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


❝ IT'S A SPEED TRAP ❞

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Juliet sat next to Shawn in a booth at Chubbie's. Topanga and Cory sat across from them as the curly-haired boy talked excitedly about his birthday. Despite their recent kiss, neither the dark-haired boy nor the redhead had talked about the evening they'd spent all but making out. They carefully avoided any mention of kissing and had otherwise resumed their friendship as normal, though with much nagging from both Cory and Topanga when either party was alone.

"So tomorrow's the big day, huh?" Shawn asked.

"Yep. Tomorrow morning Cory Matthews turns sixteen and mobile."

"And I've worked out all the details for our big birthday road trip," Shawn added.

"You can get your father's car tomorrow, right?" Topanga questioned him.

"Well, naturally I'm sixteen. It's my right," her boyfriend answered.

"This is the first Cory drives road trip. The point is we are merely guests of the car, the wind and destiny."

"No, no," his best friend corrected him, "the point is a license says we are adults with cars who can see R-rated movies."

Juliet sighed. "Do we really have to see an action movie? You guys know I always fall asleep."

"I agree," Topanga said. "I'm not going with you guys to some R-rated movie."

"Van Damme takes his shirt off," Shawn told her.

"A-oo-ga," the blonde replied.

Juliet cracked a smile but didn't look much happier. "It doesn't matter how many shirtless men there are. If it's not a superhero movie, I'm asleep by the end of the first scene."

"Well, it's a good thing we'll be in the car for awhile before the theater so you can sleep then," Shawn pointed out. "We're seeing it in Atlantic city."

The redhead frowned. "Why would we go to Atlantic city when we could just see it right here?"

"Because we can!" the dark-haired boy exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table.

"Because we can go anywhere," Cory added, copying Shawn's gesture. "Because tomorrow, I got wheels. I am free and independent. Tomorrow, I am a man!"

"Keep dreaming, Cor," Juliet teased him. The waitress arrived with their food. 

"Who gets a Clown Burger?" she asked and Cory raised his hand.

He gave the redhead an indignant look. "I collect the little hats."

🌎🌎🌎

Cory's birthday arrived quickly and the trio tagged along to support him as he got his license. When they returned, his parents were in the kitchen and he couldn't wait to share the good news with them. "Hey, I passed my driver's test. I got my license! Well, my temp license anyway. See?"

"Honey, that's great," his mom replied. "Alan, isn't that great?"

"Yeah, that's-that's great, Cor," he said, his tone implying the complete opposite. "Uh, happy birthday. Yeah, that's really great."

"Uh, mom?" Cory asked, "is it just me or were they happier down at the DMV?"

"Oh, actually, Cory, your dad's a little let down. He kind of thought you might want to do this with him," she explained.

"He did?" When Mrs. Matthews nodded, he continued: "yeah, but he never said anything. We didn't have anything planned."

"Boy, I went with my dad," Shawn put in.

Juliet walked over to where he was sitting on the couch and patted the top of his head. "Shush, Shawnie. Now is not the time." She turned to the curly-haired boy. "Just go talk to him, Cor. It's a simple misunderstanding."

"Good thinking," he answered, and disappeared into the kitchen.

"I still don't see why it has to be an action movie," the redhead grumbled as she moved to sit next to Shawn on the couch.

"Because the other R-rated movies are romance and not as interesting," the dark-haired boy answered. "Shouldn't sleeping in the car beforehand help?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm not usually tired when I go with you guys to see similar movies yet I always fall asleep."

He chuckled. "I should know since you usually fall asleep on me."

The redhead flushed. "It's not my fault I find them super boring."

"We could try sneaking away to see a romance movie," Topanga suggested, "the boys can watch their action movie."

Juliet perked up slightly. "Hey, now there's an idea. Though you did just blow our cover with him sitting right here." She pointed to Shawn.

"He's not paying attention, Peaches."

She turned to look at the boy who was, as Topanga had said, not paying attention at all. He was staring off into space, most likely having grown bored at the mention of romance movies. Juliet shook her head in fond exasperation. "Come on, we should go check on Cory."

When they pushed open the door, Shawn asked, "so, road trip. You got the keys yet?"

Juliet winced at the other boy's wide-eyed look and saw his father's face fall. "Oh, uh, you meant your friends. Okay."

"Well no-no. You could come too."

"What?" Shawn exclaimed. He flinched as Juliet prodded his side with her finger and corrected himself: "kind of road trip would it be without good old Mr. Matthews. . . was what I was gonna say and now I'm done."

"Hey, I'll tell you what," Mr. Matthews said, "I do have a couple of errands to run. I'll take a couple of hours but then when I come back the car is yours, alright buddy?"

The boy handed his father the keys. "Yeah. If you're alright, I'm alright." As he left, Cory turned to his friends. "Hey, I've waited sixteen years, right? I can wait a couple hours."

🌎🌎🌎

As it turned out, the wait wasn't a couple of hours and eventually, Cory sent them home with disappointment evident on his face. While Juliet wasn't happy to leave him alone, Shawn convinced her he would be fine as they made their way home. To make up for disappointing his father, Cory had agreed to a regular party and now the four of them were at Chubbie's. The awkward atmosphere would be clear to anyone even if they just walked in the room that minute.

