Chapter Text
Are you ever... gonna give me a second chance?
Belly, if I fall for you again... ... I-I don't think I can take it if you change your mind like last time.
I wouldn't do that. It's different now.
How?
You and I, I mean... We're not the same people we were. We grew up. I spent so much of my life dreaming about... what it would be like to be with Conrad. But... dreams aren't real, and... And now I want... I want something real. I want... I want you. Do you still...
Yes. Yes, I still.
Jeremiah and Belly share a deep and passionate kiss.
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Conrad was on cloud nine. And why wouldn't he be? They'd managed to save mom's summer house, he'd just gotten into Stanford and aced his last final at Brown. But most importantly, he was about to get back his girl.
Belly.
He knew there was still something between them, he could feel it in his heart. The ache that never went away, the ache of wanting her. The way Belly looked at him, like she always did, he knew she felt it too. Fireworks.
Even when she didn't think he noticed, Conrad was looking back at her the same way. Conrad fucked up before, but now things had changed. They had grown in the last few months, opened up about their past mistakes. Apologized for their actions, hoping to move forward. She had even said they were friends now. But, maybe. Maybe they could be more than friends again. He had to try.
Conrad was getting ahead of himself. He had to tell his best friend the good news about passing the test.
He pulled out his phone and called Steven.
Steven, riding in the car with Laurel, answers his phone.
“Hey Man! How'd the final go?” Steven asks.
“Yo, you ready to visit me in California?” Conrad's barely able to contain his excitement.
“Hell yeah!” Steven laughs.
“Congratulations, Connie!” Laurel calls out in the background.
“It was the flashcards, wasn't it? “Yeah. Yeah, yes, it was the flashcards. You can thank me later.” Steven smirks.
Conrad chuckles on the other end of the phone.
“So you, uh... you still feeling confident about the, uh... ... you know, the plan?” Steven asks.
“Plan Belly?” Conrad smiles.
“Do not remind me who this is about. But as an abstract concept, - shoot your shot, man.” Steven says genuinely.
Off in the distance, a group of people are calling out to Conrad, but he doesn't pay attention.
“Thank you. All right, I gotta dip. Bye.” Conrad ends the call.
The distant voices, now louder and more panicked, have finally caught Conrad's attention.
“HEY! LOOKOUT!!!” Someone screams from the nearby baseball field.
“Wha--” Before Conrad can even register what's happening, he's met with a thunderous THWACK!
Then, the world went dark.
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Back at the car, Belly and Jere look around awkwardly, not sure who should speak first.
“So.” Jere started, “When do you think we should tell Conrad?”
“I- I don't know, but we'll figure it out.” Belly smiles and takes Jeremiah's hand. “Speaking of where is he? He should've finished his final by now.”
“Maybe he went to pack up his dorm first? They have to be out by tonight.” Jeremiah shrugs.
“Yeah, maybe.” But something wasn't sitting right with Belly. Wouldn't he have bounded over to them first to let them know how the test went? It seemed strange.
“Come on, let's sit in the car while we wait. I'm sure Conrad will be out soon.” Jeremiah opens the driver's seat door.
“Sure, might as well.” Belly goes over to the passenger seat and sits next to Jeremiah. She couldn't help but nervously twirl her hair around in her fingers.
Jeremiah notices this and places his hand on her leg.
“Hey, it's gonna be okay.” Jeremiah assures her.
Belly nods, seemingly agreeing with Jere, but deep down she wasn't so sure it would be.
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Conrad lay unconscious on the ground. A small crowd formed around him.
“Shit! I-I'm sorry! I tried to warn him but he--he--” A frantic baseball player paces around as the coach of the baseball team and a few other players look down at Conrad.
“Has someone called for an ambulance yet?” The coach asks.
Just then, Trusky walks by and sees the crowd. Curious, he walks a little closer to see-
“Oh, shit. Conrad!!” Trusky ran over to his side.
“Do you know this guy?” The coach asks.
“Yeah, his name is Conrad. Conrad Fischer. He's a freshman. I'm his roommate. What the hell happened?” Trusky's eyes are filled with worry.
