⌜ chapter twenty-eight ⌟

"Hey, can I kill you?" Letty asks as she looks at Hope. She's annoyed because the two girls are chaperoning the prom that Shawn, Angela, Cory, and Topanga are at.

"I was homeschooled my Senior year, remember? I didn't get to have a prom." She says as she looks at her best friend. "Humor me, just for a little while. We won't stay the whole time, I promise. I mostly wanted to see what it all looks like, maybe dance to one song."

"Fine." She sighs.

"Ooh, look! It's Jack." Hope grabs her hand, knowing that Letty will try not to go with her because he's standing next to Eric.

"Hey, look, there's a band." Jack says as he points out the stage.

"Oh, wasn't there a band at your prom?" Eric asks, not noticing the girls as they walk up beside him and Jack.

"There might've been. All I can remember is being in the back of the limo with Karen Uzelle."

"That's romantic." Letty says sarcastically, and Eric looks down at her.

"You know, I can't even remember my own prom because I was so preoccupied with what might happen after." He tells them.

"Anything happen?" Hope asks as she looks up at him.

"None of your business." He looks away from her, and she laughs. "Oh, like you..."

"Yeah, change that thought, buddy." She nods. "I was already a mother by the time kids my age were at their prom. I had already had sex while you were still waiting for after prom."

Letty laughs as Jack narrows his eyes at her. "Poor, Jackie." She pats his arm.

"And what about you?" Jack asks as he looks at her. "What happened after your prom?"

"Exactly what you were hoping for." She tells him, and he glares at her.

Eric chuckles. "Wasn't the first time either." He adds, and Jack's glare turns to him.

"You." Shawn walks over suddenly, pointing at his sister. "You asked Mr. Matthews to have...the talk with me before we came here."

"Yes, I did." Letty smirks. "Was it awkward?"

"You're evil." He says, and she nods. "Who did you have...the talk with?"

"You know, if you can't even say the word sex, you shouldn't be having it." She tells him, and he narrows his eyes at her. "You look like your brother."

"Stop avoiding the question."

"I'm not avoiding anything." She shakes her head. "It was a conversation that Eric and I had a few times, but I wasn't ready, and he always respected that. When I thought I might be ready, I talked to Mrs. Matthews, just like she told me I could before. Yeah, it was awkward when I went to talk to her, but I was glad that I did."

"How old were you?"

"When?"

"Why are you being a pain in my ass?"

"Hm-m" She shakes her head. "The first time Eric and I talked about it? Or the first we had sex?"

"Why do you gotta—"

"You're not ready." Eric shakes his head, and Shawn looks at him.

"What?" The younger boy questions.

"She's right. If you can't say the word — can't hear it without getting weird — you're not ready to be doing it." He tells him. "It's not a game, Shawn. It's serious."

"Yeah, you don't wanna end up like me, do you?" Hope asks. "I mean, I love my girls, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. But I've been really lucky. You have to be careful."

"I was sixteen the first time that Eric and I talked about it." Letty says, and Shawn looks back over at her. "I told him I wasn't ready. He had multiple awkward conversations with his dad, and we talked about it more over a couple years. We didn't have sex until I was eighteen."

"And she was on birth control." Eric adds, and she nods. "And we used other protection."

Shawn blinks as he looks between the four of them, then his eyes land on Hope. "Did you use protection?" He asks, and she nods.

"I wasn't on the pill, but Dean had a condom." Hope tells him.

"Look, man..." Jack pats his brother's shoulder. "Even if you think you're ready, you're not doing anything if Angela isn't ready. Have you talked to her about any of this?"

"Uh... No." Shawn shakes his head.

"Go talk to your girlfriend." Letty tells her younger brother. "And then I'm sure you'll find that your prom night is gonna look a lot like Jack's." She says, and the older Hunter boy doesn't seem amused when he looks back at her.

The younger boy leans toward Letty. "Can we pretend we never had this conversation?" He asks, his voice low.

"No." She shakes her head. "I don't think that sounds like a responsible guardian."

"But it's responsible to talk to me about...sex?"

