*Sorry for the lateness of it all, I've been really busy! - Sarah Charlotte
It was a Friday night and it was still rainy. However, Morgan sang to the radio as she got ready for her date. She was excited - some guy named Mike had asked her out on date. He was taking her to some Chinese restaurant. Morgan hated Chinese, but she thought the guy might be pretty nice, so she decided to go. Besides, she could order something and pick at it or cut it up to make it look eaten. Mike didn't seem overly intelligent, so she decided not to worry about it.
"Hey, Morgan, what are you doing tonight?" Cory asked her. They asked each other this question every single night, but neither of them ever had anything to do. "Oh, nothing. Well, I met this guy, named Mike. Well, we're going to Café Goo-Goo Yen, or something like that."
"I thought you hated Chinese," he said. "Well, I do, but hey. This guy dips cones at the local Dairy Freeze. I'm only going out with him because he's cute."
"That's not a good reason to go out with a guy," Cory told her. "I know, but I mean, it's a Friday night. The only thing I could do is go see the new movie at the dollar theatre or some Tracey Gold movie at The Screening Room."
"Yeah, okay, but when you're back, come to my apartment, okay? I need some help writing this thing.and I know you're a good writer." That wasn't true, but he had to use it. He wanted to see how Morgan's date was, really.
"I know you want to know how my date went, but okay. Well, see you later. Bye," she said as she flounced off. He detected a scent of citronella - or was it vanilla? He couldn't tell, but whatever it was, he had smelled it on Topanga before. "Have fun," he said, disappointed. "I know I won't."
Well, Cory may have wished her to have fun, but she sure didn't. As soon as she entered the apartment, she through her jacket down on the chair, and her purse went with it. "Did you have fun?" Cory asked. He and Shawn were sitting watching some old movie.
"Oh, yeah, lots of it," Morgan said sarcastically. "Is Mike nice?" Shawn asked. "No, he's a total jerk! When we got there all he wanted to do was tell me about his past girlfriends, and how much he loved himself. All the things he'd done with his life. And he never once asked me about myself. Cory, am I a vegetarian or do I eat meat?"
"You're a vegetarian," he said, surprised. "Shawn, what do you think I am?" she asked him. "A vegetarian." He replied.
"Exactly! I am! But he never once bothered to ask me what I wanted, he just ordered me some meat plate!"
"I thought you said you had fun," Shawn said slowly. "Shawn, didn't you detect the sarcasm? It would do you good. Ugh! What, are there no dateable guys in New York or something? Not that I've seen any anywhere else, but still. You'd think New York would have at least two million guys to choose from. But no, I go out with Mike. The most self-absorbed guy in New York! I would like to meet some guy that's cute, funny, knows a lot about me, cares about me, and is sensitive. Also that knows I'm a vegetarian."
She sat on the couch. "So what are you watching?" she asked. "A documentary on coleslaw," Shawn said fast, changing the channel. "No, change it back, what were you watching, seriously! That looks awesome!"
Cory and Shawn looked surprised. "What, I've been out with a guy who cares about himself only. Even an old violent movie is more interesting than Mike's Life Story."
Cory laughed to himself. She was amazing. She didn't deserve someone like Mike who only cared about himself. She deserved someone like.someone more like the guy she'd imagined.
"Cory, if you want to ask Morgan out, just do it." Shawn said the minute Morgan had left.
"I don't want to do anything until Topanga comes back," Cory said. "And what if she doesn't? Do you really want to waste your life like that?" Shawn asked in an accusing tone.
"I don't think Topanga would just leave like that, though," Cory said. "It doesn't seem real. It's almost like impossible."
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Shawn replied. "Oh, well. Your choice."
"You don't think Topanga's coming back do you?" Cory asked. "Cory, you know I'm your best friend, and we always help each other out. But I'm helping you now by telling you that just in case she doesn't come back, it'll be okay. You'll still have Morgan."
Cory sighed. He knew Morgan wouldn't like being thought of as a back up. He also Morgan wouldn't go to sleep tonight, she would stay awake listening to the radio over her headphones, because that's what she did on Fridays. He knew also that in the morning, she would get up early and go get beignets at The New Orleans Café, as well as a double latté with skim milk. He knew after she went to get beignets, she would come back, pick up her sketchbook, and head to the studio.
"You're thinking about her, aren't you? See, someone's not so sure that Topanga's coming back." Shawn told him. "What? Just because I think about someone it means the other one's not coming back?" Cory asked. "No, but.look at it this way. Topanga's moving on, she's.why else do you think she would have gone to Seattle for no reason?"
