i know // jeremiah fisher

X - Forgot

"Good morning!" I say opening her curtains. Belly's birthday always lands on the sunniest day of summer, at least in my eyes. "Happy Birthday Bells." I smile.

She groans and sits up in her bed, her poofy hair making quite the statement. "What year is it?" She asks.

"Breakfast is all ready for you downstairs." I laugh and leave her room wistfully.

***

"Who's ready for presents?" Susannah asks after we all finish eating. Belly's face lights up and we all walk over to the living room.

She opens Moms first. It's a book. "It's a first edition. I got it from a rare book dealer." She explains. 

"Thanks, Mom." Belly is a terrible actress.

"Turn to the bookmarked page," She shakes her head.

Belly turns, "Oh, yeah! I remember Susannah teaching us to recite this!" She giggles. "For whatever we lose," We all join in.

"Like a you or a me. It's always ourselves we find, in the sea."

"Thank you, I love it." She smiles, this time her reaction was sincere. Mom looks so happy.

"Okay, open mine now Belly." Susannah says, handing her a present.

She shakes the small box before tearing the paper. She opens it up facing herself, leaving all of us in question. "Oh, wow." She says in shock. "They're gorgeous, thank you, Susannah."

Susannah walks over and helps her put on the most gorgeous pearl necklace.

"My mom gave me these pearls for my sweet 16." She walks back to her spot, "Radiant, isn't she?" Mom nods in response. 

"They look great on you sweetheart." Mom adds.

"Me next!" Jeremiah pops up.

Belly tears open the paper of this small box too.

"It's a good-luck charm to help you pass your driving test." He explains.

Belly clips the key key-chain onto her bracelet and smiles, "Perfect. Thank you."

"Think fast, Belly!" Steven throws her a gift.

She opens it quick since it's not hidden by a box. It's a Princeton sweater.

"Wow, Steven, I can't believe you actually spent money on me." She jokes.

"Relax, I just didn't want you stealing mine next year when I get in." He likes to hide how sweet of a brother he is. I giving him an approving nudge and a smile.

"Okay, my turn." I smile and hand her the wrapped present.

Belly starts to laugh when she reveals the present and I laugh with her. For a moment it's like an inside joke between the two of us. It feels like a core moment with Belly for some reason. My little sister, having her sixteenth birthday.

"Well, what is it?" Susannah asks.

Belly lets out another small laugh and holds up a piece of cardboard that has "Me being your sister is the best gift I could've given you" written on it in sharpie.

Everyone laughs, but I'm focused on Belly's face, waiting for her final reaction.

Her jaw drops, "What- what's this?" She looks up at me.

I smirk, "A car."

She jumps up and freaks out. "What! What? What!? Seriously?" She squeals.

I nod. "It's at home, waiting for you when we get back."

"No way!" She yells.

"Happy Sweet Sixteen, Belly."

Point me.

"Bro, how did you even afford that?" Steven asks me.

"Bro, I saved up. Remember the job you all made fun of me for getting?" I mock.

"It was at a pretzel shack!" Jeremiah adds with a laugh. "How are we not supposed to make fun of that?"

"Conrad, do you wanna give Belly your present?" Susannah asks, changing the subject from my pretzel job last summer.

He doesn't respond for a second, like he's in a trance. "Sorry, I forgot." He answers.

Belly is speechless for a moment before putting on a smile, "Uh, that's- that's cool. Um.. I wasn't really expecting anything anyway, so.." Bullshit. She knows, we know, she was expecting something. Who wouldn't be. What is his problem?

The whole room is silent for a second but then Conrad gets up, "So I got to go. Um, I promised Cleveland that I'd show him some knots today, so.." Conrad starts out the front door.

Asshole

Asshole

Asshole

Asshole

"Happy Birthday Belly." He says before leaving the room.

ASSHOLE.

Jeremiah starts distracting Belly, "Hey Bells, lets go for a drive." 

"Take his! The new one definitely doesn't have insurance yet!" Mom yells. 

I take the chance to slip away and follow Conrad out.

***

"Hey, man. What is your deal?" I grab his shoulder and turn him around.

"What?! All I did was forget a present. It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal, because you aren't the kind of person who just forgets something like that, Conrad. What is going on?" I calm down a little bit, feeling bad about my previously harsh tone.

"Nothing's going on,"

I sigh, "Something is going on with you, Cod," I say his special nickname. "You can still talk to me, you know? Whatever's going on, I'm here." I grab his hand.

His face gets closer to mine, I look down at his lips, he licks them.

"Stop acting like you're able to fix me." He says harshly. 

"Con if it has anything to do about the car, Belly would love any gift you got her. She adores you." I whisper the last part.

"It's not about the fucking car. Leave me alone." He pulls away and storms off.

My mind runs circles around what he said before, "Stop acting like you're able to fix me..."