She tries not to laugh at him. "You're adorable, and yes." She nods. "Telling you not to do something has never worked anyway. But it's not my job to stop you from doing it, Shawn. It's my job to make sure you're responsible and respectful when you do."

"Huh." He turns and starts to walk away, but then he turns back to look at her. "You're a good parent, you know? Best I ever had." He tells her, and she smiles as he then makes his way back over to his girlfriend.

"Okay, now that the small one is taken care of... Who wants to dance with me?" Hope asks as she looks at her three friends.

"We're supposed to be chaperoning the dance." Letty says as she looks at her.

"So, Jack then? Great." She smiles as she grabs his hand and pulls him toward where the others are dancing.

"She did that on purpose, didn't she?" Eric asks, and Letty nods.

"Yeah, I think they both did." The brunette tells him. "Unfortunately for them, I think I should go talk to Topanga."

"Why?" He asks, eyebrows furrowed.

"Well, if Shawn has sex on the brain, I think it's safe to say that he's not the only one." She says, and he nods. "Cory doesn't usually follow too far behind, and I don't really know how comfortable Topanga would be talking about this with her aunt...who I genuinely think hates love. I went over there a couple weeks ago...and the woman kinda scares me." She says as she looks up at him.

"Huh... I should probably find Cory then."

Letty talks to Topanga for a bit, and she can tell that the younger girl thinks she's ready, but Letty doesn't think so. However, it also seems like Topanga and Cory may need to find that out on their own, the same way that Letty did. That being — while it seems like it might happen during a rather...heated encounter. And she knows that Topanga's outspoken enough to tell Cory that she can't, and he's a good guy that'll always listen to her.

A little while later, Eric runs over saying that he needs Letty's help. He seems frantic, which confuses her, so she follows him and they take the elevator upstairs.

"Eric, what are we doing?" The brunette questions as they get off the elevator, but he walks over and starts pounding on a door. "Eric?"

"Okay!" A male voice yells from inside, and then the door opens.

"Don't do this!" Eric yells as he enters the room.

"Hey, Cor." Letty walks into the doorway, obviously confused.

"Cory? Topanga?" Eric questions as he looks between the two of them. "Where's Dad?"

"What?"

"Eric, do you not see this?" Cory asks as he holds up the DO NOT DISTURB sign that he just pulled off the handle on the outside of the door.

"Wait a second, the guy said this was the Matthews' room." Eric says as he looks at his younger brother.

"It is. Now get out."

"So, it's just you and Topanga? Alone in a hotel room?" He questions. "On prom night?"

"And you're helping him with his insanity?" Topanga asks as she looks at Letty. "Are you two..."

"No. And I have no idea what's going on." The brunette tells her.

"Well, get him out of here!" Cory yells as he looks at Letty, and she raises her eyebrows as she turns to look at him. "Please?"

"Topanga, everything's still okay with what we talked about earlier?" She asks as she looks back at the younger girl.

"Yes, Scarlett, I'm okay." The blonde tells her.

"Be respectful...or die." Letty says as she points at Cory. "Eric, can I talk to you in the hallway, please?"

Eric and Letty leave the room, and he immediately moves for the elevator again. "I saw my dad checking into the hotel, and he was with a woman who isn't my mom." He tells her, and her eyebrows furrow as she looks at him.

"No, Eric..." She shakes her head. "Your dad would never cheat on your mom."

"I saw them. He was hugging a woman with bleach blonde hair. And when I saw my mom yesterday, that wasn't what she looked like." He gets off the elevator and starts yelling at the man handling the check-ins for the hotel, wanting to know which room his dad got.

They get off the elevator on the same floor a little while later, and they hear Mr. Matthews saying a name that's definitely nothing like Amy. He called her Shavaughn. He happily runs over to the ice machine as Eric backs into the elevator again, and Letty looks up at him as the doors close.

"Um... Wha- What do you wanna do?" Letty asks, and he looks at her.

He pauses for a moment and then hits the button for the floor that his dad's on. As soon as it opens, he walks out of the elevator, and Letty follows him. The two see Mr. Matthews standing in the hallway in just the hotel robe.

