Seasons Changing

The Ride

A/N: I edited the last chapter so just make sure if you read it before 5/20/24 to double check thank you!!

I grabbed all of my things and quietly left. Making sure to not wake anyone up. I headed towards his car. When I opened the door, I saw his contagious smile. "Want to go to the beach?" "Yeah!"

I snuck out of the hotel and took the things I came with. I made the first flight I could to Rhode Island. 

I'd seen the missed calls from Lucas when I landed. I called Jeremiah to come pick me up. He did just that. 

"You don't have to make things weird. I-I had nothing to do with Lucas and Belly-" "I-I know it's just weird I guess. A lot of things have changed." 

We made our way to campus and to Conrad's dorm. "Hey, his bed is made up, things can't be that bad". "Whoa. Excuse me. This is my room that you guys are rifling through" a man who seemed to be Conrad's roommate told us. 

"Hey, man. I'm Conrad's brother. We talked on the phone earlier. It's nice to finally meet you. He hasn't come back has he?" Jere asked. "Uh, I haven't seen him since Thursday afternoon." the room mate says. "Did anything else happen before he left?" I asked. "He got into it with someone on the phone. Like, he was yelling and shit." the roommate replied. "And he just took off? Do you have any idea who he was yelling at? Or have you heard from him?" Jere asked. "No. He texted me this morning saying that he was gonna miss bio lab and asked if I could take notes. I'd be annoyed but I spent this whole year copying off his shit, so I can't really complain. Y'all feel?" 

A girl walked in asking the room mate for a jacket. "Hey this is Sophie. You might ask her, they were tight". I looked at her. 'Tight'? What did that mean to him. Was she after me? Were they just friends? She was pretty. She seemed nice.

"Hey Sophie, I'm Conrad's brother have you heard from him lately?" "Uh, not really, I think he said he was going to his cousin by the beach." "All right Ryan let's go" Jere says. "Oh you're Ryan. When you guys broke up my man fell into a depression." the roommate brainlessly says. "Uh, I don't think that was because of me". "No, yeah, it definitely was. Like he was always looking at your picture on his phone. Anyways when you guys find him, tell him he has to be back from his bio final on Thursday or he doesn't pass the class". "Seriously, uh Ryan, you grab his computer and I'll grab his books so he can study" Jere tells me. I follow his instructions and graphs his laptop and we headed out. 

"Do you want me to come to cousins?" "You don't have to". "That's not what I asked. I mean, we're still decent right?" "Yeah, yeah. Uh, let's go" he says as he nods his head for me to get in. 

The ride was a little awkward. Ever since the funeral things had been kind of iffy with Jere and I. Even though I hadn't done anything. The whole group just faded.

My phone started ringing. "Luca, I'm going to need you to act like you can read a text." I tell him. "What am I supposed to tell mom?" "Nothing! Just tell her that like Stefany or Leah had an emergency and I went to their house. Goodbye" I say as I hung up on him. 

"Can you try Conrad again?" I nodded my head and called him. No answer. "I'm not surprised Jere, I haven't really talked to him since the funeral." "What happened?" "He uh he just-" tears started to fill my face. "You know what it's fine, we don't have to talk about it". "Okay" I said quietly as I turned to face my window to hide my tear filled face.

The car jerked and Jeremiah yelled. "What-what happened?" He pulled over ignoring my question. Probably from being stressed. He gets out of the car and his face grows frustrated. "Fuck! The tire's done for. I-Imma call AAA" he tells me as I get out the car. 

"Hey, you seem tense why don't you-" "I'm fine Ryan. I just keep looking at you and seeing your brother". "What's that supposed to mean?" "That last summer was fucked. You knew about Belly and I, but were so quick to support her and Lucas." "I have nothing to do with that." "Cause you were too busy chasing Conrad. Now neither of us got who we wanted" he yells at me. "What the fuck Jere! I've never done wrong by you. The actions of my brother have nothing to do with me. I'm not mad at you because of Conrad!" He took a step back. "You-you're right. I think I've just been angry for so long". "Conrad was too. Last summer. That's why he was so different." "I don't want to be angry anymore". I walked up to him and hugged him. "Then don't be" I said into is chest. He started crying and I just let him. 

We got the tire fixed and started back on our way. "You know, I haven't really talked to Belly since the funeral. I was at Steven's grad party and still didn't". "Looks like someone else is holding on to anger huh"? "More like confusion." "We're almost to pie!" "Rosie's! We're stopping right?" "Duh" Jere responds as if it was dumb for me to ask.

As we placed our order I heard a familiar voice say my name. To my surprise I turned around to see Nicole. "Wow, Nicole! It's so good to see you" I say as I walk to her to give her a hug." Jere came with me and she gave her condolences for Susannah. He decided to go check on our order. "It was good seeing you Ry, we should hang out some time. You still have my number?" "Yeah" I responded as she took off with a smile. The phone works both ways. We hadn't talked all year, the summer doesn't change that.

Christmas lights in Cousins. Something I never thought I'd see. "They're pretty aren't they?" "Do you know your face lights up more and more with each building we pass?" "Oh does it?" I asked. We ended up at the Fisher home. "Should we go inside?" he asked. "I don't think we came all this way just to sit in the car".

He attempted to light a fire in the fire place as I made hot coco. Something about being in this house, alone felt right. Was this what the future was going to be? 

"Do you want your coco?" I asked as he took a seat next to me. He took a sip and started laughing. "That tastes really dusty". "Well who knows how long the mix had been there" I laughed. He stared at me. I loved when he did. "Con, it's snowing! Let's go". "What it's cold" he protested. "I don't care. We're going to the beach" I told him as I grabbed his arm. 

The beach was magical. We ran around and talked. We sat for a little but it truly was really cold. So, we headed back to the house. 

"Here, sit by the fire so we can warm up." he instructed. There he goes, staring at me again. "What?" "You're just very pretty" he tells me. I leaned in to kiss him. He kissed me back. We laid down and I ended up on top of him. Then I sat up.

"We-we should stop, right?" "If that's what you want" he tells me. "I don't want to". "I don't want to either, just don't want you do think I brought you here just for this." "No, I know" I say as I go back down and started kissing him again.

"Connie you can't just do this. When I call you, you pick up the phone" Jere yells as he bursts into the house. I took my time to go see him. The last time wasn't so good.

"I've been dealing with a lot of shit, Jere." "Dude, you have to go back for your bio finals". "I'm not leaving. Jere, the house has been put up for sale." I finally made it to the living room. "What do you mean it's been put up for sale?" "What is she doing here?"