1984
Boston, Massachusetts
"This is my girl, Lindsey."
Conan had invited June to see Ghostbusters on Saturday, and they planned that she would come to Boston instead of him going to New York, and she came. But he didn't know he had a girlfriend. This relationship must have been very new. June wasn't as close to Conan as she was before, and this could've been going on for months. June smiled at the girl, and Conan looked really happy again. After breaking up with Roxy, Conan needed someone to make him laugh anyway.
But Lindsey wasn't as enthusiastic to meet June. She had a monotone response, a very dry 'hi' as she replied. June just nodded her head politely after that. They were holding hands, and they entered the movie theater holding hands. June tried her best to enjoy the occasion. It was a comedy movie with ghosts, starring Bill Murray. Nothing could go wrong. She bought a huge bucket of popcorn and a can of grape soda. Conan did the same, and Lindsey insisted she didn't want anything.
"Are you gonna eat all of that alone?" she looked at June.
"Yeah." June nodded. "I usually eat half of it before the movie."
Conan laughed and nodded, hinting he also did the same. Lindsey rolled his eyes and they went in. The room was almost full, but they got to their reserved seats. June tried to enjoy the movie without paying attention to his best friend and his girlfriend sucking face every ten minutes or so. Conan apparently started to get tired of it and just watched the movie instead. Lindsey left two times to go to the restroom, sign that although she said she didn't want anything, she was actually drinking Conan's soda. The few minutes she wasn't around were glorious.
"Did you like the movie, sunshine?" June asked as they left.
"He has a name, you know." Lindsey fired at June.
"Yeah, sorry about that." June shrugged.
"It was amazing!" Conan smiled. "God, I love Bill Murray."
"Right?" June agreed. "I thought it was awesome too. Can't wait to rent it and see it again. It was really funny."
"And you, Lindsey?"
"It was alright." She smiled at Conan. "It was better than I expected."
June raised her eyebrows, smiling uncomfortably. "Yeah, glad to know."
Over the whole year, Conan would bring Lindsey to everything, and June's first impression was actually how she was, every time they met. Selfish, with a great sense of superiority. June tried to have fun with Conan, she couldn't see him as much, and for a while, Conan didn't answer her letters. Usually, due to the fact it takes five hours to go to Boston, June wrote Conan and he wrote back. After a while, he sent letters way less frequently. June realized that maybe Lindsey didn't like how close she was to Conan. She hoped that he was still receiving them.
Lindsey one day confronted June about the letters and she stopped sending them. The letters had everything from campus life, to new things both were learning in their fields that eventually overlapped, June always talking about her love for Edgar Allan Poe and Conan talking about Flannery O'Connor. The letters were intimate, showing how much they valued each other as friends, but Lindsey felt differently about June. Conan gave way too much attention to her.
For that reason, June stopped attending family reunions for a while, or she would just attend when Lindsey wasn't there, which meant Conan also probably wouldn't. He started missing his own family gatherings because Lindsey wanted his full attention, until his mom called him out on it. June also had to stop calling Conan "sunshine" a thing that she did since both were fifteen. She took it in, smiled and went with the flow. But her biggest desire was Conan not being together with her anymore.
Conan felt bothered by the way Lindsey treated June, and he tried to clarify that she was not only a friend of his, but a friend of the family but it didn't help at all. After June decided not to appear on Conan's parents' house for a while, she was a bit more bearable. The thing is, Lindsey was extremely jealous, not only of June, but of Conan's entire family. It was noticeable after Conan stopped spending time with his siblings and parents less and less. His siblings didn't like Lindsey, especially Justin.
"You're insufferable!" Justin snapped one day, during family dinner. "That's why we don't like you!"
"Well, I don't like you either!" Lindsey exclaimed, and left the table.
Conan was mad at Justin for a while, because saying that about someone the way he did wasn't polite at all. Mrs. O'Brien reprehended Justin, but the damage had been done. They never spoke a word to each other again. The family gatherings started to feel weird. His parents decided not to say anything, even though deep inside, they agreed with Justin. It was Conan's decision and he said he was happy, even though he was extremely miserable by the end of the year.
June's letters to Conan were all hidden in his bedroom, at his parents' home in Brookline. He talked to Lindsey about sending her at least a birthday or a holiday card for a while. By the end of 1984, the letters ceased. Conan was always honest to Lindsey and she ended up manipulating him away from June. He missed her terribly, but he thought it was for the best. He felt empty and it took him some time to realize why.
