It all started at the beach house, the place where you’ve spent every summer with your mom.

She and her best friend Susanna met in college and have been inseparable ever since.

Every summer, as far back as you can remember, you went there. Same house, same people, same feeling.

Your mom, your older brother, and you would all drive up to Cousins Beach, where Susanna owned a beach house.

Susanna would come from Boston with her two boys, Conrad and Jeremiah.

The dads never joined, except for the Fourth of July, and then they would leave again.

You had always been in love with Conrad, the oldest of Susanna’s boys.

He was two years older than you and his younger brother, Jeremiah.

At eighteen, he had just graduated high school and was headed to Brown University.

You were sixteen, still in high school, and unsure of your future plans.

Jeremiah was also sixteen and a bit... immature, to say the least.

He asked you out, and you couldn’t say no. You were a people pleaser, and his puppy-dog eyes made it hard to refuse.

When summer rolled around, he became even more immature: drinking, partying, hooking up.

It pissed you off.

One night, you got drunk and couldn’t remember much from the bonfire.

All you knew was that the next morning, you woke up in Conrad’s bed, wearing only his shirt and your underwear.

He lay next to you, his chest bare and only wearing boxers.

Your head was throbbing as you glanced at the clock, trying to focus on the time.

4:45 AM.

Was it really that fucking early?

You let out an involuntary groan as a sharp pain shot through your head.

You felt the sheets beside you move, and Conrad’s arm wrapped around your waist.

“You okay?” Conrad mumbled, his voice groggy as he propped himself up with his other arm.