dark paradise•conrad fisher

five

JEREMIAH WORE A SMIRK WHEN ANGELA TURNED THE CORNER INTO THE OTHER ROOM. She tilted her head sideways in confusion.

Conrad had went somewhere- neither of them were very sure where. Especially because of how their conversation ended, Angela was sure he didn't want to see her or Jere anyways.

"Jere?" she asked suspiciously.

He moved closer to her, looking both ways to make sure nobody else was there to listen. To make sure Conrad wasn't listening. There wasn't anyone else here.

"I heard Conrad. He thinks we're dating."

"What, he does?"

It clicked in Angela's brain. Oh. What Conrad was saying made more sense now. He thought she was dating Jeremiah, Jeremiah Fisher.

She laughed to herself. She loved Jere. But as a friend. Angela had been in love with Conrad her whole life. It would always be him for her. It couldn't be Jeremiah, and it never would.

He had to be blind. She still loved him. Why didn't Conrad see that?

It seemed like he didn't like her anymore. And maybe Angela had to accept that.

"Oh. He does," Angela mumbled.

Jeremiah's smirk was faltering into a smile. "I know you still love him."

Angela hesitated, but nodded. "I do. I really do, Jere."

"I see the way he looks at you. He still loves you too. He just doesn't want to admit it. Conrad thinks you hate him, so he doesn't want to let you into his life again."

Angela was slowly nodding, taking all of this in.

But how did Jere know this? All of this could be one but assumption, and Conrad could hate her guts.

"Wow, I..."

"That's why I have an idea, Angie. He already thinks we're dating. So what if we pretend to date? Make him jealous."

Angela was very hesitant. And her eyes went wide when Jeremiah even started speaking. Jeremiah wanted to... pretend to date her? Even more interestingly, he would do all of that just to get Conrad jealous of him.

She didn't want to hurt Conrad as much as he may or may not deserve it. But the idea of Conrad being jealous enough to admit his feelings sounded appealing to her.

And if she found out he didn't have feelings or that he wasn't jealous at all, Angela would finally know that they were done. And she would move on from Conrad.

"Jere, are you sure he won't get too upset?"

Jeremiah probably wouldn't tell her if it would, but she figured it would probably be harmless. Conrad probably wouldn't even care. It wouldn't even last long since she had no real feelings for Jere.

"He'll be fine," Jeremiah shrugged.

Angela took a deep breath. "I'll do it."

She also thought about Belly during all of this. Angela was convinced Belly had a crush on Jeremiah, and she didn't wasn't to do this to her.

She'd have to tell Belly at some point. That was whenever Belly did come to Cousins.

Angela wished Belly and Steven were here right now. They knew more about all of this than her. They knew Susannah first. Angela was close with Susannah, but it didn't feel like she should be the one here. It should be Belly, that's what Susannah would have wanted. Susannah always wanted Belly to end up with one of her boys.

Honestly, Angela wasn't sure if Laurel would even let them come down here. Belly had told her that Laurel has practically been shut down ever since Susannah died. Maybe not as extreme as Laurel, but everybody was. Susannah was the light in everyone's life.

Conrad was coming down the stairs. Jeremiah's hands were intertwining with hers almost immediately. He looked down at her lips. "Let's make this believable, Angie."

Angela looked up in surprise. Jere was taking this whole fake dating thing very seriously.

Conrad had just come downstairs when Jeremiah started to lean in. She wasn't sure if she was ready for this. To kiss the boy she never saw in a romantic way, ever.

Jeremiah's lips touched hers. He was gentle, and Angela glanced into his very blue eyes for just a second.

And out of the corner of her eye, she saw Conrad standing there, just watching. Her hands moved onto him, unconsciously getting more into the kiss.

"You two can stop," Conrad's voice spoke.

They didn't stop.

"I said stop," he demanded.

They finally broke apart. Jeremiah turned to his brother angrily. "I'm not allowed to kiss my girlfriend?"

Conrad scoffed, disgusted just looking at the pair even standing close together. He wasn't in a good mood at all. If an expression could kill, Conrad's would. It would kill Jeremiah. 

Maybe he was jealous. Or maybe he was just pissed to find his brother kissing his ex girlfriend in the kitchen when they just found out his dead mother's house was for sale.

That was the part that Angela felt bad about. All of this going on with Susannah, and they were doing this. To be fair, Conrad already thought they were dating in the first place.

"Whatever," he said.

Jeremiah left the kitchen, smirking as if he was proud of himself. This left Angela in a very awkward situation with Conrad.

She was sitting on one of the high top chairs when Conrad suddenly walked towards her. He was standing directly against the chair, bending over so his face was closer to Angela's.

"What was that?"

Angela was panicking, trying to stop herself from looking at his lips.

"A kiss?" Angela stuttered.

"Oh, come on. You know who does it better, Angel."

And with that, he walked away.

Angela sat there in disbelief.