⌜ chapter nineteen ⌟

"I don't want to go out tonight, Hope." Letty says as she watches her best friend get ready for the night. "I'm really not feeling up to it."

Hope glances at her in the mirror as she's putting her short hair up. "And you're never going to if all you do is lay in your room all day and stare at the ceiling."

"Hope—"

"Look, this isn't some kind of set-up, okay?" She says as she turns to face her. "It's just gonna be me, you, and Lina — that's all, I promise."

She takes a deep breath as she looks at her, and then she nods. "Okay." She agrees, and Hope smiles as she turns back to the mirror to finish fixing her hair. "I'm gonna go play with the girls."

"Tía! Tía!" Faith yells when Letty walks out into the living room.

"¿Sí, mija?" The teenager makes her way over and kneels down beside the toddler where she's playing with her fake kitchen set.

"I-I make dinner!"

"You're making dinner?" She asks. "Do I get to have some?"

"Tocino." She smiles as she holds up the plastic food.

"Mm. I love bacon." Letty smiles as she takes what the toddler's handing to her. She pretends to take a bite, and then looks at the little one with wide eyes. "It's hot."

Faith giggles as she looks at her. "Blow, Tía."

"Oh, that's right." She chuckles as she blows on the plastic bacon strip and takes another pretend bite to watch her niece's amusement. "It's delicious, mija. Gracias."

"Wewcome." The little brunette returns her attention to the food on the small stovetop.

"What do you think?" Jason asks as she walks over to the kitchen. He's making the girls' actual dinner: chicken nuggets, Mack-N-Cheese, and green beans. "Tiny chef in the making?"

"Oh, yeah." Letty smiles. "She's gonna have her own restaurant with customers lined up around the block."

"Maybe we should have her spend more time with Reggie." He says, and she smirks.

"Oh, my brother would love that." Lina says as she shuts the apartment door behind her.

"And that wasn't sarcasm." Letty tells him. "He loves cooking, and he likes hanging out with the twins. The only thing he won't do is diaper duty."

"Yeah, I don't blame him." Jason mutters, and the three girls laugh.

"And that's why we appreciate you." Hope says as she makes her way into the living room to say bye to the twins. "Never afraid to get his hands dirty."

"And sometimes they do get dirty."

"Aw, but we all love Tío Jason." Letty says as she moves closer to him. "What would we do without our leading man?" She asks as she reaches up and gently grabs his face under his chin.

"Drive your brother crazy." He says as he looks down at her, and she shrugs.

"Probably, but life's more fun with you." The brunette says as she stretches up and kisses his cheek, making him chuckle as he shakes his head at her.

"You're sure you're alright with me crashing with Scar at the boys' house?" Hope asks as she looks over at Jason, and he nods, nudging Letty over to Lina so she'll leave him alone.

"Yeah. As long as you're back before noon when I have to leave for work." He tells her.

—

The three girls are laughing as they sit down in the living room of the boys' house. They just got back from their night out, and they actually had fun — not that Hope and Lina are at all surprised. It was their plan to help get Letty out of her head for awhile so that she can forget about everything that's been bothering her.

The phone rings, and Letty groans as she looks over at it. "I don't wanna." She mutters.

"It's late. Just let the machine get it." Lina tells her. "It's probably just one of Reggie's moron friends anyway." She reasons, and Letty goes into the kitchen to get them some water.

The machine beeps, and then a female voice comes through. "You're all probably asleep, so I'm sorry if this wakes you." Mrs. Matthews starts, sounding tired and exasperated, and Letty's eyebrows furrow as she turns away from the fridge. "But Scarlett is Shawn's legal guardian, so I want to make sure she's aware of what's going on. He and Cory were arrested tonight, and—"

Lina picks up the phone and answers it. She talks to her for a second before handing the phone over to Letty, who crossed the living room faster than she ever has before.

"Arrested for what?" The teenager asks, and Mrs. Matthews fills her in on what little she knows about the situation. After hearing that Mr. Matthews is on his way to get them, she hangs up and immediately heads for the door.

The three teenage girls are scattered throughout the Matthews' kitchen with Mrs. Matthews when the back door opens and her husband walks in followed by Cory and Shawn. He tells them to sit down, and then he shuts the door behind them. Shawn sighs when he sees Letty, and then he moves for the table with his best friend.

