⌜ chapter seventeen ⌟

"Your boyfriend just threatened to kill me with fishing wire." Danny says as he walks over to Letty in the Matthews' store.

"Then go to school, and don't come back into the store that his father owns." The brunette tells him as she continues restocking one of the shelves in the back of the store.

"Well, that would make talking to you hard. 'Cause Eric's here, and Shawn tried to kill me when I wanted to talk to you yesterday."

"So, stop trying to talk to me." She says as she kneels down to stock in a lower shelf.

"Makes it kinda hard to apologize." He says, and she looks up at him then. "Thirty seconds, that's all I'm asking for here."

Letty takes a deep breath as she stands up straight. "Twenty seconds, starting now."

"I was a dick, and I want to apologize. I'm gonna need more time to fully explain." He tells her. "I guess this is the question — lunch, I'm buying, wherever you want, and I'll leave you alone after."

"You want to apologize for what you did to me?" She asks, and he nods.

"I know that what I did was..." He sighs as he shakes his head. "Things are different now, I'm different. I wanna apologize, and explain why so that you know I'm being..."

"Genuine?"

"Yeah." He nods.

"Look, uh... Let me think about it...and go over my work schedule." She says, and he nods. "I'll talk to you at school later, and I'll control Shawn."

"Okay."

Oddly enough, she doesn't have to control Shawn when she talks to Danny later that day. Her younger brother's too distracted by whatever's got him in the red skirt. Part of her wants to know what he and Cory are up to, and part of her knows that she really doesn't.

That is, until her curiosity gets the best of her.

Shawn's waving at a boy in his grade, a smile on his face as the other boy walks away. He turns and his smile falls when he sees his older sister walking over to him.

"Um, excuse me, miss?" Letty glances between him and Cory.

"Uh-oh." Shawn mutters.

"Can you tell me what happened to my brother?"

"Shut up, Scarlett."

"It's for my column in the school paper." Cory says, and she looks at him.

"You mean the Is It Just Me column that makes almost no sense?" She quirks an eyebrow at them as Topanga walks up on Shawn's other side. "How is this related?"

"He's gonna write Chick Like Me." Shawn explains. "We're doing an experiment to see the difference between how guys and girls are treated on dates."

"You mean 'cause guys are creeps?"

"Exactly." Topanga nods.

"And this is why Shawn's wearing pantyhose, a leather skirt, and just made a date with a boy named Gary?" Letty says as she looks between the three younger teenagers.

"I'm an undercover journalist." Shawn argues, and she nods.

"I might actually look forward to this article in the paper."

"I'm never gonna live this down, am I?"

"No. You're really not." Letty says with a smile, and Topanga laughs as she looks from the older girl to her friend who's dressed as a girl.

—

Friday night, Letty and Eric are sitting at the table in the Matthews' kitchen, and she's working on an outline for an English paper that she's writing. Eric's tapping his fork against the wooden tabletop as he stares at her, and his parents are looking at the two teenagers, both confused.

"Letty, I need your help at the store tomorrow." He finally speaks up.

"No, you don't." She continues with what she's writing.

"Yes. Yes, I do."

"No, you're being a child."

"You can't go out with him." Eric says, and she looks over at him as she sets her pencil down.

"I can do whatever the hell I want."

"This guy is full of crap, and he's just gonna end up hurting you all over again." He tells her, and she shakes her head.

"We're going to Chubbie's to talk. It's a crowded restaurant, Eric. What exactly do you think is gonna happen?" She questions.

"You're not going."

"That's not your decision."

"Why? 'Cause I'm not your boyfriend?"

"No. 'Cause I'm not your property."

"Hey, uh, guys?" Mr. Matthews walks over to the table, interrupting their argument. "What's going on here?"

"Danny asked her out, and she said yes." Eric tells him.

"No. Danny asked to buy me food so that we could sit down and talk. He wants to apologize for what happened, and explain to me what caused him to want to apologize." Letty explains as she looks up at Mr. Matthews. "He seemed sincere when he asked, and considering it was, like, two years ago, I decided to hear him out."

"The guy hasn't changed."

"I guess I'll find out tomorrow." She says as she starts to get her stuff together so that she can leave.

"People don't just change, Letty." Eric says, and she scoffs as she stands up.

"If that is what you believe, then what the hell have we been doing?" She questions. "If people don't change, then I'm never gonna, and we can't be together."

"That is not the same thing, and you know it!" He argues as he gets to his feet as well. "This guy tried to force himself on you after you told him that you didn't want to have sex with him."

"We were fifteen, Eric. Why is it so hard for you to believe that he could feel badly about the way that he treated me?" She asks. "Why shouldn't he get the chance to apologize? It was two years ago. People grow up, they learn from their mistakes."

"You were so freaked out that night that you were shaking when you got here, Letty. And you had blood on your leg." He reminds her.

"Because I ran into the end-table." She shakes her head. "You know what... I'm going home to finish my paper, and then tomorrow, I'm meeting Danny at Chubbie's."

The next day, Letty and Danny are playing a game of pool in the back room of the restaurant, and she looks over at him after she breaks to start the game. "Alright, we did the small-talk thing while we ate, and you haven't been a giant ass." She says, and he chuckles.

"Not what you were expecting?" He asks as he takes his turn.

"I didn't really know what to expect." She admits. "Now spill — what's with the sudden need to apologize about something that happened two years ago?"

"Karma got to me, I guess." He leans against the table as she leans over it to take her shot. "I was out of town visiting some family, and my younger cousin came home. She seemed upset, and me and her brother wanted to know what was wrong 'cause she had just been on a date. She told us that she was out with this guy that she thought was nice, but then he kept making advances on her. She told him no, he didn't wanna hear it, and he got more handsy with her. She got out of there, luckily, but... I was listening to her story, watching the way she was acting..."

"And you realized that you'd done the same thing to someone else not so long ago." Letty says, and he nods. "How is she?"

"Done dating for awhile." He tells her, and she nods. "Was it that bad after what I did to you?"

"So says Eric." She nods. "He was pretty angry when I told him that I was coming here tonight. I don't think I remember as much about what happened after as he does — adrenaline took over, I guess. He sat with me 'til I felt a little better, and he has despised you ever since."

"Good." Danny nods. "I was looking at my cousin, and I couldn't believe that I'm the reason someone else was like that once. So, I wanted to apologize. I know it doesn't make up for it, or erase anything... I guess I just wanted to look you in the eye and tell you that I know what I did was wrong, and I'll never do it to anyone else ever again."

"Good. And that's game." She smiles, and he looks back at the table.

"Yeah. I didn't forget that you're good at pool." He says, and she chuckles. "Can I walk you home?"

"Uh... Yeah." She nods, and they start to head out.

Letty suddenly stops walking, and he looks at what got her attention as she pulls out her camera and takes a picture of three people. Danny's eyebrows furrow when he recognizes Topanga.

"Is that..." He trails off, shaking his head, thinking there's absolutely no way that he's right.

"Cory and Shawn dressed up as girls." The brunette nods, confirming what he kinda wishes he didn't know. "And now it's documented forever."

"Okay. Let's get out of here before it gets any weirder." Danny says, and she laughs as they walk past the three younger teenagers.