| This article is about the book character. You may be looking for the TV character. |
May Contain Spoilers!
| “ | I see you again and everything I planned goes to shit. It's impossible... I love Jere more than anybody. He's my brother, my family. I hate myself for doing this. But when I see you two together, I hate him too. Don't marry him. Don't be with him. Be with me. | ” |
— Conrad, opening up to Belly[src]
| ||
Conrad Fisher is a main character and protagonist of The Summer I Turned Pretty.
He is the eldest son of Susannah and Adam Fisher and older brother of Jeremiah as well as a love interest towards Belly, whom he secretly is in love with during the series. He is known to often push his loved ones aside and keep all of his emotions and feelings inside and rarely, if ever, expresses them. His unknown feelings and seemingly impassive and hurtful actions frequently leave his family and friends frustrated with him, as they are usually left to wonder what he is actually feeling.
It is not until We'll Always Have Summer that he finally begins to reveal his true inner feelings instead of choosing to keep them hidden. It is stated several times throughout the series that Conrad wants to become a doctor and in We'll Always Have Summer, Belly states that Conrad has begun working in a medical lab.
NOTE: This page contains spoilers for the trilogy.
Appearance and Personality
Conrad is shown to be very quiet, brooding and deep. He is something of a introvert, never being loud and outspoken like his brother Jeremiah. He hardly, if ever, speaks his voice and opinions; always keeping his most innermost thoughts to himself. He is known to push away his loved ones aside and is thus seen as an "asshole" for his impassive and seemingly emotionless actions. Susannah, his own mother, has said that Conrad "always keeps everything locked inside" and that even she is often left to wonder what he is truly feeling.
Physically, Conrad is described as being "dark, dark, dark" with a "smirky kind of mouth". By The Summer I Turned Pretty, he had grown to be tall with his hair cut short around his ears and "dark as ever". Unlike his brother Jeremiah, he spends most of his time playing his guitar and alone rather "on the football field" although he was on the football team of his high school. He has also said that he loved the sport and gained considerable recognition through his hometown for his talent in it. He is most popular among the girls for his good looks and being seen as hard to get. This is seen with Taylor upon her first visit to Cousins Beach when she initially wants to hook up with him, being attracted to his good looks.
Despite his usual cold give off, Conrad is eventually seen to actually being very vulnerable emotionally-speaking. Despite hurting his loved ones unintentionally, his true goal is to look out for his friends and loved ones. He is willing to do whatever it takes to make them happy, even at the cost of his own. This is most considerably seen when he lies to Jeremiah about his true feelings for Belly and pushing her toward him, trusting Jeremiah to take good care of her when knowing he currently wasn't able to. This also being done out of his belief that, if he had kept her, it would only end in him hurting her again and refusing to risk doing so yet again.
His feelings for his loved ones happiness is especially seen in We'll Always Have Summer. This being when he keeps his actual feelings about Jeremiah and Belly's engagement quiet due to his promise to Susannah that he would look after the both of them. He does his best to do this despite how keeping his true feelings for Belly a secret greatly pains him.
Conrad finally speaks up about his own feelings in We'll Always Have Summer when he grows tired of putting other people's happiness ahead of his own and keeping his emotions tucked away. This takes place after he discovers how Jeremiah cheated on Belly, going against the reason he decided to let him have her, leaving him furious. He finally decides to confess his long hidden and repressed feelings to Belly. This, in which, is considered by fans to be one of the most emotional scenes in the trilogy.
He openly cries while begging Belly not to marry Jeremiah, even tightly wrapping his arms around her while pleading for her to be with him instead, desperately asking if she still loved him at all. This is shown to be the highest amount of emotion Conrad has ever openly displayed in front of someone. He even later comments on the scene, saying he laid himself "fucking bare" to Belly.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
In the pilot book of the trilogy, Belly arrives at Cousins for yet another summer with Susannah and her two sons, the eldest of the two, Conrad and the younger one, Jeremiah. It becomes clear the second Belly steps out of the car to approach the boys, that they finally see her no longer as Steven's little sister, but as a girl now. Belly has always had a crush on Conrad since she was little, but will something bloom with her and Jeremiah? She starts things with a boy name Cam Cameron as Jeremiah would say. But she realizes things won't work out so she breaks things off with him in the end of the novel.
