⌜ chapter one ⌟

"Well, would you look at what we have here — president of the Film Society." Letty smiles as Eric turns around and looks at her.

"You're back!" He drops what he's carrying and runs over to hug her, he then spins her around as he lifts her off of her feet. "I missed you. Never go away for an entire Summer again."

"Eric, we talked all the time while I was gone." She chuckles as she settles back on her feet, but he still doesn't let her go. His arms are wrapped tightly around her, and her smile widens as she  hugs him. "I missed you too."

"Aren't they just adorable?" A female voice says from behind Letty, and she rolls her dark eyes.

"Shut up, Hope."

"Ooh." Dean laughs. "Finally gets back to her boy-toy and she's still all testy."

"He thinks I won't hurt him." Letty tells Eric as she pulls back. "So, what film are you—" She sees the title on the poster and then looks back at her boyfriend. "Paint Your Wagon?"

"It's a cowboy musical." Eric tells her. "And apparently it's Coach Franklin's favorite film."

"Right." She nods.

"I tried asking Feeny if I could show something where people get slashed or gored or disemboweled—"

"Ah, something with a story." She says sarcastically, knowing that that was his argument.

"Exactly!" He smiles, and she chuckles as she looks at him. "He said no horror films."

"Let me guess — violent and twisted characters have no place on a high school campus."

"You were standing there for our conversation, weren't you?" He asks, and she shrugs.

"I was gonna say something sooner, but I got a little distracted by the hair." The brunette says as she reaches up to touch the ends of his hair that's slightly longer than the last time she saw him, a few months ago. "I like it."

"Speaking of new hair — no more curls?" He asks as he brushes her hair away from her face, and she shrugs.

"Sometimes, maybe. I just wanted to try something new." She says as she lets her crunched hair fall forward. "It doesn't look bad, does it?"

"Nothing could ever look bad on you." He tells her, and she smiles as her brown eyes meet his lighter ones again.

"Hey, Scarlett?" A male voice gets her attention, and she turns.

"What's up, Sammy?" The older girl asks.

"Where's that teacher you said would help me if I can't find you guys?" He asks just as Turner rounds the lockers at the top of the stairs.

"Mr. Turner!" The brunette calls, and he looks over at them.

"Oh, Scarlett. I didn't know you were coming back today." He says, and she nods.

"Yeah, we got in last night." She tells him. "Listen, I was hoping that you could help Sam if he needs anything, and we're not around. He's gonna be in your class next period." She tells him, and he nods as she motions to the kid beside her.

"Of course. My door is always open to students." He says. "So, did you, uh, join a big sister program or something?" He asks, and her eyebrows pull together in confusion.

"What? No."

"Sam's my younger brother, Mr. Turner." Dean tells him, gaining the teacher's attention.

"Oh. I didn't realize you were staying in town with her again." Turner says, and he nods.

"For awhile, yeah." He nods.

"Well, I'll be glad to help Sam with whatever he needs."

"Thanks. I appreciate that." Dean says, and he nods.

"Come on, we should get to class." Letty says as she takes Eric's hand in her own.

Turner walks away from them, and Dean goes to help Sam find his first period, with Hope trailing close behind them. Letty moves to take a step, but Eric's grip on her hand tightens and he pulls her back toward him. The brunette turns to face her boyfriend, and his hands move to her hips as he pulls her body flush against his. He then presses his lips against hers, and Letty's hands rest on either side of his face as she kisses him.

"Did I mention that I really missed you?" Eric asks as he rests his forehead against hers, and her lips pull into a smile.

At lunch later, they're all in the cafeteria, and Eric's hanging up more flyers for the movie. It's pretty apparent that Coach Franklin is the only one who actually wants to watch this cowboy musical. People start throwing things at Eric while yelling, "Boo!"

"Hey! Hey, hey! Get off my back, I'm trying to get into college here!" Eric defends himself.

"Boo!" Dean throws his half empty water bottle at him, and Letty punches him.

"Hey, hey, hey! Shut all your traps!" Joey yells as he and Frankie walk over to Eric. "It says Clint Eastwood is in this picture."

