betty ↳ conrad fisher

eight.

COUNTRY CLUB POOL

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Betty Graham pushed through the surface of the water, her hands lifting to slick her hair back as she kicked her legs to stay afloat. She swam towards the shallow end of the pool, her body having tired from doing her laps. Betty was on the swim team, but during the summer they didn't really practice all that much, so she had to get her own time in. She leaned against the edge of the pool and let out a few tired breaths, her eyes closing as she regrouped.

"Hey Jeremiah...aren't you going to save me?" The sound of the girls voice calling the familiar name made her turn her head, Betty wondering how she had missed the fact that Jeremiah Fisher was the lifeguard. Gigi started to swim away and Betty took this as her opportunity to swim over, Jeremiah's face lighting up as he saw her.

"My Betty...I didn't even realize it was you." He said, looking down at her from his chair. She adjusted the strap of her bathing suit, her lips turning up as she squinted to see him through the glare of the sun.

"Hey Jere is that girl bothering you?" She joked, gesturing towards Gigi who was watching the both of them from the other side of the pool. He laughed, Betty sending the girl a wave and then looking back up at him."When's your break?"

"Why do you wanna know?" He asked in a playful tone, the girl shrugging her shoulders and giving him a winning smile.

"Because I want you to get me an ice cream from the snack bar." She said, the boy rolling his eyes at her before he realized she was serious. He scoffed and shook his head as she smiled at him, the boy looking down at the time and then to her.

"About 5 minutes from right now."

"Then I guess I'll meet you over there." She said, not even waiting for him to agree or nod or confirm before she started towards the steps of the pool. His eyes followed her the entire way there, a sigh leaving his lips as she walked away in her bathing suit. Betty was off limits to him, she was off limits it both him and Steven despite the fact that neither do them would have any problem getting into things with her.

Betty started towards the snack bar, a smile on her lips as she approached. She as only a few feet away when whoever was working the snack bar turned around, her lips parting when she realized it was Steven.

"Steven...I didn't know you were working here too." The sound of her voice made his face light up, the boy looking at the familiar girl with his own smile.

"Saving money up for Princeton next year. Gotta get the hours in." He said, leaning on the counter. She leaned on the other side, a sultry smile on her lips as she lifted a hand towards him. She reached for the hairnet on his head, the boy pulling it off of his head and his cheeks lighting up.

"No it was cute...keep it on."

"You're lying. The hairnet is killing my prospects." She laughed at him, shaking her head at his words and rolling her eyes.

"Are girls the only thing you guys think about?"

"Is Conrad not the only thing you think about?" Steven shot back, making her let out an exaggerated gasp, her hand reaching across the counter to punch his arm. She shook her head, the boy laughing as she spoke.

"I actually haven't thought about him today until you said that. And I don't know why you would think that either—we've been broken up for like over a year." She defended, Steven looking at her with an obvious look that she didn't seem to get the meaning behind.

"Sorry I just assumed the feeling was mutual." He messed with the buttons of the cash register, knowing he was saying too much. However he wanted to pry, and he wanted to know how she would react, so he kept on. "You know?"

"What like...like he thinks about me a lot or something?" She took the bait, tousling her wet hair with her fingers as she looked at him with curious eyes. He shrugged, messing with an orange on the counter as she continued to process his words over and over. "Did he like...say something about me?"

"Did who say something about you?" Jeremiah approached the two of them, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the girl whose words he had overheard in approach.

"I might've mentioned that Conrad said something about her after the dinner...my bad."

"Dude—" Jeremiah said, shaking his head at Steven who had planted the seed in her head. She interrupted him, her lips parting and her eyebrows furrowing as she tried to get to the bottom do this.

"Well what did he say?"

"Sorry Bon...I don't think it would be cool for us to tell you." Steven said, his head lifting to look at her and the agitated expression on her face.

"Well you brought it up...you can't just not tell me now asshole." She said, looking between the two boys and waiting for one of them to say something. It was just silence and glanced between the two of them, Betty pushing Jeremiah by the chest and giving him a pointed look.

"Tell me or I'll go tell Gigi you like her back." She threatened, the boy raising his hands in surrender and looking to Steven again. Steven shrugged, his lips tightening as he messed with something behind the counter. "Now."

"Okay, okay...jeez. After dinner we just like—well actually it was Steven but he asked him like how he felt about everything and he ...well he had an interesting answer." Jeremiah started explaining, his finger lifting to point at Steven. Her arms crossed over her chest and for a moment she figured maybe she didn't want to know, but then she narrowed her eyes, and he continued on. "He just said it was like weird that you were back and that you apologized but he didn't know if it was like...over."

"What?" She asked, confused in what he was saying. "Why would he think that?"

"I don't know." Jeremiah said, clamming up a bit with his words and looking over at Steven again. Steven just gave him a look, one basically telling him that he might as well just tell her. "He was just like all moody and he was like 'You ever been in a room with somebody and you just know it's not ever gonna be over between you'."

His words stirred something deep in her chest, her lips tightening as she looked at him. The amusement had left her and she was no longer receptive to hearing anymore. She nodded slightly, a nervous look on her face as she looked towards her towel.

"You know...I think I've done enough swimming for today. I'm gonna head home but you owe me that ice cream Fisher." Her abrupt exit made both boys nervous, both of them feeling bad for the part they played as well. She hadn't offered the insight that Steven had wanted to know, the boy only succeeding in making a matter worse it seemed. They watched as she hurried out with her things, Jeremiah  looking to Steven with an apologetic look.

"Maybe we shouldn't have told her?"

"You think?" Steven said, turning away from the boy and back towards the snack bar.