⌜ chapter nineteen ⌟

"Hey, Scarlett?" Turner gets her attention as he walks over to her in the school hallway, and she raises her eyebrows as she looks up at him. "Has Shawn talked to you about the apartment hunt?" He asks, and she nods.

"Kinda. He told me that you said that I could live with you guys if I wanted." She tells him, and he nods.

"Well, yeah, but I meant more... Has he talked to you at all about what's bothering him about it?"

"Uh, no, but... I mean, it's kinda obvious." The brunette says. "Shawn misses his dad, and he knows that his excuses for not being here are bogus. He wasn't with the president, and he's not with the pope. Honestly, I'm not so sure he's even looking for Shawn's mom anymore."

"Yeah, I was thinking that last bit too." He sighs.

"Shawn and I have been moving places our entire childhoods. I kept him out of the motels, but..." She shrugs. "Look, Turner... He appreciates everything you've done for him, we both do, but...you're not his dad. He wants Chet, and it sucks wanting someone who doesn't want you."

"Like your mom." He says, and she nods.

"I gave up on waiting for her a long time ago, and then I gave up on Alec... But just because I finally let go, doesn't mean that it was easy, and it hurt a lot when I eventually accepted that they were never coming back for me." She tells him. "In a lot of ways, Shawn and I are a lot alike, but he's always been... It's easier for him to see the good in people, and it's harder for him to let go just 'cause they do a little bad. He still hopes that Chet will be something that...I honestly don't think he's capable of."

"Yeah... Thanks, Scarlett." He says, and she nods.

Letty's in the cafeteria later, and Eric walks over to her. "Hey, can we talk?" He asks as he sits down beside her with his legs on either side of the bench so that he can face her. "We never got to finish what we were talking about before Cory electrocuted himself, and Alec showed up."

"I was jealous, just like I spent most of our friendship, and you thought that was funny. What's there to talk about?" She questions as she pushes her mashed potatoes around on her tray.

"I did not think it was funny. It has never been my intention to make you jealous, and I didn't mean for you to see me asking her out. I thought you were with Morgan in your room." He tells her, and she nods.

"I was...until the doorbell rang." She says, and he sighs.

"So you saw the whole thing then?" He asks, and she nods. "Look, yes, I was happy when I found out that you were jealous, but not for whatever reason you think."

"Okay."

"If you were jealous, then that means you don't hate me." He says, and she looks at him.

"Of course I don't hate you, Eric. You pissed me off, and then you hurt me...but I could never hate you." She tells him. "There have been a lot of people who've gotten me to a better point in my life than I ever thought possible, and you're one of the biggest reasons that I'm doing even remotely okay. I don't hate you, I just don't wanna be your friend right now if I have to watch you date other girls."

"See, that's why I wanna talk to you." Eric says as he scoots closer to her. "I only went out on that date because I thought you'd never be with me again. But that date ended with her on a date with Turner, and me sitting alone eating a burger wishing that I was with you."

"You set your date up with Turner?"

"Yeah." He nods. "I love you, Letty, and I'm still willing to wait for you till we're ninety as long as I know that we'll actually end up together. You don't have to forgive me right now, you just gotta tell me that you will someday. 'Cause I'm happy with someday, it's never that's making me miserable."

"I do forgive you, Eric, but I'm still not ready to be with you...as more than friends. After Alec showed up, I realized that there's still a lot that I haven't dealt with...that I've still been pushing down and trying to ignore." She tells him, and he nods.

"Yeah, I got that impression too." He says. "So, it's settled then? We're back to being friends, and neither of us are dating anyone else."

"Well, I'm not gonna be dating, but I can't ask you not t—"

Eric suddenly leans over and presses his lips against hers, taking her by surprise. She kisses him back as she straightens up and leans toward him, resting her hand on the side of his face. He smiles as his hand finds hers, and he intertwines their fingers before pulling back to look at her.

"You really should stop doing that." Letty says, clearly still very much affected by the kiss, and he nods.

"Yeah, I know. It just seemed like a nicer way to shut you up than putting my hand over your mouth or saying shut up." He says, and she chuckles. "There's no one else that I wanna date, so you don't have to ask me to wait for you. It's my choice to wait."

"Okay." She nods, and his smile widens as he looks into her dark eyes.

The next morning, Letty and Eric walk into the kitchen from upstairs, earning the attention of both of his parents. "Aw, our son, the tutor; and the only girl to hold his affections for longer than a week." Mr. Matthews says, and she chuckles.

