love me like you • jeremiah fisher

chapter twelve

"Sure, why not." I agreed, putting my hand in his. He walked us away from the group, closer to where the ocean met the land.

"So you wanted me all to yourself, huh?" I teased, squinting my eyes due to the sun being directly on top of us.

"Yeah, or maybe I just wanted to avoid the cleanup." He turned to me, chuckling.

"Either way I approve of your reasoning." That's when I noticed our hands were still intertwined.

"Jere.." I whispered, pulling my hand away from his.

"Woah, what's wrong?" He suddenly stopped, looking at me with concern. "Everything Jeremiah, I thought I could pretend like nothing happened, but I can't." I admitted, taking a few steps away from him.

He looked at me confused and when I realized he wasn't going to say anything, I continued.

"You were right earlier, kissing random guys, that's not me and It'll probably never be." I laughed dryly, looking at my feet.

"I know Bri, why do you think I told the guys it was time to leave at the party.." He admitted.

"Was that the only reason?" I asked him slowly. "What do you-" I took a step closer to him.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that was the only reason you pulled me away from Matt." I told him seriously.

He jaw clenched when I mentioned Matt's name. Just like every other time, we both began moving closer and leaning into each other.

I could tell he hesitated when he turned his face away, looking out into the water.

I huffed, crossing my arms.

In this moment, I have no idea what exactly came over me. Maybe it was cause it was the Fourth of July or maybe I was just tired of waiting.

I took that final step towards him, the one we never dared to cross, wrapping my arms around his neck and closing the distance between us.

It wasn't till his lips met mine when I realized what I was doing. As I was about to pull away he wrapped his arms around my waist tugging me closer. I smiled into the kiss, running my hands through his hair.

It was now when I realized why the kiss with Matt was almost perfect, this..this with Jeremiah was perfect.

I pulled away to catch my breath and looked into his eyes, "Can you tell me now?" I whispered.

"I didn't want you kissing some random guy." He answered back breathlessly.

"I wanted you kissing me." Jeremiah added, his arms still wrapped around me.

"I wanted that too Jere, that's all I've wanted." My answer made him break out one of his signature smiles, as he leaned in once again.

~

We stayed on the beach, holding each other until it was time for the fireworks.

At one point, Steven came along and joined us. "Yeah, that one was awesome! Did you see?" Jeremiah yelled, excitedly turning to me.

"It was." I laughed, agreeing with the boy. "Come on, that was your best one yet." Jeremiah told Steven, who just seemed tired.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. "Shayla knows about Taylor." He said dryly.

My smile fell, I had heard about what happened briefly. "Oh, shit." Jeremiah cringed, looking away.

"That's the thing guys. Like, Shayla didn't even seem to care man. She said we weren't anything serious." He replied, I could tell he was upset.

"And you bought that?" I asked him, surprised. "Steven, she wanted you to say that you wanted to be exclusive." I added, nudging his shoulder.

"What? No." Steven said, scoffing.

"Yes dummy, Bri's right. I know how these things work." Jeremiah told him, causing me to raise an eyebrow at him. "That was a lie, I don't know how these things work." He tried to rephrase, causing me to stifle a laugh.

Steven turned to stare at us, before jumping up. "Don't tell me?" He laughed out loud, causing us to look at him confused.

"Took you long enough man." He said hitting Jeremiah's shoulder. "Ow, give me a break, she's confusing." Jere defended, a pout on his lips.

"I am not." I retorted.

"Yes, you are. We flirt, she ignores me, we flirt, she makes out with a guy." He shouted. "Tell me about it man, girls are confusing." Steven agreed with him.

"Okay okay, back to Shayla." I said trying to go back to our previous conversation.

"I don't know, I'm just crazy about her. I swear, I've never felt this way about anyone else." Steven groaned, throwing his hands up.

"Then quit your fucking moping and go tell her." Jeremiah said to the boy.

"Like right now?" "Yes, right now go." I said, pushing him as he smiled and began to run away.

"And for the record, I am not confusing." I huffed, turning my back to Jeremiah. "Not anymore, you're not." He teased, wrapping his arms around me from behind.

"I guess I was just scared of being rejected." He admitted. "You, Jeremiah Fisher, scared of rejection?" I said sarcastically. "Yeah, yeah whatever." He rolled his eyes, pulling me closer to him.

"Take your own advice." I said, turning around to face him. He tilted his head, before his eyes lit up. "I want to be exclusive, if that wasn't already obvious enough." He began.

"Let's go out, me, you, girlfriend, boyfriend, couple, dating, lovers-" I cut him off by placing a hand to his mouth.

"Okay, okay I get it and I accept." I laughed, pulling my hand away. He smirked before lifting me into the air and spinning me around.

"Alright bumblebee, wanna go inside?" He asked. "Please, it's going to take ages to get this sand out of my hair." I sighed, letting him pull me away.

word count: 996
Yay, the long wait is over!! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I'll post the next one as soon as possible! Don't forget to leave a comment and vote! 🤍