"Singing." Frankie tells him, looking disappointed.

"Word around the halls is your ticket sales are a little lackluster, Matthews." He says as he looks back at Eric.

"To that end, we have a business proposition."

"We'll take all the tickets and we'll sell the show out for you."

"Cool." Eric smiles.

"And what's your price?" Letty questions as she walks over to them with Hope and Dean right behind her.

"We want a piece of the profits. See, we got our fingers in every organization in this school." Joey tells her.

"Except the mime club." Frankie adds, and they all look over at them on the other end of the cafeteria. "Those guys give me the creeps."

"I think that's the first thing that you and I have ever agreed on." Letty says, watching the mimes bite at their pretend food in the air.

"Oh, wait a minute, I know what this is." Eric says as Frankie goes to beat up the mimes. Letty then walks over to stand beside her boyfriend. "You guys can forget it, alright?"

"Nobody says forget it to Joey the rat. Ain't that right, Frankie?" Joey asks, still looking at Eric.

"Help, Joey, they got me in that box again!" Frankie yells as Letty puts her hands on Joey's shoulders and spins him around. She then pushes him in his friend's direction, and he quickly goes to help him get away from the mimes.

"Do those two ever make any sense?" Eric questions, and his girlfriend shakes her head as she turns back to look at him.

"No." The brunette says, and his gaze meets hers.

—

Letty and Eric walk into the kitchen at his house and they overhear that Cory's upset about a girl at school, but Mrs. Matthews gets distracted when she sees the brunette with her oldest son. She quickly runs over and hugs her, and Letty chuckles as she hugs her boyfriend's mom.

"Believe it or not, it has been so quiet around the house without you." Mrs. Matthews tells her, happy to finally have her back around the house.

"Yeah, Eric was moping for three months." Cory mumbles from the table.

"Shut up. No, I wasn't." His older brother argues.

"Oh, honey..." Mrs. Matthews reaches toward her oldest and smooths out the side of Eric's hair. "Yes, you were."

Letty chuckles as she looks at Eric. "It's okay. I missed you too." She smiles, and then tells him that she'll meet him upstairs.

The brunette's sitting at Eric's desk when he makes it up to his room a few minutes later. "What are you working on?" He asks as he sits down on the side of his bed.

"English." She sighs as she looks over at him. "What was up with Cory?"

"You remember Topanga, right?" He asks, and she nods. "Well, Cory likes her, but Shaw..." He clears his throat as he looks away from her.

"Shawn." Letty says as she gets up and walks over to him. "I'm a big girl, Eric. I can hear his name without breaking down." She tells him, sitting down on the bed with him.

"You never told me what he said to you to make you leave."

"It doesn't matter." She shakes her head. "I did Summer school in Sioux Falls, traveled the country a bit with my friends, and now I'm finally back to spend some time with you."

"Well, I like the sound of that last one." Eric says, and she smiles as he leans forward to kiss her.

Letty rests her hand on the side of his face as he presses his lips against hers. The kiss starts off slow and sweet, but then becomes more passionate when neither of them breaks it. Eric deepens the kiss as her hand moves up, and her fingers tangle in his light brown hair. She starts to lay back on his mattress, and he crawls over her, neither of them wanting the moment to end.

He's supporting his weight by leaning on his elbow, and his other hand is resting on the side of her face. Letty's free hand moves to his side, and her fingers curl around his light blue button-up shirt. Eric breaks the kiss then and rests his forehead against hers, both of them breathing heavily.

"We should, uh... We should probably cool it here." Letty says, and he nods.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right." He takes a deep breath before pushing himself up and getting to his feet.

"I'm sorry. I know that we've been together for awhile now, but I'm just not ready to do...that yet. And, I mean, especially after what happened with Danny—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, no, come here." Eric stops her rambling as he reaches out to grab her hands and pull her to her feet. "Danny's a jerk, and I should've beat the crap out of him after what he did to you." He says as he brushes her hair back and rests his hands on either side of her face. "Letty, I don't care how long we're together, I never want you to ever feel pressured into doing something that you're not ready to do. Look, I'm ready when you are. But until you are ready, I'm perfectly happy to just make out with you all the time." He smirks.

