Candy- C. Sturniolo
pairing: influencer!reader x Chris
classification: fluff
warnings: Latina reader, use of Spanish (brief), use of y/n, mention of alcohol, suggestive content but no smut, online scandal
translations: pendeja- dumbass (feminine)
inspiration: Candy by Plan B
summary: You were sweet as candy and Chris couldn’t stop himself from taking a bite, leading to an internet scandal neither of you anticipated.
—
Influencer parties were never Chris’s thing, he usually just let himself get dragged along for appearances. Today is one of those days, he got ready and acted excited, but deep down all he wanted to do was go back home. Currently, he’s making his rounds around the event, dabbing people up and introducing himself to the strangers he hasn’t met yet.
As he walks around the crowded party with his brothers, he realizes that there’s more unfamiliar faces than he accounted for. Maybe he’s seen a video of theirs once or twice, but for the most part he has no idea who these people are.
Nick finds a friend and disappears amidst the crowd, dancing to the beat of the music as he follows his friend towards a different area of the house. Matt has started a conversation with someone he recognized, bonding with them over God knows what. Chris lingered around Matt for a while, debating whether he should insert himself in the conversation or not, but it sounded boring and there was sure to be something more interesting at this party.
So, he allows himself to wander around, grabbing a drink along the way. Candy by Plan B plays loudly over the speakers, shaking the walls with each beat. He’s never heard this song before, but he makes a mental note to add it to his playlist, bopping his head slightly to the music. Chris takes a long swig of his beer, eyes scanning the room for something or someone interesting.
The room is crowded, the music is loud, and the strobing lights don’t help him recognize anyone. He walks further into the crowd, holding his beer by the neck as he weaves past sweaty people. He’s about to give up and walk back to where he left Matt, but that’s when he sees you.
You’re in the middle of the room, dancing shamelessly to the song. You’re swaying your hips, grinding against a friend as your hair falls in front of your face. Despite the commotion surrounding him, Chris feels the world stop. He’s never seen someone so beautiful, and maybe it’s the alcohol, but he’s instantly addicted to you. In that moment he made it his mission to learn your name and get your number.
You feel Chris’s watch on you, following the burning sensation until your eyes lock with his. You don’t know who he is, but you’re immediately in awe. He was so handsome that if this was a cartoon you’d have heart eyes.
You continue dancing, looking Chris up and down with a slight smirk before finally prying your eyes away. Just because he was cute didn’t mean you weren’t going to make him work for it. He senses the challenge and mentally accepts it, ready to do whatever it takes to make you his. The song fades out, a completely different beat playing over the speakers as Rompe by Daddy Yankee plays.
You’re swiveling your hips to the song, turning towards your friends as you begin singing the lyrics to each other. Chris takes another swig of his beer, finishing it off for some liquid courage before finally walking over to you. “Look who’s coming,” your friend comments, her eyes darting behind you to signal at Chris.
Usually you’d find boldness like Chris’s obnoxious and creepy, but he had a certain charm to him that made up for it. Before you knew it, you found yourself drunkenly dancing with him, his hands on your hips and yours around his neck. The alcohol, loud music, and his ability to dance on beat is enough to convince you that you’ve found the man of your dreams.
“What’s your name?” he shouts over the music, hands holding you in place as you grind against him. Chris feels like he’s in heaven, he’s never had a girl this hot this close to him, let alone grinding on him. “Y/n,” you exclaim as he leans into you so he can hear you better. “I’m Chris!” he replies, face so close to yours that his breath is fanning across your neck.
Despite the loud music, the moment is intimate and it feels like you and Chris are the only two people in the room. He pulls away from your ear, keeping his face close enough for your noses to touch while you dance. Before he can stop himself, he’s leaning in for a sloppy, drunk kiss. His hands are all over your body and yours are tangled in his hair.
You’re making out, grinding against each other as loud reggaeton plays in the background. The alcohol running through your veins caused you to forget that this isn’t just a random party, this is an influencer party; where everyone knows everyone, and everyone knows Chris. But the room is so chaotic that neither of you notice people taking pictures, the strobing lights serving as a mask for the nosy onlookers. They sneakily snap pictures and take videos, posting them online in a matter of seconds for the world to see.
At this point, you’ve been dancing with Chris for hours, both of you becoming a sweaty, drunk mess. People kept taking pictures, all of them trying to get their 15 minutes of fame by creating a scandal. If it weren’t for your friend who managed to pull you away, you would’ve stayed clung to Chris for the whole night. You were so drunk that you would’ve surely led him to a room and created an even bigger mess for yourself.
“Girl you can’t be dancing with that dude,” she says, dragging you outside of the party and to the car. “What? Why not?” your words are slurred, your heels clacking on the pavement as you struggle to keep up. Just moments before you were dancing expertly, but now you can’t even remember which foot is left and which is right. “Because he’s famous, pendeja,” she quips back, pulling you along aggressively towards the car. Who cares if he’s famous? He’s fucking hot.
“So? I’m famous too,” you’re slurring your words, stumbling with each step.
It’s true, you had your own group of fans, but you were a fairly new content creator. So, even if you were ‘famous,’ you weren’t as popular as Chris. “Exactly my point, bitch. Everyone was taking pictures of you guys. That’s gonna look so bad on you,” she says, throwing her hands up in the air. She was still pretty sober, leaving you on the dance floor to use the restroom and getting distracted along the way, only to come back to you grinding on a stranger.
When her hands flail in the air, she lets go of you causing you to lose your balance and fall on the grass lawn. She looks down at you annoyed, “Girl, oh my God. Get up.” Her hands wrap around your arms, using all her strength to hoist you up.
Your friend explained the situation to you, going into full detail about the story and of how she obtained the information in the first place. You’re so drunk that if all sounds like jibberish to you, but you listen anyways. Apparently she heard from a friend of a friend that Chris was extremely famous, he and his brothers sharing a YouTube channel that amassed over 6 million subscribers. These numbers didn’t really matter to you, you were never the type to measure someone’s worth based on followers, but it obviously mattered to your friend.
You were tuning her out now, your mind occupied with thoughts of Chris; his lips against yours, his hands that roamed your body, his body heat while you two danced to the music.
If the internet wanted to cancel you for having fun with a hot guy that you’d probably never see again, so be it.
—
Two days have passed since that party and Chris’s phone has been going crazy because of those pictures, there’s even videos of the two of you practically undressing each other mid dance floor. He was so drunk that he hardly remembers that night at all and he didn’t even manage to get your number because your friend pulled you away before he could ask. Although he hates the negative attention the videos and photos have brought, he can’t stop watching them.
“You need to fucking fix this,” Nick says through gritted teeth, scrolling on his laptop. Their Instagram DM’s, YouTube comments, emails, Snapchat messages, all of it was full to the brim with crazed fans. There were even YouTube drama channels reacting and talking about the photos, claiming that this was the ‘downfall of the Sturniolo Triplets.’
Nick pulls up the main photo everyone is going crazy over, enlarging it so it takes up the whole laptop screen. In the photo Chris’s hands are firmly gripping your ass, fingers ending right below your dress. Your right hand is tangled in his hair, the left one holding onto his bicep for support. The two of you are locking lips, and because you were dancing, the picture is blurry, but there’s no doubt that it’s Chris in the picture. There’s even less doubt that it’s you, your outfit matching the one you posted on your Instagram just hours before the party.
“Dude you’re fucked,” Matt chuckles as he shakes his head at Chris, he found the situation slightly amusing. “It’s not funny, Matt. Read these comments,” Nick responds, tilting the laptop so Matt can do a once over. Matt’s eyes gloss over the screen, reading so many messages that all said the same thing, ‘who is she and why is she with Chris?’
“They can’t be that bad,” Chris finally says, glancing at the laptop from over Matt’s shoulder. After reading about 5 messages he realizes that they were that bad, the fans were actually going insane over these photos. They managed to find your social media and kept tagging you in posts, one of the notifications popping up on the screen as Chris reads comments. “Wait click that,” Chris instructs, pointing towards the right hand corner of the laptop.
Nick clicks the notification swiftly, managing to catch it before it was replaced by another one. The notification leads them to your Instagram account, your aesthetic and page layout immediately jogging Chris’s memory. Suddenly he remembers every detail from that night, Candy by Plan B playing in his head as images of you flash through his mind.
“Is this her?” Matt asks, shooing Nick’s hand off the mousepad so he can scroll through your account. Your account was full of photo dumps; all of them including pictures of you with friends, family, out partying, and a lot of provocative selfies. There was a sexy, mysterious edge to you that could put anyone in a trance, and it was evident in your suggestive poses and the amount of likes under each post. Matt clicks on one of the photos, you’re wearing a little black dress and holding a beer, sitting on a lounge chair outside of a bustling party.
It was the exact dress from that night, and Matt instantly recognizes the background as the same venue from the party. Your legs and chest are visible, black pumps and a gold necklace on full display; all of them being the same details from Chris’s scandalous photo. “Dude you’re so fucked!” Matt reiterates loudly with a laugh, zooming into the background of the picture.
