Shameless ≫ jeremiah fisher

11. ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

IT WAS WAY TOO damn sunny in cooper's room and whoever opened the curtains was talking way too damn loud. he pulled the covers up over his head and snuggled deeper into his pillow, trying to drown out the words coming from his best friend mouth. "come on, coop. it's nearly two. are you really going to stay in bed all day?"

"yes." it was pretty plain and simple. cooper did not plan on leaving his bed at all. his head was pounding and his stomach was definitely upset with him.

"i figured we could go down to the beach today and smoke a little before we go out to this stupid family dinner my mom and laurel planned." conrad stated as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

cooper hummed, rolling over so that he wasn't facing the windows and peeked out from under the covers. "i'm not really feeling it today. if you want to, go ahead, but i'll pass."

conrad looked surprised, "since when do you turn down marijuana?"

the blond boy closed his eyes and sighed, "since now."

"what caused that decision?"

"i don't know." cooper mumbled, "maybe i'm just too hungover." there was a small silence before the blond spoke again. "text allie and see if she'll hang with you. i'm sure she'll meet you on the beach."

"you sure?" conrad asked. cooper only nodded and the boy pulled his phone from his pocket, shooting the girl a text. "thanks, coop. feel better." he left the room, closing the door behind him and cooper groaned loudly because he'd left the curtains open. he slowly sat up, immediately regretting it as he hurled over the side of the bed and puked his guts out into the bucket he had thankfully remembered was placed there the night before. he sat there, hunched over, for a few minutes to make sure he got it all out before picking up the bucket. he headed to the bathroom, dumping it down the toilet before flushing and rinsing it in the tub. he leaned against the counter and reached for his toothbrush, putting a good bit of toothpaste on it before scrubbing the puke taste out of his mouth. he was still feeling a bit nauseous, so the minty taste in his mouth wasn't doing him any favors, but he suffered through it, rinsing with water once he was done.

he turned to head out of the bathroom, running into belly. "hey, coop, how're you feeling?"

"not great." cooper mumbled. "i need to chill with the alcohol for at least a couple of days."

belly chuckled, "that might be a good idea." he only offered her a small smile as he leaned against the counter. "do you know where conrad went?"

cooper frowned, "he went down to the beach to meet allie. he–he wanted to smoke and i didn't so he was meeting up with allie to do so."

"oh." she pursed her lips.

"maybe you can go down there and beat allie to him? see if you can stop him from making another stupid decision?" he gave the girl a soft smile.

belly bit her lip and rocked back and forth on her heels for a moment before giving cooper a small smile. she spun around and made her way out of the room, leaving the boy alone again. he headed back into his bedroom, debating on whether he was going to crawl back into bed or get the things he needed to get in the shower. after staring at the bed for a solid minute he decided on taking a shower.

he made sure the water was warm before climbing in and let the water run down his body, soaking every part of his skin. he made it short and simple, washing his hair and body quickly before getting out. he wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door, making his way back to the bedroom where he found jeremiah sitting on his bed.

a small groan fell from his mouth as he walked straight to the dresser once the door was closed. "what are you doing in here?"

"i said we should to talk." the younger boy stated. "so i'm here to do that."

cooper shook his head, "we have nothing to talk about, jeremiah. you hate me; i hate you. the feeling is mutual, so we can just move along with our lives now." he grabbed a pair of boxer briefs from the drawer, dropping the towel as he had his back turned to the boy. it wasn't like he hadn't seen him naked before. he slipped the boxers on before turning to look at the boy, catching the curly haired kid eyeing him up and down.

"i heard what you said to belly the other night." jeremiah ignored his pleas for him to leave.

cooper placed his hands on his hips and shrugged his shoulders. "what did i say?"

"you never told me you came from a fucked up past." jere stated.

the older boy licked his lips and looked away. "it's not something i normally just tell people."

there was a small silence as jeremiah watched cooper look out the window. "what happened to you?"

cooper shook his head, turning back to his dresser. "i don't want to talk about it." he grabbed a pair of shorts and slipped them on, flinching as he felt hands touch his waist. he turned to jeremiah, not bothering to push the boy's hands away as his thumbs brushed across the older boy's skin. he sighed, mumbling, "it's not something you need to know, jeremiah."

"you keep saying that you're not perfect and there's so much from your past that i don't know and that's why you say you're not. i want to know these things because to me you are perfect, cooper. every flaw you have makes you even more perfect to me. you may not think you're anything special, but to me you are pretty god damn special." jeremiah stated, his eyes searching cooper's own as the older boy tried to avoid eye contact.

"didn't you hate me before we came here? how do you suddenly think i'm perfect and special, but despised me before summer started? it doesn't add up."

a sigh fell from jeremiah's lips. "i never hated you, cooper. i really didn't. i just didn't approve of you smoking weed all the time and getting my brother into that stuff. he had no reason to start smoking that shit, so yeah, it made me a little upset to know that you're the one that's got him addicted."

cooper licked his lips, "everyone has their reasons for smoking weed. you just don't know his."

"and you do?" jeremiah scoffed. cooper only shook his head, looking down at jeremiah's hands burning into his sides. he couldn't tell jere about his mom; it wasn't his place. that was something conrad had to disclose with his brother. there was a silence as jeremiah continued to rub his fingers along cooper's waist and the older boy let him, his eyes flickering back and forth between the boy's hands and his face. "cooper, i-"

a knock on the door cut the younger boy off. jeremiah quickly stepped away from cooper and the bedroom door opened, revealing steven. "hey, do you know where-oh, what are you doing in here, jere? i was just looking for you."

"we were just talking about conrad." cooper pursed his lips looking from the curly haired boy to the one standing in the doorway.

steven furrowed his eyebrows, "why? is everything okay? i just saw belly meet him down on the beach."

cooper didn't even notice the sigh of relief escape his mouth until jeremiah gave him a confused glance. he shook his head at the older boy and pursed his lips. "well, thanks for talking, cooper. i'll let you do your thing." he left with steven and cooper sat down on the edge of his bed, running his fingers through his hair. his head still hurt, so he decided to lay back down and tried to get a little more sleep.