stella and jeremiah decided that they would just wear their dinner outfits to get frozen yogurt. if someone didn't know their later plans, they would probably assume that the two were on a date.

 stella was wearing a skirt and a baby tee. she usually wouldn't wear a skirt but her mom told her that it would look nice. stella prefered a nice pair of jeans shorts, but this was fine.

jeremiah was wearing a colorful button-up and jeans. the jeans were also a little out of character for him, but whatever.

of course, his hair looks perfect, she thought. she immediately shook her head at the thought. stop it, stella.

"you look nice," jeremiah mentioned, out of the blue.

"thanks, j." stella put a spoonful of her frozen yogurt in her mouth. she eyed him up and down before saying, "you do too. look good, i mean."

they were walking back to the house after hanging out at the beach for about an hour. it took them long enough to get frozen yogurt in the first place then they decided to take a walk on the beach and go people watching. now, they only had a little less than an hour to get back to the house and be ready for dinner.

"let's pick it up, stel," jeremiah teased the girl who was walking slowly. she couldn't help it. she was a slow walker. "we don't have all day."

stella attempted to walk a little faster. she pointed at the boy. "hey, i don't want to hear it from the guy who gets peach rings on his fro-yo."

jeremiah threw both of their cups away. he noticed that she was getting antsy holding her own cup, so he offered to hold it. of course, she didn't decline that offer.

"peach rings are good!" he defended his frozen yogurt. "you're the one with the weird fro-yo."

he opened the car door for stella then went around to the driver's side. "what's so weird about my fro-yo?"

jeremiah started the car and smiled crookedly at the girl. "stel, you get vanilla fro-yo with a pile of oreos in there just because you want to make your own cookies and creme flavor."

"so?" she said, as if that was completely normal.

"it's weird because right next to the vanilla is cookies and creme!" he protested playfully.

stella stayed silent, thinking of an explanation, before mumbling, "it tastes better when i make it."

"whatever," jeremiah smirked, turning the car into the driveway of their summer house.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

it was dinner time. everyone was either laughing or eating their food. daniel had gotten here right on time and found his spot next to stella. this didn't go unnoticed by jeremiah, who was picking at his food and looking between the two.

"this looks really good," daniel said to stella who was sitting right beside him. "me and my friends in my band eat microwave food all the time so this is cool."

"i wish i had a band," stella laughed even though nothing was really that funny.

jeremiah rolled his eyes and decided to say something to cure his boredom. "so... daniel?"

daniel looked up from his plate and made intimidating eye contact with jeremiah. "yep?"

"i don't believe you've introduced yourself." jeremiah raised his eyebrows and looked the boy expectantly. "i mean, being a guest and all-"

stella couldn't listen to this much longer. "this is daniel. we met in the beginning of summer."

daniel waved subtly and looked between stella and the families. "hi. nice to meet you guys."

it was quiet until jeremiah spoke up yet again. "so what do you do, daniel? any hobbies?"

"i'm in a band," daniel said awkwardly. the energy in the room was getting almost unbearable. "a lot of fun stuff..."

jeremiah bit his lip, as if he was enjoying this whole scene. stella pressed her lips together and sent him a look. 

"he's really talented, i swear," she said.

daniel nodded and put a hand on her leg under the table. stella shifted uncomfortably. she didn't know why she was uncomfortable, but it didn't feel right. jeremiah noticed the look on her face, making his eyes dart between the two.

"we're actually writing a song together," daniel said excitedly. "tell them about it!"

stella shook her head. she couldn't explain to her family that she was writing a song about one of her best friends that she might have feelings for. "oh, it's nothing..."

"oh, it's definitely something! we have to change the lyrics though because they don't fit us anymore," daniel thought out loud.

stella furrowed her eyebrows, not catching on. "what do you mean?"

daniel sighed and started quickly humming the song out loud for her to catch on. "sorry i didn't kiss you, duh-duh-duh, duh-duh."

"what?" she said, still confused.

"'cause we kissed now, so the lyrics can't be 'sorry i didn't kiss you'," daniel explained to her. stella realized what he meant.

daniel leaned in for a quick kiss on her lips. he thought that the song was about him. jeremiah tried not to show any emotion on his face while he and andy were pretending to throw up at the sight.

"we should just start a whole new song in general," stella waved his idea away.

jeremiah stared at stella amusingly. it was like he had a permanent smirk on his face. he was also catching onto the fact that this song might be about him. "this song is interesting. tell me more-"

stella stopped him before he could say anything else and excite daniel more. "no, no. it's okay," she laughed awkwardly. "not here, not now."

isabel put her fork down. "hey, how 'bout we go to nicole's party?"

stella's and taylor's heads popped up at this comment. "really?" stella asked excitedly.

isabel nodded. "oh my god. i love you," taylor said happily.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"are we ready to go?" jeremiah checked with everyone who was standing at the door.

stella checked her outfit and scrunched her nose. "i might change into shorts or something more comfortable."

jeremiah nodded. "okay. just don't take too long-"

he couldn't finish his sentence before daniel said, "wait. why? you look fine right now."

all the teenagers in the room looked at the couple with confounded expressions on their faces. stella just shrugged. she didn't want to cause a scene. "whatever, yeah. let's just go."

daniel nodded, satisfied. "you goin' with me?"

she glanced at jeremiah who looked almost angry. he felt protective over stella. he hated how daniel had talked to her, even though it wasn't even a big deal. conrad also felt protective over stella, but in a different way. he didn't approve of daniel either.

in fact, nobody really approved of daniel.

finally, stella said, "yeah, i'll go with you."

during the drive to the party, daniel kept his hand on her leg. she didn't know why she felt so uneasy about it. maybe it was because she was wearing a skirt. and when she sat down, the skirt went higher so his hand was on her bare skin.

but would i feel this way if it was jeremiah holding me? she thought. she couldn't help but think about it.

they arrived at nicole's house. stella smiled to herself. this looked like a sick party.

"you ready to go in?" he asked her, putting his hand around her waist.

she looked up at him with a sick feeling in her stomach. "yeah."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note

you guys wanted daniel to mess up so here it is. also sorry for taking so long to update. i've been weirdly busy lately. pls tell me if this is boring. this chapter feels kind of... off to me... yk?

pls vote, comment, etc. THANK YOUU

if you guys have any ideas, pls comment them down below :))

[ unedited ]