Old Well

The Old Well is a small rotunda on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill and the focal point of Lara Jean’s visit with Chris. Its meaning changes over the course of that visit: what begins as a landmark she wants to see because it appears in the brochures becomes the setting where she first seriously pictures herself at UNC. The place does not settle her choice, but it gives a concrete shape to the possibility of choosing happiness without pretending that distance from Peter would be easy.

Setting and Appearance

Lara Jean singles out the Old Well when Chris asks what she wants to see on campus. She calls it the place featured in the brochures, and Chris immediately agrees to take her there. The campus is quiet during summer break, with students still walking among its buildings; the Old Well stands between two brick residence halls, a small rotunda reminiscent of the larger one at the University of Virginia. A drinking fountain occupies its center, while a large white oak rises behind it and azalea bushes surround it. Their vivid pink reminds Lara Jean of the lipstick color Stormy used to wear, a familiar association that brings a private memory into the description of an unfamiliar campus.

The contrast with the University of Virginia is present from the start. Lara Jean and Chris have been comparing Chapel Hill with Charlottesville, and the Old Well’s resemblance to the UVA rotunda gives Lara Jean a recognizable point of reference. But it is not simply a substitute for the school she had expected to attend. Standing in a place that looks partly familiar and is still distinct, she begins to consider UNC on its own terms.

Campus Ritual and an Interrupted Visit

At the fountain, Chris asks whether visitors are supposed to make a wish. Lara Jean recalls hearing that new students drink from it on the first day of classes for good luck, or perhaps for straight A’s. Chris says she will not need straight A’s at her future school but will accept the luck. She bends toward the fountain, only for two passing girls to warn her that fraternity guys pee in it. Chris jerks back, exclaims in disgust, and abandons the attempt.

The interruption turns a prospective campus ritual into a comic near-miss: the fountain offers the promise of luck, but its ordinary use has made it unfit for the gesture. Chris suggests taking a selfie instead, then remembers that their phones are dead. Lara Jean answers that they will have to keep the memory in their hearts, like people did in the old days. The exchange leaves the visit unrecorded by a photograph and makes the moment depend instead on the two friends’ shared memory.

The Decision to Stay

When Chris asks whether they should head back, Lara Jean hesitates. She cannot explain why she is not ready to leave; the thought that she might never return gives the pause its force. She spots a bench facing one of the brick buildings, sits down, and asks Chris to stay a little longer. The change is small in action but consequential in feeling: the campus has ceased to be merely a stop on a visit and has become a place she wants more time to inhabit.

On the bench, Chris admits that she wishes she could come to college with Lara Jean. Lara Jean is caught off guard by the wistfulness in her friend’s voice and does not correct her by pointing out that UNC is not the school she has chosen. Their conversation makes the visit about more than evaluating a campus. It also registers the approaching separation between friends, while Lara Jean’s uncorrected silence leaves open a future different from the one Chris assumes.

Chris proposes that Lara Jean could go to UNC for a year: whether she attends UNC or William and Mary, she will be away from UVA, and the difference between the alternatives is about an hour. The suggestion makes UNC less abstract and less like a consolation prize. Lara Jean considers the risk that she might love it and then not want to leave; she also recognizes that the possibility of happiness is itself a reason to take the chance, rather than assume in advance that she will be unhappy.

A New Image of the Future

Lara Jean lies back on the bench and looks up at branches from two trees, one beside the building and the other planted on the lawn. They reach over the walkway and meet. The image gives her a way to imagine separation without treating it as a complete severing: she wonders whether she and Peter could be like the trees, far apart but still touching. She then admits to herself that she might be happy at UNC and can picture herself there.

That possibility does not erase the central difficulty of choosing a college. Lara Jean recognizes that Peter is what would be missing wherever she went, including William and Mary or UNC. The Old Well does not make that absence disappear or promise that a long-distance relationship will work. Instead, its setting allows her to hold two ideas together: she can love Peter and still consider a future shaped by her own education and experience.

The thought returns her to Stormy’s advice, recalled from the last day Lara Jean saw her, when Stormy gave her a ring: never say no when she really wants to say yes. In the sequence of the visit, the advice becomes a frame for reconsidering her options. The Old Well is therefore not the site of a final decision, but the place where Lara Jean begins to recognize that UNC might be a real choice—and that fear of leaving does not have to answer the question for her.