Seaglass Promises in the Midnight Sky

Future Plans

Conrad never saw his contact name because Lorraine turned off her phone and didn't give him the password. But he managed to lock her out for three hours trying random numbers. He only stopped because he had to go to work.

A few days after that, Lorraine was sitting in the kitchen waiting for Belly and Jeremiah to get back from driving when Steven walked in. 

She had always had a friendly relationship with Steven. Belly went to sleep at like eight every night, many of the sleepovers Lorraine and Taylor had ended up with the three of them staying up and playing video games in his room.

He would be leaving soon for his college road trip with his dad. Everyone seemed so attached to this place, she was wondering how he felt about cutting his time here short.

"Are you still planning on studying physics?" She asked him as he rummaged through the fridge.

"Yeah, just don't know where yet." He ends up grabbing some grapes.

"Hence the roadtrip."

"Yep." He said, throwing a grape in the air and catching it in his mouth before adding, "What's up with you and Conrad?"

"Nothing, why?" Lorraine asked, grabbing a grape out of his bowl when he came to sit next to her. He shrugged.

"He said no to watching a movie with us and then we got back and he was watching one with you," Steven explained.

"I don't know, I just asked him what he wanted to watch." Lorraine realized too late that Conrad might not have wanted Steven to know that he enjoyed Grease. She did her best to change the subject before he had time to actually think about what she said.

"Are you really going to be gone the whole summer?"

"That was the original plan." He pulled the bowl out of Lorraine's reach, evidently having enough of her trying to steal his food.

"And now?" She prompted.

"I'm just not ready to give this place up." He admitted, looking away from her for a moment before adding, "And something's up with Conrad."

"You're like the second person to tell me that. I've never seen another version of him though, the best I have is what Belly's told me."

"He's not like, totally different. Something's bothering him." Steven attempted to explain.

"I'm sure he'll tell you what it is eventually. Until then, all you can do is show him he's not alone." Lorraine decided she would try to keep an eye on Conrad as well, at least while Steven is gone.

"I guess. When's Taylor coming here?" He asked, changing the subject. Lorraine resisted the urge to turn his earlier question back on him, she knew that the two were testing the waters, had been for about a year. If it wasn't for their mutual fear of Belly's reaction they would probably be together by now.

"The first week of July. She had to practically beg her parents to let her miss another fourth of July." Taylor had asked Lorraine to be there for support. Lorraine promised to look out for Taylor and assured her parents that Belly would never drag them into something dangerous.

"Cool. I'll be back by then."

"Yeah, you're leaving in what, two days?" Lorraine asked. Keeping track of the days during summer was never the easiest.

"Yep, I'm flying out to meet my dad on the west coast, and then we're gonna work our way back."

"What colleges are you going to see?"

Steven rattled off a bunch of colleges while putting his empty bowl in the sink.

"Are you planning on going anywhere with Conrad or Jeremiah?" Lorraine questioned, knowing that the basis of her college plans involved whether or not Taylor could go with her.

"I'm not even sure what Conrad wants to study, Jeremiah hasn't focused on academic stuff for years."

It seemed so bizarre to Lorraine that the Conklins and Fishers existed in such a way. Belly always spoke of their relationship as some kind of fairytale, some luck of fate. She made it sound so unbreakable. But Steven had other best friends. And Belly has barely said two words to Conrad as far as Lorraine knows. They both seemed to hang out with Jeremiah regularly but Lorraine had hardly heard anything about the younger Fisher brother.

When Taylor arrived, Lorraine was going to chew her out for not telling her about any of it before.