𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 • steven conklin

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞

it was the day.

steven's graduation.

eden knew it was his graduation day. she had it on the calendar in her room, the calendar in the kitchen, and the calendar in her phone. she even put it on jeremiah's calendar and made conrad put it on his. she was excited to see steven graduate.

but now she wouldn't see him graduate. after susannah's death, her breakup with steven, and conrad's breakup with belly, the fisher's did not talk to the conklin's.

for now, at least.

they hadn't heard from conrad in about a week and were starting to get worried.

well, eden and jeremiah were at least. adam just assumed he was busy with finals coming up.

eden had been lying about her therapy sessions with adam. she told him she was going and making progress, but she wasn't, and he was too stupid to actually check.

eden really wanted to be there for steven's graduation. he was the valedictorian and she wanted to hear his speech, but she couldn't. she hated that she couldn't, but she knew part of it was her fault.

she went downstairs that afternoon, just around the time steven's graduation was starting, and saw jeremiah playing video games.

"hey." she said as she plopped down on the couch.

jeremiah didn't reply.

"jere?"

he was silent.

"are you still mad at me? you're the one who ratted me out." she reminded.

"yeah, because i'm worried about you, edes." jeremiah replied.

she snorted. "yeah. okay."

he paused the game and put down the controller before turning to look at his sister.

"i do care about you, eden. even if i'm an asshole,
you're still my little sister and i care about you and your well-being." he replied.

she exhaled through her nose. "yeah, i understand where you're coming from, jere. i'm sorry for calling you a rat, you just care a lot. and i'm sorry if conrad and i ever made you feel like the odd-man-out, you don't deserve that. i know him and i have our little thing, but you're my twin, which by the way, means i'm not your little sister."

"i'm still technically older than you because i came out first." jeremiah replied.

she gave him a little kick.

"is that really all you got from that?" she raised her eyebrows.

"no, i'm kidding. thank you, by the way because sometimes i do feel left out, but i get it. he always gives you a piece of mind that sometimes i can't give you." jeremiah shrugged.

eden pursed her lips and nodded. "i don't say this enough, but i do love you."

"i love you too, edes."

she smiled and he smiled back before turning back to his video game.

"um, speaking of conrad, have you heard from him in the past week?" eden asked.

jeremiah shook his head. "no. have you? he always talks to you."

"mm mm. not since i apparently called him at the party and yelled at him. do you think he's mad at me?" she asked.

"no, he could never be mad at you, eden. i'm just worried." he replied.

"me too. do you think we should go look for him?" eden raised her eyebrows.

"yeah. how about we go tomorrow? we can drive down to brown." he suggested.

edes nodded. "okay. okay, yeah."

and that's what they would do. look for conrad. but there was an unexpected guest that would go looking with them.

🌊

"jere, your phone is buzzing." eden spoke up.

she was on the couch with jeremiah, like she has been all day, reading all the bright places while jeremiah was still playing video games.

he grabbed the phone and picked it up.

"belly?"

eden looked up and closed her book.

"a-are you with conrad?" he questioned.

eden put her book down and sat up.

"i-i dunno, i thought maybe you guys would um—."

there was a short silence before jeremiah spoke up again.

"conrad's gone."

there was silence again.

eden nudged him. "put it on speaker."

he took his phone and put it on speaker before talking again.

"eden's here too."

"hey, edes." belly spoke.

"hi, bells. how was—nevermind..."

there was a brief pause.

"jere, what's happening?" belly asked.

"he's not answering our texts or picking up our calls." jeremiah replied.

"ugh, since when?" belly questioned.

"since last week after our graduation party." eden answered.

"a week!" belly exclaimed.

"look, things got heated between us and i thought he needed some time, but this is getting worrisome now." eden explained.

"that makes sense. i mean, isn't he also in the middle of finals? maybe he's been pulling all-nighters at the library." belly said.

"no, no. i don't think so. i think we're gonna go to brown in the morning and try to track him down." jeremiah informed.

"okay. but i'm coming with you guys."

and so it was decided.

the three were gonna go down to brown and look for conrad.

AUTHORS NOTE
i was gonna do a triple update today (yesterday now), but i decided to save this one.

muah,
lea <3