betty ↳ conrad fisher

fifty-two.

Jeremiah pulled into the driveway of their beach house, Betty feeling her stomach twist into a knot at the thought of seeing Conrad after their fight. After he had told her to leave him alone. This was the exact opposite of leaving him alone. Betty still didn't hesitate to get out of the car, her legs carrying her into the house just as quickly as Jeremiah's were. They entered at the same time and Conrad was standing in the living room looking like he was waiting for them, his head shaking the instant he saw Betty.

"No. Absolutely not, no. Get the hell out of here." Conrad immediately spoke, his hand lifting towards the door as he stared right at her. Betty shook her head, her arms crossing over her chest as she stood her ground. "I'm serious Betty, this is my house. Get out."

"You think you can just disappear and ignore everyone like that?" Betty hadn't realized how worried she was until he was standing right in front of her, the girl taking a few steps towards him. He looked at her with a look that called her ridiculous without even saying it, his lip curling up as he spoke.

"Don't act like you care."

"You can't do shit like that! You cant!" She pushed him, Conrad looking down at her in disbelief as she wiped at her nose and took a few steps back from him. She let out a few heavy breaths and he looked at her like she was insane, his look not softening like it usually would. It took until he saw how genuinely worried she looked that he finally broke, his hand lifting to where she had pushed him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Either of you. But I'm not going back to school. I don't care about school. I'm not leaving." Jeremiah spoke now, his expression tense as he watched the scene unfold between the two of them with some kind of misguided fear.

"What do you mean you're not leaving?" He asked Conrad, the boy shaking his head as he refused now to look at Betty who was trying to regather herself.

"The house had been put up for sale." Conrad said, just as Belly finally joined them in the living room. Betty felt an initial panic at his words, her hand going to her head and running over her hair as she tried to comprehend what he had said. The house was for sale. Betty wasn't prepared to think of all the implications and problems that would bring...so she looked back at Belly as she spoke.

"What do you mean, the house is for sale?" Conrad looked over at Belly when she spoke, his eyes holding a cold gaze when he realized she was there too. Internally he was wondering who Jeremiah didn't bring, his stomach already twisted into a painful knot at the sight of Betty and now —Belly had come too. They had come together.

"What is she doing here?" Conrad asked, his eyes stuck on the younger girl as she looked back at him with an unreadable expression. Betty watched the two of them, supposing that the wound was still fresh and that was okay. And she was okay. And she was shocked that she was okay when she saw this moment. She wasn't sure she had ever been okay with seeing the connection between them. But for some strange reason...it didn't hurt.

"So this is why you haven't answered any of my phone calls and texts?" Jeremiah asked, Conrad's eyes being pulled away from Belly and back to his brother.

"Jere. Jere. Did you not hear what I just said? We're going to lose this house. Moms house." Betty understood as soon as he finished his sentence that his urgency and panic and determination was a grief response to losing his mother. She stood silently as she let them fight and figure it out amongst the three of them. This didn't concern her...at the end of the day she still had a home here in Cousins. She still lived here. She knew how much this place meant to them.