The Secret Life // A Shawn Hunter fanfic

Sixty-four ➳ both

Shawn
"Mr. Fountain, Mr.Martini, the place is all cleaned up, so if there's nothing else, I got a little Christmas Eve thing with my buddy."
It was about twenty minutes after closing already. Ever since they practically handed me so much money, I devoted my days work. After all, it was officially the holiday, that meant the restaurant was closing soon. I wanted to leave now especially considering I was going to Jasmine's, where I would take her to Cory's. We were bound to have a busy weekend, with visiting her grandparents. Anxiety remained to stimulate throughout my system just thinking about this upcoming event. What if they hated me and my background? I heard they were upper class. If her grandparents heard that me and Jasmine came from different classes, or that I was lower, they wouldn't respect our relationship.
I wasn't going to allow any part of that.
I returned back to reality and no longer began to reflect my current thoughts on this situation. I waited for my bosses to respond, which only took a few more minutes for them to do so.
"Actually, there's one more little favor I need tonight." Mr. Fountain informed, expecting me to take it.
"Ooh, tonight's real tough for me, Mr.Fountain." I admitted to them. Fear crept throughout my body as I watched them stare at me, a blank expression. It wasn't equipped with any fiery or a wary emotion, just a blank stare. They were silent for a moment until they retreated with action. Mr. Fountain pushed towards me a couple of $100 bills followed by a package.
"Uh Two hundred dollars," he began, informing me of their upcoming mob plan, "I want you to take this box, go down the street, stand in front of the warehouse, car will come by, a guy will ask for it, you will give it to him.He will give you an envelope."
I stood there, emotionless just like they were. There could be anything in this box, yet I was considering a commitment to listening to them.
"Now you do that for us, kid, and maybe we find something a little more permanent. How would you like that?"
And there I was, I accepted the package along with the money then headed to the stop they requested me to go to. I completely forgot about going to Cory's and picking up Jasmine. My only focus was continuing to work surreptitiously on whatever ruse they had devised in talks of their schemes.
:::
Jasmine
I waited for Shawn for what seemed like hours to take me to Cory's. We were supposed to head there and celebrate Christmas Eve together before we departed for our trip to my grandparents. I was feeling ticked due to his secretive whereabouts. How could he not confide in me if he had been working or not? Instead of Shawn taking me, Topanga had called concerned on where I was and took me there.
I was pacing around the living room of the Matthews house frantic about Shawn. I had absolutely no idea where he could of been. No phone calls or anything still. Yet I would await at the phone for Shawn no matter what. Topanga murmured words of assurance to me to attempt to alleviate my anxiety, but it wasn't working.
"He'll be here, don't worry about it Jasmine." Topanga assured. It didn't stop me from pacing around. I spotted Cory trodding down the stairs, the sound of heavy clumps erupting beneath him. Once he made it at feet of the living room floor, I ran up to him.
"Shawn isn't here." I spoke fast and panicky. Cory's eyes met with mine, no longer with concern. Instead, they were full of realization and he wasn't worried anymore either.
"I think I have an idea where he is." He replied.
"Where? I'll come with you."
As he walked towards the front door with upmost determination to find Shawn's presence, I was at his heels. Cory caught me off by surprise when he turned around and put both of his hands on my shoulders to stop me from leaving with him.
"Jasmine, stay here with Topanga. It's too cold and it's snowing outside. I'll bring him back here, I promise." He persisted. Eventually, he lifted his grip off my shoulders and created more steps between us.
I stood there, Topanga right behind me. She rested her hands on my shoulders to comfort me. With Cory's promise, he was able to reduce some of the stress away from my thoughts.
"Promise?"
"Promise." He said at last, then swung the door open and left, shutting it from behind him. As I waited there for a moment, Topanga reminded me that she still held onto my shoulders.
"Come on Jasmine, I think Home Alone is on."
We sat down and on the couch then began to watch tv together, waiting for the arrival of our boys to return home for the holiday celebration.
:::
Shawn
I was waiting here for what felt like several hours for this guy to retrieve of the stupid package. Bored from standing here, even the foggy clouds of my breath was beginning to entertain me. The sounds of footsteps suddenly broke my amusement and I cocked my head in the direction of them. It revealed to be Cory, which I should of expected for him to be here.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
"Come on, let's go, you're working much too hard. Now, we're having Christmas Eve over at my house. Nothing you're doing here could be nearly as important, so come on. Let's go." He tried to convince me and was already trailing back to where he came from. But after seeing that I was stuck here, he came back to me.
