Chapter Text
When Belly was little, she thought Conrad was magic.
That’s just how it seemed. Any time she thought of him (which was just about always, if she’s being honest) he would appear. It was just how life worked. She just didn’t think this particular moment would be one of those times.
14-year-old Belly was swimming laps in the pool at the Cousins beach house, as she often did. Taylor had finally come to visit a couple days before and left a few hours ago. Not exactly on the best of terms either. During her visit, Taylor had, as always, drawn everyone’s attention. Belly was sick of it. The beach house was hers not Taylors. She got everything back in Philly. So, they had a fight. Probably their biggest fight, at least that Belly remembers.
So now Belly is alone in the pool, swimming laps and wishing she had someone to play with. When Taylor told her she was coming to visit, despite her nerves about her summer life and her regular life colliding, she was excited to actually get to play with Taylor. She would never tell anyone that, especially the boys. She was 14 now. She wanted them to think she was mature. Too mature to play games.
In reality, she had just watched Aquamarine for the millionth time and desperately wanted to pretend to be a mermaid. Even though Taylor liked to act like she was all grown up already, Belly knew if she had asked, Taylor would pretend right along with her. Now she had no one, and she really didn’t want to be a little kid pretending to be a mermaid all by herself. It was embarrassing. Steven would never let her live it down.
Belly continues thinking about all of this as she swims laps. She finally comes up for air and sees the kitchen light is off. No one is outside, and she knows Steven and Jere decided to go stay over at a friend’s house for the night. Her mom and Susannah are definitely asleep by now. It’s just Belly.
Maybe just a little pretend. No one will see her, she can have fun for a bit…
So, Belly pretends. She changes her swimming form, putting her feet together like they’re fused into a tail, then she fans out her hair so it's a bit more majestic. With her legs together like that she quickly realizes her arms are going to be doing a lot of the work. Thank god for volleyball.
She takes a second to get into character, considering the color of her tail (light blue, like her wallpaper) and if she has any powers (controlling waves or weather?). Finally, she has the whole picture in her head. She’s just like Aquamarine, a mermaid trying to escape from her father, who doesn’t believe in love and is forcing her to marry. She’s going to prove him wrong. She will find someone, a human, who will love her. He will see her the way she’s always wanted to be seen.
As she swims, she imagines Con— a boy sitting down at the end of the pool with his feet in the water, staring at her in awe. Maybe this boy is a fisherman (haha) who mistakes her for a great catch. He notices her hair right after throwing the line, miraculously avoiding her tail at the last second. This boy, whoever he may be, sees Belly and adores her right away. No unrequited crush, just love at first sight. His sea green eyes remind her of the ocean she calls home.
Before she can get too caught up in her imagination, Belly feels her stomach growl. Maybe she’s been out here longer than she realized. She decides to reach out of the water, stretching to grab one of her sour patch kids she had been snacking on earlier. As she’s looking at the candy, she remembers another scene from the movie. So instead of eating it, she plops it right into the water. She starts to move her hands, pushing at the water to try making a wave.
Is it candy in the movie? Is it even a power to move a wave? Belly decides it doesn’t matter. She needs to focus. She succeeds in moving the snack further away from her with a tiny wave she manages to form, but she cannot figure out how to bring it toward her. She watches as the candy sinks, frustrating bubbling. Picks up a new piece and tries again.
She’s so focused on her “powers”, she completely misses the back door opening and closing. Nor does she notice the sound of one of the patio chairs being scooted closer to the pool. No, unfortunately for Belly, she doesn’t notice a thing. Not until she hears a familiar chuckle coming from behind her, does Belly break out of her trance.
“Belly what on earth are you doing?” says Conrad. Belly jumps, completely spooked. He’s smirking in the exact way that never fails to make her blush. Which she is, by the way. In fact, Belly feels so red that she’s actually afraid she’ll burst into flames. Good thing she’s in the water.
“NOTHING! My candy just– it just fell in the water and I was trying to get it out.” Belly screeches. She can already feel her eyes swelling with tears. She blinks hard, hoping to keep them at bay, saving herself even more embarrassment. This is straight out of one of her nightmares. Conrad is staring at her while she dumbly holds a soggy sourpatch. She’s not certain she’s ever held eye contact with Conrad this long. Under any other circumstance, she’d be thrilled.
The combination of the staring and the fact that she is completely exhausted, starts to break her. She can’t help it, her lip wobbles. Little Bellybutton is whining again. Now to brace herself for the teasing.
Conrad is still just staring, confusion written all over his face. The silence is weird. He’s definitely noticed the tears forming in her eyes by now. Except now one is actually rolling down her cheek. Although she’s not certain at this point if it’s the humiliation or the staring contest they’ve been unintentionally doing. Either way, Conrad's eyes widened in panic.
“Hey, woah it’s okay Belly. I was just messing with you. Please don’t cry.” he begs. He looks genuinely sorry and for a second Belly wants to open up to him. It’s not like it’s crazy to play a game at their age. What’s the difference between this and football? She opens her mouth to say exactly that, when she notices him turning his head like he’s making sure nobody sees them.
He doesn’t want to get in trouble with the moms, Belly realizes. Crybaby Belly is gonna tattle to her mommy. She can hear the taunting now. No, not this time. Belly straightens up, taking a steadying breath.
“I’m not crying! I’m just annoyed that you’re out here bothering me when I’m trying to enjoy some alone time. Shouldn’t you be out with Steven and Jere?” shockingly, she keeps her voice calm. Conrad looks surprised at her stern tone. He immediately stands from the chair, clearly ready to let the whole thing go. Before he does, he looks Belly in the eyes once more.
“Belly, you don’t have to lie. It’s not a big deal. Everyone plays pretend sometimes. You’re just a kid.”
The way he says it, it’s like he’s weary. Like he hasn’t been a kid in a long time. You’d think he was 30 rather than barely 16. It’s completely condescending.
“I’m not a kid! Anyway you’re barely 2 years older than me, so stop acting like I’m such a baby. And I’m not lying, it really was just an accident. So just leave it, okay?”
All of this comes out whinier than she intended, but Belly thinks she got her point across. Conrad shrugs, turning to leave without looking at her. He leaves with one last comment.
“Okay Belly. I’ll leave you to your fun,” his tone is surprisingly earnest. When he reaches the patio door Belly panics, afraid he’s still gonna share her humiliation with Steven and Jere.
“Wait! Please don’t tell the others. I just wanted to play pretend for a second.” she whisper-yells. She doesn't know if he heard her.He opens the door and walks away without another word.
The next morning Belly dreads breakfast, not even bothering to go downstairs until almost noon. For at least 20 minutes before going to sleep she practices comebacks against whatever the boys might throw at her. Time to face the music.
“Good morning, Bean. You’re joining us a little late. Did you sleep alright?” her mother greets. Belly almost rolls her eyes before remembering that her mother would actually kill her.
“Laur, she was probably on the phone with Taylor late. She’s a teenager now! Isn’t that right?” Susannah chimes in. Belly flinches at Taylor’s name, not even thinking about their fight until now.
“She was probably just swimming in the pool and wore herself out.” Conrad interjects. Belly holds her breath, waiting for more. But that’s it. The conversation moves past Belly and her late rising as quickly as it started. Apparently Conrad didn’t tell anyone. He probably forgot. Not like anything about her is worth remembering to him. Doesn’t matter anyways. Now she can focus on what’s important, which is calling Taylor. Time for Belly to grow up and stop playing games.