In the background, among other drunk people, you can faintly see Chris, Matt, and Nick. Chris squints his eyes at the screen, trying to see if he was distinguishable in the photo, but he clearly was. He couldn’t lie his way out of this situation even if he tried, all the evidence pointed directly at him.
“Fuck!” He groans, running an anxious hand through his hair. What the fuck was he going to do? What if this singular night and these photos managed to ruin their career?
Matt laughs, he understands that this is stressful, but even he had to agree that you were hot, “Dude, don’t worry. I’d get cancelled for her too.” Chris sends him a warning look and Nick rolls his eyes, this was no time for jokes.
Nick takes control of the laptop again, opening up a chat with you. “Wait, what are you doing?!” Chris asks immediately, watching as Nick types up a lengthy message. “Fixing your damn mistake,” he replies, pressing send without hesitation. Chris groans, facepalming as he thinks of what that message would lead to.
“Like I said dude, you’re fuuuucked,” Matt comments in a sing song tone, chuckling as he retreats to his room. Nick shuts the laptop, standing from the table and doing the same, grumbling a “fucking dumbass” as he walks upstairs.
Chris is left to think about the situation, mind replaying that night on loop. Although he doesn’t regret it, he feels like a high schooler getting in trouble for having a girl over and locking the door.
He was a grown man, he could kiss as many strangers as he wanted, but he still couldn’t help but wonder what he was supposed to do now.
—
Despite all the comments and backlash you were receiving, you didn’t learn your lesson. Instead of hiding from the world, you dolled yourself up for another night out. Your outfit is sensual, it screams ‘I don’t care what you think about me,’ and turns heads when you walk in a room.
You were still in the infancy stage of your career as an influencer, and if you’ve learned one thing from watching your friends get involved in scandals it’s that these things come and go. Tomorrow something more exciting will entertain people and they’ll forget all about you, so why stop having fun?
The strings of your thong peak from above your low rise jeans, a fitted crop top hugging your figure perfectly. You’ve styled your hair and done your makeup, ready to get drunk and ruin it with more mistakes at yet another influencer party. Hopefully Chris would be there too, not only because you’d love to dance with him again, but because you need to talk about the elephant in the room.
Of course you didn’t really care how this affected your career, but you knew that he and his brothers would take a slight hit from this. They were more established in this field, people held high expectations of them and scandals like this only tainted their image.
You do a once over of your outfit in the mirror, making any last minute finishing touches before walking downstairs. As you’re making your way downstairs, you grab your purse and begin shoving random things in there, your phone being one of them. The phone vibrates in your hand indicating a notification, nothing out of the ordinary especially right now, and when you inspect it your eyes just gloss over your phone before turning it off.
It was a message from the ‘triplets,’ apologizing for their fans behavior and for the entire scandal, even inviting you to meet in person to discuss what comes next. If you weren’t so excited to go out, and if you would’ve clicked the message, you would’ve realized that it was from the actual triplets and not a troll account. But at this point you’ve received so many notifications just like it from a plethora of sources, so you didn’t pay it any mind.
Instead of stressing yourself out, you shove your phone in your purse and walk out the door to meet your friends. You were going to enjoy your night with or without a scandal.
—
Chris is apprehensive, not sure if he should join Matt and Nick on their night out, especially not after what happened last time. Matt and Nick are dressed and ready, waiting for Chris in the living room so they can leave. Maybe attending another influencer party so soon after the scandal wasn’t the best idea, but Matt already promised he’d go and Nick had friends texting him asking if he was coming. So, if Chris didn’t want to go that was fine, but the other two were definitely making an appearance.
Chris is torn between two choices: stay home and protect his image or attend this party in hopes of seeing you again. He chews on his cheek, mulling the decision over before mumbling a quiet, “fuck it,” and getting dressed. Everyone was already raining hell fire on him, what difference did it make if he made mistakes now?
He throws on a casual outfit, ruffling his hair in the mirror before exiting his room and jogging up the stairs. Matt and Nick look up from their phones once they sense Chris’s presence, a little shocked that he’s joining them.
“Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go,” Chris comments nonchalantly, tilting his head towards the door to encourage the other two to get up. Nick is more conscious of his actions than Chris is, and he knows that as soon as Chris enters that party all eyes are going to be on him. And, if you’re already there, the attention this’ll bring is worse. “Don’t you think you should-“ Nick begins, but Chris cuts him off because he knows where this is going and he doesn’t want to chicken out now.
“I said I’m ready. Let’s fucking go.”
Matt rolls his eyes at Chris’s tough guy act, grabbing his keys and walking past him, “Watch your fucking mouth, kid.” Chris ignores him, following closely behind him as they walk downstairs and out the door. He suddenly feels excited, he can’t wait to get drunk and lose all his inhibitions.
—
The party is like any other, full of drunk people and loud music, the smell of alcohol and weed being the only thing wafting through the air. Chris was excited on the car ride there, but as soon as he hops out of the car he can feel everyone’s eyes on him, and that’s when the anxiety kicks in. What the fuck was he thinking? That he could saunter into this party and go unnoticed?
Chris tightens his jaw, trying to keep his composure and show zero signs of weakness. People are murmuring, pointing, some of them even laughing. If Chris didn’t have Nick and Matt at his side he would surely break and let the anxiety consume him. The three of them are doing their rounds, greeting friends and grabbing drinks along the way: the usual. Chris wills the bad thoughts away, taking a swig of his beer as his eyes scan the room.
Last time he was scanning the room for anything or anyone exciting, this time he’s scanning the room for one person; you. He hasn’t been able to spot you in the crowd, and after the scandal he dragged you into, he wouldn’t blame you for not showing up. Chris takes another long swig of his beer, practically chugging the drink as he tries easing his nerves with the alcohol.
“Go slow with that shit,” Nick comments with a scoff, pointing at the beer that was already halfway finished. Chris holds his hands up in defense, he definitely had to pace himself tonight, especially with so many haters lurking around every corner. “I’m gonna go find my friend, don’t do anything stupid,” Nick continues with a warning glare, pushing past Chris and disappearing into the crowd
Chris’s eyes follow Nick, watching as his figure weaves between people until he’s no longer in view. He allows his eyes to scan the room one last time, mentally claiming that if he doesn’t find you then it wasn’t meant to be. Just as his eyes reach the far left corner, and he’s about to give up, he sees you. He swears he feels his heart skip a beat, butterflies in his stomach, and heat rise to his cheeks.
You’re sitting on the arm of the couch, legs crossed and rocking back and forth as you groove to the music. In your hands is a cold beer, you take small sips from it in between conversation with your friend. Chris is silently grateful that you’re here with a friend and not another guy because it means he stands a chance with you. Usually he wouldn’t be psyching himself out this much, but you were easily the prettiest girl in the room, he’d even go as far to say that you were the prettiest girl at the party.
“I’ll be back,” Chris says to Matt, slapping his brothers back and abandoning the group he was standing with as he walks towards you. Matt, who was previously engaged in a conversation, is now watching Chris intently. Either Chris was going to come out as the underdog who got the girl, or he was going to make an idiot of himself and become a viral sensation once again. The group Matt is standing with is watching too, ready to watch Chris fail to impress you and walk back defeated.
Chris pushes past dancing couples, apologizing to anyone he bumps into as he walks towards you. His eyes are locked on you, afraid that if he looks way you’ll disappear and become a figment of his imagination. You’re too busy talking to your friend to notice Chris approaching, one of your arms rests on the back of the couch as you lean into your friend. The music is loud, the lights are blinding, and the alcohol is beginning to muddle your senses.
When you pull away from your friend you see him, standing so dangerously close to you that if it were anyone else you’d be startled. But for some reason you feel comfortable, you feel like you’ve known Chris for forever and he’s just a friend coming to say hi. So that’s what you do.
“Oh! Hi,” a big smile grows on your face, the alcohol making you extra confident and cheery. Chris chuckles, finding your drunken state only slightly amusing. “Hi,” he replies with a goofy smile, taking a step closer to you on the couch.
He’s now standing in between your legs, gentle hands landing on your thighs before he continues, “our kiss broke the internet, huh?” You laugh, Chris had an unmatched charm to him that could make anyone fall in love.
“Tryna break it again?” you ask, feeling extra bold now that he’s standing so close. He smirks knowing that in that moment, despite all the online drama and rumors, he came out with the girl. “We can try,” he replies coyly, leaning into your touch as he allows his lips to hover over yours.
Maybe it’s the alcohol, the music, or the crowd of people watching, but Chris feels the need to claim you as his in front of everyone at this party. His lips attach to yours, both of you moulding together as Candy by Plan B plays in the background.
You were sweet as candy and Chris couldn’t help but take a bite.