"There was a reason, a business trip," Cory said defensively. "Yeah, if she were transferred she'd stay for two months and longer, like Morgan. But it wasn't so she shouldn't but she has. Two whole months, Cory. Two months, she's been gone, and you still think she's coming back." Shawn shook his head and got up. "Can't leave Morgan waiting forever, you know." He said, and left.
So maybe Cory couldn't leave Morgan waiting forever. But until he heard from Topanga, he wouldn't believe anything, anything at all.
Cory got up early the next morning. He was going to meet Morgan at The New Orleans Café. He figured she deserved it.
"Hey, Cory, what are you doing here?" she asked when he entered the café the next day. "Oh, nothing," he said, coming to her table. No one else was in the restaurant, so it was kind of deserted.
"This is a cool surprise, I didn't expect to see you in a place like this." She smiled at him, and he smiled back. "Morgan, listen. Do you know anything about Topanga? Shawn does but he won't tell me, what do you know. You know you can tell me anything. Tell me what you know about her."
Okay, Morgan was going to tell the truth, but not all of it. "I know she met some guy named Will Roberts and she's staying in a different hotel room now, but I don't exactly know who Will Roberts is or what he's doing there."
"That's all you know?" Cory asked. "I swear," she said. Well, she was only half-lying. She didn't know who Will Roberts was or what he was doing in Seattle, but she THOUGHT they might have some sort of romantic involvement. How many married people do you know spontaneously stay in another person's hotel room?
"Beignet?" She asked him, holding up a beignet. He smiled at her and took it. For that moment in time, he wished he'd never met Topanga.
It started raining again. "Crap," She said. "Now I'll never get to my studio. Do you know how heavy traffic is?"
"It's heavy whether or not it's raining," he mentioned. She glared at him. "Whatever, you know what I mean," she said laughing.
"Listen, Morgan. Do you think you'd ever fall in love?" he asked her. She put her beignet down and rested her elbows on the table. "Mm, I think I might. You know? If I met the right guy. The right guy, who's sensitive and knows a lot about me, and makes me laugh, kind of like you, actually. And who cares a lot about me."
"I care a lot about you," Cory said without thinking. "Oh, that's sweet. I care about you too, Cory." She said. She didn't get it, though.
"Still, I just don't think there are enough available guys in New York anymore. The ones that are, I mean, at my age and stuff, the only ones that are, they're exactly like Mike. I don't want people like that. I want people who are different."
Cory didn't understand, but he knew what she was getting at, if that makes any sense. "Can I see it?" he asked, gesturing to the sketchbook. "Oh, sure. It's nothing, though." He opened it up. Inside were drawings of dresses, skirts, shoes, purses, and tops, everything imaginable. He flipped through a couple of pages. "These are amazing!" he said.
"Oh, those? That's nothing. But you know, sometimes, I guess I get tired of doing the actual designing and I just want to sketch. I don't know; I just really like art."
"Yeah, obviously. Talk about talented." He said. "Oh, that's the end," she told him and he closed it and gave it back to her. "I seriously think you should be discovered."
"Yeah, well. I've been with Pastor-Cohen for several years, I'd just like to be discovered by another person, that's all. I mean PC is good of course, and it has a wonderful amount of flexibility. But there are SO many amateur people at PC, I'd just like some people who discover me as more than an amateur." She explained.
"Do you think you are more than an amateur?" he asked. "No," she said, smiling. "But I want to be discovered as one."
They laughed. Then they went their separate ways - Morgan to her office and Cory to his. But they each met at Balducci's for their lunch break.
"Oh, hey! This is weird," she announced when she saw Cory. "Yeah, I guess it is, we keep meeting each other at the same places." Morgan laughed and nodded.
"Hey, what's this?" he asked, but Morgan accidentally knocked it over. It was the shoebox, the shoebox that held the papers that would determine Cory's future. As it fell on the ground, papers flew out of the box. He picked them up. "You really don't have to do that," Morgan said, grabbing them out of his hand. She tried to stuff them all in the box, but it was too late. "Trust me, I do." He had snatched a few.
"Great," Morgan muttered to herself, sarcastically. "What are these?" Cory asked. "Divorce papers?" she suggested. "For who? You?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer. "Not exactly." She admitted.
"Why didn't you give these to me?" he asked, disappointed. "Well, see, I didn't know about them until a few days ago. Shawn had them. But he didn't give them to you because he didn't want to hurt you. So he showed them to me and I grabbed them before he could stop me and I said I was going to show them to you. But, I mean, it was easier said than done. It was almost like, I thought if I kept them from you, it would preserve your and Topanga's relationship. I don't know. I guess it was stupid. I'm sorry. I'll leave now, if you want." She said, getting up. "Why would you do that?" he asked.
