I don't want the children from another girl, to have the eyes of a boy I won't forget.

One summer at Cousins changed everything. One week, you and Jeremiah were together. You two went for ice cream at your favorite ice cream shop, you played volleyball together until the sun set so much that you could barely make it home in the dark. You two thought about talking your parents into getting a dog - he would spend one month at Jere's, the next at yours. He come to all your volleyball games, and you go with him to the college open houses. You set your pictures as wallpapers on your phones, and your birthdays as passwords.

The second week, you found him entwined in his bed with Belly - your sister. You would go to him then, telling him you had found the perfect restaurant for a date, even though he was reliving his date with Belly in bed.

You didn't count how many cigarettes you smoked, throwing the butts into the ocean. If Jere were here, he would have scolded you for ruining your health. You used to think it was sweet, now it made you want to throw up.

By the time the news spread around the Cousins beach house, Conrad was left alone too. Belly had cheated on him with his little brother, just like you had been cheated on by your sister. What's in the family never dies, yeah?

Conrad walked over to the dock, watching you. The morning sun cast shadows across your face as you held a cigarette between your fingers. You were shivering a little from the cold, not quite sure how long you'd been outside. He wasn't scolding you for smoking—he was smoking himself. Jeremiah wouldn't do that.

How could you go back to being friends with Jeremiah when you were just sharing a bed?