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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄ 
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʀᴏᴀᴅ ᴛʀɪᴩ ꒱　


❝ TO CHET HUNTER,
SHAWN'S FATHER ❞

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Juliet was squished between Cory and Shawn in the middle seat of the truck. The dark-haired boy was at the wheel and his gaze focused on the highway ahead. "Alright. Full tank of gas, the open road and no destination."

"Let the road be your guide," Cory agreed before he added, "where are we going, Shawn?"

His question went ignored. "Man, this trip is exactly what I needed to take my mind off everything."

"I'm sorry about you dad dy— oof." The curly-haired boy grimaced as Juliet elbowed him sharply in the side.

"That's not helping, Cor," she told him sternly.

"Shawn, why are we really on this trip?" he asked instead.

"I'll tell you later."

"When?"

"When the time is right."

"Well, will you at least tell me when we get to wherever it is that we don't know where we're going?" Cory badgered him.

"Yes," Shawn answered as a faint smile curled on his lips.

A part of her wished they'd taken a station wagon or some other four-seater car so she wouldn't have to be crammed between her best friends. Cory was fine; she didn't mind that so much. On Shawn's side, though, she could feel the warmth of his leg pressing against hers and felt him shift every time he adjusted his grip on the steering wheel, which turned out to be very distracting. Trying to find something else to focus on, she watched as the boy to her right put on a bandana to match his best friend.

"What?" he asked as he caught Shawn's look.

"Well, it's just, you know. . ."

"No. What? Tell me."

"Well, if one guy's wearing a bandana, it's cool. If two guys are it's. . ."

Cory cut him off, "ah, say no more. The 'one bandana rule' has been enforced." He complied and took off the makeshift hat.

"It's actually a two bandana rule, just not for you," Shawn corrected him. "Give it to Julie."

"No, it's okay. I don't want—" she tried to protest, only for the curly-haired boy to hand her the white fabric. With a sigh, she accepted it and tied it properly underneath her hair. "You keep driving," she told the other boy before she turned to Cory. "How do I look?"

"Like a girl in a bandana. What else do you want me to say?"

Rolling her eyes, she faced the road again. While he tried to follow her order, Shawn couldn't resist glancing at her for a fraction of a second.

(He almost crashed the truck.)

🌎🌎🌎

After they'd recovered from the jolt and Juliet had proceeded to lecture him on 'safe driving,' they decided to stop for lunch at a diner that was on the side of the road. Cory couldn't hide his excitement. "This is a real truck stop."

"We have a real truck," Shawn agreed.

"And we stopped here. You know what? I think I'm gonna get Topanga a hat."

"Yeah, she'd like one."

"Get me one too, Cor?" the redhead asked.

"Get your own," he retorted as they sat at the counter in a replica of their usual positions. A blonde waitress came over to them, which prompted his interest. "How you doing, 'Amy Sue?'"

She smiled at him. "I haven't seen you here before."

"What do you think?"

"I think you're cute. What can I get ya?"

After studying the menu for a moment, Cory answered, "world's best hash browns."

"Good choice," she said. "How about you two?"

Before they could answer, he spoke again: "his daddy di—oof." He turned to glare at the redhead. "Would you stop that?"

"I will when you don't go around talking about it," she scolded him.

"You should try the chicken fried steak," one of the diners who sat across from them commented.

"What kind of animal is that from?"

"Chicken fried steak," he replied in a low growl.

"I don't want any trouble," Cory said quickly.

Shawn looked up at the waitress and answered for them. "We're gonna have the chicken fried steak."

As she wrote down the request, Amy met his eyes. "I'm sorry your daddy died," she told him, presumably figuring out the rest of Cory's interrupted sentence.

"Thank you. I can tell you mean that."

Juliet grumbled under her breath at the interaction as she went to the back to place their orders. While she didn't begrudge Shawn for receiving sympathy, she could tell that the waitress had meant more than just the sentiment. Cory's voice pulled her from her thoughts: "hey. You know, that looks like the guy from ZZ Top." He pointed to the other customer as another waitress refilled his coffee. "I love this place."

