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Conrad flicked the light on as Liz and Belly entered the house. He shut the door behind him while the two settled in. Belly opened the back door and sighed, "It's such a nice night."

Conrad followed Liz into the kitchen as the girl sat at the counter with a water, "Hey, are you guys still hungry?"

"Yeah." Liz nods

"Yeah, I could eat." Belly shrugs. Conrad sets the bags and keys on the counter before walking over toward the fridge, "Hey... can I ask you something?"

"Yeah." He says grabbing the chicken and shutting the door

"Do you eat... anything other than grilled chicken?"

Liz giggles as Conrad shakes his head with a smile, "No. It's literally the only thing I know how to cook."

"That's very true." Liz nods

"Okay, well, if you're gonna eat that much chicken, you have to at least let me season it."

"I season it." Conrad says

"I absolutely don't believe you."

"And no more quinoa-on-the-side, okay?" Liz says walking over to the fridge

"What's wrong with quinoa?" Conrad asks turning to Liz

"I'm so sick of quinoa." She grimaces turning from the fridge, "Tonight, we're doing fries."

"Yes, Chef."

"Okay? Good. Okay." Liz says as Belly grabs a pan

"I'm wearing an apron, then." He mutters as she steps aside

"Let's get started." Belly says

"Oh, boy." Liz chuckles stepping behind Conrad as he throws the apron on, "Whoa."

"Behind." He says as Liz steps back over, "You got to say it."

"You don't say "behind" if I'm behind you."

"Yeah, but you have to say it."

"You've never seen, like, a cooking show?" Liz says making Belly laugh, "Whatever. Okay. Go grab the olive oil."

"Olive oil." He says turning toward the other counter

"Good job. And you're handling the chicken." Belly says

"Catch." He says jokingly tossing the olive oil. He chuckles before setting it in front of her

"And salt and pepper, at least..." Belly names off

"You do it."

•••

"Wow."

"For one orchid." Conrad says, "For one... some flower."

"Right." Belly points

"Ooh. Oh!" Conrad mutters making Liz giggle

"No, that's crazy."

"Yeah, I don't know."

"That's crazy."

"That was mean, dude. I'm sorry."

"Oh, but you..."

"And she was like..."$5,000..."-"

"No, no, no. You ruined it." Belly says

"What did I do?"

"You totally blew it." Liz says sipping from her water

"How did I blow it?"

""Oh, my Mom had peonies in her bouquet."" Belly and Liz mock before laughing

"What? I didn't..." Conrad stammers, "Okay, first of all..."

""Wedding, it's a wedding."" Belly mocks

"Excuse me for remembering... fuck you." Conrad says waving her off

"Stop." Liz chuckles as Belly spills her some wine

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Conrad says before it goes quiet

Belly raises her brows, "It's totally killing you not to clean that up."

"Clean what up?"

"The wine that I spilled. You just want to wipe it up so bad." Belly laughs

"I didn't even notice."

"Whoa. Whoa. Well, well, well, got a... got all chill in California."

"Yeah, I really mellowed out, huh?" Conrad says before sipping his wine. Liz laughs as she rests her head in her hands.

"Remember, remember earlier when you were like... "Garlands"?"

"You're so mean..."

""Garland...". That's a great impression-" Belly starts before she and Liz burst into laughter

"How am I supposed to know? How am I supposed to know?" Conrad says, "I've never taken a botany class. I study medicine."

"Conrad. Conrad. Oh, my... Conrad." Liz giggles, "Hold on a second, those fake flowers that you picked out..."

"Mm-hmm?"

"...look exactly like the ones in the guest bedroom at Belly's house."

"The ones that I was always begging my mom to throw out." Belly says

Conrad sits up, "Oh, fuck. Yeah, they did."

"I know." Liz laughs, "I know."

"Oh, I remember that." He says as he watches Liz and Belly fall into a fit of giggles again. Belly reaching out and holding Liz's hand as they laugh together. Liz then sits up and tosses her hair back and looks over at him. He stares at her while sipping his drink again before setting it down.

•••

Conrad sighs as he turns the page. He readjusts before looking down at his book again. He looks up as the door open slowly. Liz smiles, "What are you doing here? Liz, you can't be in here, Laurel will freak out."

"Okay, then just be quiet so she doesn't hear." Liz whispers shutting the door

"That was quiet?" He whispers making her chuckle. She then crawls across the bed, "What are you doing?"

"It's cold." She says

"Get in." He says pulling the covers back. She quickly gets under and he covers her. She settles in and lays her head on his chest before looking up at him, "You good?"

"Yeah." She says as he combs through her hair

He looks down at her, "Hey, don't worry about prom. I'm gonna take care of everything. I'm excited."

"I know." She says rubbing his arm. She looks up at him again, "Hey, Susannah's gonna be fine. I know it."

