timeless, jeremiah fisher

seventeen

jeremiah's pov

"fuck!" i said, slamming the steering wheel, after i cut the call. i was driving to brown to look for conrad. i had called quite a few people trying to figure out if anyone knew where he was. it was frustrating. i didn't know what to do.

my mind went to gina. should i call her? i missed her. more than anything else. but i couldn't get myself to call her. i didn't have the guts. would she know where conrad was? would she even care about how worried i was? did she miss me at all? why did not talking to her hurt more than anything else? these were the things running in my head.

i shook the thoughts away as i parked my car. i was about to get off when my phone rang. i checked to see who it was and it was belly.

"hey," i said picking up the call as i closed the car door behind me.

"hey, i'm here," she replied.

"where?"

"on campus somewhere? are you not -"

"i am. i am heading to conrad's dorm right now. meet me there," i said. i cut the call immediately. i was still a little mad at her for what happened last year. but i was more mad at myself.

i walked and reached the dorm area. i took my phone while i waited for belly. i was still considering calling gina. or even just sending her a text. being at brown also reminded me of the amount of time she had told me she wanted to come here. i opened my chats with her. what should i write? how should i even start?

"hey, jeremiah," i heard belly say as she walked towards me.

"belly. hey," i replied. i locked my phone and put in back in my pocket.

"i got you this," she said, handing me a cup of coffee.

"um. i am good. thanks," i said, as i started to walk. i looked back to see make sure she was behind me. "thanks for coming all this way."

she nodded. "have you heard anything from conrad?" she asked.

"nothing. he hasn't answered my calls or my text," i paused for a second. "it's a good thing you're here though, because i don't know what room he's in."

"i just know he's on the top floor."

"oh, you never visited him at brown?" i was genuinely curious.

"yeah, my mom wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of me visiting here.... you know," she shrugged. i gave her a nod.

the door opened as some students walked out. i held the door for her so that she could walk in, and i was right behind her. we walked inside trying to find conrad's dorm. at least we had some clue. maybe gina would have known where it was? ugh. why was my head going there?

"this is it," belly said as we finally found the dorm. we knocked, but the door seemed to be open.

"hello," i said as we walked inside. there seemed to be nobody there. i sighed.

"hey look," belly said. "his bed is made. things can't be that dire if his bed is made, right?"

"whoa. excuse me. this is my room," i heard conrad's roommate say as he walked in.

"hey, man. i'm conrad's brother," i said, going up to him. "we talked on the phone earlier. it's nice to finally meet you."

"ahh," he registered. "jeremiah, right?

"yeah," i said. "connie is not back is he?"

"i haven't seen him since friday afternoon."

"did anything else happen before he left?" belly asked.

"he got into it with somebody on the phone. like he was yelling and shit."

"then he just took off? right after that."

"nah. he got a call right after that from, i think ginny? or gina? he left while he was speaking to her."

"oh," i said. my face fell hearing her name. so gina knew. i could feel belly glace at me too. i got my focus back to reality. "is that the last you heard from him?"

"no. he texted this morning asking if i can take notes because he is going to miss the bio lab. i'd be annoyed but i have spent this whole year copying off his shit so i can't really complain. y'all feel?" he said, chuckling at the end.

"would you mind just, like, trying to call him from your phone and seeing if he answers?" belly asked him.

"yeah, for sure," he replied.

"trusky, did i leave my sweater in here?" i heard a girl say as she walked in.

"uh, i don't..." he said to her as he dialled the call to conrad. "one sec. i don't know. maybe."

"straight to voice mail," trusky said a minute later as he kept his phone back. "but sophie might know where conrad went. they're tight." i glanced at belly. i knew what she might be thinking.

"hey," sophie said to the both of us.

"hey, sophie, um, you wouldn't happen to have any idea where my brother disappeared to?" i asked, trying to ease the tension.

"um..." she replied. "i think he said he was going to hang out with his cousin by the beach."

i looked at belly as i connected the dots and realised where he was. i could tell she knew too. "all right, belly, let's go." she nodded.

"oh yeah. you are belly!" trusky said. "when you guys broke up my man fell into a depression."

"i, i don't think it was because of me," belly said.

"no, yeah, it definitely was. he was always looking at your picture on his phone."

i stayed quiet. i realized that this, hearing of belly and conrad being together, didn't hurt me as much now. it hadn't for a while. there were other things on my mind.

"anyways," trusky continues. "when you guys find him, tell him that he has to come back for his bio final on thursday or he doesn't pass the class."

"seriously?'

"yeah."

"okay," i said. "let's grab his books and go so that he can study."

-x-x-x-

"why would he take off like that to cousins" i said as we reached the car. "i don't think he's missed a day of class in his life. not even when mom was sick."

"i'm not sure. i had called gina too, before i reached, she said she had no idea too."

"who was he yelling at on the phone?" i said, ignoring the fact about gina maybe lied to belly about knowing where conrad was. "i mean, it had to have been dad, right?" i looked at belly and saw her nod, "what could they possibly arguing about?

"yeah, no, no, it was probably adam. i mean, he and conrad are always disagreeing on something."

"i really don't want to get dragged in the middle of whatever bullshit conrad's in right now, but if something were to happen to him, i wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

"hey. no, no, no. nothing has happened to conrad, okay?" belly said trying to calm me down. "i mean, i'm sure he's just spending the day surfing and he has his phone off."

"maybe. but it's only been a month since...," i paused. "you know how he is. he just bottles up all that shit until at some point it explodes. i don't think he has anyone. maybe gina, but he definitely hasn't been talking to me."

"all right. do you want me to come with you to cousins?"

"i think i can handle things fine on my own," i said. "thanks though."

"no, i know you can. but you don't have to. i mean if you need me to come..."

"i don't but maybe conrad does. i know he still cares what you think about him," i said as i got into the car. all i could think about was gina. why did she lie about not knowing where conrad was? was she there with him?

"um, i'm coming with you," belly said as i started the engine. she immediately got into the car and we both were now heading to cousins.

-x-x-x-