—
MASTERLIST
A/n:
Latinas for Chris🚨Latinas for Chris🚨
Had this one in the drafts for a while. I just had to write something for my Latina girlies 😋
-L.A.M.B👼🏻💗
—
taglist: @nicksmainbitch @sturniololovers @mayhem-72 @worldlxvlys @gnxosblog @meg-sturniolo @creamoncreamoncream2 @mattnchrisworld @sanyi5
note: if you want to be tagged in my fanfic related posts, you can access my TAGLIST and comment 💐
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heelllooo, could u write something with Conrad x tall! readeer? like some angst to fluff. maybe her being insecure or something, and her distancing herself from him. oh and they are together
Heightened Insecurities : Conrad Fisher x Reader
Description: 10.8k (plus texts) Reader is Conrad's girlfriend but begins to distance herself because she is insecure about her height. Hurt-Comfort / Angst-> Fluff
Warnings: some angst, discussion of insecurities, some bullying/rude comments, crying, self-doubt, minor cursing, brief mention of cancer (his mother's)- no mention of the outcome on this within this fic
Notes: I may have gotten a bit carried away with this one haha. I tried to write it as a neutrally-casted reader as much as possible; apart from being a tall female as required by the prompt, but the rest should be inclusive (for self-insert purposes) to all demographics [if not please advise me on what to change]!
“So, the party is at seven tonight, but I was thinking-“ Conrad began as he stepped around the corner at the end of the hallway.
He froze mid-stride when his eyes landed on the empty tan couch and saw his girlfriend wasn’t in the room.
“Y/n?” Con questioned, scanning the beach house for where she might have gone.
“Hey Con!” Jeremiah greets, casually strolling past his older brother.
“Jere, wait!” Conrad requests urgently, spinning his body around in order to face Jeremiah, “where is y/n?”
Jeremiah shrugs halfheartedly, “I thought she was with you”.
Conrad sighs, his hand massaging the back of his tense neck as he repays his brother’s answer with a stiff nod, “okay, thanks”.
“You alright man?” Jere asked, despite knowing better than to expect a clear answer from his emotionally reserved brother.
Disappointment clouded Conrad’s face as he confessed, “she’s never late, I… I think she’s mad at me”.
Jeremiah tried his best not to laugh as he wasn’t wanting Conrad to shut down and not talk to him.
But seeing his older brother this way over a girl was an unusual experience.
“Why do you say that? So, she’s a few minutes late,” Jeremiah shrugged again, hoping to calm his brothers’ nerves.
“It’s like you said, she always meets us in the living room at two. It’s only” the younger Fisher boy looked at his watch, “2:10 now, so maybe she needed to stop somewhere”.
Jeremiah said it even though he knew it was unlikely.
Y/n and Conrad were the same in that way.
They were always where they said they’d be, at the time they said they’d be there.
Any deviation from that plan would always have been accounted for and the other one informed of it prior to the fact.
Conrad’s eyes scrutinized his brother to see if he was actually believing his own argument.
“Alright, I see your point. She hasn’t texted you?” Jeremiah admitted, a small frown tugging on the corners of his lips.
Conrad quickly shoved his hand into his pocket, not having thought of checking it earlier as this hadn’t happened before.
The hopeful features that had appeared on Conrad’s face at Jeremiah’s suggestion to check his texts dissolved within seconds.
“Nothing” Conrad muttered lowly.
His younger brother grimaced with widened eyes, “maybe she’s sick?”
Conrad’s head shook as he pursed his lips, “she was okay yesterday, and she would’ve texted me if that was the case. I need to go see what’s going on.”
“Don’t flip out though, she’s probably not mad at you. Unless you did something, did you do something?” Jeremiah teased, being sure to make his voice clearly playful and his features show he was trying to break the tension.
“I don’t think so” Conrad concluded, having already racked his brain for a possible fault of his within the last few days.
Jeremiah bopped his head slowly and opened his mouth to offer more advice.
But, Conrad spoke before his brother could, “I gotta go find her, see you tonight”.
Conrad sighed as he paced back and forth outside y/N’s front door; both in frustration and worry over her not answering the door.
The lights were off in most of her house apart from the window that he knew connected to her bedroom.
The driveway was empty other than her car.
It all suggested she was home alone but choosing not to answer the door when he knocked.
His fingers reluctantly reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
Conrad was already feeling hopeless about getting a response via text from her since she hadn’t returned his calls nor did she answer the door.
Nonetheless, he had to try, so he let his fingers slide across his screen until he had composed a text message to send to his girlfriend.
TEXTS
Conrad dragged a hand drown his face as he returned his phone to his back pocket.
He knew he likely looked like a kicked puppy as he walked back to his car; his head hung and feet scuffing the ground.
As he buckled himself in, he took one last glance at Y/N’s house with a loud sigh.
“You should come tonight Con! Maybe, get your mind off all this” Jeremiah advised, walking into Conrad’s room.
“You forgot to knock” Conrad criticized without looking up at his brother’s entrance.
Jeremiah stepped back slightly, knocking the inside of Conrad’s door playfully, “now, are you coming?”
Conrad furrowed his brows and shot his brother an irritated look.
He then shook his head before staring back down at his phone as it rested in his lap.
“Dude, come on, you can’t sit here all night waiting for her to text or call” Jeremiah pointed out with a dramatic huff.
“I have to figure this out. I want to fix it…” Conrad confessed.
Jeremiah saw the determination and pain in his brother’s body language and frowned.
“And you don’t know what it is that you did?” Jeremiah investigated cautiously.
Conrad merely shook his head again and answered with a soft “no”.
~
Conrad's eyes shifted away from the ocean and to his right as he heard faint footsteps hitting the sand.
“Hi” Conrad whispered, his voice faint out of shock as he saw his girlfriend walking to him.
Y/n offered him a petite smile and waved as she came closer to him, “Hi”.
Looking up at her as she closed the distance between them, Conrad informed her, “I wasn’t sure if you were coming”.
He watched as waves of panic and sadness took over her facial features instantly.
They had a date night planned tonight, but given everything going on between them lately, he didn't know if she would show.
She sucked her lips in until he could only see a thin outline of them and nodded, “that’s fair”.
Conrad sighed and shook his head, “no, that’s not what I meant.. I just… are we okay?”.
Y/n took a seat next to her boyfriend and nodded faintly, “yes, Con, we’re okay. I’m just dealing with some stuff”.
He stared into her eyes for a moment, as if he were trying to read her troubles through them.
“And you don’t want to talk about it?” He asked, seeing the distant look her eyes held.
Y/n shook her head from side to side as she turned her gaze to stare off into ocean waves several feet ahead of them.
“Okay, I get that” he acknowledged, reaching for her hand that was resting on the sand between their legs.
Conrad held his breath as he waited for her reaction.
She let him take hold of it without resistance, but Conrad only found true relief when a few short seconds later she intertwined their fingers.
Yet, he couldn’t help but notice the slight hesitation she had in doing so instead of her normally instant behavior.
He snuck a gaze at y/n as she watched the water ripple in the ocean, the only sound surrounding them.
Using his free hand, Conrad silently opened the picnic basket on the other side of him.
He reached in and pulled out the bouquet of flowers he purchased for her.
“I.. umm.. I got you these” Conrad mumbled, unusually shy as he moved the flowers to the front of his body.
Y/n broke her stare at the ocean and turned just enough to look over at him.
As she did, her lips snapped into a gentle smile and her eyes became glossy.
Conrad picked up on her change in demeanor right away.
“Is it too much? I know you need space, I can get rid-“ he began offering.
Unbeknownst to him, his offer only increased the guilt she had felt swell up again upon seeing the flowers.
She rapidly shook her head, “no, it’s not too much. But, you didn’t have to get me flowers Con. I’m not mad at you, there’s no reason for you to apologize or offer flowers for it”.
Conrad was confused, to say the least.
He furrowed his eyebrows before lifting one up as he told her, “I ordered them the day before last, not because of whatever’s going on. They’re not meant as an apology".
“So.. wait. You got me flowers, just because?” Y/n squeaked.
Conrad nodded slowly, looking away from her as he nervously began to offer to undo it, “but if it-“
“Thank you” she interrupted, catching on to what he was worrying over.
“I just.. I don’t des-..thank you.” Y/n repeated, cutting herself off from the self-deprecating comment she began.
She squeezed his hand that she was still holding.
“When you’re ready to talk about whatever you’re going through, I’m here, okay?” He reminded her tenderly.
She smiled as she gracefully took the flowers and held them to her, her eyes zoning in on them.
“I know… but… It’s a long story, Con” she sighed, sniffing the flowers.
He stared at her, carefully taking in her words and body language, “you have my full attention. Always. For however long it takes”.
She raised her eyes and gave him a weak smile, “Thank you. I can’t even think straight to put anything into words… much less…”.
“I know” Conrad butted in, tugging her hand to him until she was closer.
He let go of her hand so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders comfortingly.
Y/n adjusted her sitting position as she had been sitting cross-crossed to hide her legs.
