betty ↳ conrad fisher

twenty-six.

Betty Graham had been avoiding everyone in the Fisher household for almost a week now,the girl knowing things had gotten just a little too twisted for her. Her brothers and mother had returned home, her brothers seeming to think something happened while they were gone, and she knew they would never guess what it was. Kissing Jeremiah out of desperation to get equal with Conrad for trying to kiss Belly...it probably wasn't even an option in their heads.

Betty was carrying two bags of trash, the girl having used one to clean up around the house with as well. Her headphones were in her ears, the girl blasting music into her ears to keep herself from thinking too much about just how twisted everything had gotten.

The headphones kept her from hearing the approach of just the person she was trying to avoid, the boy who had been trying to get in contact with her for days now. Conrad Fisher closed in on her, the girl lifting the lid of the trashcan as she went to swing the bags in. She was startled when one of the bag were grabbed from her hand, Conrad lifting it and putting it into the trashcan.

Betty's face paled when she saw that it was him, her stomach turning as she saw the look on his face. It was an apologetic look, her lips parting as she pulled one earbud out of her ear.

"Thanks." She said, putting the other bag in the trashcan and closing the lid. She weighed her options for a split second, knowing he clearly had something to say but not sure if she wanted to hear it. Or if she could even stand hearing it. So she turned away quickly, attempting to speed walk back into her house.

"Betty come on. Bet—come on, stop." He hurried in front of her, stopping her in her place as she looked up at him with a range of emotions. This is exactly what she had been trying to avoid: talking. "Please can we just talk."

"I don't really want to talk right now Connie. I want to go lay in my bed." She said, gesturing towards her house. She attempted to sidestep him but he was too fast, the girl letting out a huff of air and crossing her arms. She pulled her other earbud out, the sound of their breathing and the night atmosphere being the only thing she could hear.

"Can we just talk for 5 minutes? That's all I'm asking." Betty looked up at him and then down at her feet, the girl kicking a pebble with her foot as she let out a sigh.

"How about I just save you the time and the apologizing and just tell you that I've forgiven you and we're all good." She said, looking back up at him with a empty look, the boy stumbling over his thoughts as he comprehended what she had said. He had come to apologize and to grovel, but she had wiped all of that away with a simple sentence, the boy look at her in surprise.

"Really?" He asked, looking almost hopeful as she nodded at his question. She gave him a half hearted smile and then attempted to walk past him again, the boy turning around as she moved towards her house, her arms still crossed as she walked away from him. "Wait...wait then what does that mean—like...like for us?"

Betty stopped in her spot, this was a question she had been considering for days. What did it mean for them? She had come up with an answer. She knew it was the best choice. She knew it was the right choice.

"Connie...there is no us. I—i think I just want to spend the rest of my summer away from all of that mess. I think me and you are just...we're just better off." She knew it was the right choice but it still made her sick to say it. She didn't know how he would react if he found out about Jeremiah, she didn't even want to give him the chance to know. That was a secret she was willing to keep hidden away from him.

She looked up at him and he seemed to be deep in thought, processing what she was saying with a perplexed expression in his face. She watched as a heartbreaking look filled his eyes and she almost took it back, but then the hurt and disappointed look became something of an angry one.

"Why? Why are we just better off? Because I made a mistake? Because I-"

"No. No it really doesn't have much to do with the whole thing with Belly. It has to do with the fact that I don't get you." Betty said, trying to clear it up for him. He furrowed his eyebrows at her words, becoming somewhat defensive as he stepped towards her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, and Betty was actually kind of glad she could get this part off of her chest.

"It means that one day you want to be with me, the next day you don't even want to talk to me. I don't even know what the hell is going on with Belly and Nicole and apart from all of the women in your life...you've had more mood swings than I can count. I have no idea what's going on with you. And I know there's something wrong—you've been acting weird since you got here." Conrad's face paled as she pointed out what he had hoped she wouldn't notice, his other struggles quickly returning to his mind as the realization that she had picked up on something bigger being wrong with him. They stood there in silence for s moment and then she stepped towards him, getting closer than she should've and looking up at him with a softened expression. "I told you that you could talk to me Connie...I told you that awhile ago. And I know I'm not your best friend or even super close to you—but you know you can tell me if something is wrong."

The soft look in her eyes seemed to overtake him and he wondered if she remembered what he had told her about his dad. She hadn't brought it up again, at least not until now.

"Is it because of your dad?" He weighed his options of answering and for the first time all summer her felt the option to get this unbearable weight off of his shoulders. He let out a shaky breath and Betty seemed to notice it, her head tilting slightly and her eyebrows furrowing as she must've picked up on the way his entire demeanor began to change.

"It's...it's my mom." He said in a low voice, the girl not expecting that to be his reply. She was confused now, her lips parting as he refused to meet her eyes.

"What do you mean?" There was a silence between them, Betty standing with uncertainty as he realized he had already spoken, there was no going back now. Not at all.

"She's...sick again." Betty's reaction was typical, her face contorting in shock as she realized what he was saying. Susannah was sick again, the cancer had come back. Betty searched over his face and could tell it took everything in him to tell her that, a dread filling her body as she looked up at him. He still wouldn't meet her eye, the girl not knowing what to say now that he had told her what was making him act the way he had been.

In a surprising move Betty pulled him into a hug, her arms wrapping around his body as he stood stunned for a second. It was the only way she could think to comfort him, her heart beating frantically as she realized she had been so caught up in their mess that she hadn't even considered there was something so big causing it.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered against his shoulder, the boy wrapping his arms around her and forgetting about their relationship struggles for a moment. It felt like pure relief to tell someone the secret he had been holding, why he had been so moody and upset, why he had been drinking so much. He could feel some of the stress falling from his body as she hugged him.

"No one knows. Jeremiah and Belly and Steven...they don't know." Conrad said, using this as a way to tell her not to tell them. She pulled back from the hug, keeping her arms around him as she looked up at him with a gaze full of a multitude of emotions. "It's bad Betty. It's really bad."

"I'm so sorry." She said again, pulling him back in. They stood there for a few minutes, Conrad holding her as she offered him comfort in their moment alone. Except they weren't alone, they were being watched. And Belly Conklin finally knew why Conrad had acted like nothing at all had happened between them. It was Betty's fault, and she couldn't help but resent her for it. She knew she needed to tell Conrad what she had seen, what she had assumed had happened between his brother and Betty. She didn't want him to be hurt.