“'Got hit by a fly ball. Hit him pretty hard too. Hey, is the ambulance on it's way?” The coach asks again, more assertive now.
“Yeah, paramedics are on their way. They said to try and keep him awake.” One of the players spoke out.
The coach lightly touches Conrad's arm, but doesn't move him.
“Hey, Conrad. We need you to stay awake, buddy.” The coach says “C'mon, we can't have you passed out.”
“Conrad, wake up man. Please!” Trusky is practically shouting.
Conrad stirs, his eyes fluttering. He manages to get them halfway open.
Muffled voices swirl around his head. Everything looks blurry.
Where was he? What happened? His memories were fuzzy.
Conrad groans.
“That's it, Conrad. Try and stay awake with us, okay? The ambulance is on it's way.” The coach pats Conrad's arm.
More people have gathered around now to see what was going on.
“Is he going to be okay?”
“What's his name again?”
“I think I have a class with him.”
“Does anyone have the number for his family?”
The voices hurt Conrad's head and he can't quite make out who is saying what. He feels like he wants to throw up and tries to move.
“Whoa, easy.” The coach notices Conrad's attempt to shift over and holds him still. “Don't move, kid. We gotta wait for the paramedics. You got hit pretty hard by that baseball. Probably have a concussion.”
Conrad doesn't say anything and closes his eyes again. His head lolling to the side.
“Hey, none of that. Stay awake, Conrad. C'mon! Wake up, buddy! Where the hell is that ambulance?” The coach stands up and yells.
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Back at the car again, Jere and Belly are still sitting in awkward silence. Belly is starting to worry. She looks at her phone to check the time and see if she got any messages.
“This is starting to get weird. He shouldn't be taking this long, right?” Belly looks over to Jere.
“I mean, packing up a dorm room can take a long time. Why are you so worried about this?” Jeremiah raises an eyebrow in her direction.
“I'm not worried, I just thought that maybe he'd call or text one of us at least, ya know?” Belly stares at her phone. “I'm gonna call him. Just to be safe.”
Jeremiah nervously swallows. “Okay.” He's already starting to have doubts about their situation, but pushes the feelings down.
Belly opens her contacts and starts calling Conrad. It rings over and over.
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Back with Conrad, his phone is buzzing on the sidewalk somewhere behind the crowd. No one seems to take notice.
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Belly listens to the phone ring out until finally she gets Conrad's voicemail.
“Hey, this is Conrad. Leave a message and I'll get back to you soon.” The tone beeps on the other end of the phone.
“Conrad, hey its Belly. Jere and I were just checking to see if you went back to your dorm room after the test. Thought you might have headed straight there to start packing. Anyway, we hadn't heard from you and well, we just wanted to make sure everything's okay. Call us back when you get a chance. Okay. Bye.” Belly quickly ends her clumsy message.
Belly and Jeremiah once again sat in silence.
Suddenly, a loud siren blared in the distance. It sounded like it was getting close. Belly watched out the window as an ambulance turned down the street and headed towards the main campus.
There's no way. Belly thought to herself.
She watched as people started running towards the ambulance to see what was going on.
But what if. Belly thought again.
Without thinking, Belly undid her seatbelt and opened her door.
“Belly, what are you doing?” Jere asked.
“I-I just want to see what's going on.” Belly stepped out of the car.
“It's probably just some dumb kid that got too day drunk or something. Don't worry about it. “ Jere sighed.
“Still, I want to check it out.” She looked at Jere. “You can stay here if you want, but I'm going.”
“Belly. Are you serious? What are you one of those people that runs out of their house to see a car accident?” Jere scoffed.
“Shut up, Jere. Someone could be seriously hurt.” She headed in the direction of the ambulance, following the crowd.
“Belly. Belly! C'mon!” Jere called out after her but she was already gone.
Belly walked with purpose. Not too quickly, but quick enough that it looked like she had somewhere important to be.
Jere's probably right. It's probably just some kid having a bad day. Belly tried to convince herself of this but something in her gut was telling her otherwise.
Two students passed by Belly. She caught a part of their conversation.
“Poor, guy. What are the odds of that happening? And he wasn't even on the field.” One of them said.
