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Liz sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast. She looked over as she heard someone walking in. Her heart rate sped up as she saw Conrad walk in.

"Morning." He smiled

"Good morning." She smiles back. She looked back at her food and failed to realize that his eyes lingered.

"Morning." He said again as he filled his coffee cup.

"Morning." Jeremiah said

A couple of seconds later, Liz heard Jeremiah sigh, "Seriously?"

"You can have it." Conrad mutters as he hands over his cup

"Thanks." Jeremiah says hesitantly

"Mm-hmm."

"Do you want some coffee Liz?" He says softly

"No, thank you." She shakes her head

"Hey, where's Belly? And everyone else?" Conrad mutters to no one in particular.

Liz frowns, "Uh, Belly and Steven are at the club, doing the whole deb thing." Jeremiah says

"Ah."

"Yeah."

"Want some eggs? I'll make some." He says as he looks between the two. Liz lifts up her bowl as Conrad nods.

"Uh, I gotta get to the club." Jeremiah says

"Right."

"So, uh..." Jeremiah starts, "What's with the good mood?" He turns to Liz who shrugs

"I don't know, maybe I'm just happy to be alive, after you almost blew me up last night." Conrad jokes.

"I said I was sorry. I didn't know you guys were out there." Jeremiah says as he looks out of the window, "What were you guys doing out there, anyway?"

Liz waves her hand to get Jeremiah's attention. He looks over to her as she frowns on confusion.

"Who?" She mouths. Before he could answer, Conrad answers, "I don't know. Just talking."

"About...?"

Conrad turns to him, "Don't you have a pool to vacuum?" Jeremiah pulls out his phone and his eyes widen.

"Shit. I'm already late."

"If you wait a minute, I'll take you. I'm heading over there."

"There's no time." Jeremiah says before he drinks his milk.

"And seriously, you gotta stop with the milk thing. It's disgusting." Conrad says as Jeremiah rushes out of the house. Liz gets up and puts her bowl in the sink. She turns and Conrad is already looking at her.

"What?"

"Nothing." He shakes his head as he looks down. Liz smiles as she starts to walk away. She turns back.

"Can I ask you something?" She says as she leans on the counter.

"Yeah, of course." He says

"Who was Jeremiah talking about when he said he didn't know you guys were out there?"

"Oh, um," He starts as he fixes his hair, "Belly came out after you took Dakota in. We talked for a little bit."

Liz's eyebrows raise as she struggles to find her words, "Oh."

"Yeah. It wasn't much of anything really." He chuckles softly as he waits for her to respond

"Okay." She shrugs as she looks up. Conrad's face drops slowly as he notices the look in her eyes.

He steps closer, "It really wasn't anything. Just random conversation."

She nods again as she backs away slowly, "Yeah, no. I was just curious," Laurel walks in, "Morning Laurel." She says before going back up stairs.

"Morning sweetie."

"Good morning, Laurel." Conrad smiles before walking out.

"Morning." She frowns as she watches him before making coffee.

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Liz sat outside as Susannah painted her portrait. She looked down at her hands as Susannah smiled.

"You're so beautiful, sweetheart."

Liz looked up as she saw Susannah smile down at the paper as she painted, "Thank you."

"You know, I would've really loved to see you in the debutante."

Liz chuckled, "That's not really my thing, Susannah. I like being in the background."

"I know. I know. I just-" She paused as she dipped her brush in paint, "You're the first girl and I would've loved to see you in a beautiful white dress." She smiled as she continued.

"I don't even have a date."

"If you did, would you go?"

"Maybe. I don't know." She shrugs, "I mean, you'll see me in my wedding dress some day. Sooner or later." She laughed softly

Susannah looked at Liz and gave a soft smile, "Can't wait." She says lowly. Liz scrunched her face and looked down. Susannah's face softened as she went back to painting.

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Dakota sighed heavily as he walked down the stairs. It was definitely mid-day, but he couldn't be bothered to actually get up before then. He walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch by Liz.

She chuckled as he groaned, "Morning, sunshine."

"I'm never gonna drink again." He says as he sits up.

"Yeah right." She chuckled. "So, have you talked to River?"

"Why would I talk to River?"

"Because she practically saved your life." She scoffed, "If it weren't for her you definitely would've been floating in the ocean right now."

He sighs, "I don't know. What would I even say?"

"Hey, thanks for saving my life last night. I really owe you one." She says sarcastically

"Yeah because that would definitely make sense."

"That or," She says as she turns in her seat, "You can have an actual conversation and maybe tell her how you feel."

"How I feel?" She hums as she nods, "About what?"

"About her."

He chuckles, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit. You know exactly what I'm talking about." Dakota just shrugs as Liz rolls her eyes, "Look you can put on this whole front like you absolutely hate River, but we both know you don't."

He turns to her as she continues, "Whatever happened last night must've been a big deal because I don't think I've ever seen her that frantic." She smiles, "and not to mention the fact that she's been texting me all morning to make sure you're alive."

"She has?" He perks up. He immediately huffs as he sees Liz's amused face, "I hate you."

"No, you don't." She smiles. They both turn at the sound of something falling outside. Dakota sits up and sees Conrad on the deck.

"I'll talk to her if you talk to Conrad." He smirks as Liz turns to him. She shrugs and stands, "Fine."

Dakota jumps up, "Wha- fine? What do you mean fine?" He's cut off by Liz closing the back door behind her. He groans as he throws his head back.

"You're back." Liz says with her hands in her back pocket.

Conrad turns as smiles before it falls quickly, "Hey."

"Let me help you." She mutters as she walks down the steps.

She picks up the brushes as he turns, "How's Dakota?"

"Uh, he's fine. Hungover, but fine." She nods

"Cool. Thanks." He says as he steps past her taking the brushes out of her hand on the way.

She walks up the steps and turns, "I wanted to talk to you."

"Why?" He says as he keeps his back to her.

"Last night, you and I almost kissed." She chuckles as she frowns

"Did we? I was pretty wasted. I don't really remember much." He says as he fixes his hair.

Liz rounds the pole as she steps in front of him, "Wait..." She chuckles weakly, "Um, are you serious?"

Conrad stops as he looks at her, "Okay, we almost kissed." He says as her raises his hands. "Wha..." He starts, "What do you want me to say, I'm sorry?"

"Are you sorry?"

"I don't know. I don't...Liz, I think about you. I do, and you know I do. I just..." He stops, "can't."

Liz's heart drops as she stares at him. He looks down to avoid her eyes. She chuckles humorlessly as she looks elsewhere.

"You're unbelievable." She mutters. He finally looks up at her as she walks back into the house.

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