THE DEBUTANTES HAD LEFT AND EVA AND HER FRIENDS HAD STARTED A KARAOKE WITH THE MOTHERS. Jeremiah, Louis, Jonathan and the fathers entered the house when they heard the noise and found the moms screaming the song into the two microphones with Eva, Gaby, Andrew, Camila and Evan. Victoria rested her head on John's shoulder amusedly.

      While they were singing the lyrics that appeared on the screen, the others sat down on the sofa to watch them and Steven came into the house looking a little annoyed but sat down with the others.

      The song ended and the screen announced the next song: 'Hoodie' by Hey Violet.

"I love that song!" exclaimed Eva.

"I don't know it and I need to take a break anyway." Susannah said as she plopped down on the couch.

"Me too." Ariana followed her.

"Me three." Laurel completed.

"Hey, Louis, come with us!" exclaimed Gaby. "We'll make it just like in school!"

      Laurel tossed her mic at him and the six of them began to sing the lyrics which started out rather slowly.

"You'd probably think I was psychotic" they sang.

"if you kneeeew" Gaby did the backing vocals and they laughed.

"What I still got in my closet"

"sad but truuuue"

"I slip it on over my shoulders, something I'll never get over, It makes me feel a little bit closer to you!" they started to sing at the same time. "I can't keep your love! I can't keep your kiss! Gave you everything and all I got was this!"

      The chorus started and they started screaming while they were jumping around.

"I'm still rocking your hoodie and chewing on the strings! It makes me think about you so I wear it when I sleep! I kept the broken zipper and cigarette burns! Still rocking your hoodie, baby, even though it hurts! Still rocking your!"

      Jeremiah smiled as he watched Eva begin to sing the next verse more calmly. She looked happy. He remembered his hoodie he had seen in her bedroom and wondered if she sometimes wore it to sleep.

"I can't keep your love, I can't keep your kiss, gave you everything and all I got was this!" the girls started yelling again.

      Eva's hair bounced off her shoulders as she jumped. The bottom of her dress rose in rhythm and followed her with an airy movement every time she was turning to sing opposite her friends or when she was dancing with them. He could have spent the day watching her laugh.

"If you want it back, if you want it back, I'm here waiting, come take it back, come take it back. If you want it back, if you want it back, I'm here waiting, come take it back, come take it back!"

      As they started to sing the chorus again, she met Jeremiah's eyes. He smiled. She felt her heart quicken and her cheeks blush slightly so she gave him a bright smile before looking away at the lyrics on TV.

      The mothers got up before the end of the song and even Adam – Conrad and Jeremiah's father who had finally come – and Frank got up to sing too, and they all yelled the last chorus.

"Still rocking your hoodie and chewing on the strings! It makes me think about you so I wear it when I sleep! I kept the broken zipper and cigarette burns! Still rocking your hoodie, baby, even though it hurts! Still rocking your, hoodie!"

      Everyone shouted and began to applaud and the group took each other's hands to raise their arms in the air before saluting several times while laughing.

☆

      Louis and Conrad helped tidy up the house. The twins' friends had gone to the hotel because they couldn't all sleep at home. Things had gotten a little worse. Jonathan had gone home, Belly was drunk and knocked Susannah and the cake down, Conrad had an fight with his father, Laurel had left after arguing with Susannah and Caroline was trying to play the middleman but Suz was locked in her room.

      Jeremiah and Steven had left to take care of the fireworks. Following Gaby's advices, Eva thought it might be a good time to try to chat with Jer. As she went to the beach, she met Steven who was going in the opposite direction.

"Hi, Stev! Are you leaving? Have you guys done yet?"

"No, I need to talk to Shayla. She knows I kissed Taylor."

"Oh yeah."

"Yeah. Jere is still on the beach if he's the one you're looking for."

"Great, yeah, thank you. Good luck with Shayla."

"Good luck with Jeremiah." he threw at her with a smile as he left.

      She chuckled and walked to the beach. Jeremiah had his back to her watching the rockets launch.

"Hi." she told him. "Can I join you?"

"Vava! Sure."

"Thanks." she said, standing up next to him.

      They watched the fireworks silently for a few seconds before he spoke.

"I thought you were going to ignore me for the rest of the summer." and she knew at the song of his voice he was hurt.

"Look, I just wanted to thank you for taking care of me last night. And also to tell you that I'm sorry you saw me like that, I shouldn't have drunk so much, that was really stupid of me."

"It doesn't matter. You have the right to be drunk, we've all been drunk before, and me first. It's not me who's going to teach you a lesson. It's just that you should be careful not to drink so much when you don't have anyone watching you. You never know what can happen."

"I know, that was stupid of me. Thank you for taking care of me."

"I'll always take care of you." he said, looking at her, and she gave him a small smile. "So..." he began after a short silence "are we going to talk about what you said or...?"

"About?" she played dumb.

"Your brother first. Do you remember what you said?"

"Yeah..." she looked down.

"Were you serious? Do you really think you should have died in his place?"

"I mean, I don't know. I just, want him to be here, with us. I want him to be fine." she muttered and she wiped her eyes feeling the tears coming.

"I know, I understand, but he would want you to be okay. He wants you to live your life." Jeremiah told her gently. "He's gone and you can't change that. You just have to live. We'll never forget him, but he wouldn't want you to stop living because of his death. I don't want you to stop living. I don't want you to think like that anymore, okay? I couldn't deal with it if something would happen to you. Because I can't leave without you, Eva. I can't."

"I'm sorry." she cried.

"Come here." he said and he tugged on her hand to pull her against him. He kissed her head and she grabbed him as if she was clinging to a lifeline. "I love you." Jeremiah told her.

"I love you too."

     They hugged for long minutes of silence. Finally, she pulled away and rose on her tiptoes to kiss the young man's lips. She put both hands on his cheeks and he slid his on her hips to kiss her back. They kissed gently but passionately, showing all the waiting and desire they had felt for years.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting for this." he whispered to her when they pulled away.

"I think I can." she replied softly.

     He smiled.

"So you were serious that night when you told me you were in love with me."

"Yeah." she chuckled. "But I didn't think you liked me back."

"I never tried to hide it. I flirt with you all the time."

"Well, you flirt with everyone all the time." she answered. "I thought I was just like the others."

"You're not like the others. I kept sending you signals."

"I can't read signals." she said nervously.

"Yes, I had noticed." he chuckled.

"Why did you never say anything then?" she asked him.

"Because you're my best friend. And even if I wanted and still want more, I didn't want to ruin our friendship when you didn't seem to love me back. Since you weren't responding to signals."

"Oh, shut up!" she chuckled, slapping his arm.

      They laughed and then stood facing each other.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Eva asked him.

"Well... is that okay if I kiss you again?" Jeremiah asked.

"Yeah." she nodded.

      He took a step forward and leaned over to press his lips to hers. She slid her arms around his neck as she kissed him back and her hands slid to her hips to pull her closer. This time, they parted their mouths to let their tongues meet and they kissed gently and softly for long seconds. The fireworks were still exploding behind them. They pulled away and smiled at each other before their lips met again. It was without an hesitation the best birthday she ever had.

— tonight is my 18 birthday party i can't wait haha