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❛ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇsᴛ-ʟᴀɪᴅ ᴘʟᴀɴs ꒱


❝ EVEN THE BEST-LAID PLANS
SOMETIMES GO AWRY ❞

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Cory and Topanga had both gotten jobs with the blonde, of course, having the better of the two. The curly-haired boy had become increasingly frustrated with how easily his wife could prove herself and it all came to a head in the Student Union. Juliet watched them uneasily as Rachel did so with interest. "Oh, look. How cute! They're having their first fight."

Topanga followed her husband towards the café. "Cory, I don't like that you can't talk to me about this."

"Topanga, look. I just. . . I don't want to say anything that I'm gonna regret, okay?"

"Do you think maybe we should leave?" Rachel asked Eric.

"No," he answered with his eyes glued to the couple. "I wanna see Topanga make Cory cry."

"I mean, Cory, whatever bug you have up your butt, why are you blaming it on me?"

"Topanga, if you're as smart as your A-streak says you are, you'd know just to leave me alone right now," Cory retorted as he picked up the coffee cup that waited for him.

"This is about my grades?"

The couples' argument had now drawn the attention of Shawn and Angela, who chimed in: "oh, this is not about your grades."

"Yes it is!" Cory exclaimed. "It's about how you shove your stupid grades in my face or how you get promoted or you sell one of my subscriptions."

"Wow," Topanga said sharply. "Well, I'm sorry I tried to help you with your little magazine project."

"It's not a project, okay? Sticker books are a project. This is my career!" he finished in a shout.

"Cory, come on," Shawn tried to reason with him. "It wasn't your career."

"Shut up!" The dark-haired boy yelped defensively as Cory continued: "look. My life is just as important as your life even if I don't do my life as good as you!"

"As well as you."

"What?"

"I was just saying that it's not as good as you. . ." the blonde corrected him sheepishly.

"Are you crazy, Topanga? Are you kidding me that you would say something like that right now?"

"Cory, this whole thing is crazy!"

"Yeah, it really is," Angela offered as she attempted to calm the couple down.

"Sit down!" Topanga barked at her and the brunette let out a yelp as well.

"Well, at least I'm not a hoity-toity photo assistant-kiss-Judy's-tushie!"

"Maybe I have to kiss Judy's tushie because you can't sell one stinking magazine!" Topanga yelled at him.

The curly-haired boy glowered at her. "What did you just say?"

"I just said that you haven't been doing that well. . ."

"No, no, no," Cory snapped. "That's not what you said! You said I'm a loser, Topanga! I know you said it because I heard it! I heard it from your big mouth!"

"Oh, I have a big mouth now?"

"Yeah!"

"You can't even play solitaire, you imbecile! Did you hear that okay from my big mouth?"

"You know what, Topanga? I used to be able to do a lot of things before I married you. Congratulations! You've killed my spirit," he snarled at her. She turned away from him to walk towards the exit. "I win. You leave, I win. Bye!"

Angela ran after the blonde as she disappeared outside, but Juliet remained frozen in place even as Shawn went to comfort his best friend.

It's about how you shove your stupid grades in my face or how you get promoted or you sell one of my subscriptions.

Cory's words echoed in her head with painful clarity as she saw their relationship from an angle she'd never thought to before: both sides. There had always been Cory and Topanga, but never Cory and Topanga as two separate people. They did so many things together that it was easy to mistake them for a single unit.

I used to be able to do a lot of things before I married you!

His outburst made her think of another relationship that could be seen as one person: her and Shawn's. She'd always done her best in school and tried to be the best at whatever she attempted to do (hence so many hours of Violin practice.) She was very much in Topanga's place in this instance and it made her brows furrow with worry as she remembered his last exclamation:

You've killed my spirit.

🌎🌎🌎

After Cory went off to solve his problems with Topanga, Juliet met up with her boyfriend apprehensively as they made their way back to her dorm. "Um, Shawnie?"

"What's up, Julie?"

"I, um," she wasn't quite sure how to ask if she'd killed his spirit, so her words trailed off as she tried to phrase them.

Noticing her discomfort, he wrapped a reassuring arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. "Whatever it is, you know you can just ask, right?"

"Yeah," the redhead agreed quietly. "Um, do you ever feel like Cory?"

Shawn stopped walking and turned towards her with a confused expression on his face. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm a lot like Topanga," she started uncertainly. "I get good grades and it was pretty easy for me to learn the Violin and I've always tried to be a know-it-all, so—"

His expression softened as he began to understand what she was getting at. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and bent slightly to catch her eyes. "Julie," he said firmly, "your intelligence is something that I've always admired about you. I'd never want you to hide it to make me feel better."

"Even so," Juliet insisted despite her warm face. "I mean, you're technically Cory in this situation and if he feels that way with Topanga then I didn't know. . . I didn't know if you felt that way even a little."

"I don't," he reassured her. "Even when Cory always made fun of you for being smart I was never embarrassed or ashamed of my feelings for you. In fact, I think it's because you were— and are— always so brilliant it made me like you even more. Julie, I promise that I don't feel that way. I'm not gonna blow up on you like that."

She looked a little relieved. "You'd tell me if you were though, right? If you did feel like that?"

"Of course," Shawn promised.

🌎🌎🌎

That Sunday, Juliet and Celeste headed back to the downtown area where the redhead had grown up to begin her search for an engagement ring. As they strolled down the sidewalk, the brunette gave her friend a curious look. "Are you nervous at all?"

"That I'm gonna ask my best friend to marry me? Of course," she answered with amusement. "It took us eleven years to even date the first time."

"Well, at least you know that there's no way he'll say no. Besides Kendrick, I've never seen a guy more devoted to their girlfriend." At the redhead's pointed huff, Celeste shrugged. "Hey, I can include my boyfriend if it's true. I know how lucky I am, after all."

