It's My Life ? Shawn Hunter

127| Getting Hitched

"Oh, dad was a sentimental guy." Shawn replied. Then the piece of paper that he held caught his attention. "This one's weird."

"What?" Jack asked.

"It's a letter to Chet from your stepdad." Shawn informed.

"Oh, hey, that's nothing. I'll just take that." Jack insisted, trying to grab it from Shawn but he stepped out of reach.

"No, no, no." Shawn muttered as he looked down to read the letter. "'Don't worry about paying me back, Chet. Shawn is Jack's brother so he's practically family. We're happy to help out'."

"Yeah, that's nothing." Jack said.

"No, no, pay him back for what?" Shawn wondered.

"Nothing." Jack replied quickly. "... for your shirt."

"Pay him back for what?" Shawn repeated, his voice more firm.

Jack sighed. "For your tuition."

"For college?" Shawn questioned, shocked.

"You know... yeah, Chet just couldn't afford it..." Jack trailed off.

"Wait, no." Shawn interrupted his brother sharply. "You and your stepdad decided to make us the charity case of the year?"

"Your dad wanted you to go to college so bad that he came to my stepfather for help." Jack explained. "Can you imagine how hard that was for him?"

"What else did you get me, Jack?" Shawn demanded.

"Nothing. That was it." Jack replied.

"Books? Did you by my books?" Shawn asked angrily.

"Maybe some books." Jack answered.

Shawn pointed at his clothes. "My shirt? Really?"

"I would never pay for that shirt." Jack admitted as he reached forward to pick at Shawn's collar. "Come on, man. I'm just trying to help out. That's what families do. We help out each other."

"How have I helped you out?" Shawn wondered.

Jack furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"We're family, right?" Shawn asked as he began unbuttoning his yellow and brown fallen shirt. "Tell me one thing that I've done to help you out." He pulled the shirt over his head and threw it at his brother. "Here, take this. It doesn't belong to me. Nothing belongs to me."

••••

Several minutes later, their disagreement had devolved to idiocy when Shawn pulled off his pants and chucked them at Jack.

"You sure you didn't buy these, too?" Shawn asked, gesturing to his underwear.

"Don't take those off!" Jack exclaimed.

"I don't want to spend my life being a handout case, Jack." Shawn told him.

Jack sighed. "I understand how you feel."

"No you don't!" Shawn shouted angrily. "You don't. You know, I don't expect you to. It's not your fault. You know, I appreciate what you and your stepdad did for me."

"Then why can't you just accept it and move on?" Jack wondered.

"Move on from what?" Shawn questioned. "Nothing is what I thought it was. I don't know what I am anymore."

"You're my brother in his underwear." Jack answered before throwing his brother's pants back to him. "Now would you please get dressed?"

"I'm gonna pay you back for everything." Shawn promised his brother.

"You wanna pay me back?" Jack asked.

Shawn nodded. "I'm gonna pay you back."

"Let me know who my father was." Jack replied.

Shawn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"Yeah. Why do you think I wanted to come down here so badly? I wanted to find out just a little something about him." Jack replied.

"You already knew more about him than I did." Shawn said.

"No, no. The important stuff, man. I mean, at least you have memories with him. I mean, I was gone before I could have any and now he's gone and I guess I'll never have any." Jack explained.

"That's probably a good thing." Shawn muttered.

"How?" Jack wondered.

"Cause you're okay. You're the lucky one, Jack. There's no need for you to go through this kind of pain." Shawn told his brother.

••••

The next day, Zoey and Cory made their way over to Shawn's trailer. When they walked inside, they found Shawn sitting on the couch and flicking through a book.

"Hey." Cory greeted.

"Hey, Cor, Zo." Shawn greeted back as he looked up.

"Thanks for letting me have the room last night." Cory said.

"No sweat. So?" Shawn wondered.

"So, do you know what the best part about being a virgin is?" Cory asked as he sat down on a chair beside Shawn.

"What?" Shawn asked.

"No, I'm asking." Cory clarified as Shawn and Zoey exchanged a slight amused glance.

"So, how you doing? You okay?" Zoey questioned.

"I've been so angry, I haven't been able to see straight." Shawn answered.

Zoey immediately knew that Shawn's answer had a double meaning; he was angry at himself too.

"Yeah. I kinda noticed." Cory said.

"But now that my dad's gone I figured it's a good chance for me to get out of here." Shawn responded.

"Yeah, definitely." Cory agreed. "I mean, you don't want to be hanging around in this trailer. So come back to the dorm. You know, we'll talk."

"You and Topanga aren't living together anymore?" Shawn asked.

"Yes, but only during the day. At night she's scary. But I love her and we have our whole lives to live together and know each other." Cory explained.

Shawn smiled. "I'm happy for you, Cor."

"Thank you." Cory said.

Shawn sighed. "I think I need to break away for a while, clear my head, find out who I am."

"Shawn, you just lost your father." Cory pointed out.

"He left me this trailer. It's all he had." Shawn told his best friend. "And eventually, I'm gonna have to sell it off and start paying back some debts, but in the meantime, I was going to hitch it up and hit the open road. Thought maybe you two could come with me."

"You know I will." Zoey responded with a faint smile.

"What, you mean for the weekend?" Cory asked.

Shawn nodded. "Yeah, for the weekend."

"Yeah, sure!" Cory agreed. "Woo-hoo! You know, we're young, we're wild. Can I drive?"

"No." Shawn and Zoey answered in unison as they walked out the trailer.

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PUBLISHED: December 21, 2018
WORDS: 1582