"Hey Jeremiah." Betty Graham was treated to a new character, a new voice, the girl following behind the other two boys as they entered the home. The morale instantly dropped, Betty assuming this was Aunt Julia, but she wasn't quite sure who was standing in the kitchen by her. "Conrad."

"You didn't tell me she was here too." Conrad said, looking to Jeremiah as he spoke.

"It's they. Not she. God, I guess it's been like a decade since I saw you guys. Um, how are you doing since your mom?" The unnamed person in the middle of the room said, Betty not quite being about to piece together who they were.

"It's been rough." Jeremiah crossed his arms over his chest, both of the boys holding deep frowns on their faces.

"Rougher now that our Aunts stealing our house." Conrad shot, Julia turning around to retaliate.

"I'm not stealing anything, Conrad. Like it or not, I get to choose what happens to this house and I choose to put it on the market." There was silence for a moment, Betty stepping forward and approaching who she was assuming was Aunt Julia's child.

"Hi I'm Betty Graham. I live next door." She extended her hand, a smile crossing their face at the site of hers.

"I'm Skye. Nice to meet you." They shook hands, Betty giving a short nod and turning back to move to her spot. Conrad's jaw was clenched, he didn't look pleased by her politeness, especially when they were in the midst of an argument. His expression held frustration, and she could tell some of it was towards her. This whole ordeal wouldn't stop her from being polite. Plus she needed to know who she was supposed to be fighting with.

"You note should get on the road. Beat the traffic back to Boston." Julia attempted to get them to leave, Conrad quick to open his mouth.

"There's no chance. We're staying for the open house." Betty turned her head towards Conrad, unsure of what the plan was hers. She figured she had missed something, perhaps a group discussion. She didn't know what they were going to be doing at this open house.

"Uh, no, no, no. I cant have a bunch of teenagers chasing everybody away. Call your father, because this isn't an Aunt Julia problem." Betty wasn't sure how she felt about the woman speaking, her coldness towards the boys coming from deep within, leading her to reminisce about what Conrad had told her about their aunt all those years ago.

"Except it is. Because you are the problem." Conrad said, taking a few steps towards the counter. Betty frowned, a strange feeling going through her at Conrad's cruelty.

"I don't have time for this." Julia said, putting the dishrag on the counter and leaving the kitchen. Betty leaned back against a chest of drawers, her eyes on the skin of Conrad's back as Belly spoke. Betty hadn't even known she was there.

"Conrad, she's still your family." Belly seemed to recognize his harsh words the same as Betty had, the older girl running a hand over her hair and looking to Skye.

"Then why is she doing this to us?" Conrad asked a good question, that was the missing factor. No one knew why she wanted to sell the house so bad.

"This is hard for her too." Skye said, and Betty could practically see the expression on Conrad's sour face as she watched his back.

"Really? Seems like she's doing this all pretty fucking easily." Conrad said, turning away from the others and walking out of the kitchen. Betty's head turned and she watched him until she couldn't anymore, Skye speaking from where they were leaning against the countertop.

"He's grown into quite the asshole." Betty almost laughed at the observation, Jeremiah voicing her thoughts as he leaned on the counter beside Skye.

"You have no idea." They all sat in silence for s moment before Betty couldn't even bear it, her head shaking as she pushed off of the wall.

"Okay I'm starving. Jere, you wanna run and get something with me?" Her main reasoning for inviting Jeremiah apart from the fact that they were friends was because she didn't have her car, she was reliant on his considering they rode together. Her looked at her from his spot, his eyes attaching to the deadpan look on her face before he shrugged, standing straight and walking towards her.

"I'll meet you out there." He started out of the room, presumably to put a shirt on, Betty being left with Belly and Skye. Her attention turned to Belly and the girl refused to look in her direction, Betty knowing that Belly had probably already jumped to conclusions about what she had seen that morning. Belly was excellent at jumping to conclusions.

"You want anything?" Betty asked, gesturing towards Belly. She didn't bother asking Skye, they were already eating a muffin when she had walked in. Belly awkwardly lifted her head, they sickly sweet smile on her lips and she nodded.

"Sure. Thank you." Betty was surprised the fake smile had come out, but she figured it was because she had decided she couldn't be mad. Her and Conrad weren't together. Betty nodded, letting out a short breath before she turned and left the kitchen immediately, making her way towards the front door as someone came down the stairs. It was Conrad, the boy now wearing a shirt and an ill expression.

