⌜ chapter nineteen ⌟

"Come on." Eric opens the backdoor as he leads his younger brother back into the house. "Good boy. Good boy. Get you out of the rain."

"Is it raining?" Cory asks as thunder claps outside and there's a flash of lightning.

"Hey, Mommy, Daddy, I found this wounded puppy outside. Can we keep him? Can we?" He asks as Letty walks over to the two boys with towels.

"How'd you get him out of her room like this?" She asks as she takes in the distant look in the younger boy's eyes.

"Well, I fell out of the tree." Eric tells her as Mr. Matthews takes one of the towels to dry his younger son off a bit.

"Cory, I know this is tough on you, son, but you can't go on avoiding life." His dad says as he helps him out of his leather jacket.

Letty's hanging up Eric's jacket as he uses the towel to soak up some of the water from his dripping hair. "You know something, Cor. He's absolutely right." Eric tells him. "I had the same problem when I broke up with Letty. There was a lot of pain, there was a lot of heartache—"

"And then you moped around the house until she showed up, and you found out that she doesn't not love you. She just needed time, which you two don't take, 'cause you never stop acting like a couple." Cory says, and he nods.

"Yeah, I got nothin'." He then walks over to the brunette. "Hold me, I'm cold."

Mr. Matthews shakes his head at him as he then sits down next to his younger son at the dining table. "Listen, Cor, I was thinking. Why don't we just drive down to Pittsburgh this weekend, huh?" He suggests, and Cory starts to perk up. "I need to see some suppliers, and you can spend some time with Topanga."

"I don't think that's the best idea, Alan." Mrs. Matthews says.

"Mom, you know what? I know how you feel, okay." Cory turns in his chair so that he can look at her. "I— You've made it real clear how you feel." He says, and she scoffs.

"My feelings are for you." She says as she sits down on his other side. "I don't want you to be in pain."

"No, you just don't want me and Topanga to be together."

"I don't want you to be sick over Topanga." She tells him. "Cor, she isn't here anymore. To tell you the truth, I think this presents you with a good opportunity to get to know other girls."

"Mom, I don't want to know other girls, okay?" He says as he stands up.

"I don't think that's healthy."

"And that is?" He questions as he points at Eric and Letty. The older boy's leaning against the counter by the sink, and Letty's back is against his chest. His arms are wrapped around her from behind, and her hair's pulled over one shoulder so that he can bury his freezing nose into the warmth of her neck. "They break up and get back together all the time. You call that healthy?"

"Hey!" Eric picks his head up to look at his brother, and Letty flinches from the volume of his voice. "You leave us out of this." He tells him, and Cory looks back at his mom.

"Topanga and I would've been together for the rest of our lives."

"No, you wouldn't have been." Mrs. Matthews argues as she stands up, and he walks behind his dad. "You both have to get to know other people to make a choice like that. I had relationships with four other men before I met your father."

"Ma!" Eric groans, making Letty laugh.

"I know of three." Mr. Matthews says, and his wife looks at him.

"Well, you know what, Mom, I'm sure you'll be real happy to know that I'm not gonna go to Pittsburgh, okay?" Cory says as he starts to turn for the door.

"Why not?" His dad asks. "You and Topanga have a fight?"

"No. No fight. I just realized that I'm the one making all the phone calls." He says as he grabs his jacket. "I'm the one writing all the letters, but I will not be the one who travels three hundred miles to be rejected and look like a fool. So, if life doesn't want me and Topanga together, then you can't fight life, can you?" He turns around as he opens the door.

"Cory." A female voice gets everyone's attention, and Eric and Letty both stand up straight and turn to face the younger two teenagers.

"Topanga."

She steps into the house and out of the rain, and he backs up to give her room. "Aren't you going to hug me?" The blonde asks.

"Well, you know, wet and everything." He says, but then he steps forward and wraps his arms around her. "I missed you. I missed you so much."

"Hi, Topanga." Mr. Matthews greets, both he and his wife smiling.

"Look, they're almost as cute as us." Eric says as he wraps his arms around Letty's shoulders, and she smiles as she leans into him.

"Hi, honey." Mrs. Matthews says. "Do your parents want to come in?"

"I'm not seeing any parents." Eric says as he looks out the window over the sink.

"So, your parents dropped you off?" She asks as Cory closes the backdoor.

"I'm bettin' no." The older boy says, and Letty shakes her head at him.

"I couldn't be without you." Topanga says, still looking up at Cory.

"I wasn't doing too good either." Cory tells her, a smile on his face as he looks at his girlfriend.

"Topanga, your parents don't know you're here, do they?" Mrs. Matthews asks, and she shakes her head.

