love me like you • jeremiah fisher

chapter thirty two

song: snow on the beach - taylor swift

"Belly I dare you to kiss Jeremiah." Skye said excitedly.

My face immediately paled as I looked at them.

I felt most of the group turn to look at me but I couldn't form a response. I was practically begging myself to not look at Jeremiah in fear of what would I see.

Would it be longing, denial, or neither?

Before I could stop myself my head whipped in Belly's direction. She was staring at Jeremiah as if she was waiting for something. And when I looked at the him I was surprised to see him staring at me.

"I'm..I can't, I'm with Bri and aren't we too old for that kind of shit?" Jeremiah said suddenly, startling the group.

I stayed silent for the rest of the game, up until it was my turn.

"Bri truth or dare?" Steven asked, holding up a fake microphone. "Truth." I replied, knowing I was too tired to get up and do one of Steven's dares. "Was Jeremiah always the one?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" I laughed. "Like you have three hot men, four including Cam." He motioned to himself and the other guys sitting with us. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably as I felt everyone's eyes on me. "Your eyes never drifted anywhere else?" He asked once again.

"Uhm.." I muttered, lowering my eyes to the ground. I looked back up meeting Conrad's gaze for a few seconds before turning to Jeremiah who was seated across from me.

I thought about it, but I didn't have to.

Was that even a question? How could anyone else compare to the boy right in front of me? I love Jeremiah, I've always had.

"Nope." I finally replied to the question.

"Ouch." Steven said jokingly bring a hand to hold his heart. "Yeah sorry, get over yourself." I rolled my eyes as the group laughed. It wasn't too long after that when we started settling for bed.

I laid on the somewhat comfortable ground, looking up at the blank sky. "What are you thinking about?" Jeremiah asked softly, taking his place beside me. "You." I tried to say seductively, but failed and giggled after.

"Yeah?" He questioned, laughing with me. "Listen Bri about what Skye said-"

"It's okay, it's nothing to worry about." I cut him off, not really wanting to have this conversation. "Yeah, it was nothing." He repeated quietly as we moved closer to each other, letting sleep come over us.

-

"What's going on out here?" I woke up to the sound of arguing.

Cam was currently talking to his mom about how we ended up knocked out on the ground. "Time to clean." Belly said standing up as I groaned, rubbing a hand over my face.

"Sooner we start, sooner we go home." Jeremiah whispered, planting a kiss on my forehead.

Home.

Could we even call it that anymore? I sighed, standing up to help the others gather the rest of the blankets. We finished fairly quickly and now were walking back to the beach house. Julia was standing at the front steps with the realtor and I immediately felt a knot in my stomach.

"Well look who it is." Jeremiah said.

"Hi." The realtor answered awkwardly before Julia dismissed her, saying she could handle this.

"Oh I wish you boys had gone home when I had asked you to." She began, walking down to meet us. "Your not getting us to abandon our house Julia."

"Except it's not your house Conrad and it won't be mine for much longer. I've accepted an offer." My mouth went dry as the words escaped her lips.

"You sold the house in the last 12 hours?" I stuttered out the question, not believing what I was hearing.

"Yes, to a lovely family with three kids and some kind of a poodle mix." She nodded, meeting my eyes. I looked down, not being able to face the rest of the group.

"It can't just be over." Jeremiah began, taking a step forward. "Mom don't do this." Skye tried to speak up but was shot down as Julia looked at them. "Come on Skye, let's go." Julia said strictly, making her way to her car.

-

"Okay I know things aren't looking the best right now, but it's always the darkest before the dawn, right?" I smiled softly as Jeremiah tried to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, not this time." Conrad said softly as I hopped on to the counter next to Belly.

I laid my head on the girl's shoulder as she put hers atop of mine. "So what? We're supposed to go home now?" Steven asked. Belly jerked, moving her head from mine quickly.

"No. Our last memory here can't be this." She said loudly catching everyone's attention. "This place deserves a better goodbye than that."

"Like what?" I asked the question everyone was wondering.

"My mom came to the beach house for the first time with Susannah after her dad died. Susannah hated how empty the house felt so she decided to throw a huge party. Everyone was dancing and drinking." I felt myself smile as the girl told the fond story.

"So I say we throw a party too!" My grin got wider at the suggestion.

"I'm in." I said quickly, bumping her shoulder with mine. Belly's eyes met mine as she pulled me into a side hug.

"Me too." Steven and Taylor said at the same time causing them to look at eachother. "Same." Jeremiah added, moving over to my side. "Me four." Skye chimed in with Cameron right behind them. The rest of us turned to Conrad.

"I think it's exactly what my mom would've wanted." He said, making us all cheer. "Okay everybody shower, power nap, then I'm putting you to work." Belly clapped her hands together, leaving the room.

"I call first shower!" I said loudly to the group. "Together?" Jeremiah joked and I was hit with an overwhelming sense of deja vu. "Jere." I pushed him away playfully, turning to walk away. "I didn't hear a no!" He said running after me.

word count: 1026
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