Conrad

Instead of breaking into two teams like last time, Taylor is forcing us into groups of two who can get the most tickets.

"Two doesn't even work evenly," Belly complained.

"Sure it does." Taylor said. "I'll be with my man. Jeremy and Shay. You and Conbad. And look. Cam Cameron shows up just in time to team up with Skye."

Cam looked alarmed when he heard his name as he walked by. "Oh hey guys," He started slapping hands with the guys and gave Belly, Taylor and Skye hugs. "Are you actually going to let me play your reindeer games this time?"

"We were down a player, and now we're not. It's literally perfect." Taylor said.

I shook my head. This was so obvious. It's ridiculous. "I don't know guys."

Belly flashed me a look I couldn't quite read. Did she want to team up with me? Or did she think I was behind this?

Jere rolled his eyes. "Get over it. You two are way too competitive, no one else should have to suffer being on a team with either of you."

"Seriously," Steven said. "I can't handle the stress that comes with playing on Belly's team. I'll start prematurely balding."

Belly scoffed. "You know what, I don't want to team up with you losers anyway. Con, you better keep up, because they are going down. And Steven… You might want to look in a mirror.. Because that hairline is already slipping back."

There was a spark in her eye now. She was in it to win it. I shook my head. "You sure? I'd hate to see you forced to ride the Tower of Terror again." Steven said.

Belly and Jere made eye contact then, but both looked away quickly. I hit Steven in the shoulder. "As if you could beat us. It'll be you crying and puking the whole way down this year."

"Sooo… What first?" Cam said.

"I guess if we're playing for tickets, we can split up?" Shay suggested.

Belly frowned, but everyone else seemed to agree and started branching out.

So now it was just the two of us.

"Soooo…" Belly said.

"Skeeball?" I suggested.

"Skeeball." She agreed. We played in an awkward silence mostly. She was definitely still upset about the other day, and I had no idea how to make things better. We blasted out a few rounds there before heading to Shoot Your Shot.

Belly's first shot rebounded off the rim and smacked me in the face. I stumbled back a bit and just stared at her. She stared back, and then burst out laughing.

"I guess I really am bad at angles." She started laughing even harder, she literally snorted, making me start laughing too.

"Maybe you just had a sucky tutor."

She grinned and tried to catch her breath. "Yeah, he really did suck. But not at tutoring." I rolled my eyes and grinned back. This I could handle. I'd much rather her trash with jokes than ignore me.

"Yeah, well now he sucks with a black eye." She laughed.

"Why does it seem like we always end up here?" She said, tossing me a basketball.

"What do you mean? At Shoot Your Shot?" I threw the ball in. "Nothing but net! You see how smooth that was?"

"I mean at each other's throats." She sunk the next shot in. "Looks like I just needed a warm up shot."

"Because I'm an asshole." I said without thinking. I didn't even look over, just kept shooting.

"To everyone else maybe. You were always different with me." She followed my lead, and kept shooting without looking at each other.

I swallowed hard. "You're right. To you though… I am a liar and a coward. Which is worse."

"I guess if we are putting it all out there… To you.. I am apprehensive. And resentful." She sunk another basket, but I could see her hands were shaking. My chest felt tight.

I pulled the tickets from the machine. "Space invader next?" She nodded, and neither one of us acknowledged the shots we had just taken at ourselves in front of Shoot Your Shot.

Belly

It was pretty clear Taylor was teaming me with Conrad on purpose. But it seemed like he didn't really want her to, either. I saw him shake his head and look away when she said we would be together. He was probably mad at me about the day before when I had literally had a melt down and then thrown his things in his face after he comforted me. But then why get me my favorite ice cream? Did he just feel bad about cutting me in line?

I kept thinking about it, why would Taylor do this to me? He was silent the entire time we were playing Skeeball. He definitely didn't want to be partnered with me.

Then, we had this awkward ass conversation during Shoot Your Shot. It was like word vomit from both of us, and we didn't even actually look at each other the entire time. But when we switched to video games, we didn't even talk about it. Just played together, and teased each other like we used to when we were kids. I hate that I always fall back into this routine with him. But I don't hate that when we met up with everyone else, we had double the amount of tickets than the rest had all together. It makes it hard to deny that even on the outs, we make a good team.

Steven groaned. "Okay, maybe it was a terrible idea putting them together. Honestly, I thought they would kill each other." He sighed, staring up at the Tower of Terror.

"Yeah, well this is what you get for making jokes. Want me to get you a barf bag?" Conrad said, teasing him. Steven rolled his eyes.

"You guys suck, why doesn't anyone else have to do this?"

"Because you're always the one to bring it up. And you said I caused premature balding!" I laughed, pushing him towards the ride.

"Come on Steve-O," Jere said, "I'll even hold your hand."

It sent a pang through my heart. How many of the things that had caused me to fall in love with him had been him just being a good friend? I wish we had just stayed friends sometimes.

When they got off the ride, Steven took exactly 5 steps before throwing up in the grass near the ride.

"Shut up," He grumbled. "Let's just go home." And so we did. Most everyone went upstairs to start showering and getting ready for dinner, but I changed into my new suit and headed down to the pool. I hate that I even bought this stupid thing, but Skye was right. The white made me look tan, and since I hadn't been to the beach in so long, that was pretty impressive. And Shay and Tay were right. I look hot in it. A very small part of me hoped that I would catch Jere's eye. The old, mostly dead feelings still popped up every now and then. Love doesn't die easily though. If it did, the louder part of me that hopes I catch his brother's eye would have shut up a long time ago. But it is always there, no matter how hard I work to bury it.

When I came up from swimming for a bit to catch my breath, Conrad was grilling on the back porch, and everyone else was playing a game around the patio table. When he noticed I had surfaced, he gestured towards the margarita he had left me on the side of the pool, then went back to cooking. It reminded me of the last summer I was here, when he would leave food for me. It even had a tiny umbrella in it. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that he still knows me like that. I pulled myself onto the edge and took a sip of the drink. I grinned, and jumped up to head to the table.

"Okay, who made the Belly Special?" But they all looked confused, most of them had beers or mixed drinks. With the exception of Cam, who just had water. None of them had pomegranate margaritas.

"What's a Belly Special?" Shay asked, looking interested. I let her have a sip. "Oh, god. That's like straight sugar, Is." She said laughing.

I caught a glimpse of Conrad, trying not to grin as he grilled. I looked over at Taylor and rolled my eyes. "Guess that leaves just one." I muttered, before heading over to him.

"I'm guessing you're behind this?" I asked, holding up the glass.

He shrugged. "We had the stuff. So I figured why not." I looked over his shoulder.

"Are you making pulled pork?" I tried not to sound like an over excited toddler.

He smirked. "I started the brisket this morning."

My favorite ice cream. My favorite drink. And now my favorite food. Suspicious. "What game are you playing, Fisher? My ass is chafed from how hard you're kissing it today."

He laughed, hard. "Okay. Maybe I am being an ass kisser. But I just want things to be okay with us again."

"I'll drink to that." I said, lifting my glass. He raised his beer to toast my glass. "Here's to being okay." I said softly, staring into his eyes. But the way he stared back made me feel like I may never be okay again.