they all split up, Jeremiah and Beau stayed together as Jeremiah wrapped his arm around Beau again, walking over to the drinks, he grabbed a beer and opened it. "Do you want anything to drink? They have capri suns." Jeremiah told him and Beau's eyes shined. "Yes!" Jeremiah chuckled and handed him a cherry flavored capri sun.
"Are you ready for Senior year?" Jeremiah asked the older boy who groaned. "Don't remind me." He whined, throwing his head back. Jeremiah laughed at him and was about to respond before a group of girls walked up to them with the intention of flirting with the two boys. "Hey boys" One winked at Beau, who shifted uncomfortably. "Ladies! Hey" Jeremiah smiled and tightened his hold on Beau.
"What are your names? Another girl asked, looking them up and down."Uhm B-Beau." He stuttered looking down at his feet, kicking the sand lightly, hiding further under Jeremiah's arm. "Oh you're cute." The first girl chuckled, making Jeremiah's jaw clench. "Jeremiah, and sorry ladies, Beau here is not attracted to women." The girls looked him up and down. "I'll change his mind." A girl mumbled, sadly Beau heard and shifted even more uncomfortable than he was before, taking a sip of his capri sun.
Jeremiah glanced at him to see his face slightly scrunched up, and decided it was time to make their leave. "Well sorry ladies, we have to be on our way." He said and guided Beau over to Steven only to see him making out with a girl, "OH Nevermind. Stevie boys got game." Jeremiah laughed as they walked away to find someone else they could hang around. Beau chuckled and went to say something before they heard shouting.
"Why am I embarrassing?!" They heard, then they heard "Stop it! Steven!" They looked over to see Belly and Steven arguing, then Belly fell right in front of Conrad and Nicole making out. Conrad looked at her surprised, "Are you okay?" Steven asked her only to be ignored. Jeremiah and Beau popped up next to them while they were arguing "Belly. You came! Great, we can all hang out, you guys." He laughed as Beau looked at him with a smile.
Steven shook his head. "I'm about to take her home." Beau nodded "That's good, especially with what you're wearing." Beau gestured to her short pink dress. "What?" Belly went to protest before Beau walked back over to get another capri sun. Soon the girls came up to him again, but he didn't have Jeremiah to hide in this time. "Hey pretty boy" A girl flirted with him, he looked down at his feet again. "H-hey" He responded, looking around for Jeremiah.
The girl stepped closer, making him step back slightly. "Where's Jere Jere?" She asked, stepping forward and pats his cheek and trails her finger down to his chest. "U-uhm." He stuttered uncomfortably, going to step back but was stopped by another girl. Looking around he saw himself surrounded by the girls. "Well, bo-bo? Did he leave you? Well I won't leave you." She whispered seductively, trailing a heart on his chest.
"I-um" He looked around in panic, before he finally saw Jeremiah coming over to him. "Excuse me ladies" He gently pushed the girls and wrapped an arm around Beau, who released a breath he didn't know he had been holding as the girls smirked at him. "We'll take our leave now. Goodbye." Jeremiah gave them a tight smile, his arm wrapped tightly around Beau as they quickly walked away from the girls.
When they were a bit farther away from the girls, they sat down on the sand near the ocean. "Are you okay Beau?" Beau nodded, keeping his eyes down and on the sand. Jeremiah scoffed, placing his hand under Beau's chin and lifted the boy's head slightly to look into his eyes. "Bullshit. How are you really?" Beau stared at him for a second before releasing a breath.
"Scared...and uncomfortable. I wasn't able to tell them to back off. It's stupid, nothing even happened." His voice wavering as he talked, Beau scoffed at himself looking down to hide his eyes that were tearing up. Jeremiah stared at him, then he hugged Beau "It's not stupid Beau. They made you uncomfortable and that's not okay. I know you don't do well in social settings. Don't feel stupid for something out of your control." He comforted Beau who hid his face in the younger's shoulder, letting a few tears fall, making Jeremiah's shirt wet.
Jeremiah just sat there, whispering sweet nothings in his ear. After a couple of minutes, the boys were interrupted by Conrad yelling at a guy. "You're not taking my fucking beer, dude." Both boys stood up quickly, Beau wiped his eyes and they started to walk over to the fight. "Relax, it's one beer!" "Yeah, and it's my fucking beer." Conrad yelled at the guy before Belly went to try and diffuse the tension. "Oh god what is she doing?" Beau got cut off by the guy elbowing Belly in the face making her fall.
