Betty Graham crossed the yard between the two homes, a smile on her lips as she thought back to the phone call with Jack she had had a few minutes before. She had taken longer than 30 minutes but she was sure it was fine, the girl having changed into a pair of comfy shorts and a t-shirt. The sound of a car door closing made her lift her head, her smile only widening when she saw who it was.

"Steven?!" His head turned immediately and his face lit up, Betty jogging towards him and actually pulling him into a hug. "It feels like forever. What are you doing here? Hey Taylor. Did you guys come together?"

"It's been a month Bon, come on." She ignored the nickname, looking to Taylor to answer her questions.

"Hey Betty." Betty realized there must not have been an explanation for why they were there, the girl sharing a smile with Taylor even though she didn't know what terms they were on.

"Just a little heads up guys...morale is super low in there. I'm sure they'll tell you all about it." Steven and Taylor shared a look as Betty waved them towards the house, the girl pushing the door opening and entering with the other two.

"Surprise!" Steven exclaimed as Betty led them in, Belly and the other two boys looking at him with a sorrowful look. Betty cringed internally as Taylor shot her a look, observing the low morale she was talking about. "Oh, shit. I knew we should have told them we were coming."

"No it's not that. It's..." Conrad started, Betty noting that he hadn't shut them down with his usual bad attitude. He has actually begun to give them some grace in their sudden appearance.

"We're losing the house. They put it up for sale." Jeremiah spit out, Stevens face immediately falling as Belly stood to hug Taylor.

"Oh, Cinderbelly...they're selling the house?" Taylor asked as she hugged her best friend, Betty sliding a hand onto Stevens back and rubbing it for a moment. She could see by the look on his face that this was a shock and a blow to him, the girl attempting to offer some comfort as Conrad eyes the hand she had connected to him. He scowled as he watched her, wanting to punch himself for being so transparent.

"Uh...I brought you blueberry." Steven said, holding a pie out towards his sister. There was a strange tension between them and Betty wondered if there was something going on there, the girl looking down at the pie and then back up at her brother.

"I'm glad you're here." Belly said, Conrad moving to stand from the chair at the table. He walked past Steven and Belly, dropping a hand on the Conklin boys shoulder before moving past him. Betty turned her head to watch him leave and she wanted to know what had happened in the phone call, her curiosity pulling her after him. She found him in the hallway, his back pressed against the wall as he held his head in his hands. Betty pressed her back against the opposite wall, her soft eyes on the boy in front of her as she wondered how to ask.

"What happened?" She said in a gentle voice. He had known she was there of course, but for some reason he was surprised she had spoken, his eyes lifting from the floor and to her. He fell mercilessly for the look in her eyes, a sigh leaving his lips as he hurriedly answered her.

"Dad said he's not going to let us use the trusts to buy the house. So we're back to square one and there's nothing I can do. There's nothing— we're gonna lose it."

"Hey...hey there is always—always something to do. Don't—" She had moved across the hall and had her hand on his arm, the boy shaking his head at her words and cutting her off.

"There's nothing. We can't get the money in time and there's no way we can convince Julia not to sell."

"Have you asked her?" Betty asked him, the boy looking at her with a deadpan look. The answer was no...he hadn't asked her, but he knew what the answer would be. "Maybe you should start with that Connie."

"I know what she's gonna say."

"Maybe...but it definitely doesn't hurt to ask." Betty said, giving him a half smile as he bit at the inside of his cheek. He considered her words and realized she was right as always. She went back across the hallway, her back connecting with the wall and her arms crossing over her chest. They stared at each other for a moment, Betty's eyes burning with genuine challenge, wondering if he would actually just ask Julia or not. She knew that Belly and Jeremiah had gone there, but maybe they weren't as persuasive as Conrad was. And she knew he was persuasive from experience. He stared back at her with a perplexed expression that slowly melted into one of trust, Betty unable to look away.

What broke the moment was her ringtone, Betty pulling her phone from her pocket and looking down at who was calling. He saw it as clearly as she did, the name Jack plastered across the screen and a picture of the two of them as the contact. She denied it but he had already pushed off of the wall, making his way out and towards his brother.

"I'm gonna go talk to Jere." He left before she could protest, her eyes following him out of the house before finally she gave up, letting out a sigh and looking down at her phone again. It rang not a moment later, Jack once again...the girl accepting it this time, her heart jumping to her throat at the thought of talking to him.

"Hello?" She made her way down the hall and to the front door, pushing outside to the front porch and closing the door behind her.

"Hey baby sorry to bother you I know we just got off the phone but I forgot to tell you...well more like ask you—I forgot to ask you something." Jack sounded actually a little nervous, Betty's eyes narrowing as she looked at the driveway of the Fisher house.

"Okay...ask away." She said, fighting a smile at the sound of his nervousness.

"I was wondering if you wanted to uh...if you wanted to see—listen. Listen."

"I'm listening."

"My parents want to meet you. I wanted to know if when the semester ends...if you wanna stay at mine for a few days and meet them?" Betty was surprised by his proposal, her face and smile dropping as she contemplated his question. It was a big step for them, the girl thinking about the fact that she would eventually have to do this anyways. It was different at college, they were in their own little world. But he wanted her to be a part of his entire life, to meet his parents...his family. Betty wasn't sure how she felt about it, but she knew she loved him. So she answered accordingly.

"Yes. Yes I'd like that." She said, not entirely sure if she really would like that. He let out a relieved sigh from his side of the phone, Betty feeling the pressure of meeting his parents already.

"Okay...okay. Well I—good. I'm looking forward to it." He said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. It put a smile on her own face, her stomach clenching as she looked at the driveway. "Well I'll let you get back to whatever you're doing, I just...couldn't wait to ask."

"Okay baby. I'll see you soon." She said, pulling the phone from her ear and hanging up before he could say anything else. She stared down at the screen for a moment before she turned back to the house, pushing the phone into her pocket and heading inside. She entered the living room where there was the most chatted, the girl seeing that Taylor and Steven were speaking in there. "Guys we—"

She was cut off by arms wrapping around her, the girl being lifted a little bit off of the floor and a surprised noise leaving her throat. There was a laugh and Jeremiah was revealed as the one grabbing her, the boy throwing the two of them done on the couch, Betty scrambling to sit up as she was sat on him.

"Jeremiah!" She yelled, her eyes wide as she looked back at him. Taylor and Steven were laughing as he shrugged, the boy pushing her off of his lap and onto the floor.

"I ordered pizza. It should be like 30 minutes but I only ordered one with pineapple, so I call dibs on two slices, alright?" Jeremiah said, Steven reaching down to the floor and pulling Betty up. She sat back into the chair to the right of Jeremiah, the girl glaring at him as Steven sat down on the other chair.

"Jeremiah, I think that's all you." Conrad said, a smile on his face as he spoke to his brother. Jeremiah looked stunned, Conrad eyeing the couch that Betty was siting on alone. "So what do you guys wanna watch?"

"I was thinking it happened one night."

"Throwback." Conrad said, grabbing the DVD from Belly and taking it to the tv. He put the movie in and looked back at Belly with an interesting look, Jeremiah not quite enjoying the eye contact. Conrad sat extremely close to Betty, the boy throwing his arm around her shoulder before he could even think but he got a text not a second later, hardly giving her enough time to react before he was pulling at the neck of his shirt, Betty too focused on the movie as he stood from the couch and started out of the room. Steven stood next, making his way out after Conrad and it was now that Betty seemed to know something was weird, but she didn't worry about it too much.