𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐲𝐧

corbyn walked back over the group after his encounter with his friend's ex, if you can even call her that.

daniel let out a scoff. "dude, were you talking to stella?"

"yeah, what about it?" corbyn said, sitting in one of the beach chairs that they had brought.

"she's such a bitch-"

"dude," corbyn interrupted him, opening a can of beer.

daniel scrunched his nose up, nudging the boy's shoulder. "you're my friend. you're supposed to be on my side-"

"yeah, but you're still not supposed to be out doin' that kind of shit," corbyn shrugged, referring to how daniel had treated stella. he felt kind of bad for.

"whatever." daniel rolled his eyes. "fuck off, corbyn."

𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚

while walking through the wrap-around porch, stella saw cameron leaving early. stella knew that she shouldn't try starting too many conversations since she was still a little drunk from downing cup after cup of the pomegranate margaritas, but she couldn't help herself.

"leaving already?" she called to the curly haired boy.

"yeah, just- something came up," he replied, scratching the back of his neck.

stella nodded and finished the last of what seemed like her seventh cup of the margarita. they weren't that big of cups anyways.

"gotcha." she raised her empty, plastic cup in the air towards him.

she made her way to the kitchen to find some of the pomegranate margarita still in the blender. she poured herself another cup, filled almost to the brim.

stella caught the sight of her best friend walking towards the side yard from out the window. she smiled and started jogging outside to meet with him.

conrad heard footsteps from outside the shower, which he recognized as stella's. he didn't know how he knew, but he knew.

"you never brought back the speaker," conrad said from inside the shower.

stella giggled. she didn't usually giggle so maybe it was because she was a little drunk. "you didn't give me nearly enough time."

"i think there was plenty of time," he joked, washing the mud off his body from his brother.

stella finally took in the sight of the splatters of mud on his chest and partly on his face. "you're all muddy."

"i am," he chuckled softly and teased her. "and you're drunk."

"no," she denied, but even she knew that she was a little drunk. "guess who i ran into on the way home?"

"do you want me to actually guess-"

stella shook her head quickly and leaned against the wooden door frame of the outdoor shower. "remember daniel?"

"oh... you ran into him?"

"no, but i ran into his friend. his name's corbyn. very nice boy," stella said, taking a long sip from her cup.

conrad was nodding along to her story but part of him was upset that he hadn't been with her when she had ran into this 'corbyn' person.

"sea ceature! we still have margaritas to drink!" a voice called from a far.

stella turned her attention away from conrad and peeked down the side yard. isabel was stumbling towards them with two full margaritas in her hands.

stella's eyes widened as she quickly finished the rest of her cup. "belly! top me off?" she said excitedly, letting isabel pour some of the spare margarita into stella's cup.

stella noticed how isabel was looking at her best friend. she looked between the two and started chuckling awkwardly. "i'm gonna- i'm gonna go see what's going on... over there."

she walked back around the house, feeling slightly jealous. not because she had a crush on conrad, but because she hated thinking about what it would be like if isabel's wishes did come true. what if conrad did like isabel back and they ended up together? what if isabel took stella's spot as conrad's number one?

stella shook her head. he'll always need you, she told herself. best friends, right?

when she walked back into the kitchen, there was nobody there. she shrugged and caught somebody walking up the stairs. she followed the sound of their footsteps until she caught up with the body.

it was jeremiah.

"j, there you are!" stella laughed after taking another sip of her drink. dragging out the words, she said, "i'm so bored."

"are you?" he said, letting her drunkenly follow him into the bathroom.

"yeah, belly is, like, hardcore flirting with connie," she said with her eyebrows furrowed.

"is that a bad thing?"

jeremiah took a towel to his hair, ruffling it out. there wasn't much stuff in it, just some sand. she watched as his hair slowly floated back down to where it belonged after he took the towel off. he tossed it onto the floor and followed her to her bedroom.

she was just talking now. she was talking without hesitation because she was drunk. "i mean, not necessarily, but like, it almost feels against the rules- ah. what am i saying? i've already broken enough of our stupid friendship rules."

"what rules?" jeremiah smiled, sitting in his usual spot on her bed.

she made a lap around the bed before she reached the other side. she placed herself next to him and downed the rest of her cup, leaving it on her nightstand.

"we have a bunch of stupid rules," she sighed, leaning against the headrest of her bed. "like, connie went on and on one time about one of the rules which was to never date stupid boys."

"and you definitely broke that one with daniel," jeremiah joked, even though he really hated to bring it up.

"yeah," she said. she was definitely drunk after all those drinks. "and you know what? he said something really funny a long time ago... about you."

stella let out a small giggle, leaning into jeremiah's side. "what did he say?" he let out a surprised laugh.

"he just said stuff about how not to date stupid boys, you know? and he was all like, blah blah blah, stupid boys like... jere." stella mocked her best friend's voice.

jeremiah's lips parted slightly. with his eyebrows raised, he said, "really? i'm a stupid boy?"

"maybe that's just my type," she said, not even realizing that could potentially mean. she was too drunk to think before speaking. or acting.

he smirked. "does that mean i'm your type?"

stella rolled her eyes before locking eyes with the boy. her head was tilted up, tempting her drunken self to just lean in.

and she found herself doing just that.

jeremiah was getting lost in her eyes... and her lips. it sounds cheesy, i know.

unfortunately for both of them, jeremiah was a decent guy. "stel... you're- you're drunk. i can't-"

stella was quiet. it was like she couldn't make words come out of her mouth.

"you won't even remember this when you wake up." he looked down at his hand which was covered up by one of hers. he took it back cautiously and stood up from the bed.

stella drowsily flopped down on her bed, laying on her chest. she watched the boy walk towards the stairs that led back down to the rest of the house.

she let out a small, frustrated groan. "but what if you're my type, j?"

real sweet, he thought. but i wish you were sober.

he sighed, tapping a little beat on the thick wooden stair rail. "get some rest, stel."

and with that, stella was out like a light for probably the best nap of her entire life.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note

this chapter was written while i was very tired. so if there are any grammar mistakes, pls feel free to let me know lmfao :) if this was boring, also pls let me know. I PROMISE... TEA IS COMING. JERE IS JUST BEING A DECENT PERSON RN.

if you couldn't tell, this chapter was kind of inspired by "wish you were sober" by conan gray. :)

pls vote, comment, etc. if you want <3 THANK YOUU

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

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