She moved until her legs were bent sharply, thighs hitting the back of her calves as she tried to shrink into his embrace.
“You’re not too hot?” Conrad inquired as he got more lemonade from the basket.
“No, why?” She implored, gratefully taking the glass bottle from Conrad.
Conrad chuckled, his deep laugh making her tingle, “it’s nearly one hundred degrees out and you’re in jeans”.
She faltered, eyes now resting on her pants, “Oh, that, yeah I uhh.. just didn’t want to burn”.
Conrad rested his hand behind him, bracing his back as he raised an eyebrow at her in suspicion , “I’ve known you long enough to know you don’t burn y/n”.
As she sat in silence, staring at her legs, Conrad panicked he overstepped.
But he could see the look in her eyes even though they weren’t looking at him, and he could see her deep sadness.
“Sweetie, what is it?” He pleaded, his cheek resting on his other shoulder.
“I’m fine” was the only thing she said.
Conrad decided not to push it any further at the moment and went back to focusing on their date.
It was only a handful of minutes later when y/n saw a girl in shorts running to what appeared to be her much taller boyfriend.
She bit her lip as the girl's boyfriend smiled with clear glee as he lifted her up into the air.
Y/n didn’t want Conrad to catch her watching the other couple so she began pretending she was scanning the whole beach.
Conrad was trying to make small talk but stopped when y/n turned back to their picnic with tears in her eyes.
Normally her eyes were a source of comfort and joy for Conrad, but right now they caused a sharp pain in his chest.
“Woah! Hey, hey” he frowned deeply, cupping her cheek, “why are you crying?”
“I'm not fine. I know I said I was, but, I'm not” she admitted as she repeatedly blinked in an attempt to keep the tears from falling.
Conrad nods sympathetically, “I know.. Are you ready to talk about it?”
With a loud sigh, she shook her head.
She wanted to get over insecurities instead of alerting Conrad to why she felt he shouldn’t be with her.
“Okay, that’s alright” Conrad hummed.
“Want some y/f/f?” he offered, holding a dish of her favorite fruit before her, in hopes of changing the subject to something neutral.
She smiled at the change in subject and nodded.
TEXTS
Conrad tapped his foot against the dirty recliner he was seated in as he reread his texts from the last few days.
He was still struggling to figure out what was happening to y/n and to their relationship.
It didn’t matter to him that he was currently at some party his brother and friend had dragged him to.
His mind was, as usual, stuck on y/n.
He didn’t even bother physically acknowledging it when his brother and Steven approached him at some point that night.
The boys stood before him silently for a moment.
“Do you think she’s seeing someone else?” Steven asked carelessly as he sipped on his beer.
Jeremiah aggressively smacked the back of Steven’s head as Conrad snapped his eyes up.
“No” Conrad defended, “y/n wouldn’t do that”.
Steven offered him a semi-apologetic curl of his lips, “I’m just saying man, it would make sense as to why she’s acting weird”.
Squinting harshly at his friend, Conrad argued, “distant, not weird”.
Jeremiah hummed in agreement, offering Conrad a beer.
Conrad pushed it away, not wanting anything to impair his analyzing of the situation.
“Same thing, only you’d see a difference in that” Steven stated with an eye roll.
Conrad sighed loudly.
Conrad knew he had always been great at causing distance with people whenever he wanted to.
Yet, it was beyond infuriating to him that he didn’t know how to fix it when someone else was doing that to him instead.
It also made him feel guilty for the times he had done this to her in the past.
But he simultaneously, slightly, wished if anyone were to be causing the distance between them that it was him doing it.
Because during those times, he could at least fix the behavior if he were the one doing it.
Yet that wasn’t the case now and to make it worse, Conrad didn’t even know why she was doing it.
So how was he to fix it?
“Oh…umm..!” His brother gasped, making Conrad follow his wide-eyed stare.
As Conrad’s head faced the door, he saw y/n and a couple of her friends had arrived.
He noticed y/n was biting her lips aggressively and avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.
“I thought you said she wasn’t feeling like going out places?” Steven pointed out.
Jeremiah smacked his head again in response as he muttered for him to shut up.
Conrad ignored their bickering, as well as the pain in his heart, as he took in the uncomfortable body language she was displaying.
He knew something was wrong, and no matter the metaphorical distance currently between them, he needed to offer his help.
Even if she wouldn’t take it, he couldn’t bear the idea of leaving her to face whatever the discomforting situation was on her own.
“I’ll be back” he mumbled, not sure if he actually would be or not, as he stood up.
“Bro… maybe you should let her come to you” Jeremiah suggested respectfully.
Conrad hesitated as he debated the suggestion.
But as he watched y/n nervously fiddle with her fingers, he firmly shook his head.
Conrad steadily made his way over to her, watching as she tried to slip away from the other guests.
Just as y/n was about to side step another person and slide out the patio door, he grabbed her hand.
She stiffened in response, making him want to drop her hand.
But, when she refused to acknowledge him, he held on; determined to stop her from trying to distance herself more.
“We should talk” Conrad stated confidently, moving to the front of her to guide them outside, away from the party.
“I don’t want to talk” she argued, her voice clipped.
“Y/n, you’re not going to win this. I have far more experience being a stubborn recluse than you” Conrad smirked, changing his approach.
Nonetheless, y/n ignored him, only trying to remove her hand from his grip.
“Are you upset with me?” Conrad inquired.
“I told you, I’m fine” she snapped, biting her cheek instantly as she watched Conrad flinch at her sharp tone.
He pulled himself together, “No you’re not. Don’t shut me out”.
”Yeah, well, I shut everybody out. Don't take it personally. It's just easier." She remarked, pushing her guilt aside.
“I’m your boyfriend y/n, not some random person you just met. It’s different. I thought we were stronger than that” Conrad declared with a steady gaze.
”I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression." She retorted rudely, moving to go around him.
For a moment Conrad faltered, feeling his old ways of shutting down creeping back.
But as his eyes scanned the woman he loved, he fought the temptations to cause distance between them on his end as well.
Instead, Conrad took a deep breath and adjusted his grip on her hand.
“Why are you doing this? If I did something just say it, scream it at me if you need to” He groaned loudly, still holding her hand.
Y/n remained silent.
She was afraid if she spoke, she would end up saying something too harsh as she couldn’t fight the sense she needed to push him away.
But she also didn’t want to hurt him in the process.
“You’re pushing me away and you won’t even tell me why!” He shouted, clearly fed up with her recent behavior.
“Do you not care about us anymore? Because you’re sure not acting like it. Fight with me if you’re mad, 'cause it’s like you don’t care at all” Conrad complained.
He tried to wait patiently for a response.
But when he saw she wasn’t going to do anymore more than stare at her shoes, he rolled his eyes.
He pushed through the turmoil he felt to mutter his response, “fine. Whatever.”
“I don’t care about us either anymore” Conrad lied, begrudgingly dropping her hand in order to walk away.
“Good” y/n shouted, her back to him as she whispered, “because you deserve more."
But the wind caught her voice, carrying it the short distance he’d walked, and made Conrad freeze as it hit his ears.
He snapped his body around, facing her, “what?”
Y/n didn’t respond, not expecting him to have heard, and was now utterly shocked.
“Y/n, what the hell did you just say?” Conrad asked sharply as he stood right before her once again.
“You deserve so much better Conrad! Happy?! Now just go, like you said, you don’t care anymore, so just leave” she snapped, her tone showing she was trying to be harsh but her true emotions seeping through as her voice trembled.
“Take it back” he ordered, glaring at her.
Without permitting any eye contact, y/n only responded with, “just fucking leave, C-Con” .
He gripped her hand firmly but tenderly.
“No. You know I only said I didn’t care because I was mad. It wasn’t true. But the first part” Conrad frowned, “what do you mean by that?"
The moonlight reflected off her skin enough to show Conrad her damp cheeks.
Seeing this, he moved to close the distance and wipe her cheeks.
Y/n sniffled as she turned away from him, “stop, I can’t do this”.
“Do what?” Conrad pushed, pleased to be getting somewhere.
She looked anywhere but his eyes as she tried to form an answer.
“Look at me, y/n, please “ Conrad shamelessly begged, tilting her head to him, “what you said just now… I don’t und-… you think I deserve more than this, more than you?”
Y/n felt her tears stream down her face as she looked into his deeply concerned eyes.
She couldn’t believe he was gazing at her with only sincere love, despite her behavior.
She nodded, “much more, yes. So just let me go and-".
“Shut up” Conrad cut her off, shaking his head in disbelief.
Her lips slightly parted in response.
As he stroked her jaw, he declared “I’m not letting you go, not over something like this. Do you actually not want us to be together?”
Y/n began to answer, but he held up his hand, “take out this 'deserve' bullshit, do you still want me? Do you still love me?”
She let out a small sob and nodded, “yes, of course. Of course I love you. I… I… I am sorry I made you question that. That proves why you des-".
