The Winter I Turned Intelligent: Chapter 5 (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 5 (part 1):

Yesterday kept replaying in my head. I was still shocked at how Conrad joined us at the pumpkin patch. The fact that he wasn’t a fan of them before meant a lot that he made the effort to go. I didn’t think either of us would have cried, but we both needed it. My exams were next week though, so I had to get back to studying. I went to refill my coffee and noticed the orchids Belly had bought before going to London. Whenever I saw white orchids, it reminded me of her senior prom.

Three Springs Ago: 

Belly’s senior prom was today, and of course this was the only day my classmates could meet to work on our economics group project. I made sure to leave around noon though so that I would have enough time to get ready and drive to her house.

I wore a navy suit with a white dress shirt, navy tie, and dark brown dress shoes. I put a little cologne on but a lot of deodorant, since I was this nervous. Taylor had warned me that Belly’s dress would make me scream, and I had jokingly told her that she was probably right. To be fair, Taylor didn’t need to tell me that. Whatever Belly decided to wear would take my breath away, I was sure of it.

As I was headed out my dorm room, I heard my roommate Zac’s voice, “Have fun!”

Before I shut the door I responded, “Thanks man, I’ll see you tomorrow!”

It was a good thing I left earlier than I normally did. The drive from Finch to Belly’s house was a little over an hour, when it usually took about thirty minutes to get there. The steering wheel was covered with the slight sweat from my palms as I pulled into her driveway. Locking my red jeep, I knocked on her door with my left hand with her corsage in my right hand. My heart dropped and then rose back into place when Laurel opened the door. I was relieved it wasn’t Belly yet, that way I had time to catch my breath. I spoke too soon-

Belly stood at the top of the stairway wearing the most beautiful dress I had ever seen in my entire life. The off the shoulder gown was a light shade of blue covered in a matching shade of blue tulle. The top of the dress including the short sleeves were adorned with silver and blue beads and crystals shaped like flowers on a vine. My palms must have been even sweatier than before when we made eye contact as she walked down the stairs.

“You look just like Cinderella,” is all I managed to say, “-no I mean, even more beautiful than Cinderella, just the shade of blue reminds me of her dress-” now I was just rambling, “- what I meant to say is...you look absolutely breathtaking.” It was the truth. I couldn’t speak right now, and I could barely breathe. I had to get it together though. I finally had the chance to give her the prom that I knew she always wanted.

I didn’t even notice Taylor and Steven were already there when Taylor put her hand on my arm, “I told Cinderbelly she should dress up as Cinderella for her last prom. I mean isn’t senior prom the one that really counts?” and then winked at me. 

Belly chimed in, “Taylor! Both proms are special in their own way”

Taylor gave her a cheeky grin, “right...”

I loved how supportive Taylor had always been to me. I knew both proms were special to her because I remembered how she had gone on and on last year about how much fun she had with Steven at her junior prom. I was even more impressed by how she was always there for Belly.  

Taylor wore a soft pink strapless long gown with antique gold beads at the top of the dress that matched her earrings. She turned toward me and Steven but directed her next sentence to me, “guess the inspo behind my dress”

Their class president Eva came up with the prom theme, and the students unanimously voted in favor of her theme. She called it, “Once Upon A Dream...” and had explained how the theme was not only limited to Disney characters. Eva emphasized that everyone should dress up in outfits that made them feel dreamy and as if they were in a fairytale.  

I thought my guess was correct, “Rapunzel?”

Taylor genuinely looked offended, “Rapunzel, really? Her dress is purple”

Steven looked at me and laughed, “That was a trap, you should have just said you don’t know. I too, unfortunately made the same mistake before...”

Taylor shook her head at us, “Seriously? When’s the last Disney movie you saw really? I’m dressed as Princess Aurora, you know from Sleeping Beauty?”

Steven gave a wide smile that I knew was sarcastic, “Ohhhh, that’s what it was! That’s what I meant”

Taylor rolled her eyes, “yeah sure you did”

I turned my attention back to Belly, “before I forget, this is for you.” I made her corsage from scratch, and it showed.

I held back my laughter as I saw her try to look impressed at the tiny daisy attached to an elastic band, “oh...I love it- thank you”

I started to laugh when I took out her real corsage outside of the paper bag I was carrying, “oh so you wouldn’t want this then instead?”

Her eyes lit up, “Jere that’s beautiful!” as I put the corsage on her left wrist. “I love it, thank you.”

Belly had hinted to me earlier that she wanted an orchid corsage. She had told me last Christmas that she thought orchids were very elegant and not as commonly used for corsages. When she told me her prom dress was light blue, I thought white orchids with silver ribbon and some small white pearls would be perfect. When I had picked up her corsage earlier that morning, the florist had told me it was one of her favorite ones she had made. I hoped Belly would love it just as much. It made me smile now knowing she probably loved it even more.

She kissed my cheek before putting on my small white orchid boutonnière.

