Strangers ~ Conrad Fisher

eleven

Jere and I had to run some errands for belly's dinner.

"Hey can you go up to Conrad's room and grab the keys out of his drawer." He asked.

"Yeah sure" I said. I walked up to Conrad's room. It was still the same. His sailing trophies, his books, and his guitar.

I opened his desk and looked through his things to find the keys. He had some cigarettes and condoms. Gross. I also found a paper. I unfolded it and started to read the hand written message.

dear vic,

i know you're probably really mad at me right now, but i wanted to say that i'm sorry. i didn't mean what i said, you know that. i'm upset that you aren't coming. i was really looking forward to seeing you. get better soon, please. it's not the same without you around here.

conrad.

My heart pounded as i read the note.

The beginning of last summer, i wasn't able to come stay since I was in the hospital. Conrad didn't know why and he had texted me. He was mad and i had no idea why. Our conversation turned into an argument and i hadn't talk to him since.

I placed it back in his desk and grabbed the keys. I headed downstairs and handed them to jere.

"You don't want to drive?" He asked me.

"No I'm okay. You're a better driver anyway." I smiled.
———————————————————————————
We were eating belly's special birthday dinner, when jere started to talk.

"So I heard Nicole and the rest of the debs we're having a party. You guys gonna come with me and Steven?"

Belly and I looked at each other. "Sure." I said.

"Woah since when did you go to parties?" Steven asked.

"Shut up." I spat.
———————————————————————————
We walked into the party and it was like everyone in cousins was there.

"Belly, Victoria, you're here!" Nicole said walking towards us. She hugged us both, which she had never done before. "Here belly I have a surprise for you!" She pulled belly aside and took her over to a table with a giant cake with candles.

Maybe Nicole had changed?

I walked over to the drink table and got one. I looked around to see everyone laughing, spotting someone in a varsity hockey jacket.

"hey Adam," I said approaching him. He turned to look at me, a smile formed on his face.

"Hey Vic, how are you? I had no idea you were coming!" He said giving me a hug.

"Good," I said while hugging him back.

He said goodbye to his friends and took my hand. We walked towards the other side of the room. We talked for what seemed like forever.

I looked over through the kitchen and saw Conrad. He looked different.

"Hey you okay?" Adam asked. "You zoned out for a second."

"Yeah sorry, Todays been a long day." I apologized.
———————————————————————————
Conrad's pov-
I'm not sure why belly and V wanted to go to Nicole's party, they hated her.

I walked around to find my friends, they were all standing around drinking in the kitchen.

I kept glancing around the room to try and find Vic, but I couldn't find her.

"Yo, who's that hot chick talking to Adam over there?" My friend Alex asked.

I looked at the girl that was standing with adam, it was Vic.

She was wearing a short, emerald colored, silk dress. I almost didn't recognize her. She looked so different from the last time she was at cousins.

She had dyed her hair darker, she wore more makeup. She was also a lot smaller.

She normally had a bright look to her, but this summer it was like that brightness she had dimmed. She acted a lot different too, steven told me that she had become friends with bad influences. After hanging out with them, she changed.

Last summer my mom had told us that she wouldn't be coming because she got sick.

I was upset, I really wanted to see her. I didn't understand why she wouldn't come just because she was sick. One night I texted her.

Vic

Why aren't you coming? We have tons of stuff we need to get done this summer.

I'm sorry, I'm super sick rn. Idk when I'll be able to come.

You know how dramatic you're making it seem? Everyone gets sick V.

Fuck you Conrad. Ask your mom why I'm not coming. Don't text me anymore.

I asked my mom the next day why she really wasn't coming. She said it was because she had developed an eating disorder, a really bad one.

V had been in the hospital for a few months. She needed a feeding tube because she couldn't eat. She also had to go to physical therapy because she hadn't walked in a month and a half.

I felt so horrible. I was embarrassed, i wanted to apologize. I wanted to visit, but i knew she wouldn't want to see me after what i had said to her. So i bit my tongue.

I didn't know anything about her anymore. She never called me anymore, or texted me pictures of things she did.

Usually she'd rant to me about her books or taylor swift. I secretly enjoyed it because my friends hated those things, but after that day, we didn't speak.

She was once my best friend, a girl a thought was pretty and funny, but now we had become strangers.