"OUT OF THE WOODS"

susannah and laurel are asleep when the five of you get inside. belly immediately trudges up the stairs, not looking at any of you as she gets to her bedroom and closes the door. conrad for a second looks like he might follow her, but he decides against it, wandering into the kitchen. in the dim light, you almost make out a few bruises on his face. it makes you wonder what you missed that night during your own little breakdown. jeremiah slings an arm around your shoulder. "let's get you to bed."

"you got her?" steven asks him gently. jeremiah nods, but before you leave, steven pulls you into a quick hug. "i don't know what happened, but i hope everything's okay."

you nod and hug him tightly. "thank you steven. i love you. goodnight."

"i love you too," he says. "goodnight (y/n). talk to me tomorrow, okay?"

you nod at him and jeremiah puts his arm around you again, leading you up the stairs. you still could not quite walk straight, both from the alcohol and the sobbing. he leads you into your bedroom, and as soon as you're there, you sit on the edge of your bed and stare forward. "jere?"

"yeah?" he replies quietly, looking in your dresser drawers for pajamas. you blink back tears.

"is there something wrong with me?"

he stops what he was doing and immediately turns to you. you don't look at him. "what?"

"is there something wrong with me?" you repeat. "something that pushes people away?"

jeremiah kneels in front of you, grabbing your hand gently. "(y/n), what happened tonight?"

you're about to answer but are cut off by a rush of tears again. you shake your head and grab your phone, pulling up the video that you had seen earlier. he watches it closely.

"is that peter?" you nod. "who's the girl...oh, shit. it's cassie, isn't it?" you nod again, burying your face in your hands as you cry. you weren't a huge crier like this usually. you wonder if it's the alcohol making you more sensitive. you also have never been cheated on before, at least not like this. you aren't sure how you'd react in any other setting. jeremiah lets out a heavy sigh before turning off your phone and placing it on your dresser across the room. then, he sits down on the bed next to you and wraps his arms around you, allowing you to sling your legs over his and put your arms around his waist as you cry on his shoulder. he rubs circles in your back gently as you cry, definitely getting makeup all over his shirt, which you're pretty sure is a new shirt. the thought of that, somehow, makes you cry harder. "i'm sorry jere."

"shh," he shushes you. "it's okay. i've got you. you have nothing to be sorry for."

jeremiah holds you for a while longer as your tears turn into sniffles. his hand is running through your hair, brushing it out of your face the best he could. as you pull your head off of his shoulder, he smiles at you and wipes some of the mascara off of your cheeks.

"hey, you're too pretty to be crying like this."

you laugh and pull further away from him so you're sitting side by side. "you're cheesy."

"i meant it," he says, a serious expression on his face. "you're too good for him, okay? and cassie...who knows what she was thinking. but you're too good for her friendship, too. you've got us. you're going to be okay."

you smile at him weakly. "i know. i don't know what i would do without you," you look down and study your hands. "i'm sorry for yelling at you. and getting so drunk. and making you play babysitter. you're supposed to be having fun too."

"spending time with you is fun," he says. you bump his shoulder with yours weakly.

"stop being cheesy," you both smile and sit in silence for a moment. he grabs your hand gently and squeezes it once before standing up.

"c'mon. let's get you ready for bed."

the next morning, you wake up with a pounding headache. you groan at the incoming sunlight from your windows, a sight that you usually adored in the mornings, but could not stand today. as you stand up to close the shades, you look on the floor by your bed and see a pillow and one of jeremiah's blankets laid on the floor. he had slept in here last night. a rush of emotion runs through your body as you remember everything from last night. the bonfire, the text, jeremiah... it was a lot. and you were so embarrassed. you can't believe that you ruined everyone else's night with your meltdown. especially jeremiah's. he was too good to you, that was for sure. you quickly close the window shades and slump back into your bed. as you're deciding whether to get up or to just die there, you hear a soft knock on the door.

"come in," you call out, your face buried in your pillow. you hear soft footsteps before feeling the covers lifted up beside you and someone slip into your bed. you look up and see belly laying there, studying you. "you okay?" you ask her. she nods.

"are you?"

you groan and bury your face back into your pillow. "no. i'm going to die."

she laughs lightly and pulls your hair from your face and begins to braid it. "you're not going to die. that's just the hangover. jere's making you some hangover goop smoothie. says it's supposed to help."

"lovely," you say sarcastically and belly snorts. jeremiah always had the weirdest, healthiest recipes, the kind of stuff that you knew was good for you but it made you gag just from the scent. you never had a hangover this bad before, so you had never tried this specific recipe. you really hoped it would work.

"(y/n)?" belly says quietly after a few moments of silence as she ties the braid in your hair.

"hm?"

"what happened with peter?"

you roll over to face her. "oh. yeah."

"you don't have to tell me," she says. "steven just mentioned that something had happened and i figured maybe you wanted to talk about it."

"thanks bells," you smile weakly at her. as you do, you look closer at her face and your eyes widen. "your cheek is bruised."

her hand shoots up to touch her cheek. she smiles sheepishly. "oh. yeah." she mimics you.

"what happened?"

belly shakes her head. "you first."

you sigh and begin to explain the story of your night to her. how you didn't get a text from peter all day until you were at the bonfire, how he sent you the video of him and cassie 'on accident', how you got super drunk to try to ignore it, how jeremiah had helped you through all of it. belly looks shocked by the end of your story and shakes her head, a look of sympathy on her face.