He harshly shook his head, “I know you still love me. That’s why I’ve still been fighting for us. If I believed you no longer felt the same way, it would hurt, but I wouldn’t push it on you. I know there’s more going on but, I can’t know what that is unless you talk”.
As she began trembling before him, he rested his hands on her upper arms.
Her lip began violently quivering as she broke down and started crying.
While rubbing her arms, Conrad noticed the way she glance at his chest and he smiled softly, “come here”.
Y/n didn’t hesitate as she moved closer and erased the tiny distance between his chest and hers.
Conrad hummed as she let his arms embrace her, “shhhh sweetheart, we’ll figure this out okay? Whatever this is, we can handle it”.
She nodded against him as he comforted her.
After he had gotten her to settle down, Conrad led them both down the beach.
He stopped their silent walk when they reached a quieter section.
“I need to know what you meant” Conrad testified as he helped them sit down.
“It’s pretty straight forward Con” y/n sighed with a defeated shrug.
Conrad kept arm around her.
He frowned in her direction as she sat to his right, “not to me. What makes you think I deserve more than you? What does that even entail?”
“Just… someone better for you” she whispered, voice so painfully soft.
Conrad’s eyes narrowed more and he turned her to him, “don’t you dare say that, you’re perfect for me. What are you talking about?”
“No, I’m not Conrad. I… I can’t give you what the other girls can” y/n mumbled.
“Which is?” Conrad pressed, needing more information.
“Y/n, what is it that makes you feel inadequate?” He questioned upon not getting a response.
“Baby,-“ he sighed as she wiped her eyes.
“I’m too tall!” Y/n blurted loudly before crying harder.
Conrad felt all his muscles freeze at her response.
But as her body shook with her cries, he pulled it together and embraced her, “I don’t know what to say to that. What’s wrong with your height?”
“I’m too tall, I can’t give you the aesthetic short girlfriend thing guys like” y/n explained.
“I don’t care about that stuff, I love you as you are. There’s nothing wrong with your height” Conrad argued defensively.
“Conrad, please. I can’t do that gazing up at you innocently thing, I can’t sit between your legs, you can’t pick me up and carry me, you don’t have to bend down to kiss me, and it goes on. I know guys find that romantic and attractive and I’m-“ she rambled, her mouth finally confessing all the thoughts she’d struggled with lately.
Conrad’s face scrunched as his mouth parted and formed a frown, his tongue pressed against his top front teeth.
“Y/n, you can stop. I get the idea of what you’re getting at. But it’s simply not true” he swore.
“Con-“ she sighed, ready to argue with him.
“No, see, I like being able to look straight at you, kissing you without having to even think about it or move my head” Conrad began, his thumb faintly touching her cheek as he cleared the tears from her skin.
“Plus, you can still sit between my legs! Sure, your legs will stick out, but there’s nothing wrong with that. I can still hold you in that way, y/n." Conrad assured her.
"And, if you want, I have no issue with proving to you right now that I can pick you up and carry you. I assure you I can do that no matter your height, darling” He asserted firmly.
She nibbled on her bottom lip with her top row of teeth and nodded weakly against his palm, “I’m sorry that I’m so insecure”.
“Shh, no, that’s not something you can control nor should you feel bad about” Conrad corrected kindly.
“Thank you Con,…are you sure nothing about it bothers you?” She hesitatingly asked.
“I promise, nothing you come up with in your head is anything I’ve ever thought about, let alone have a problem with” Conrad assured her, stroking her cheekbone.
“Not even that I can’t wear cute heels when we go out, the way the other girls would?” Y/n inquired, still feeling guilty over him not getting to experience certain things with her.
“I don’t care what you wear as long as you’re comfortable. You could wear slippers for all I care. But why do you say you can’t wear heels?” Conrad responded, noticing the way she herself seemed disappointed in it.
“It’ll make me quite a bit taller than you” y/n pointed out simply.
He nodded slowly, confused, “So?”
“That doesn’t bother you?” Y/n questioned, holding onto his hand that was resting on her face.
Jutting his bottom lip out slightly, he shook his head, “No, does it bother you?”
“Only because I feel like it limits your experiences, or that others would say things to you about it” y/n elaborated.
“They don’t. To be fair, they probably know better than to talk bad about you at all near me” he told her.
A small giggle formed at his protective statement and she snuggled into him, “ I love you Con”.
“I love you too. Is this something you’ve always been insecure about?” Conrad asked, keeping the conversation flowing.
“Kinda. I’m taller than my parents and brother, so it’s been odd.. and it’s one of the first things people tend to notice about me so it makes me feel like people are always watching me” Y/n told him.
“Hmm” he nodded in sympathy as he absorbed her story.
"If it helps, the first thing I noticed about you was your eyes" Conrad confessed, holding her closer to him.
She bit her bottom lip as she grinned widely, shyly looking down at the sand.
"Is there anything else?" Conrad asked, hoping the answer was no but not wanting her to stop talking to him about what she was struggling with.
“Umm.. also like my ex,… He was like an inch taller so he hated it when I wore heels and his friends commented on it all the time” she added, feeling comfortable disclosing this to him now, “that’s when I learned guys like short girls and whatnot”.
Conrad shook his head, more to himself than anything, as frustration towards and anger at her ex burned in him, “I’m sorry, he’s an idiot. It was his own insecurity and ego issues, nothing about you”.
Shyly, she mumbled a soft thank you to her boyfriend.
He pulled her closer to him, hating someone made her feel like she wasn’t good enough.
“I love you Y/n. You’re so beautiful, this isn’t anything you need to worry about” he advised.
She hummed and nodded her head, “everyone has their flaws I suppose”.
Conrad shifted his lips to the side, muttering, “perhaps, but your height is not a flaw. Not in the slightest”.
Y/n suppressed her fears and looked into his loving gaze, allowing her eyes to display her confusion.
“Y/n, have you truly looked at yourself? At your legs? While trying to push those thoughts away or try to see the benefits of your height?” Conrad wondered aloud.
“No, because I don’t see any” she shook her head defiantly.
He hummed softly, “love, you do realize most models are tall?”
She faintly smiled appreciatively at him, “I’m not a model though, Con”.
“Maybe not professionally, but -“ Conrad hesitated shyly as he normally isn’t this direct and honest, “you might as well be. I’m serious about you being the most radiant person I’ve ever seen”.
He ignored his shyness and grinned as she snuggled into him more, her small smile starting to grow.
“I mean, you’re gorgeous. Everything about you is… but, honey, you clearly aren’t aware of how sexy long legs are” he chuckled, his fingertips traipsing her hip.
“Sure, some guys like shorter girls.. But, babe… long legs are…, Whew” he confessed, his cheeks flushing red even in the dark.
“Really?” Y/n asked, a bit nervous but with the hint of a smirk on her face.
“Yes, I shouldn’t say this cause you’ll use it against me,” he laughed, noticing her smirking at him, “but to be honest… even as I say that, you using it against me honestly doesn’t sound all that bad”.
Conrad laughed to himself, “you know when you’re out there playing volleyball with those shorts or swimsuit bottoms on, your legs on display?”
Y/n watched silently as he shook his head, biting his lip in lust, “it does things”.
She pressed her lips together before giggling, “oh?”.
Accepting his fate of confessing all his internal thoughts to her, Conrad hummed in confirmation and nodded “the only downside being the urge to keep the other guys from staring. But, you can wear whatever you’d like, I’m used to being ready for war when we go out. I can keep you safe. So, as long as you’re happy with what you’re wearing, I don’t mind having to deal with their stares”.
Y/n felt the temperature in her cheeks increase significantly at his confession.
“Just so long as no one else gets to leave with you” he adds firmly.
She wrapped her arm around him, “Never Conrad. No one’s ever even tried to make me feel as loved and beautiful as you’ve made me feel tonight”.
Kissing his cheek, she laughed as she added “despite the fact I probably have mascara streaks on my face”.
Y/n continued to laugh and ran her hand over her face to get any of the aforementioned streaks off.
Conrad removed her hand from her face nicely.
He used his own thumb to tenderly lift the mascara stains himself, “you deserve to know. I know communication isn’t my strong suit, and I may never find words beautiful enough to describe how I see you… let alone all that you mean to me.., but I will spend the rest of my life searching for them and telling them to you as I do”.
Y/n sobbed and snuggled tightly into him.
One of Conrad’s hands stayed on her face to keep wiping her tears.
The other was resting on her thigh through the material of her skirt.
She was wearing a skirt that covered her legs down to right above her knees.
“Sorry for crying over this” y/n apologized, hand on his chest.
“You never need to apologize to me. Ever. And certainly not for crying. I’ll always be here” Conrad promised.
“Thanks. Sorry-“ she laughed as he gave her a look as if reminding her of what he just said, “-I mean, thank you and I’ll work on not shutting down and pushing you away while I work through this”.