"I don't want you to think the I'm not having a dandy time at Chubbie's where we always went 'cause we could walk here, but could we just do the cake thing and hit the open road?" Shawn whispered.

"This isn't so bad," Juliet tried, then changed tactics when it was obvious that it was. "Things are bad enough as it is, don't make it worse."

"Yeah, will you stop telling Cory to ditch his own birthday party?" Topanga said quietly, "and you, put a smile on your face and behave yourself."

"Guys, we rented the room. You don't have to whisper," Mr. Matthews reminded them.

"Sorry, dad," the curly-haired boy replied. "Um, listen. Thank you guys for the party. It's really nice but there's this movie we're trying to make."

"What movie?"

"101 Dalmatians," Cory lied.

"Would you finally grow up?" Shawn asked him before he answered, "we're going to see the new Van Damme movie."

"Aha. Well, wouldn't that be a R-rated movie?"

"Dad come on. I'm sixteen. I'm not a little kid anymore," Cory argued.

Their waitress arrived with his food. "Here's your clown burger. I told them it was your birthday so they threw in an extra hat."

"Whoo-hoo!" Cory cheered.

"Not exactly proving your point, Cor," Juliet told him.

"I mean— whoo-hoo," he repeated in a deeper tone.

"Cory, I understand you're sixteen and yet you have to be seventeen to get in without an adult," his father said.

"Fine, no movie."

"Thank you."

"No biggie, no biggie. There's got to be tons of other stuff we can do in Atlantic city." Shawn shrugged. "Let's hit those tables, huh?"

"Shawn," the redhead hissed through gritted teeth, "not the time."

He sent her a look as Cory ignored them. "You really don't want us to do anything at all, do you?"

"You want to sneak into an R-rated film in another state? I'm not just gonna give you my blessing," Mr. Matthews said sternly.

"Alan, it's his birthday," Mrs. Matthews tried to vouch for her son.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Cory protested. "Dad, I wasn't asking for your blessing here. I just wanted to go somewhere with my friends."

"Cory, this is your father," his mom reminded him.

"No, I just want to go somewhere with my friends. I don't care where I go, I just want to go," he insisted, his tone becoming angry.

His father paused before he replied, "I'll tell you what. You want to take a road trip? You wanna go off with your friends? That's the first adult decision you're gonna make?"

"Yeah."

"Fine," Mr. Matthews agreed. He placed his keys on the table. "There you go, pal."

The curly-haired boy grabbed them and stood. "Come on, let's go."

Shawn followed him without hesitation but Juliet paused to look back at her friend's parents. She knew them well and respected them. It went against most of what she believed in to follow her friends but she didn't want to always be the responsible one.

Topanga was having a similar crisis and explained: "I don't know. I mean, a part of me knows I shouldn't get in the car with him but then there's the other side of me which isn't sensible or mature at all and wants to get in the car with them and go 'a-oo-ga.'"

Juliet grasped the blonde's arm and tugged her out of the booth. "Quick, before our responsibility catches up to us. We can out run it if we go now!"

Topanga turned back to the adults. "Thank you for your attention at this very difficult time."

They walked out to the car together.

🌎🌎🌎

An hour later, they hadn't made much progress on the road. Juliet was slumped against the car door on the passenger's side with her face pressed up against the cool glass as she watched the road lights pass by them slowly. Shawn was in the back with her and Topanga was up front with her boyfriend.

"So, here we are, on our own, driving down the open road. Just me, my Topanga, my Jules, and my Shawn and a big full moon right behind us."

"Those are headlights, Cor," Juliet corrected him with a sigh.

"Cory, can you drive a little faster?" Shawn asked, "'cause there's like twenty cars jammed up behind us."

"Shawn, I happen to be cruising at— what's it say? I can't look down or we'll crash."

"Eighteen miles an hour," Topanga told him.

"I'm up to eighteen. I hope this thing has airbags."

A chime outside prompted Juliet to crane her head and look out. "Cory, a bicycle just passed us."

The boy waved his hand outside the window. "Come around me, come around me, please." She closed her eyes and didn't bother to correct him. Cory continued: "fine, fine. I'll go faster. How much further to Atlantic city?"

"What's the difference?" Shawn asked, "we're all gonna die here."

"Speaking of that, I think we should call your folks and let them know we're okay," Topanga suggested.

"Forget it. I'm not calling my dad, okay? Kids have to call. That's just what my dad expects his little kid to do."

"Cory, I don't get it. You and your father have always gotten along great," his girlfriend said.

"Yeah, 'cause I've always been the safe and dependable Cory. Well, tonight a new Cory is born. Dark, wild Cory, built for speed."

As Topanga ticked off his acceleration, Juliet turned to Shawn. "How much you wanna bet we're gonna get pulled over?"

The boy held up three fingers and lowered them as he counted: "three, two, one—"

Police car lights light up their car as sirens sounded from behind them. Cory sighed. "Well, we all saw that coming."

