CONRAD HAD BEEN SO excited for belly's birthday for months because of the gift he got her. cooper hadn't even met the girl yet and he knew she would love it based on what the gift represented. now that the day had finally come he was thrilled to see her reaction.
he ended up sleeping in later than intended that day and by the time he got downstairs everyone was off doing different things. he found conrad sitting alone in the kitchen with his face in his phone. "where is everyone?"
conrad looked up at the boy. "well, good morning to you too, cooper." he gave him a smile. "my mom and laurel went out to do god knows what and jeremiah took belly out to practice driving before they have to pick up taylor from the bus stop."
"who's taylor?" cooper said, sitting across from the boy.
"belly's best friend."
cooper nodded in understanding. there was a comfortable silence between the two for a few minutes as they both were glued to their phones. allie's name popped up on the top of his screen, reminding him about the party that night. "allie invited me to someone named nicole's party tonight."
"nicole's cool." conrad nodded. "she invited me, but i wasn't sure if i was going to go because of it being belly's birthday." he licked his lips. "but since taylor's here they'll probably want to do something together."
"maybe they'll want to go to the party too." cooper shrugged.
"i'll ask belly when they get back." he went back to his phone.
cooper asked, "did you give her, her gift?"
a small smile appeared on conrad's face. "yeah, she really liked it. She asked me to put it on her as soon as she opened it."
cooper raised an eyebrow. "did you tell her how you felt about her?"
conrad huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "no."
cooper scoffed, "why not?"
"what if she doesn't feel the same way? i'm just going to look like a fool." he shrugged his shoulders.
"you won't know unless you tell her." cooper stated. "either way, get shit off your chest, bro. it'll make you feel better."
get shit off your chest. cooper internally rolled his eyes at himself. he had nothing to get off his chest, so allie's stupid voice needed to leave him alone.
the rest of the day was rather slow. belly and her best friend played volleyball in the pool with steven and jeremiah while conrad went to help teach some guy about boats. belly and taylor asked cooper if he wanted to join, but he declined. he was doing everything in his power to stay away from jeremiah. his presence was annoying the shit out of him lately.
cooper sat beside taylor at dinner and he was pretty quiet the whole time. belly and taylor were extremely enthusiastic about going to nicole's party which immediately put a smirk on cooper's face. he wanted conrad and belly to get together so badly that he would do absolutely anything he had to, to make it happen. when dinner ended and the girl's made their way to belly's room to get ready, cooper went to his own room to put on a different shirt.
he slipped his shirt over his head and tossed it to the corner of the room before fishing his phone out of his pocket as it started to ring. allie's name popped up on the screen and he swiped over, answering her. "yes, my dear?"
"my friend can't get me any weed, so we're gonna get drunk instead."
cooper let out a small, dry laugh and sat on the edge of his bed. "that's fine. i could use a few drinks anyway."
there was a small silence and cooper thought she had hung up. when she finally spoke again he wanted to chuck his phone across the room. "how's jeremiah?"
the blond scoffed, "how the hell would i know? i don't keep tabs on him."
she hummed and started to speak, but a soft knock on his door made him pull the phone away from his ear and turn around. jeremiah was leaning against the frame of the door. cooper put the phone back to his ear, "i'll see you at the party, allie." he quickly hung up, eyes never leaving jeremiah. "can i help you?" jeremiah's eyes swept up and down cooper's exposed upper body and cooper smirked. "take a picture, babe." he reached for a clean shirt on his bed and slipped it on.
jeremiah rolled his eyes, "we're leaving. i was told i had to get you or i'd have to walk there with you and i'd rather not spend that much time around you."
cooper rolled his eyes and pocketed his phone as he pushed passed jeremiah, bumping his shoulder as he did so. he made his way downstairs and out to the car with jeremiah following behind. steven had already decided on being the D.D, so no one else had to worry about watching how much they drank. cooper was happy about that because he planned on drinking a lot.
the ride to the party wasn't terribly long and once they'd all arrived everyone piled out. nicole had, had a cake made for belly's birthday in hopes that the girl would come, and belly was so excited about it. cooper found allie in the kitchen where all the booze was and he let out a happy sigh. "what're we drinking, m'lady?"
the girl turned to see who had spoken and she gasped excitedly, "cooper! you're here!" she gave him a quick hug before turning back to the drinks. "we're having vodka and lemonade!" she handed him a solo cup filled to the brim and he thanked her before taking a small sip.
he scrunched up his nose, "did you put a shot of lemonade and the rest vodka, allie? this is strong as hell."
"oh, i don't know." she laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "i'm already on my third one."
cooper hummed, "i aspire to be as wasted as you already are." he smiled, hugging her side before the two made their way outside to play beer pong with nicole and one of her friends.
EEEEEEP
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
