Being depressed and bed ridden wasn't an option in an Ivy League school. You had to go to class, you had to do your homework, you had to get in with your life. Betty knew that, so she did it, but it didn't mean that she wasn't upset.

There was an innate sense of paranoia now that gripped her every time she walked anywhere.  It wasn't a matter of if she saw Conrad again, it was a matter of when. And after accepting the fact that what had happened was very much real, she knew she needed to better prepare herself for whenever that next time was.

It astounded her that  out of everyone her boyfriend could choose to be his new friend, it had to be Conrad. That Jack had inadvertently and unknowingly made that interaction happen by telling him about the special and by calling him and asking him to save him a spot. She took a little bit of pride in the fact that Jack had very publicly informed Conrad that she was his girlfriend, knowing she was off limits—considering he was in the habit of stirring things up.

On top of the initial shock, Lori seemed to understand the situation, unfortunately for Betty, because she wanted to ask questions constantly.  It was single-handedly the craziest situation she had ever been a part of, and Betty knew that the questions and third degree wouldn't end soon.

"Betty...are you listening?" Jack asked, his head turned to the girl as they sat on his couch. Considering he was a few years older than her, he had moved into an apartment by campus with a few other guys. However they had worked out when the others would be gone on certain days, and so they had gotten together to watch a movie together, Jack launching into a very uninteresting explanation of the movie they were watching, Betty giving him an innocent smile. He seemed to realize she wasn't listening, the girl trying to switch the subject fast. She leaned towards him, pressing a kiss to his lips and crawling onto his lap. Jack didn't argue, but he was a little surprised by the fact that she had climbed onto him,  considering they hadn't done anything like that yet. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled back, a smile on her lips as she ran a hand over his forehead, pushing some of the hair away. He looked up at her like she was the most spectacular thing her had ever seen,  and she took a mental picture of it so she knew what it was like to be looked at that way.

"I'm falling in love with you, Jack." She said in a low tone, and she wasn't entirely sure what he would say. His eyes slightly widened for a moment and then his entire face softened, the moment making his chest flutter with so many emotions. He lifted his hand and leaned up, pulling her to him so that he could kiss her again. He wrapped his arms around her, leaning over and taking her with him, the girls back hitting the couch as his tender kisses took away all of her troubles. Jack was safe, and he was kind, and he was right. And she thought nothing had ever felt more right. Even when everything inside of her was wrong. Jack made her forget the internal battle she had on the daily, the battle of being too closed off, the battle of showing too much. She didn't want to be who she was, she wanted to be different, and he helped her figure out there was joy there. But someone had come along to ruin it, and she hoped that that chance meeting was a one time thing, even though she knew deep down that it wasn't. There was no way she could spend all four years without seeing him, without breathing the same air as him, without being in the same room as him. She knew that she clearly would never escape him, she had tried once before and had failed miserably. She couldn't escape him from Europe, there was no way she would be able to escape him from the same college campus. He was haunting her, his decisions exclusively effecting her. He had followed her there intentionally, he had told Jack that. He was there to torture her. He was there to remind her that she could never really change at all. That all she was ever going to be was the past.

"Where'd you go?" Jacks lips moved against her jaw as he spoke, the boy pulling back with a dreamy look on his face. His eyes were heavy and he almost sounded like he was whining, the boy noticing her lack of enthusiasm. She had gotten too carried away in her thoughts, she hadn't meant to do that. But there was something big on her mind, and she couldn't help but lose herself in contemplation.

"Hey I'm here...sorry. I'm here. I just—I remembered I have a paper due for my creative writing class. It's uh...I'm—I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get distracted. Come here." She kissed him again, her hand on his chin and her fingers pressed against his cheekbone. He chuckled a little bit into the laugh and it wasn't really an amused chuckle but more of a worried one. He let her kiss him but before long he was pulling away, his voice sounding so innocently understanding.