"I hate it," the redhead disagreed. "Oof. What was that for?"

The curly-haired boy only sent her a pointed look as the blonde waitress asked them, "where are you from?"

"Philadelphia," he responded.

"I always wanted to go there. Is it scary?"

"Not really. I'm a cop."

"And I'm a judge," Juliet quipped.

"Yep. He's the chief of police and she's the chief justice," Shawn added as he rolled his eyes.

"How come you've never been to Philadelphia?" Cory asked.

"My dad says we're just fine here," she said. "Yell if you need anything."

A third waitress passed by them. "Hey new guys. I'm Stacey."

"You know, this place is crawling with chicks," the curly-haired boy whispered, leaning over Juliet to do so. She pushed him back to his seat and he turned to the other girl. "Hi, Stacey."

The fourth and final waitress came to stand before them and the redhead's eyes narrowed at her. This time, she was positive that there were other intentions there as she stared at Shawn. After a moment, she spoke: "you're searching for something. I can tell."

He nodded. "Yeah. I am."

Juliet's grip on her fork tightened as she tried (and failed) to quell the jealous feelings that rose within her. Thankfully, the waitress left quickly to be replaced by an older man who the boys definitely wouldn't be interested in. As his dark eyes watched them suspiciously, Cory attempted to be friendly. "Well hello there, authentic grizzled old-roadside-diner-man."

"Do you see her?" the man questioned him as he pointed to the first blonde.

"Yes, I do."

"That's Amy Sue. She's my daughter."

"You're a lucky man."

"Do you see her? That's Sarah. She's my daughter, too."

"You must have quite a gun collection," the curly-haired boy joked.

"Do you see her?" the man repeated and he pointed to the third waitress.

"Let's see you explain that one."

"Stacey and Ali," he told Cory. "My daughters' best friends and just like daughters to me. Watch yourselves." He turned to Shawn. "Now, you look familiar." He paused as his eyes landed on the redhead. "And so do you."

"Never been here before," the boy replied.

"Me either."

"I didn't say you been here. I just said you looked familiar."

As he left them too their food, Cory turned to them. "Alright, Shawnie and Jules, eat up. We got a lot of road to cover in two days."

Shawn sighed. "Cory, I'm not being fair to you. You should go home."

"What do you mean, I should go home? What about you?" His eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute, what about Jules?"

Amy and Sarah must have overheard their conversation since the former came over to suggest, "do you have to go home before we sing?"

"What, you girls got yourself a little band?" Cory asked. "You play a little Johnny Cash?"

"How old are you?"

He chuckled nervously. "Honey, I'm taken." At Juliet's irritated expression, he added, "this one is too," while he gestured to his best friend.

"I'm not," the dark-haired boy corrected him with a glare while the red-haired girl hissed "Cory!" furiously.

Sarah ignored the disagreement. "We don't get a lot of city guys around here. We'd be interested to know what you think."

"This'll be cute. See, they wanna hear what we think of their band. I hope they do Achy Breaky," Cory stated.

The redhead sent him an incredulous look as Shawn leaned towards them. "I mean it. I need you to go home."

As the girls went up to the stage, the other boy turned to face him. "What do you mean, I need to go home? What about you, Shawn?"

"I wonder if this band's any good," he said by way of answer.

🌎🌎🌎

The girls weren't too bad but Juliet was reluctant to give them much praise seeing as how they'd tried to make moves on Shawn. While they'd finished eating, Shawn had tried to explain himself to Cory but as usual, the curly-haired boy wasn't having any of it. "Shawn, what, are you breaking up with me in a restaurant, in a public place, so I won't make a scene? You think I won't make a scene?"

"No, I know you'll make a scene, but I'm not going home."

"When are you gonna go back, then?"

He paused before he answered, "when I need to."

Cory and Juliet followed their best friend over to the checkout counter as the curly-haired boy continued: "Shawn, just because things are not going perfectly in your life doesn't mean that you tear everything up and end up in who knows where."

