OLIVIA AND Jeremiah finally made it back to the summer house and grabbed the grocery's they had stopped to get and the food they had brought Belly and Conrad.

Conrad soon approached, jogging towards the duo as his black wetsuit clung to his body and his hair dripped with saltwater.

"You guys went to the store?" He asked.

"We didn't just get groceries." Jeremiah said, "We actually went to see Aunt Julia."

"How did that go?"

"Not great." He answered, "Talked to Dad yet?"

"No."

Olivia smiled, grabbing the bag from Jeremiah's hands, "I'm gonna take these inside."

Jeremiah muttered a soft thanks and the duo watched Olivia make her way inside and shut the door softly behind her.

She carried the groceries into the kitchen were she saw Belly sitting by the island.

She looked up from her phone and flipped it over, standing to her feet to help Olivia put things away.

It was mainly silent between them before Olivia cleared her throat to speak.

"Hey, Belly?"

"Hm?"

"I just wanted to let you know that's there's no bad blood between us from last summer."

Belly looked up, surprised by Olivia's words. She had expected some sort tension from last summer's "incident", but Olivia's openness caught her off guard.

"Oh," Belly paused, trying to find the right words. "That's good to hear. I never meant to—"

"I know. Trust me I know." She laughed, "Jeremiah's a heavy flirt and... things happened."

"You're being really cool about this." Belly smiled, "You aren't gonna like... hit me?"

"I couldn't hit a fly, Belly. It would have some sort of upper hand and kill me if it could." She joked, "But seriously, I-I I'm not mad or anything. I mean, I was, but not anymore."

Belly nodded, "I'm still really sorry. Things between us didn't work out anyway." She looked down before looking back up at the girl, "It was... a crazy summer."

Olivia nodded, "I agree."

"Can we just start over?" Belly asked, "Like, all the way over?"

Olivia smiled, "Can we just start as friends?"

"I'd like that." Belly smiled.

Olivia finally felt some peace.

That would last long when a certain blonde made her appearance.

LATER ON in the day, the group found Conrad sitting in the dining room, preparing for the phone call with his father.

"Dad should be calling soon." Conrad spoke.

"Do you guys want to talk to him alone?" Belly asked.

"Yeah, we can totally get out of your hair." Olivia added.

"No, stay. Stay." Conrad reassured, "You've both helped me and J get this far. Plus, it's your house as much as it is ours."

Belly and Olivia gave each other a look before taking a seat and soon the phone began to rang.

Conrad hesitantly answer the phone and set it in the middle of the table.

"Dad, hey."

"Hey, Con." His father, Adam, spoke over the line, "I only got about a few minutes here."

"Hey, Dad."

"Jere?" Adam questioned, "You're in Cousins, too?"

"Yeah, just got here last night."

Adam sighed, "All right, look, I got a heads-up from the bank telling me you're trying to access your trust. That's not gonna happen."

"So you've already made up your mind?" Conrad asked.

"Yeah. I mean, that money is for your future. I'm not gonna let you blow it on a beach house."

"It's not just a house, Dad." Conrad said.

"You want me to beg, Dad?" Jeremiah asked.

"Guys, I had my lawyers look into any possible loopholes right after the funeral, but there's none. Okay? The house is legally Julia's."

"Wait, so you've known we're losing the house since the funeral?" Jeremiah asked.

"Jere, I'm not your evil father trying to ruin your life. And believe it or not, I'm just as upset as you are about it."

"That's such bullshit." Conrad muttered, "That's such bullshit." He repeated, "You've never cared about this house, Dad. You never cared about it 'cause you never cared about Mom."

Adam exhaled, "You know that's not true. Jere, come on. You get it, don't you?"

Jeremiah sighed, "Dad I-I don't, I do not know why we can't just use our fund to buy it... and we can sell it later if we need the money."

"No." Adam answered, "Julia's gonna go ahead with the open house tomorrow. I really appreciate the attempt here, but this is the end of the conversation. You just make sure that Julia has everything that she needs, got it?"

"Conrad was right." Jeremiah spat, "Talking to you is pointless."

Jeremiah didn't wait for a response from his father as he quickly hung up the font and the four of them sat in brooding silence.

The front door suddenly opened and Steven Conklin (Belly's older brother) and Taylor Jewel (Belly's best friend) entered the household holding pies in their hands.

"Surprise!" Steven smiled, "Oh, shit." He muttered once he saw the somber looks on their faces, "I-I knew we should have told them we were coming."

"No, it's not that." Conrad reassured, "It's..."

