⌜ chapter one ⌟

"My dearest Topanga, it's day fifty-eight of my Summer road trip across this great country of ours with my dear big brother, Eric, and his lovely he-wishes-she-was-his-girlfriend, Scarlett." Cory looks between the older two in the front seat of the car as Letty reaches over and rubs Eric's arm because he's getting incredibly irritated with his brother. "This may be the last entry in my travel log because one of my road buddies is becoming ornery."

Eric reaches into the backseat and snatches the recorder from his brother. "Hi, Topanga. I don't know why Cory thinks I'm ornery. I'm actually, you know, pretty happy now that I've got the tape recorder and I don't have to listen to Cory yammer on for two months and forty-eight states about life on the road. And speaking of the road, here it is now." He tosses the recorder out the open driver's window, and Letty nods.

"Tape recorder number seventeen." Cory continues. "The golden rays of the sunset remind me of the golden highlights in your beautiful hair."

"Part of me wants to think he's sweet, the other part wants to puke." Letty says, watching out the front windshield. "My entirety wants to hit him."

"You're insane!" Eric looks in the rearview mirror at his brother. "I mean, how is it that everything you see in this country reminds you of Topanga?" He questions.

"Oh, you exaggerate, Eric. I mean, I did not mention her once during our tour of the White House." Cory argues.

"Hm." He nods. "Topanga's got a desk just like Chelsea's."

"Well, I didn't say anything at the Kennedy Space Center."

"Topanga's favorite movie is Apollo 13."

"Mount Rushmore?"

"Will you look at the lips on Teddy Roosevelt?"

"I said that out loud?" Cory questions.

"You've Topanga-ed us to death, man!" He says as he glances back at him.

"You're tellin' me. I know more about Topanga than I know about myself." Letty shakes her head as she sinks into her seat. "And he was giving us crap when we left Philly. You two better not act all couple-y while we're on the road! I don't wanna watch you make out in forty-eight states!"

"It's only been twelve." Cory says from the backseat. "Are you two back together or something?"

"Shut up, Cory!" They both yell at him.

"Well, I, for one, had a delightful Summer, and there's a part of me that's sorry to see this trip end." He tells them.

"Well, this trip is far from ended." Eric tells him.

"Why are you stalling?"

"Why did you count how many times you saw us make out during this trip?" He counters, and Letty turns in her seat.

"That better not be in your weirdo tapes to Topanga." The brunette tells him.

"Why? Is it a secret?" Cory questions.

"Oh, yeah, 'cause anything about us is secret after everything." She rolls her eyes as she turns back to look out the front windshield again.

"We're three hours from home. We said we'd be home tonight. Home — Mom, Dad, Morgan our sister who loves us. How do you beat that?" He asks, and then Eric sees a sign on the side of the road.

"Entering Pottstown — home of the world's largest yogurt cup." He reads the sign, and Cory leans toward his window to get a better look.

"He beat it." He mutters. "Why aren't you arguing with him?" He pats the side of Letty's head, and she swats at his hand.

"Cory, I grew up in a trailer with an alcoholic. It might as well have been a shoe box." She tells him. "I'm enjoying this, and it's not like we're in danger of missing school just yet."

"Eric, listen to me. We have to go home, and here's why: I'm completely out of clean underwear."

"Eh, big deal. I ran out a week ago, I'm sittin' pretty." Eric tells him.

"Yes, but, you see, I don't know if you've noticed, but I've also run out of pants." Cory says, and the two in the front seat look at each other. Eric glances back at his brother and then screams as he directs his gaze back out the windshield. "I want to go home." He pouts.

"I want you in pants!"

"I second that last one." Letty shakes her head.

They get to the giant yogurt cup, and Letty buys Cory come pants before ignoring the boys as they argue about going home. Eric makes her and his brother take a picture with a giant, pink spoon, and then she walks over to the older of the brothers.

"Hey! I've already seen you two make out in this state!" Cory yells, and people turn to look at them.

"Shut up, you little runt." The brunette says as she glances around at the bystanders. "I wasn't gonna kiss him, but I might now." She tells him, and he groans as he walks away from them.

"What's up?" Eric asks as she turns back to him.

"Not that I'm not totally stoked to spend as much time on the road with you as possible — even with Cory chronicling our every move..." She shakes her head, and he chuckles. "But why are you stalling, Eric?"

"I'm not."

"You are...and I get not wanting to go back home when being on the road is fun, but... Come on, you know this can't last forever." The brunette says. "What's goin' on?"

"Nothing." He shakes his head.

"Okay...for now." She smiles. "But, much as I adore you, I gotta get home eventually. I have school, jobs to apply for, a little brother to fix things with, and an older brother whose ass needs to get kicked...again."

"You adore me?" He asks as his hands settle on her hips and he pulls her closer to him, causing her smile to widen.

"Yes, I adore you." She tells him, moving her own hands to rest on either side of his face.

"I adore you too." He says as he leans down. "And I love you." His lips lightly brush against hers, and she closes her eyes as she wraps her arms around his neck.

"So, you guys are back together?" Cory interrupts, and Eric's jaw tightens when Letty pulls away from him and looks down.

"Hey, Cor, do you wanna die today?" His older brother asks as he looks at him.

"No."

"Then go away." Eric tells him, and he makes a face before he turns and stalks off. "Ignore him."

