𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 // 𝙟𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙖𝙝 𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧

[ 𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 ]

the rest of last night had been quiet. the rest of the car ride home was quiet. when they got home, it was quiet. conrad and stella didn't speak until they reached the top of the stairs.

he sort of regretted telling her his secret but at the same time, it felt like such a weight off his shoulders. "goodnight, stel," he mumbled at the top of the stairs.

he was planning on spending the night at nicole's but stella needed a ride home and he wanted to offer. it was going to be a painful ride back to nicole's house for him. he was so tired.

"yeah, goodnight," she replied tiredly. it was surprising that she even made it to the top of the stairs without falling asleep in the middle.

she had conrad though. he wouldn't let her fall asleep in the middle of the stairs even though he felt like he could do the same.

it was the next morning and stella found herself waking up earlier than usual. she was "thriving" off three hours of sleep since she couldn't sleep much last night. the events from the party were still lingering in her mind.

stop thinking about it, she told herself. stop it. stop it.

*flashbacks*

she squirmed under his touch. she wanted to get out. she tried to push him but he was much stronger than she was. her voice wavered. "daniel, stop."

*flashback ends*

she crept down the stairs to find only jeremiah sitting at the kitchen island. stella placed herself down onto the stool next to him.

"good morning," he greeted cautiously. he had a worrisome look on his face that only made her think about last night even more. "you want one?"

the boy had offered her another one of his concoctions that he had whipped up that morning. she gave in and took a sip out of his cup. he just shrugged and let her.

"is it good?" he asked. he didn't know if he should talk to her about what happened or not.

she nodded and wiped her mouth. "it's good."

when stuff like this happens, am i supposed to ignore it and not say anything or am i supposed to comfort her and be there for her? he asked himself. he liked the second option better.

"so... about last night," he started.

stella stopped him immediately, shuddering at the thought of last night. "i don't... really wanna talk about it."

"oh okay, yeah- that's cool," he replied.

okay, so maybe option two was not the way to go, jere, he thought.

"have you heard about the drama with taylor and belly?" he changed the topic.

stella's eyes widened as she set down his glass. she had been taking consistent sips at this point, but she insisted that she didn't want her own. "isabel and taylor have beef?"

"yeah, she made out with steven," he said bluntly, making stella almost spit out the drink.

"she what?"

jeremiah smiled crookedly at her. "you heard me."

he gave her time to take in the information. he was proud of himself for switching the topic so well though. he had learned that the events from last night were probably going to be a sensitive topic so he knew to stay away from that now.

stella raised an eyebrow at him. "so she...?"

"yep."

"and then they-"