It's Not Summer Without You
After her relationship with Conrad crashed and burned and Susannah's cancer finally killed her, Belly is left with a first summer in her home town instead of at Cousins. However when Jeremiah calls Belly telling her Conrad's gone missing, she finds herself at Cousins once again. Can the three finally patch their wounds up and mend things after Susannah's tragic death and form a life without her? And who will Belly end up with this time? Meanwhile, Jeremiah is growing tired of burying his feelings for Belly. He decided to let Conrad have her the first time, but will he be so kind this time? Or will he finally take what he's wanted all along?
In the end, Jeremiah makes his feelings known to her, kissing her in his car. Belly finds herself kissing him back and as the two start making out - Conrad walks in on them with a rather pale struck face. He jerkily walks away from the scene, with Belly fleeing after him. As he turns to face her, Conrad is on the verge of fury. They argue and Belly in the end runs from the scene, finally realizing that Conrad will never admit to loving her.
At a motel when raining gets too heavy to drive home, Conrad tells Jeremiah while Belly is in the shower that he can have Belly and insists to him that he's over her. This results in Belly and Jeremiah getting together in their car ride home together while Conrad calls a friend to pick him up. The tension finally eases and Belly and Jeremiah are left truly believing that Conrad is finally over Belly and they can all move on in their lives...
What they don't know is that Conrad had lied and is more than still in love with Belly and is nowhere near getting over her.
We'll Always Have Summer
In the summer finale, Belly is going well in her ongoing relationship with Jeremiah. Things seem to be going perfect in the two years that have passed since the events of the previous novel - until she discovers Jeremiah cheated on her and slept with another girl on his school break. Belly is angered and horrified when discovering this and spends days literally in bed crying. Jeremiah pleads with Belly for forgiveness insisting his tryst meant nothing to him and that he loves her. In an act to prove his guilt, he proposes to her to which Belly hesitantly accepts.
The two soon think their life is going to be perfect after moving past his mistake. But what they don't know is the family isn't going to be as happy about the couple's plans for marriage as they are. Especially Conrad. Meanwhile, Conrad has not gotten over his mistake and has been regretting his decision to let Jeremiah have Belly and is more than still in love with her. After Laurel and Belly have a fall out about her and Jere's engagement, Belly is rendered no choice but to stay at Cousins until her wedding with Jeremiah... where Conrad is also living at. The arrangement slowly surfaces old feelings between the two and Belly is left questioning if she has ever truly gotten over Conrad and if marrying Jeremiah is truly the right thing to do.
Relationships
Conrad is revealed to have had at least several relationships or flings with various girls. Due to his attractive appearance and alluring personality, girls are rather easily drawn to him. However, it is implied not to be often that Conrad actually feels a truly deep and sincere emotional connection to a girl. His ex-girlfriend Aubrey was, for a time period, believed to be the only girl he was ever emotionally attached to.
However, it is later revealed and emotionally to admitted by Conrad that Belly is actually the only girl he has ever genuinely loved and likely ever will. He describes his feelings for her by saying how he doesn't feel like she will ever leave his heart. Due to his strong emotions for her, Conrad did not know how to properly handle these feelings and decided to bury them for most of the series until the final novel when knowing he could lose her forever if he didn't confess how he felt.
Belly Conklin
- Main article: Belly and Conrad (Book Series)
- "I don’t know if I’ll ever get you out of my system, not completely. I have… this feeling. That you’ll always be there. Here. (Conrad clawed at his heart)"
- — Conrad to Belly in We'll Always Have Summer
He has been Belly's crush since early childhood, a fact well known by everyone. Even though he is fond of her due to growing up with her, he never returned the feelings. Despite his character being something of a jerk or "asshole" to everyone due to never expressing his true feelings and keeping it all bottled in, it is hinted at throughout the novel that he has developed feelings for Belly. This is implied when he shows several examples of getting either overly protective or jealous when guys begin flirting with her. Due to Belly wanting to explore the party scene and her romantic options with boys, this annoys her and leads to tension between the two. However, at the end of the novel, he gets together with her.
