The streets of Brown University were packed, much like that of the students of Finch College filing out of the dorms for the summer, despite finals week still in full swing. As Sam followed the winding paths in her blue Jeep, searching for a parking spot in the lot she knew to be closest to Conrad's dorm, she reached for the cup holder in the middle, picking up the cup filled with iced coffee and taking a sip.

"Have you heard from Jeremiah this morning?" Luke asked, craning his neck out the window to search for any hint of a familiar face.

"Not really," Sam said, sighing in relief as a spot opened up in front of her, and maneuvering the vehicle into the vacated lane. "He just texted me a time and place to meet, but that was it. I tried to call Conrad again right before we left, but he still didn't answer, and I've texted him fifty times by now. Whatever he's up to, he doesn't want me to know about it either."

Sam turned the key in the ignition, killing the engine as she reached a hand up to rest against her cheek for a moment, letting out a large breath in frustration. Despite how much she and Conrad had grown apart since Susannah's death, and even in the original months following her diagnosis, he'd never once failed to pick up the phone when she called. Whatever he was up to that resulted in him not picking up, she just hoped that, wherever he was, she was safe so she could yell at him once they'd found him.

"We're going to find him." Luke insisted, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly, and Sam looked back over at her step-brother, nodding after a moment before unbuckling her seatbelt and throwing open the car door.

Sam squinted in the bright sunlight as she climbed out of the car, the two siblings grabbing their drinks from the cup holders, and Sam locked the Jeep before shoving the keys into the pocket of her denim shorts. They looked around for a moment before Sam's gaze fell on a familiar head of golden curls, and she elbowed Luke to get his attention before nodding in Jeremiah's direction. She waved at Jeremiah to get the boy's attention, seeing him clutching his phone to his ear, but he quickly hung up as he crossed the parking lot to meet Sam and Lucas.

"Hey, Sammie," Jeremiah said. "Thanks for coming."

"Of course," she said, nodding in Luke's direction. "Jere, this is Luke, my stepbrother. Luke, this is Jeremiah."

"Good to finally meet you, man," Luke said, extending a hand, which Jeremiah shook.

"Yeah, you too." Jeremiah said. "Belly's coming, too, that was her on the phone. I told her to meet us over at Conrad's dorm."

There was something indiscernible in Jeremiah's expression as he mentioned Belly's name, and Sam's eyebrows pinched together slightly for a moment, but she shrugged it off as she began to lead the boys in the direction of Alderman Hall, the same path she'd grown accustomed to over the past year whenever she'd gone to hang out with Conrad. When they reached the familiar brick building with white columns, they paused outside, leaning against a tree as Jeremiah pulled his phone back out of his pocket, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he typed out a text message.

"Has anyone heard from him?" Sam asked, but Jeremiah shook his head.

"No," Jeremiah sighed, shoving his phone back into his pocket. "I got a call from Kinsley yesterday that Conrad said 'everything was fucked,' but he wouldn't tell her what it was about. So before she left to go back to Cousins, she called me to pass the message along. I tried to call him, but he wouldn't answer. None of his other friends had heard from him, and when I found out you hadn't either, I realized something really must've been wrong."

"Hey, Jeremiah!" a voice called out from behind them, and Sam turned to see Belly Conklin hurrying down the sidewalk, a cup of coffee in each hand as she raced towards the group.

"Belly, hey," Jeremiah said softly, that same expression crossing his face at the sight of his old best friend.

"I got you this," Belly said, offering him the cup of coffee, but Jeremiah simply shook his head.

"Oh, uh, I'm good." he said, her smile faltering slightly as she nodded, tossing the cups into the garbage can behind him, causing Sam and Luke to share a quick look before turning back to Jeremiah and Belly. "But thanks for coming all this way. Belly, you remember Sam."

"Yeah," Belly said, her smile widening again. "Hey, Sammie."

"Hi," Sam said, her eyes wandering briefly back over to Luke before looking back at Belly. "Belly, this is my step-brother, Luke. Luke, this is Belly."

"Hey," they chorused, giving each other a nod as Jeremiah began to lead them in the direction up the steps to Alderman Hall.

"So, have you heard anything from Conrad?" Belly asked.

"Nothing," Jeremiah said, shaking his head. "He hasn't answered my calls or my texts. It's a good thing you guys are here though, because I don't know what floor he lives on or what room he's in."

