Afterglow, Steven Conklin

four

"Happy birthday Smelly!" I jumped on top of Belly and she groaned rolling around in her covers.

The plan to mess around with Belly at the drive-in didn't go exactly as planned, and Belly seemed pretty mad at us. Afterwards, the boys and I just drove around town talking and eventually I fell asleep in the car, Jeremiah carrying me up to my room.

Now here we are, me buttering up Belly with one of her famous Malia Fisher birthday wake-ups in attempt to make sure that she isn't still mad.

"You're crushing me!" Belly laughed into the pillow.

I smiled, knowing she wasn't mad and jumped off of the bed, "Get up and get ready, girl. It's your big day!" I called running out of her room.

After a while, Belly came downstairs and everyone wished her a happy birthday, except for Conrad who sat at the counter and didn't say anything.

Awkward.

"Let's open gifts! I can't wait for you to see mine." I pulled Belly into the living room trying to diffuse the tension.

Belly opened her book from Laurel, a cute outfit from my mom, and a charm from Jere before moving on to my gift.

Peeling away the wrapping paper, Belly revealed the pair of gold earrings I got her. I remembered last summer when she mentioned that she liked them in a boutique in town, but neither of us had money, so I went back this summer and saw that they were still there!

"Lia... you remembered! Thank you." Belly said before standing up and giving me a hug.

Steven threw his gift at Belly and she opened it to see a Princeton sweatshirt.

"Steven, I can't believe you actually spent money on me," Belly joked.

Steven smiled, "Well, I couldn't have you stealing mine when I go there next year." I smiled at him knowing that he was secretly thoughtful.

Once again, the tension in the room grew when Conrad didn't have a gift to give Belly, before he left to go show Cleveland knots.

I looked at Jere with wide eyes, and he took the hint, "Hey, why don't we take my car and practice driving on the way to pick Taylor up?"

"Sure," Belly said and stood up, but I could tell that she was still thinking about Conrad.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked over at Steven, "That leaves us, Stevie boy. Wanna go surfing?"

He smiled before jumping up, "I'll race you down!"

-

"Do you think that turtles actually live forever?" I asked laying back on the surfboard as we drifted along the water. Steven and I surfed... well, I surfed and he attempted to for a while before just relaxing and talking.

He looked over and smiled at me, "Where did you hear that?"

I laughed, "I think I saw it in a tik tok once."

Steven shook his head but couldn't wipe the smile from his face, "Of course you would believe something you saw in a tik tok."

I chuckled and we sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. I started thinking about my mom, "I wish things could live forever." I whispered, but he must have heard it because he looked over.

"Hey, you okay?"

Shaking myself out of my daze, and putting on a happy face, I looked over at him, "You don't need to worry about me Stevie boy, I was just daydreaming about you."

He scoffed and looked away smiling, "You're my best friend, you know that?"

My stomach fluttered at the admittance and a smile spread on my face but I tried to cover it up, "I'm your only friend."