jeremiah had finally found andy and steven. he was walking back to the car with them when he saw stella, conrad, and isabel sitting on a curb outside of the car. two officers were interrogating them and keeping close watch.

"woah, uhh, what's going on here?" jeremiah asked once he reached stella.

an officer interrupted him. "you know, underage drinking is illegal."

"i'm sure there's a mistake," jeremiah lied.

we're gonna be in deep shit when we get home, he thought.

"there's no mistake, kid," the other officer added.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"officers, thank you," laurel finished the conversation with the officers. "it won't happen again, i can promise you that much."

stella sighed, looking up at conrad who had a comforting arm around her. the officer mentioned something about mr. fisher which made conrad visibly tense up a little bit. laurel apologized for the trouble again then closed the door.

stella braced herself for what was about to happen. laurel lazily threw her hands up in the air disappointedly. "how could you guys be so irresponsible?"

jeremiah kept his head down and his hands in his pockets, trying to hide the bruises and cuts on his face and hands. steven stepped forward. "mom, it wasn't a big deal. alright? seriously."

"the cops were just looking to break up the bonfire," andy added.

"not a big deal?" laurel scoffed.

steven shrugged. "yes."

"i would say getting picked up by the cops for underage drinking is a pretty big deal, steven," she said sternly. stella felt her heart drop for a moment.

steven sniffed then scoffed. "were- were you guys- you guys smoking tonight?"

"what?" laurel asked, almost in disbelief.

conrad lowered his head, as if he knew something. it bothered stella that she didn't know what he was thinking.

"keep your voice down. susannah's asleep on the couch," laurel ordered.

"well, i wasn't yelling. well, you- you- you were!" he defended himself.

jeremiah stepped forward. "just so you know, laurel, i- i didn't drink tonight," he mentioned. stella glanced up at him, making eye contact. only they knew that he had half of a can of beer, but that didn't matter too much. "i was the dd, i swear."

"i- i didn't drink either," stella lied.

"you're the oldest. what the hell's gotten into you?" laurel pointed to conrad then belly. "and when did you leave the house without telling anybody? and what in the world are you wearing?"

"it's taylor's. and why am i the only one who's not allowed to go out?" isabel argued.

laurel sighed. "it's not that you're not allowed, it's that you should have told us you were going. how did you even get there?"

"i walked," isabel replied guiltily.

"jesus," laurel said disappointedly. "you know better than to walk that far down the beach alone late at night."

isabel groaned. "can you stop treating me like a kid?"

"if you want to be treated like an adult, you need to act like one," laurel continued.

stella lowered her head. "then maybe you guys should, too," conrad joined in the conversation. Stella picked up her head and looked at him then jeremiah, who just shrugged and pressed his lips into a line clueslessly. 

everyone was silent for a moment. "what does that mean?" laurel sounded hurt. conrad shrugged while she continued. "i hope you realize this could have ended a lot differently if your family wasn't your family."

jeremiah spoke up. "we're sorry, laur."

laurel sighed. "just... go to bed, guys."

the six teenagers slowly walked up the stairs. jeremiah opened his arms for stella to walk into while they made their way to their rooms. from behind them, stella could hear laurel questioning conrad.

"i don't understand what is going on with you," laurel said.

conrad stayed quiet. "nothing," he finally mumbled. "nothing's going on."

laurel sighed and watched him walk past her. "what? connie..."

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it had been about five minutes since they were all sent to bed. stella went to the room next to hers and knocked on the door frame of jeremiah's door. he was unbuttoning his shirt that he had worn to the bonfire. 

"hey, let's get you all cleaned up," she said, referring to his face. he nodded and followed her out the door. she threw the button-up shirt that she had borrowed into his room at the last minute. "there's your shirt, by the way. thanks for letting me borrow it."

"no problem," jeremiah chuckled softly. "it looked good on you."

stella guided him to the bathroom, trying to hide the blush that was making her face turn a shade of red. she grabbed a small wash cloth from under the sink and dampened it. they both sat on the edge of the bathtub, facing each other.

she grabbed his hands first to clean any cuts that might've been made on his hands. while she moved on to the other hand, she decided to mention something to jeremiah. "j?"

"yeah?"

stella avoided eye contact. "connie told me that you, uh, started that whole fight tonight?"

jeremiah stiffened his posture. "oh. well, i didn't just throw hands out of nowhere, i promise."

"connie told me they were talking shit." she moved onto his face, wiping his forehead where there was a small cut. "what were they saying?"

he looked down causing stella to lift his chin back up so that she could wipe some dry blood off his jaw. "just... you know... shit," he said vaguely. he didn't want her to know the things that those guys were saying. he didn't want to risk making her upset.

"wow, very descriptive, j," she teased him, moving onto his nose then his lips. 

they both went quiet. she wiped away the small amount of dry blood near his mouth, but not on it. she looked down, noticing a huge bruise with a small amount of blood near it. "oh shit, j, look," she moved his shirt to the side. there were already a few buttons undone. "let me get it."

stella held the wash cloth to his chest. his shirt had fallen back over her hand and the cloth now. they were both smiling, but those smiles slowly faded when they made eye contact again. they were closer now that her hand was under his shirt. his hands went to her thigh and her waist while her other went to the back of his neck slowly.

jeremiah's eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips. stella was staring at his lips. she took one quick glance at his perfect blue eyes, then they both started leaning in slowly with nothing but the silence and tension between them.

"jere! hurry up, i gotta take a piss!" andy shouted from outside the door.

jeremiah and stella pulled apart almost instantly. "shut up! i'll be out in a minute!"

they both stared at each other, realizing what could've happened if stella's brother hadn't interrupted the moment. at that moment, it was as if they had mutually agreed to forget about it.

"what if he sees us walk out together? he might assume stuff," stella whispered to jeremiah.

what he might assume could've been what actually happened if he didn't fucking interrupt, he thought. woah... this is stel. did i want to kiss stel?

"uhh, wait," jeremiah peeked his head out the door. andy had gone back to his room to wait for jeremiah to be done in the bathroom. it was a perfect time for both of them to walk out. "you go first."

stella walked out the door quickly and into her room. jeremiah followed shortly after and made his way to his room. after he had knocked on the wall that he and stella shared and stella knocked on the wall back to him, they both laid in their beds silently, thinking about the entire situation.

fuck, what was that? stella thought. that's j! we've known j forever! why am i feeling this way?

shit, what would conrad think? what would andy think?? jeremiah thought. shit, shit, shit.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note

i feel like this chapter is all over the place so bear w me like fr

please vote, comment, etc. THANK YOU SM FOR ALL THE READS

if you guys have any ideas, PLS PLS PLS comment them :))

[ unedited ]