As he looked down at her, his heart fluttered. Deep down, he knew his mom wasn't getting better. Although, no one had said it, he knew. But with Liz saying it, he almost believed it. At least, he really wanted to.

"I'm okay." He nods with a smile, "I'm better with you here."

She smiles softly before leaning up and kissing him. His hand comes up and brushes her hair back before Liz sits up and climbs onto his lap. He looks up at her with soft eyes before pulling her closer. Her hands traveled up into his hair as the kiss deepened quickly.

His hands slowly travel down her body as he kisses her neck. She gasps as his hands travel up her thigh, "Conrad."

She pulls away and takes her t-shirt off before wrapping her arms around him again. Her eyes shut as the kisses descend down her neck. Conrad lightly kisses her chest and places a kiss to the infinity necklace around her neck before tilting her head back down and kissing her again.

He then flips them over and breaks away from the kiss. Liz looks up at him before her eyes flutter shut.

•••

Conrad's eyes stay on Liz as she continues her conversation with Belly. The girl oblivious to the way her fiancé was looking at her. His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

"Honey, I'm home!"

Belly gasps before jumping up, "Jere, you made it!"

"Mm." He hums as he pulls Belly into a hug, "Wow. You're in a good mood. Oh, you guys cooked?"

"Yeah. Are you hungry? I can make you a plate."

"Cute. I just kind of want to eat you." He says before hugging her from behind

Liz cringes a little making Conrad laugh. Conrad turns to them, "There's not really any left, either."

"Oh, shoot. Uh, but we got... we got peaches!" Belly says

Liz points, "That we did."

"Uh-huh." Conrad nods

"Uh, do you have any strawberries? I'm not really in a peach mood." Jeremiah says

"No, man." Conrad says shaking his head. Liz side eyes Jeremiah

"No worries. Ah. Uh..." Jeremiah says looking around. His eyes land on the bags, "Bells, I-I told you I'd take you to Michaels tomorrow."

"Oh, no, it's cool. Conrad and Liz took me, and, um, we used the coupons."

"Wow. Wow, man." Jeremiah laughs walking over, "You are the best co-best man."

Conrad chuckles, "And you can have some of my food, too, if you want."

"Ah, no, you know what? I will just share with Bells." He says sitting in a chair and pulling Belly into his lap. The girl laughs as Jeremiah grabs her plate, "Ooh, I can't wait for the fries."

"No, no, do not take my fries, you thief. You can have the chicken." She smiles, "How was work?"

"Uh, in-incredible. Yeah. Yeah." Jeremiah nods, "Everyone, um, they all took off for the holiday weekend, and so, it was... it was on me to finish up this report on a company that we were gonna do a deal with, and I caught them being shady with their numbers."

"Wow." Liz says with raised brows

"Yeah. Yeah, Dad was super impressed." Jeremiah says before turning to Belly, "And he actually told me before I left, he's in... for the wedding."

"Are you serious?" Belly gasps as Liz's smiles falls

"Yeah."

"Oh, my God. That's amazing!"

"Congrats, dude." Conrad says as Liz smiles lightly

"Thanks, man."

"Uh, I'm gonna shower, but..." Conrad says standing and grabbing his plate

"Okay, but don't take too long 'cause they're probably gonna, uh, light fireworks tonight." Belly says as Liz stands with her plate

"Yes." Jeremiah nods

"Yeah." Belly laughs

Liz walks over toward the sink while Jeremiah and Belly giggle together. Liz tosses the rest of her food in the trash before putting her plate in the sink. She then looks up at Conrad who'd already had his eyes on her, "Shower?"

"Yeah." She sighs as he kisses her temple

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Conrad and Liz laid together on the boy's bed. Freshly shower and watching the fireworks go off through the window. Her head was laid on his chest with leg wrapped around his hip. His hand brushed up and down her arm as another firework went off.

"You know it's already almost been a month since we found out you were pregnant?" Conrad says softly

Liz chuckles, "I didn't even realize."

"Yeah." He says, "I was just thinking about one of the last conversations I had with my mom."

Liz looks up at him, "Really?"

"Yeah." He mutters, "She was telling me how okay she was with dying because she knew Jere and I would be okay. She knew that Jeremiah would have me and how lucky he was. I didn't believe her."

"She was right. He is really lucky to call you his big brother."

Conrad smiles, "For a while, I didn't know who I would have. I thought I was gonna have to be by myself." He says, "Then you fought for me."

"Of course, I did."

"I didn't think I was worth fighting for." He says as he looks down at her, "And the timing of finding out right before her anniversary is almost like my mom sent them. To us."

Liz's eyes soften tremendously, "I didn't even think about it like that."

"Yeah." He whispers, "Thank you for not giving up on me."

"I'd never give up on you."

Conrad pulls her closer and places a kiss on the top of her head, "I know."

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