"I don't know if that was a compliment for me, or a dig at Eric." The brunette says, and the boy in question turns to shoot her a dirty look as he gets juice from the fridge. "Ooh, grumpy."

"How was studying with Jeff?" Mrs. Matthews asks.

"Nag, nag, nag. What are you, my mom?" Eric questions as he walks over to where Letty's leaning against the island counter, and he stands next to her.

"Yes. And what a joy it is." She says sarcastically as she sits down at the table with her husband, though he seems to already have realized what he did.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I shouldn't take all my anger out on you, that's what Cory's for." He says and then turns toward the stairs. "Cory!"

"Eric." His dad motions for him to sit down beside him, so he does. "What's the problem?"

"Dad, I recite the entire history of Europe to this kid. From- From Henry IV Edict of Nantes to the Talleyrand the Treaty of Vienna — you know what he says to me?" He asks. "He says, I can burp through my ears. And then he does it!"

Letty quickly walks over to Mrs. Matthews and hugs her where she sits. "Thank you for not letting your son grow up to be the kind of weird that's...just plain scary." The teenager says, and both of his parents laugh. "I mean, seriously. The other guys at our school... Gross."

"Eric's gross too." Cory says as he walks into the room.

"Shut up, Cory."

Eric laughs as he watches Letty walk over to him. "Have I told you yet how much I love you?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

"Not today, but it's still early. Now listen to me." She places her hands on either of his face as she leans down a little, immediately gaining his full attention. "I think Feeny asked you to tutor this kid so that you would learn more yourself."

"I like when you touch my face."

"Did you hear anything that I just said?"

"I always listen to you."

"Then what did I say?"

"Feeny tricked me into being a tutor so that I'd study." He says, and she looks at his parents.

"Why doesn't he listen that well when we're studying?" She asks, and they both laugh again, always amused by their oldest's relationship with the brunette.

"You know what gets me?" Eric pulls her hands from his face, but keeps one of them in his own as he talks. "This kid's got twenty colleges begging him to come there, and I can't get into one."

"Eric, you will get into college, and you will have earned it." His dad tells him.

"Alright, come on, grumpy. Let's get you to the ear burper so that you can keep learning by trying to teach." Letty says as she pulls him out of his seat.

"Can I kiss you again?" Eric asks as he follows her to the backdoor, grabbing his book from the island counter as they pass it.

"No."

"Damn."

They're at school later, and Letty's at her locker when Eric suddenly runs over and wraps his arms around her. She laughs as he picks her up and spins her around before setting her back on her feet. She's still smiling as she turns and looks up at him.

"What has gotten into you?" The brunette asks, and the already present smile on his face widens.

"Feeny graded midterm for History, and I got an A." He tells her.

"Eric, that's amazing. I'm so proud of you."

"You know, whenever I get good news, my first instinct is always to come to you. You're always the first person that I want to share it with." He says, and she smiles as she looks up at him. "My second instinct is usually to kiss you, because you're always the one telling me that I can do better and that you believe in me. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Letty suddenly stretches up onto her tippy-toes as she rests her hands on either side of his face, and she kisses him. He raises his eyebrows, the action taking him by surprise, but it doesn't take long for him to respond. Eric's hands move to her waist and he pulls her body flush against him again as his lips move in sync with hers. His hand settles on the small of her back as she wraps her arms around his neck, and after a few more seconds, she pulls back.

Eric takes a deep breath as he then rests his forehead against hers. "This is the most confusing relationship that I've ever been in." He says, and she chuckles.

"I know, and I'm sorry for all the back and forth." The brunette sighs.

"Hey, I'm not complaining." He smiles as he stands up straight and looks down at her.

"Well, you better get used to it, 'cause nothing in my life has ever made any sense." She tells him as her hands drop to his chest, and he shrugs as he moves his own hand to rest on the side of her face.

"I'll take what I can get until you're ready." He leans down and kisses the side of her head before pulling her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her; she hugs him tightly.

—

"Scarlett!" Shawn's excited as he runs into the kitchen at the Matthews' house. "Guess what!"

"You're gonna have all A's on your report card this year?" She asks, not looking up until she finishes the last sentence of her notes.

"Keep dreaming."

"What's up, kid?" She asks as she looks over at him, and Eric gets up to get himself a water bottle from the fridge.

"My dad's moving back! We can finally go home!" Shawn's smiling, but she looks less than thrilled as she raises her eyebrows. "You're supposed to be happy."