"I don't either." Belly admitted, causing Jeremiah to stop short, his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion as he looked back at her. "I mean, I know he's on the top floor, but that's it."

"You never visited him at Brown?" Jeremiah asked.

"Yeah, my mom wasn't thrilled at the idea of me driving four and a half hours to go see..." she stopped short for a second. "You know, my uh..."

"I got it," Sam offered quickly, seeing that the look on Jeremiah's face had resurfaced, and as someone opened the door from the other side on their way out of the building, Jeremiah caught it before it could close, holding it open as Sam led the way inside, Lucas hot on her heels as Belly and Jeremiah trailed behind.

"Did you know they weren't friends anymore?" Luke whispered to Sam, who shook her head in response as she led them up the stairs to the top floor of the building.

"No clue," she hissed back, taking the stairs nearly two at a time. By the time they reached the top floor, Sam led the four of them down the hallway, pausing outside the familiar door. "Here we are," she said, reaching up to knock, but instead the door began to open as she first rapped her fist against it, having been opened just a crack to now reveal the room in front of them.

"Hello?" Jeremiah called, moving past Sam to enter the room first.

Sam followed Jeremiah into the room, scanning the space around them. Although, to her confusion, nothing in the room appeared out of place, as she had expected. It looked the same as it always had, as if Conrad had just left for a few moments and was due back any minute.

"Hey, look, his bed is made." Belly pointed out. "I mean, things can't be so dire if his bed is made, right?"

As Sam crossed over to Conrad's desk, a voice cleared from behind them, and she looked up to see Ethan Trusky, Conrad's roommate, standing in the doorway, watching them with an alarmed expression. "Whoa, excuse me?" Trusky asked, clad in only a pair of red plaid boxers and an untied fluffy blue bathrobe, his shower caddy in one hand and a towel in the other. "This is my room that you're rifling through."

"Hey, Trusky." Sam spoke up, the boy's alarmed expression fading to one of confusion as he recognized Sam among the group. "Sorry, we just came to look for Conrad."

"Hey, man, I'm Conrad's brother." Jeremiah introduced, stepping forward and extending a hand in Trusky's direction. "We talked on the phone earlier, it's nice to finally meet you."

"Okay," Trusky said, recognition clicking into place as he studied the boy in front of him. "Jeremiah, right?"

"Yeah," Jeremiah confirmed. "Hey, uh, Connie's not back, is he?"

"Uh, I haven't seen him since Thursday afternoon." Trusky explained.

"Did anything else happen before he left?" Belly asked.

"He got into it with somebody on the phone," he explained. "Like, he was yelling and shit."

"And then he just took off?" Jeremiah asked. "Do you have any idea who he was yelling at?"

"I don't know, bro." Trusky said. "The government, who's surveilling us through our devices as we speak." he suggested, causing Sam and Jeremiah to exchange a brief glance.

"Is that the last time you heard from him?" Sam asked.

"No," Trusky said, shaking his head. "He texted me this morning saying that he was gonna miss bio lab and asked if I could take notes. I'd be annoyed, but I spent this whole year copying off of his shit, so I can't really complain, ya'll feel?" he chuckled.

"Mhm," Belly mused. "Would you mind just, like, trying to call him from your phone and seeing if he answers?"

"Yeah, for sure," Trusky said, reaching into the pocket of his robe for his phone as another girl appeared in the doorway, with dark hair pulled in a low bun and a green cropped tank top over a pair of denim shorts.

"Trusky?" the girl asked. "Did I leave my sweater in here?"

"Uh..." Trusky trailed off, tapping his phone screen a few times before pressing the phone to his ear. "One sec, I don't know, maybe..." he pointed to the other side of the room while he listened to the phone for a moment, but then shook his head. "Nope," he said, pressing the button to end the call. "Straight to voicemail. But Sophie might know where Conrad went." he said, gesturing to the girl next to them. They're tight."

"Hey," Sophie greeted, but Belly simply looked back at the girl for a moment before averting her eyes.

"Hey, Sophie," Jeremiah said. "You wouldn't happen to have any idea where my brother disappeared to?"

"Um..." she trailed off, thinking. "I think he said he was going to hang out with his cousin by the beach."

At her words, Jeremiah let out a breath, recognition clicking into place as Sam looked back over at him and Belly. Suddenly it'd all made sense where Conrad had vanished to, the one place they should have thought to look first, at Cousins Beach.

