Seaglass Promises in the Midnight Sky

Probablity

The moment Lorraine entered the kitchen the chatter she had heard outside of it stopped. Instead, she was met with Taylor and Jeremiah staring at her.

"Hi?" She offered, wondering if she would be better off going back the way she came. Taylor smiled in that special way of hers that promised mischief and Lorraine was positive she should have gone out to eat instead of walking in on whatever this was.

Jeremiah looked over at Taylor and, presumably seeing the same thing Lorraine did, he began to panic, "No-"

"Lorraine," Taylor began, almost singing her name while cutting Jeremiah off.

"You think Jeremy has a chance with Belly right?"

Now Lorraine was even more certain that she'd made the wrong choice coming in here. Though the looking in Taylor's eyes promised no escape, even if she managed to make it out of the room.

"Uh, sure, if she breaks up with Cam."

"She already did, he was going on some whale thing so they broke up." Taylor said dismissively, then she gave Lorraine this odd look like she was trying to figure out a math equation that just happened to be on Lorraine's face.

"Yeah, that was like a week ago." Jeremiah added.

"Oh, then maybe. You'd probably have better chances if you could get Conrad to make it clear he's never going to get with her."

"Also already happened. Where were you on the Fourth? I could have sworn you were there." Taylor questioned, looking geniunely confused.

"I got tired of all the fanfare, why? What happened?"

"Belly tried to kiss Conrad, but he stepped back when she started leaning in. It was lowkey awkward cause then he tried to like explain that he wasn't interested in her and they started arguing."

"Why did they start arguing?" Lorraine asked, trying not to dwell on the fact that no one seems to want to tell her anything.

"Belly's convinced he was leading her on." Taylor explained.

Jeremiah looked at her curiously, "Really? Conrad told me Belly was reading into everything. Apparently, she thinks his favorite movie is the Titanic."

"Either way, Jeremiah interrupted the whole thing by nearly hitting them with a firework!"

"It wasn't going to hit them!" He argued.

"Two inches to the left and one of them would have died!"

"I was distracted!" Lorraine watched the two go back and forth trying to make sense of their fighting and actually work out what happened.

"You were holding an explosive!" Taylor was practically yelling now and Jeremiah was following her up.

"It wasn't a bomb!"

"Guys!" Lorraine called, hoping to bring them back to earth.

"Sorry." Jeremiah offered. Taylor just shrugged in response to Lorraine's efforts.

"But you agree right? No Cam, no Conrad, Jeremy here is home free?" Taylor urged, leaning over the counter.

Lorraine tried to honestly and objectively look at the facts. She wasn't sure she was the best person to ask these days, she wasn't even sure she knew Belly's favorite color anymore let alone what guys she likes.

Eventually, she sighed and said, "I mean, yeah? Maybe not this summer, I'm not sure if there's enough time left for another romance, especially since she probably needs time to get over Conrad."

"All I heard was yes." Taylor said, jumping up in victory. Jeremiah groaned which only served to furter confuse Lorraine. She would have thought Jeremiah would be happy at the news, he seemed to spend all his time with Steven or Belly.

"Go bug, Steven." Jeremiah said, waving his hand dismissively. Taylor stuck her tongue out but still slid off the stool and headed for the door on the far side of the kitchen.

She stopped before leaving and turned back to them, "Lorraine, my very best friend, would you like to look for seaglass with me?"

Lorraine smiled, already knowing her answer, before asking, "Are you going to try to drag me into the ocean like last time?"

"...maybe."

"Taylor." Lorraine warned, more jokingly than not. She knew Taylor wouldn't try it again, not only because of how spectacularly it failed last time, but also because she has always respected Lorraine's boundaries. The only reason she did it before was because Lorraine had said she wanted to go in the water but was afraid it was cold.

"Fine, I promise. But only if you say it again."

"Jeremiah has a chance with Belly." The aformentioned boy threw his hands up in defeat and stalked past Lorraine out of the door grumbling about unfairness.