I Love You, I'm Sorry

Chapter 22.

The Summer I Turned Pretty

"CONRAD IS GOING TO LOSE HIS mind when he sees you in this bikini." Taylor told Belly, smiling.

"No," Belly shook her head in denial, "I doubt it. I honestly think he couldn't care less."

"Come on, Belly." Taylor deadpanned.

"No, seriously."

Taylor let out a dramatic sigh as her attention was then on Lemon, the quieter twin. "Well, I know for sure Jeremy lost his mind when he saw you with that bikini on. You look so hot, babe."

"Tay," Lemon let out a tired sigh, "for the last time- I have a boyfriend. You can't be making these jokes anymore, you know that."

"Okay, fine." Taylor shrugged, "But you can't deny that everyone in this family still thinks you two should've ended up together. Who knows, you might just in the end." She drawled out in a sing-song tone at the end, bumping her shoulder with Lemon's.

"But back to Conrad-"

"Okay, can we please stop talking about Conrad." Lemon felt her voice rise a little, feeling the irritation, hurt, and anger bubbling up inside her at the mere mention of the boy.

"You okay, Lemony?" Taylor slowly asked as her smile faded slightly, wading through the water to be closer to the other girl, Belly following closely behind.

"No, I'm not." Lemon shook her head, "You know, he gave Belly a gift but I didn't get one. He said he forgot where he put it. Like just say you didn't get me one instead of being more of an asshole than you've already been!"

"And you know, that night after Belly and I had gotten back from our date which they tried to ruin, Conrad shows up and acts like what he'd done wasn't wrong. I told him it was messed up to me, and if he couldn't see anything wrong with what they had done then he was the problem but he just kept invaliding how I felt and then he was telling me to grow up and I- I said some stuff to him."

"What'd you say?" Belly was the one to speak, moving to stand in front of her sister, worry etched onto her face.

"I told him to go back to smoking his pot and to continue ruining everything in his life." Lemon softly said, her eyes staring into her sister's own.

"What did he say back?" Taylor questioned.

"He said-" Lemon paused, "He said that I should go back to comparing myself to Belly and maybe then I'd finally see why he preferred her over me." Her eyes flickered as they looked away, looked away from the pitiful looks being given to her. The way her sisters eyes had momentarily lit up at Conrad's admittance before dimming upon hearing that her sister compared herself to her.

How could Y/n Susannah'Lemon' Conklin compare herself to her. Belly had always thought it was the other way around, but she guessed they both wanted something the other had and could never have it for themselves.

"Y/n..." Belly whispered as she drew herself even more closer to her sister, placing both her wet hands on her twin's cheeks, her thumbs rubbing gently at the skin. "I didn't know..."

"You weren't ever supposed to." Lemon's voice came out strained and harsh - she regretted how she sounded, "Sorry, but you really weren't ever. And I hate how Conrad somehow caught on. I don't even understand him anymore. I don't think I ever did."