chapter six

"lorraine madden. wake up." i heard from a distance, trying to ignore anyone and wanting to stay asleep. "lor!" i finally recognized the voice as conrad's. i stood up, basically still asleep, looking at his direction.

"what." i said grumpily, moving my hair out of my face.

"let's do a muffin run." he said with a smile, holding up some car keys i could see dangling in the air.

"let me put some shorts or something. i'll be right there." i sighed with a laugh.

"i'll be waiting.."

he walked out of my room, closing the door slightly. i checked my phone, realizing that it was 6am. i put on some light wash mom shorts and a white oversized shirt. i paired my outfit with my white converse. right as i was leaving my room, i realized i needed to brush my hair, so i obviously did that.

i quickly ran downstairs, trying not to wake anyone else up. i saw conrad sitting on the couch on his phone. i quietly walked behind him. "okay i'm ready!" i said to him, putting my chin on top of his head. i felt his head slightly shake, knowing that he just laughed. he got up and we got inside jeremiah's car. we tried not to touch a lot of things in it because if he found out we were in his car, he would both kill us so quickly.

"how's nicole?" i asked conrad, nudging his side, teasing him.

"you want to know about nicole?"

"sure." i replied.

he looked at me with a smile, tilting his head a bit. "that's not convincing. why?"

"well she's like your girlfriend."

"yeah and?"

"and i want to know about her."

"why?"

"because she's your girlfriend. i just mentioned that."

"definitely. well then. how's mattheo?"

"no way you're comparing a man i met yesterday to a girl you are dating and have known for over a year."

"seriously though, what do you see in mattheo?" he asked, becoming slightly serious.

"i don't see alot. i just. he's confident, was straight up with me. didn't contemplate anything. he's not like the guys that say 'i need to tell you something' and then end up saying 'whatever'. plus he's kind."

he sighed. "half of the men here are like that. do you know the reputation he has?"

"i don't look at there past conrad."

"you should." he replied sternly

"look. i haven't had a boyfriend. closest thing to a boyfriend that ive had is respectfully you. we trust eachother and everything but i don't have MY someone yet. you found yours. i didn't say anything negative conrad. let me find mine." i finally said. not trying to be rude but just trying to be honest.

"fine. but when he does do something.."

"conrad."

"fine."

"good." i simply said, softly smiling. i put my hand on the dashboard, noticing something shine. "what the hell is this?" i said, grabbing it and pulling it towards me.

"uh.." he turned his head, trying to see if it was what he thought she saw.

"is this the old bracelet i made you when we were seven? stop i remember forcing my mom to tie the knot into a heart even though none of us knew how to do that." i laughed, examining the bracelet.

"yeah it is. i always wear it. i left it in the car yesterday."

i smiled, "i still wear mine!" i said, lifting my right arm up, showing him the matching bracelet.

he laughed and reached towards my hand, grabbing the pink bracelet from my hand, putting it on his left hand. "and now i'm wearing mine!" he replied.

"hello what can i get for you guys today?" the cashier asked.

"can we please get two apple muffins, 5 blueberry muffins, two iced lattes, and 1 slice of apple pie?" conrad replied quickly.

i smiled to myself, realizing that he still remembers to get me my slice of apple pie. it was such a small thing but it was meaningful in a way. "you still remember to get me apple pie?" i laughed.

"of course i do! you would scold me every time i didn't!" he told as he payed.

"yeah but i didn't expect you to remember."

"i'll always remember." we walked away and stood in a corner of the shop. "lori i need to tell you something." he suddenly said.

"what happened?" i said as i looked up to him, trying to get closer so i could hear him well.

"look i" he then got interrupted by the worst person he could've been interrupted by, mattheo.

"lori?!" i heard him say.

"martinez!" i tried matching his same energy.

he tried to give me a hug which i subtly declined. he looked at me then to conrad, his face changing completely. "conrad fisher?"

"mattheo martinez."

"it's been awhile. how have you been? still fucking that deb girl to forget about the new one?" he said, i noticed conrads jaw clenched and he took a step foward.

"are you still fucking three girls day after day?" mattheo stayed silent, looking at conrad up and down, knowing that he was in deep shit near him.

"guys it's like 7 in the morning. not right now."

conrad reached for my hand, trying to hold it. "conrad your stupid food is ready. got get it will you?" i stood there stunned. mattheo was honestly a bitch to conrad. but maybe he had his reasons. i mean they've known eachother for so long that they know eachother really well. i didn't know anything about mattheo.

conrad walked away, his face with some type of discomfort. "seriously?" i simply said.

"what? he's a total bitch!"

"and you are too!"

"you're gonna let fisher over here and try and break what we had going on?"

i tilted my head slightly, confused on what he just said. "mattheo i met you like yesterday. we have nothing going on. actually get to know me and then we can see what happens. and besides, i'd pick "fisher" any day. i've known him my whole life. you can't act like you're the boss around here. you look like an idiot doing that." conrad finally came back with the stuff, handing me my coffee and my apple pie.

"today, 5pm, i'll pick you up. text me the address."

i sighed and walked away with conrad.

we got to the car, placing everything carefully so we wouldn't make a mess in jere's car. "see? total bitch." conrad spoke as he turned the car on.

"i'll give him a chance."

"of course you will."

lorimadden's instagram story

"morning lovebirds!!" i heard steven sing right when conrad and i walked into the house.

"why do you guys always do that!" i said, bringing in the muffins we got for everyone and placing them in the middle of the table. everybody stayed silent. "well then."

"oh my god!" susannah bursted out.

"what now beck?" laurel asked.

"i just remembered that we have to do our karaoke day soon!!" everybody sighed of happiness, already picking who they wanted their partners to be.

"i call lori!" conrad yelled out.

"you got her last year!" belly quickly replied.

𓊔

"everybody settle down!" susannah called out, holding the top hat with everyone's names. "i am going to pick the first name. and if someone complains, they'll be thrown into the pool right now." everybody became very silent, eager to find out who their partner would be.

susannah reached her hand into the hat and began shuffling through. she finally got a piece of paper and pulled it out. she slowly opened it. "belly will be with.." she repeated the process again. "me!" belly instantly got up and hugged susannah, happy that it was her.

"one mom out, 2 to go." steven whispered.

"steven!" laurel yelled.

"speaking of steven! steven will be with kathleen!"

stevens face showed no emotion. mom flipped steven off which made everyone laugh.

"okay everyone. only jeremiah, conrad, lori, and laurel left!" this is where everything got tense. susannah pulled two papers out PAINFULLY slow, making me want to respectfully tackle her. "conrad and...lori!" she yelled out. i jumped out of my seat in excitement, hugging conrad.

"you're stuck with me jeremiah!" laurel hollered out.

"and i'm not mad!"

𓊔

"we should pick the names out today! in like a day it's belly's birthday, then four days later it's stevens, then two days later it's lori's, then the day after that we can do our big karaoke performance!"

"it's going to be uneven you know?" i blurted out. "my mom isn't here remember. group of three or a group of one."

mattheo martinez

so

what

5pm today?

i guess

you don't seem interested

maybe because i'm not

bitchy move

always

authors note
hi loves!! i've been super
busy this summer especially this month so i won't be publishing chapters super quickly.

BTW i took out the kiss between mattheo and lori because it just seemed odd to me after i published it!!

i love you all 💞