payment page
Summary
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Belly hears Conrad come home in the middle of the night. He stumbles up the stairs and enters his bedroom where he turns on a stereo loudly. Belly gets out of her bed to confront him about waking the household. Spotting a photo of Conrad wearing his football uniform, she asks him why he quit the team. She thought he loved playing football. He replies that his father is the one who loves football. Then he asks Belly why she quit dance class and begins to twirl her around the room. Confused by the shift in his mood, she feels overwhelmed by her feelings for him as he smiles and calls her “Bells.”
Chapter Thirty
The next chapter focuses on a flashback to the summer when Belly is eleven. Music has always been an important part of life at Cousins Beach. The summer house has a stack of CDs that the two families play throughout the season. One evening, as they’re listening to music, Susannah and Jeremiah do a dance from the 1960s called the shag. Belly wants to learn, so Susannah encourages Conrad to teach it to her. As he shows her the steps, she feels joyful as Conrad pulls her into an embrace for a part of the dance called the cuddle.
Chapter Thirty-One
In the present day, Belly spends an afternoon on the beach with Cam. They play in the ocean for hours and then have a picnic on the sand. She asks him to go to the house to fetch her something to drink. However, when he doesn’t return after nearly an hour, she heads back to the house herself. There, Belly finds Cam playing video games with Jeremiah and Conrad. Noticing Conrad staring at her, she becomes slightly unnerved. He follows her into the kitchen, and she realizes that he’s anxious when he asks if she’s angry with him. After he makes a hurtful remark, suggesting that she has become vain, Belly walks away from him. She tells herself that her crush on Conrad has died, not with a bang, but with a whimper.
Chapter Thirty-Two
That evening, Cam and Belly go for a walk on the beach. She suggests that they go skinny dipping. At first, Cam eagerly agrees. But as Belly begins to remove her clothing, he changes his mind. He tells her he’s worried that someone in the house might be able to see them. After Cam rejects the idea of skinny dipping, Belly marches off, kicking up sand behind her.
Entering the summer house, Belly finds Conrad eating at the kitchen table. He smugly asks if she and Cam had a fight. After Conrad leaves the room, she sits alone at the table wondering if her boyfriend will follow her into the house. However, she hears Cam’s car start and drive off. The next morning, she finds an empty water bottle with a message inside that reads: “IOU one skinny dip.”
Analysis
Belly tries to deny her crush on Conrad, not only from the other characters but also from herself. She repeatedly tells herself that the feelings she had for him have faded. That her “old” crush has died out with a whimper instead of a bang. Yet, she can’t help but remember all the reasons why she developed feelings for him as he briefly dances with her at the end of Chapter Thirty-Two. “He made it so hard not to love him,” she narrates. This leads to a flashback in the chapter that follows, which shows Belly feeling joyful the first time that she danced with Conrad. Her emotions at age eleven reflect how she feels as he twirls her around his bedroom several years later. As much as Belly attempts to deny the emotions, her feelings for Conrad seem stronger than ever.
Although Conrad has not yet shared how he feels about Belly, his actions suggest his strong affection. When Belly confronts Conrad for coming home late, he is sullen and inexpressive before he smiles warmly and calls her “Bells,” a nickname she hasn’t heard in years. He also takes her into his arms and dances with her around his bedroom. Conrad has been initiating more physical contact with Belly. As another example, the next day, he grabs her wrist when they are alone in the kitchen, and his cool fingers make Belly feel hot and feverish. In addition to his outward actions, Conrad’s emotional responses also suggest that his feelings have deepened. He becomes anxious when she seems angry with him, and he snaps at her when she comments on his smoking. He also smiles smugly after discovering that Belly and Cam have quarreled. Conrad’s reactions show that Belly can easily get under his skin, that he’s jealous of her relationship, and that his own feelings toward her are far from indifferent.
Cam resists growing closer to Belly because in the back of his mind, he knows she has feelings for someone else. He finds ways to pull back from physical contact or to avoid their bond becoming deeper. For example, the two are having a great day hanging out on the beach. However, Cam cuts their time short to play video games with Jeremiah and Conrad without telling Belly first. When Belly suggests that they go skinny dipping, he initially seems interested. However, he quickly rejects the idea with a weak excuse. His sudden disinterest is reminiscent of their lack of contact during the drive-in date in Chapter Twenty-Four. Cam appears reluctant to go skinny dipping because engaging in physical intimacy with Belly would bring them closer together. Maintaining some distance provides a barrier of sorts that helps to protect his feelings. He knows that Belly had her first kiss with Jeremiah and senses the romantic tension between her and Conrad. By resisting forming deeper ties with Belly, Cam prepares himself for the day when Belly will leave him for one of the Fisher brothers.
