the winter i turned intelligent: chapter 10 (pt. 1)
Important Note from Dreamy Plots & Story Talks: This story contains suggestive language and sexual content and is only suitable for readers that are 18+.
Chapter 10 (part 1):
Jeremiah’s POV (continued):
“We don’t have to go to Matt’s party...we can just get a pizza and stay in,” After about fifteen minutes of silence, I tried to start a conversation. I wasn’t quite sure if Conrad knew that I knew him and Natasha had broken up so I decided to avoid the subject until he wanted to bring it up.
“What? For me? No, I’m fine. I want to go. It’ll be fun,” Conrad kept staring blankly towards the ocean further confirming that he wasn’t okay.
Pushing him would only make things worse so I continued to avoid the subject, “okay, well we should start heading out then. It’s a long drive.”
At The Party:
Belly wore a sequin copper dress, and I wore a midnight blue dress shirt with black dress pants. Matt had invited us to this new club by the beach, and it was just as busy as you’d expect on New Year’s Eve.
It didn’t look like there was a theme for the evening, although there was a lot of gold in the crowd from the decorations to the clothing and accessories that everyone was wearing.
It took a minute to spot our group, but I found them when I saw Trusky and Nina dancing near our table. Everyone looked a little buzzed except for Conrad who had that same blank expression from before. He was staring at the crowd that were on the dancefloor. Belly didn’t seem to notice though when she ran off with Taylor to get drinks.
Trusky asked me to join them to dance, and I motioned that I’d join later. When Belly got back, she handed me a glass of cold champagne and asked me the question that I hoped would continue to be delayed, “Where’s Natasha?”
Hesitantly, I replied, “I don’t think she’s coming tonight...her and Conrad broke up.”
“What? Did he say why?” She looked like she was in deep thought all of a sudden.
Conrad didn’t explain anything to me back at the beach, “no, I don’t know what happened either. It’s weird though, right? I was pretty surprised.”
“Yeah, weird,” then she walked away which I assumed was because she was going to find Taylor.
Conrad’s POV:
You would never know just how lonely you felt until you were in a room filled with people that looked much happier than you. Plenty of these people were most likely single too, but they looked just as happy.
It would have stung even more if Natasha had broken up with me after tonight, but I still wished we could have spent it together. I wanted to kiss her at midnight even if I’d feel far worse later.
I wondered if she would kiss someone else tonight, even though it wasn’t that likely. The thought of it alone was enough to make me feel sick.
Back to Jeremiah’s POV:
Belly led us to the dancefloor, but I was focused on Conrad. It didn’t feel right to look all cheerful right in front of him. From a young age, when my brother wasn’t feeling well or wasn’t in a good mood, it had affected me. I knew depending on others for your happiness wasn’t wise. However, I had always looked up to him and knew that his intentions came from a good place.
Belly must have noticed my lack of attention, “hey, he’ll be fine, I promise.” She sounded convincing, but I wasn’t convinced. “It might just be a big misunderstanding. Who knows, they could even get back together.”
I hadn’t thought about it from that angle yet, but she had a point. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Sorry for bringing down the mood.”
“Hey, there’s plenty of mood yet to be brought down,” We both gave each other a confused expression before laughing in unison.
“What does that even mean??” For a moment, I forgot about everything else but her.
She giggled, “It sounded better in my head, hey at least you laughed. That’s all that matters.”
I took her right hand and moved it near my lips, “shall we?” and then kissed it gently.
Her smile came back as she took my hand and moved us towards the center of the dancefloor.
Back to Conrad’s POV:
I took another sip of champagne when I locked eyes with a girl that had the same hair color as Natasha but with brown eyes. She was wearing a gold strapless cocktail dress and was dancing with a small group of her friends. I looked away immediately, but as I went to grab my drink for a second time, my eyes caught her staring again. She gave me a sly smile, and I pretended not to see it.
Sure, she was attractive, but it wasn’t enough to replace how I had felt for Natasha.
A little over an hour later, I heard a soft voice, “Hey!” It was so loud in here that even though she had shouted, it had barely sounded like a whisper. It was the same girl from earlier.
“Hi,” I didn’t know what else to say. I could barely think anymore.
“Do you wanna dance?” I appreciated her candor, but I didn’t want it.
“Thanks, but I’m waiting for someone,” she got the hint, smiled politely, and then walked away.
Is this what it had all come down to? Would I go back to being closed-off and distant the way I had before?
I didn’t want that, but I felt my own self-sabotage start to creep in. The breakup was still very fresh, yet I felt like I had just foreshadowed my future.
Jessica’s POV:
The New Year’s countdown was about to begin. I had brought a date with me to the party. It wasn’t anything serious for both of us, and it was nice to finally go on dates without any of the pressure that came along with going out with someone you really liked.
As I went in for a hug, I locked eyes with Trusky, while he was holding Nina. She didn’t see though, and I felt sad for a second. I looked away first though because I didn’t have the patience to read into what I saw or didn’t see during that moment.
I would no longer give myself hope only to disappoint myself later.
Back to Conrad’s POV:
Steven pulled me towards the dancefloor to my dismay, “bro you’ll thank me later.”