"I just spent all that time trying to explain it to you, and you're asking me again? Okay, I didn't -" but he interrupted her.
"No, why would you leave?" he asked. "Because! I - I totally, totally ruined your entire life, didn't I." she said, not making it a question.
"You didn't, Morgan, you didn't at all. I just wonder," he said, still shuffling through the papers, "why it's so important to you."
"It's not," Morgan said, "but I know it's important to you. And you guys are my friends! I mean you've been with me for, like, a long time. And if not that long, it SEEMS like that long. And I care about all of you and I don't want to see you get hurt."
"I - well - I'm going to talk to Shawn about this." Cory got up, without a word, taking the papers with him. Morgan stared after him confused. Shawn? What would Shawn know about divorce?
"Cory, there's a dress show on the fifteenth. Do you think I should ask Morgan to come?" Angela asked him when he got in the apartment. Shawn wasn't there, but Angela was. "No, no, no, no, no!" Cory said fast. "Why, what's the matter?" Angela asked.
"I think I should ask her," Cory said. "Why?" Angela asked. "Because, it's important. Please let me ask her."
"Why do you want to ask her?" Angela said, laughing. "I've never seen anyone so excited about a dress show before."
"Angela, if you are my friend and I know you are, you will let me ask her to this dress show." Cory said. "Okay," Angela told him, giving up and still laughing. "If you want to, here's the flyer." She gave it to him.
Back at the apartment, Cory had timed it just right. Morgan was entering her apartment. "Morgan!" he said, stopping her. She turned around. "Hey, Cory, how's everything going?" she asked. Typical Morgan - putting others before herself.
"Uh, fine. Listen, there's a dress show on the fifteenth. I was wondering - Angela and Shawn are going, and Shawn said he wouldn't go unless I did, well it's a long story. But - would you like to go with me, uh, us?"
She stared at him awhile, as if trying to understand. "Sure," she said. "Why not? Thanks, Cory." She kissed him on the cheek and then headed inside her apartment. He looked at the flyer. It listed the designers' names in alphabetical order. Near the "M"s Angela had underlined a certain name. He looked at it. It read "Morgan Mendoza".
He wondered if she knew. If she didn't, well, it would just have to be a surprise.
It was a Friday night and it was still rainy. However, Morgan sang to the radio as she got ready for her date. She was excited - some guy named Mike had asked her out on date. He was taking her to some Chinese restaurant. Morgan hated Chinese, but she thought the guy might be pretty nice, so she decided to go. Besides, she could order something and pick at it or cut it up to make it look eaten. Mike didn't seem overly intelligent, so she decided not to worry about it.
"Hey, Morgan, what are you doing tonight?" Cory asked her. They asked each other this question every single night, but neither of them ever had anything to do. "Oh, nothing. Well, I met this guy, named Mike. Well, we're going to Café Goo-Goo Yen, or something like that."
"I thought you hated Chinese," he said. "Well, I do, but hey. This guy dips cones at the local Dairy Freeze. I'm only going out with him because he's cute."
"That's not a good reason to go out with a guy," Cory told her. "I know, but I mean, it's a Friday night. The only thing I could do is go see the new movie at the dollar theatre or some Tracey Gold movie at The Screening Room."
"Yeah, okay, but when you're back, come to my apartment, okay? I need some help writing this thing.and I know you're a good writer." That wasn't true, but he had to use it. He wanted to see how Morgan's date was, really.
"I know you want to know how my date went, but okay. Well, see you later. Bye," she said as she flounced off. He detected a scent of citronella - or was it vanilla? He couldn't tell, but whatever it was, he had smelled it on Topanga before. "Have fun," he said, disappointed. "I know I won't."
Well, Cory may have wished her to have fun, but she sure didn't. As soon as she entered the apartment, she through her jacket down on the chair, and her purse went with it. "Did you have fun?" Cory asked. He and Shawn were sitting watching some old movie.
"Oh, yeah, lots of it," Morgan said sarcastically. "Is Mike nice?" Shawn asked. "No, he's a total jerk! When we got there all he wanted to do was tell me about his past girlfriends, and how much he loved himself. All the things he'd done with his life. And he never once asked me about myself. Cory, am I a vegetarian or do I eat meat?"
"You're a vegetarian," he said, surprised. "Shawn, what do you think I am?" she asked him. "A vegetarian." He replied.
"Exactly! I am! But he never once bothered to ask me what I wanted, he just ordered me some meat plate!"
