Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
LANELLE SAT IN THE KITCHEN, Conrad was there too. He decided to not leave her side until fully knowing if she was alright.
"You scared us." He spoke up after a moment silence.
Lanelle sighed, "I know and I'm sorry."
"Belly was crying and I've never seen Jeremiah so freaked out before." Conrad continued noticing that her expression changed at the mention of his brother's name.
"What's going on between you and Jeremiah?"
"Nothing." She shook her head want to change topic.
"You're lying." He remarked, not taking his eyes off her.
Lanelle knew that Conrad could read her like a book,
"What do you expect from me Conrad? You've barely talked to me all summer, of course I'm not going to be that open with you anymore. I miss you."
"I'm sorry, I'm just not ready to tell you what's going on yet. I miss you too — but I won't put this burden on you."
The girl shook her head, the sight of her best friend, her Conrad looking so...empty. It hurt her.
"I won't force you to tell me what's going on. But I'm here for you Conrad, I know that's what you frequently hear, nevertheless I'm here for you always. Even if you don't think it, you'll never be a burden on me Conrad."
Conrad's eyes welled up with tears, he was so grateful to have her in his life.
"I love you." He muttered as he hugged Lanelle.
The girl hugged him back, she felt so at ease. As she was in Conrad's arms she felt comfortable.
Lanelle didn't have to think about Jeremiah or Steven or whatever's going on with her mom.
She felt safe.
They parted the hug and Lanelle brought her hand to Conrad's face and wiped the tears off.
"Let's wipe these tears off." Lanelle spoke in a weird voice — resulting in Conrad chuckling as he sniffled.
The two sat there in a comfortable silence until Conrad spoke up again,
"How did you feel yesterday? I know that the Fourth is a difficult day for you."
Lanelle shrugged, "What's a better way to spend the Fourth than getting wasted."
"You changed Nelly." Conrad remarked.
"So did you Connie."
Conrad sighed and hugged her once again — longer than the last. "I'm going upstairs, goodnight nells."
Lanelle nodded and softly squeezed his arm, "Good night Connie."
Before he went upstairs he turned back towards her, "With all seriousness, please don't ever disappear again. Everyone's leaving, but you — you just can't."
The girl nodded, not fully understanding what he meant with 'everyone's leaving'. But she promised nonetheless "I promise."
The boy nodded and went upstairs.
Lanelle sighed and decided to take a breath of fresh air, she decided to go to the pool.
Maybe she'd find Belly there, she usually does her midnight swims there.
Lanelle went out the doorstep — and now she wishes that she'd never went.
She found Belly, but she wasn't the only one in the pool. Jeremiah was there too.
And it was sickly obvious what they were about to do.
Lanelle's heart dropped, the more she looked the sicker she felt.
Belly's hand — her best friend's hand was on Jeremiah's — the boy she has feelings for his shoulder as they both leaned in.
As much as she wanted to stop looking, she couldn't. Tears started welling up in her eyes at the sight of them both.
She internally chuckled, why did she ever think that Jeremiah was being serious with her. Why was she stupid enough to think that there would be a chance of them both being together.
How could Belly do that to her? She knew that Lanelle liked Jeremiah. The feeling of betrayal, hurt, anger kept piling up. Lanelle wanted to scream she wanted to shout and tell them to stop, but she couldn't — she wouldn't.
All she could do was watch — watch how her relationship with her best friend was crumbling watch how Jeremiah stomped on her heart.
Watch how everything around her was breaking.
The more that Lanelle looked the worse that it got. Her heart sank how she saw that Belly kept engaging the kiss — she didn't stop it.
Her best friend wrapped her legs around Jeremiah as she pulled him closer to kiss.
Belly didn't care to stop — Jeremiah didn't either.
They didn't care.
Lanelle's expression turned stoic, she left. The sight of her best friend making out with guy she likes, that hurts.
"Fuck them both." Lanelle thought as she slipped away from the pool.
The two that were making out, had no idea that the girl that they both care about in different ways, saw everything.
