Lᴏᴠᴇ Aғғᴀɪʀ

______________________________________

"Liz." The girl groans as she moves around on the floor. She feels someone shake her, "Liz. Wake up, honey."

Liz opens her eyes, but immediately closes them at the bright light. She hears footsteps retreating before her curtain is pulled closed. The footsteps come back towards her as they squat down next to her, "Wake up, Lizzie."

Liz stretches before she pushes herself up. Her eyes open and widen as she sees Megan sitting in front of her.

"Mom?"

"Hey, my love." She smiles, "You alright?"

Liz sighs as Megan runs her hands through her hair trying to fix it.

"There's so much going on and I didn't know what to do, so I called you."

"I'm glad you did."

"She's selling the house, Mom. Susannah's house, she's selling it."

"I know, baby."

Liz frowns, "You know?"

Megan hums as she nods, "I've known this whole time."

"Why didn't you say anything ?"

"Because I knew it would hurt you guys. It hurt me when I found out."

"It would've been better than being blindsided." Liz mumbles as she looks down at her hands

Liz looks up as she hears hard footsteps going down the hall. As she stands up, she sees Belly rushing down the hall. Liz goes up to her door as Belly rounds the corner down the stairs. She looks the other way and sees Conrad and Jeremiah standing there.

Conrad looks at her and his eyes soften as he stares at her. The girl turns back into her room and Megan steps closer to her. She holds her arms out and Liz immediately falls into them.

______________________________________

Megan left Liz to shower, so she and Laurel decided to check out the house. As they walk into the kitchen, Laurel frowns at the mess.

"Wha...?" She mutters as she picks something up and sets it back down. As they keep walking, they see Conrad, Steven, and Dakota in the living room.

"Steven, what the hell?"

"Mom."

"Liz drunk-dials Megan, and we drive all night to find... this?!" Laurel exclaims, "I'm just glad your mom isn't here to see what you guys did to her house." She says to Conrad. The boy turns away, "I want this place spotless and for every single thing of Susannah's to be put back exactly where it belongs. If even one thing is broken or missing, I swear to God!"

"Mom, we weren't the ones who moved her stuff."

"It was Aunt Julia." Dakota says, "She's the one who emptied it, not us. To sell it."

Laurel turns to Megan, "But I thought Susannah talked to her lawyers. She told me she reached out to Julia right before things got bad."

"Wait. Then why didn't you say anything?" Dakota frowns as he looks at Megan

"Conrad had to find out from a "for sale" sign in the front yard!" Steven snaps

"I just assumed they resolved it before Susannah..." Laurel stops

"Connie, does your dad know?" Megan says

"Of course he knows! And of course he's done nothing at all to help us!"

"Yeah, that's why the guys, Belly, and the twins came here. They were trying to work something out with Aunt Julia themselves." Steven says

"And?"

"And we failed." Conrad mutters, "Aunt Julia's already sold the house to another family. They finalized the deal yesterday. But like you said, at least my mom's not here to see it." He says as he walks out. Megan sighs as she turns back to Steven and Dakota.

"We know we fucked up. All right? And Belly, too. But at least she was here. The second they needed her, she stepped up. Liz too." He says as he looks between Megan and Laurel, "You didn't even tell anyone this was coming."

"Steven, I've been trying to just..." Laurel starts

"Mm. Try harder then." He spits before he walks out. Dakota huffs before he walks upstairs.

______________________________________

Everyone stood in the kitchen cleaning up as conversations came up every now and then. Liz stayed silent as she threw trash in her bag. Laurel clears her throat as she and Belly walk in. Everyone stops as they turn to her.

"I owe you all an apology." She starts, "You guys have been there for each other, and I haven't, and I'm deeply sorry for that."

"You're not alone in that, Laur." Megan says

"We've all made mistakes, Mom." Belly says as she looks to Jeremiah before looking down.

"Well, my biggest one is trusting that Beck and Julia had come to an agreement about the beach house before she passed." Laurel says

"It's probably too late to change things, but we'd like to try. We'll talk to Julia, see if we can't change her mind." Megan smiles. Dakota walks up and immediately hugs her.