"I thought you said you had fun," Shawn said slowly. "Shawn, didn't you detect the sarcasm? It would do you good. Ugh! What, are there no dateable guys in New York or something? Not that I've seen any anywhere else, but still. You'd think New York would have at least two million guys to choose from. But no, I go out with Mike. The most self-absorbed guy in New York! I would like to meet some guy that's cute, funny, knows a lot about me, cares about me, and is sensitive. Also that knows I'm a vegetarian."
She sat on the couch. "So what are you watching?" she asked. "A documentary on coleslaw," Shawn said fast, changing the channel. "No, change it back, what were you watching, seriously! That looks awesome!"
Cory and Shawn looked surprised. "What, I've been out with a guy who cares about himself only. Even an old violent movie is more interesting than Mike's Life Story."
Cory laughed to himself. She was amazing. She didn't deserve someone like Mike who only cared about himself. She deserved someone like.someone more like the guy she'd imagined.
"Cory, if you want to ask Morgan out, just do it." Shawn said the minute Morgan had left.
"I don't want to do anything until Topanga comes back," Cory said. "And what if she doesn't? Do you really want to waste your life like that?" Shawn asked in an accusing tone.
"I don't think Topanga would just leave like that, though," Cory said. "It doesn't seem real. It's almost like impossible."
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Shawn replied. "Oh, well. Your choice."
"You don't think Topanga's coming back do you?" Cory asked. "Cory, you know I'm your best friend, and we always help each other out. But I'm helping you now by telling you that just in case she doesn't come back, it'll be okay. You'll still have Morgan."
Cory sighed. He knew Morgan wouldn't like being thought of as a back up. He also Morgan wouldn't go to sleep tonight, she would stay awake listening to the radio over her headphones, because that's what she did on Fridays. He knew also that in the morning, she would get up early and go get beignets at The New Orleans Café, as well as a double latté with skim milk. He knew after she went to get beignets, she would come back, pick up her sketchbook, and head to the studio.
"You're thinking about her, aren't you? See, someone's not so sure that Topanga's coming back." Shawn told him. "What? Just because I think about someone it means the other one's not coming back?" Cory asked. "No, but.look at it this way. Topanga's moving on, she's.why else do you think she would have gone to Seattle for no reason?"
"There was a reason, a business trip," Cory said defensively. "Yeah, if she were transferred she'd stay for two months and longer, like Morgan. But it wasn't so she shouldn't but she has. Two whole months, Cory. Two months, she's been gone, and you still think she's coming back." Shawn shook his head and got up. "Can't leave Morgan waiting forever, you know." He said, and left.
So maybe Cory couldn't leave Morgan waiting forever. But until he heard from Topanga, he wouldn't believe anything, anything at all.
Cory got up early the next morning. He was going to meet Morgan at The New Orleans Café. He figured she deserved it.
"Hey, Cory, what are you doing here?" she asked when he entered the café the next day. "Oh, nothing," he said, coming to her table. No one else was in the restaurant, so it was kind of deserted.
"This is a cool surprise, I didn't expect to see you in a place like this." She smiled at him, and he smiled back. "Morgan, listen. Do you know anything about Topanga? Shawn does but he won't tell me, what do you know. You know you can tell me anything. Tell me what you know about her."
Okay, Morgan was going to tell the truth, but not all of it. "I know she met some guy named Will Roberts and she's staying in a different hotel room now, but I don't exactly know who Will Roberts is or what he's doing there."
"That's all you know?" Cory asked. "I swear," she said. Well, she was only half-lying. She didn't know who Will Roberts was or what he was doing in Seattle, but she THOUGHT they might have some sort of romantic involvement. How many married people do you know spontaneously stay in another person's hotel room?
"Beignet?" She asked him, holding up a beignet. He smiled at her and took it. For that moment in time, he wished he'd never met Topanga.
It started raining again. "Crap," She said. "Now I'll never get to my studio. Do you know how heavy traffic is?"
"It's heavy whether or not it's raining," he mentioned. She glared at him. "Whatever, you know what I mean," she said laughing.
"Listen, Morgan. Do you think you'd ever fall in love?" he asked her. She put her beignet down and rested her elbows on the table. "Mm, I think I might. You know? If I met the right guy. The right guy, who's sensitive and knows a lot about me, and makes me laugh, kind of like you, actually. And who cares a lot about me."
"I care a lot about you," Cory said without thinking. "Oh, that's sweet. I care about you too, Cory." She said. She didn't get it, though.
"Still, I just don't think there are enough available guys in New York anymore. The ones that are, I mean, at my age and stuff, the only ones that are, they're exactly like Mike. I don't want people like that. I want people who are different."
