𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 // 𝙟𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙖𝙝 𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧

[ 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙮 𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚 ]

it was dark outside by now. stella had told jeremiah that she'd meet him down by the pool in five minutes. she changed into her simple, black bikini and checked the time. it was almost one in the morning, but she didn't mind. it wasn't like she was going to bed anyways.

she left her phone in her room, not thinking that she was going to need it. she made her way down her stairs and across the house slowly and quietly, trying not to wake anybody.

unfortunately for stella, she wasn't that successful. she turned the corner to go through the kitchen but she ran into susannah who was on her way to bed.

"oh, hey, sweetie," she said with a cup of tea in her hands. she looked stella up and down suspiciously. "what're you up to?"

"just a... swim," stella replied hesitantly.

it's not like it was a secret or anything, but now that she knew her feelings for jeremiah, it felt like she was sneaking around with him. even though, it was just a late night swim.

susannah nodded tiredly. "okay, don't stay up too late. tomorrow, i'm gonna ask conrad to take you to the ball."

stella chuckled softly, not wanting to hint anything to her. that was thoughtful of susannah to ask conrad to take her to the ball, but what if that's not what she wanted.

she watched to make sure that susannah went all the way up the stairs before she continued her short journey to the pool. when she was finally there, she found jeremiah standing in the shallow end, shaking the water out of his hair, telling stella that he had already been in the water for a little bit.

stella set her towel down on one of the beach chairs and walked around the pool. jeremiah noticed her and raised an eyebrow at her. "aren't you gonna get in?"

she stopped at the hot tub. "uhh, not in that water. that's way too cold."

"it's not even cold," he teased her, making her roll her eyes playfully.

"you getting in or what?" the sides of her mouth turned up confidently as she lowered herself into the water. the hot tub was warm, but not too hot.

jeremiah shrugged and joined her in the hot tub. it was like they both knew that either way, he was going to end up in the hot tub because she said so.

"come on," she rushed him, waving him over.

he smiled mischeviously before walking even slower towards the hot tub. stella groaned and sunk further into the hot tub, pretending to be annoyed. she couldn't be annoyed though. it was jeremiah she was talking about.

"stop being stupid, come on," she laughed, attempting to grab his hand and pull him in.

he dodged her hands and sat in the opposite end of the small hot tub as her. "i'm being stupid, huh?" he let a smirk grow on his face.

stella tilted her head back and sighed. "you're never gonna let that go!"

jeremiah couldn't help but admire her while she wasn't looking. he loved how she could look so good in something so simple. he paused suddenly, realizing what stella had just said.

wait, he thought. i thought she didn't remember that night.

the only way she would know that was an inside joke was if she remembered that night that she told him the story.

*flashbacks*

"he just said stuff about how not to date stupid boys, you know? and he was all like, blah blah blah, stupid boys like... jere." stella mocked her best friend's voice.