"No. No, they don't." Eric says, and Letty turns in his arms.

"Babe, shut up." The brunette tells him, and he wraps his arms tighter around her to crush her against his chest.

"Topanga, your parents are going to be very worried about you." Mr. Matthews says as Letty smacks Eric's back to get him to loosen his hold on her.

"Why would they be worried about me now?" Topanga questions, and Eric and Letty stop messing around as they both look back at her. "They weren't worried about me when they decided to move. I told them how much Cory meant to me, and how I couldn't be away from him. They said I was too young to say things like that, that I didn't know."

"So you ran away from them?"

"I ran away to Cory." She argues. "Scarlett, tell them like you told me." She says, and everyone looks at the brunette.

"You told her to do this?" Mr. Matthews questions, and Letty shakes her head.

"No. I would never tell one of them to run away from home and travel three hundred miles in the pouring rain all alone." The older girl says. "Topanga, what are you talking about?"

"At my birthday party, last year, when we were dancing." She says. "You said that sometimes these two do stupid things, but their hearts are always in the right place. You said that you've known since you were six that there was nobody better for you in the entire world than Eric, and that even though you're not together right now, you've known for most of your life that he is the one that you're gonna be with for the rest of your life."

"Topanga, when I was six, I'd already seen two marriages fall apart because of alcohol and abuse." Letty says. "And at sixteen, I was an orphan working two jobs to pay for me and Shawn to survive. I've had another boyfriend, and that was a disaster. Eric's dated other girls. Are you seeing how things are just a little different between the four of us?"

"So, you and I are different, but Cory and me aren't any different than you and Eric." She argues, and Letty looks back at Mr. and Mrs. Matthews.

"I didn't tell her to run away from home. I know how dangerous it is on the road alone."

"Okay. It just got serious now." Mr. Matthews says as he glances up at his wife.

"Topanga, I'm gonna have to call your parents." Mrs. Matthews says as she starts for the phone.

"No, Mom." Cory turns to her. "Didn't you hear what she just said? Her parents don't understand her, okay? Just like you two don't understand me. We want to be together, okay? That's what we want."

"How can you not back me up?" Topanga questions as she turns to Letty.

"Topanga, I'm not trying to belittle your feelings here, okay? I get it, you love him, but sixteen is too young to decide on forever." Letty tells her. "You wanna use me as your example? I didn't know anything about forever two years ago. I was struggling with school, two jobs, figuring out where me and Shawn were gonna live, and I was convinced that I'd end up no better than my parents.

"And since then, I've traveled the country without Eric, lost friends that I thought I'd have forever, helped my best friend save up money for her daughters, fixed my broken relationship with my brother, and lived with Eric both here and on the road for two months." She shakes her head as she looks at her. "The closest thing I've ever had to good parents are the two in this room. And you might not always like what they have to say, but they're the ones who raised these good-hearted boys."

"They're right, guys." Eric says, and he looks at his brother. "Mom and Dad told me to date other girls after Letty and I broke up, just like they're telling you, and I didn't want to either...but I have, and it hasn't hurt mine and Letty's relationship at all. Honestly, I think it's helped, because there's no one I've ever wanted to be with more than her, and I know that because I've been with other girls."

"Good for you, Eric." Cory says as he looks at him. "But I don't need to be with other girls to know that the only one I want to be with is Topanga."

"Topanga, I know you miss Cory, but to come here without your parents' permission — that's just wrong." Mrs. Matthews tells her.

"How can it be wrong, Mom, if she loves me enough to do that?" He questions as he turns back to her. "I mean, I'm sorry I didn't do it myself."

"Help me, Alan." She says as she looks at her husband.

"First of all," Mr. Matthews starts as he stands up. "We are not the enemy. We understand that you two want to be together, but this is not the way to go about it." He tells them.

"I'm calling."

Cory sighs and then moves past his dad to get to his girlfriend. "Listen, I promise no one is gonna take you away from me. I promise." He says before he wraps his arms around her. She presses her forehead against his cheek, and then he turns to look at his dad.

"We have to." Mr. Matthews tells him, and he sighs as he turns back to Topanga.

Mr. and Mrs. Matthews go to talk to Topanga's parents, and Cory takes his girlfriend to get clothes that aren't soaked and freezing from the rain. Eric moves forward and rests his hand on the small of Letty's back, and she turns to him. He wraps his arms around her, and she presses her forehead against his neck as she hugs him back.

It's a little later when the two hear voices carrying from the living room. "I mean, why don't you want us to be together?" Cory questions, and Eric walks through the door, holding Letty's hand so she has to walk with him.

"I hear yelling."

"Eric, upstairs." His dad tells him.