"So, how's it feel to put one over on your parents?" Mr. Matthews questions. "You feel good?"

"No." Cory says, and he scoffs as he moves to stand behind the two boys.

"I cannot believe that my kid stole liquor from my cabinet, like-like— Well, like somebody else's kid!" He snaps as he leans down, looking at Shawn.

Letty stands up straight, pushing herself off of the wall where she's leaning by the stairs. Hope puts her hand out, palm facing her best friend, telling her that she should wait to see where this goes before she starts getting defensive.

"Have they been charged with anything?" Mrs. Matthews asks. "Are they gonna have a record?"

"No, the charges were dropped because they are juveniles and there was no prior arrest." Her husband tells her.

"Cory, this isn't you." She says as she moves closer to the table.

"No, of course it isn't!" Mr. Matthews says as he walks past Shawn. "Somebody influenced him, didn't someone?" He questions as he leans down, ending up inches from Shawn's face.

Lina looks over at her friends as Hope's hand drops, and Letty moves forward. "Get out of his face." Letty says as the boys stare up at Mr. Matthews in shock.

"Alan." Mrs. Matthews looks at her husband, just as surprised as the others.

"No, Dad, okay? You're completely wrong." Cory says, pulling his father's attention away from an incredibly pissed off Letty. "I-I did this completely on my own."

"Come on. You're covering up for Shawn, like you always do." His dad argues.

"Because it's impossible for perfect little Cory to get into trouble on his own accord?" Letty questions, and Mr. Matthews looks at her.

"I'm not covering up for Shawn." Cory tells him. "In fact, I'm the one who got him to drink."

"No. No, no, no, no. Stop protecting me, Cory." Shawn says. "Yeah, you know how lousy he's been feeling. Well, he wanted to feel good. I showed him how."

"Shawn, what— What are you doing?" His best friend questions as he looks at him.

"I am sick and tired of overlooking the influence you have on my kid." Mr. Matthews says as he starts to lean over Shawn again.

Letty moves between them, and the older man looks down at her as he backs up a step. "And I am sick and tired of the way that everyone always looks down on those kids from the wrong side of the tracks." She says. "You are no better than anybody else."

"Alright, that's enough." Mrs. Matthews says as she grabs her husband's arm. "Alan, come into the other room, I wanna talk to you."

"That's probably a good idea." He agrees before following her out of the room.

"Listen, Shawn, wh— Why are you taking the rap for me?" Cory questions as he looks at his best friend.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Shawn says, refusing to look at the girls.

"He's lying." Cory says as gets to his feet, looking at Letty. "I stole the whiskey from my dad's cabinet and took it to the party that we were at tonight. I was already halfway through the bottle before he even knew that I had it." He tells her, and she looks between the two boys.

"I believe you." She tells him.

"Good enough for me." Shawn says. "Let his dad believe whatever he wants."

"Why?" She questions.

"Because all my life Cory's had my back. Just let me take the heat this time."

"But I'm the one who got us into trouble." Cory argues as he looks down at him.

"I'm not in any trouble." Shawn argues.

"The hell you aren't." Letty says as she looks down at him, eyebrows furrowed.

"People expect this from me." He continues, still talking to Cory. "I'm-I'm the screw-up. You're Mr. Teenage-America, especially in the eyes of your parents. They've got you on this pedestal, I'm not gonna let you fall off."

"I have always expected more from you — from both of you." Letty says, and the boys look over at her. "You wanna know what teenage America is? You're looking at it! It's kids screwing up and learning from their mistakes. You both made a mistake tonight. I don't care who stole the bottle, you were both drunk. You're both at fault here."

"Okay." Mr. Matthews says, regaining their attention as he and his wife walk back into the kitchen. "This is what we think. First, we feel that you two need some time apart. Now, this doesn't mean that the friendship is over."

"No. No!" Cory interjects. "Forget it, Dad. Okay? Forget it. I'm not doing that."

"I'm not giving you the choice."

"Scar..." Hope takes a step forward when she sees her best friend's hand ball up into a fist.

"Cory, you were drinking tonight." Mrs. Matthews argues, not noticing the quiet exchange between the girls.

"I don't care, Mom." Cory argues. "Dad drinks."

"I am slightly over twenty-one." Mr. Matthews says as he walks forward, moving past Letty and toward his son. "And when I do drink, I drink responsibly. And when you are ready to do what I do, then you can get out of this house and get a job!" His finger keeps poking into Cory's chest as his son backs away and his back hits the wall.