"You thought you could get away with it, didn't you?" Eric questions as he walks over to him, and his dad turns to face him. "How could you do this to my mother?!"

"Uh— W— Um..." Mr. Matthews glances at the door behind him. "Nobody planned this. I mean, it wasn't...something we planned on. It just...kind of happened, you know? It was like one of those...wonderful miracles that's happened to me three times before already."

"You- You've... Oh my—" He steps back, looking disgusted.

"You don't even live in the house anymore. It's not like I'm asking you to give up your room."

Eric pauses and then turns to look at Letty. "Are you confused too?" He asks, and she nods.

"What are you two talking about?" Mr. Matthews asks as he looks between the younger two.

Letty looks back at him then. "Eric saw you with some blonde woman at the check-in desk, and then we heard you call her Shavaughn." She tells him.

"I gotta know who's in there." Eric says as he points at the door directly behind his dad. "Come out! Now!" He yells, and then a teenager with dirty-blonde hair walks out. "Topanga?"

"Isn't that the room that we were in the first time you talked to the guy downstairs?" Letty asks, and the door beside it opens as Cory and Mrs. Matthews walk out. "Oh, thank God."

"What the hell is going on here?!" Eric yells as he looks between the four of them.

"What are you guys doing here?" Cory asks as Mr. Matthews moves away from the teenagers so that his wife can walk over to him; he wraps his arm around her.

"Well, kids..." Mr. Matthews looks at Eric and Letty. "This is Shavaughn." He tells them, and Letty looks up at Eric.

"Does your mom have a secret sibling too?" The brunette asks, and the older boy gives her a deflated look. "What? I'm uncomfortable, and this is how I deal... You used to think that it was cute." She mutters as she moves away from him, and Topanga offers her a sympathetic look as she holds her arm out to her.

"What's going on?" Topanga asks as she links her arm with Letty's, and the older girl focuses her attention on Mr. and Mrs. Matthews.

"We're celebrating!" He tells them.

"We were gonna tell you tomorrow, but..." Mrs. Matthews says, a smile on her face.

"We're having a baby!" He says, and they all smile at the unexpected news.

"You're having a baby?" Cory echoes.

"They're having a baby!" Eric yells.

"Wait, so, you're having another kid?" He asks as he looks at their parents.

"Yes, we are." Mr. Matthews nods. "And we're thrilled about it." He tells them before leaning down to kiss his wife.

"Is this something you planned?"

"No, Cory, it isn't." He says as he moves around his wife to talk directly to him. "You know, it's like I told you before. Sometimes things can happen in a minute that will change your life forever."

"We're just lucky that for us, it came at a time when we can handle it." Mrs. Matthews says as she looks between the youngest two in the group. "Have a nice night, you two."

"You remember what I told you?" Letty asks as she looks at Topanga.

"It's okay to change your mind." The younger girl nods as she looks up at her. "You can say no, even after you've already said yes."

"And you remember what I told you?" She asks as she points at Cory.

"Respectful or die." The teenage boy swallows the lump in his throat, and his father laughs as he shuts the door behind him and his wife.

"Bye, kiddos." Letty smiles as she then starts for the elevator so that she and Eric can head back downstairs.

The doors shut, and she leans against the wall as Eric stands by the doors. He hits the button for the lobby, then turns his head to look at the brunette behind him. He has so much that he wants to talk to her about, but he has no idea how to start.

The brunette's eyes are on the ceiling as she tries not to think about her own prom. Her mind's been flooded with memories of them together at both of their proms since she got to the dance tonight, and she knows that that was Hope's plan all along.

Shawn isn't the only one holding onto hope that Letty and Eric will get back together, and Hope wasn't too thrilled to hear about Letty's night out with Mason. She thinks that the kiss was a mistake, so this whole chaperoning thing was meant to get the former couple thinking about what they used to be. She and Jack were hoping that this would spark a conversation or anything to push them closer.

As soon as the elevator doors open, Letty rushes past Eric and heads straight for the hotel's exit, wanting to put some distance between herself and this whole night. He sighs as he looks up at the ceiling, and the doors close with him still standing inside.