OLIVIA MADE her way outside, looking for any sign of any towels, but she instead, she found Jeremiah looking up at the house by the poolside.

"You know those places you always end up in your dreams?" He asked, "You know, your subconscious brain takes you there 'cause it's a safe space in real life?"

She made her way towards him, standing by his side as they looked up at the house.

"Yeah, I heard on TikTok that it's called shifting." She smiled, trying to make a joke, but seriously believing what she was saying.

Jeremiah looked down at her, before looking up at the house, "This house is that for me. And after today, I'll only ever get to swim in this pool in my dreams. It's weird."

Olivia nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. But you can always swim in it now."

Jeremiah didn't have a second to think as Olivia pushed him into the pool and not long after jumping in herself.

"You did not just do that." He smiled.

"It's our last day in this house." She smiled back, "I don't want you sad and dark on me. Not today."

The two of them went around splashing each other until Jeremiah snuck his arms around her waist and pulling her close.

She smiled at him, her hands resting on his shoulders.

And they stayed that way, what felt like minutes were only seconds as she slipped under the way and swimming towards the pools edge.

Grabbing the some pool floaters and throwing them into the water.

She flopped onto it and sighed in content. She watched Jeremiah flip onto his and the two of them sat in silence for a moment.

"You know, I never thought we were gonna lose this place. Did you?" He asked.

"No." She answered, "I don't think I loved this house enough while you guys were here."

Her hand gently ran over the water and Jeremiah watched. He moved his hands and gently grabbed a hold of it.

And she let him.

"Liv?" Melody called, stepping outside, "Conrad wants you to go on a supply run with him."

She nodded, letting go off Jeremiah's hand and falling off of the pool floaty.

"I'll come, too." Jeremiah said, following behind Olivia.

"Mmhmm, of course you are, Curly Sue."

Olivia soon pulled herself out of the pool, stealing the towel Jeremiah had found and made her way upstairs to take a shower and changing into her clothes.

She tugged on her yellow tube top and she also tired to slip her white Keds and making her way towards her car; letting Conrad drive.

Soon enough, Jeremiah, Olivia, and Conrad made their way towards the gas station, trying to figure out how to get the beers and different alcoholic beverages they needed for the party.

"So, we need beer, tequila, vodka." Olivia sighed, "What else?"

"Uh, gin for Skye." Jeremiah added.

"Who drinks gin?" Olivia asked.

"Old people and Skye." Conrad answered, "All right." He sighed, pulling out an I.D., "I'll take care of this, guys."

"With that?" Jeremiah questioned.

And as soon as he went in, he came out just as quickly with no beers in his hands.

"Oh, no." Jeremiah teased, "What, your I.D. didn't work, Mr. Herbertson?"

"Fuck off. At least I have one."

"Listen, it's 'cause I don't need one, all right?" Jeremiah smiled, "Jumper and I are tight. You know, we're like bros. How hard could it be?"

Hard enough for him not to come out with beers.

"Oh, look at that face." Conrad teased.

"Okay." Jeremiah said, getting in the car, "So, what? Do you want to, like, pay someone to go in and buy it for us or...?"

"Try a different store?" Conrad questioned, "Hop a few towns over where they don't know us as well?"

"That's not going to work, Mr. Herbertson." Olivia spoke, "No one is going to believe that you're from Guam."

"I would love to hear your plan, Olivia." Conrad said, turning in his seat to face her.

"I'm going to go in and ask."

"That's not going to work."

"He's right," Jeremiah spoke, "it's not gonna work."

"Okay." She said, getting out of the car, "Just watch."

She made her way into the gas station, making her way towards the counter.

"Hey, Jumper." She smiled.

"Olivia. I know why you're here."

"You do?" She asked, furrowing her brows.

"You're gonna try to give me a fake I.D. or tell me some story about how your mom forgot to buy wine for a dinner party or something."

"No, no." Olivia reassured, "My mom isn't even in town this year."

"Oh?"

"I'm going to tell you the truth, Jumper, and then you can decide whether or not you want to help." She said, "So, here's the deal. It's been a really shitty couple of weeks."

