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Everyone sat at the table as they ate dinner. River went home to get ready for the party that was happening tonight. Belly sat with her "boyfriend" Cam and Taylor on the sides of her. Liz sat on the other side by Conrad with the boys as Susannah and Laurel sat on the ends.

Conversation was happening all over as Jeremiah spoke up, "So, Cam. You mind if I call you Cam Cameron?"

"Mm-hmm. Yeah, man. Feel free. That's funny." He chuckles

"Cool."

"I'm glad you're here, Cameron. I know your mom, Denise, from the club. I have heard a lot about you." Susannah smiles

"Thank you so much for having me, Susannah. My mom says hi." He smiles back

"Cam, have you ever had miyeok-guk before? It's a Korean birthday tradition." Laurel says as she hands Cam a bowl

"No. Looks so good. Thank you."

"Belly told me you're vegetarian, so I didn't put any meat in it." She smiles

"Thank you, Laurel. Oh, geez." He nods gratefully

"Why don't you eat meat, Cam Cameron?" Jeremiah asks

"Uh, the meat industry is, like, the number one contributor to global warming." He starts

"Mm." Dakota mumbles

"And I just, I like animals." He says

"Just don't come for my leather jacket." Taylor jokes

"I'm pretty sure you mean pleather." Steven says as Taylor sticks the middle finger at him

"Ooh." Jeremiah instigates as everyone laughs

"You know, uh, actually, Belly eats meat. So, you let her kiss you with those lips?" Jeremiah says

"Guys." Belly tries as the boys laugh, "Stop."

"No, I don't judge people for eating meat. It's just, like, a personal choice. I don't care." Cam shrugs

"So you don't mind if, uh, like, her lips touch a dead animal, and then those dead animal lips touch your lips, right?" Dakota says, but groans as Liz reaches behind Conrad to hit his head, "Ow."

"I don't mind at all." He chuckles, "Um, in fact," He says before he leans over and kisses Belly

"Awe." Susannah says as the three boys start to gag.

"All right. All right, all right." Laurel says, "Belly's allowed to kiss, but that's it." She laughs as Cam nods

"Mom, please. No. You're so not funny. No more wine for you, okay?" Belly says with a slight smile

"I'm sorry. I just don't understand why anybody would want to kiss somebody who once fully shat in the bathtub." Steven says

"I was like two years old." Belly defends

"Two? More like six." "Six." Steven says as Dakota joins in with Jeremiah laughing

"Shut up, Steven." Belly yells

"Steven." Laurel says

"Aw, I remember that. God, that feels like a lifetime ago." Susannah says

"I remember when I visited last summer, and you and you," Taylor says pointing to Jeremiah and Dakota, "dared him to pee in the fireplace, and you stunk up the entire house for days. Do you remember that?" She says to Steven as everyone laughs

"I blamed the neighbor's cat." Susannah says sipping her wine

"We were drunk. We were drunk." He says

"On like half a White Claw." Liz chuckles as she furrows her brows

Everyone laughs again as Jeremiah backs her up, "She got you there."

"You know, um, I'm thinking maybe we should go to Nicole's party." Belly suggests to Taylor

"Yes. Oh, my God. I love you. I'm so excited." Taylor smiles

Conrad looks down before turning to Liz, "Are you going?" He asks as everyone goes back to their own conversations.

She shrugs, "Yeah. River wants to go."

She looks over at him to see his eyes already on her. She looks back at her food, but his eyes never leave her face.

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Liz walks in behind Belly and Taylor as Cam closes the door behind him. As soon as they step in, a boy comes sliding down the stair railing as everyone cheered around him.

"Belly, you came!" Nicole says walking up. Liz rolls her eyes and sighs as Taylor looks elsewhere.

"Hey, Nicole. You look so pretty." Belly smiles as they hug

"Oh, me? Look at you. Oh, my goodness." She gushes, "Are those real flowers?"

"Yes." Belly laughs

"Incredible. Well, we have to show Gigi." Nicole says as she grabs Belly's hand to pull her away.

"Yeah, yeah, totally. You want to come?" She offers the three teens

"You have fun over there." Cam says

"Okay. Okay," Belly says

"I'm gonna go find a drink." Taylor says as Belly turns to Liz. 

She shakes her head quickly, "Nope."

Belly smiles as Nicole pulls her into the other room. Liz sighs as she pushes through the crowd to find River.

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Liz stood with River, a boy she was talking to, and her date from the drive-in, who she learned was named Scott. She finally got into the mood of the party and was enjoying herself.

She was laughing as she looked around before her eyes landed on Conrad. He was already looking at her as he took a sip from his beer. Liz's smile dropped slowly as they continued to make eye contact. He told his friend something before walking away as Liz sighed turning back to her conversation.

•••

Liz walked through the party to find anyone she knew. She could hear Jeremiah on the microphone singing karaoke as she entered the living room. She laughed as Belly tried to hide her embarrassment when Cam joined him. Belly spotted Liz and she quickly stood up to walk over to her.