"Sarah?"

"What, Shawn?" the blonde replied.

"Can I see that picture?" he requested. He pointed to the one that was pinned up on the board behind her.

"Do you even hear me?" Cory huffed before he turned to the redhead. "You know he's leaving, right? Why aren't you fighting with me on this?"

"This one?" Sarah asked.

"Cor—" Juliet began.

"Yeah." When she passed him the photo, he smiled slightly. "How about that? Look."

They crowded around him and their argument was forgotten for a moment as they studied the picture. The curly-haired boy's eyes widened. "Now it just got interesting."

"You know that guy?" Stacy asked as she came over to join them.

"Kind of. He's my father."

"That's your father?" Sarah said with surprise before she raised her voice to call out: "hey, dad!"

"No!" Cory pleaded, slightly panicked. "Don't call him over. He hates me."

"Why do you guys have a picture of my dad?" Shawn questioned them.

"This boy bothering you?" the older man demanded as he stared the boy down.

"I just stopped here for lunch!"

"This is Chet Hunter's son," his daughter explained.

He looked between the image and the boy. "Yes, of course he is. I knew he looked familiar. Chet's been showing us pictures of you for I don't know how long." His eyes fell on the redhead. "That must be where I know you from. You were in almost every single one of them."

Juliet gave him an amazed look. She hadn't even thought that Chet had pictures of her (which, if she thought too hard about it, was weird, but she understood the sentiment), let alone showed them to people. Shawn was in them too, but still.

"He was always going on about his youngest was married with three kids," Sarah said as she glanced between the pair. "Though I'm guessing that hasn't actually happened yet."

"Definitely not," she mumbled as her face warmed at the thought.

"You're Shawn?" the blonde's father asked.

"Yeah. And that's Juliet," the boy answered. He shook the man's hand and the redhead followed suit.

"How's medical school?"

"Actually it's just college."

He laughed. "Chet always tells a good story. And you're Cory, the kid Shawn's always getting out of them scrapes."

Shawn talked over his friend's protest: "how come there's a picture of my dad at this truck stop?"

"Chet wouldn't drive his rig between Pennsylvania and Ohio without stopping here and telling us some of his latest adventures, right?"

"That's right. He also told us how proud he was of his daughter-in-law."

The dark-haired boy carefully avoided the redhead's gaze as the older man spoke again: "so, what's your daddy up to now?"

There was a moment of silence before he turned to his best friends. "Guys, none of these people know."

"No, they don't," Cory agreed quietly.

"Well, I hate to have to tell you this, but. . ." Shawn began. He addressed the diner: "my dad died last week."

It was a heartbeat before anyone spoke. "So, who shot him?"

He looked around in confusion as everyone began chuckling. "Is it okay that people are laughing?"

"Of course it's okay. Just thinking about that son of a gun's face is enough to make you laugh," the older man answered as he moved to sit on a stool.

Shawn joined him as he asked, "is it okay that I'm laughing?"

"Your father died, Shawn, but he ain't gone. When someone you know leaves you, they're never gone. They stay right here." He gently placed his finger to his temple. "You know what I mean?"

"How well did you guys know my dad?"

"Pretty well. He was always running from something. He had that way about him."

"I always thought was running for something," Amy offered.

"For what?"

"You," she answered simply.

"You and your redhead were all he talked about, kid. Your father wanted to be perfect for you."

Juliet smiled faintly at 'your redhead' and wished more than ever that it was true. Shawn made an effort not to dwell too long on it. "Well, he would've been perfect if he had just been there for me."

"Well, Chet may not be here now but the man deserves a toast."

"Definitely, but I'm horrible at these things. Cory, Julie? Would you say something?"

"No," the curly-haired boy replied. "I'm mad at you, Shawn."

"Are you mad at him?"

He sighed. "No. You wanna go first, Jules?"

"Duh," she said. "You're totally gonna make mine look terrible if I go after you." Juliet took a deep breath and raised her drink. "Where do I even begin? Chet's been in my life almost as long as I've been alive. He was as much of a father to me as he was to Shawn. While I wouldn't say he's the father of the year, when he was in our lives, there were times when he could be a really good one. That's what I always tried to focus on instead of his. . . well, numerous shortcomings."