"oh (y/n) i'm sorry. i really thought he was a good one," she says and you shrug. "and cassie! i mean, why would she ever do that to you?!"

"i dunno," you admit. "i guess i don't care to find out."

"you don't?"

"nah. they don't deserve my time, right? better to just move on and never show weakness."

belly sighs. "i guess... but, you're allowed to be sad. she's been your best friend forever. and you really liked peter. just, don't dismiss your own feelings. let yourself cry it out and then figure out the rest later."

"you're right," you nod. "as always."

she giggles and you rest your head on her shoulder. a few moments later, there's another knock at your door, and steven peaks his head in. "can i come in?"

you pat an empty spot on the edge of the bed and he sits down, facing you and belly. "you guys okay?"

you nod, then look up at belly. she nods too. steven faces you. "i can kill peter if you want me to."

"jeremiah's got a big mouth," you joke. they both nod in agreement.

"you could say that again," belly says.

"we were all just worried about you," steven admits. "and you, belly. you took a pretty nasty hit. you can't step into a fight like that."

you lift your head quickly (which caused some extreme nausea) and face belly. "belly?! what happened?!"

she sighs. "conrad got in a fight with some guy. i tried to help separate it and got an elbow to the face."

"oh, shit," you say gently, examining the bruise on her cheek. "you gotta be more careful."

"i know," she says. "i just didn't think about it."

you sigh and rest your head on her shoulder again, looking back at steven. "well, how was your night steven?"

he shrugs. "until the cops came, i had a great night. i hung out with shayla, she's really cool."

"yeah she is," you giggle. "you know she's gonna be a deb?"

"a deb?" he looks at you in shock. "i completely forgot that was a thing."

"i'm gonna be a deb too, you know," belly chimes in. steven shrugs.

"yeah, but you're my sister. that's not really my concern, is it? i gotta worry about the girl i like being a deb. what if she asks someone else to be her escort? oh god, what if she asks me?!" he stands up quickly, shaking his head. "i gotta go. i'm glad you guys are okay. i gotta go."

you and belly watch as he leaves in panic and burst out into laughter. "oh my god he is so dramatic."

you nod. "yeah he is."

belly stands up from your bed and stretches, extending a hand out to help you up. "c'mon. let's go investigate what jere's making you. maybe it'll really make you feel better."

you follow her downstairs, your headache getting worse the more time you spend upright. it takes everything in you not to retreat back up to your bed to lay there forever. instead, you enter the kitchen behind belly and are hit with the smell of pancakes.

"there she is!" jeremiah exclaims, a wide grin on his face as he spots you. he spins around, grabbing a cup of green smoothie — maybe? — and hands it to you. "my special recipe. will kill any sign of a hangover that you have. and pancakes on the griddle, if you're up for them!"

you take the cup graciously and smile at his energy. "thank you, jere. i'll let you know after i drink...this."

he nods, smile still on his face as he turns back to his pancakes. "belly, you want some pancakes?"

"yes please," she says, walking past the two of you, her eyes lingering on conrad, who was laying on the couch, his arm over his eyes. he also had a cup of green-smoothie-thing, but it sat untouched on the coffee table. jeremiah follows her gaze and scoffs.

"he's ridiculous. if he would just drink the juice, he would feel so much better."

you look at your own cup in your hand. "so...juice, is what you're calling this?"

jeremiah laughs and gently ruffles your hair. "it may not look great, but i swear by it. drink it, (y/n). you'll feel better!"

"whatever you say," you take a small sip of the beverage. to your surprise, it really was not terrible. it had hints of almost every vegetable and fruit you could think of, but somehow, it all went well together. you raise your eyebrows at jeremiah. "this is actually pretty good."

"told ya!" he exclaims, flipping a pancake off of the griddle then reaching to turn it off. "alright ladies, pancakes right here. i gotta get to work, so enjoy these, please. don't want them to go to waste!"

jeremiah grins at you then drops his voice, placing a hand gently on your arm. "you doing okay?"

you look up at him. "i'm okay. thank you, for everything. really. i would be lost without you."

he shakes his head and rubs your arm gently. "you don't have to thank me. just giving you the treatment you deserve."

the two of you stare into each others eyes for just a moment, but to you that moment felt like forever. he had no idea the effect he had on you. he had no idea how desperately you wanted to be held by him again, how desperately you wanted to just kiss him so deeply with all of the feelings you've been suppressing for the past five years of your life. he would likely never know how you truly felt for him, and the thought of that made you sick all over again. it was not a good idea to keep thinking of him like that. it wasn't good for your head or your heart. if anything were to happen, it would have happened by now. and after everything that just happened with peter, you weren't sure you would be ready for anything for a long time. not that you had to be. not like he gave you reason to be...right?

"alright well," he says, breaking the moment the two of you were sharing. "i'll see you after work. drink that whole thing, plenty of water, and do some yoga or something. you'll feel so much better."

"okay."

jeremiah gives you one last smile before he leaves. once he's out the door, you turn to look at belly, who was staring at you, a pancake in her hand. "saw that."

"saw what?" you ask. she gives you a knowing smile.

"(y/n), you are so blind. drink your juice."