As Belly walks away, seeking solace to clear her head after the tumultuous turn of events, Florence turns her attention away from Conrad and Nicole. Just then, Jeremiah spots her and rushes towards her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Flo, you came, yay!" Jeremiah exclaims, his excitement evident as he holds onto her hand. "Hey, come on, let me introduce you to my friends."

Before Florence can respond, Jeremiah takes the initiative and begins to guide her away from the scene, leaving Conrad to watch them from a distance.

"Hey guys, this is Florence, my best friend that I told you guys about," Jeremiah introduces Florence to his group of friends, who all turn their attention towards her, assessing her appearance and taking in her presence.

One of the guys from the group speaks up first, breaking the silence. "Oh, so you do exist," he remarks playfully, a hint of surprise in his voice, "all this time, we just thought Jere was making you up since you were never around."

Feeling a bit awkward, Florence responds, "Oh no, umm, I just haven't been to Cousins in a bit." Jeremiah holds her hand firmly, subtly rubbing small circles on the back of her hand, offering her comfort and support in the unfamiliar setting.

"Well, I'm Liam," the guy introduces himself, extending a friendly hand towards Florence. "It's nice to finally get to meet you. It's nice to see some new faces around here."

Meanwhile, Conrad rises from his spot and makes his way toward the group, as that's where the beer box is located. As he helps himself to a beer, the guy who was conversing with Florence snatches the beer from Conrad's hand and offers it to her. "Here."

Florence politely declines, saying, "Um no, it's okay, I don't drink." Jeremiah gives her a confused look, trying to reassure her, "Flo, I'm the DD, don't worry, you can drink."

Despite his assurance, she maintains her decision, but Liam continues to insist.

"Dude, she said no," Conrad finally interjects, his voice filled with irritation. "Take a hint and back off."

"Chill, man, I'm right here with Flo," Jeremiah tries to reason with his brother, attempting to diffuse the tension. "She'll be fine."

"No, you should do better than this, Jere," Conrad retorts, his frustration seeping into his words as he showed his disappointment in his younger brother.

Florence then tries to step in, attempting to mediate the escalating situation but before she can say anything, Liam speaks up, his tone confrontational. "Dude, what is your problem?"

Conrad fires back, "What's yours? First, you take my beer, and now you're trying to force a girl to get drunk." The tension between them escalates as Liam rolls his eyes at Conrad's words.

"Just get another beer," Liam tells him dismissively, slightly pushing Conrad. The provocation proves too much for Conrad, and he loses his temper, pushing Liam back. The situation quickly escalates into a physical altercation as Liam retaliates, pushing Conrad onto the sand and throwing punches.

Florence watches in horror, her heart racing, as Jeremiah and Liam's friends quickly jump in, attempting to separate the two brawling boys. The atmosphere becomes chaotic, with shouts and commotion filling the air.

⋅• ━━━ ••⋅⊰☁︎︎☀︎︎☁︎⊱⋅•• ━━━ •⋅

On the other end of the beach, Belly was engrossed in a conversation with a familiar face from their 7th-grade Latin Convention, a guy named Cam. They were catching up, and Belly was finally beginning to feel better about being at the party. However, her peace was abruptly interrupted by the sounds of commotion coming from the fight.

"Oh, my gosh. Uh... I'll be right back. I'm sorry. Don't-don't go anywhere," Belly hurriedly told Cam before quickly making her way towards the chaos.

Florence noticed Belly running towards the fight and tried to stop her. "Belly, wait! It's not safe," she shouted.

But despite Florence's attempts to stop her, Belly charged straight into the midst of the fight, driven by her concern for her friends. Unfortunately, amidst the chaos, she was accidentally struck in the eye by someone's elbow, causing her to stumble backward from the impact.

Florence gasped in horror, immediately rushing to Belly's side and pulling her away from the ongoing brawl. "Hey, where did you get hit?" Florence questioned Belly anxiously, her voice filled with concern, "let me see."

"I'm fine," Belly reassured Florence, pushing her away gently, "we need to help Conrad."

"We can't do anything here," Florence reasoned, trying to calm Belly down. "Jeremiah is helping him."

Just then, the sounds of approaching police cars echoed through the air, signaling trouble. Panic ensued among the partygoers as they scrambled to escape before being caught.

Liam's friends left him behind as Jeremiah finally managed to pull him off of Conrad. "Guys. Hey, hey, hey. Break it up. Come on," Jeremiah said as Liam backed off and he helped Conrad to his feet. The girls rushed to the Fisher brothers' side.

