conrad had been listening to most of the conversation. at this point, he was stood up and ready to throw punches. the minute that jeremiah threw the first one, he was ready to throw the next one at one of the other guys.

"never... talk... about... stel... that... way," jeremiah scolded in between punches. the other guy got in a few hits too, but jeremiah hits were more... personal. "...ever."

"relax, man!" the other guy begged, fighting off conrad.

while jeremiah was beating the shit out of the first guy, conrad was busy making sure the other guy would never speak a word about stella again. "what's your fucking problem? never talk to her! never look at her! ever!" conrad shouted, pushing the guy back after each sentence. "i never want to see you near her."

back with jeremiah, the other guy was starting to lose sight of where he was punching. "never talk about her like that! never talk to her in general!" jeremiah rambled in between pushes and shoves.

within the chaos, he spotted stella maneuvering her way through the crowd. "what the fuck is going on here?" she shouted at her two best friends.

jeremiah looked at her guiltily. he had a bloody nose and bruised knuckles. the realization of what he had done and what she was looking at was hitting him. "stel..."

he watched as her eyes traced his face and stopped on every cut and bruise. he watched her eyes trail down his arms until they reached his hands with bruises littering the knuckles. as if in slow motion, he watched the guy that he was fighting elbow stella in the face, sending her straight to the ground.

conrad had seen it happen while fighting the other guy. "stella!" conrad cried. he pushed the other guy aside and approached the guy that jeremiah was fighting. "you piece of shit!"

he was a goner by now. one of the two teenage boys's friends had dragged him away, leaving jeremiah open to help stella. "stel, i'm so sorry. this was supposed to be fun. shit. i'm sorry, stel. i'm really sorry," he apologized repeatedly, trying to help stella up.

she had a huge headache from getting elbowed. jeremiah was upset with the fact that she had gotten hurt because of him.

"j, stop apologizing, you look terrible," she said, analyzing his injuries.

jeremiah wanted to make her feel better and the only way he knew how to do that was to make jokes at the worst times. "aww, thanks, stel," he replied sarcastically.

stella chuckled and jeremiah glanced down at their hands where their fingers were interlocked. his heart was beating fast. maybe it was because he had just beaten up a guy for talking shit about stella or maybe it was because he was developing feelings for his brother's best friend. or maybe it was because his face hurt so bad he wanted to cry, but he wouldn't.

don't cry, dude. stel is literally right there, he thought.

"cops!" a voice shouted in the distance.

"shit!" jeremiah swore. he and stella grabbed each other's hands and made a run for it. they knew that the rest of the crew would meet them by the car. they were right. by the time they were at the car, conrad was already there with isabel.

while they were getting the car ready, stella spotted daniel in the distance, telling his friends to wait up. he walked over to stella.

daniel chuckled. "hey, are you okay? i saw all that shit go down-"

stella shook her head and smiled. "no, yeah. i'm great. it was no big deal."

"oh okay- 'cause i just wanted to make sure... it just- it looked pretty intense," he started rambling, getting nervous.

"have we met?" jeremiah asked him. "i'm jeremiah. some call me jere. she calls me j."

daniel looked taken aback. "oh, um, hi. i'm daniel. some call me dan. she calls me... daniel."

he put his hand out for jeremiah to shake which was little too formal for both of them. jeremiah was growing impatient. "hey, uh, looks like the car's ready, so..."

daniel looked disappointed, but he accepted that she had to go. stella sighed, noticing daniel's disappointment. "um, i'm sure daniel can give me a ride. we can stop for fro-yo or something," she suggested.

jeremiah let out a sarcastic laugh. "uh, no. you're not getting in a car with a guy you just met."

stella cleared her throat, looking between jeremiah and daniel. "well, we actually met earlier at 7/11-"

"so i've heard," jeremiah chuckled. "come on, stel. get in the car."

conrad had already enough of his best friend talking to guys in front of him. he knew about her past boyfriends and he knew how he had reacted just moments ago to a guy talking about her. he was protective in the most friendly way possible.

"just get in the car, stel," conrad rolled his eyes.

stella looked at conrad, then jeremiah. she realized that there was no getting out of this. 

"um, you should probably go," daniel sighed. stella nodded. "but, um, my band is playing a gig tomorrow. our set is at, like, dawn because they only had a few more slots open, but i was wondering if you... wanted to come."

stella smiled. she loved music. "uh, yeah! yes. of course."

"okay, cool! yeah, it'll be fun," daniel said excitedly. everyone was silent for moment, until daniel leaned in and gave stella a quick kiss on the lips. "i'll see you... tomorrow?"

stella hummed quietly. "mm-hmm."

"alright, see you around, stella," daniel waved good-bye then walked away. stella didn't notice that jeremiah and conrad had been giving him a side-eye as he left.

just as they were about to leave, jeremiah parked the car suddenly. "fuck! andy and steven! watch conrad. i'll be right back."

jeremiah hopped out of the car and left stella and a very drunk conrad alone.

"stel?"

she sighed tiredly. "yes, connie?"

"i'm sorry for beating the shit of that guy."

"why did you?"

conrad shifted in his seat. "they were saying very bad things about you," he slurred.

"why did you have to hit them though?"

"it wasn't my idea!" conrad whined. he coughed, before beginning to drunkenly rant again. "jere threw the first punch, like, i didn't even start the fight, stel."

stella played with her nail polish. "j started it?"

"it wasn't me, stel," conrad threw his hands up. "i missed you. you're my best friend, and i'm being an asshole, right?"

stella chuckled quietly. "you've been quite an asshole, yes. belly, can you please keep him company? i'm gonna find j."

"sure," isabel replied. 

stella only made it a few feet away from the car, when a police officer started interrogating her and leading her back to the car. "have you kids been drinking?"

shit, stella thought. shit, shit. where's j when you need him?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note

i don't know if this counts as a double update because it's literally like midnight when i'm posting this or whatever

please vote, comment, etc. i love you guys and THANK YOUU SM FOR SO MANY READS :))

if you guys have any ideas, PLEASE comment them. it really helps

[ unedited ]