Another Summer | C.F

Chapter seventeen

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ADDISON ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Downstairs, I could see through the glass door how Jere, Conrad, and Steven were cleaning the mess. As I was about to go outside, I heard Conrad's voice saying, "You two can go, I can finish cleaning this." Jere and Steven both left for the beach, but I walked towards them.

"Steven, did Shayla talk to you?" I asked.

"Yeah, but he still looks sad," Steven replied.

"And?" I inquired.

"She told me that we weren't exclusive and all that stuff," Steven said.

"And you disagree with her, right?" I asked.

"No, I mean, I agreed with her. That's what she wanted, right?" Steven responded.

"Oh man, you totally messed up," Jere added.

"What? Why?" Steven asked.

"Whenever a girl tells you to chill and that you weren't exclusive, in reality, she wants you to tell her that the two of you are exclusive," Jere explained.

"How am I supposed to know that?" Steven asked.

"Steven, I knew you were slow, but this is another level. You have two sisters; you should know by now how we think," Jere said.

"I should go and talk to her," Steven said.

"Why are you still here?" I asked.

Without saying any other word, Steven left.

"Where were you two going?" I asked Jere once we were alone.

"To the beach, I wanted to use my fireworks," Jere replied.

"Where is Adam? I thought you wanted to show them to him," I asked.

"He left a few minutes ago; he had to work," Jere responded.

"I'm sorry, Jere," I said.

"It's okay," Jere replied.

Even when he said he was okay, I could hear the sadness in his voice. The only thing I could do right now to make him feel better was to hug him. Once we let go of our hug, I said, "You should go and check on Belly."

"Yeah, sure," Jere said, and he left to walk towards the house while I walked to the pool where I saw Conrad. Conrad was still cleaning the pool when I got there.

"Do you need any help?" I asked.

"No, I'm fine," Conrad replied.

"Let me help you," I insisted.

He turned and looked at me, smiling. "Can you ever accept 'no' as an answer?"

"Nope," I replied.

"Okay, come here and help me throw away the things on that table," Conrad said. I followed his order, and the two of us cleaned the pool. Almost twenty minutes later, everything was clean and organized. He sat on the edge of the pool, and I followed him.

"How's Belly doing?"

"She's drunk. She was asleep when I left the room, so I asked Jere to go and check on her."

"Why don't you drink?" His question caught me off guard.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we were all drinking today, but you weren't. Why?"

"It brings back bad memories."

"Why is that?"

"Last year, I started drinking to forget things and to ease my sadness. I drank until I passed out, and I don't want to remember that time of my life."