𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 ━ shawn hunter¹

7│SINGLED OUT

"Yes," she breathed out excitedly. "I would love to!"

A broad smile grew on his face and he turned enthusiastically to the woman next to him. "Did you hear?" he asked as if Daly hadn't been listening to the conversation the whole time. "She said yes!"

The red-haired woman chuckled. "You don't have to make it sound as if you've proposed but yes, I heard. I told you that you didn't have to worry."

"If you like the place, we'll get to spend some quality father-daughter time together," he continued eagerly, "I could even teach you to throw a ball, if you'd like. Although you probably already know from boys being your best friends. And I'm not that good, but still. And you'll get to meet your uncles. . ."

Juliet couldn't help but feel a strong surge of fondness for the dark-haired man in front of her. She was glad that spending time with her was something he looked forward to and something told her that this would be in her top-ten-summers list. She interrupted her father's rambling to ask a question: "Barron?" He quieted and nodded for her to continue. "Can my friends come visit during the summer? I'd love for you to finally meet them."

"Of course," he agreed immediately, "I'm certainly looking forward to meeting Shawn. With everything I've heard between your mother and you, I feel like I already know him."

The redhead groaned. "Maybe I shouldn't invite him," she realized, "if you're just gonna embarrass me."

He smiled goofily at her. "Dontcha know that's my job?" Juliet shook her head in exasperation as he added, "so, would you want a sample visit this weekend? To see if you're going to like it?"

"I already know I will," she answered, "but I'd definitely like to come up regardless. I didn't have much planned, either, since Cory's getting a tonsillectomy this weekend."

Daly gave her a concerned look. "Don't you want to be there for your friend?"

The redhead gave her an amused one in return. "No thanks. I already know how it's gonna play out: Cory will get freaked out by something that Shawn will tell him. Topanga will try to calm him down. He'll be all worried about the surgery and then come out just fine." She shrugged. "He'll be more over dramatic than normal and I don't mind skipping out on him this time."

"Well, if you're sure, darling."

🌎🌎🌎

At school on Wednesday, Juliet's doubts were starting to catch up to her. She'd never spent much time with her father alone and she was starting to worry about what would happen if they ran out of things to talk about. Besides that, she would be meeting her uncles for the first time and it was important to her to make a good first impression. She had a habit of overthinking things when change was around the corner.

She continued to worry as she put her books in her bag, chewing on her bottom lip anxiously as she fretted over the coming weekend. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even hear Shawn greet her. She quickly spun around when he put a hand on her shoulder, causing him to smile. "I was gonna say 'hey, Julie' but maybe I should say 'hey, Jumpy.'"

She sighed and zipped up her bag before she closed her locker. "Sorry, Shawnie. I was thinking."

"Over thinking," he corrected her, "about what?"

Together they made their way slowly to the cafeteria and she explained: "I'm going to be spending the weekend with my father."

"And you're worried about. . ."

"What if something goes wrong? What if he's been putting on an act this whole time and he's more like my grandfather than he says he is? Besides, Greg's supposedly an ass so meeting him won't be fun and—"