Shameless x Jeremiah Fisher (1)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Conrad sat on the beach chair beside their pool with a beer in his hand. He was slightly drunk and sulking. He had been sulking for two days ignoring and avoiding running into Angelina. He knew he wouldn't be able to avoid her much longer since the debutant ball is tomorrow night. Conrad let out a groan. Dragging his hand down his face in frustration, he let out in a low whisper, "I haven't even had a chance to ask her who is escorting her to the debutant ball."

As Conrad took another sip of his beer, he turned his head towards the door hearing it close. He saw as his younger brother quietly tipped toed down the stairs after closing the door as softly as he could to not get caught sneaking out.

Conrad cleared his throat saying a bit loud, "where are you sneaky off to at this late hour?"

Jeremiah quickly turned around grasping onto his chest. His heart rate picking up slightly not thinking he would be caught sneaking out to go spend the night with Angelina. As soon as he notice it was just his older brother, Jeremiah straightened himself up and regained composure. The last two days Conrad had been avoiding being alone with him in the same room or abruptly had to leave somewhere. "Going out for a bit," Jeremiah answered nonchalantly. He wouldn't be back till the early morning but Conrad didn't need to know that.

Conrad huffed. "You think I'm stupid?"

Jeremiah shrugged his shoulders sticking his hands in his jean pockets. "Well you did ask a stupid question. I know you already know where I'm going."

Conrad quickly got up staggering towards his younger brother. He slurred slightly, "what did you just call me?"

"Want me to spell it out for you?" Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. Conrad now inches from him, felt Conrad's breath on him. The younger Fisher boy was annoyed with his older brother. Conrad had been ignoring Angelina causing her to be depressed and that pissed off Jeremiah. "S-t-u-p-"

Before Jeremiah could finish spelling out the word stupid he felt Conrad's fist connect with his jaw. Jeremiah staggered back slightly in shock. He gripped his jaw and looked up towards his older brother. Jeremiah couldn't believe Conrad just hit him. He knew the frustration between the both of them had been building up all summer but he didn't think it would come down to this.

"This is all your fault. My friendship with Lina is on the rocks now because you couldn't keep your shit in your pants," Conrad yelled. "She's worth more then a one time hit, Jere."

Jeremiah felt his blood rising. He was growing furious and he was trying to calm himself down before he did something stupid. Conrad was intoxicated and wasn't thinking clearly. Turning his head to the side, he spit out a small amount of blood from his mouth. "You honestly think that low of me? That Angelina is just a one time fuck?" As the anger was building, he walked closer towards Conrad giving him a shove. "You really are stupid."

Conrad stepped closer now shoving Jeremiah. "You never take anything seriously, Jeremiah."

"You're the one ruining your own friendship with Angelina, yourself. You're supposed to be her best friend but you've been shutting her out the last few days. But that's one sided, huh Connie, cause that's not how you see it right?" Jeremiah shoved Conrad with more force.

"Stop," Conrad hissed

"No, you stop kidding yourself already. You want more," Jeremiah said shoving Conrad's shoulder again.

"Jeremiah. Stop," Conrad said lowly clenching his fingers into a fist. He didn't want to hear it.

Jeremiah huffed. "Just be a man and admit it already. Instead of treating her like shit cause you won't admit it," he paused gripping onto Conrad's shirt. "You're in love with her!"

Conrad swung forward, his fist hitting Jeremiah's face again. The older Fisher boy staggers over as Jeremiah pushed forward causing the two of them to collide. Jeremiah was trying to grip Conrad down as Conrad wrapped his arm around Jeremiah's neck.

"Stop! Jeremiah, Conrad, both of you stop it!" They heard Belly scream. Neither of them noticing when she came outside. Conrad still had Jeremiah in a head lock as Jeremiah tried pushing Conrad off of him.

"That's enough! Both of you," Laurel was the next voice they both heard yelling at them. They felt as she tugged on both of their arms, pulling them apart. Jeremiah straighten up running his hand through his hair as Conrad simple stood there rolling his eyes. "What has gotten into you boys?"

Conrad leaned down grabbing his beer from beside the chair he was previously sitting on and started walking towards the dock. "Connie!" Laurel yelled.

"It's no use, Laur," Jeremiah said. He's gone. He's been gone, all summer and before that. Whatever Conrad was going through, was causing this version of himself to hurt everyone else. Laurel looked over at Jeremiah giving him a sympathetic smile. The younger Fisher boy just shrugged his shoulder as Laurel walked back inside the beach house. "Sorry if we scared you, Belly," Jeremiah said lightly brushing her arm.

Belly nodded trying to hold back tears, "I just want things to go back to normal."

Jeremiah let out a deep sigh, "it's too late for that. I'm going to head out, get inside and rest, Belly. You have the ball tomorrow. You don't want to be all tired for Cristian."

"You're right. But wait, Jeremiah. Where are you going? And your lip is bleeding. You need to get cleaned up," Belly pleaded.

Jeremiah gave her a wink, "trust me, where I'm going. I'll be taken care of."

~~~

"Jeremiah Fisher, you idiot," he felt a small slap on his arm. He couldn't help but laugh as Angelina pouted at him. He could see the worry clearly expressed on her face. The amount of affection he was receiving from her right now caused him to sigh in relief. Jeremiah knew Angelina cared about him but this showed him, she chose him over his brother.

"You should see how the other guy looks," Jeremiah winked. Her frown grew deeper and all Jeremiah wanted to do was pull her into him as he sat on the edge of her bed and she stood in front of him and kiss her.

"That's not funny, Jeremiah," Angelina frowned. She couldn't believe it when Jeremiah showed up in her kitchen with a bloody lip and then to find out it was because he got into a fight with Conrad. She wanted to call Conrad and check in on him but he's been ignoring her for the last two days so she decided against it.

"I didn't swing at him if that's what you're worried about. He was drunk, I would never," Jeremiah wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her into his chest.

"So this was all Con's doing?" Angelina asked placing her hands on either side of his cheeks looking down at him.

Jeremiah let out a small sigh leaning into her touch, "I might have said something to provoke him."

"What could you have possibly said to cause Con to punch you?" Angelina said raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing important," Jeremiah said quickly giving her waist a squeeze. He thought Conrad would finally admit he had feelings for Angelina tonight but as always, he's too much of a coward to face whatever he was feeling.

A part of him was glad Conrad didn't admit he had feelings for Angelina. He's still scared that there is a possibility Angelina would will feel the same for Conrad if he did. Jeremiah knows there's something the two of them are sharing that they haven't shared with anyone else. "I wish you would trust me with what you share with Conrad," Jeremiah whispered.

Angelina frowned. She ran her fingers through his hair leaning down to kiss his forehead. Resting her forehead against his, Angelina closed her eyes. A part of her knew she should share the secret she held about her dad to Jeremiah. But she wasn't ready to say it out loud again, it was tough on her already just telling Conrad the first time.

"Can I stay the night with you?" She heard Jeremiah say.

"Always," Angelina answered.

End of chapter notes:

When I read the books, I remembered that there was a fight between Conrad and Jeremiah so I decided to throw that in here. Next chapter will be the start of the last episode of the series. Can't believe this will come to an end soon!

Hope you enjoyed.