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Liz rushed quietly around her room as she grabbed different things to pack. Her phone chimes as she approaches her dresser. She pulls it out of her pocket and smiles.

Connie 🤍

I'm here

She grabs her bag and sneaks out of her room. She tiptoes to the door and opens it slowly. As soon as she's out, she closes it and rushes down the steps. Conrad laughs as he watches her jump into the car.

"Hi." She smiles

"Hey."

"I can't believe you're here." She says as she closes the door

"Yeah, me neither." He shakes his head, "You didn't bring a coat?"

"Uh, I forgot, but I'm not cold."

He immediately starts to take off his sweater, "Put this on."

She giggles as he hands it to her, "Want to go to the beach?"

"Yeah." She laughs as she buckles her seatbelt

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Liz hesitates before she knocked on the door. There was shuffling before it's opened.

"What's wrong?" Dakota whispers

"I need you to take me to Brown." She whispers back

He looks back at Steven before he steps into the hall and closes the door, "What the hell do you need to go to Brown for?"

She sighs, "Because Jeremiah thinks that Conrad is missing. He called me and asked me to help him find him." Dakota scoffs as he looks away, "Look if you want to be a dick then whatever, I'll just drive myself."

"Wait." He says as he grabs her arm. She stops and looks at him with raised brows, "We came with Mom. How are we gonna get the car to Brown?"

"Tell her."

"Tell her?" Dakota says confused

"Yes. Tell her. You forget we're 18 Dakota, the worst she'll do is say no." She shrugs as she squints

"That's not gonna work."

"It's gonna work."

He sighs, "Fine. Give me 10 minutes." Liz nods before she makes her way downstairs. She knew her mom was gonna be awake. She could never sleep without her pillow.

"Mom?" She whispers

Megan turns concerned, "Hey, honey. You okay?"

"Yeah, I actually had a favor to ask." She says as she sits on the couch

"What is it?"

"Um, Dakota and I need the car to go to Brown."

"What?" Megan says with raised brows

"I know how it sounds, but Jeremiah asked for my help. He's really worried about Conrad." Megan sighs, "Please, Mom? I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important."

Megan looks at Liz who holds a hopeful expression. The woman takes a deep breath, "Dakota is going with you?"

Liz nods just as Dakota comes down the steps. She looks between the twins before she reaches over to the coffee table. She holds the keys out to Liz, "Be careful."

Liz smiles widely as she takes the keys, "Thank you." She says as she hugs her.

Megan smiles as Liz gets up and rushes up the steps to Belly's room. Dakota plops down by his mom. The woman looking over at him with a humorous look.

"You okay?"

"It's too early."

Liz almost jumps out of her skin as she closes the door behind her, "Jesus, Belly."

"Sorry. Is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Dakota and I are gonna head back home."

Belly frowns, "Oh, I thought you guys were gonna be here for the weekend."

"Yeah, but considering everything, we're just gonna head back." Liz says as she closes her suitcase.

Belly nods, "I know you're going to find Conrad."

Liz pauses before she stands up, "What?"

"Jeremiah called you a couple of times and it woke me up." She says, "I wanna come with."

"Belly-"

"I'm just as worried about him too. None of us have actually spoken since Susannah and I wanna fix things."

Liz deflates as she and Belly look at each other. She looks down, "Okay. Fine, I'll figure something out because my mom is downstairs." She walks to the door, "Hurry, we gotta go soon."

Belly nods before she gets up. Liz makes her way to the stairs. Dakota looks up as he hears her. She frantically waves him over. He frowns before he gets up. Liz backs up into the hall as he comes up the stairs, "What?"

"Belly's coming."

His eyes widen, "What? What do you mean?"

"She was up when I went back in there and said she was coming."

"Do you know that Laurel would kill us if she found out that we kidnapped Belly?"

"We're not kidnapping her. She'll probably think Belly went to Taylor's since they fought earlier."

"They fought earlier?"

"Yes, I heard them, but that's besides the point. We have to find a way to get her past Mom."

"Yeah, you can figure that shit out."

"Dakota."

"What? I'm sorry, but I'm not really a fan of planning my own murder." Liz huffs as Belly walks out. Dakota groans, "Why are you coming?"

"Because I wanna help."

"I wanna help." He mocks, "We've tried a million and one times to sneak out with you and the plan goes to shit every single time."

"I'm older now, it won't go to shit."

"Oh. Okay." He says sarcastically

"Just distract Mom. Belly can go down and out the back door and then I'll come down and we can leave. She won't know."

He exhales as he rubs his forehead, "Fine. Fine." He says as waves them off. He goes down and plops back down next to his Mom.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Liz is taking forever, but she's trying not to wake Belly." Just as he says this, he can see Belly tiptoeing down the stairs. He sits up, "Uh, Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you for some advice?"

"Sure, honey." She says as she leans on the back of the couch. Using her hand to hold her head.

"I need some advice on River."

"Okay." She smiles

"I, uh.." He starts as he looks towards Belly. She starts walking extremely slow down the steps. Liz watching her from the top of the stairs motioning for her to hurry. Dakota sighs, "I need some ideas on how to ask her to be my girlfriend."

Megan gasps in excitement. She claps as she sits up, "Oh my goodness. Okay."

Dakota tuned out his mom as soon as she went on with ideas. He nodded absentmindedly as he occasionally looked over towards Belly who finally made it down the steps. He thought they were in the clear, until Belly tripped over her own feet almost face planting. He could see Liz hold her hands up before she ran them down her face.

"Or you could pick her up and maybe take her to the beach..." Megan starts as Dakota, again, tunes her out.

Dakota had already asked River to be his girlfriend. They'd been dating since the end of last summer. As Megan was about to go on about another idea, Liz came down the steps.

"Finally." Dakota says, "Thank you, Mom. Really, I'll definitely use that last one." He says as he grabs his suitcase.

"Of course, let me know what she says. I can't wait to see you guys together." She beams

"What?" Liz mutters

"Nothing. Let's go before she asks too many questions." Dakota mumbles as he pushes her towards the door.

"Bye, Mom." Liz says

"Bye, kids. Be safe and text me when you can, okay?"

"Yeah." Dakota nods as he closes the door. As soon as it's closed, he puts his hands on his knees. Belly comes around to the front smiling.

"We did it." She smiles

Dakota look at her with an annoyed expression as Liz smiles back at her, "You almost ate shit."

"Keyword." She points, "Almost."

Dakota look at Liz who shrugs, "Unbelievable." He says as he walks to the car. Liz looks at Belly who grimaces. She laughs as she and Belly walk over to the car.

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