EVA STRAIGHTENED HER PONYTAIL AND TOOK A LAST LOOK AT HER OUTFIT. She was wearing shorts and a gray sweatshirt. It wasn't the sexiest outfit she had worn, but it was only June, the evenings were still cold sometimes, especially by the sea. She preferred to be comfortable and warm rather than freezing cold with a short dress.

     Jeremiah was driving tonight and the car was full. Steven didn't want Belly to come even if Eva had tried to change his mind.

"Nah, I have to meet up with Shayla and I don't want to have to watch Belly."

"She's not a baby, you know." the brunette told him. "Plus, you wouldn't have had to watch her, she could have stayed with me."

"Or you could have stayed with her at home." Louis said turning around in the passenger seat to look at his sister.

"Hahahaha, so funny, I'm laughing so hard." she said back with a monotone voice.

     Jeremiah chuckled. Steven was busy sending texts to his girlfriend and Conrad was sulking. He hadn't smiled and barely spoken since their arrival.

     Jer parked, not too far from the beach, and they got out of the car. They walked a few yards to the beach and down the slope to get to the party. Jeremiah mechanically grabbed Eva's hand to help her down without slipping.

"Thanks." she told him when they arrived in front of the bonfire.

     Dozens of teenagers were drinking or kissing in front of the bonfire. The black sky dotted with stars offered a nice luminosity to the scene. The laughter and party atmosphere soon made Eva smile.

     The boys went to see their respective girlfriends and Eva walked away to get a beer. She saw her brother was chatting with a light-haired boy, he seemed nice and they seemed to get along well.

     The year before, Louis had come out to her. He told her he didn't like girls and never did. She was the only one who knew. He knew he could trust her and that she could talk about it freely with him but he hadn't talked about it with anyone else. He planned to talk about it with the boys and Belly over the holidays though.

     Jeremiah was chatting with two girls who were making eyes at him and that really annoyed the brunette. She felt her heart twist with jealousy. She had promised herself to move on, that Jeremiah wasn't interested in her, but every time she saw him she couldn't help but hope that one day he would see her the way she saw him.

"You new here?" a boy's voice asked.

     She turned her head and saw a boy her age with black hair and black eyes. He smiled at her. He was pretty hot, she had to admit.

"I'm Eliott." he introduced himself, putting out his hand.

"I'm Eva." she smiled, shaking his hand.

"You didn't answer my question." he giggled. "You are new here?"

"Not really. I spend my summer here since I was born. I live in Toronto, tho. What about you?"

"That's my first summer here, to be honest."

"Then... why did you ask me if I was new? If this is your first summer here, you must have known that you had never seen me before." she asked.

"Yeah. That sounds weird, I know. But I didn't know how to approach you." he chuckles nervously.

     She laughed. He was cute.

     Suddenly, they heard arguing noises and turning their heads, they saw Belly fall to the ground. She was obviously arguing with Steven. Except that she fell right in front of Conrad. Who was kissing Nicole.

     Everyone at the Fishers' house knew Belly had a crush on Conrad since they were kids. Except Conrad himself it seemed. Or he just ignored her. Nobody knew. Eva felt bad for her friend. This one got up with difficulty and started to say something to Conrad and Nicole, which didn't look very nice.

"Uh, she's my friend, I should get her." she said to Eliott while she was standing up. "Gimme one sec, I'll be right back."

"Yeah, sure, okay."

     Eva came next to Belly just after Jeremiah.

"You came!" he exclaimed. "Great! We can all hang out, you guys."

"I'm about to take her home." Steven said.

"What?"

"Yeah. We're leaving. Are you kidding me?" he said to his sister.

"Hey, come on, Steven, what's wrong with her being with us?" Eva asked.

"Chill out." Jeremiah told him. "Go hang out with Shayla or something."

      The boy seemed to hesitate but finally nodded.

"All right, but stay right here and don't talk to anybody."

"Okay. All right. Chill." Jeremiah laughed.

"Fuck you!" Belly exclaimed when her brother leaved.

"Calm down, Bells, it's fine." Eva said.

"Jeremiah!" a girl called.

"Uh, okay, I'll be right back." he said to the two girls.

      Eva rolled her eyes and took Belly's arm.

"It's okay. We'll stay the both of us. I wanna introduce you to someone."

     They returned to where Eliott was sitting and found him chatting with one of his friends. He introduced himself as Cameron and Belly and he realized they knew each other from a Latin convention that had been held when they were in seventh grade.

     Eliott and Eva then decided to let them talk together and went to sit down further. They talked for several minutes and the brunette finally felt like someone actually liked her.

     Suddenly, an argument broke out between Conrad - who seemed completely drunk - and another guy. They started pushing each other and Eva saw Belly approaching and before she could react, her friend was elbowed in the face and fell to the ground.

"Belly!" she exclaimed, rushing to her side.

"Guys, stop!" Jeremiah intervened trying to separate them.

"What the fuck is going on?" Louis exclaimed, following him.

      Cam and Eliott also rushed next to her while Jeremiah and Louis were desperately trying to stop the argument. But suddenly police lights and sirens sounded and all the teenagers on the beach soon fled.

☆

"Do you need a ride home?" Eliott asked Eva.

"Well, to be honest, I think yes." she said. "If you don't mind. Since Belly is there, there won't be enough seats in the car anyway."

"Sure."

     Eliott and Eva had fled, like everyone else, but she had lost sight of her friends in the process. She hoped they had all gathered by Jeremiah's car. Her solution then was to let Eliott bring her back home. But as they were going to his car, Jeremiah ran towards them.

"Eva! Damn! I've been looking for you for five minutes! You scared me, I didn't know where you were!" he exclaimed.

"I'm fine, I was with Eliott." she reassured him. "He's going to give me a ride home."

"Uh, no. No way. I'm not letting you get in a car with a guy you just met."

"But-"

"No. You're coming with me. No offense, Eliott, but she's staying with me."

"But there are not enough seats for everyone in the car." tried Eva.

"You'll squeeze in the back. I won't go back on my decision, Eva. You're coming with me."

"Fine." she told him, making it clear that she was annoyed.

     She turned to Eliott and gave him a small apologetic smile. He pulled out his cell phone and handed it to her.

"You can put your number."

     She smiled and typed in her information before handing the phone back to him.

"Well, I'll see ya around."

"Drive safe." he told them.

"You also."

     Jeremiah and Eva turned and walked down the road. She crossed her arms over her chest, a little annoyed. Jeremiah spent his evenings flirting with everyone and for once someone was interested in her, he had to come and intervene.

"Don't make that face, please. I just want to protect you." he said to her.

"I don't need anyone to protect me." she replied.

"Yeah, I know. But it's stronger than me. I just want you to be safe, okay? Don't be mad at me. Please." he said giving her a little nudge. "I don't like it when you're mad at me. Pleaseee."

     This drew a small laugh from the brunette and she put an arm around the boy's waist, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. Thanks for taking care of me."

     He kissed her on the top of the head passing in turn his arms around her and they walked to the car holding each other.

     But when they got there, they saw a police car and two cops talking to the others who were waiting in the car.

"Oh shit." Jeremiah muttered.

— protective jeremiah 🥺❤