the summer you noticed me ↠ conrad fisher {1}

t h i r t y - s e v e n

      "Thank you, Mrs. Fisher. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!" I squeal, jumping up to hug her.  

     She laughs, wrapping her arms around me. "Anything for you sweetheart. Belly told me some about what's been going on, no one deserves to be in a house like that. Especially you," she smiles warmly, rubbing my cheek with her thumb. She studies my face for a second before pausing. "Could I paint you?" She asks.

      "What?" I ask. "Paint me?"

      "Yeah, I'm painting everyone's portraits this summer and I'd love to paint you. It'll also give us time to go over household rules, since you're now staying over not only as Belly's best friend but Conrad's girlfriend." She grins teasingly at me.

     I feel my cheeks warming up at her comment, "Mrs. Fisher I'd never—"

      She laughs, grabbing my hand that I just started flailing as I was talking nervously. "Call me Susannah." She laughs. "I was also kidding about the rules," she pauses. "Kind of, just one, or possibly two." She smiles. "Maybe, we'll see. But yes can I paint you? I'm doing an unveiling at the end of summer."

      "Sure, I'd like that." And the truth is, I would. The thought that this may be my last summer with her takes over my body and I suddenly feel so sad. "Could we do it another time, maybe a day I got better sleep?" I ask with a nervous laugh. "Don't want eye-bags in my portrait."

      She laughs but shakes her head. "You're beautiful, Claire. With or without sleep, but yea we can, whenever you want," she agrees.

      I smile and give her one last hug. Lingering a second, and appreciating this wonderful human being that I was blessed to meet and has saved me once again from misery.

      Long story short, Susannah convinced my parents to let me stay here until they leave. She said something along the lines of Belly in a fight with a friend from back home and needs the support of friends around her to get through it.

     It was the dumbest excuse but the way Susannah delivered it made it seem like the most important thing in the world.

     I knock on Conrad's door, and hear him mumble it's open. I take one look at him laying down and climb right into bed sliding under his chin. My arms loop around him and I just lay there taking in his sent.

      His arms wrap around me after he pauses whatever video he was just watching on his phone. He cups on hand around my head and another around my back, leaning his palm on my stomach.

     "Baby," he mumbles rocking us from side to side gently. "What's wrong?" He asks.

      "I'm okay, just drained." I sigh. I pull him closer, if that's physically possible. "I just need you to hold me right now, please?"

      "Of course," he murmurs. His hand cups the back of my head, and his grip tightens around my waist.

     "They we're fighting already," I say into the crook of his neck. "It's suffocating and it's all my fault this time."

     He doesn't move me away he just hums quietly. "Belly told me, but it isn't your fault. You and I both know that they would have been fighting with or without you going out." He says quietly.

      "Conrad," I whine dragging out the D in his name. "I feel so frustrated right now. I'm just like a ball of anxious nerves. I want to scream, or run until I can't breathe." I groan, pressing my face closer into his neck.

     "Want to go to the gym?" He asks. "You used to go all the time when you'd feel like this? Maybe you need to let off steam? There's a planet fitness about 20 minutes away from here, just no tanning beds." I can hear his smile through his voice.

     I love you. The words are right on the tip of my tongue. I do, love him, so much. He gets me, listens to me in way no one else seems too.

      "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me," I sigh, feeling my face flush. I place a kiss right under his ear, and smile before I lift my face up to kiss him on his lips. It still is a fever dream that I can do this whenever I want. "I'm gunna go get my workout clothes on, and then we can go?" I ask sounding like a child getting told they get to go to the park.

      "Yeah, but Claire I want to tell you something," he says stopping me just as I'm about to bolt to the door. The look on his face has my heart sinking into my feet, he grabs my hand and rubs slightly. He brings my hand down by the wrist, and leaves it at his lips. He presses a small kiss on my knuckles. Then drops my hands to his chest. Right by his heart, I know this because I can feel it breathing under my hands. It's so fast it makes me nervous.

     "Conrad," I whisper back, the nerves I'm feeling finding their way through just his name. "You're making me nervous—" but before I can finish my sentence he spits out..

     "Do you know how much I love you?" He says finally looking up at me.