when stella woke up, she found herself still cuddled into jeremiah's side.

friends cuddle, right? she thought.

he was on his phone and he looked ridiculous. he was trying his best not to move or wake stella up so he had himself positioned in the funniest way possible. when she finally rolled off his shoulder, he sat up and twisted his back, making it crack.

he let out a big sigh of relief. "my back," he half-laughed and half-groaned.

"my bad." stella's voice was muffled into the pillow.

jeremiah chuckled softly and put his phone down. "it's okay. more importantly, we have to get up pretty soon before belly wakes up. it's her birthday."

promptly, stella lifted her head up. "what did you get her?" she asked him.

"a good luck charm. what did you get her?" he poked at her.

it was only a joke because a few years ago, stella had forgotten to buy isabel a birthday gift so she got in on jeremiah's gift. minutes before it was gift time, he let her write her name on the tag as well. of course, she owed him big time. he got to eat one of her pancakes that morning.

"ha. ha. very funny." stella lazily propped herself up on her elbows. "i actually got her a ukulele this year 'cause she said she wanted to learn an instrument."

jeremiah's laughter stopped. "man, you actually got her something?"

"it was one time!" stella laughed, resting her head in his lap. she craved the feeling of sleep even though she had just woken up.

he played with a few loose strands of her hair while teasing her. "that pancake was really yummy-"

stella slowly rolled off the bed and stood up. "i'm gonna go get ready before belly wakes up."

"okay," jeremiah replied. he sat still on his bed where her head was in his lap just moments ago.

this is getting a little out of hand, jere, he told himself. she's not into you, my guy.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

stella threw on a pair of jean shorts and an oversized t-shirt. she had on a pair of nike socks and her nike blazers. she wore those when she wasn't going to the beach.

when she walked into the kitchen and saw jeremiah wearing almost identical socks, she crossed her arms and downwards smiled. "you're a fan," she said, making her way over to him.

unlike stella, he was wearing white vans. "you're the fan," he returned, giving her a morning side hug.

stella went to grab a glass to fill up with strawberry lemonade. "that drink is for children," jeremiah teased her while taking a sip of his smoothie.

"what? strawberry lemonade is, like, ten times better than whatever shit you're drinking." stella took a sip of her delicious lemonade.

laurel looked back at the two. "language."

"my bad," stella apologized before continuing. "try it, j. come on."

he crossed his arms. "i know what it tastes like. it's just an immature beverage-"

"i'll try your strange smoothie if you try my lemonade," stella smirked.

jeremiah didn't say anything before pulling her glass towards him and pushing his glass towards her. "fine."

she hummed and took his glass. they both tried each other's drinks and glared at each other playfully.

shit, his smoothie is hella good, she thought, giving him a guilty side eye.

i forgot how good this stuff is, he thought. he pressed his lips together to hide the defeat on his face.

they silently made an agreement to trade by pointing at each other's cups and then themselves. he wanted the strawberry lemonade now and she wanted his smoothie.

jeremiah took another sip quietly. "i just- i forgot how good this was-"

stella ducked her head while taking another sip out of the straw. "yeah, i know. i was right."

"how's the smoothie?" he asked cockily.

she wiped her mouth after taking yet another sip. "i mean, it's fine, i guess," she teased him. it was more than fine.

where have these been all my life? she thought.

he could tell she was lying because a smile was creeping onto her face. "you like it," he said proudly.

she froze before pointing at his cup. "okay, you liked mine too!" she said in defense.

"happy birthday!" the entire kitchen erupted. 

jeremiah and stella turned around abruptly. jeremiah put down his cup of strawberry lemonade and looked between stella and the glass as if saying, don't you dare touch that.

he walked over to isabel, giving her a side hug. "happy sweet 16, belly."

"happy birthday, sweetheart," laurel smiled and hugged her daughter. "your mickey mouse pancakes are ready."

"actually, i'm not really, uh, hungry," isabel admitted to the family.

laurel's smile slowly fell. "oh."

"shall we open gifts?" susannah shrugged happily.

jeremiah nudged stella before saying, "oh! you're gonna love mine." he held up a box that presumably had a charm inside. 

as if he was making it a competition, he smirked confidently at stella who then stepped forward. "belly, you're really gonna love mine."

