The Summer We Changed

sentimental

°。°。°。°。°。°。

Jewel collapsed against her bed, closing her eyes tightly as she tried to preserve every pleasant memory the house still held. Although she understood what it meant, the emotions hadn't hit her yet. The true realization that the home would be gone, and she would no longer be gifted any magical summers at Cousins Beach. Her eyes shifted toward the stuffed bear propped against her pillow, Jewel remembering how upset she had been upon finding out she had left it behind last summer. Now she was grateful she had, needing something to hug as tightly as she would've hugged Susannah or her mom. Light knocks sounded on the door a moment later, Jewel sitting up in the bed as Jeremiah opened the door.
"Hey." She spoke softly, still unsure where Conrad was after their fight.
"Are you headed back to Lake Sutter tonight...now that we found Conrad?" Jeremiah asked, a familiar look of grief and anxiety swirled in his eyes. She recognized that same look in Conrad, somehow knowing they needed her here more than she needed to be in Lake Sutter.
"I think I'm gonna stay...if that's alright?" She proposed, waiting for Jeremiah's nod of acceptance. His eyes gazed over at the bear laying to her right, moving to grab it and sit beside her on the bed. He couldn't help but to think back to last summer, when the two were still together. He had found the bear in a local tourist shop and knew she'd love it solely because it looked like one she had as a child. She had realized halfway through her drive home that she had left it behind, the poor girl too sentimental to go unbothered by it.
"This is our home. She'd have to be insane to sell this house, right?" Jeremiah huffed, evidently frustrated over the entire ordeal.
"Yeah, but Conrad's never been so stressed before like this. I think she's really trying to sell." She spoke sorrowfully, hearing a sigh of defeat escape his lips. She took the time to link his arm with hers, leaning against his shoulder as they sat together. She felt him lean against her as well, their arms tangled together in a comforting warmth.
"Jewel." He spoke quietly, catching the girl's gaze as she peered up to him.
"I'm glad you're here." He admitted, a pain in his voice buried deep within, as Jewel hugged his arm a little tighter. Hearing that same pain both she and her dad carried before, she would've done whatever he needed just to ease some of that weight off of his chest.
"I am, too." She spoke, forcing the most comforting smile she could for him. Conrad still sat at the back of her mind though, knowing that he was a ticking bomb ready to explode when given the chance.
"I can't believe Conrad hid this from us." Jewel muttered quietly, feeling a little guilty that he had felt the need to hold everything together on his own.
"I know, how could he be that selfish?" Jeremiah said, frustrated with the lack of communication he held with his own brother. Jewel furrowed her eyebrows in return, her arm slipping from Jere's as she shifted to face him.
"Jere, he held all that weight alone, trying to fix all of this by himself. Was it stupid? Yes...but he was trying to stop that weight from falling on you." Jewel reminded him, tired of the two's constant insults and stabs at each other. It had been like this between them for a while now, their relationship only growing more strained after hearing of the breakup. She wondered if Conrad had given Jeremiah the right advice last summer telling him to remain separate. After all, it had ended the same way Conrad had said it would; a rift between them and a dam of pain to match.