“Yeah, I doubt it,” Once I got there, I couldn’t wait until I’d go back to the table. The bright lights flickered in my face, the music was too loud for my liking, and every two seconds someone bumped into me.
“Can I go back now?” Steven was distracted with Taylor, so this was my chance. As I made my way through the crowd, I bumped into someone again. “Sorry!” It was the same girl from earlier that night again.
“No worries!” She kept looking at me as the countdown began.
She was even more beautiful up close. I must have drunk one too many glasses of champagne when I thought about kissing her. The sound of the countdown, “10, 9, 8, 7, 6,” drowned out any sense of rationale from my mind.
I think she also wanted to kiss me when I noticed her move in closer. From the pounding noise to her intoxicating scent, I was losing my willpower.
Kissing a stranger on New Year’s Eve wasn’t on my bingo card for the year but here we were.
Back to Jeremiah’s POV:
From my periphery, I saw Conrad leaning into a stranger. It looked like they were about to kiss, and I felt a little conflicted. He had every right to have fun with anyone that he wanted to. This wasn’t about him hooking up with someone that he didn’t know. It was that I knew this wasn’t really him. I knew Conrad more than I probably even knew Belly, and this was him trying his best to mask his pain.
He was an adult though, and I tried not to dwell on this for any longer since it was New Year’s Eve after all. I wanted this year to start off on the right note.
I turned my attention towards Belly as her eyes glimmered in the dim light.
Back to Conrad’s POV:
As the mystery girl’s fingers wrapped around my neck, she smirked and leaned in towards me. She made me feel wanted, and a part of me felt ashamed for liking how this felt. The countdown continued, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1-”
As soon as I felt her breath against my lips, I broke away, “I’m sorry, I can’t.”
Back to Jeremiah’s POV:
“Happy New Year!!!” The whole crowd cheered as the new year began.
With my arms wrapped around Belly’s waist, I leaned in to kiss her, “Happy New Year Bells.”
“Happy New Year Jere,” She nuzzled her nose against mine.
I added with an overly cocky tone, “I have a pretty good feeling that this is going to be our best year yet.”
She picked up on it and grinned, “why this year?”
“I mean isn’t our wedding going to be this year?” I responded in an almost nonchalant manner.
Belly instantly beamed with excitement and kissed me with more urgency than before as my hands traveled down her back.
Back to Conrad’s POV:
I walked away and instead of going back to the table, made my way to the exit. It had to have been freezing outside, but I much preferred that to the suffocating feeling I had felt on that dancefloor.
The Next Morning:
Back to Jeremiah’s POV:
We all crashed at Steven and Taylor’s last night. Steven and Taylor wanted to sleep in, so they skipped breakfast. Conrad, Belly, and I went to the same local diner that my friends and I would always go to.
When we were deciding on what to order, I told Conrad how they had his favorite chocolate chip pancakes, “Connie look, your favorite!”
“Could you please not shout!” I forgot that Conrad still had a pretty bad hangover from last night.
“My bad, here I’ll whisper for you, is that better?” I tried to make him feel better by making him laugh.
It clearly didn’t work, “whatever, just order for me. Why does it even matter what pancakes I get? It’s not like that’s going to change anything.” He put his face into his hands and groaned.
Belly chimed in, “It probably won’t, but you’ll feel better. I know I always do,” and then handed him the fresh pancakes that just arrived.
In between bites, Conrad asked me, “how did you even find out that we broke up? I didn’t tell Steven until last night.”
I took a bite of my pancakes as well before answering, “From Natasha. Belly and I drove by her house to drop off the notebook from the Secret Santa gift exchange that she left at our place. You didn’t pick up your phone, and it was on our way.”
“Did Trusky give you her address?” I knew he asked this since Nina and Natasha lived together.
“Not exactly, well he did give it to me from before,” I wasn’t really sure where any of this was going.
“What do you mean?” There was a pause so he asked a follow-up question. “What do you mean by ‘before’?”
It was too late to backtrack so I clarified everything, “I needed her address to apologize for something I had said to her, and this was awhile back, like a few weeks before you two had met.”
Belly asked a question as well, “What were you apologizing for?”
Shit. I had dug a hole for myself, and now I regretted not saying any of this right when we had gotten back together, “I don’t want this to come out the wrong way. But I saw you two together when I was getting some groceries when Conrad had just got back into town.” I directed my next sentence to Belly, “You and I were still broken up, and I just got flashbacks from before. I felt really insecure, and I went to Natasha’s family shop and asked her out for dinner. She immediately said no because she knew I was just asking her out because I was jealous.”
Conrad’s brows rose, “Why didn’t you tell me you asked her out??”
“Because it was a dumb moment, it didn’t even count in my head to bring up because I just asked her without really thinking.” Even though I was telling the truth, I was worried that they both didn’t believe me.
Belly’s next question was entirely different, “How did she know you were jealous? Did you tell her details about us?” She looked down at her plate with an annoyed expression and then at Conrad, “Now it makes sense why she told me that I should be honest for a change...”
Now I was confused. I turned towards her, “What? Why would she say that to you?”
Conrad looked at her as well with a more concerned look, “Belly what did you say to her?”
For a brief second, I was glad that the attention was no longer on me because I felt as though both of them were mad at me right now.
Conrad and I waited in anticipation to hear what she said next.