However, by It's Not Summer Without You, their relationship proves to be short lived when Conrad's unstable emotions following Susannah's illness and death suddenly ends their relationship on a sour note. In spite of their crash and burned relationship, Conrad still shows several - although mixed - signals of still harboring feelings for Belly. Despite his strong feelings for her, Conrad refuses to act on them since he knows that after barely enduring the loss of his mother as well as his father's emotional abuse, he is unable to be what Belly emotionally needs. He lies to his brother about being over Belly and allows him to take his fair chance with her, wanting to focus on his brother's happiness as well as Belly's. During the years afterwards, he focuses on fixing his own personal issues while attending Stanford to pursue a medical career and letting the two be happy.
In the third and final novel, We'll Always Have Summer, Belly and Conrad have only seen each other once in two years following the previous novel and basically have had no contact with each other. While Conrad still wishes for Belly and Jeremiah to be happy, seeing them together greatly pains him. Upon the two making their announcement of their engagement, Conrad is the only one who remains totally impassive in terms of reaction and does not look at Belly when he leaves. However, due to her mother kicking her out of the house, Belly stays at Cousins Beach until her wedding day. She soon discovers that Conrad is staying there as well and the housing situation causes old and buried feelings to re-surface between the two.
Conrad does his best to stay away from Belly, through his narrative he names her as the only person that he doesn't trust himself around due to her being the one thing he wanted but couldn't have. Despite his efforts, he finds it harder and harder to resist his true feelings for her. He ends up helping her with her wedding planning since Jeremiah pretty much leaves it all to her. However, the time they spend together only serves to increase the lingering romantic tension between the two. Soon enough, Conrad finds himself emotionally conflicted regarding his relationship with Belly as well his true feelings about her engagement to his brother.
After finding out that Jeremiah cheated on Belly during his bachelor party, Conrad is left outraged since he thought Jeremiah would take care of Belly and abruptly leaves to calm down. Unable to deny his love for her any longer, Conrad meets back up with Belly along the beach and passionately declares his love for her. He admits that despite everything, he feels that she is the only girl he will ever truly love and it is how he has always felt about her. Despite his heartfelt confession, Belly brutally rejects him - stating he is too late.
When Jeremiah finds out about his brother's confession, Conrad and him get into an intense fight over their love triangle with Belly. This ultimately results in Jeremiah disowning Conrad as his brother. After his violent confrontation with his brother, Conrad says goodbye to Belly to give themselves time apart. Before leaving, he gives her the infinity necklace he failed to give to her years prior (during The Summer I Turned Pretty) along with saying that he will always love her - declaring that loving her was worth all the trouble. After giving her a kiss on the forehead, he leaves. After this, Conrad and Belly stay apart for three years (though begin to letter write to each other after the first year while she is in Spain for her studies).
During the time period Conrad began writing letters to Belly, she did not initially respond to his letters. After seeing that she was not going to answer, he soon begs for her to write him back and admits that he needed to hear from her desperately. After he does so, she begins writing him back. After this, it is implied they remained in contact through their letters to each other. He shows up at her college graduation, resulting in their reunion as a couple again. He proposes to her after being in a relationship with her for about a year - if not little over - afterwards.
The epilogue shows the couple just happily married with Belly as his wife, starting a new life for the newlyweds, marking the end of the series.
Quotes
- “He was marrying my girl, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I just had to watch it happen, because he was my brother, because I promised. Take care of him, Connie. I’m counting on you .”
- “I’m sorry for screwing everything up."
- "I love Jere more than anybody. He's my brother, my family. I hate myself for doing this. But when I see you two together, I hate him too."
- "Don't stay out here too late. You never know what kind of monsters come out at night."
- "Fine. We'll be sure to have lots of fun without you."
- "Do you remember infinity?"
- “I hated to leave her and I hated to be near her, because she made me remember what I wanted most to forget.”
- “I never once cheated on you. I never even looked at another girl when we were together.”
- “I still love you.”
- “I would rather have had someone shoot me in the head with a nail gun, repeatedly, than have to watch the two of them cuddling on the couch together all night."
- "Are you still coming with me?"
- "Good night Belly."
- “What now with you and Jeremiah or with you and me?”
- “I need you to know that no matter what happens, it was worth it to me. Being with you, loving you. It was all worth it.”
