Lᴏᴠᴇ Gᴀᴍᴇ

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Liz stood there unsure of what to do, "Conrad, what happened?"

He turns to her before he walks closer to the water, "Panic attack. I'm fine. I'll be fine."

"What do you mean, you'll be fine? A panic attack is serious. Conrad."

"It's... I just need a second." He breathes

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I don't know, Liz. Just talk." He wheezes, "Okay? Just talk about anything."

"Um, talk, right. Um... Um..." She stammers as she shakes her hands, "The beach. The first time you guys brought me here to surf I was so freaked out."

"You and Jeremiah had just come back from some fancy surfing camp and you knew all these cool tricks and Dakota learned from watching a bunch of youtube videos. I felt like such a little kid." She smiles

"But you stayed and paddled with me till we caught a wave together. I thought you were the coolest person in the world."

"I guess you were wrong about that one." He says turning towards her before turning back

"No. You're still the coolest." She nods. He takes a deep breath, "You have these a lot?"

"Yeah. More since my mom died." He gulps. He runs his hands through his hair as he walks closer, "I'm glad you're here."

"So, you want to tell me what got you all worked up? Or just be done and pretend this never happened?"

"Found out I got into Stanford."

Her jaw drops, "What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah. You remember my mom had this fantasy about me finding myself on the West Coast."

"Wait, wait, wait, Connie, this is a good thing. No, you've been dreaming about Stanford since you were ten years old. We've always talked about this."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know... but things are just starting to get better with Jere, and he's going to Finch in the fall, which is close to Brown, so it just doesn't make sense to transfer anymore..."

"Hey, hey, hey, you can't keep holding yourself back for him." She says. He looks down, "And even then you don't have to decide this second or anything, okay? Just talk to Jere."

"He doesn't even know I applied, Liz. So..." He shrugs, "Please don't tell him."

Liz looks away before she chuckles, "I mean, Stanford's not even an Ivy. So fuck 'em, right?"

He chuckles as he nods, "Let's go."

She turns to walk back with him. She shudders as she feels his hand graze her lower back.

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Liz yawns as she walks down the stairs. Just as she turns to go into the kitchen, she sees Belly walking back towards her.

"Oh. Hey, Belly. Liz." Skye says

"Hey. Sorry. I just, um, smelled muffins."

"You want one?"

"Yeah, sure." Belly says as she reaches toward them

"Uh, those are for the open house." Aunt Julia says

Liz scoffs, "Can't even eat now?"

"Morning."

The back door opens, "Mmm, did somebody get muff..." Jeremiah says as he and Conrad walk in, "muffins? Hi."

"Hey, Jeremiah. Conrad."

"Skye. You didn't tell me she was here, too." Conrad says to Jeremiah

"It's "they." Not "she." God, I guess it's been like a decade since I saw you guys. Um, how are you doing since your mom?"

"It's been rough."

"Rougher now that our aunt's stealing our house." Conrad says

"I'm not stealing anything, Conrad." Aunt Julia says, "Like it or not, I get to choose what happens to this house and I choose to put it on the market. You boys should get on the road. Beat the traffic back to Boston."

"There's no chance. We're staying for the open house."

"Uh, no, no, no. I can't have a bunch of teenagers chasing everybody away. Call your father, because this isn't an Aunt Julia problem."

"Except it is. Because you are the problem." Conrad says as he walks up behind Liz

"I don't have time for this." Aunt Julia says as she walks out

"Conrad, she's still your family." Belly says

"Then why is she doing this to us?"

"This is hard for her, too." Skye says

"Really? Seems like she's doing this all pretty fucking easily." He snaps as he brushes past Liz to walk out. Jeremiah sighs as he leans on the counter by Skye. A tense silence falling over them.

"He's grown into quite the asshole." They say

"You're one to talk." Liz says. They watch as she walks out. Jeremiah looking over at Belly.

As Liz walks upstairs, she hears a big bang. She frowns as she stops, but decides to keep walking up.

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Liz finished getting ready and walked out of her room to go downstairs. As she steps out, Dakota's room door opens. She frowns as River comes out with Dakota right behind her.

"You told me you were going home last night." Liz says

River stops and turns, "It was really late and Dakota didn't feel like driving."

