The way I loved you

5

Getting dropped home by the cops wasn't exactly how the teens had planned their night to end. An angry looking Laurel was eyeing them all up and down with a glare. "How could you guys be so irresponsible?" The older woman spoke harshly. Audrey bet that right now they all looked like kicked puppies with their tails between their legs, her and Conrad were squished together on the floor, head resting comfortably on her shoulder, whilst the others were all stood with solemn looks on their faces that were directed to the floor. "Mom it wasn't a big deal, all right? Seriously." Steven tried to defend them but it was pointless, Laurel was pissed. The older woman scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Audrey tried to ignore the feeling of Conrad's fingers in her hair but it was proving difficult. "Not a big deal? I would say getting picked up by the cops for underage drinking is a pretty big deal, Steven." Steven didn't bother answering back after that. Conrad suddenly lifts his head from Audrey's shoulder making her shiver from the lack of warmth. He glared at the woman as hard as he could in his drunken state but he was in fact very very drunk. Audrey grabbed his arm as she saw him slowly tilting the other direction. The last thing they all needed was him to show just how much underage drinking they'd been doing. "Were - were you guys smoking tonight?" Laurel seemed slightly uncomfortable at the question. "Keep your voice down. Susannah's asleep on the couch." Steven huffed in exasperation. "Well, I wasn't yelling, you were." Audrey rolled her eyes at the pointless arguments and perched her chin on Conrad's shoulder. He turned to look at her and gave what she could only describe as the cutest little grin ever. "Just so you know, Laurel, I-I didn't drink tonight, I was the DD I swear." Audrey rolled her eyes at Jeremiah's attempt to try and stay on laurels good graces because if she remembers correctly not even an hour ago he was running around cousins beach absolutely shitfaced. Laurel ignored the younger fishers pleas and focused her attention on Conrad. "Your the oldest what the hell has gotten into you? Audrey what would your father say about this?" The blonde girl scoffed. "I don't give a shit about what my father would say and you know it." The older woman sighed and turned to belly who had been quite in the corner. "And when the hell did you sneak out without telling anybody? And what in the world are you wearing?" The younger girl pulled the jacket she had stolen from the cute boy Audrey was still yet to be introduced to, closer to her body hiding the tight pink dress she was wearing. "It's Taylor's, and why am I the only one who's not allowed to go out?" Laurel sighed in frustration, running a hand through her hair. "It's not that your not allowed it's that you didn't tell anybody. How did you even get there?" The younger girl looked conflicted about the answer she was going to give. "I walked." Laurel sighed shaking her head. "Jesus. You know better than to walk alone that far down the beach at night." Belly scoffed crossing her arms across her chest. "Can you stop treating me like a kid?" Audrey let out a sigh, she just wanted to go to bed she was tired and this conversation was absolutely pointless and irrelevant to her. "If you want to be treated like an adult then act like one." Conrad spoke up from beside Audrey for the first time since they walked through the door. "Then maybe you guys should too." Audrey furrowed her eyebrows at his response not really understanding the somewhat alternate meaning behind it. The conversation eventually ended with Laurel sending all the teens up to bed to which they all happily obliged. Audrey helped a drunk Conrad up the stairs and into his bedroom where he flopped down onto the bed. "Conrad come on, I'm tired." The boy groaned and rolled over onto his back and began taking his jumper off but he couldn't get his arms out of it. "Here let me." The girl quickly pulled the jumper over his head trying to ignore the way her stomach was doing flips. She felt his stare on her face the entire time, she could feel how close his face was by the warmth of his breath on her cheek. "You're so pretty Audrey. I wish I told you more." The girl sucked in a breath when his thumb caressed her cheek. "Gimme your feet, I need to take your shoes off." The boy obliged putting his feet directly in front of her. She slid them off with ease taking his socks off too knowing that he hated people who slept with socks on.

She got him a pair of pyjama bottoms as he took his T-shirt off, with much struggle might she add. "Audrey?" The girl hummed in response, fighting every bone in her body not to turn around as he got changed. "Can you stay with me?" The girl was surprised to say the least, the last time she had slept in a bed with Conrad was nearly 3 years ago. They used to have 'sleepovers' all the time and she supposed he'd just grown out of it. "Yeah, I can stay Connie." The boy seemed satisfied with her answer as he didn't feel the need to say anything else. She turned around when she heard the bed creek, Conrad was laying on the left side of the bed, his trousers where on lob-sided but they were on nevertheless. She grabbed a T-shirt from his wardrobe quickly changing into it and telling him to close his eyes.

The two laid in silence, Conrad's head was resting on Audrey's stomach as she ran her fingers through his hair. She knew there was something on his mind, something that he wanted to say because he kept opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. "What's the matter con? You can talk to me you know that." She heard the boy inhale a deep shaky breath. "There's so much I wanna tell you Dee. I really wish I could but it would ruin everything." Audrey instinctively wrapped her arms around the boy pulling him closer to her body and kissing the crown of his head as she heard the small whimper that escaped his lips when he finished his sentence. One tear turned into two and before she knew it Conrad fisher was a sobbing mess in her fragile arms. It was moments like this that she slowly realised that maybe just maybe there was a reason her heart raced around him and her stomach done summer-salts when he smiled at her.

Maybe, just maybe, Audrey Ledger was falling in love with Conrad Fisher.