“Head injuries like that are no joke. I hope he's okay. Did you catch his name” The other said.
“Not sure, but I think it was something like Connor but not Connor. Con--?”
Conrad! Belly's walk immediately turned into a sprint.
Belly raced towards the ambulance. It was parked right next to a large group of people that surrounded someone on the ground.
“Everyone back up! We need to get through!” A tall man with a gruff voice and scruffy beard pushed through and everyone stepped back. He was clearly in charge of the situation.
Belly joined the crowd pushing her way through to the front. Her eyes falling on him.
Conrad's eyes were closed, his head leaning to the side. His face was pale and he wasn't moving...
The lead paramedic leaned down next to him and started asking questions. He pulled out a small flash light.
“Hey, kid. Don't worry, we're gonna take care of you. My name is Mark, okay? Can you tell me your name?” Mark asked as he opened Conrad's eyes and shined the light.
“Conrad!” Belly screamed.
The crowd stepped back again and Belly stepped forward.
“Conrad. Okay, I'm assuming you know him?” Mark asked.
“Yeah, that's his girl, Belly!” Trusky shouted.
Belly didn't have the emotional energy to respond to the “his girl” comment. Not when she was so shaken up seeing Conrad like this. She just nodded her head.
“Right, okay. Looks like a concussion. Hard to say if he's got any other internal brain injuries, but we'll get a scan at the hospital to confirm.” Mark tucked the flashlight away.
Internal brain injuries. Belly's heart sunk when she heard it.
“Let's load him up!” Mark gestured for the stretcher to be brought over. They put a brace around Conrad's neck to keep his head steady.
“You.” Mark looked at Belly “Seeing as your "Conrad's girl,”
Belly flinched, but she still didn't correct him.
“Can you ride along with us? Any additional information you can give us about his background and medical history would be a great help.” Mark said.
“Yes, please. Whatever I can do to help.” Her response sounded like a plea, even though they were the ones asking her to ride along.
Two paramedics lifted up the stretcher, while another ran over to gather Conrad's belongings.
“Time to move, people!” Mark headed towards the back of the ambulance with the other two paramedics carrying Conrad on the stretcher. They loaded him into the back. Belly wasn't even processing what she was doing, but her body still moved. Her hands were shaking as she sat in the back of the ambulance. Her eyes never leaving Conrad.
Just as the paramedics were closing the doors, Belly saw Jere sprinting over to the scene.
Belly tried to call out to him but it was too late. The doors were shut and the ambulance was moving. Belly's entire body was shaking now. She was snapped out of her trance when Mark started asking her questions.
“Hey, what's your name?” He asked.
“Um, B-belly. Isabel Conklin. But everyone calls me Belly.” She stuttered.
“Okay, Belly. Can you tell me Conrad's full name? Date of birth? Any allergies or history of medical problems?” Mark rattled off a handful of questions. Belly's voice quivered as she gave each a response.
“Is- is he going to be okay?” Belly did her best to hold back her tears.
Mark looked from Conrad to Belly and sighed.
“We'll know more once we get him to the hospital. But I promise, we'll do everything that we can.”
Not entirely happy with the response, Belly felt she could no longer hold them back. Tears rolled down her face.
“Can- Can I hold his hand?” she asked.
“Yes, of course.” Mark smiled weakly at her.
Belly gently took Conrad's hand in hers and wrapped her fingers around his.
Not Conrad. You can't take him away. Not yet. She internally screamed to the universe.
Jeremiah watched from a distance as the ambulance disappeared taking Conrad and Belly with it.
Jere was shaking with all kinds of emotion.
What just happened? How? I don't- Jere's mind started to reel.
There were too many questions and feelings, but he shook them all off. He needed to find out where they were taking them. That was the most important thing right now.
“Hey!” Jere turned to Trusky. “Do you know where they're taking him?”
“I'm not sure, but probably Rhode Island Hospital. That's the closest one to campus.” Trusky said.
Jere didn't even follow up with more questions and ran back to Conrad's car. His foot hit the gas with no regard for speed as he headed towards the hospital.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Was all Jere could think.