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au where conrad and belly both end up at stanford, along with taylor and anika. conrad starts at stanford instead of transferring from brown and becomes the starting quarterback his sophomore year. susannah still passes away, but conrad never finds out about adam’s cheating, so he keeps playing football. he’s older now, quieter, and doesn’t care what his dad thinks, even when adam pushes him toward the nfl draft. conrad’s a senior biology major who wants to go to med school.
belly is a sophomore psychology major specializing in sports psychology. she used to play volleyball her freshman year but had to stop after an injury. for a research paper on student athletes, she decides to conduct interviews across different sports. her list includes a few names—basketball, rowing, baseball—and taylor jokes that she has a good spread. then taylor says, half teasing, “you should reach out to conrad fisher.”
belly laughs it off, saying there’s no way he’d ever say yes. she’s convinced his quiet, standoffish vibe means he’s rude or uninterested. but taylor just shrugs and says, “send the email. worst case, he doesn’t answer and graduates, and you never see him again.”
belly sends it, half as a joke. to her surprise, conrad replies.
and that’s how everything starts—one research email, a football game, and a connection that neither of them expected.
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