she, conrad fisher

11

chapter 11
[play: compass by the neighbourhood]
i might get lost without you
-

maisie

conrad and i had barely talked since that night 2 weeks ago. we interacted in group settings, performing the bare minimum so no one would suspect anything. anyways, he was only here for the summer. along with that, he would be back every summer and it wasn't worth ruining the group dynamic for. we would get over this with time.

i never really understood why conrad had snapped at me the way he did. i had been replaying that moment every night before bed. i just could not get it out of my head. what had i done wrong? what boundary had i crossed? it didn't really matter because there was no way on earth that i was going to ask him about it. i took his hatred as my sign to leave it be.

those thoughts had kept me tossing and turning all night leaving me groggy and tired this morning. i was sat alone at the granite island, shoving spoonfuls of cereal in my mouth because i was too lazy to make anything more filling. i was on my phone, catching up on texts from the group-chat, not seeing many from conrad.

just then belly had texted me asking if i wanted to come over and watch some movies since it looked like it was ready to storm all day. so much for a laying on the beach type day. i texted her back that i'd be over in 15 minutes. i would really only be changing from my sleep hoodie to my outside hoodie.

before i knew it i was on my way to the house next door, not really thinking about an umbrella because it was such a close walk and i didn't mind being rained on. i rang the bell to be met with belly within a few seconds. she was dressed the same but had a bigger grin on my her face as she pulled me inside.

belly had decorated the living room in blankets and fairy lights. she had all the lights turned off and with the grey clouds it felt pretty dark. on the brown coffee table was bags of chips and some sweets. it was the cutest little set up. i plopped down on the side of the couch that faced towards the kitchen while belly sat on the opposite end that faced the front door.

belly grabbed the remote, switching on '10 things i hate about you.' it was an absolute classic and her first time watching. i just knew she was going to love it.

-

a few hours had gone by and we were starting our third movie. the set up belly had initially was all messy now from food being eaten and the both of us shifting around the couch. the rain had also picked up a little as well which made it all the more cozy. we hadn't seen the boys much. i think belly had said something about them all leaving to go check out some arcade type store in town.

i got up to go pee real quick before the next movie started, making my way upstairs since belly took the half bath downstairs. after finishing up, i made my way down the hall, hearing what seemed to be a pretty vocal conversation between laurel and susannah. it was so wrong of me to slow down and listen but i couldn't help it with the way conrad had been that one night. something else was definitely going on.

"susannah, how could you not tell me?" there was a hint of betrayal in laurel's voice.

my stomach turned at what i was doing right now.

"laurel. i've been managing. its okay." susannah sounded defeated and tired.

"i can start making flights up to help. don't keep something like this from me." laurel's voice cracked.