"Yeah, I, uh, I heard about their mom. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. And I'm sure that you heard that the house was up for sale."

"What?"

"It was actually sold this morning. So tonight is there last night here, for, like, ever."

"Oh. That blows."

"Yeah. It really blows." She paused, "Have you ever just had, like, the shittiest day or week and all you want to do to is let go or hang out with your friends and have a beer... maybe gin?"

And with that, Olivia walked out the convenience store with Jumper in tow.

"No way." Jeremiah muttered as he and Conrad stepped out the car.

"Let's make this quick." Jumper sighed, "And do not get pulled over on the way home or I'll say you stole it while I was on the john."

"Thanks, man."

"See you tonight?" Olivia asked.

Jumper nodded and left the boys and Olivia alone to load the beers into the truck on her car.

"I can't believe you just asked." Jeremiah said.

"I can't believe it worked." Conrad rebutted.

Olivia smiled, "You don't have to always make thing so complicated."

Olivia turned to face Jeremiah holding a cup in her hands with a smile.

"For me? What'd you get me?" He asked.

"Drink it and see."

He took a small sip and looked down at her with a smile.

"Half blue raspberry, half cherry."

"Bingo." She smiled.

"You've always made a pretty mean and delicious slushy." Jeremiah smiled before getting into the car.

"Where's mine?" Conrad asked.

"You don't like my slushy combos." Olivia answered, "You always say they're too sugary."

"Yeah, well, I'm thirsty, so too bad."

He bent down, taking a sip of Olivia's drink, fluttering his eyes up to look at her before stepping back, covering his mouth.

"It's too sugary." He muttered.

Olivia chuckled, pressing her lips against the straw to drink it herself.

"And I've always thought you've made a pretty hot cocoa."

He gave her one last look before shutting the trunk and getting into the car.

Olivia sighed and got into the car.

Fuck him for that, to be honest.

Regardless, the next stop was Party City and the three of them grabbed a cart and they had a very decent amount of cash to use since Conrad was using the Amex card that his dad was giving him.

Olivia pushed her cart down the various aisles of the store, grabbing whatever caught her eye. She even picked up costumes for the girls to wear.

She looked back, seeing Conrad close behind her and she sighed.

"There's literally nothing fun in your cart. This is a party, Conrad."

"These plates have glitter on 'em."

"What are you, 50?" Olivia asked.

She stepped behind him, grabbing the rainbow boa and stepping in front of him. She placed the boa around his neck, still holding the ends in her hands as she used it to pull him in close.

She only smiled brightly as she did so before turning, never seeing the small smile that had grown on his face.

She looked over the shelves and picked up a pair of yellow, flower shaped pair of sunglasses and placed them onto his face.

"You look ever so fabulous, my Connie baby." She smiled.

"Yeah." He laughed.

Never, not once, had Olivia ever called Conrad, Connie, she would always say it reminded her of the character from The Cat in the Hat. In fact, Olivia always teased him about it.

Baby on the other hand... she called him that all the time when they were together.

So, Conrad kept his smile as he stepped forward, seeing the tiara and placing it on top of Olivia's head.

Conrad smiled, waving his hands over her face in a "Vouge-ish" way causing the girl to return the soft-hearted smile.

"Forever..." He paused, "my Princess Liv."

Olivia smiled, "Thank you, Connie baby." She muttered.

"It's funny, you know, my mom used to call me Connie whenever I was too in my head." He paused, "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to bring everything down. I know the... order of the day is fun. Let's have some fun." He chuckled.

"No, it's, um, not that." She reassured, "Can we... the elephant in the room that I feel like we both are pretending isn't there?" She asked.

"Yeah. Of course." Conrad answered, slipping the sunglasses off quickly causing the two of them to chuckle.

There was a beating silence as the two of them looked at each.

"Um, I-I I'm so sorry about that day." Olivia started, "At Susannah's funeral."

"Liv, you don't have to apologize for that."