"That's nice, Eric, thank you. Very romantic." She says sarcastically as she knocks his hands away from her face, but she's laughing a little.

"All jokes aside — I'm serious, Letty." He says as he takes her hands in his and intertwines their fingers. "You don't have to apologize for not being ready, not ever. I'll wait until we're ninety, if that's how long it takes."

"Oh, you know what? That sounds like a great time frame." She smiles as she leans forward and pecks his lips. "Thanks for being so understanding. You're the best boyfriend ever."

He laughs. "Please don't make me wait 'til we're ninety."

"Ooh, wait. Until you're ninety, or until I'm ninety?" She raises her eyebrows. 

"Please don't make me wait 'til I'm ninety-one." He fake cries, and she smiles.

"Eighty-nine?"

"You're lucky you're cute." He says as he leans forward and kisses her cheek. "What happened to your homework? You were doing English, right?"

"No, no homework." She whines as he makes her walk toward the desk. "Let's keep talking about how you're gonna die a virgin."

"And you just keep getting cuter."

—

"Well, cheer up, Eric. It's not the quantity of the audience, it's the quality." Feeny tells the younger boy as he and Eric look at the few students in the chairs before them — the mime club, Letty, and two others. The brunette waves at her boyfriend, and he smiles.

"Quality doesn't get any better than her." Eric says as he waves back at Letty.

Feeny leaves then, saying that the mimes give him the creeps, and then Eric runs across the room to open the door for Frankie and Joey. They let a bunch of other students in, and Hope sits behind her best friend with Dean right beside her.

"Where are Miller, Jason, and Melissa?" Letty asks as she slouches into her seat.

"Jason said, and I quote, my life is a horror film, now get the hell away from me." Dean tells her, and she nods. "And naturally, Mel stayed with him."

"Miller went to hook-up with some girl he's been talking to." Hope adds.

They play the cartoons, and Letty's eating her popcorn as she watches. The curtains close once they finish, and Eric runs out on stage with a smile as he greets the audience. "Hey, hey, hey! How about that coyote? What a moron, huh?" He asks, and people start clapping. "Alright! Well, on behalf of the Film Society and their friends," He motions Frankie and Joey, who quickly hide that they're counting money. "We would like to thank you all for responding to the underground invitations stuffed in your lockers. And now, here to introduce Leon's Revenge, the man you've all been waiting for, he played Leon the gut sucker in parts one, three, and four — here he is, direct from the pits of hell, your worst nightmare." He starts clapping, and everyone else follows suit. "Come on, here he is!" Eric moves out of the way as the lights dim and the curtains open.

The man on stage turns on a flashlight to illuminate his face. "Boo." He says, and Letty chuckles.

"It's Feeny!" Joey yells, and everyone in the audience starts running — everyone except for Letty, Dean, and Hope.

"Alright, we'll see you back at the motel." Hope kisses the top of Letty's head as the lights turn back on, and then she and Dean walk out of the room.

"Mr. Feeny, there's a very good explanation for this." Eric says as he makes his way over to their school principal.

"I'm sure there is." He nods as Letty walks over to the stage where they're standing.

"Yeah, Frankie and Joey hijacked the whole thing because they got their fingers in every organization in this school." The brunette tells the older man, and her boyfriend helps her get up onto the stage beside him. "Eric didn't even know about this until it was already all set up, and he has a hard time telling Frankie no. Personally, I think it has something to do with his dad holding him above his head and using him as a bench press. It's a good intimidation technique."

"And why didn't you speak up sooner, Miss Black?" Feeny asks as she eats more of her popcorn.

"I wanted to see how far they'd get with this whole thing." She shrugs. "Farther than I thought, I gotta be honest, but I applaud your timing, Mr. Feeny."

"Why, thank you." He says, seemingly pleased with himself, and she smiles.