𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 // 𝙟𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙖𝙝 𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧

[ 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙭 ]

"why the fuck wouldn't you tell me something like this?" jeremiah shouted angrily.

stella backed into conrad's arms, hiding from the boy that she had romanticized all summer. conrad nostrils flared, trying not to cry in front of them. he felt responsible for this. "i told her not to tell you."

"you knew this whole time and you didn't tell me? this summer felt different and i was stupid enough to believe it was because you 'liked' me!" jeremiah grabbed fistfuls of his hair in his hands, pacing in front of the two.

"we didn't want to ruin your summer," stella said in barely above a whisper. conrad was still holding her, making her feel slightly more comforted.

she hated arguing.

"you guys are doing such a great job!" jeremiah glared at them. "best summer ever."

"don't blame her." conrad's nose scrunched up.

"i'm not blaming her. i'm mad at 'both' of you," he snapped, stopping his pacing in front of them.

stella looked up and blinked away any incoming tears. "i get it. we should have told you, but we can't go back-"

jeremiah scoffed. "that's the problem! we can't go back. i can't go back and undo the part where i actually thought i could trust you guys."

"j..." the corners of stella's mouth turned down hurtfully.

"don't call me that."

stella woke up slightly sweaty. it was a dream. ever since her and jeremiah had been getting closer, she had been thinking about what conrad had told her about susannah. besides susannah, only her and conrad knew.

she couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if jeremiah found out. what would happen if jeremiah found out that stella had known for most of the summer but didn't tell him.

stella got up and took a quick shower to wash off all of her morning worries. she had brought clothes into the bathroom to change into after her shower, making sure to clean out the drain before she left. she knew that andy wouldn't hold back on calling her out on it.

she felt like she was forgetting something though.

she walked out of the bathroom in a t-shirt and shorts. immediately, she ran into someone.

"oh! uh, good morning," he said, a smirk growing on his face.

she felt a pang of guilt in her chest, but pushed it down to avoid suspicion. "hey," stella dragged out the word.

"how'd you sleep?"

she thought back to her dream she had last night. she pressed her lips together and flat out lied to his face. "it was great. no dreams..."

it's not the first lie of the summer, she thought.

"'scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me," andy scurried past the two into the bathroom.

once the door closed, stella rolled her eyes and faced the brown haired boy once again. jeremiah spoke first. "hey, you excited about the volleyball tournament today?"

shit. i forgot about that, stella thought.

"oh, so excited!" she smiled awkwardly, crossing her arms.

"stella!" andy groaned in disgust, throwing the bathroom door open. stella raised an eyebrow. andy cringed and threw an old 'one direction' shirt at her. "stop leaving your shit in the bathroom!"

stella caught the shirt, realizing that she had forgotten it after she had changed out of her old clothes. "andy!"

both jeremiah and stella had recalled a night from earlier that summer where they binged one direction and 5 seconds of summer interviews and music videos.

it was jeremiah's turn to laugh awkwardly. "i, uh, i didn't want to rush you or anything, but i would like to eventually talk about what happened the other night."

"oh- oh, yeah, for sure," stella replied, trying to quickly come up with an excuse. she didn't know if she was ready to talk about what happened. she had barely even processed it yet.

jeremiah nodded. "gotcha. yeah. maybe after everything's..."

"yeah," stella chuckled softly. "sounds- sounds good."

"okay, great," jeremiah smiled, making her grip on the one direction shirt even tighter.

stella started backing away towards the stairs that led to her room. "i'm- i'm gonna go get dressed. i think your mom wants to paint my portrait today."

"yeah, alright. see you," he waved her away to her room. even after she was already gone up the stairs, he lingered for a little bit, smiling at the place where she had previously been.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

later that day, susannah had decided that it was stella's turn to sit down and model for her portrait. she was one of the last ones to get painted.

"is it almost over?" stella asked for the hundreth time. she had been sitting in the same spot for so long. it was driving her crazy. plus, she was in her debutante ball dress.

"do you have somewhere better to be?" susannah raised her eyebrows at the girl.

stella sighed in defeat. she caught conrad walking past the scene obliviously. "oh! connie, where you going?" she asked him hopefully.

"i gotta leave soon to help cleveland with his boat stuff," he shrugged. he eventually realized that his best friend was desperately trying to make an escape. with a mixture of a bored and amused expression, he asked, "did you wanna join?"

stella pretended to think. "well, ugh. i don't know if i'll have time. susannah?"

the woman rolled her eyes at the girl, finishing up the final touches on the painting. "okay, fine. it's done. you can go."

she made sure to wink at the girl before she left. she still thought that conrad and stella were the perfect match.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note

i felt like i should just post this chapter already. it had been sitting in my drafts for a long time and i never finished it so i'm just gonna give you guys this short chapter.

please vote, comment, etc. THANK YOU

if you guys have any ideas that i desperately need, please comment them down below :))

[ unedited ]