- “I punched my hand through the water. I wanted to kick his ass. 'This is between me and Belly.' Smug piece of shit."
- “Who the hell is Corky Wheeler?”
- “Yup. She’s my girlfriend."
- "You can't put love on a scale. Either you are or you aren't."
- "Wait!"
- "When you were really little, you hated carrots. You wouldn't eat them. But then I told you that if you ate carrots, you'd get X-ray vision. And you believed me. You believed everything I said."
- "It's not all of a sudden. It's always."
- “I laid myself fucking bare last night! I put it all out there, and you shut me down. Rightfully so. I get that I shouldn’t have said any of that stuff to you."
- "Don't marry him. Don't be with him. Be with me."
- "I knew I had to be careful. I had to keep my distance."
- "You broke my heart last night, all right? Is that what you want to hear?”
- "If she knew how much I still cared, it was all over. I wouldn’t be able to walk away again. The first time was hard enough.”
- "Earlier when I said I never wanted you. I didn't mean it."
- "I thought your specialty was cocoa."
- "Not interested."
- "Now go back to bed like a good girl."
- “I don’t know if I’ll ever get you out of my system, not completely. I have… this feeling. That you'll always be there."
- "Don't give her that. She's a kid for God's sake."
- "I go wherever you go." (final line in series)
Trivia
- He tans easily in the summer, but loses a majority of his tan during the winter.
- He held a talent at football before giving up the sport, even gaining high recognition in his hometown. Everyone wondered why he suddenly quit given his talent and love for it, to which he claimed it got boring. However, in We'll Always Have Summer, he reveals that he quit because his father loved his success in the sport. Due to how his father frequently mistreated Susannah and had a rather selfish and abusive personality, Conrad wished to distance himself as far from his father as possible.
- Conrad briefly began smoking in The Summer I Turned Pretty before appearing to have quit by the end of the novel. He is not mentioned to have smoked since.
- He hates sugary drinks and enjoys McDonald's food.
- Conrad exercises on a consistent basis, usually running or hitting the gym, leaving him in good shape.
- He is known to enjoy playing the guitar.
- Despite being very quiet, Conrad is shown to be very much aware of everything going on around him and remembers every little thing that has ever happened to him or his family years later. In a flashback taking place in the first novel, Belly even takes note of how Conrad is the type of person to know if "the neighbor's dog had more crust in its left eye than its right".
- After his mother died of breast cancer, Conrad decided to become a doctor and began working in a medical lab while at Stanford in California.
- Conrad dated a girl named Aubrey who was considered to be his first serious relationship and the first girl he loved. However, Susannah wrote in a final letter left for Conrad that she ever saw him genuinely in love once - with Belly. This, in which, he later confirmed when telling his college friend Agnes in We'll Always Have Summer that he has only ever been in love once and revealing it to have been with Belly. He further says during the novel how he personally believes that Belly is the only person he is ever going to love and truly be with.
- Conrad is a fan of older, classic films such as Casablanca.
- He describes himself as a geek as a kid. He says this given how he had a stamp collection, a chemistry set and was obsessed with encyclopedias.
- He has only ever cried in front of two people in the series. He cried in front of Belly when begging her not to marry Jeremiah and confessing his love for her. The second time is when Laurel privately asks him how he is coping with Belly's wedding and tells him how hard she knows it must be for him given his love for her.
- It is possibly implied that he had a crush on Laurel when he was a young boy and even called her "his Laura". When older, he holds a deep maternal love for her and thinks of her as a mother figure much like Susannah.
- After moving out and living on his own, he is forced to learn how to cook and make meals on his own. He admits how he has eaten almost nothing but chicken every day since it is the one type of food he knows how to properly cook. Belly and Jeremiah both agree, however, that his home cooked meals are quite good.
- He used to collect stamps when younger as a kid and kept them in a photo album his father had got for him. He was so serious about his stamp collection he wouldn't let anyone touch it without permission. One time when Jeremiah used his Abraham Lincoln stamp given by their grandfather to send a postcard, it left Conrad so mad he cried. He defended his reaction even years later by saying how rare of a stamp it was.
- He is allergic to peaches, with his mouth getting itchy every time he eats one.