Today, Shawn, Topanga and Zoey were helping out Cory clean the garage. They all looked around the area filled with multiple boxes.
"Man, how long's it been since anyone cleaned out this garage?" Zoey wondered.
"Ugh, years." Cory answered. He paused when Topanga took a bucket from his hands. "Hey, hey, hey, hey! Where do you think you're going with that?"
"I am taking this garbage full of garbage to the garbage." Topanga replied bluntly.
"You are so cute when you try and intimidate me." Cory told his wife. "Give me the bag. It's coming home with us."
"You are incapable of throwing out anything." Topanga said.
"No, I am incapable of throwing out memories from my life." Cory corrected her. "I mean, look around you. This is my childhood here."
"Hey, Cory, do you think Morgan still wants Strawberry Shortcake?" Shawn asked as e held up the doll.
"Uh, yes. She does." Cory replied, snatching the toy away and placed her in his lap. "She's cute. She's my friend. I can't believe that you would want to throw all this out. I mean, look at this..." He set the doll aside and began to sit through the garbage bag. "This is a gold mine in here. This is my old retainer. Remember this?"
Zoey scrunched her face in disgust when Cory placed the retainer back into his mouth.
"Ugh, Cory, I hate that thing!" Topanga exclaimed.
"Ah, you didn't say that when we were eleven. Remember? Kiss me." Cory insisted as he tried to step closer to Topanga only for her to push him away. "Come on, just kiss me once."
"All I remember is trapped food particles. Peanuts, popcorn, cracker jacks. Your mouth was like a baseball game." Topanga said.
Shawn stood up and held a par of boxing gloves. "Hey, Cory, check these out."
"Oh, my gosh." Cory muttered. He walked over and grabbed them. "Eric gave those to me."
"Yeah, where is Eric?" Zoey wondered. "You know, half this stuff is his. Why isn't he helping?"
"Well, look, I promised my parents that I'd clean up this garage by the time they got home from vacation, okay? Besides, Eric would just go through all this old stuff, you know, get all mushy, and not let us throw out anything." Cory answered.
"Can't have that." Topanga muttered dryly.
"That would be bad." Shawn and Zoey added in unison.
"Besides, I'd rather do it with you guys anyway." Cory explained, ignoring their sarcastic tones.
"Discrimination!" Topanga exclaimed out of nowhere. She held up a wood sign that read 'NO GIRLS ALLOWED!' "Not fair. Not fair."
Cory smiled. "Oh, Shawn, look. Our old clubhouse sign."
"Yeah, 'NO GIRLS ALLOWED'. That lasted long." Shawn said.
Cory narrowed his eyes at Shawn. "Hey, I'm not the one who caved when Zoey tried to puppy-dog eyes."
"What can I say? I could never say no to my girl." Shawn responded defensively, placing a hand on Zoey's shoulder. He then walked further into the garage and saw a toboggan. "Hey, Cory, how come we never use this?"
"Oh, this? The belonged to me and Eric. Boy, this thing's got some memories." Cory replied as he looked down at the item.
Zoey then found a pair of swords and a crown, which she placed on her head.
"Your queen demands a duel." Zoey said as she handed the fake swords to the two boys. "Lord Hunter, Sir Complain-a-lot. The Winner shall get my hand."
Cory rolled his eyes. "En garde, doddie head!"
"Prepare to die... scoundrel." Shawn responded with a Spanish accent.
"Alright, your queen's getting bored. Can we see some bloodshed?" Zoey demanded.
Shawn and Cory immediately lunched at each other and parried, terribly with their fake swords as they let out enthusiastic yells. Topanga and Zoey couldn't help but laugh at their partners as they dropped the swords and grappled with each other.
Everyone stopped when they noticed Eric approaching them.
"Hey, you guys having a little party here?" Eric wondered.
"No, just hurting your brother." Shawn replied.
"What are you up to?" Topanga asked.
"Well, apparently not having as much fun as you guys are." Eric answered.
"Yeah, we're just cleaning out the garage." Cory explained to his older brother. "You know, I've been meaning to go through this stuff for a while."
"Oh, okay. So this was your idea?" Eric wondered.
"Yeah." Cory replied.
"Shawn, Zoey, and I are just helping out." Topanga added.
Noticing the awkward tension, Shawn took the swords from Cory and made his way back into the garage. Topanga and Zoey took their cue and picked up nearby boxes in an effort to look busy.
"You know, Cory, this would have been fun to do together." Eric said.
"Oh, Eric, come on. It's not a big deal." Cory reassured. "Besides, I didn't want you to waste a Saturday."
"Oh, but you didn't mind asking Shawn and Zoey to waste a Saturday? Even though they're wedding is in three weeks?" Eric asked.
"No, Shawn loves this stuff. Remember where he's from. Plus, Zoey and Shawn do everything together." Cory answered.
Shawn lifted up a paint can. "I do love trash."
Shawn then wrapped an arm around Zoey. She gave him a smirk before giving him a smack up the head.
"Okay, so, let me try to understand this. You decided on your own to through our stuff, involving your wife and your best friends, who incidentally has brothers of their own to do this kind of stuff with, but you didn't call me." Eric said.
"Eric, it's not a big deal." Cory told him.
"Maybe we should go." Zoey suggested.
"No, no, no. You guys stay." Eric said. "He probably doesn't get a chance to see you a whole lot anyway."
Cory sighed. "Eric, come on. Don't be like this, okay? Stay and we'll all...."
"Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you, Dad called last night and he wanted me and you to look for grandpa's toolbox after calling you about you calling me about is cleaning out the garage together." Eric interrupted his brother. "We were supposed to do this together."
Zoey, Topanga and Shawn remained silent while Eric turned around and walked away from them.