I looked at the flower and then at her, “thank you, it’s perfect”

Steven pretended to look nauseous, and then Laurel asked us to stand by the bottom of the stairway for pictures. Shortly after, I drove us to have dinner first and then to Belly and Taylor’s high school.

In the car, Belly sat in the passenger seat, and at every other stop sign or red light, we would sneak glances at each other.

A few times, we even laughed softly, and Steven and Taylor were luckily too busy in their own worlds to even notice us.

When we got there, the music was loud, and the decorations were all gold, white, and black. Eva was at a booth handing out raffle tickets and asking students to fill out a list of what songs they wanted to play throughout the night. I wrote one down as a surprise for Belly. I noticed Taylor wrote one down as well.

Taylor took Steven’s hand, and Belly took my hand at the exact same time as we all ran to the dancefloor. Steven started doing this dance that I couldn’t describe even if I tried to.

Taylor was the first to comment on it, “Steven, what are you even doing?!”

Steven’s response was, “Ballroom dancing!”

After Belly and I danced for a few more minutes, she suggested to go take some photos in the photobooth. Most of them were silly ones, so towards the end she said we needed to take a serious one.

“We need to have one cute one at least, we can do this,” she tried to stop giggling as she sat in my lap, while I kissed her cheek for the last one.

Then we immediately heard Taylor’s voice, “Belly you need to come here right now, IT’S OUR SONG!”

Belly’s eyes grew wide as she recognized the song, “NO WAY!!! I’M COMING!”

They were playing, “A Dream is A Wish Your Heart Makes” by the Disney Channel Stars, which was from the albums Disney would have where stars would do covers of classic Disney songs. Belly and Taylor were obsessed with this one in particular. This must have been the song I saw Taylor request in the beginning, and she was clever since this song was also from Cinderella.

Taylor and Belly held hands while they both started to dance, “You didn’t think I would forget, did you? What’s more iconic than Cinderbelly herself dancing to this?”

Steven rolled his eyes, “that nickname is terrible Taylor, please come up with something better”

Belly just kept dancing, “I’m having way too much fun to even notice him”

As much as Steven joked around a lot, I knew he secretly loved to dance with Taylor. Belly and Taylor knew every single lyric of the song by heart and continued to belt the words.

Steven and I tried to dance and sing along with them, but we didn’t have a chance.

Belly and Taylor were in their own world right now and clearly wanted this moment to themselves, so Steven and I continued our own very impressive, yet also embarrassing dancing next to them.

Then the song I requested came on next.

Belly instantly turned to me, “did you request this one?”

I smiled back, “maybe...”

It was “Enchanted (Taylor’s Version)” by Taylor Swift, the song she had told me made her feel like she was in a fairytale the first time she heard it. It wasn’t exactly a slow song, but for tonight, for this moment, it was.

She kept smiling, “thank you, really, thank you for everything, the corsage, the dinner, coming here tonight, I heard it wasn’t easy, but you still did it. It means everything to me. I hope you know that”

I kissed her lips as I wrapped my arms around her waist, “you mean everything to me, I hope you know that”

Our foreheads gently touched as the song continued.

After dancing to a couple more songs, we went back to our table and shared some chocolate chip cookies. They were about to announce prom queen when Taylor suggested, “We should go to Kyle’s party before we have to park ten blocks away.”

Belly agreed, “good point, let’s go.”

Kyle was a year younger than his brother Dylan, who I graduated with last year. He also happened to go to the same high school as Belly and Taylor. I wasn’t surprised he was hosting the after prom, since their house was so big.

The house was even bigger than I’d remembered. We were all surprised that it was already this crowded. The prom was pretty crowded as well so Kyle must have invited more of his friends outside of school to the party. As soon as we got inside, Taylor and Steven disappeared.

Belly and I walked into the backyard, and she ran near the pool, “look what I found?” She came back with a volleyball in her hands, “for old time’s sake?”

I smiled as she threw the ball to me, “for old time’s sake,” and then I threw the ball back. 

We passed the ball a few times before we were both sweating in all these clothes as I dove to hit the ball in the last second but instead fell on the grass. I could hear her laughing. She held out her hand to help me up as she teased, “you’re getting a little rusty, what happened?”

I pulled her in softly as she landed on the grass right beside me, “how did I not see that one coming?”

I turned to face her with a smirk, “I don’t know, I guess you’re getting a little rusty.” 

Her tone became slightly less playful, “I’m going to miss this” 

I didn’t know what she meant but tried to reassure her, “what are you talking about? We can play volleyball whenever you want at Finch”

She smiled, “I know, it’s just nothing will stay the same and it’s amazing but really scary at the same time. I just want everything to stay the way it is right now...”

I knew exactly how she felt because I felt the same way, “I get it, but we’ll always have each other, and that won’t change, Jeremiah and Belly friends forever and ever, remember you quite literally made that very clear when you made that message in a bottle a few years ago...”

She laughed louder than I expected, and I was happy to have cheered her up, “Are you ever going to let that go?”

I did let it go, but I was happy we were finally more than friends, “No, but I can try, just for you,” as I heard her continue to laugh, “and besides you’ll be playing in college, and we can practice together, remember?”