"can't wait," isabel smiled as her eyes wandered over to conrad. he was quietly eating his cereal.

even after the talk that he and stella had last night, he still seemed distant. for example, every summer before this one, conrad would have jumped at the chance to say good morning to stella. he would have talked her ear off in a monotone voice while she tried to make a bowl or cereal. but this summer, he was just tired, i guess.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

isabel was opening her gifts. she had already opened a book for laurel, a pearl necklace from susannah, another necklace from anne, a sweater from steven, and a bracelet from andy.

while she was opening her gift from susannah, she noticed that conrad had taken out a little bag from his pocket and hid it in his hands.

it was probably a necklace, huh? she thought.

it was jeremiah's turn to give her a gift. he nudged stella, making her send him a playful glare. i don't know if it can count as a glare because a smile was too visible on her face. she was always bad at hiding her smiles.

"here," he said, giving isabel the small box wrapped in wrapping paper.

isabel took the box. "thank you."

she opened it to reveal a little charm in the shape of a key. "it's a good luck charm," he explained. "to help you pass your driving test."

she added it to her charm bracelet that was around her wrist. "perfect," she said, dragging out the word. "thank you."

"okay, okay, belly. here's mine," stella said, filling the silence. the ukulele was terribly wrapped because wrapping a ukulele is a lot harder than it looks.

isabel's eyes widened, looking between the gift and the girl. "wow, stel! i have no idea what's gonna be in here," she joked.

"yeah, i bet," stella laughed, waving her hands at the girl. "now, open it! come on."

isabel unwrapped the gift to reveal the ukulele and giggled. "thank you, stel! you gonna teach me?"

"i'll try my best," she said, leaning back on her hands.

everyone in the room looked to conrad last. "conrad, uh, do you want to give belly your present?" susannah suggested.

isabel smiled expectantly. conrad made quick eye contact with stella before staring at his hands. "sorry, i forgot," he said.

i thought we agreed that you were gonna stop being a dipshit the rest of the summer, she thought.

"uh, that's... that's cool. um..." isabel was sort of at a loss for words. "i wasn't really expecting anything anyway, so..."

for fuck's sake, give her the damn bag, stella thought, still staring at her best friend's hands.

susannah looked at her oldest son disappointedly. conrad sat up abruptly. "oh, so i gotta go. um, i promised cleveland that i'd show him some knots today, so..."

he stood up and left the room. stella noticed him stuff the small bag into his pocket.

"happy birthday, belly," he said on the way out.

the room was quiet. and when a room was quiet with jeremiah fisher in the room, he did what he did best. he made an awkward moment a lot less awkward. "hey. why don't we take my car practice driving before we have to pick up taylor from the bus station?"

isabel's smile was back on her face. she glanced at stella before saying, "sure. can stella come too?"

their eyes went to stella. "stel, you wanna go with us?"

"yeah, yeah," she responded absentmindedly. she was still thinking about her best friend. "yeah, i'll go. just give me a minute."

stella left the room quickly. she wanted to catch conrad before he could leave. as he was pulling out of the driveway, he saw stella running out the door. he parked the car. "stel, what are you doing?"

she didn't say anything until she got to his rolled down window. "you said you were going to stop being a dipshit."

"what are you talking about?" he looked at his hands. he knew he had messed up.

"were we both in the same room back there?" stella crossed her arms.

conrad sighed and rested his head against the seat. "i- i forgot."

"no, you didn't." she put her arms where the window was rolled down and let her head fall onto them. "what's in the bag you're hiding?"

he looked at the girl, taken aback by the statement. "how did you know..."

"you're not that sneaky, connie." stella lifted her head up from her arms. "you got her a gift, right?"

"i-" he was going to try to deny it, but he knew it would fail. his best friend knew him better than he knew himself. "yeah, i got her something."

"so give it to her sooner rather than later," she said, finishing the conversation. "i mean it."

conrad knew she was right, but that didn't always mean that he was going to do what she told him to do. "okay, you're right."

"i know." stella walked back inside.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note

okay, i feel like this chapter is, like, longer than my other ones if i'm not mistaken. also what are we thinking about this chapter? please please please let know :)

pls vote, comment, etc. THANK YOUU

if you guys have any ideas, please let me know in the comments :))

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