20│PROM-ISES, PROM-ISES

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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴘʀᴏᴍ-ɪsᴇs, ᴘʀᴏᴍ-ɪsᴇs ꒱


❝ WILL YOU FORGIVE
ME IF I BRIBE YOU? ❞

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Juliet had never given much thought to school dances. While she did enjoy them, it was really just another excuse for her and her friends to hang out. Prom, however, was an entirely different story and it would be the first dance she and Shawn would be attending as a couple.

She and Angela had gone over to Topanga's aunt's house early to get ready together and the three girls were talking excitedly about the night ahead. They all wore rich jewel tones as their dress colors with Topanga wearing red, Angela in deep purple and Juliet in emerald green. The boys would be picking them up soon to take them to the dance.

Topanga turned away from the mirror to look at the redhead. "So, have you and Shawn talked about. . . you know. . . you two? After the prom, the big night?"

Immediately, the other girl's face turned almost as red as her friend's dress and she avoided the blonde's eyes. While she wouldn't deny that she had thought about what the night might hold, Juliet didn't know if they were ready for that. "Well," she started awkwardly, "we haven't really talked about it. I mean, we only started dating at the beginning of the school year which isn't a lot of time—"

"But you have known each other for years," Angela pointed out. "It's not like you just met in September."

"I know," she agreed. "It's just that, well, it's kind of funny. You'd think Shawn would be really cool about it especially with all the kissing we do, but he is so shy. If I even get near the subject he starts giggling like a lunatic so I've decided that we're not ready until he's at least able to talk about it."

"Topanga?" Angela prompted.

"I've been thinking about it too. Cory and I have been through so much so we've decided that when the time is exactly, perfectly right—"

"So in other words, when you say so," the brunette finished.

"Yeah," the blonde said quickly.

The bell rang, so the girls made their way to the door and Angela opened it. Shawn froze on the threshold and stared at his girlfriend with wide eyes. "Wow! You look. . . you-you look. . . wow!"

Juliet giggled slightly at his reaction and felt her heart speed up at the sight of her boyfriend so dressed up— seeing Shawn outside of his normal clothes always did that to her. Cory pushing past the boy to greet his own date was enough to shake Shawn out of his daze. He stepped towards her to place a soft kiss on her lips. Smiling brightly at him, Juliet allowed her boyfriend to pass her the corsage he was holding. "Why thank you," she told him playfully before she took his arm. "Shall we?"

Shawn looked to Cory, who nodded. "Go ahead. We'll catch up."

"Alright, we'll be waiting in the limo," the dark-haired boy replied.

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"Well, this has been one heck of a prom and now that it's over, you wanna go hang out in the back of the limo?"

The redhead turned and gave him a flat look. "And do what?"

"I don't know," he said as he started to giggle predictably. ". . .play?"

Juliet frowned at him and gestured between them. "We aren't doing anything until you can say the word sex without acting like a lunatic." As he continued to giggle, she added, "my point exactly. If you weren't caught up in this whole dumb stereotype we might actually be able to have a nice time!"

She stood, causing him to finally sober. "Where are you going?"

"To sit by myself because I'm apparently the only mature one in this relationship," she fired at him. She crossed her arms and stomped off, her temper flaring as her irritation boiled over.

Juliet found a table by the back— away from the dance floor and crowded seats— and pulled out a chair. She slumped as she sat, stewing in her thoughts. She should've known that Shawn would pull something like this. He always tried to do what Cory did and vice versa, and since Topanga had said maybe he probably though that meant maybe for them too. Well, she wasn't going to cave as easily on this as she did with their other disagreements because they were dealing with adult things here, not petty childish arguments that, in the long run, didn't mean anything.

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Shawn sighed as he watched his girlfriend storm off and knew he'd had this coming. He'd sensed it the moment he'd suggested they leave but he'd pressed on, too focused on the end goal to really care about her feelings. God, that sucked. He'd screwed things up like he normally did but that was no surprise there.

Running a hand through his hair, he wondered how he could possibly save the evening. As he thought, Cory and Topanga were crowned Prom King and Queen (which was to be expected.) Then his best friend disappeared, leaving him to think of a solution by himself. What meaningful gesture could possibly be enough to get her to forgive him?

He supposed he could always ask her to dance but he'd probably used the impact of the question when he'd done that choreography with the other guys. Besides, she'd probably take it the wrong way and thing that he was up to something, as she'd put it.

His mind went blank with ideas as he stared off into space, marveling at how quickly everything had gone so wrong. He knew his girlfriend would probably forgive him eventually but he didn't want to wait that long. He wanted to do something.

Standing, Shawn made his way past the students on the dance floor before he approached his brother who stood in the doorway of the ballroom. As he neared, Jack straightened. "Uh-uh, don't even think about escaping. You're going to enjoy your Prom."

"I'm not trying to," the dark-haired boy said with confusion. "Whatever. Anyway, you've had girlfriends get mad at you, right?"