"We're losing the house." Jeremiah said, "They put it up for sale."

"Oh, Cinderbelly." Taylor pouted, taking Belly into her arms.

Olivia sighed, standing up from her chair and made her way upstairs, but her absents didn't surpass the Fisher brothers.

NIGHTFALL CAME over Cousins and Olivia stood in the kitchen as the others gathered in the living room.

She held her bag that she had packed on her arm as she began to grab a soda from the fridge.

She soon shut it and gasped, almost dropping it when she found Jeremiah standing on the other side.

He looked down at her bag and furrowed his brows, looking back up at her.

"You're leaving?" He asked.

Olivia pushed her glasses up and gave Jeremiah a soft smile, "Yeah. I think I'm just gonna spend the night at my place." She answered, "I'm not too far and if you need anything you can just call—"

"Why are you leaving?" He asked.

Olivia bit the inside of her cheek. Was she really going to say that she didn't want to be in Taylor's presence because of what she said last summer? She knew that it didn't bother Taylor. Hell, Taylor most likely didn't think about Olivia since last summer.

"Liv?" Jeremiah called.

She sighed, "Look, I just don't get along Taylor, okay? I thinks it's best if I just stay at home and you guys have... your wild party."

Jeremiah furrowed his brows, "What happened between you and Taylor?"

Olivia ran her fingers through her hair and began to fiddle with the necklace that laid bare on her chest.

"Liv?"

"Last summer, on my birthday, I overhead Taylor and Belly talking about us." Olivia almost whispered, "And Taylor told Belly that I was awkward or some shit like that and that you could run me over. And said something like, why is he with a girl like her?"

"She said that?" He asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"What were you going to do, Jere?" She asked. She shook her head, holding her can of soda tight, "She's here for Belly, okay? And—"

"And you're here for Conrad... and me... and the house." Jeremiah said, "Are you really going to leave because of her?"

"I'll be down the road."

She brushed past him and as her hand rested against the doorknob, Jeremiah called out to her.

"Invite Melody."

Olivia scoffed, almost laughing as she turned, "What? Why?"

"So you're more comfortable." He said, rocking back and forth on his feet, "We want you to say."

"Melody hates Taylor, she can't stand you or Belly, and she's only tolerating Conrad because I told her to." Olivia smiled, "Her being here is only going to make me feel good."

"Good." He smiled.

Olivia sighed, closing the door and pulling her phone out of her pocket to call Melody.

And moments later, there was a knock on the door.

It opened and Melody stood on the other side with pizza boxes in her hands and a smile on her face.

"The best bitch is here!" She smiled.

She looked up and he smile quickly faded when she saw Jeremiah standing on the other side.

She literally scoffed, raising her free hand and blocking his face as she made her way inside.

"Nice to see you to, Melody." Jeremiah smiled.

"Shut up, bleach blond."

Melody sat the pizzas on the coffee table and turned towards the others with a bright, though fake, smile.

"Steven." Melody turned towards Belly and Taylor, the two of them sitting next to Steven, "Tweedledee and dum."

Melody finally looked up seeing Conrad and Olivia standing behind the couch.

Melody, for the first time, held a true smile as she made way towards Olivia, slapping Taylor's legs down so she could make her way there.

"Liv!" She smiled, wrapping the girl in her touch, "If I know sooner that you'd be here with this mess I would've come sooner, bitch." She muttered, smiling as she pulled away.

Melody looked up at Conrad, "Hello, Conrad. Nice to see you." She spoke monotonously.

"Hi, Melody."

The blonde turned, kicking Belly's legs down this time and sat in between the duo as she began talking to Steven.

"Everything okay?" Conrad asked.

Olivia looked up, "Yeah. I'm good. How about you?"

"I'm good." He smiled, "Told Jere we're not giving up."

"Good." She nodded, "Because we're not."

Conrad smiled, "Thank you, Liv."

She looked up once more, Conrad smiling down at her, which she softly returned and made her way towards the floor to sit.

"Whoever asked for pineapple pizza can get fucked." Melody scoffed, "Fucking freak."

"Hey," Jeremiah called, "I only want two slices."

"Jeremiah, I think that's all you." Conrad smiled, "Uh, so what do you guys want to watch?"

"I found It Happened One Night."

Conrad grabbed the case from her hands and placed the CD in the DVD player.

He turned, joining the girl on the floor.

But he didn't stay there long.

His phone buzzed from his hands and he grabbed the collar of shirt, leaving the room and the house all together.

— lucy has something to say !!

i'm letting y'all know the funeral is in the next chapter

bye :))))