Chapter Text
Belly’s most favorite place to be was Cousins. She waited all year for the chance to see the Cousins Beach sign, swim in the ocean, and take her late night swims in the Fisher’s pool. When the air started to smell like summer, and the heat rolled in, all she could think about was being at Cousins. She’d been going since she was a little kid, even before she was born. It was basically her second home.
But this summer felt different. Something had changed and Belly hadn’t had enough time to figure it out yet, or think about it too much (only at night when she couldn’t sleep). She had felt a shift between her and Conrad, something she didn’t expect. He was colder, withdrawn, and never seemed to join her, Steven, and Jeremiah in any of the activities they wanted to do. Impromptu muffin runs? He had plans. Surfing? He had work. Late night swims? He wouldn’t join, but now he liked sitting on the side of the pool with his feet dangling in while he smoked- a new habit she certainly never expected.
But what hadn’t changed was Jeremiah. And she was grateful for that. Everything was always easy with Jeremiah, he never acted differently towards her. She could always count on him when she needed him. She could count on Conrad too, but not as much lately. She was hoping that was just temporary.
A knock on her door interrupts her early morning thoughts. “Come in!” She expects it to be her mom or Susannah telling her to get out of bed. But instead in came Jeremiah, no shirt and clearly looking for someone to go in the ocean or pool with him, as indicated by the towel slung over his shoulder.
“Bells, want to go swimming? I promised Steven I’d go do something with him later, so I don’t have much time,” Jeremiah says, leaning against the door frame at the entrance of her room.
Belly always was grateful Jeremiah thought of her when he wanted to do something. She couldn’t imagine not asking him when she wanted to do something like go swimming or go on muffin runs. “Yeah, give me a second and I’ll be right down.”
He smiles, one of the smiles that reach his eyes and shows he’s truly happy. “Alright, I’ll be waiting.”
He lightly hits the door frame on his way out, leaving Belly to find her swimsuit and get ready. Her swimsuit she kept in the drawers here was neatly tucked away where she left it last summer. She quickly puts it on, grabs the towel that she haphazardly threw on the top of her dresser last night after swimming, and heads downstairs to go to the beach with Jeremiah.
This is what she lived for. Quality time at the beach, enjoying the start of summer.
Jeremiah is waiting for her outside, all ready to go. She quickly smiles at him and they soon fall into synchronized steps as they head down to the beach, talking and catching up. They had so much to talk about since they hadn’t seen each other since last summer. Even though they constantly texted, it was nice to receive updates in person.
“I’ve been waiting for this all year,” Belly says as she turns her head to smile at Jeremiah. He’s smiling back at her, swaying on his heels like a little kid excited to go in the ocean.
“Ready to race?” He asks, which immediately has Belly shaking her head, telling him his legs are too long now and she would never win a race. In the middle of their playful arguing, she takes off, running towards the beach and leaving Jeremiah to catch up. She’s right, his legs are too long now because it doesn’t take him too long to catch up with her.
The beach is mostly empty, their laughs and the sounds of the waves crashing basically the only sounds coming from the area right now. The two of them crash into the waves together, leaving Belly breathless from the tackle. Jeremiah’s hands are still on her waist, as the waves crash over them, and she tries not to think about how close they are. So instead of dealing with the small butterflies in her stomach and her racing heartbeat (totally because of the tackling), she splashes Jeremiah in the face, continuing their playful fight.
“Oh come on Bells! Not fair!” His infectious laugh reminds of her why she loves Cousins so much. Why she loves everything about summertime. Because summertime means Jere, Conrad, and Susannah. Her favorite people.
After a good amount of splashing and floating in the ocean together, Belly makes her way back to the towel she threw as she was racing Jeremiah to the ocean. She sits on it and lets out a huge sigh.
“We’re having a rematch on that race sometime soon you know,” Jeremiah says as he lays his towel down next to Belly’s and joins her.
She turns her head to smile at him teasingly. “Oh sure, but no need for a rematch. I think there’s a clear winner here for the summer.” She taps Jeremiah’s nose with her index finger which makes the two of them smile. She loved his smile.
“Well look who came back so confident.”
Belly smiles, shifting on her towel a little bit as she feels a breeze coming their way. “There’s something different about this summer. Maybe that’s just me.” She turns to him for some confirmation, anything that tells her maybe he feels a shift too. Maybe he’s noticed something. But all Jeremiah does is squint his eyes a little into a confused expression. So she tries to rephrase. “Conrad seems different. I don’t understand.”
Jeremiah’s expression goes from confused and playful to something she doesn’t entirely recognize. Something on the spectrum of annoyance. She waits for him to speak, wanting to wait before jumping to any conclusions on what might be wrong with Conrad. “He’ll be alright, he’s going through a rough breakup,” Jeremiah explains. Somehow his tone doesn’t seem too convincing.
But Belly ends up dropping the subject, moving onto something more lighthearted which gets her and Jeremiah laughing again.
Belly spent the rest of the evening mostly alone. Her mom and Susannah were out at the grocery store, which she knew would take forever, so she opted out of that activity. Steven and Jeremiah ended up going to the pier to hang out, and Conrad was out…she doesn’t know where. He was just out. So that left her alone, pretty much for a few hours. She’s spent the last twenty minutes on the phone with Taylor, updating her on how much she missed Cousins, how weird Conrad was being, and her day with Jeremiah.
Taylor only ever seemed to care about Jeremiah (Jeremy to her) though. “See, Jeremy is so sweet. It would be so much easier if Conrad had his personality.”
Taylor did make a good point. Conrad hadn’t said much to her today, besides glances and small smiles. It was brief, but gave her small hope. “Taylor, it’s Jeremiah.” She emphasizes his name, even though she knows Taylor only calls Jeremiah “Jeremy” to flirt with him. But it’s become a habit, and she sometimes thinks Taylor may forget his actual name.
“Hey, I’m just saying, Jeremy’s right there. And he totally looks hot.”
The both of them start laughing, but Belly can start feeling her cheeks redden when she remembers the feeling of his hands on her waist for that brief second in the ocean. She’d never thought of anyone but Conrad like that before. Conrad’s glances had always made her feel nervous, his touches making her even more anxious. Good anxious. But she felt like that momentarily today in the ocean.
And she was trying really hard to suppress that nagging feeling right now. The feeling that maybe summer wasn’t changing, but she was.