"I 'spose," Juliet agreed. "I just don't even know what I'm looking for. I mean, what does a male engagement ring look like?"

"You could get him a ring pop," the woman suggested jokingly.

She rolled her eyes. "That's not entirely off the table, actually, but I do want to go the traditional route first. Besides, I'm not sure if he'd wear it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when Cory took off his ring and had a whole thing with Topanga, Shawn admitted that he wasn't sure what he'd do in Cory's place. I don't know if he's entirely on board with the idea."

"Jules, you could get him to do literally anything for you if you asked. And weren't you two broken up at the time? Maybe he didn't want to get his hopes up."

"I suppose you're right," she agreed. "He might think differently now that we're together again. There's just one more thing that could throw a damper on the plan."

"What's that?" Celeste asked.

"Well, I've recorded audition tapes for several different orchestras," Juliet explained as she pushed open the door to the jewelry store. "Some of them are overseas."

"And that would be an issue because. . .?"

"Well, Shawn and I have never really talked about our future. We've been focused on that our whole relationship— what might happen, what could happen— and that now that we're here, we've only talked about the present. I don't know what he wants to do after college."

Before the brunette could respond, a dark-haired man greeted them cordially: "hello, ladies. Is there anything that I can help you find?"

Juliet refocused on the present task. "Um, yes. I'm. . . I'm looking for an engagement ring." Those words were so strange to say out loud. "For my boyfriend."

He face creased into a bright smile. "Marriage on the horizon, how exciting! Not to worry, we have a great selection for you to chose from. Right this way, please."

🌎🌎🌎

Several hours later, the women had decided to take a break for lunch. As they stood in line to order from the counter, Juliet sighed. "I had no idea that this would be so hard. I thought it would be one and done, you know?"

"You want the ring to mean something," Celeste said. "You can't just pick any old one out."

"I know, but couldn't it be even slightly easier?"

"That's the price of love, I guess," the brunette decided with a shrug. "Besides the actual expensive price."

"Tell me about it," the redhead grumbled as they stepped up to the counter. After they gave their orders, they picked out a booth. "Now that was easier than choosing a ring. Maybe I should just leave it up to Shawn."

The other woman gave her a 'really?' look. "Do you want to wait another eleven years to get married?"

"Well, no."

"That's what I thought. Anyway, what was it that you were saying in the first store? About auditioning overseas?"

"Oh, right," she remembered. "Just that I've auditioned for some orchestras in the U.K. and Europe. Shawn's travelled a bit but he's never been out of the country. I don't know if he'd be up for moving around the world for me."

"Jules," Celeste said patiently, "if you love him enough to get married to him, he certainly loves you enough to do the same. Moving is nothing compared to a lifetime commitment."

"I suppose," she allowed again.

"If you're really worried about it, why don't you start talking about your future together? It's never to early to start planning, after all."

🌎🌎🌎

After having dinner at her boyfriend's apartment, Juliet and Shawn went to his room to have some. . . alone time. As their breaths evened out, the redhead gazed lovingly at the dark-haired boy. Her hand settled tenderly on the curve of his neck while she could feel the warmth of his pressing lightly against her hair. Their legs were tangled underneath the sheets and they were laying close enough that if one of them shifted even slightly, their noses would brush together.

"Shawnie?" she breathed out quietly.

"Mmm?"

Her hand shifted so that her palm cupped his cheek before she lifted it so that she could run her fingers through his hair. "Have you ever thought about the future?" After a moment of hesitation, she added, ". . .our future?"

"Sometimes," he murmured. "Why?"

"Well, we've never really talked about it. It's probably not a surprise that I've already started planning," Juliet admitted wryly as she kept her voice soft.

"It's not," he agreed. He chuckled lightly when she gave him a good-natured shove. He grasped her wrist gently and brought her hand to his chest. "What've you thought about?"

"Besides my actual job, whatever that may be, I want to pursue playing the Violin professionally with a real, not-school-related orchestra. I've, um, sent away some auditions to test the waters."

Shawn gave her an adoring smile. "I don't know how you can always be prepared for everything."

The redhead rolled her eyes. "Not everything, but a lot of things, yes. Anyway, I, um, brought it up because I wanted to know what you thought since, well. . ."

"Go on," he encouraged her warmly.

"I'm considering living overseas," she confessed. "I've loved travelling ever since I did it the first time and living somewhere else would be exciting, I think."

"Somewhere else as in Hawaii?" the dark-haired boy asked hopefully.

"Somewhere else as in England or a country in Europe," Juliet corrected him. Her heart beat inexplicably quickly at her clarification. Even with Celeste's reassurance, she couldn't help but think what if this wasn't what he wanted. To provide all options, she continued: "I've also applied for orchestras in the states. Like I said, I just wanted to know if I'd even get in, you know? There's a fair chance I won't."

"You will," he insisted immediately. "I know you will. You worked hard to get as good as you are, Julie. They'll see it."

"Oh," the redhead murmured. Her face warmed at her boyfriend's belief in her. "Thanks."

"It's only the truth," Shawn told her with a shrug.

She cleared her throat with obvious fluster. "Um, so, would you consider leaving the country with me? It wouldn't be for forever but definitely a few years, at least. I might not even go overseas; there's a very good chance that I'd stay in the states—" 

"Babe," he interrupted her nervous rambling gently, and the nickname caused the girl's face to redden further. "Let's just see what happens, okay? Whatever does happen, I'm sure it'll work out, yeah?"

"Yeah," Juliet agreed quietly.

After that, she dropped the subject and they turned to lighter conversation. Shawn was thankful that she let it go so easily because he didn't want to admit his preference: that they stay in the states because he had no interest or desire to travel abroad. 

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