Cory didn't understand, but he knew what she was getting at, if that makes any sense. "Can I see it?" he asked, gesturing to the sketchbook. "Oh, sure. It's nothing, though." He opened it up. Inside were drawings of dresses, skirts, shoes, purses, and tops, everything imaginable. He flipped through a couple of pages. "These are amazing!" he said.
"Oh, those? That's nothing. But you know, sometimes, I guess I get tired of doing the actual designing and I just want to sketch. I don't know; I just really like art."
"Yeah, obviously. Talk about talented." He said. "Oh, that's the end," she told him and he closed it and gave it back to her. "I seriously think you should be discovered."
"Yeah, well. I've been with Pastor-Cohen for several years, I'd just like to be discovered by another person, that's all. I mean PC is good of course, and it has a wonderful amount of flexibility. But there are SO many amateur people at PC, I'd just like some people who discover me as more than an amateur." She explained.
"Do you think you are more than an amateur?" he asked. "No," she said, smiling. "But I want to be discovered as one."
They laughed. Then they went their separate ways - Morgan to her office and Cory to his. But they each met at Balducci's for their lunch break.
"Oh, hey! This is weird," she announced when she saw Cory. "Yeah, I guess it is, we keep meeting each other at the same places." Morgan laughed and nodded.
"Hey, what's this?" he asked, but Morgan accidentally knocked it over. It was the shoebox, the shoebox that held the papers that would determine Cory's future. As it fell on the ground, papers flew out of the box. He picked them up. "You really don't have to do that," Morgan said, grabbing them out of his hand. She tried to stuff them all in the box, but it was too late. "Trust me, I do." He had snatched a few.
"Great," Morgan muttered to herself, sarcastically. "What are these?" Cory asked. "Divorce papers?" she suggested. "For who? You?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer. "Not exactly." She admitted.
"Why didn't you give these to me?" he asked, disappointed. "Well, see, I didn't know about them until a few days ago. Shawn had them. But he didn't give them to you because he didn't want to hurt you. So he showed them to me and I grabbed them before he could stop me and I said I was going to show them to you. But, I mean, it was easier said than done. It was almost like, I thought if I kept them from you, it would preserve your and Topanga's relationship. I don't know. I guess it was stupid. I'm sorry. I'll leave now, if you want." She said, getting up. "Why would you do that?" he asked.
"I just spent all that time trying to explain it to you, and you're asking me again? Okay, I didn't -" but he interrupted her.
"No, why would you leave?" he asked. "Because! I - I totally, totally ruined your entire life, didn't I." she said, not making it a question.
"You didn't, Morgan, you didn't at all. I just wonder," he said, still shuffling through the papers, "why it's so important to you."
"It's not," Morgan said, "but I know it's important to you. And you guys are my friends! I mean you've been with me for, like, a long time. And if not that long, it SEEMS like that long. And I care about all of you and I don't want to see you get hurt."
"I - well - I'm going to talk to Shawn about this." Cory got up, without a word, taking the papers with him. Morgan stared after him confused. Shawn? What would Shawn know about divorce?
"Cory, there's a dress show on the fifteenth. Do you think I should ask Morgan to come?" Angela asked him when he got in the apartment. Shawn wasn't there, but Angela was. "No, no, no, no, no!" Cory said fast. "Why, what's the matter?" Angela asked.
"I think I should ask her," Cory said. "Why?" Angela asked. "Because, it's important. Please let me ask her."
"Why do you want to ask her?" Angela said, laughing. "I've never seen anyone so excited about a dress show before."
"Angela, if you are my friend and I know you are, you will let me ask her to this dress show." Cory said. "Okay," Angela told him, giving up and still laughing. "If you want to, here's the flyer." She gave it to him.
Back at the apartment, Cory had timed it just right. Morgan was entering her apartment. "Morgan!" he said, stopping her. She turned around. "Hey, Cory, how's everything going?" she asked. Typical Morgan - putting others before herself.
"Uh, fine. Listen, there's a dress show on the fifteenth. I was wondering - Angela and Shawn are going, and Shawn said he wouldn't go unless I did, well it's a long story. But - would you like to go with me, uh, us?"
She stared at him awhile, as if trying to understand. "Sure," she said. "Why not? Thanks, Cory." She kissed him on the cheek and then headed inside her apartment. He looked at the flyer. It listed the designers' names in alphabetical order. Near the "M"s Angela had underlined a certain name. He looked at it. It read "Morgan Mendoza".
He wondered if she knew. If she didn't, well, it would just have to be a surprise.