••••
Later in the day, everyone decided to catch up in the Student Union. Angela sat on the couch with Blake's arm wrapped around her shoulder, Jack was by the pool table, Zoey sat beside her brother. Meanwhile Shawn and Rachel were coming back from the coffee shop, holding coffee for everyone.
"You know, it must be fun to do a big clean-out like that and go through old stuff you haven't seen in years." Rachel said, sitting on the couch and passed coffee to Angela.
"Well, it started out fun." Zoey muttered.
"You know what, Angela? It wouldn't hurt us to do some spring cleaning." Rachel said.
"Great idea, Rachel. Why don't you start and I'll catch up with you, like.... in the fall?" Angela responded.
Zoey smiled before turning to her brother. "You know, Blake, Eric said something interesting before that got me thinking."
Blake narrowed his eyes. "Wait a minute. Eric got you thinking?"
"He seemed well-rested." Zoey admitted. "You know, you and I should get closer, spend more time together..."
"And start acting like real siblings?" Blake finished with a smile. "So you want to do something later?"
"How about now? I'm up for anything." Zoey offered.
Blake smiled before pulling his sister into a tight embrace.
Eric then walked into the Student Union, approaching the group. "I have theories, you know?"
"About what?" Blake asked.
Eric shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."
"Zoey, I want to say I'm sorry about before." Eric apologized sincerely. "You know, I was just... I was upset."
"It's okay. I understand." Zoey said with a small smile.
Eric returned the gesture before sitting down on the one the chairs. Shawn came over and sat on the arm of the couch, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"Hey, Eric!" Cory greeted as he entered the Student Union, approaching his older brother. "I've been looking for you."
"Well, you found me." Eric said bluntly.
"Um, listen, I just want to apologize about before. You know, the reason I didn't call you was not because I didn't want you to be there." Cory told him.
"I'm listening." Eric said.
"Because that's... that's not what I was thinking about." Cory responded.
"So what were you thinking?" Eric asked.
"I was really thinking anything." Cory admitted sheepishly. "You know, it's not that big a deal. I mean, maybe we'll do it again sometime."
"Really looking forward to that." Eric muttered. Cory nodded and began walking over to the coffee shop. "So then why are you apologizing?"
Cory turned around to face his brother. "Well, I'm apologizing because... you seemed hurt."
Eric pursed his lips. "That's very considerate. Are you really sorry or are you just sorry you got caught?"
"You know, you're right. He does seem well-rested." Blake agreed as he leaned towards his sister.
Cory sighed. "Eric, come on. This is stupid, alright? It's no big deal, you know? We'll go home, forget this ever happened, we'll clean out the garage, and be done with it."
Eric stood up from his spot and clasped his hands together. "You know what? While we're at it, why don't we just move all that crap to the end of the driveway and sell it?"
"Why do you want to have a garage sale?" Cory wondered in confusion. "I mean, that's, like... our childhood."
"Well, yeah, but I mean, like you said, it doesn't really matter." Eric repeated his younger brothers words. "Why don't we just sell it, split the money right down the centre, and then, you know, we can be done with it, go back to the way it used to be, you know? 'Hey, how you doing?' 'Fine, how you doing?' No need to apologize for anything."
••••
Zoey and Blake decided to help out of the garage sale.
Zoey enjoyed shopping at yard sales because it is a fun thing to do on the weekend with her mother, there re usually great deals on items, and sometimes at yard sales you can get vintage items that you can't buy at a store. Garage sales are fun because you can either walk from sale to sale or drive sale to sale with your family.
While Zoey helped a customer out with finding something that they liked. After that, she looked over to see Cory and Eric have a heated argument. Then Shawn and Jack arrived at the garage sale, laughing hysterically.
"What's so funny?" Cory wondered.
"Oh, I don't really know, you know?" Jack replied truthfully. "It's just we've been laughing for, the last three hours."
"Eric and I have been doing the same thing." Cory said sarcastically.
"What have you guys been up to?" Zoey asked as she approached them.
"Oh, little of this, a little of that." Jack answered.
"And time's just been flying." Shawn added. "Flying. Right, bud." He high-fived his brother before wrapping an around Zoey and walked slowly away from them. "Oh, honey, help me out here. I am dying. He is so freaking boring."
Zoey pressed a kiss against Shawn's cheek before they continued helping out customers. They carried on around the garage sale before they noticed Cory arguing with a customer.
"Could you be any more annoying?!" Cory exclaimed.
A buff middle-aged man stepped forward. "Hey, buddy, watch your mouth. That's my wife."
Cory chuckled nervously. "Could she be any more annoying?"
Then all of a sudden the man threw a punch at Cory in the face. Zoey's eyes widen as she watched her best friend tumble into the nearest table.
Eric's expression turned frustrated as he marched his way towards the man and began hitting him.
"That's - my - brother! - Nobody - hits - my- brother!" Eric shouted, punctuating every word with a hit. When he stopped, the man glared at him. "So this guys walked into a bar..."
The man then punched Eric down onto the ground. Once Eric was on the ground, the man continued punching him. Cory rushed over, trying to get the man off of his brother while the blonde woman began hitting him with her bag.
Shawn and Zoey stepped in, trying to pull the man off Eric but both ended up being picked up by strangers while everyone at the garage sale began fighting one another.
••••
Eric and Cory fixed everything up.
It turned out that Eric was upset with the fact that Cory had shut him out of his life a long time ago. They used to do stuff together and now they don't. Mr. Matthews wanted both of them to go the garage together and Cory chose to leave Eric. Everything in the garage were their memories.
During that evening, the brothers ended up doing the garage after all.
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PUBLISHED: April 7, 2019
WORDS: 2171