"Are you okay?" Belly asked Conrad, her worry evident in her voice. Conrad could only nod in response, still feeling the impact of the altercation.

"We should leave," Florence suggested, her gaze fixed on the approaching cop cars. Jeremiah nodded in agreement, knowing they needed to get out of there quickly. He placed one of Conrad's arms around his shoulder, while Belly did the same with Conrad's other arm, supporting him between them.

Together, they carefully carried him towards the car, with Florence following closely behind when Liam approaches her.

"Hey, I'm sorry you had to see that. I didn't mean for things to escalate that much," Liam apologizes to her as she shifts awkwardly on her feet.

"Well then you should've stopped sooner," Florence replied as Liam smiled sheepishly out of embarrassment, nodding at her words in agreement.

"How about I make it up to you over some coffee tomorrow?" he offers as Conrad looks back and notices them talking, growing annoyed at the sight.

"Come on. Get in the car. Watch your head," Jeremiah instructs as he opens the car door and helps Conrad in, "legs, legs."

"Yes. I know how to get into a car," Conrad snaps, "why's that douche still talking to Flo? Belly, go call her," he instructs as Belly turns around to see Florence smile at a guy and say bye before heading towards the car.

"Ready to go?" Florence asks her friends with a smile as Conrad scoffs, causing her to look at him in confusion. "What?"

"What did Liam say to you?" he asks her.

"Why do you care?" she rebuttals as Conrad only glares at her, "he was just apologizing about the fight. Come on, let's go, Jere."

With that, Florence heads around the car and gets into the passenger seat as Belly looks around, trying to find Cam so she could say bye.

She was relieved to see Cam approaching her with a soft smile. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine now," she replied, grateful for his presence.

Meanwhile, Conrad remained frustrated with Florence, continuing their heated exchange.

"Why would you still talk to Liam after you saw how he was treating you?" Conrad questioned, his frustration evident. Jeremiah attempted to intervene, urging Conrad to drop the topic.

"Conrad, just drop it," Jeremiah interjected, attempting to diffuse the tension. But Conrad refused to let the issue go.

"He was forcing you to drink," Conrad reiterated, his voice tinged with anger.

Florence turned back to face him, annoyance evident in her expression. "I know how to say 'no,' Conrad. Plus, Jere was with me. I was fine. Why did you have to start a fight? Now you're going to have a black eye," she retorted, her voice filled with exasperation.

"Oh, now you care?" Conrad scoffed, his words dripping with bitterness. Florence looked at him, confusion etched on her face. "What the hell does that mean?" she questioned, seeking clarification.

Jeremiah attempted to mediate once again. "Guys, chill out," he interjected, hoping to ease the tension.

His attention then turned towards Belly, who was engaged in conversation with Cam. He called out to her, his voice carrying over to where she stood. "Belly, let's go. Get in."

Belly glanced at Jeremiah and replied, "Cam can give me a ride home. Right, Cam?", catching Florence's attention. Cam nodded in agreement as Florence asked him, "I'm sorry, who are you?", wanting to know more about the guy offering to give her best friend a ride.

"I'm Cam. Cameron," he replied.

Jeremiah chimed in with a hint of amusement, "Your name is Cam Cameron?"

Cam laughed awkwardly and corrected himself, "No, it's just Cam."

Florence sighed, taking in Cam's appearance. "You seem like a nice guy, Cam, but I'm sorry, Belly. You're not getting in a car with a guy you just met. Get in," she firmly told her friend, trying to look out for her.

Belly looked back at Florence, annoyance flickering in her eyes, "but we actually know each other," she protested, attempting to defend her decision.

Cam chimed in, adding more context to their connection, "seventh grade. Latin convention. So, like, we're not total strangers," he explained.

Jeremiah rolled his eyes, feeling the need to put an end to the debate, "okay. No offense, but no. Belly, get in the car," he reiterated, his tone leaving no room for further discussion.

Conrad groaned in annoyance, echoing Jeremiah's sentiment. "Just get in the car, Belly," he urged, and this time, Belly listened.

She bid goodbye to Cam, kissing him, hoping to invoke a hint of jealousy from Conrad. However, as she settled into the car, she noticed that Conrad had fallen asleep, his hair disheveled and facing the other way. Frustration swelled within Belly, her plans foiled.

"Okay, let's go," Jeremiah said as he started the car.

"Wait, what about Steven?" Florence suddenly remembered.

Jeremiah cursed under his breath and got out of the car, rushing to get his friend.

Just then, a group of police officers pulled up to the car, their flashlights illuminating the faces of the teenagers. They questioned whether the teens had been drinking that night, casting a tense atmosphere over the situation.