"I got paid for a job, and I'm gonna do it." I responded.
"Ooh, loyalty," he quoted one of mob bosses, "I like that in a worthless little coffee boy who they don't care if he lives or dies."
That struck me. Although I was full of defeat, I came up with a reason to his arguments of me working there. For him, it was easy. It didn't matter if he earned money, his family still provided him with money. They could afford things any time they wanted, and could be fit to so many circumstances- to be more fortunate, more cushioned-for me, I had to face work and it's overbearing challenges. It was imperative that I did so.
"I've never had money like that before, Cory. It makes me feel like somebody to be able to buy nice presents for my family and friends."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's a real nice feeling." He agreed. It didn't take him much longer to notice that I was grasping firmly onto the box in my hands.
"Hey, what's in the box?"
Frustration lingered inside of me, not because Cory was repeating the twenty question game, but realization was crossing my mind abruptly. I hated when he was right about things like this. My quirky best friend that I've known since a young age also had lots of wisdom. But at the same time, it's why I needed him in my life.
"I don't know what's in the box. I have nothing to do with this box. I am merely the box holder."
"No, come on, open it up. I wanna see what's inside. I wanna see your face light up like a happy little elf. Open it up, my little elf."
A slight smile formed on my face as he quoted my exact words when I surprised him with his Christmas present early. Soon it faded, knowing that inside of this box was one of the dirty deeds that Mr. Fountain and Mr. Martini sent me to do. Also for my life, I didn't want to depend on lottery tickets and friends for money. It was one of my greatest fears, and I was going to do everything in my hands to prevent it from happening.
"Cory, you know, I don't wanna spend my life in front of a convenience store waiting around for the next batch of lottery tickets." I pointed out, referring to Mr. Turner's previous class discussion. Cory didn't question it either, instantly remembering what had happened in class. How much work we provided into earning enough funds to buy Christmas gifts for our family and friends.
"Shawn, he was exaggerating."
"Yeah, well, it rang pretty true to me."
We stood in the cold air, the whirling winds making my head begin to throb. This was exhausting just talking about this. My mind transferred to an image of Jasmine, remembering that I was supposed to be the one to take her to Cory's. Guilt spread through my entire body, knowing she was wondering where the hell I was.
"So this is it."
"This isn't a road, this is a box. And as long as I don't open this box, I don't know what's in it. There's a teddy bear in this box."
"Oh, a teddy? Okay, okay, so come over to my house, we'll put the teddy under the tree, and at the end of the night we'll play a little game called "let's guess the street value of the teddy."
My head cramping more, I sat the box down on this platform and I sat beside it. I buried my head in my hands, aggravated with this moral.
"How'd this get so complicated so fast?"
"I don't know. I guess that's how they get you. They find a guy who feels like he's nowhere in his life, and they make him believe that where he should be is on a street corner holding a box in the middle of Christmas Eve." Cory summarized. He sat beside me, his intentions to remain with me.
"Yeah, well, maybe this is my street. You know, maybe no matter what I do, this is where I end up like that poem says." I replied, staring off into the pathway Cory came from.
"No." He started to say something, then stopped. He continued again when he thought of the poem we read in Turner's class.
"No, see, the poem says you have choices in your life. And every choice you make means something. I mean, Shawn, we're only 16 years old, and we got fooled by a couple of guys who look like our uncles."
I stifled a chuckle at how true that statement it was. We both got fooled and as a result, we were sitting here on Christmas Eve realizing once again the mistake we made. I listened to Cory as he continued on.
"I mean, do you see how easy it is to end up on the wrong road?"
"Yeah, and I knew all about them, too. I didn't walk away. You see, I figured I'd just get them some coffee, make some money, and get out before it got to this." I admitted.
"Then why are you here?"
Truth was, I was no longer sure at that moment. I assumed I was able to make some money for a couple of guys who turned out to be phonies. Now understanding everything, I didn't have a purpose to be here.
"I don't know," I confessed, meeting Cory's eyes, "I guess I thought I was one of those street-smart guys. But now, I'm a little scared."
"You know, Shawn, I didn't see this coming at all. I mean, I thought the devil was supposed to be some guy with horns and a big tail."