"No, no, no. I hear yelling; I'm not involved. I'm staying." He says as he leans against the fireplace.

"Then put a muzzle on it." Letty pats his side, standing half behind him. And then she wraps her arm around his torso as she rests her cheek against his arm.

"You cannot make adult life decisions without adult life experiences behind those decisions." Mrs. Matthews tells her younger son. "To make them stand up."

"Mom, I love her." He tells her.

"So you say, Cory. But what does love mean to you at sixteen years old?" She questions. "I have been with your father for twenty-two years, and I am just now beginning to realize what love really means." She tells him as she moves closer to her husband, who's sitting in the chair near the front door.

"Wait, right there." Eric cuts them off. "Was I a big surprise?"

"Everyday, baby." Letty pats his chest, and he grabs her hand and holds it there. She can feel his heartbeat under her palm, and it makes her smile that he keeps her hand there.

"Okay, Cory, you educate me." Mrs. Matthews says, ignoring the older boy. "You tell me what love means to you."

"Mom, listen, I haven't been together with Topanga for twenty-two years, but we have been together for sixteen, okay?" Cory tells her. "That's a lot longer than most couples have been together."

"We only have twelve. Why are they beating us?" Eric questions as he looks at Letty.

"You can kick Jason's ass for not introducing us sooner next time you see him." The brunette tells him. "In the meantime, be quiet."

Cory shakes his head at them and then continues. "I mean, when we were born, you told me that we used to take walks in our strollers together around the block. When we were two, we were best friends. I mean, I-I knew everything about this girl. I knew her favorite color, I knew her favorite food. And then we got to be six, and Eric made fun of me because it wasn't cool to have a best friend that's a girl, or to even know a girl."

"Yeah, and you listened to me. Idiot." Eric laughs as he shakes his head.

"So, for the next seven years, I threw dirt at her. I like to call those the lost years." Cory continues as he sits down beside Topanga on the couch again.

"Hey, we only have, like, three lost years where we weren't friends." Eric says as he looks down at Letty again. "Does that mean we've been together longer?"

"Whatever makes you happy." She pats his chest again, and he smiles.

"You were the one who made him throw dirt at me?" Topanga questions, looking at Eric.

"You were a girl, Noogiehead." He says, and Letty laughs as she buries her face in his arm.

"Then when I was thirteen, Mom, she put me up against my locker, and she kissed me. I mean, she-she gave me my first kiss." Cory tells her.

"Why are they ahead of us again?" Eric questions as he looks at Letty.

"They're not ahead of me. I was thirteen when you kissed me." The brunette smiles as she looks up at him.

"You're evil."

"You love it."

"I do." He nods as he returns his attention to his brother.

"Topanga taught me how to dance." Cory continues. "She-She always was talking about these crazy things, and I never understood a word she said. All I understood was that...she was the girl I sat up every night thinking about. And when I'm with her, I feel happy to be alive. Like I can do anything. Even talk to you like this...while those two never shut up." He motions over his shoulder toward his brother and the brunette who's hugging the older boy. "So, that's-that's what I think is love, Mom. When I'm better because she's here." He stands up, and Letty smiles as she rests her chin on Eric's arm so that she can look up at him. "And now she won't be... So, I'm finished." He sits down again, and wraps his arm around his girlfriend.

"I think it's a good thing that Cory's the only boy I've ever loved." Topanga says. "And I was looking forward to doing all of the things that people do who are in love...with Cory. And not with just some guy in Pittsburgh because I'm there."

"Well, should I call the caterers?" Eric asks, and then the doorbell rings. "Never mind, they're here." He then pulls Letty with him as he goes to sit in the chair at the desk behind the couch, and he has the brunette sit in his lap.

"No. That would be Topanga's aunt." Mr. Matthews tells them.

"My aunt?" The blonde questions. "Aunt Prudence?"

"Your parents said they were gonna call her." He says as he stands up.

"Hey, maybe she'll be on our side." Cory whispers, and she shakes her head.

"No, not my aunt." Topanga tells him.

"Well, maybe she'll realize that we're Romeo and Juliet. We belong together."

"Cor, they killed themselves." Letty tells him, and he looks at her.

"Shut up." He says, and she raises her eyebrows as she looks at Eric, seemingly amused.

"Look, my aunt has never been in love, never been married, and wouldn't even know who Romeo and Juliet were." Topanga says, and Mr. Matthews opens the door.

"Hello, I'm Topanga's aunt." The raven-haired woman with the painted red lips and British accent introduces herself.

"Hi, I'm Alan Matthews." He says as he shakes her hand. "This is my wife, Amy."

