𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 // 𝙟𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙖𝙝 𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧

[ 𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚 ]

stella, jeremiah, and andy were sharing the bathroom mirror while steven was singing his heart out in the shower. "oh, girl, it's you that i lie with!"

stella closed the cap to her mascara. she didn't wear much make-up. just a little bit of mascara and occasionally some eyeliner was enough for her. she reapplied some of her pink grapefruit chapstick and took one last look in the mirror at her appearance.

they were getting ready for the bonfire and stella had decided to wear a pair of ripped black jeans shorts and a white tank top with white converse and all of her fun jewelry. while they were changing earlier, jeremiah had insisted that she would get chilly at some point throughout the evening and should wear something over, so she was also wearing one of his button up's over her outfit. it was a little oversized on her but it suited the outfit well.

"god, you're blocking my view," andy complained, shoving his sister to the side. 

stella sighed and put a hand on jeremiah's arm on the way out of the bathroom. he whipped his head around with wide eyes and his toothbrush still in his mouth. "i'm gonna go try and talk to connie."

jeremiah nodded and returned back to getting himself ready. the last thing stella heard before going back downstairs was jeremiah and steven singing a duet together.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

stella found conrad sitting by himself with his feet in the pool. she sighed and made her way over to him. "alright, nobody else is around. what's up?" she sat down next to him without putting her feet in the water.

conrad stayed silent for a moment. "wh- what do you mean, what's up?"

stella groaned. "you know what i mean. you're acting different, connie."

"nothing's wrong, stel." conrad blew a puff of smoke out of his mouth.

stella watched him carefully. "give me one."

he hesitated before giving one to her. "don't hurt yourself with these because of me."

"i'll smoke a hundred of these if you don't tell me what's up." stella struggled to switch on the lighter before actually getting it.

conrad sighed and avoided eye contact. a frown was forcing its way onto his face. he looked away from her. "i said nothing's wrong, stella," he said firmly.

stella inhaled deeply. she wasn't expecting him to use her full first name. he usually only called her "stel". she knew something was wrong and it hurt that he wasn't telling her for once. they always told each other everything. "what's your problem, connie?" she tried not to show the hurt feeling in her gut.

"what's my problem? you're the one that's considering being a debutante-" conrad started. he was interrupted by isabel walking outside with a towel.

stella couldn't stand to watch the two flirt and be a third wheel so she went back inside. she wasn't going to cry because that's just not who she was, but there was a terrible gut feeling sitting in her stomach. it made her want to throw up all her built-up anger and sympathy that she had for conrad.

she wanted her best friend back.

stella stormed back into the house, running into three people: jeremiah, steven, and andy. "woah, what's up with you?" andy asked, brushing off his shirt.

"connie is being a dick." stella crossed her arms and looked out the window to where conrad was sitting and talking to isabel.

jeremiah frowned and put an arm around her. "he's being weird lately. just ignore him and have fun with us."