"Alright," Jeremiah said, looking back at the others. "Belly, Sam, Luke, let's go."

"Oh," Trusky said, recognition clicking into place as he looked back over at Belly. "Oh yeah, you're Belly. Yo, when you guys broke up, my man fell into a depression."

"Uh," Belly's voice cut off, the girl looking back at Sam briefly, but the blonde stared daggers back at Trusky, willing the boy to stop talking. "I- I don't think that was because of me."

"No, yeah, it definitely was." he insisted, taking no notice of Sam's eyes on him. "Like, he was always looking at your picture on his phone. Anyways, when you guys find him, tell him that he has to be back for this bio final on Thursday, or he doesn't pass the class."

"Wait, seriously?" Belly asked. "Okay, um, I'll grab his computer, boys, you grab his books so he can study and stuff, and Sam, can you grab anything else you think he might need?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed, moving over to where she knew Conrad kept his backpack on the floor of his closet, picking it up and holding it open for them to deposit the supplies into.

As soon as Conrad's backpack was packed with everything he needed for his final, Jeremiah led them back out of the bedroom, bidding Trusky and Sophie goodbye as they made a beeline for the parking lot. They stopped in front of Jeremiah's red Jeep, and Jeremiah pulled open the back door, setting Conrad's backpack inside.

"Why would he take off like that to Cousins?" Jeremiah asked. "I don't think he's missed a day of class in his life, not even when Mom was sick. Has he?" he asked, looking back over at Sam.

"Never," Sam confirmed.

"Who was he yelling at on the phone?" Jeremiah asked, his eyes glued to the ground. "I mean, it had to have been Dad, right? What could they possibly be arguing about?"

"Yeah, no, no, it was probably Adam." Belly agreed. "I mean, he and Conrad are always disagreeing on something."

Jeremiah's face fell. "I really don't want to get dragged in the middle of whatever bullshit Conrad's in right now, but if something were to happen to him, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

"Hey," Sam spoke up, stepping closer to Jeremiah. "Nothing's happened to Conrad, okay? You know him, he might just be taking his mind off things and is probably out surfing with his phone off."

"Maybe," Jeremiah agreed, though he seemed completely unconvinced. "But it's only been a month since..." he trailed off, an uncomfortable silence settling between them. "You know how he is. He just bottles up all that shit until at some point it explodes. I don't think he has anyone but you, and he's not talking to you. He definitely hasn't been talking to me."

"Do you want me to come with you to Cousins?" Belly offered.

"I didn't need you to come here." Jeremiah said. "I think I can handle things fine on my own."

"No, I know you can." Belly assured him. "But you don't have to. I mean, if you need me to come..."

"I don't." Jeremiah insisted, though his expression softened after a moment. "Maybe Conrad does. He still cares what you think about him."

Jere twirled his keys around his finger for a moment before turning back to Sam and Lucas. "Thank you guys for coming out to help." he said, giving them a sad smile. "Sammie, I'll give you a call when we find him."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, giving Jeremiah a brave smile before nodding at Belly. "Drive safe, guys."

"Bye," Luke said as they climbed into the Jeep, and only after the doors were shut did Luke look back at Sam, only to see the blonde's eyes still trained on the car in front of them. "I know that look." he spoke up again. "What are you thinking?"

"I know this trip was supposed to be about Finch, but I don't think I can just leave Conrad like that." Sam said, finally looking back over at Luke. "What would you say about a slight change in plans?"

"Slight?" Luke chuckled. "I'd say I'm out here for an adventure. And we can either spend that adventure with pizza and beer, or we can spend it being there for your best friend, who really needs you right now."

Sam smiled softly, nodding as the sound of the Jeep's engine roared to life in front of them. "You're sure?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." he agreed, and they made a run for Jeremiah's car, throwing open the door to the backseat and piling inside.

"Fisher," Sam announced as she climbed inside first, scooting to the other end of the backseat to give Luke room to climb in behind her. "Change of plans. We're coming with you."

"You're sure about this?" Jeremiah asked, turning to look at them from the front seat, eyes wide in disbelief. Although, beyond the disbelief, Sam could just make out something in his expression that looked a little bit like relief.

"We're sure." Sam nodded. "Let's go find Conrad."