"But he's right." Letty says as she looks up at him again. "It's what it looks like, it's what it feels like, but I- I can't."

"We already talked about this, Letty." He argues. "I don't care what other people think this looks like, I know what this is. And I'm happy with this, with us...with you."

"The trip's not over yet, right?" The brunette offers him a small smile. "Let's just focus on squeezing out as much fun as we can while it lasts." She places a quick kiss on his cheek and then goes to look for Cory.

That night, they're still not home, and Cory isn't happy. "A motel room. Only three hours from home. I should be in my room tonight, not a motel room in the middle of nowhere with a toilet seat that has not been sanitized for my protection. I don't believe that paper strip for a minute."

"Cory, princess with the multitude of pink spoons on your glasses — shut up." Letty says as she walks over to him. "Half my childhood was spent bouncing around motel rooms. The toilet seat is fine." She then puts a quarter in the magic fingers machine and his bed starts vibrating, causing his legs to bounce.

"That's a little better." He says, and she shakes her head at him.

"I told you, we just got this room so that we can get cleaned up before I take Letty out on a date tonight." Eric repeats as the brunette lays down on the other bed.

"So—"

"Shut up, Cory."

"Eric, I've been a good brother on this trip. I mean, I've indulged in your little whims, I've stayed in hotels so that you and Scarlett could go out alone on a few nights, I kept the complaining to a minimum when you two kiss, I've been very supportive. Why're you doing this?" Cory questions as he walks over to the bathroom where Eric's getting ready now that Letty's done.

"I'm just not ready for the Summer to end yet."

"Well, I am. I mean, I wanna see my girlfriend, I got Shawn, I got school, I got a life waiting for me back at home." He says, and Letty gets up off of the bed.

"Move." The brunette says.

"What?"

"Out of the bathroom." She tells Cory. "Not you." She then points at Eric.

"You wanna make out before we go?" The older boy smirks.

"In a motel bathroom? This place is not sanitary."

"Ha!"

"Yeah, that comment was meant for you." She tells the curly-haired boy as she shuts the bathroom door between him and them. "Why didn't you tell me what's going on?"

"You know, the fact that you're so damn smart is part of what I love about you." Eric says as he looks down at the younger girl.

"Stop trying to flirt with me."

"Never."

"Eric..." She sighs as she walks over to him, and he leans against the sink behind him.

"Look, babe, I did this to myself. I didn't get into college, all my friends did. I don't have a job, so... Besides you, there's really nothing for me to go home to." He says.

"That's not true." She shakes her head as she steps forward to stand between his legs.

"Yes, it—"

"Hey, it's my turn to talk." Letty says as she places her hands over his white t-shirt on his sides, under the red flannel that he's wearing.

"Sorry."

"Eric, plenty of people take a year off before they go to college. So, do some stuff during this year that helps for next year." She tells him. "I need to get a job too, remember? So, we'll look for jobs, and then, in a year, we'll apply for colleges. No, this isn't how you wanted it to go. Yeah, it kinda sucks. But not everything goes according to plan. I mean, look at me for example."

"You? You're one of the smartest, most hard working people that I know." He says as he laces his fingers together behind the small of her back, and she nods.

"Yeah, I am now. But, Eric..." She takes a deep breath. "There's a lot about me that you don't know, that I don't tell you because... I like the girl that I became after I...started to adore you."

"I know what you're saying." He tells her, smiling.

"I like being the girl that you love, but it's not easy to... It wasn't easy getting here, and it's not easy staying here." She tells him. "My dad did make some cash, it just...wasn't exactly in a legal capacity. He ran credit card scams and hustled people out of their money at pool. Aside from the felony aspects of his money scams, I did a lot of the same. Especially as I got older. Dress a little older, go the next few towns over, find a dingy bar, then hustle pool and darts and poker."

"You used to do all that?" He asks, and she nods.

"I still do." She admits, her gaze falling to one of the buttons on his red over shirt. "I've been doing it the whole trip, saving up money for rent, and for Hope and the girls... I guess it's true what they say: old habits die hard."

"You could get hurt going into places like that."

"Why do you think I know how to fight?" She asks as she looks back up at him. "It wasn't just some Summer class, or... John and Bobby taught all of us. They taught us to fight, to hustle, to lie like the story you're telling is the only truth you know. And for years, I thought that that was gonna be my life — cheating, stealing, lying my way through everything. And I'd basically just accepted it. I hated it, but I was so sure that I had nothing else, that I was never gonna amount to anything else. That that was who I was."

"What changed your mind?"

Letty takes a deep breath as she rests her hands on either side of his neck. "You did. I didn't just hate it, Eric, I was terrified of it. And every time I needed to believe that something better was out there for me...I ran to you. When those guys jumped me and Sam, after what happened with Danny, every time the abuse at home got so bad that I couldn't sleep... And somewhere along the way, you became my safest place — my home." She tells him, and he smiles. "And that is why I know that you need yours. I know it's scary, but there are people there who love you, who believe that things will be okay even if they don't seem like it right now."

"You really think that everything will be okay?" He asks, and she nods.

"I believe that things work out for the best. Maybe not right away, but we get there."

Eric smiles as he then leans down and kisses her. "Let's go home." He whispers against her lips, and she smiles. Letty reluctantly pulls back and nods as she looks up at him.