Liz hums as Dakota nods, "Right. So, that hickey is just nothing right?"

Their eyes widen. Dakota turns River and wipes at her neck, "You said it was covered."

"I thought it was." He exclaims. She turns back into the room as Dakota closes the door behind her. He looks back at Liz and chuckles awkwardly. The girl laughs as she makes her way downstairs. She hears the doorbell ring, so she goes to open it.

A lady stands there with a smile, "Hi. Can I help you?"

"Sandy Denati. I'm looking for Julia."

"Right. Yes, uh, for the open house. You know, Julia actually decided to cancel." Liz frowns, "Yeah, it's last-minute, but, um, she's having some second thoughts."

"Sorry, who are you?" The lady asks

"She's my girlfriend," Conrad says as he opens the door wider, "and she's, um, and she's right. The house is not for sale."

"Conrad Fisher, right?" Conrad smiles very lightly in return, "It's nice to see you. I am sorry about your mom."

"Well, clearly not sorry enough to pass up the opportunity to sell her house."

"I'm just doing my job."

"Well, consider this an unexpected day off." He says sarcastically. Liz smiles before Julia comes up behind them. She shoves her way to the front.

"Ignore them. Ignore them. There will be an open house today. But there does seem to be a minor problem with the AC. It died."

"That is not a minor problem, Julia. It is supposed to be hot today."

"Yeah. Okay, um, let's chat outside for a minute." Julia says. Conrad goes to slam the door behind her, but Liz catches it before he can.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call you my girlfriend." Conrad says

"Don't worry about it. It's cool." Liz shakes her head with a small smile

"Hey, is everything okay?" Jeremiah asks

"No, the realtor just got here."

"Shit. What are we going to do?"

"I don't know what else we can do."

"Well, maybe Skye has some information that could help us." Liz says. "I don't know. If only we could get a moment alone with her."

"Them." Jeremiah corrects

"Right. Thanks." Liz says quickly

"Well, good luck because those two are inseparable."

"I don't fucking know." Conrad shrugs as he walks away. Liz sighs as Jeremiah looks over at her. She follows behind him as they make their way into the kitchen.

"It's so hot. It's like 2,000 degrees in here." Taylor whines as she fans herself

"Aunt Julia said the AC is broken." Belly says

"Oh, what? No way." Steven says with a knowing tone in his voice. Taylor and Dakota frown at him.

"Today's open house has been canceled. So I need you all out of the house while I get the AC guy here to do some work." Aunt Julia says, "Also, uh, who is the AC guy?"

"Uh, do you want me to look one up for you?" Skye says

"Uh, no, no, that's okay. I'm certain Susannah has her preferred technician and four approved backups right here." She says as she pulls out a binder

"Great. Now we don't have to lie about the black mold to the buyers. Let's go to the beach." Jeremiah says

"I'm not leaving."

"Come on, Conrad. We've won this round. Let's just get out of here."

"The mall has good AC." River says

"Cool. Have fun. I didn't ditch finals just to leave this house for the taking by..."

"Conrad, I'm trying... straining to keep my shit together. You've already ruined my day. The least you could do is get out of my hair for a few hours." Aunt Julia snaps

"You think you're the only one..." He starts

"What about the boardwalk?" Liz says as she places her hand on his back

"Yeah, the boardwalk. That's a great idea." Dakota says

"Yeah, I'm down." Steven says

Taylor sits up, "Yeah, me too."

"Yeah, fine. Yeah." Conrad sighs

"Hey, you should come with us, Skye." Liz says

"Oh, um," Skye speaks up. Conrad looks over at Liz, "sounds very state fair. I think I should just stay with you, right?" They say as they look at Aunt Julia.

"No. Wasn't my favorite, but you might like it."

"I shouldn't just stay with you?"

"No, I'll be fine. After this, I'm going to go back to the hotel for a nap and a NAN fan." She says as she puts her phone up to her ear.

Skye sighs as they look towards everyone else, "Guess I'm coming with you guys."

"Okay."

"Great!" Taylor says, "Let's go."

"Whoo!" Skye cheers as they all walk out.

"Cousins to Cousins." Jeremiah says, "Let's roll."

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