"I want to do this but if—if you have a paper due then you should do it. I'll help you." She looked up at him, his hand rubbing the side of her thigh as he furrowed his eyebrows at her. He genuinely was worried about her work, Betty letting go of his chin and brushing the hair out of his face again. He was sweet, and she wondering if she even deserved someone like him, someone who honestly didn't have a terrible bone in his body. Someone who cared about her, and cared about everything about her. He smiled down at her and then pulled her up, the girl sitting halfway on his lap as he reached towards the coffee table and grabbed his closed laptop. Luckily for her , her excuse for zoning out was valid, she did have a creative writing paper due. He wrapped his arms around her as she signed into her school account and he laid his chin on her arm, his eyes on the screen of the laptop as he readied himself to help her. Finally he pressed a kiss to the skin of her bicep, Betty feeling a surge of comfort at it, her mind cleansing of ghosts of the past and their hauntings.

:::

Conrad Fisher was laid in his bed, his eyes stuck to the same square in his tiled ceiling. He had been catatonic all day, even though the reason he was reacting this way had been days ago. He had finally taken the time to process what happened, and he wished he hadn't.
No matter what he did he couldn't shake the image of Betty pushing him, of her hurt, of her yells. He hadn't expected them to see each other so soon, he had thought it would take longer.

Conrad had applied for Brown University the month after he found out that Betty had left him for France. He thought he wouldn't see her again, genuinely thought that, and he had been so angry and lovesick at the same time that he had devised the perfect plan. Apply to the college of her dreams, follow her there, see her in person and make her fall for him all over again. Except he had seen her again. She had returned, and he hadn't had that in his plans. Once he found out that she was in Cousins for the summer, he had begged and pleaded for the others to not tell her he was going to Brown. Their relationship was a touchy subject, so they actually agreed, and lo and behold...it had actually managed to be one of the few secrets that didn't come out.

Except looking back now, he could see how badly he had thought it out. He had known she wanted to go to Brown since they were 12, he had known that Brown was her dream school because it was her fathers alma mater, and there was no one she looked up to more than her dad. It was a sick move on his behalf, taking away the joy she would find here, spoiling her time. And yet he couldn't find it in himself to fully feel bad. He still partially thought what he had done was okay. Jack had been right when he called the plan crazy though.

Jack Laurier had gone from potential friend to the bane of Conrad's existence in mere days. When they had met in bio it was like a flood of words came from the older boy, all he did was talk. Conrad that he was a generally positive guy, and he seemed like a good one because of how much he had gushed about his girlfriend in the span of their conversation. Conrad found Jacks words so convincing that he wanted to meet this girl, and then when he had...he had realized he had known everything he was saying all along.

Conrad wondered how he could compete with Jack at all, he was a good looking guy, smart and funny and seemingly nice. He was everything that Betty had wanted Conrad to be, there was no way he could compare. And yet Conrad couldn't help but try and villainize his new friend, knowing that there was no way he was just that perfect for her, that kind and that positive. There was no way.

The sound of a dinging pulled Conrad out of his thoughts, the boy realizing he had been clenching his fist as he reached for his phone. He lifted it, rubbing at his eyes for a second before he looked to see who had texted him. Speak of the devil.

Jack from Bio

hey man, a few friends are getting together tonight
wanted to know if you wanted to come by?
you're welcome to join

Conrad stared down at the text, a feeling of resentment building in his chest as he looked at the invitation. He didn't want to go, spending time with his ex girlfriends new boyfriend wasn't exactly the most exciting thing. However he wondered if Betty was there, wondered if he's get a chance to have a moment of her time, to talk...to apologize. He bit at the inside of his cheek before he considered another reason to go, his eyes lowering to the phone screen again.

Going to this get together was a way for him to probably feel out this Jack guy...to see if he really was everything that he presented himself as. Conrad knew there was no way he was genuine, there had to be something wrong with him. He had fully convinced himself of it. So he lifted his phone, typing back a swift reply to the text confirming his attendance and then pushing himself up from the bed, looking to change his clothes. He was going to prove something tonight, he was going to prove that Betty hadn't found the man of her dreams, and that he, in fact, would always be the best choice for her.

___________

Who do y'all picture Jack as? Like face claim wise