Chapter 9

The beautiful music of Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O'Malley, and Matt Helders filled our beach house. Hudson and Dean had created a brilliant playlist, the music peaking into dance mode at around 10pm, when the majority of our guests had arrived.

We hadn't told Anika anything all day and the look on her face when people started flooding in was priceless. Her, Ellie and I had been on the dance floor as soon as all the hosting had been taken care of. Yet still no sign of Steven. Where was he?

There must of been minimum 200 people in the house with another 200 outside, on the beach, in the pool, roaming. It wasn't a heavy party atmosphere either, people lightly chilling, drinking, dancing and socialising which made the night a lot of fun. It meant we didn't have to worry about anything breaking mainly or any people getting seriously out of hand.

Jere and Anika had decided that for tonight Jere would hang with Con and I'd chill with Anika for the most part, it was going to be the last time I saw her for a while whereas her and Jere had another week together. We were catching up on the beach, lying on one of the many rugs we'd lain down in preparation, people were even dancing in the ocean, there were people absolutely everywhere. We gossiped for hours, talking about Jere, Con, Hudson, Cousins, school, New York etc. I loved talking to Anika, we just flowed in conversation that was actually enjoyable, something that wasn't possible with Taylor.

Just as we were walking back to the house to get drink re-fills and try and find some of the others someone pulled me by the arm. It was getting late, around 1am and I wheeled around in surprise to see my big brother grinning down at me, I meant it when I said down, he must of been 6ft3 at least. Wow.
'STEVEN' I shouted
'Hey Iz' Steven laughed at my face of shock while using the name Anika had created. She always took satisfaction in this.
'You came' I smiled widely, 'C'mon we have to find the guys!'
'Okay, Okay Iz, hold on. First off there's something I need to tell you' His face went serious for a second, 'You notice that Lucy isn't here..'
I butted in, 'You're still together right?'
'Um.. yeah' Steven was being weird, struggling to say something
'Spit it out Steven' I teased
'Well, the thing is' Steven paused, 'Lace's pregnant'
'LACIE'S PREGNANT?'
'Yeah, what do you think?'
'You know what bro, are you happy?' I asked
'Yeah, honestly I am Iz. Really happy'
'Then how could I not be' I smiled, close to tears. Not tears of sadness though, tears of happiness. 'My brother, a dad' I teased, 'Shit, me an aunt?! Steven I am not old enough to be an aunt! Do I look middle aged?' I asked half excited, half horrified.
'Well..' Steven replied
'Shut up' I retorted, 'Where is Lacie then anyway?'
'She stayed in New York, she's sorting loads of baby things and stuff'
'Already? Steven, how long has she been pregnant?!'
'5 months..'
'You, are the worst big brother ever. Speaking on the phone at least once a week and you tell me 5 months later?' I laughed
He laughed too before saying, 'C'mon, let's find Jere and Conrad'

'Does Jere know that you two are together by the way?' I asked as we wove our way through people
'Not exactly' He looked at me sheepishly
'Oh this will be a fun set of memories then' I said, sarcasm slipping into my voice
'It'll be fine' He reassured me, I wasn't paying attention though, I'd spotted Jeremiah, Conrad, Hudson and Ellie on the stairs, chatting and joking.
'Okay, on the count of 3 we run up and say boo' I said, but Steven had gone. Walking towards the boys we'd spent our summers with before grabbing them both and pulling them into a giant bear hug.
'Steven?!' They cried in unison. Their faces were hilarious so I snapped a picture to blackmail them with later. He sat down with them and they introduced him to Hud and Ellie. I sat at the bottom of the stairs just watching, until after a while, Conrad noticed me, stood up silently walking towards me. He didn't say anything but took my hand, before looking at me for conformation it was okay. As soon as I nodded he led me outside, pulling me through the crowd till we reached the sand. I hadn't realised how late it was and checking my watch told me 3.12am, a lot of people had left by now and minus the odd couple it was just us. Neither of us had said anything but we didn't need to, just staring at the ocean together contently.

After a while I could tell that Con wanted to say or do something. There was something he needed to say but he couldn't phrase it right. It was like he was nervous, with me? That wasn't normal. I opened my mouth to say something when he finally said, 'Don't say anything' and kissed me. Kissed me in a way that was new and exciting. Like Conrad and I were finally together but not only that equal. It was perfect until,
'What have we here eh?' A snide, harsh, petty voice punched through the air. I pulled my head back to see who it belonged to but I knew already. She'd come back and once again ruined a moment. Taylor. What did surprise me though was seeing the boy hanging off her arm, smiling at her and then turning to grin sinisterly at me. Cam. This night was slowly twisting into a nightmare.

'I-I don't understand?' I questioned, looking first at her but then focussing on him, 'Why are you with her?' By this point Conrad had seen what was happening and had stood up, helping me too my feet. It was us vs. them. Standing glowering at each other.
'Because Belly' Cam snapped, answering me, 'we like each other'
'Let me warn you Cam' Con stepped in, 'Taylor's using you to get to Belly and I' he sounded very sincere.
'Like you know me so well Conrad' Taylor said patronisingly, glaring at me.
'I don't care if I know you or not Taylor, get the hell off our land now' Conrad raged
'Fine, come on Cam' Taylor called, 'But this won't be the last we see of you both. I'm warning you.' She departed with a horribly sweet smile, dragging Cam along, acting as smug as possible.

I turned to Conrad, 'You dealt with that relatively well'
'I'd like to think so' he grinned at me
'So where were we?' I asked
'I believe we were kissing?'
'Hmm, well I'd hate for Taylor to ruin a good scene' I smirked at him
'Belly, just wait, there's something I need to do before anything happens with us'
'Wait for what Conrad? I'm not going to wait around like I used to' My mood was changing fast, and not in a good way.
'Just please, I'm nearly done'
'Fine' I gave in, 'You have 3 days maximum. If you aren't sorted by then, well then I'm not waiting around anymore'
'Deal' Was his reply.
It felt like we'd had a fight almost but I don't know. All I did know was I'd won, made it perfectly clear I wasn't being messed around or played and I knew I'd stick to it. This summer, it was all or nothing.