As the patrons chuckled at her words, Shawn sent her a grateful look which she returned with a soft one of her own. The curly-haired boy stepped forward. "Alright. Chet Hunter was not a saint but he loved Shawn as much as he possibly could. And even if he wasn't always around to show it, we all knew he wanted to be. And I'm sure, if he could, he'd be right here with you, right now. I believe that," Cory finished firmly.

Shawn nodded. "I believe that too."

"To Chet Hunter, Shawn's father."

🌎🌎🌎

At the end of the weekend, things had settled out. Cory had accepted his best friend's journey and the four waitresses had gotten their father's approval to leave for the "big city" to try their hand at music. The only thing that remained unresolved was Juliet's status of being Shawn's plus-one. Cory was eating his last "vacation" meal in the diner which left the two alone in the trailer.

The dark-haired boy reluctantly approached her. "So, er, Julie. . . have-have you decided—"

"I wish I could be in two places at once because I'd come with you in a heartbeat," she answered regretfully. "You know that, right?"

"I know," Shawn agreed softly as he met her eyes. "And I'll happily have you. I'll even teach you how to drive the truck."

"You teach me?" she repeated incredulously. "The only thing you've ever taught me is how not to do something. You're almost hurting your case."

He gave her an amused smile. "Well then, forget I offered."

Their laughter died away and Juliet sighed. "Well, you have to have something to come back to, don't you, Holden?"

"I suppose you're right, Phoebe," he admitted. "What do you propose then?"

"I got you a little something, Shawnie," she told him and went over to her bag to pull out two wrapped packages.

"You didn't have to—"

"Shush, just open them."

He glanced at her as he took the gifts and she nodded reassuringly. He placed the larger one down on the table to unwrap the first one, which caused him to grin. "'Awesome Mix Vol. 1?'" he read her handwriting off the tape. "What's this?"

"I thought you could use a road trip playlist," Juliet answered. "I put it together myself."

"Then I'm sure it's a very fitting name. You know 'volume one' implies a sequel, right?" Shawn asked.

"Perhaps there will be one," she suggested. "You still have my Walkman, right?"

"Of course. Do you want it—"

"No," she replied quickly. "You keep it. I just wanted to make sure you had something to play that in."

"It'll be better than the radio," he agreed. "Thanks, Julie." He turned to the next gift and when it was uncovered, his eyes widened. "I can't accept this!"

"Shut up," the redhead retorted. "Of course you can. My dad got it that for me for my birthday but I already have a phone. It's not like I have anyone to call except you, anyway. Now you can call me from anywhere."

He stared at the cell phone in his hands. "But—"

"Just say thank you, Shawn."

"Thank you, Shawn," the dark-haired boy repeated, earning a giggle from the girl.

Her expression softened. "I'm gonna miss you, Shawnie."

He looked up from the present to meet her eyes. "I'm gonna miss you, too. I'll call you every night."

"Well, I didn't—"

"Make sure you're free at nine until I come back, okay?"

She smiled fondly at him. "Alright, if you insist. Don't you dare talk on that phone and drive, though."

"I won't," he promised. Shawn seemed to hesitate for a moment as he gazed at her before he came to a decision. Taking her completely by surprise, he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently to her cheek. Her eyes grew round at the action and she stayed frozen as they lingered for longer than strictly necessary while her heart pounded in her chest. When he pulled away, he murmured, "I'll see you soon, yeah?"

"Yeah," Juliet agreed breathlessly. 

A/n: For a historical background check: the cellular revolution was during the 1990s and since season six takes place in the very late 90s + Juliet's dad is well-off and can afford less-common technology, I didn't think it was a stretch of the imagination for her to have two cell phones. (But they're in no way, shape or form Apple iPhones; imagine big, chunky brick things that the "olden days" were famous for.)

[written oct. 2021]
[edited jun. 2022]