Conrad relaxed, “I’m glad, thank you”
“No. Thank you Con,” y/n rebutted, cuddling into his embrace even more as he kept his hands on her legs.
“Is this okay?” He asked as he watched her gaze down at his hands.
She nodded with a smile, “ yeah, when it’s you”.
Y/n rested her head on his chest.
“If I do, or say, something that makes you feel worse, or starts those thoughts, please tell me” Conrad requested softly.
Nodding she whispered, “okay”.
Y/n smiled appreciatively against his chest, her fingers tracing random patterns on his shirt, “I doubt I’ll need to, but, okay. I appreciate your support and understanding baby”.
Conrad grinned at the pet name he hadn't realized he had desperately missed hearing, “no problem y/n, I want to help, just tell me what you need. Let me give you what you need?”
“Right now…” she relaxed into him more, “just keep me warm, it’s a bit chilly and y/f/n made me wear this uncomfortable skirt and sleeveless top”.
Conrad ran his hands over her arms immediately to warm her up.
“But, in terms of this stuff, just be you Con” she murmured, “I never imagined someone being so comfortable with, and actually pleased by, my height. It’ll just take time to remember this and have it be what comes first instead of the toxic thoughts from before”.
“I can do that,” he agreed, “what do you say we get out of here and watch y/f/m at the beach house, under blankets? … and depending on how cold you are, I can make hot chocolate”.
Y/n took in the weather, feeling the slight rain hitting her.
It was raining, but not bad, more of a sprinkling.
But, despite the skirt she was in going down to her knees, the thin material offered her no warmth.
Plus, her top didn’t cover her exposed arms at all.
“You know I’m always down for cocoa” She giggled.
Conrad combed her hair with his hand as he smiled at her, “Then it’s a date, let’s go gorgeous”.
He helped her up from the sand, his hands on her hips.
His fingers were causally stroking her hips and the very top of her thighs as he steadied her on the sand.
As she looks at him, y/n could easily tell Conrad was not even thinking about it, nor was he aware he was doing it.
It was then that she recalled him doing it before.
But it was only this time, now, after tonight, that she saw it as a good thing; now that she understands his feelings about her legs and height.
“I need to tell y/f/n and y/o/f/n I’m leaving” she groaned, looking over towards the party.
“Text ‘em?” Con suggested, seeing the tired look in her eyes.
She nodded, and while she texted her friends, Conrad used his group chat with his brother and Steven to update them on his change in plans as well.
When done, he smirked, “I think it’s time I prove this to you”.
Before she could even contemplate what he meant, Conrad had swiftly picked her up.
She gasped at first but then giggled at his behavior.
“You should hold on though, honey,” he said, not wanting to risk her safety.
She laughed and shook her head, “Con, you can put me down, I get your point”
He does as she says but holds her to him, rubbing her arms to keep her warm as they walk home.
“Can we try something?” Conrad randomly inquired.
“Sure Con” she sweetly replied.
“If you’re comfortable with it, hop on my back?”He suggested.
He knew she was in a skirt but that wasn’t why he checked if she was comfortable with it.
He was worried about her emotional status with the behavior since it had to do with her legs and her height.
Conrad wasn’t stressed about anything showing when carrying her on his back as he knew y/n wore volleyball/spandex shorts under any skirts or summer dresses.
She told him long ago she did that for comfort so she never had to worry about it if she ran or did something that would lift the material.
So Conrad knew that nothing would show even with her legs around him.
But he wanted her to be comfortable emotionally as well and didn’t want to push her too much.
He began leaning down as he waited for her answer.
“I don’t know if it’ll work, Con” she admitted worryingly, afraid he’d be disappointed if it didn’t work right when they tried.
“If not, that’s okay, but, I think it will” Conrad said, after analyzing her words carefully.
“Okay, “ y/n said, letting him sink lower so she could get onto his back.
She slowly lifted herself onto Conrad’s back, his hands immediately bracing her legs as she wrapped them around him.
Conrad noticed she had tensed at first, but soon relaxed as he tenderly squeezed her thighs.
He began slowly rubbing his thumbs over her legs as he securely held her up, her legs hooked around him with her ankles loosely locked onto selves.
He grinned at her ability to due to that, another benefit of her height.
Conrad was pleased as it added another safety measure that would ensure she couldn’t fall off easily.
“Want to change?” Conrad offered when they arrived at his house.
“You can pick whatever from my closest, or some of your clothes are here too in the dresser” he told her, letting her slide down his back and step onto the hardwood floor.
She bit her inner lip and gave him a smug smile, “are your black Cousins Beach sweats clean?”
Conrad laughed at her very specific inquiry, “yeah, I think it’s in the bottom left drawer. The matching hoodie you got me is hanging in the closet”.
“Thanks Con!” She cheered, rubbing up the stairs to his room.
He smiled to himself as he went to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate for them as she changed into more comfortable clothing.
Y/n changed quickly and bolted down the stairs, sliding into the kitchen with his socks she had on.
She wrapped her arms around him, adjusting herself to be able to rest her head against his head instead of his shoulder.
Conrad grinned widely as he let go of the spoon, resting his hands over hers for a moment in peaceful silence.
He hummed to himself before he resumed stirring the cocoa mix.
When he finished, he turned around in her arms, smugly eying her in his clothes.
Y/n caught his smirk and how his ego inflated at the sight.
She rolled her eyes playfully and reached for one of the cups.
Conrad tsked and held the cup up in the air, above his head.
But, since she’s not shorter than him, it was still within her reach if she tried hard enough.
He smiled as she raised an eyebrow at him and held her hand just before the cup to show him she could still grab it.
“See, another plus for you” Conrad pointed out, kissing her cheek.
“It doesn’t bother you that you can’t successfully tease me by doing that?” Y/n pondered, ready to bring her hand back down.
He shook his head, “Not at all, because, while you’re focusing on taking it from me as I’m holding it up over our heads..”
“It makes it easier to do this” He happily declared, her body pressed against him as her arm lingered in the air, eyes on the mug again.
Before she could react to what he was telling her, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.
She giggled happily as she grabbed the cup and lowered it to the counter next to him.
Y/n pulled him closer for another kiss, her breath hitting his lips as she teased “you could kiss me regardless of my height, Con”.
He bounced head from side to side as if thinking deeply, “Hmm… true, but, look how amazing it is to be able to just…”
With that, Conrad pressed his chest to hers, closing the few faint inches between them again, and kissed her with ease.
“I love that” He whispered, his lips still hovering over hers.
Y/n picked up her mug and grabbed his hand with her free one before dragging him to the living room.
Conrad sat down and situated then on the couch, situating her between his outstretched legs.
She knew his arrangement was intentional but found it sweet nonetheless.
Y/n smiled and curled up into him.
Even though she knew why he arranged them like that, it still did help her feel more comfortable in her own body while around him.
Y/n and Conrad were snuggled up together as they watched the movie and snacked on popcorn; warm and relaxed in each other's embrace.
“By the way, these sweats, look incredible on you” Conrad suddenly whispered into her ear, his hand slipping into the pocket of his sweatpants she had on.
He watched as she bit her lip with faux innocence, “not only are they one of my favorite pairs of yours because, God they’re soft! but also…”
She turned to look into his attentive gaze, “I usually avoid black since it can make people look taller… But since you like that…”.
Conrad felt his grin grow until he knew he was smiling like an idiot, all of his teeth showing, “Fuck, I love you”.
Slightly out of breath, he added, “and yes, I do like that. You are stunning in everything, including black. Especially, if it’s my clothing”.
As he noticed how flustered she became, Conrad’s grin turned into a confident smug as he kissed her shoulder.
The bonfire had been going for at least an hour by the time y/n and Conrad made their appearance.
It was supposed to be a relaxing evening with miscellaneous other beach goers.
Yet, it started off rough as it was now already after dusk and upon arriving, y/n promptly hit her head on one of the hanging decorations she didn’t see.
Y/n bristled immediately as those in the crowd who noticed her mishap laughed.
It wasn’t like the decorations were hung low, she was just taller than most of the girls.
And, the darkness did not aid her clumsiness nor her height difference.
Had they gotten there before sunset, she could’ve memorized where the obstacles were prior to it becoming hard to see.
Conrad clenched his fist at his side as the scene unfolded, not wanting to make a scene for her sake but pissed at those who were laughing.
However, as he watched his girlfriend take a few timid steps backward before hastily spinning around to face him, he wanted to change his mind.
He could see her insecurity and embarrassment clear as day, making him frown.
Conrad stepped forward and cautiously formed a secure grip on her.
He glared at those who were laughing, as he whispered, “you okay?”
She took a deep breath, “Yeah, thanks baby”.
It wasn’t intentional but they had gone separate ways at some point that night.
Conrad had excused himself to use the restroom.
At the same time, y/n told him she was going to go catch up with a friend for a bit.
However, she soon became thirsty and made her way to the unstable drink table that was barely staying upright on the uneven sand.
