𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 ━ shawn hunter¹

13│NEW FRIENDS AND OLD

"I'm surprised you took a picture of Shawn like that," Topanga commented as they ate their lunch. "I'd think that, y'know, with your crush on him you'd let him off the hook."

Warmth rose to Juliet's face. She still wasn't used to talking about her. . . feelings for Shawn so openly. "Well, he's only my best friend, Panga. You know I'm dating Jack. Besides, I'd go after Frankie to defend him but it's only humiliating, not hurtful. He'll get over it."

"Still, I would've thought you'd only want Cory's picture."

The redhead gave the other girl a suspicious look. Topanga did talk a lot about Cory even though they weren't together anymore. "Do you want Cory's picture?" she asked.

"What? No, I'm good. I'm just saying that he looked even more absolutely ridiculous than Shawn did. I mean, did you see how he pulled off that skirt? It's not fair!" she complained.

Juliet held back a smirk. "Who pulled off the skirt— Cory or Shawn?"

Topanga gave her a half-hearted glare. "Shawn, Jules. I meant Shawn."

"Sure you did," she agreed, completely unconvinced. "Though you are right. I bet he'd even look attractive as a girl than I do which definitely isn't fair. You shouldn't be allowed to pull off both genders. I know I'd look terrible as a boy."

The girl caught her friend's look. "What?"

"You just went on a rant about how attractive Shawn is. Again."

"I did not! I was complaining about how attractive he is. Not ranting."

"You still talked about him for a solid minute. When are you going to dump Jack? You're clearly not interested in him anymore."

Juliet turned pink. "It's not like I'm not going to ask him out! And I do like Jack. He's just been busy with his father so he hasn't got much free time."

"Why not?" Topanga asked, "and you said like not interested in. You know you're kind of stringing him along, right?"

"Well, no, but I'm— I'm not ready yet," she said defensively about the first subject, and then: "I'm still dating Jack so that would be wrong and I'm not stringing him along. I really do like him." She paused to take in the other girl's expression. "What?"

"You sound as if you're trying to convince yourself," Topanga commented mildly.

This was one of the only points of contention between the girls: the boys she like(d). Topanga thought that Juliet should suck it up, ask Shawn out and dump Jack (not necessarily in that order), while Juliet was convinced she and Jack were still a good match and that it wasn't time for her and Shawn yet.

"I'm not," the redhead sighed. "I just don't know what to do."

To Topanga, the answer was extremely obvious and therefore she wasn't nearly as sympathetic as she probably could've been. Instead, in a slightly mocking voice, she said, "you poor thing. You've got two incredibly attractive guys to decide between. Whatever will you do?"

🌎🌎🌎

When Juliet returned to her apartment after school that day, she paused at the door as she heard the voice machine leave a recording. "'Daly? Daly, are you there? I guess not, since I'm leaving a message.'" There was an amused chuckle in the man's voice. "'Anyway, call me back when you can.'"

The machine clicked off once he'd hung up. The redhead frowned as she flicked on the lamps in the living room to let the small space fill with light. She'd known it was a man her mother was seeing (though in what capacity, she had no idea.) Coming to a decision before she could talk herself out of it, the girl dropped her schoolbag on the floor and made her way over to the phone. Picking up the handset, she dialed the number from the last message.