The way I loved you

3

Audrey had gotten ready for the bonfire and made her way downstairs and outside. She sat on the edge of the pool just lost in her own thoughts when she heard the back door open. "What are you doing out here with no jacket on? You'll freeze you lunatic." Audrey looked up at Conrad as he perched himself next to her and lit a joint. The girl sighed, he'd started smoking towards the end of last summer no one knew but Audrey as she'd caught him rolling a joint in his bedroom. "I still wish you didn't do that Con." The boy hesitated as he took a puff but decided to do it anyway. The back door opened again and Belly walked out in her swimsuit. "Night swim?" The younger girl nodded. "I'm sorry Steven brought it up at dinner he's such an idiot." Audrey played it off and shook her head, causing her curls to fall against Conrad's shoulder. The slight touch made him shiver. "It's okay Belly. Anyway I don't wanna talk about that." Belly smiled and nodded. "I thought you said smoking pot changes the way your brain processes information." The young girl remarked as she watched Conrad take another hit. The boy simply shrugged his shoulders. "So does your cell phone." Audrey rolled her eyes at his comeback. He'd changed since last summer. They all had but this was different. He was more mature, more private about things that he never used to be before. He was just a different person entirely, sometimes Audrey didn't recognise him at all. "You said marijuana messes with white matter." Belly challenged the boy again, doing a lap in the pool as she waited for Conrad to reply. Audrey flickered her eyes between the two. There was something going on, she was sure of it. "Do you even know what white matter is?" The boy asked raising an eyebrow at belly who had stopped swimming to float in front of him and Audrey. "You said o-our brains are still developing and that-" The boy cut her off taking another hit. "God do you memorise every single thing that I've ever said?" Belly scoffed quickly looking at Audrey then back at the water. "Get over yourself." There was a pause and Audrey felt like she should get up and leave because she was ruining a moment but she thought it would be more awkward if she walked away. "I mean, Conrad, you're the one who said that-that smokings dumb and that real athletes don't put shit in their bodies. Audrey tell him!" Belly and Conrad looked to Audrey waiting for her input, but it never came. "Just leave him alone belly okay? If he wants to put shit in his body and live a short life that's on him okay we can't control him or what he does." She felt his stare on her face and it took everything in her not to turn her head and look at him. Belly scoffed in disbelief at the girls words. "Really? Well that's great. So helpful Audrey." Conrad coughed. "Hey why are you considering this debutante thing?" Audrey furrowed her eyebrows in confusion hoping someone would give her an answer. "Debutante thing?" Belly looked at the blonde. "Yeah, Susannah got us both invitations to be debs this season. I don't know if I'm gonna do it yet. Are you?" Audrey thought it over for a moment. She's never really thought of what being a deb would be like. She never thought she'd get the chance. Her mother would be over the moon, it was something her, Susannah and laurel did together when they were younger and she's sure her mother would love it if she followed tradition. "I- uh. I dunno I'll have to think about it." Conrad groaned at the two girls. "Don't let my mom make you two into her little dolls just because she never had a daughter." Audrey turned to him. She wasn't sure where all of his attitude was coming from but she hated it. "What's wrong with that? I don't mind it, it's not hurting anybody." Belly nodded in agreement. "Sometimes I wish I was her daughter." The boy shook his head taking the final hit of his joint. "Trust me your better of with laurel." Audrey looked at the boy in shock. "And what? I'm better off with a dead mother? Real nice Conrad." Before the boy could even bother to save himself Jeremiah and Steven came running out the back door. "First bonfire of the summer!" Jeremiah didn't even seem to notice the thick tension in the air. "Audrey you look dashing as always." The girl gave him a tight lipped smile and ignored the pleading eyes Conrad sent her way. It was like he knew that if she looked into his eyes she'd cave. They were her weakness, she thinks it's because his eyes show every emotion he holds, it's how she's able to read him. "Alright we're totally taking my car." "You're not driving." Conrad got up from the edge of the pool hoping to get a glimpse of Audrey's face but she was hiding behind her golden locks. With a sigh he walked through the house. "Can I come too?" Audrey smiled sympathetically at Belly as she knew what it felt like to be the one left out. "Uh, no." Audrey glared at Steven as he spoke but he didn't seem to notice. "The moms are getting everything ready for your movie night." Belly sighed and looked down at the water. The three older teens made their way through the house saying goodbye to the moms on their way out to the car. Steven and Jere were sat in the front which meant that Audrey was forced to sit in the back with Conrad. Neither bothered to speak to each other no matter how much Conrad wanted to.

He wanted to tell her everything there and then but he couldn't, it would ruin everything.