As she did, she unintentionally overheard a group of girls gossiping with each other.
“I think they’re breaking up,” one girl said, y/n recognized the voice as belonging to this girl from the country club; Hannah.
“Really?” Another girl asked, this time it was a voice y/n didn’t recognize.
“Yeah, Jenny and I heard something about that. Y/n and him have not been seen out at many parties together lately. Which isn’t normal. Like, oh my gosh, the other night, she came with friends and Conrad came with Jeremiah instead!” Hannah exclaimed with a disgusting amount of glee.
“Damn, I wonder what happened. I thought they were good” one of the girls who had been silent earlier spoke up.
Y/n didn’t even bother trying to figure out who it was that was sticking up for her relationship.
Instead, she felt a sheet of heartache and guilt slam against her.
She knew she was to blame, after all, she caused the distance between herself and Conrad.
It was the distance she caused that made people gossip like this about him.
She didn’t care what people thought of her relationship except for when it involved their views or opinions on Conrad.
Only then, did she feel the need to revise or reprimand someone for a backhanded comment.
“Oh God! I hope so! ‘cause Conrad’s soooo hot” Hannah grinned, sipping on her beer.
Y/n wanted to run but couldn’t.
It was as if her legs were punishing her for being insecure about them, because they now felt glued in place.
“I know girl, and you’d be so much cuter together” Sara, an old acquaintance of y/n’s from a few years ago, chimed in, making y/n take in a sharp gust of air.
“Honestly, like y/n is freakishly tall, even for him,” Hannah said, twirling her hair around her long polished fingernail.
“Seriously! I mean, girl! Do those legs ever stop? She’s like one of those… what’re they called.. oh, Amazon, girls” Hannah’s friend nodded.
Upon hearing this, her legs seemed to have finally agreed with her mind that she'd had enough as they shakingly began to move away from the group.
Finally, her body had decided to cooperate and y/n started to walk back to the fire to get away from their gossip.
However, it was still futile as party guests had suddenly surged closer, making it near impossible to pass.
Y/N’s eyes searched the crowd for either and escape route or her boyfriend.
As she scanned the area, Y/N heard Hannah laughing obnoxiously, “like what’s the point?! Sure she’s pretty. I guess.. but, those legs?”
Y/n unconsciously dropped her shoulders even lower and hung her head as it if made her look shorter.
“She is waaayy too tall, she knows it too” Sara scoffed, rolling her eyes.
“You think?” Hannah questioned with a sadistic smirk.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen her wear heels. She has gotta know it’s gross how tall she is compared to him” Sara answered confidently.
“Plus, everyone knows a taller boyfriend and shorter girlfriend is much better, no wonder he is ending it with her!” The other girl agreed, winking at Hannah.
Y/n clenched her teeth together as she began pushing her way through, dropping her drink onto the sandy floor.
Conrad had been laughing as he visited with one of his friends.
However, every few minutes he had done a quick scan to make sure she was safe.
He had begun this habit long before she even mentioned any self-confidence issues; instead, it was done out of his normal protective tendencies.
Once again his eyes searched the sea of bodies as he tried to find his girlfriend.
He ignored his friend’s conversation as his mind and eyes went into tunnel vision upon not seeing y/n where she was the last time he checked.
Not wanting to be rude to his friend, he nodded along cluelessly to the conversation as he kept scanning for her.
Another thing Conrad loved about her was that her height made it way easier for his panic to calm as he could easily find her in crowds when he needed her presence or when checking on her status.
So why couldn’t he now?
“Jere, do you see y/n?!” Conrad asked in a slightly panicked tone, not caring that he was cutting their friend off mid-sentence.
“No, do you think she left?” Jeremiah wondered as he stood on his tippy toes to look.
Conrad shook his head, “no, man. Things had been better the last few days and she wasn’t shrinking herself as much or running off”.
He tapped his thigh nervously before he thought to call her.
Conrad unlocked his phone to call her, worried that maybe some guy had tried something that Conrad couldn’t hear due to the loud music.
He’d never forgive himself if she was in danger and he didn’t know.
As he looked at his phone, his eyes widened upon seeing he had a few texts and a missed call from her.
Conrad audibly cursed himself for not having his vibration on so he could feel the notifications even if the music was too loud to hear them.
His fingers dashed across his screen as he called her back, “I’m so sorry! I just saw. I’m so sorry, where are you baby?!”
Y/n loudly sniffled as she struggled to talk.
But Conrad could just barely make out that she was trying to apologize and to say he could stay and enjoy the party.
“Hey, love, it’s okay, just tell me where you are, please. I need to know” he redirected as he stood on the chair beside him.
“I’m by the lifeguard stand” she whispered.
Conrad shifted his gaze to look further down on the beach, away from the party, and saw her leaning on the tower.
“I am on my way” he promised, already sprinting towards her; not caring what people might be thinking of his sudden behavior.
When he reached her, he promptly wrapped her in his arms and held her to him within seconds of her turning to him with sorrow.
“C'mere. Sit down. Tell me what's going on” Conrad guided.
“I-I can’t stop the self-deprecating thoughts about my height” she muttered, ashamed.
He kissed her forehead, “I know it’s hard Yn, but please, don't listen to that voice inside your head, listen to mine."
She wanted to just agree and not tell him what happened tonight.
But she knew better by now.
“Con… I-it’s not just in my head though” she whimpered into his chest as she lowered herself deeper into the sand.
Conrad paused as he tried to understand what she meant by that statement.
Y/n began crying harder as her shame took over her mind.
Conrad once again knew he looked like a kicked puppy, his eyes wide and sad as his lips arched downwards at a steep angle, “oh sweetie... what happened? Did someone say something to you?”
Conrad tried to keep his protective anger in check as she nodded.
“Who? What did they say? Why-?” He began firing off questions.
“Doesn’t matter Con, they’re right. They too agree you deserve better-“ she interrupted, not wanting him to keep pushing for more details as to who said it.
“I’m going to strangle every last son of a bi-..., Y/n, love " Conrad broke, watching y/n crying against him.
He noticed she began leaning back as if thinking of shutting down and pretending she was fine.
“Hey, hey, hey, don't let them say that. You're beautiful,” Conrad assured her.
“They think I’m too tall for you, Connie” y/n pouted with a small sniffle.
“I don't care what they think, to me, you are perfect” he confessed, rubbing her back.
“It’s… it’s not just me okay? Guys in general think tall girls are hot” Conrad argued, seeing her doubt still present.
“Mmmh, I only care about you anyways” she smiled softly, her hand bunching the material of his shirt between her palm and fingers, “but it’s just hard because I know guys don’t and I… I’m sorry it’s just I feel like you’re just saying that to try and make me feel better”.
Conrad licked his lips and nodded, “one second”.
Y/n waited wordlessly as Conrad typed away on his phone screen.
“See! Look, Harry Styles himself says, and I quote, ‘tall girls are hot. Short girls are cute.’” Conrad read, setting his phone back down.
“HARRY STYLES. Your favorite, and he too says tall girls are hot. Now see, if he knew you, he’d know you were both cute and hot. But, I’m glad he doesn’t cause I don’t need that kind of competition” Conrad teased lightly, smiling down at her.
She choked on a small laugh and shook her head as she cuddled into him, “there’s no competition Conrad. You’re everything. I just want you to feel good about who you’re with”.
“Y/n, I never doubted that I wanted to be with you. Not even when I just had a crush on you, let alone now” he promised, playing with her hair.
Kissing the side of her head, he whispered, “You're gorgeous baby, come closer, let me spoil you with all my love."
“Cooonnnn” she said, squirming in his arms as he placed kisses all over her.
Conrad didn’t say anything and just kept kissing her in random places until she was laughing loudly and visibly happy.
“I love you” she breathed out as he let her catch her breath.
“I love you too. I’m not sure what was said tonight, but they’re wrong. They’re beyond ignorant if they cannot see how incredible you are. Whatever was said, I’m sorry honey and I wish you’d tell me what happened so I can help even more. But it’s not true baby” Conrad rambled, feeling as though she was in a better mood to talk about it now.
“Basically… They said you finally saw things clearly regarding my height and were breaking up with me because of it” Y/n tentatively explained, knowing he’d be protective.
“I know it’s not true Con. But-“ she added, seeing the concern mixing with his otherwise angry eyes.
“Who?!” Conrad growled, fist clenched in the sand.
“Connie, it doesn’t-“ she resisted, sitting up and looking into his eyes directly this time.
“Y/n. Who. Said. That. To. You?” Conrad repeated, his eyes ablaze.
“It wasn’t to me, I was trying to grab a drink and overheard them saying that stuff… and going on and on trashing me and my height” she admitted, hand on his tense shoulder to try and calm him down.
Conrad knew what she was attempting to do, so he took several deep breaths in through his nose.
“Y/n, I need you to tell me who this was,” he asked again, his eyes softening as he looked at her.
“Con, it doesn’t change anything” she argued, squeezing his defined bicep.
