𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 // 𝙟𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙖𝙝 𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧

[ 𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙬𝙤 ]

since daniel had driven stella to the party, she had no ride home. luckily for stella, conrad had offered to drive her home.

unluckily for jeremiah, he wanted to drive her home, but of course, conrad was still her number one.

there was music playing faintly in the car and stella was practically falling asleep in the passenger seat. conrad was driving quietly, wanting her to get her rest.

she couldn't sleep. and unfortunately for conrad, her head was still a little messed up from how much she had to drink. "conrad, can i ask you something?" she said tiredly, almost sleep-talking.

conrad glanced over at her and sighed. "yeah, sure. what?"

"why are you upset?" she mumbled with her hair hanging over her face. she was leaning against the car door, curled into a ball.

"i'm not upset."

"yes, you are. you're different this summer," she said drowsily. "why are you... upset and jeremiah isn't?"

conrad's nostrils flared, trying not to let his secret slip. even though she probably wouldn't remember in the morning anyways. "why are you being so nosy?"

"since when did we not tell each other stuff?" stella blew a strand of hair out of her face.

it was true.

conrad and stella never hid things from each other. they knew everything about each other. she knew what he was thinking before he even knew and it went the same both ways.

if an inside joke was sparked between them, they would stifle their laughs and stare at each from across the room.

people always thought they were together or something. dating.

they weren't. they never have. but that's how close they are. even though they were going through this rough patch in their friendship, the bond was still there and they could feel it.

nothing could change that. even though conrad was keeping secrets and stella was figuring out her feelings for his brother, they would still pick each other first.

i mean, they have to. if they're both not married by the time they're, like, 32, they have to marry each other.

*flashbacks*

𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨

stella kicked a small rock and watched it roll away. "my parents are getting a divorce. whatever that means."

they were walking through the side yard of the summer house. one thing that they used to do a lot was walk around the entire house and talk about stuff. it was good exercise, i guess.

conrad knew what a divorce was. he also knew that his parents needed one. he almost envied that her parents were getting a divorce. "lucky."

"why am i lucky?" she pouted her lip.

"you just are. i wish my parents were getting a divorce."

stella looked up at her best friend. "what's a divorce?"

conrad wanted to put it lightly. "uhh, it's just- some relationships just don't work out, stel. even though, you think it might."

"do you think i'll get married?" she asked him. he didn't really know what to say.

well, he did know what to say. "of course, you'll get married. that's just you, stella. you're gonna fall in love 'cause that's just you."

stella should've been satisfied with his response but she wasn't. "why is that so me?"