PERFECT TOGETHER! shawn hunter

CHAPTER NINE, first kiss

"'Seven minutes in heaven'?" Cory questioned as he, Shawn, and Gwen walked into the cafeteria at lunch with their trays. Gwen sat at the end of the table near Shawn while the two boys sat next to each other.

"Yeah," Shawn nods. "They pick a boy. They pick a girl. Then they send you two into a dark closet."

Cory furrows his eyebrows. "Well, how do you find the girl?"

Shawn points at him. "With your lips."

Cory grins. "I'm gonna like this game."

Gwen raises her eyebrows when Eric stops by them. "Yeah," He said, glancing at what his brother is eating for lunch. "If that's your eatin' for lunch, I don't think the girl will like it."

Cory glares at his brother while he walks away. "Nobody's talking to you."

"Just trying to help." Eric called out to him.

"Okay, look, closet strategy is key." Shawn said. Gwen tilts her head to the side, furrowing her eyebrows when she notices Cory pretending to kiss someone repeatedly. "You've only got seven minutes." Shawn explains. "You have to make every second..." He stops in the middle of his sentence, noticing what Cory is doing. "What are you doing?"

"Lip-ups. I want to be in shape." Cory replied.

Gwen chuckles. "Lip-ups aren't a thing, Cor."

"Doesn't matter." Cory shakes his head. "I want to go the distance."

"Tick, tick, tick, tick." Eric spoke to Cory when he walked past the table again.

"What?" Cory asked him.

"Time bomb." Eric responded as he walked away.

Gwen rolls her eyes. "Cor, ignore that idiot who somehow made it to high school. Eric is just trying to get into your head."

"Yeah," Cory agrees. "He's just playing some game, but it doesn't work." He looks at her and Shawn with a smile. "Never has, never will."

Gwen goes back to eating her lunch, but notices Cory looking nervous out of the corner of her eye. She stopped eating, looking at Cory with raised eyebrows, and saw he was looking at Eric. She rolled her eyes, knowing that Eric had gotten into his head and now Cory was nervous about the game.

"Cory." Shawn called out to the curly-haired boy.

Cory jumps, turning to face him with a panicked expression. "What?"

"You're bothered by what Eric said, aren't you?" Gwen asked him.

Cory glances at her and shakes his head. "No, not at all." He stands up. "In fact, I'm going over there right now and tell him how much it's not bothering me." He walked over to sit at the table his brother was sitting at.

Gwen and Shawn glance at each other. "It's bothering him." Gwen nodded.

Shawn nods in agreement. "Oh, yeah."