"Me? Nah," Jack told him proudly. At his brother's look, he sighed. "Yes, yes I have."

"How'd you get them to forgive you?"

"Usually they dumped me," the older boy admitted reluctantly. "Why? Problems with that redhead of yours?" At Shawn's nod, Jack mirrored his gesture. "You gotta be careful with those tempers. What happened?"

"I tried to get her to agree to. . . well, you know. . ." A few nervous chuckles escaped him.

His brother sucked in a breath. "Oof, that's a big one. Still, I would've put a stop to it if you'd tried. No one's escaping this Prom," he finished smugly.

"Yeah, yeah, my problem now. How do I get Julie to forgive me?" Shawn asked.

"Well, have you made her this angry before?"

The dark-haired boy thought about the most recent time, when she'd slapped him for drinking. "Yeah."

"And she didn't dump you? I have major respect for her, man. Anyway, how'd you apologize?" Jack questioned him.

"Uh, I just promised I wouldn't," he answered.

"You're hopeless!" Jack exclaimed as he threw his hands up in the air. "I can't work with you."

"Jack," Shawn protested. "I'm asking for your help, as a brother. C'mon, man."

The older boy sighed. "Fine, but I'm not even getting paid for this expert advice. How about doing something you don't normally like doing?"

"Already thought of that, won't work."

"Hopeless, I swear," he complained. "Fine. Do you have any traditions with her that you haven't done in a while? Or has she mentioned anything she particularly likes that you could get for her?"

Shawn thought for a moment before his expression brightened. "Yes! Oh, she's so going to forgive me." He tried to get past his brother, who stepped in his way. "Jack, I need to get by."

"No one's leaving," he replied sternly.

"Jack. I swear I'm only going to the nearest convenience store. If you care at all about my happiness, you'll let me by," the dark-haired boy pleaded rather dramatically. "I'll come right back, I promise."

Jack hesitated for a moment before he stepped aside.

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Nearly twenty minutes later, Shawn approached the grumpy redhead cautiously. "Julie?"

Juliet looked up to see a boyfriend wearing a nervous expression on his face and looked away again to pointedly ignore him. He let out a breath. "Look, Julie. I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have been so focused on what we might or might not do. I should have been more focused on you, on us, on tonight. I let things get to my head and I shouldn't have. We can still have a good time here if you want to catch the last dance. I'm just. . . I'm just sorry. Really, I am. I'm sorry for making you worry and-and everything, really. I just. . ." he trailed off as he tried to read her expression but failed. "I don't know what else to say except. . ." 

He took one of her hands, causing her to turn to look at him. With his other hand, he produced the package of three Oreos that he'd bought. "Will you forgive me if I bribe you?"

Finally, a bright smile spread across the redhead's face and she stood, still holding on to his hand as she rose up to kiss him. "You're cute when you're guilty."

Shawn gave her a sheepish smile. "I really am sorry, Julie."

"I know," she told him softly as she squeezed his hand. "You're forgiven." 

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"Why're you lookin' at me funny?" Shawn asked a while later. "Do I have cookie crumbs on my face?" He wiped the area around his mouth with his hand.

Juliet shot him an amused glance. "You're good, Shawnie. I just forget how pretty you are sometimes."

He brightened. "You think I'm pretty?"

"Very," she said with a confident nod. "Ten out of ten."

The dark-haired boy beamed. "That's the easiest A I've ever gotten!"

The redhead chuckled and gave him a fond look as she reached over to take his hand again. She threaded her fingers between his and placed their clasped hands on the table between them, marveling at how perfectly they fit together. While she'd always held deep feelings for him; they'd changed over time from platonic to romantic. They were changing again, this time to something even stronger, more defined than they had been before.

It was a scary concept and she wasn't entirely ready to admit it to herself— let alone say it out loud— but she wasn't going to run away from it, either. When the time was right, she'd accept the feeling with an open mind and embrace all the facets of the word (she hoped.) Right now, though, it was enough for her to be here, at their Prom, with her best friend and boyfriend, arguably the person she cared about most.

Shawn's expression softened as he watched her thoughtful one. "Julie?" When she looked over at him, he continued, and nodded to the dance floor. "You wanna dance?" 

"Really?" she asked hopefully as she straightened in her seat at the prospect.

"Yeah," he told her. "C'mon."

He stood and pulled his girlfriend with him as he led them out to the dance floor. As they took up a dancing position to mirror the other couples, Juliet looked up at him. "You know I would've forgiven you without the bribe, right?"

"I know," the dark-haired boy allowed, "but I wanted to do something that meant something, y'know?"

The redhead giggled. "You're such a romantic sap, Shawnie."

Shawn gave her a charming smile. "Too bad you're stuck with this romantic sap."

"Not too bad," she corrected him. "I wouldn't have it any other way." 

[written may 2012]
[edited jun. 2022]

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