Beau got lost in the crowd after someone yelled 'cops!'. He looked around for Jeremiah or Steven for a couple minutes but couldn't find him soon though he heard someone call his name. "Beau!" Said boy turned towards the voice and saw Jeremiah running towards him. "Jere!" He ran towards him. "We gotta go!" They ran towards the car only to see a police officer in the car. "Have you kids been drinking?" He asked Jeremiah and Beau. "No sir." Beau told him.
Soon the police officer drove them home in Jeremiah's jeep. They all piled into the house waiting for Laurel to finish talking to the officer. "Tell Mr. Fisher the chief wants to set up a tee time when he gets back in town." Laurel nodded at him. "Absolutely. Sorry again for all the trouble. Have a good night, Officers." Laurel closed the door before facing the kids. "How could you guys be so irresponsible?" Beau looked down when she looked over at him in disappointment.
"Mom, it wasn't a big deal. All right? Seriously. The cops were just looking to break up the bonfire." Steven tried to diffuse the tension which enraged her more "Not a big deal? I would say getting picked up by the cops for underage drinking is a pretty big deal, Steven." She glared at her son who stepped forward sniffing. "Were-were you guys, you guys smoking tonight?" He asked her, surprised.
Laurels eyes widened "What? Keep your voice down. Susannah's asleep on the couch." She scolded and Steven looked at her incredulously "Well, I wasn't yelling. Well, you-you-you were." he stuttered before Jeremiah spoke up. "Just so you know, Laurel, Beau didn't drink tonight. He was the DD, I swear." Beau kept his eyes down on the floor when Laurel looked at him, relief in her eyes before she looked at Conrad.
"You're the oldest. What the hell's gotten into you? And when did you leave the house without telling anybody? And what in the world are you wearing?" She directed the last two questions at Belly who looked at her awkwardly. "It's Taylor's. And why am I the only one who's not allowed to go out?" Laurel messaged her temples and groaned. "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?"
Belly looked down. "I walked." Laurel looked at her in disbelief "Jesus.You know better than to walk that far down the beach alone late at night." The girl looked at her mother annoyed. "Can you stop treating me like a kid?" Laurel fumed "If you want to be treated like an adult, you need to act like one." Conrad finally spoke up "Then maybe you guys should, too." She looked at him offended as Beau looked at him in shock.
"What does that mean? I hope you realize this night could have ended a lot differently if your family wasn't your family." She sighed as Jeremiah apologized. "Just...just go to bed guys." She said, Belly and Steven left but Beau lingered back, Jeremiah waiting for him. "I'm sorry mama.." Beau's voice broke as he kept his head down. She looked at him sadly before he grabbed Jeremiah's hand and slowly trailed up the stairs quietly, his eyes watering.
Jeremiah looked at him sadly before whispering "It's gonna be okay Beau..." Beau nodded, not trusting his voice. "Want to sleep in my room tonight?" Jeremiah asked the boy who nodded at him. "Alright, get changed and meet me in my room." He told him softly, letting the boy walk into his room. Beau closed his door, going over to Mr.Quakers who was sleeping. He gave him food and water before walking over to his dresser. Grabbing his pajamas he got changed and put his phone on the charger, silently leaving his room and turning off the light.
He walked over to Jeremiah's room and knocked on the door quietly. "Come in." He heard Jeremiah's voice that was muffled because of the door. Beau walked in and went over to the bed where Jeremiah was laying down. He got under the covers and Jeremiah cuddled up to him, resting his head on his chest as he scrolled on tiktok. "Thank you Remy." He whispered as he played with the boy's hair. "Anytime Bee" He smiled, turning his phone off and facing Beau.
"No I really mean it, thank you Remy." Beau smiled at him softly as Jeremiah looked up at him. "And I really mean it to Bee, anytime." Jeremiah placed his head back down on Beau's chest as both boys slowly fell asleep. Smiling in the comfort of each other's warmth, Jeremiah listened to Beau's calming heartbeat and his breath even out as he fell asleep.