She turned to me and put her right hand on my right cheek while we laid down on the grass, instantly spiking my heart rate, “there’s a lot more we can practice...”

Luckily, she kissed me first because for a second there I froze. When we both needed air from the kiss, I started, “Should we really be doing this here? I don’t know, it feels a little weird. The last person that I want to bring up right now is Steven, but he’s literally a few feet away, and it would also be kind of odd to do it in a room next door to someone else that’s also maybe doing it too”

I could tell she agreed, “no you’re right, I completely agree, maybe we should go back to my house then?”

I wanted to, but I knew we couldn’t. It would have been even weirder since Laurel was there, “Isn’t your mom still home? Plus, I drove us here, so wouldn’t they be pissed that we left them here?”

Belly explained, “Well, Taylor told me she planned to spend the night here so you don’t need to worry about Steven and her, and as for my mom, don’t worry, she will be asleep when we get back, and we can be quiet”

It still felt wrong. Even though Belly was 18, and I was 19, and I assumed she knew Belly and I had slept together already, she was still her daughter, and since we grew up together, I didn’t want to make things awkward between any of us, “Listen, we could do this another time, it doesn’t have to be tonight”

Belly looked disappointed, and it also matched how I felt inside, “I know, but I wanted us to have this night to remember like that as well”

I sighed, “so did I”

She looked like she thought of some grand idea, “I know! We could just go back to your dorm in Finch.”

We had thought of this before but were worried how her mom would have reacted, “Bells, remember you said your mom might not be okay with you spending the night with me at Finch?”

Belly tried to clarify, “Yeah, but we literally went to Iceland together. She knows we have spent the night together plenty of times. I promise she won’t worry, I’ll even text her and ask her, if it will make you feel more comfortable”

I knew she was trying to reassure me, but she knew that would make me feel even more awkward, “what no, that’s even weirder!”

She laughed, and I could tell she was trying to figure out a plan, “well how about we go and come back instead of spending the night then?”

I didn’t think about that, “Okay, that might actually work”

She got up faster than it took me to think of my next sentence, “C’mon, let’s go, we have no time to waste!”

As soon as I turned on the engine, I remembered something, “Shit”

She looked at me with curiosity, “what?”

“I just realized my roommate is most likely still at the dorm,” then I called Zac and luckily, he answered right away and said he was at a party anyways since it was a Saturday and that he would just go back to the dorm later. It wasn’t just for this moment, but I knew Zac and I would be lifelong friends. I turned to Belly, “great, he won’t be back for a while”

At the Dorm:

Belly was standing above me, while I sat down on my bed. She took off her corsage, and I didn’t know why that turned me on the way that it did since it wasn’t even a piece of clothing.

I looked into her eyes as she unpinned my boutonnière. She started undoing my tie, and as she removed it from my neck I whispered, “how was your prom?”

She smiled as she put her fingers on my chin, “everything I ever hoped for it to be, but better than I even imagined,” and then her lips pressed against mine as I grunted. She broke away from the kiss for a second, “and that was just the food, my date was alright as well, I guess...” 

I laughed with my mouth open wide, as I moved us so that she was now under me, “oh really? What about now?” My lips touched her neck but with slower and softer barely-there kisses.

Her voice dropped an octave and became softer, “Jere- I want to feel you,” as I moved to kiss her collarbone.

She got up and turned around motioning for me to unzip her dress. When she turned back around, I wrapped my arms around her lower back and started to kiss her stomach as she unbuttoned and removed my shirt. When she unbuckled my belt, I was left mesmerized by the fact that even though we had already done this a few times, each time I noticed something different about her that made me love her even more. I didn’t know it could be possible, but here she was proving me wrong yet again.

She laid back down on the bed, and I grabbed protection. I looked into her eyes as she wrapped her legs around me and shortly after heard the noises she made that made me lose my fucking mind every damn time.

We were both sweating when I moved to lay beside her on the bed. I could tell she was still breathing heavier, “okay, that... was... incredible...”

I laughed as I tried to catch my breath, “I told you I’d get better”

The way she laughed sent chills down my back even though I was covered in both our sweat. I started to laugh as well then was brought back to reality when I realized we needed to get back to her house, “as much as it pains me to say this, we should go”

She pouted at me, “just a few more minutes, then I promise, we can go”

I was happy she said what I was thinking. Prom didn’t go the way I wanted. It was way fucking better.

Back to Present Day:

Belly’s POV: 

Taylor and I were having lunch when she turned towards me, “when are you two going to start talking again? I love the guy, I really do, you know that, he knows that, but he’s pissing me the fuck off. It’s been a week, and he still doesn’t want to listen to you yet? I’m sorry, but no.”

Even if I agreed with her, what good would it do me? Then again, what good would it do me to keep waiting? What would I have to lose than I already had lost? If Jeremiah wasn’t afraid of losing me, then so be it, but I was tired of waiting. I had waited enough. I needed to talk to him, “You know what? You’re right. I’m calling him right now.”