"Where are you going?" Conrad asked, his eyes on her hand that was holding the door handle.

"Me and Jere are gonna go get something for breakfast." His stomach knotted, he hoped she would invite him too. He wasn't sure how much he wanted her to be alone with Jeremiah considering their history. "You want anything?"

"Uh...yeah sure. You know what I like." He was disappointed by no invitation, the boy feeling a sliver of jealousy run through him. He pushed it away, knowing he needed to focus on the open house. She gave him a quick nod and pulled the front door open, starting towards Jeremiah's car. She pulled the door open, sitting in the passenger seat just as the front door opened again, revealing Jeremiah. He hurried to the drivers side, pulling the door open and quickly starting the car once he sat down.

He was backing out do the driveway before long, Betty looking over at him as he kept his attention on getting on the road. Her eyes dropped to her lap when her phone vibrated in her pocket, the girl pulling the phone out and looking at the text. It was Jack.

Hi beautiful...just checking in.

She smiled at the words, Jeremiah taking notice of her texting and looking over at her. He knew it was her boyfriend why the smile on her face, his stomach twisting as he looking back out at the road, his nose scrunching slightly as he navigated the uncomfortable feeling.

"Is that your boyfriend?" He asked and Betty went back to giving her attention to him, the mushy feeling from Jacks text leaving her.

"Yeah...he's checking in." Jeremiah hummed in response to that, the girl looking down at her phone again to answer him.

All good here. Thanks for checking in.

She wasn't entirely sure that all was good here, her mind trailing back to her sleepover every few minutes. It continued to  hit her that she was severely understating the truth, invalidating the fact that what she had done was wrong. She was more at peace with herself than she should've been, and that started to disrupt her. She was in a relationship with someone else, and had slept in the bed cuddled into Conrad. She tried to think of how Jack would react if he found our, and this was the final push to realize that maybe she had done something wrong.

"I did something wrong Jere..." She felt the instant need to confess, wondering if she was doing it to get some input or if she just needed to get validation that it wasn't as bad as her mind was now making it. He looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, his hand gesturing towards her and suggesting that she continue. "I went to check on Connie last night and I ended up staying over with him."

She watched has face change, his eyebrows lifting into one of swift surprise and then instantly going blank. He shifted in his seat line he was uncomfortable and he was,  Jeremiah getting a fleeting vivid image of her and Conrad . The way she said it insinuated something had happened, that being Jeremiah's first question.

"Did you guys...." He trailed off because he didn't want to say if, a lump building in his throat at the thought of it. Not only was he wondering because if the fact that she had a boyfriend, he was also wondering because Conrad and Bellys breakup was still fresh. And he was also wondering because he wasn't sure how he would take the gut punch if they had. He slightly shook his head, calming that tiny, microscopic part of him that needed her terribly. He was still trying to navigate it and figure it  out. He needed to find out if he really felt something for her or if he was deflecting something. Although he would say it felt pretty real at the moment as a pit of rage bubbled in him at the thought of her and Conrad.

"No, of course not. No. We were just talking and then I fell asleep. That's all but I—I know it was wrong."

"Well you didn't do anything." Jeremiah slipped the words out with an almost relief,  Betty not picking up on his obvious tone thankfully. She was too far in her own head.

"No but I mean...how would you feel if you were Jack?" Jeremiah felt like he knew how Jack was feeling better than she assumed, the boy shaking his head and trying to rid himself of this overwhelming sense of devotion towards he'd. He knew she was a mere fantasy, it had been so long since someone treated him the way she did and he had looked at it in a romantic light. He knew he had to stop. He wasn't sure if he could.  "I have a boyfriend and I slept in the bed with another guy. And not just any other guy...my ex that I lied to him about. The ex that he trusted me enough to come here and try and help, knowing that we would be around each other a lot. Oh my—I'm a terrible girlfriend."

"No you're not.  You're not a terrible girlfriend. You didn't do anything with him. It's different. You and Conrad may be exes but you guys have known each other for a long time. Since we were kids.  Don't beat yourself up about checking in on a friend." Jeremiah fed her delusions better than she had expected, the girl actually feeling a little at peace after getting his validation. She nodded and they settled into a silence, Jeremiah not realized he was gripping the wheel so hard until he glanced at his hand and noticed his knuckles were white. He loosened his grip, wanting to smack himself in the face for how fucked he was. He couldn't do this. He couldn't have a crush on Betty Graham.