Turns out, anything and anyone was capable of committing malicious acts. It meant hiring young kids like me-or people like me- are easy to take advantage of. The horrors of the outside world was true when working in the future, dealing with invulnerable, manipulative people, and focusing on anything in terms of greed or desires. This moral prepared me in that.
I stood up, intending on working for them the last time. I obtained the hold of the box, having a stern grip on it so it wouldn't drop in the snow.
"Cory, it's Christmas Eve. You should be with your family." I insisted, but he wouldn't let me walk away this easily. He did everything in his power to steer me in the right direction, just as he always did.
"No. No, see, that would be the wrong choice," he began, "See, the difference in the poem is that that guy had to choose his road alone."
"So you don't think he had a best friend?" I questioned him. He frowned, thinking of the answer to it.
"No, I guess not."
We stood there in silence, lost in our thoughts and thinking of the poem. In every challenge we faced in this not-so-easy life, the literatures and lessons in class was relevant and implanted a solution to our problems.
As Cory lifted up his wrist, he revealed the watch I bought him to symbolize the meaning his next statement.
"But according to this, you do."
"'Two roads diverged in a wood'," I quoted a part of the poem, remembering it quickly, "And I choose the one that leads back to your house."
"Good."
"We should probably take this back first."
As we trailed towards the way Cory took to meet up with me, making sure I would choose the right path and decision to prevent me from meeting with the face of danger.
"Wouldn't it be funny if there really was a teddy bear in there?"
"Yeah."
:::
After returning the package and quitting the job I worked at for so little, but ended up earning so much, we went to his house.
"Is Jas here?" I asked on the way to his house.
"Yeah," he answered, "she was worried about you."
My lips creased into a smile. I loved her so much. It was amazing despite being so secretive and not confident in her where I was that she still chose to care about me no matter what. When we stepped inside the house, there sat Jasmine on the piano playing a Christmas song. Sprawled on the couch were Mr. And Mrs. Matthews listening to her song. Since she didn't hear the door open, I decided to surprise her by slowly extending my arms out, wrapping them around her waist. I leaned my head in over her shoulder then kissed her cheek.
"You look and sound beautiful."
She had her hair down and placed around her shoulders. She wore an elegant, cranberry colored dress that was long sleeved. It had the soft sort of fuzzy material to it, comforting my hands since they were resting on her stomach.
"Thank you, can I sing you a song?" She invited me with a smile. I returned the same gesture and sat down next to her, scooching closer to her.
"Of course."
She began playing the melodic cords of Carol of the Bells on the piano. Shortly after, she was singing the lyrics to it as well. I remained there in silence hearing her harmonic vocals soothe my eardrums as she sang. Just hearing her sing, you could tell she had a lot of passion in her voice. I knew she was going to do big things in this life with her voice.
Once she was finished, she looked at me instantly to search for words I was going to say.
"Well?" She asked.
Instead of saying something automatically, I leaned in and collided my mouth with her soft, warm lips. I deepened the kiss by wrapping an arm around her shoulder to pull her in closer. After we separated from each other, we made distance so I could answer.
"Wonderful, you don't even have to ask me that."
She smiled and rested her head on my shoulder, enjoying the peacefulness. I settled my hand on top of hers, my fingers curling inside of her hand.
"Can I give you your gift early?" I asked. She nodded her head in response. Both of us craving alone time, I stood up and lead her upstairs to Cory's room. We both went inside and found Eric shuffling through wrapping paper. It appeared to be that he was wrapping a Christmas gift for someone. I had a feeling who it was, it was Lonnie, the tough blonde who now worked at his parents hardware and appliance store. The business has been successful, and now that they had her working at the store, they were gaining more attention. Not because she was a pretty face, but she had knowledge and knew how to persuade people to buy appliances.
"Eric, can you take this downstairs?" I asked him, polite and not rude.
"I guess so, why you two going to make out under the mistletoe?" He teased.
I smirked. "Where is it?"
"It's up there." Jasmine pointed to the ceiling above Cory's bed. He was planning this for Topanga, what a dog!
"See ya, don't take too much time you lovebirds." Eric teased, taking his gift and heading downstairs. He failed miserably as he ended up tripping over the excess wrapping paper and fell down the stairs. He yelled that he was alright, assuring everyone that was present here at the Matthews place that he was okay.
Me and Jasmine sat down together on Cory's bed, directing our attention to the present I was about to hand her. The silence between us spurred an awkward tension but it was only because Jasmine was expecting me to say something first. She leaned her head in closer to me, bowing it down to meet my eyes. When our eyes met, that's when I began to speak.