"Thank you, Mom." Steven says

"Thank you, Laurel." Jeremiah says as he hugs her. He turns to Megan and hugs her too.

"You're welcome."

"Before my mom gets here, though, we should probably try and make this place look less... shitty." Skye says

"Yup." Belly nods

"Yes. Yes."

"Yup."

______________________________________

As Liz, Skye, and Belly clean the dining room, Julia walks in. Liz sighs as Julia looks around.

"Oh, my God." She says

"Oh, we have a... visitor." Belly calls out

"Is that blood?"

"It's, uh... It's Cherry Kool-Aid and Goldschläger... I think." Skye says as they stand up, "Um, you're... early."

"I'm also in breach of my sales agreement. What happened to this place? It's a disaster!" She sighs, "Oh, my God, you kids are exhausting!" She looks around as she walks toward the kitchen.

"Hey, Julia. Thanks for coming." Megan says

"Uh, Skye didn't give me much of a choice, so..."

"Can we have a chat while the kids clean up?" Laurel asks

Julia nods, "Okay."

Megan and Laurel follow her outside. The kids look around at each other. Conrad's eyes landing on Liz. She looks down and walks back to the dining room.

______________________________________

It's quiet as everyone waited for Laurel and Megan to come back. Each teen cleaning their respective areas. Liz bent back down as she picked up more trash. Dakota held the bag open for her as she threw it in. He started fidgeting as she bent down again.

"You wanna talk?" He says

"About what?" She muttered as she threw more trash in. Not even sparing him a glance as she bent down again.

"Last night." It's silent for a second as he watched her walk over to pick up some cups.

She walked up and threw them in, "Not really."

He sighs as she walks over to the wall and reaches up to rip down some string, "Well, if you won't say anything then I will. I didn't tell you about Conrad because I didn't know how to tell you."

"But you tell Jeremiah?" She chuckles humorlessly

"Because I was freaking out. I didn't know if I should or shouldn't tell you. He wasn't supposed to use it against him like that." Liz stays silent as she reaches in the corner for more decorations, "Liz."

"I'm not mad at you, Dakota."

"Liar." The girl huffs as she looks over at him. The boy shrugs as she walks over and throws the trash.

"I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at myself."

Dakota tilts his head, "Why?"

"Because I threw away something I've wanted my entire life all because of miscommunication."

He watches as she bends down to pick up more trash, "That's not your fault, Liz. Conrad hadn't told you how he actually felt. He didn't fight for you."

"I could've fought for us." She says as she points to herself, "I mean, his mom was dying for fucks sake and I was making him feel terrible about himself for not giving me attention."

Liz looks up at the ceiling as she sighs. Dakota drops the bag and walks over to her. He puts his hands on her shoulders as she looks at him.

"You were losing Susannah, too. She meant a lot to all of us and you were just looking for some comfort somewhere." He says, "I know because I found that comfort in River. You didn't have that."

She looks down as he continues, "Everyone was losing her and you just wanted something and Conrad was that something. It's not your fault. Alright?"

Liz nods as she looks back up at Dakota.

"Just talk to him." He says softly. She nods again as she wipes her cheek. He smiles as he drops his hands and picks the bag up again, "We still have a chance with the house, so let's clean this shit up."

Liz chuckles as she shakes her head. They turn as they hear the door open. Dakota drops the bag again as he heads to the kitchen with Liz following him. He stands behind Jeremiah as Liz stands by Belly with Conrad on her left.

"I've... decided to pull out of the sale." Julia says

Skye comes up behind her and hugs her, "Yes!"

Liz's eyes light up as Belly hugs Jeremiah. He picks her up and spins her around.

"What?" Conrad chuckles in disbelief

"Yes!" Dakota smiles

"Let's not celebrate yet." Megan says, "We still need to convince your dad to buy the house from Julia."

"Thank you." Laurel says to Julia as she pulls her phone out.

"Mm."

Liz smiles as Dakota daps up Jeremiah. She turns to her left as Conrad chuckles. He looks down at her as she smiles back up at him.

______________________________________

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top