love me like you • jeremiah fisher

chapter fifteen

He was with Belly. They were swimming a little too close for my liking and I couldn't help but feel upset.

The more I watched the closer they got. I squeezed my fists, turning back around to go upstairs.

When I turned, I crashed into Conrad and fell back. "Woah, are you okay?" He asked, putting a hand out to help me. "Thanks." I replied, grabbing it to steady myself.

"Where were you going?" Conrad asked, looking me up and down. I raised my eyebrows, before squinting trying to think of an answer.

"Actually, um, by any chance do you want to go for a night swim?" I asked him spontaneously.

"I mean sure why not, in the pool?" He questioned. "Ocean." I corrected.

~

Once he was done changing, I avoided going through the back. We went through the front door and decided to take the car instead of walking.

The two of us got in, buckling our seatbelts. "So what made you want to go for a swim?" Conrad asked me, as he began driving.

"I don't know, I've a lot on my mind too lately." I admitted.

"Yeah, like what?" He turned to me. In this exact moment I realized that the only people who knew about Jeremiah and I were Reign, Steven, and Shayla.

For some reason, I didn't feel the need to tell Conrad. "I guess with the deb ball and my mom not here, everything just seems ten times harder." I said as he pulled up to park the car.

"How is your mom?" Conrad asked, as we got out of the car and grabbed our stuff. Since, it was almost nine it was pitch black out.

The only light coming from a nearby bonfire. "She's good, I talked to her the other day. She misses us, all of us." I added, shoving his shoulder playfully.

"Well let her know I miss her too." He chuckled. "Will do." I saluted as we continued to walk in the sand.

"Last one there is a rotten egg." Conrad muttered under his breath, before dropping his stuff and running towards the water. "Cheater!" I yelled out as I dropped my things too, and took after him.

~

We played in the water for what felt like forever.

Splashing each other back and forth, our eyes burning from the saltwater. "Conrad put me down!" I screamed as he picked me up and threw me into the water again.

"I hate you so much." I laughed as I came back up from the water. "No you don't." He shook his head, splashing me again.

Matching his grin, I turned to look up at the sky. We were a little more than waist deep in the ocean.

"The sky's beautiful, isn't it?" He asked, following my gaze. "It's unreal." I replied. "I remember my first year here in Cousins, I wanted to count all of them." I told the boy.

"The stars?" Conrad questioned.

"Yeah, it was our first night in the house. Remember how your mom insisted we come out to look at the sky?" I turned to him.

"Oh yeah, you're right. It was the first night of summer, you were so shy back than. Jere was the first one you actually talked to." He chuckled. It was almost like being hit with a brick once Conrad mentioned his name.

"He spent so long trying to get me to talk to him." I said, smiling at the memory. Jeremiah was my first friend here in Cousins, I was too nervous to talk to everyone since they already knew each other.

He helped me come out of my shell.

"For what it's worth, we're all glad you're here. I'm glad you're here." He said moving closer to me. "I'm glad, I'm here too." I whispered.

I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Remember what I told you earlier, you can always talk to me." I told him, pulling away from the hug.

"Same here Bri, same here." We stayed in the water a little longer, admiring the world around us.

It wasn't long before we decided to head back so we can have time to shower and get ready for bed. I forgot how fun it was hanging out with Conrad, he was like another older brother to me.

We had only brought towels so when we got out of the car, the cold breeze made me shiver. I wrapped the towel around me tighter as we walked into the house about to creep our way upstairs.

"Where were you guys?" I heard the familiar voice, it felt wrong for it to have such a stern tone

The two of us turned to be met with Belly and Jeremiah.

"We went out for a night swim." Conrad said, stepping in front of me. "Funny, so did we." Jeremiah replied with a raised eyebrow. "Really? We didn't notice." Conrad shrugged.

The tension in the room was bone chilling.

"Where did you go? You weren't in the pool." Belly asked. "The beach." I answered back simply. "Just you two?" She questioned again.

The both of us nodded. "Did you two go on a night swim alone too?" Conrad told the pair, the two nodding as well. A silence fell upon us, lasting for a few seconds. "I'm going to go shower." Belly said, moving past us to walk upstairs.

"I'm going to check on mom." Conrad said, following the girl.

Now, Jeremiah and I were left alone.

"You said you were going to go swimming with me." He stated suddenly, once the two were out of earshot. "Yeah, I was. Then I saw you and Belly getting cozy so I decided to go out with Conrad." I huffed.

"Getting cozy? What are you talking about?" He said a little bit louder.

I sighed, moving past him to go into the kitchen. "Don't walk away from me." He added, following me. "I was about to go out to the pool to swim with you, but instead I was met with the lovely sight of you and Belly basically three inches apart." I argued.

"We weren't doing anything, do you seriously not trust me?" Jeremiah shot back. "Of course I trust you Jere, I'm just saying that as your girlfriend, that's not a sight I wanted to see." I put both my hands on the countertop facing him.

"We were just talking, I promise. She was telling me about something involving her and Conrad." He retorted.

"Conrad?" I asked, he nodded. "Why am I the only one being questioned? I couldn't find you for two hours and then you magically walk through the door with my brother."

"Jere please, I was upset and I still wanted to swim so I just asked him. We didn't-"

"I know you didn't do anything. I just wish that you would have asked me." He finished. "I wished you would have waited for me too." I huffed, crossing my arms.

We just looked at each other for the next few seconds, until he walked over to me, pulling me into him. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm sorry too, I overreacted." I told him embarrassed.

"No you didn't. You're the only one for me, don't forget that." He reassured me.

I leaned in, letting his lips meet mine. He pulled me closer, tightening his hands around my waist. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me." He smiled against my lips.

"I feel the exact same way Jeremiah Fisher." I giggled.

"Now let's go take a shower, I feel gross." I chuckled, pulling away from the boy. "Together?" He asked hopefully.

"Jere.." I pushed him away playfully, turning to walk away. "I didn't hear a no!" He said running after me.

word count: 1313
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