"Prudence Curtis." She shakes Mrs. Matthews' hand as she walks into the house and looks at the two younger teenagers, who are now on their feet. "Hello, Topanga."

"Aunt Prue." She greets.

"And this must be the young man who has my niece so smitten."

"Hi, uh, I'm Cory Matthews." He steps in front of Topanga. "Listen, you— You're my last chance. Please don't take her away."

"I'm sorry, Cory, but my instructions are to take Topanga home with me and put her on the train to Pittsburgh first thing in the morning." Ms. Curtis tells him.

"Cory, help." Topanga says, and he turns to her.

"Topanga, I don't know what to do, okay? Everyone seems to want us apart." He says as he looks down at her. "Except Dad." He adds as he turns back to his parents. "Dad, listen, you really haven't said anything during this whole time. Are-Are you going to let her take her away?"

Mr. Matthews looks at his wife before he answers. "I don't think I'm gonna have to." He says as he sits back down.

"What?"

"Well, you know, you may have known Topanga since you were born, but I've known your mother, like, forever, okay?" He says as he takes his wife's hand and pulls her closer to him.

"So?"

"So, what I know about your mother, besides her favorite food and color — spaghetti and red — and the thing that I respect in her the most is that she has always put her faith in love. When she sees it, when she recognizes it..." He tells his son. "Which is why she chose me when her parents told her not to, and why we support your brother's less-than-traditional relationship with the girl that he loves."

Letty smiles when she sees Eric look up at her out of the corner of her eye; she's still sitting in his lap. He wraps his arms around her waist and hugs her, and she moves her hand from his shoulder to brush her fingers through his hair. Her dark eyes meet his lighter ones, and then she leans over to press her lips against his temple.

"Yeah, but, Dad, she wants us to have other relationships." Cory argues, and he shrugs.

"Love is faith, Cory. Do you love your mother?"

"Yeah, of course I do." He says, and Mr. Matthews nods.

"Then have faith."

Mrs. Matthews kisses her husband and then walks over toward the teenagers. "It would be...wrong for Topanga to go back to Pittsburgh." She says as she turns to face Ms. Curtis, which takes her by surprise.

"Guess I have a lot to learn." Cory says, and both of his parents smile as they look at him.

"Certainly you're not suggesting that I let some...puppy-love between two sixteen-year-old children interfere with her parents wishes?" Ms. Curtis questions.

"I am suggesting that Topanga was born in Philadelphia...and has spent her entire life here. All of her friends, everything she knows is here." Mrs. Matthews says. "And to rip her out of high school in her Junior year, and drag her to Pittsburgh where she has to make new friends for one year, and then have to leave again for college is irresponsible."

"Are you saying that my sister and brother-in-law are irresponsible?"

"Yes, I am." She nods.

"Then keep talking." Topanga's aunt sits on the arm of the couch, and Mrs. Matthews turns to the teenage girl with a smile.

"I have known Topanga for sixteen years too." She says as she sits on the couch and has the younger girl sit with her. She wraps her arms around her and kisses her forehead. "It's hard not to love her. Everything Cory says she is, she is...and no matter how old Cory is, it will be hard for him to find better." She says as her son sits beside them.

"Mom..."

"You're my son. I never want you to be in pain." She tells him.

"Topanga, Cory, would you excuse us so that I may speak to Mr. and Mrs. Matthews?" Ms. Curtis asks, and Mr. Matthews nods when his son looks at him.

"Oh, we're stayin'." Eric says as the younger two leave the living room.

"Actually..." Letty gets to her feet, and he looks up at her. "I wanna talk to you." She holds her hand out to him, and he takes it before following her into the kitchen and then up to his room.

"Is everything okay?" He asks, and she nods as she looks up at him.

"Yeah, I just, uh... I've been listening to everything tonight, and I realized something." She walks up in front of him and rests her hands on either side of her neck. "I've been working my ass off to do and to be better."

"I know." He nods, his hands moving to her waist. "And you're doing great."

"Mhm. I've given Alec a second chance, Shawn and I are doing fine, school hasn't been too hard, work hasn't been too stressful, I even had dinner with Danny to completely close out and lay to rest that awful chapter of my life." She says, and he nods. "The only thing that I haven't given another chance is...love. You. Cory's right, we act like we're together, but we don't— I don't give it an honest effort. But I want to."

"You wanna get back together?" He asks, and she nods. "Completely together? I can go back to kissing you without thinking that I shouldn't be, and we can go on dates that aren't for special occasions? You'd be my girlfriend again?"

Letty smiles as she nods. "That's what I want. Is that still what you want?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?" He leans down and presses his lips to hers as he pulls her body flush against his. "I love you." He whispers against her lips, and she smiles.