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𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 Conklin was angry. He was quite ticked off with the world and with his sister. As much as the boy loved life and loved his sister, he'd also loved someone too. He'd loved Susannah Fisher. And he'd loved Florence Fisher just as much.
Losing Susannah had affected everyone. But he felt as though his sister Belly felt it'd only affected her. But Steven knew how much he adored Susannah and it felt like a right punch to the gut, feeling as though he'd lost his best friends with her.
Steven had a bad feeling in his gut the first time he'd seen the look in Belly's eyes when she looked at Flora. And he'd grown concerned when the two had seemingly started some sort of love or relationship.
Steven was a loving person. He loved his sister, and he loved Flora, his best friend as much. And as badly as it seemed, Steven didn't trust Belly to handle Flora's heart. He did not want to see either of the two heartbroken.
But low and behold, heartbreak came upon the relationship when Belly had chosen Conrad. And so, he not only felt the pain of losing Susannah, but also the pain of losing his best friend.
So, yes, you could say Steven Conklin was a bit angry and ticked off.
----///----
"Fuck you." Steven spat. It was his graduation party; the Conklin boy had given a wonderful and memorable speech at the ceremony. And now his sister stood, about to leave him without a sober driver, acting like he wasn't sad about Susannah's death.
"You don't think I'm sad about that?" Steven said angrily.
"Oh, what, were you crowd surfing the pain away? My apologies." Belly said sarcastically in a tone that greatly reminded him of Flora's signature sarcasm, but he wasn't interested in snarkiness from his sister.
"No! You should apologize! You screwed up and now everything is weird with Flora and Conrad. I mean, they barely even text me back anymore because of you!" Steven yelled, feeling hurt and angry. Belly felt like she'd been slapped, and anger bubbled up in her chest. The siblings ignored Taylor trying to break up the argument and continued to yell.
"That is not my fault!" Belly shouted.
"Isn't it!? Hm? I should be celebrating with them tonight, but they couldn't come becyse you made things messy!" Steven shouted. "You had Flora. That girl loved you. She would've done anything for you. But no. You had her but you just had to have Conrad too. God you are so fucking selfish!"
"Steven!" Taylor exclaimed. "Are you serious?"
"I was in love Steven. Like out of my mind in love. What was I supposed to do!?" Belly shouted, not knowing if she was talking about Flora or Conrad.
"Belly." Steven spoke in a softer tone, seeing the pain on his sister's face. Belly knew she'd done things wrong and that she'd truly messed up with Flora. And Steven knew he'd gone too far to yell at his sister so harshly. Both siblings left in a spiral of hurt and guilt. Everything felt extremely lost.
----///----
Belly sat up in her bed. She picked her phone up and dialed the number.
"Belly?" Jeremiah's voice rang out through the other end of the phone call.
"Hey, Jeremiah, I'm so glad you-" Belly began before getting interrupted.
"Are you with Flora?" He asked.
"Uh, no. Why would I be with Flora?" Belly asked, confused.
"I-I dunno I just thought maybe you guys would be-" Jere stammered.
"Jere, what is going on?" Belly asked. There was a pause. Silence.
"Flora's gone." Jere finally spoke.
"Wait, what do you- what do you mean gone?" Belly asked, sitting up in her bed, feeling concern and stress rise in her chest.
"She's not answering my texts or picking up my calls." Jere said.
"Since when?" Belly asked.
"Yesterday." Jere said.
"I mean, do you think she's out with her friends, or-or studying?" Belly asked, almost begging for an explanation.
"No. I talked to Logan and apparently she seemed off the day before and then disappeared."
"Who's Logan?" Belly asked, feeling odd at the name of a boy she'd never even heard of.
"Belly, it doesn't matter." Jere said almost coldly. "I'm going to Brown in the morning to see if Conrad's seen her. Maybe she's hiding out there or something."
Belly knew she'd never get Susannah back. But she couldn't let the Fisher siblings go too. She wasn't about to lose any of them. She couldn't lose Flora. As lost as everything felt, she wouldn't let Flora be lost too.