🌎🌎🌎

They followed the officer to the nearest police station and into the courtroom. Then the officer brought out the Judge and was currently reading Cory's violation. "I clocked the vehicle, your honor, traveling in excess of the posted speed limit."

Cory stood. "One mile over!"

"The law is the law, boy." Judge Lamb was unaffected by the boy's tone. "And we obey the law in my courtroom. If you speak out of turn again I'll hang you."

"You would hang me on my birthday?"

"It's your birthday under oath?" the judge asked, placing the knotted piece of rope he'd been toying with down.

Cory raised his right hand. "Under oath, your honor."

Juliet jumped as the judge hit his gavel and her eyes opened as she lifted her head from Shawn's shoulder as the man asked, "you want a dog or a hat?"

"What?"

"Hey, how about—" He blew up a long balloon. "—a sword?" He turned it into the shape and handed it to the boy. "Here, have a sword."

"Wow, cool," Cory exclaimed, grabbing it. He turned to Shawn as the other boy approached him. "Look what I got."

"Yeah, yeah. That's cool," he answered, "sidebar, your honor?" When the judge nodded, the dark-haired boy pulled his best friend off to the side. "Cory, the first thing I learned on the street is that any judge who spontaneously makes you balloon toys will, at the end of the day, actually hang you."

"It's my sword and I'm not sharing it."

"So, what brings a freshly licensed sixteen-year-old kid from Philly all the way out here?" the older man asked as Shawn returned to his seat.

"Well, I wanted to drive. They said I could drive so I just drove," Cory explained, "but my dad refuses to accept that I'm not his little kid anymore. You know, he wants to keep me at home, watch games, play football, so I just got my friends, got the keys and drove. I feel I did right."

Topanga stood and joined her boyfriend in front of the judge. "Your honor, sir. Hi. Topanga Lawrence. Um, I just wanted to say I can pay Cory's fine if you'll just tell me where the nearest ATM is located."

The man laughed. "There's no ATM. You're in the middle of nowhere."

Juliet reluctantly stood and stepped past Shawn to walk up to the front of the room. She joined Topanga at the judge's bench. "Your honor, all I can say is that Cory is a nice guy who would never hurt anyone."

"And you if do anything to him on his first day of driving," the blonde continued, "then I just think you're a mean, mean—"

Judge Lamb slammed his gavel down, causing the girls to jump. "Dog or hat?"

"Could it be a princess hat?" Topanga asked.

"Dog, please," Juliet answered.

"You got it," he replied. He blew up a balloon and twisted it into the requested shape before he handed it to the blonde. Then he blew up another and gave the dog to the redhead.

"Thank you," she said, taking her dog back to her seat. She showed the balloon animal off to the dark-haired boy. "I got a dog!"

He couldn't help chuckling at her enthusiasm. "I can see that."

"I'm gonna name it Pavlov," Juliet announced. 

By her bright expression, Shawn knew that she was just dying to explain why she'd chosen that name, so he dutifully asked, "and why'd you pick that one?" 

"Ivan Pavlov was a Russian scientist who studied behavioral tendencies," she replied, already giggling. "His most famous experiment was when he tested if dogs could be conditioned to respond to the sound of a bell." 

"And since you have a dog, that's why you named him after the scientist?" he questioned her. 

"Yep," Juliet agreed happily, "what's funny is that I'm naming the dog after him." 

The dark-haired boy gave her a faint smile despite not completely understanding her reasoning before they returned their attention to the trial. In the front of the room, the Judge continued: "um, tell you what I'm gonna do, son. I'm gonna drop all the charges right now if you'll take this quarter and go to that phone and call you dad to tell him you were wrong."

"No," Cory said firmly.

"Cory," Shawn tried to get his attention, seeing as how his father was right behind him.

"Well, I don't believe I'm wrong either, Cory," Mr. Matthews told him.

Cory turned. "You didn't have to come here, dad."

"George Feeny told me you called. You should have called me," his father replied.

"Why? So you could come to the rescue again? Prove once again what a little helpless kid I am?"

"Cory, you are my son. You'll always be my son whether you're six or you're sixty and your problem is my problem. Now, I'm always gonna be there for you. That is never gonna change."

"I just want you to treat me as someone who can handle his own problems, dad. I want you to treat me like an adult," Cory explained.

Judge Lamb hit his gavel. "Alright, I've heard enough. This court is ready to pronounce sentence. Cory Matthews and Cory Matthews' father, approach the bench." When they had, he continued: "I hereby sentence you to, uh, two years."

"What?"

"Today is your sixteenth birthday, son. That means you have two more years of being a kid. Now, I know that seems like hard labor when you have your license in your hand but from what I can surmise of your home life, you're luckier than most who appear before me." His attention turned to Mr. Matthews. "And you, dad, I sentence you to take those two years and cherish them because they go by too fast."

Mr. Matthews nodded. "Yes. They do, don't they?"

"It's a speed trap," the judge agreed.

[written apr. 2021]
[edited may 2022]