Snow on the Beach - S.CONKLIN

03

We're all in the living room, sitting around the table, our bowls of spaghetti finished and staining the dishes bright red. Conrad has not met my eye once throughout the whole dinner and I barely talked so tonight pretty much consisted of Jeremiah and Belly entertaining themselves. But I noticed the way he looked at them, like he wanted to rip Jere's head off every time Belly laughed at one of his jokes. For the second time today, there's a tension in the air that I don't know nothing about. There's obviously history between the three and I can't help but wonder if love is involved in this. I'd probably fall for Belly too if I wasn't still secretly crushing on her brother. I shake Steven off of my mind, I don't want to think about him. Especially when we're about to do something this important.

Conrad gets his phone out as I take everyone's bowl, piling them together and placing them out of the way. "Dad should be calling soon." He says, nervously playing with the edges' of his phone. A phone rings and we all inch toward the center of the table, only to quickly notice that it's not coming from Conrad's phone. I finally realize the buzz in my pants.

"It's my mom." I say, reading the caller ID.
"Well, that's convenient." Conrad scoffs, awarding him a frown from Jeremiah. I ignore his comment and get up from my seat. I walk toward the staircase across the room, wanting to still be there for them even if I couldn't join the conversation like I had planned to. I sit on the steps and press on the green icon to answer.

"Hello?"
"Finally." My mother exhales. "You want explain your little note to me, Noelle Beck-Smith."
"Not really."
"I have a lot on my plate right now, I don't want to have to deal with your teenage tantrums too. You can't just leave the motel without telling me, where are you?" I stay silent for a few seconds too long, watching over my cousins and Belly who are, too, talking on the phone and I hear her sigh in annoyance. "You're there, aren't you?"
"Of course, I'm there." I whisper-yell. "I'm not letting you do this to Jere and Con. To Susannah."
"This isn't about them, Noelle. We've talked about this, several times."
"And every time, you say something different. What is the truth, Julia?"
"You want the truth? You think you can handle it?"
"If I can't then that's my problem, not yours."
"Fine." She sighs. "We need the money. No," She scoffs. "You need it, darling, if you ever want to get a future."
"What do you mean?" I frown, my heart pacing fast against my ribcage, my hands moist and slightly shaking while I apprehend what she's about to confess. My fingers grip tighter around the phone, worried that the sweat might make me drop it. I'm all ears for the truth I've desperately asked for months now.
"I mean, Columbia. Selling the house is the only way I can send you to col-."

I hang up before she can finish her sentence because I don't want it to be the truth. I regret asking for it now that I've realize that my mother is doing all this because of... me. My heart is now beating at the bottom of my stomach, making me nauseous. This is all my fault. I'm going to be the reason why Jeremiah and Conrad and the Conklin's lose their home. I can't let that happen, why did I ask for her honesty? Now, I have to choose between family and my potential of having a future. She's made me the villain. Not budging from the stairs, I eavesdrop to the rest of my cousins' conversation with their father, escaping my reality for just a few instants.

"Guys, I had my lawyers look into any possible loopholes right after the funeral, but there's none. Okay? The house is legally Julia's." Adam's voice echoes through the speakers of Conrad's phone. I spot him glaring up at me, his blue eyes darkened and my heart breaks in half because I'm the reason he's going through all of this, that he has to lose his mother a second time.
"Wait, so you've known we're losing the house since the funeral?" Jeremiah exclaims.
"Jere, I'm not your evil father trying to ruin your life." Adam's response is way too familiar for me to not roll my eyes at it and I hear Jeremiah scoff too. "And believe it or not, I'm just as upset as you are about it."
"That's such bullshit." Conrad sighs. "You never cared about this house, Dad. You never cared about it 'cause you never cared about Mom."
Adam exhales, "You know that's not true. Jere, come on. You get it, don't you?"
Jeremiah sighs, "Dad, I-I don't get why we can't just use our trusts to buy it, and then we can sell it later if we need the money."
"No. Julia's gonna go ahead with the open house tomorrow. I really appreciate the attempt here, but this is the end of the conversation. You just make sure that Julia gets everything that she needs. You got it?"
"Conrad was right, talking to you is pointless." Jeremiah hangs up the phone the same way I just did to my mother mere seconds ago. I get up from the stairs, starting to walk them down when the front door opens, hiding me behind it.