"Do us both a favor, and take a step back." Letty says as she moves toward Mr. Matthews, and he turns to see that all three girls look pissed and ready to get between them.

"What if Kimberly's party wasn't in walking distance?" Mrs. Matthews questions as her husband moves away from their son. "Would you have driven?"

"Okay, I-I wouldn't drink and drive." Cory tells her. "I'm not a moron."

"You peed on a cop car." She says as she leans forward and rests her hands on the table. "How smart is that?"

"Shawn, get up. We're leaving." Letty tells her brother, and he gets to his feet. Then she turns to the other boy. "Cory, I love you, kid. At whatever point your grounding's up, you are always welcome with us."

"Do I get the nice approach?" Shawn asks.

"Don't toy with me." The brunette tells him. "You'll be lucky if you see a soda again before you're twenty-one. Move your ass."

"Yeah, whatever gets my life back to normal." He says as he starts for the door, moving past his best friend's parents.

"Normal?" Cory echoes, and the others stop at the door as they look back at him. "You know... I-I just broke up with someone that I've spent my entire life with. I don't have a heart anymore. I've lost my life. So I went up to your liquor cabinet, and I took a bottle of whiskey..." He moves past his parents to stand beside his best friend. "...and I made Shawn drink...because I didn't want to be alone."

Mrs. Matthews looks at her husband as he runs his hand down his face, realizing what he did — the mistake that he made. He takes a step forward. "Shawn—"

"Forget it." Shawn tells him.

"No." His gaze flickers between Shawn and Letty. "I was worried about my kid, and I said some things that I shouldn't have."

"That's okay."

"It is not okay...and I apologize." He tells him, and then turns around and walks over to sit at the table.

Cory then turns and looks at his best friend again. "No more drinking?"

"Yeah." Shawn nods. "No more drinking."

"Let's go." Letty says as she opens the door, and Lina and Hope follow her out of the Matthews' house.

The four of them get back to the apartment complex, and Lina and Hope stand by the door as the other two make their way into the boys' apartment. Shawn opens the fridge and then looks at his sister; he's getting irritated, but she doesn't care.

"You wanna pour my orange juice? Make sure I don't spike it?" He asks, but she doesn't respond.

Shawn gets a glass after leaving the carton on the counter, and Letty walks over to the fridge to make sure that there's no alcohol inside. Shawn shakes his head, but doesn't say anything. She shuts the fridge and then starts checking the cabinets for any hard liquor. She's not quiet about it, too pissed to care if she wakes up the older boys.

"You wanna walk me to my room too? Check under my bed?"

"You think this is funny?" Letty questions as he turns to face him.

"I think you're overreacting." He tells her, and she nods.

"Really?"

"It happened. It's no big deal." He argues as Eric walks out to see what all the slamming is about.

"You got drunk and pissed on a cop car. Mrs. Matthews called me in the middle of the night because you were arrested outside a liquor store!" She snaps. "You thought I was mad after that cop brought you back to Jon's? You haven't seen mad, Shawn."

"Nobody was hurt. They dropped the charges—"

"And you were lucky that they did." She shakes her head.

"I don't need—"

"What?" She questions, taking a step forward as she raises her eyebrows. "You don't need me overcompensating in your life because Alec took off from mine? Is that what you're gonna say to me? You wanna try and drive me off again? Go ahead, Shawn, take your best shot. What's it gonna be? My mom abandoned me? My dad killed himself to get away from me? Alec left to take care of his son, who he must've loved more than me? Your parents didn't care enough about me to stay any of the many times that they've left? Eric must not love me as much as he said since he dumped me? Come on, Shawn, go ahead. It's nothing that I don't tell myself already."

"Alright, I think that's enough." Hope says as she stands up straight. "Why don't we all get some rest, revisit any and all conversations after everyone's had some time to cool down?"

"There is absolutely nothing that you can say that's gonna make me back off. Not this time, not with this." Letty tells him. "Now go to bed."

Shawn walks away from his older sister, heading up the stairs and moving past a slightly stunned Eric. Letty's eyes land on the older boy for a moment, and her jaw tightens as she tries to calm down. Then she turns around and starts for the door; Lina and Hope follow her out, and then the three of them go back to Hope and Jason's apartment to crash in the living room.