love sick, c. f.
you and conrad had a secret relationship two summers ago, when you were 15 and he was 16. you broke up with him because your younger sister, belly had liked him, and you were afraid of hurting her. now, flash forward, you were 17, and you thought you had gotten over him, but maybe you haven’t
vi. belly's birthday
TODAY WAS BELLY'S 16TH BIRTHDAY.
i had the day off from work, since it was her birthday.
laurel had breakfast on the table ready for belly, and susannah had gotten her baby blue and white balloons.
all of us were downstairs, waiting for belly, and finally, she came downstairs.
"morning, everyone!" belly said with enthusiasm.
"there's the birthday girl!" susannah hugged her. "looking like a vision in floral. happy birthday!
jeremiah leaned down to hug belly. "happy sweet sixteenth bells."
"belly's getting old finally!" steven teased. "happy birthday.
"happy birthday sweetheart." laurel hugged her with a warm smile.
belly laughed. "thanks everyone."
i hugged belly. "happy birthday, belly. mom made your pancakes."
"actually, uh- i'm not really hungry." belly told me and laurel.
"oh." laurel said, but i knew she was disappointed.
"shall we open gifts?" susannah shrugged.
"you're gonna love mine." jeremiah confidently told her.
one thing i did notice though, was conrad hadn't said happy birthday.
we went into the living room, to open gifts, belly had opened her gift from laurel, and it was a book.
"it's the latest edition." laurel spoke up. "i got it from a rare book dealer."
"thanks mom." belly said with no enthusiasm.
laurel rolled her eyes with a smile. "turn to the book marked page."
belly obliged. "oh, yeah i remember susannah telling us to recite this." belly laughed, all of us reciting the sentence.
"open mine now, belly." susannah handed her a gift.
belly opened the gift, and it was a pearl necklace. "oh wow, they're gorgeous, thank you, susannah."
susannah went over to belly, to put the necklace on her. "my mom gave me these pearls for my sweet sixteen."
"they look great on you, belly." i smiled at her.
"oh! i'm next." jeremiah gave a gift to belly.
"it's a good luck charm. to help you pass your drivers test." belly put the charm on her wrist.
steven threw a shirt at belly. "think fast!"
"wow steven! i can't believe you actually spent money on me." she sarcastically smiled.
it was a princeton shirt. "relax, i just didn't want you stealing mine when i get in next year."
"i didn't know you were still considering princeton." laurel said.
"you know, i think i'm gonna apply for some scholarships, and dad thinks i can get some financial aid." steven told her.
i went over to belly, handing her my gift, with a smile. "open it."
belly tore off the wrapping, opening the gift to see keys.
"what are these?" she asked with a smile.
"car keys. with the help of susannah, once you pass your drivers test, there's a car waiting for you, it's at home." i explained.
belly's jaw dropped. "y/n! thank you so much!" she went to hug me.
i laughed and hugged her back. "you're welcome."
"conrad, do you wanna give belly her gift?" susannah asked.
conrad stayed silent for minute before responding. "sorry, i forgot."
my heart shattered when i looked to belly, seeing her smile drop, her looking so sad. how could he forget?
"uh- that's cool." belly played it off. "i wasn't really expecting anything anyway."
"listen.. i gotta go." conrad broke the tension. "i promised cleveland i show him some knots today, so.. happy birthday belly."
"hey." jeremiah called to belly. "why don't we take my car and practice driving before we have to pick up taylor from the bus stop.
"okay." belly agreed. "y/n, wanna come?" belly asked me.
"no, you two go ahead, i have.. something to do."
i got up, going the same direction conrad went.
i had caught up to conrad, grabbing his shoulder, causing him to spin around, facing me.
"really? you forgot?" i asked with anger in my voice.
i was going to take a more.. calm approach, but i was just so angry, my emotions got the better of me.
"well-" he began to speak, but i already know whatever he was going to say was going to be stupid, so i just cut him off.
"listen, i don't know what the hell's going on with you, but you've been acting like an asshole." i insulted.
he rolled his eyes at me. "grow up." this wasn't the same conrad i had seen last summer, i looked into his eyes, he had no remorse for what he said. "i forgot a gift one year."
"it's not just that!" i was starting to lose my patience with him, using my hands to emphasize my point while i spoke. "you've been- just been a dick since we've gotten here! you weren't always like this."
"oh, so now suddenly you care? didn't seem like you did two summers ago." conrad stared coldly into my eyes.
are you serious? he wanted to do this?
"seriously?" i blinked a few times before speaking again, and i scoffed. "you wanna go there?"
conrad sighed, he could probably sense as well that this was starting to escalate. "just forget it."
"fine." i simply said, before walking away, leaving him there.
how could he say that i don't care about him? when that's all i've done for him.
me and conrad were at the beach, there were so many stars in the sky, and it was pitch black outside.
we both couldn't sleep, so we had decided to go the beach.
"can't sleep?" he asked, seeing me downstairs.
i turned around to see it was him, a smile appearing on my face. "nah."
he motioned his head at the door, basically silently asking me if i wanted to leave. i nodded my head, putting on my shoes.
we were at the shallow part of the water, the water going up to my knees.
i looked at the sky, he glanced at me. "what do you see up there?"
"a star shaped like a bunny." i joked. "you see it?"
"yeah." he said, and i started to laugh.
"you liar." i splashed him with water.
his body turned to me and he splashed me back.
we kept on splashing each other, and i kept laughing.
he had grabbed my wrist to get me to stop splashing him, pulling me close to him.
i stopped splashing him, looking into his blue eyes, and he looked into my eyes.
he took the hand off my wrist and cupped my cheek, i looked down at his lips, getting more and more nervous by each second.
he started to lean in, and then he kissed me. i kissed him back. i couldn't help it.
i knew if belly found out, she'd probably hate me, she liked conrad since she was little, but i just couldn't help myself.
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