Mr. Feeny tells him that Cory and Topanga's breakup wasn't his fault, and he believes it. But later that night Shawn remembers the ski trip that started the whole mess.
Only Cory could be unlucky enough to hurt his ankle getting off a bus, and only Cory could be lucky enough to spend the day talking to a cute mountain girl. All they did was talk, and Cory had insisted they were just good friends.
Maybe he'd been looking from it from the wrong perspective, Shawn realizes. From his view, that mountain girl was cute enough to tempt any guy into cheating on his girlfriend. From his view, that girl falling for his friend could spell disaster whether or not Cory returned her feelings.
From his view, lying was the only way to deal with it.
It's not healthy to be so dependent on other peoples' relationships, but Cory and Topanga had given him the courage to believe in real love, to get serious with Angela after years of serial dating and that stupid two-week rule.
And he'd wrecked that love.
"Cory's the one who lied," Shawn reminds himself, "he's the one who panicked and did the wrong thing. Topanga's the one who got mad. Lauren's the one who kissed him."
But Cory wouldn't have needed to lie if you hadn't gotten all dramatic about Lauren.
Shawn sighs, burying his face in his hands and running them through his hair.
"Wrecked. Just like everything else in my life," he mutters. He doesn't know whether to curl up in a corner and mope or come up with a zany scheme to fix everything. The corner looks pretty inviting, and a zany scheme would require thinking.
Corner it is.