"So, Jas, as you know it's been a rough year for me. For you, our relationship was strained. All because we couldn't see each other..." I started, settling my mind to my thoughts to figure out what else to say. Jasmine remained patient and respectful, knowing I was still trying to speak.
"I know that we are young, but we've been in love for a while. I know our affection to each other is true, and to prove that to you I wanted to give you-"
I paused again so I could reach into one of the pockets of my coat. I slowly pulled out the ring box and once I revealed it to her, her pupils expanded with delight. It didn't matter she didn't speak out loud, you could tell let alone from her eyes what she was saying to herself and her mind. Once I opened the box, making a clink noise, her eyes began to sparkle as the faces of the diamond reflected off of them. The perfect essence of this moment was when she was forming her beautiful smile, full of warm and engulfing an endearing assurance.
"This." I finished. She closed her eyes to refrain them from drying out, her naturally long eyelashes batting against the top of her cheeks.
"It's gorgeous, Shawn. I love this." Jasmine spoke lightly and intrigued by the intensity of color from this ring. It was bright and beautiful, and unique considering it was bronze instead of the standard gold or silver. I began to smile as this moment was touching to us both. It furthered a mature exploration of our relationship and every aspects that followed it. I slipped the ring on her ring finger, the perfect size. She engulfed me in a tight hug to show her gratitude and acknowledgment of the gift.
"I love you." I said, rubbing her back with my hand to soothe her. We were like this for a few minutes just enjoying each other's company. She pulled away so she could kiss me, deepened with passion and tenderness. Letting go of me so she could respond with an "I love you" back, she caught me off guard when she said she'd be right back. Before I could head downstairs with her, she stood at the door to pause me from leaving too. I furrowed my eyebrows confused as I was wondering why she wouldn't let me leave.
"Stay up here, I have something for you."
"Okay." I replied simply. I stayed up here and obeyed her instruction. Thinking of ways to intense the moment even more, I took note of the Christmas lights that were hung around the walls. I went to the power plugs, and connected it to the outlet. The lights were flashed and were the colorful ones, showing bright hues of red, blue, and yellow. Soon after Jasmine returned with her present. It was wrapped compared to mine, and it was small. It happened to be compressed as the same size of the ring box. Was it the same gift?
"Here is your present." I unwrapped the gift with no conflicts whatsoever. Turned out, I was right. I popped the box open to reveal a promise ring as well, but instead of being bronze, it was silver. Engraved on the outer side in bold print stated, "I LOVE YOU S.P.H." I smiled wide and toothless, noticing a pattern when she slipped the ring on my finger.
"Looks like we have the same mind." I chuckled.
"Yeah, perhaps we do."
We stared at our rings then afterwards into our eyes. Craving the moment, we moved closer into each other and found ourselves kissing, wet and messy. My arms were wrapped around her waist. I gently pushed her against Cory's bed, exploring our faces by kissing each other. It was like a map, our lips searching for land and seas. I sat up to turn the light off, allowing the colorful bulbs be our light. I collided my lips with her neck, not caring that I was giving her a hickey just before we were going to her grandparents. After all, it was the holiday spirit. Jasmine stopped kissing so she could catch her breath. She moved her head to where it was over my shoulder, giving me the chance to dig deeper into her neck. I moved my lips upper to her cheek, playfully giving her kisses. She ended up giggling as they were soft, tickling and soothing her porcelain skin. I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing, wanting this moment to be serious. Jasmine however has enough and sat up, still in my arms.
"That's enough, people are beginning to probably wonder if we snaked the whole Christmas tree up here."
By that, it meant something else other than a tree.
"Damn, but it was perfect, wasn't it?"
She smirked. "It was."
I gave her another kiss then headed downstairs just in time to take our annual Christmas picture.
"There you are you two! Get in, get in." Mr. Feeny gestured with his hand for us to stand behind the couch. We stood next to each other, close but not hand in hand.
Topanga surprised Jasmine by plopping a Santa hat on top of her head so they could match simultaneously for the picture. Jasmine didn't just continued to smile and refused to effect her expression.
Christmas Eve was perfect this year since she was back. With both of our promise rings on our fingers, it goes to show that our love did symbolize something special. It wasn't the usual high school love story, it was more. It was a love story. It didn't matter what age we were, we were young and now had a feeling on exactly where we were going.
❤︎