"Thank god." She says as she grabs her hand and leads her away, "You can help me find Taylor." Liz laughs as she agrees.

The girls made their way upstairs as Belly called out for her best friend. The two reluctantly opening random bedrooms and unfortunately coming in contact with one too many couples.

Belly opened one last door and stopped abruptly, "Oh, my God."

Liz frowns following her in. Her jaw drops as she sees Steven and Taylor making out, "Holy shit."

"Belly?" Taylor says

"Oh, my God. Uh..." Steven says, "Jesus." He whispers as he runs out of the room pushing past Liz.

"Steven." Taylor calls out as she reaches for him

"Oh, my-" She scoffs, "You're hooking up with my brother?"

"I swear it just happened." Taylor tries

"Well, what, you got bored? H-He's dating someone, you know. Someone he actually likes." Belly says

"You saying he couldn't like someone like me?" Taylor says pointing to herself

"No. No, no, no. That's not what I'm saying. I-" Belly exhales, "This could get really messed up. I mean, he's taking her to the deb ball. And all those girls are her friends."

"Oh, my God, I'm so sick of hearing about this fucking deb ball. I don't even know who you are anymore." Taylor groans

"Oh, why? Because I'm not just going along with everything you want to do? Is that why you threw yourself at my brother? So that you could get back at me?" Belly chuckles humorlessly

"You know, you act so innocent, Belly, like you're the victim."

"Victim? How do I... I'm sorry."

"I think you're the self-absorbed one, Belly." She cuts her off, "How do you not know that I've
had a crush on Steven for years? If you weren't so obsessed with Conrad." She says before Belly cuts her off

She looks over at Liz who now holds a sad look on her face, "What is wrong with you? People are going to hear."

"Who cares? There's more than one story happening here, but you seem to only care about the one where you're the main character." Taylor says

"I-" She sighs, "I can't deal with this right now. I got to go." She mutters as she walks to the door. She stops as she looks at Liz who looks down before turning to leave the room. She hesitates before following her down the stairs.

"Liz." She calls out. She ignores her as she walks towards the door, "Liz." She yells out again trying to catch up to her.

Liz finally gets to the door and opens it. She hurries out to the porch leaving the door open behind her as the boys play beer pong.

"Belly." Jeremiah says as he hugs her. She hugs back quickly before looking for Liz who's already out on the lawn.

"Yo, Liz." Dakota yells out as he looks over at Belly. She hesitates to give him an answer before he ultimately follows after her, "Lizzie." He calls out. She finally stops upon hearing the nickname he used to call her when they were kids.

Dakota stops as Liz turns to him with tears in her eyes, "What's wrong?" He asks softly

"I'm just ready to go home." She says as she sniffles

He nods quickly, "Yeah, okay. Just uh-" He says as he looks to the porch, "Just give me a second to get the keys from Jere." She nods as she sits on the curb.

"Yeah." He whispers to himself as he hurries to the porch.

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It was the next morning and Liz was dreading getting up at all. She spent all night thinking about what she found out about Belly. She didn't understand how she hadn't realized how Belly was feeling until now. She didn't know whether to be upset about the fact that Belly hadn't said anything or insecure because she realized that maybe Conrad felt the same way Belly did.

There were multiple instances that Liz thought over where she realized that maybe Conrad had liked Belly all along. It made her feel as though she was wasting her entire life on someone she probably would never have.

It was silent as she made her way downstairs so, she thought she was home alone. She froze as she saw Belly at the island eating her breakfast. She sighed softly as she walked to the fridge.

Belly turned upon the fridge open. She stopped as Liz turned with the carton of eggs in her hand. She walked to the stove.

"Hey." Belly said softly

It was silent for a while before Liz answered, "Hey." She said. Belly wouldn't have heard it if it wasn't silent in the house.

"Um." She starts, "I just want to say sorry about last night."

"Sorry for what?"

"What Taylor said about Conrad." She says as she waits for Liz to answer. When she doesn't, she continues, "I know you've had a crush on him for a long time and I never meant to hurt your feelings or anything like that."

Liz sighs as Belly continues, "I didn't know how to tell you or what to say really-"

"You can have a crush on Conrad, Belly. It really doesn't matter to me." Liz says as she turns to her

"It's not even really a crush, Liz. I swear." Belly says, "It was just something that happened recently and I told Taylor thinking nothing would ever come of it."

Liz looks at her as Belly stands, "It's nothing Liz. I promise. I know how you feel about him."

"Don't let that stop you, Belly. If you like him you like him," She shrugs as she turns back to her food.

"I just." She hesitates, "I want us to be okay. You're like my big sister and I really don't know what I would do without you."

Liz turns, "We're fine, Belly. I'm not letting a stupid guy come between us." She says turning back, "Even if it is Conrad." She says as Belly chuckles.

She turns again as she finishes making her food, "We're okay." Belly nods with a smile. Liz returns it, but her smile doesn't quite reach her eyes.

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