"I was an asshole, Conrad and I felt like I made that day about when it shouldn't have been at all. I-I awful to you. I was... I can never ever be more sorry." She apologized, "I never acted that ever and I don't want to do it again. It shouldn't have happened in the first. I wanted to be there for you. That's why I went to the rec room. Just to... be there for you."

"It's fine."

"It's not fine. It wasn't fine. It will never be fine, Conrad." Olivia sighed, "Once I saw Aubrey... I just felt like I was starting over. I know we weren't together and it was the completely wrong time even think about my relationships, but it just like I was looking at myself again. Like, how did I fuck twice, you know? Didn't have any right to feel that, I guess."

"Of course you did." Conrad muttered, his voice barely above a whisper, "I was having a panic attack. I just crumbled. Felt like I couldn't breathe. Aubrey was just the one who found me."

"Now feel like a bigger asshole."

"Don't." He reassured, "Because I really wish it was you."

Nothing else was said. Conrad only have Olivia a small smile as he took the crow off her head and brushed the flyaway hairs that had flown up.

But whatever moment that was, was cut abruptly as they heard Jeremiah clearing his throat from the end of the aisle.

Olivia turned, a small smile on her face, "We're almost done."

"Cool. Uh, hurry up then."

Olivia turned, taking notice of the Polaroid cameras on the shelf, she grabbed a few and made her way towards Jeremiah.

"We should get some of these so people can take pictures at the party." She smiled, "You guys can even take the Fisher-Conklin family photo like you always do."

"That's a good idea." Jeremiah softly smiled, "Why don't you join us for that one?"

"Oh, uh, no. I-I couldn't. It's tradition." She said, "I'll just..." She paused, pretending to take a photo, "take the photos."

With that, the finally left Party City and back to the empty house to prepare for the party.

Olivia entered the kitchen, placing things on the counter and seeing Taylor standing there and soon enough Melody stepped into the kitchen.

"Perfect." Melody smiled, "Let's "squash the beef" why don't we?"

Olivia sighed, pushing the beer to the side as she looked over at Taylor.

"Okay," Olivia started, "Taylor. Last year—"

"This is about shit that happened a year ago?" She questioned, "That's what's pissing you—"

"Can you let her fucking finish?" Melody interrupted, "I'm trying to be really calm with you. So, to prevent any fighting in this kitchen, we're gonna fucking civil and take turns." She turned, facing Olivia, "Go ahead."

Olivia nodded, "Last year, on my birthday, I, um, overheard you talking to Belly about me. Saying that I was easy to run over and "what is Jeremiah doing with a girl like her" and I've said never bothered, but really has and... it may seem so small to you, but really has affected the way I take my relationships."

"You we're never meant to hear that." Taylor said.

"Yeah, because you were shit talking behind her back." Melody argued.

"Please, I know you do the thing."

"I do, but when I do I make sure the person can fucking hear it, dollar store Barbie."

"Okay." Olivia awkwardly laughed, "Anyway, you said what you did and I heard it and it hurt me. It didn't bother you and it never will." Olivia shrugged.

Taylor paused, pressing against the counter and sighed, "I really am sorry, Olivia. You were never meant to hear that and I shouldn't have said it." She sighed, "You are a very honest and genuine person and I know that you being her for Conrad and Jeremiah means a lot to them. I'm sorry."

Olivia nodded, "Thank you."

Olivia glanced over, seeing Melody look over at her with a small smile before she shifted and looked over at Taylor.

"I'm glad we got that out the way." Olivia sighed, "I know that you two aren't—"

"She's lucky I'm here." Melody smiled.

"Says who?" Taylor asked.

"I know that you two will never change." Olivia smiled, "But tonight is the night we party and party only. If you two aren't going to get along at least fake it for tonight."

Melody only rolled her eyes and grabbed one of the crates of beer, "I can agree to tonight."

"Just for tonight." Taylor smiled.

"Great!" Olivia smiled, "Tonight is going to be awesome!"

She would be very fucking wrong.

— lucy has something to say !!

jeremiah fisher better count his fucking days

thank you so much for 200k reads

bye :))))