𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 // 𝙟𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙖𝙝 𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧

[ 𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 ]

jeremiah had finally found andy and steven. he was walking back to the car with them when he saw stella, conrad, and isabel sitting on a curb outside of the car. two officers were interrogating them and keeping close watch.

"woah, uhh, what's going on here?" jeremiah asked once he reached stella.

an officer interrupted him. "you know, underage drinking is illegal."

"i'm sure there's a mistake," jeremiah lied.

we're gonna be in deep shit when we get home, he thought.

"there's no mistake, kid," the other officer added.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"officers, thank you," laurel finished the conversation with the officers. "it won't happen again, i can promise you that much."

stella sighed, looking up at conrad who had a comforting arm around her. the officer mentioned something about mr. fisher which made conrad visibly tense up a little bit. laurel apologized for the trouble again then closed the door.

stella braced herself for what was about to happen. laurel lazily threw her hands up in the air disappointedly. "how could you guys be so irresponsible?"

jeremiah kept his head down and his hands in his pockets, trying to hide the bruises and cuts on his face and hands. steven stepped forward. "mom, it wasn't a big deal. alright? seriously."

"the cops were just looking to break up the bonfire," andy added.

"not a big deal?" laurel scoffed.

steven shrugged. "yes."

"i would say getting picked up by the cops for underage drinking is a pretty big deal, steven," she said sternly. stella felt her heart drop for a moment.

steven sniffed then scoffed. "were- were you guys- you guys smoking tonight?"

"what?" laurel asked, almost in disbelief.

conrad lowered his head, as if he knew something. it bothered stella that she didn't know what he was thinking.

"keep your voice down. susannah's asleep on the couch," laurel ordered.

"well, i wasn't yelling. well, you- you- you were!" he defended himself.

jeremiah stepped forward. "just so you know, laurel, i- i didn't drink tonight," he mentioned. stella glanced up at him, making eye contact. only they knew that he had half of a can of beer, but that didn't matter too much. "i was the dd, i swear."

"i- i didn't drink either," stella lied.

"you're the oldest. what the hell's gotten into you?" laurel pointed to conrad then belly. "and when did you leave the house without telling anybody? and what in the world are you wearing?"

"it's taylor's. and why am i the only one who's not allowed to go out?" isabel argued.

laurel sighed. "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?"

"i walked," isabel replied guiltily.

"jesus," laurel said disappointedly. "you know better than to walk that far down the beach alone late at night."

isabel groaned. "can you stop treating me like a kid?"

"if you want to be treated like an adult, you need to act like one," laurel continued.

stella lowered her head. "then maybe you guys should, too," conrad joined in the conversation. Stella picked up her head and looked at him then jeremiah, who just shrugged and pressed his lips into a line clueslessly.