“You’re right, they’re still wrong regardless. But, this cannot go unaddressed” he stubbornly huffed.
She sighed softly in defeat “I only cared because it dealt with you, if they were just saying the insults it wouldn’t have impacted so much”.
“You now I’ve not been lying about how I feel about you, your height, and your legs right?” Conrad questioned, letting the sand sift through his fingers as he released his grip on it.
“I know Connie, and I’m working on trying to get over the thoughts I had before” she promised, giving him a smile.
“It’s just hearing someone say that, you, in particular, have a problem with my biggest insecurity; you know? I’m trying Con, I promise..” y/n muttered weakly.
“Hey, I know, and you’ve been doing so well and it’s not easy to get over insecurities. But, I’m here to help. I’m not mad it impacted you, babe, I’m mad that they were talking crap about you and claiming that I thought those things” Conrad clarified, seeing how his anger was misinterpreted.
She nodded, shifting herself around to have her back to him again, “thank you Con, I’m okay now. I just needed you; you know?”
Conrad snuggled into her, “I know. And, see, that’s another thing I love about your long legs honey. You’re always there to support me when I need it, but your height means you can hold me the same way that I hold you. Like how you did when I had a long night dealing with Jere and my mom, and I was really upset”.
Y/N’s mind flashed back to a few summers ago when Conrad was very overwhelmed.
Susannah had gotten sick again, the cancer suddenly spreading rapidly.
Conrad blamed himself for not catching it earlier as if he could’ve somehow seen it coming if he’d payed more attention.
It was during a night that summer when she saw Conrad fully cry for the first time.
She’d rarely even seen his eyes water during their years of friendship, but that night he was sobbing.
Y/n couldn’t imagine the grief and pain he was in but comforted him as best as she could nonetheless.
She had wrapped him up in her arms so tightly it was as if she was shielding him from the hurt.
He clung to her as he shook, opening up to her in a way he hadn’t before.
Afterwards he was embarrassed for having been so vulnerable and not coming off as some overly emotionally-strong person.
But he still told her how much he appreciated her presence and comfort.
Y/n silently smiled to herself as she recalled the scene and the way he was so pleased to simply have had her there.
Conrad smiled back as he saw hers, “see.”
She nodded, resting her head back against his chest, “it is nice”.
He chuckled softly, “yes, it is, y/n. I just love holding you all the time. Like this is perfect. But, when I’m needing to remind myself that you’re here with me and I have you for support…, having your arms holding me and letting me just rest in your embrace, with your legs wrapped around me to keep me even closer…, nothing could’ve helped more than that”.
She rubbed her head against his chest while extending her legs as she stayed seated between his legs still, but now tapping his left foot with hers.
Conrad quickly got the point and raised his leg slightly so she could hook her leg underneath it.
Y/n slid her leg against the sand moving it below his leg slightly, her foot arched back to press against his ankle.
Conrad smiled to himself as he clasped his hands around her torso, “I still have some questions I need you to answer”.
“Okay,” she complied, rubbing her foot on his ankle as best as she could.
With some resistance she answered his questions, informing Conrad on who said these things, and what exactly was said.
Conrad kept himself calm as he reminded himself that he needed to get her situated first and then he’d deal with them.
As such, he thanked her for answering and soon took her home.
After he knew she was safe and in bed, he went back to the bonfire.
It didn’t take him long to find the girls he was furious with.
He didn’t care if he was making a scene or not as he went on about how he loved her and that the alleged flaws they were gossiping about were only a small example of the ways in which y/n was the most beautiful person.
The girls merely gawked at him in silence.
Conrad concluded his night by informing them that he better not ever hear about them talking that way about y/n again and then headed home.
~
The next day, y/n woke up to text from mother saying there was something for her on the steps that she brought inside and set by the door before leaving.
Y/n yawned as she slowly walked downstairs and to the door, sleepily rubbing eyes.
Seeing an elegant white box with a delicately wrapped silk bow around it, her mouth parted.
Y/n moved the bow ever so slightly to the right as her eyes caught glimpse of a small note card.
It didn’t have her name on it, but instead, the card was labeled “Babe,” with a small heart in handwriting she immediately knew recognized as Conrad’s.
She shook her head and smiled to herself, carefully carrying the box back to her room as she texted him.
As she walked, she removed and read the note card carefully.
“Y/n,
I hope you don’t mind, but I told y/f/n that I wanted to get you some heels. You mentioned feeling like you couldn’t wear them with guys, and I don’t want you to feel restricted with me.
If you don’t want to wear them, or rather they be returned, that’s okay. I just wanted you to have the option.
Y/f/n mentioned these were ones you’d had your eyes on, so hopefully you don’t mind me getting them for you. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you and know just how stunningly beautiful your height is.
I promise to keep reminding you of that until you genuinely feel it too.
Heels or no heels, Stand Tall Darling!
-Conrad ❤️”
Tears were silently streaming down her face as she plopped into the bed, barely reaching the edge in time.
She wiped her eyes and then dried her hands on her lap before moving the card over to her nightstand.
As she turned back to the box, she slowly and tenderly unwrapped the bow from around the box, watching as it slipped off the corners and onto her bed.
Y/n opened the lid of the box excruciatingly slowly as if it would suddenly bite her.
Inside the box was the exact pair of black Gucci heels she and y/f/n had found in town a few weeks ago when y/f/n was getting ready for an event.
Y/N’s fingertips traced the velvet as tears fell down her cheeks despite the smile on her face.
“Connie” she whispered lovingly into the air even though she was by herself.
She delicately placed the shoes back in the wrapping paper in the box before getting her phone resume texting Conrad.
TEXTS
Conrad came back later that night after spending time with brother and Steven as he promised.
He knocked on her door and excitedly waited for her to answer it.
They had a fancy/formal date night planned at a new restaurant in Cousins.
Y/n took a deep breath and adjusted her dress once more before opening the door.
Her lips parted, tongue no longer resting at the bottom of her mouth as she took in the sight of him dressed up in a suit instead of his casual beach clothes.
“You look so good Con” she complimented as she grinned at him.
He just stared silently at her as his breath became caught in his throat.
“Con? Umm,” she panicked, rubbing her hands on the edge of her dress that was resting on her thigh.
She was now worrying her height made the dress too short, “is it too short on me? 'cause-"
Conrad soon found his head rapidly snapping side to side as his attention came back around.
He was still in a bit of a daze as he responded breathlessly, “no, no that’s not it, it’s not too short, …you just- wow”.
A surge of confidence rushed through y/n and made her giggle as she played with her hair, “yeah?”
Conrad dazedly nodded, still struggling to voice his compliment, “I- wow…- I umm- …you-".
Seeing him flustered over not being able to compose a simple sentence, y/n stepped closer with newly found confidence now.
As a result, she only slightly noticed the fact she had to dip her head slightly to kiss him now that she was in heels.
Conrad took a moment to react, but slowly wrapped her in his arms as he kissed her back.
When they pulled apart, he blushed and rubbed his neck.
“Okay, let me try that again” he chuckled briefly and took a deep breath, “y/n, you look radiant”.
Y/n bit her lip, placing her hand in his hair, “good, I’m at your level then honey”
Conrad glanced up slightly to look at her and teasingly shook his head.
He smirked as he argued, “you’re a level higher”.
Y/n laughed at his shamelessly bad joke, “damn, you’re cute! Now, let’s go, I’m starving”.
“Why are you staring?” Conrad smiled shyly, setting his menu down so he could see his girlfriend.
“Oh, uh, hey” she giggled nervously, making him smile more, “I just wanted to remind you that I love you."
At her confession, Conrad’s smile grew even more as he sweetly hummed.
He reached across the table for her hand, “I know you do, and I love you too”.
She nodded, squeezing his hand, “thank you for everything Connie”.
He responded by lifting her hand to his lips as she shook his head, brushing off what he felt was her unnecessary gratitude.
“Wait! Stay still, you look so ethereal like this." Conrad blurted from his lowered car window as he neared her.
Y/n had been waiting outside as Conrad pulled the car up for her.
She fought to keep her eyes from watering at how wonderful he was.
She agreed to let him take a photo as he declared the moonlight was hitting off of her just right.
He smiled and showed her the photo, “You know what I see here?”
“A beautiful girl?” She asked, expecting that to be his answer.
He kissed her cheek, “well, that’s self-explanatory since you’re in it, but, yes”.
She slapped his arm playfully and smiled.
Conrad slid his arm around her with a smug grin, “I see my precious, beautiful, tall, smart, and all-around wonderful girlfriend”.
She beamed over at him, “I seriously think this’ll be a much easier insecurity to overcome than I ever would’ve expected thanks to you Con”.
Conrad’s smug changed to a prideful smile as he stroked her cheek.
Y/n pulled him to her as they stood beside his car, silently rocking in each other's arms for a while.
As they moved to get into the car, she stopped and held his face in her hand, "seriously, thank you Con”.
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