The Summer She Turned Pretty

Aftermath

rewritten: june 16th, 2023

Nicole, Shayla, and Gigi were grabbing their stuff, ready to leave. I asked them if I could come with them because I couldn't stay at this house right now, and I needed girl time with them. They of course said yes. 

"Wait, Cam, everyone's leaving. Tell them not to go." I heard Belly say as she and Cam walked up to us. "Stay, you guys. May? This is your house where are you going?" Belly laughs lightly but I see the concern on her face. 

"Uh, Shayla doesn't feel good," Nicole answers. "May is coming with us to um, help her out." I cringe inwardly at the bad lie, but it's not like I could've thought of anything better. 

"Oh... O-Okay, yeah. Well, I'm... I mean I still feel great." We all started heading to the front. "You know what? Let's do this again tomorrow." She points at us, and Nicole politely smiles. 

As we were walking to the front I realized I left my phone on the back table. "Hey, I'll be right back, I left my phone." I quickly hurried to grab it. On my way, I saw Conrad coming up on the beach trail. Covered in, dirt?  Once I got my phone from the table I quickly ran back, hearing the outdoor shower on. "Con? Do you have clothes on in there?" I yelled as I got closer to the shower. 

"Yeah, I have my bathing suit on," he shouts back. I don't really know what I was planning on doing but I knew I wanted to talk to him right now, even though I wasn't exactly sure what it was. 

"Well, I'm uh leaving so I'll see you later," I say as I come into the opening. 

"Oh, um ok, what happened?" He asks looking concerned. I zone in on his wet hair, almost ignoring his question. I always liked him with wet hair. I don't know why. 

"Um, Devin..." I started to say, "He kinda hooked up with someone. At Nicole's." 

"Oh," Conrad whispers. I look over at him, he has no shock on his face. He knew. He fucking knew. Conrad Fisher knew and didn't tell me. 

My eyes widen and he realizes what I figure out."You knew," I whisper, I couldn't talk in any voice level above that. 

"May.." He begins, but I wave him off, shutting him down. 

"You didn't tell me? And it was my birthday!" I say, tears in my eyes. "Who else knew? Nicole? Gigi? Jere? Steven? Everyone?" I couldn't believe it, but also, I could. Of course, Conrad wouldn't tell me. 

"Maybell, I knew it would hurt you... I-" I interrupt him again, he was not just using my nickname while I was mad at him. 

"Did you get me that infinity necklace for my birthday?" He opens and closes his mouth. "I knew it," I whisper again. And then I leave. Once I get to the driveway, Devin is standing there. Just great. 

"Hey, hey, hey." He stops me. "Where are you going?" I look him straight in the eyes. The boy I thought I would take to the deb ball, the one I thought was my dream person, the one. I can't believe I did. 

"Uh, just, um out, Shayla doesn't feel well so.." I mumble. I quickly get into the black Uber before he can stop me and I continue to cry the second I get in. 

I got a text from Jere, "Hey, are you ok? Where'd you go?" I decided to leave him on read, he must've known about what Devin did, and even if he didn't, I didn't feel like explaining. Shayla and I were hugging each other the whole drive. 

I eventually came back home, but not before texting Steven to see if Devin had left. I got up to my room and freshened up for the fireworks, which had already started, but still, I was excited. I had time to calm down and decided to confront everyone if they knew about what happened the other night. I was already going to distance myself from Conrad, but I didn't want to have to distance myself from everyone.  

As I came down the stairs I heard Jere and Mr. Fisher talking, which made me freeze in my steps, to kinda listen in."I thought you were going to teach me some curl routes." I hear Jere say, he seemed upset. 

"Promise, all right? After I close this deal. And we got to talk varsity football for next year." Wow, Adam barely even got here and he was already leaving. Adam was disappointing Jeremiah again. 

I could almost hear the pain in Jeremiah's voice. "Oh, I'm not that good, Dad. I'm not Conrad." Jere always compared himself to his brother. I mean, he got it from his dad, Adam was always more proud of Conrad. 

"You're faster than he ever was." Mr. Fisher chuckles. "All right. Love you, son." I hear his feet shuffle towards the door before Jeremiah even replies. 

"I love you too, Dad." His voice was barely a whisper, and I wanted to hold him and tell him Adam didn't deserve him. That Adam was a shit husband and a shit dad. I just couldn't ruin Jeremiah's image of his dad more than it already was. 

Once I hear the sound of the front door closing I run back down the stairs. "Hey." I slowly walk towards him and I think he could tell I heard the conversation just by the look on my face. 

"Oh, uh, Hey May," He replies. His voice was still soft, but a tiny but louder.  I can see his glossy eyes. The poor boy. 

This time, it was me giving him a hug. It was silent, but it was a hug. I hope it made him feel even a tiny bit like how his hugs made me feel. Because Jeremiah's hugs have always made me feel better. I think we both needed it, more than ever.