"I am happy." She nods.

"You don't seem like it." His expression falls. "What? It's not good news because you made up with Eric, and now you wanna stay with him?" He questions.

"No. Shawn..." She shakes her head. "It has nothing to do with Eric."

"Then what's the problem?" He asks, and she glances over at Mr. and Mrs. Matthews. "Oh, you have new backup parents, so you don't need my dad anymore."

"That's not... I just need to have something a little more...stable."

"So now you're too good for the trailer park?"

"No. I didn't mean—" She sighs when he turns around and walks out of the house.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Mrs. Matthews asks, and she nods as she looks over at her.

"Yeah, uh..." Letty clears her throat. "It probably wouldn't have been the best idea to tell him that I meant I need something more stable than...his dad, so..." She looks down.

"Scarlett, if you feel that this is the best place for you, then this is where you should stay. Our home is always open to you." Mr. Matthews tells her.

"Thanks, uh... I think I'm gonna go to bed early tonight." She gathers her stuff from the table and then heads upstairs.

Eric's in his and Cory's room later when Morgan walks in and stops in front of him by the foot of his bed. "What do you want, Morgan?" He asks, eyebrows raised.

"I think Scarlett's crying." The little blonde tells him. "She won't talk to me, but maybe she'll talk to you."

"Thanks, Morgan." He stands up and walks out of the room, cutting through the Jack and Jill bathroom to get to the girls' room.

Eric walks over and stops by the brunette's twin size bed in the far corner of the room. Her back's to him and her eyes are squeezed shut because she heard footsteps coming up behind her. Letty knows that Morgan left, but she doesn't know who she went to. He takes a deep breath as he looks down at her.

"Hey. Morgan told me that you seemed upset." He says as he rests his hand on her arm, and she relaxes when she hears that it's him. "I thought I'd come and lay with you for a bit. At least until you fall asleep. That alright?"

She doesn't say anything. Instead, she answers by rolling over to face him and scooting closer to the wall to give him some more room. Eric moves the blanket so that he can lay under it, letting it rest only over his legs. Letty scoots closer to him, and he wraps his arms around her as she curls into his side. She sniffs as she rests her head on his shoulder, then wipes under her eyes.

"You wanna talk about it? Is this because of what happened earlier with Shawn?" He asks.

"It's everything." She tells him. "Sometimes I feel like I'm okay, but then something happens and it feels like this major setback...and I don't know how to keep starting over."

"You're not starting over." Eric says as he rubs her back. "Starting over would be back at the trailer park with your dad, but you can never end up there again. It may not always seem like it, but everything that you make it through is progress, Letty.

"Even though us not being together may not be what we want, you coming to this realization about what you need to do for yourself is a good thing. It's a great thing for you, the right thing. Last year, talking about your brother was so hard that I didn't even know he existed, but now you've talked to him twice; and you said a lot both times that you needed to say out loud, and to him more than anyone. And you recognizing that going back to the trailer park with Chet isn't what's best for you is good, even if it's not what Shawn wanted to hear. Shawn needs his dad, and there's nothing wrong with that, but you need parental figures that you know will never go anywhere or disappear just because things get tough. There's nothing wrong with that either."

Letty takes a deep breath as her fingers curl around the t-shirt he put on for bed. "Thanks, Eric."

"Of course."

"Will you stay with me for a little while longer?" She asks, and he nods.

"Whatever you need." He promises as he hugs her tighter for a moment.

An hour later, Mrs. Matthews walks into the boys' room, and she's surprised to find her daughter in there. "Morgan, you're supposed to be in bed." She tells her as Mr. Matthews walks in as well.

"But Eric and Scarlett are sleeping together." The little blonde says as she looks at the cards for her game of Go Fish that she's playing with her older brother.

"What?" Her father questions.

"She means they're asleep in Scarlett's bed." Cory tells them, looking up from his own hand for their game. "Morgan told Eric that she was crying so he went to talk to her, and he never came back. She was gonna go to bed, but she saw that they both fell asleep."

Mr. Matthews walks through the bathroom, and his wife quickly goes after him and makes him stop before he can wake up the teenagers. "We set rules for those two for a reason, and they are not supposed to be in the same bed." He argues.

"Scarlett was upset, and the door was wide open." She reasons, speaking more quietly than her husband. "You saw her after Shawn left, and she's been having a hard time after what happened with her brother. Leave them tonight, and we'll talk to them in the morning." She tells him, and he sighs before reluctantly agreeing to handle this her way.