𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 | 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚𝐡 𝐅𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫

𝐕𝐈𝐈. 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝

I walk over to Belly's house and her mom drives us to the country club. I obviously don't plan on getting in the water because of my cast so I guess I'm just tanning. We get out of the car and Belly wishes me luck as we part ways. I walk in and don't see Jeremiah anywhere. Maybe he's on break. I find an empty chair next to a few girls who look my age. "Hey, your Lily. Right?" one of them ask. She's dark complexioned and had long black braids. "Yeah. Oh you're Nicole!" I say.

"Yeah. I'm so sorry about what happened to you at my party. I banned Ethan from ever coming to one again so you're safe girl. I knew he was a dick but I didn't know he would physically abuse someone," she says. "Well it wasn't really his fault I broke my wrist, I fell," I say. "Girl don't defend him. Everyone saw what happened. You're so lucky to have someone like Jeremiah," she says. "What?" I ask. "You're dating Jeremiah right?" she says. "Oh no, we're just friends," I nervously laugh. She looks above me, "hey Jeremiah! We were just talking about you," she says.

I turn around and sure enough Jeremiah is standing right beside me. I hope he didn't hear that. 'We're just friends.' Damnit. "Oh hi!" I say. "Hey," he responds blandly. "Could I uh, talk to you Lily?" he asks. "Oh uhm sure," I say standing up. He leads me to outside the pool so that we're walking around the country club. "I'm sorry about the party I'll tell everyone that we're not dating," he says. "What?" I ask confused why he's bringing it up. "Well you, you sounded upset when Nicole assumed we were dating because of the party. And I don't want you to be uncomfortable so I'll tell everyone we're not dating," he says looking down at the ground.

"I wasn't upset I was surprised. I didn't know that many people saw what happened," I say. "Oh," he responds. "But we aren't dating. So if people ask I'm still gonna tell them we're not. Is that okay?" he asks. "Well I mean yeah, because it's the truth," I say. "I have a question," I say. "Go for it," he says. "Do you like Belly?" I ask. "Belly? Absolutely not. She's like my little sister," he says. I want to let out a sigh of relief. I made sure to ask both of them because they're so close I was just nervous.

"Well we should probably get back, I'm off break now," he says and he turns around to lead us back to the pool. He looks at my wrist. "Hold up. You let Belly sign your cast?" he asks. "Yeah," I giggle. "I wanna sign it too," he says almost jealous. "I don't have a sharpie," I say as we walk back in the pool. "I'll find one," he says. "Wait don't you need to work?" I say as he starts walking away towards Steven at the snack station. I don't think he heard me.

I'm sitting tanning in my chair when he comes back with a sharpie a few minutes later. He bends down beside me. "Will it hurt if I touch it?" he asks. I slightly smile, "no you're fine." He gently grabs my cast to hold it still as he signs his name. "JereBear. Really?" I start laughing. "Shouldn't trust me," he laughs as he stands up. "Can I sign it?" Nicole asks. "Me too," the blonde girl beside her says. "Sure," I say grabbing the sharpie from Jeremiah. "You're popular," he whispers in my ear before he walks back to his lifeguard stand. Oh god why did he have to whisper that in my ear.

I hand the sharpie to Nicole first and then the other girl. I read the signature. 'Gigi.' Noted. "Isn't he such a stud," Gigi says from her chair. "Gigi shut up. He obviously wants Lily," she says. "What?" I say once again. "It is so obvious! He's head over heels for you. He 100% checked you out in that bikini," Nicole turns her heads towards me as she speaks. "You really think so?" I ask. "Oh my god do you like him back?" she asks. "I mean. Look at him," I giggle a little bit. "I love teenage romance," Gigi says as if she wasn't just calling him hot. I'm not upset I just find it funny. I see Belly standing by the pool gate so I walk out to find her.

We leave the pool and I update her on what happened. "He signed your cast as JereBear?" she asks looking at it. "Yeah I know he's stupid," I say. "No Lily. He hates when people call him that. He wants you to call him it," she says with a serious face. "Okay boys are confusing," I say. "Wait I have a genius plan," Belly says. "You said that Nicole said for sure than Ethan is banned from her parties. So we go to another one of her parties, get Jeremiah to go, and you can flirt with him AND make him jealous. That's another bullet point right? That's 2 out of 5. You're almost halfway there," she says. "Okay but when is she throwing another party?" I ask. "Tonight." Belly responds.

I don't know how Belly convinced me to go to another party after what happened at the last one. I'm currently in my bedroom trying to pick out an outfit for the party. What's gonna make Jeremiah fall in love with me? I put on a blue corset top and a pair of black baggy ripped jeans. I have no clue what shoes to wear so I pick the sage option; white converse. I decide to straighten my hair because I never do it. And I always look so innocent with curly hair. I want Jeremiah to want to kiss me, not look at me like a little kid. I do my makeup like I normally do but add winged eyeliner and a slightly darker lip shade.

Belly told me not to get a ride with Jeremiah so that it's a surprise I went to the party. I don't know why she said that because it doesn't really make sense but I listened. Nicole is picking me up because she said she has to buy more booze anyways. I get in the front seat of Nicole's car because nobody else is with her. "What kind of alc do you drink?" she asks. "Usually seltzers," I tell her. "Lame. I'm gonna get you out of your comfort zone tonight. Have you tried tequila?" she asks.