"Hello, Topanga. That's a nice sweater," Morgan noted. She always
tried to say something nice.
"Uh-huh, whatever," Topanga replied. "Topanga, what's with you? Why are you being so mean?" Cory asked her.
"I'm not being mean," Topanga said. It was all Morgan could do not to laugh. "Actually, I'd be nicer, if SHE wasn't here." Topanga said, motioning to Morgan.
"Listen, Cory, not to be rude or anything, but I was kind of hoping that, you'd take me back." Topanga suggested.
Cory stared at her. Morgan pulled her left hand up to tuck the hair behind her ears, and what, surprisingly, caught the light?
"Oh my God. Is that a very important ring on a very important finger on a very important hand?" Topanga said, panicking. "No!" Morgan said, trying to hide her hand. Too late.
"Cory! What...oh...well...tell me it's not..." Topanga was lost for words. She finally found the right ones - "How could you DO this to me? I come all the way from Seattle just to see you and this is how you repay me?"
"Actually, Topanga," Cory corrected, "you shouldn't have left in the first place. Then it would've all been okay. I mean, you made mistakes, mistakes that can't be fixed."
"No! They can be fixed! All you have to do is tell me that you love me and not Morgan and.I'm wrong, aren't I?" she asked, sadly.
"Yeah, I think you are," Cory said, almost as sadly. Neither of them were exactly very happy...they were both sad because they both knew no matter what they did, nothing could be redone.
"But...I thought we were supposed to be together for the rest of our lives," Topanga said. She was sounding very upset, and you couldn't blame her.
"We will. We will. We'll be friends the rest of our lives. But, Topanga, sometimes things don't work out the way we want them to."
"I don't want to be friends, Cory, I want things back before she came!" Topanga said. Morgan, sensing the fact that she didn't belong in this conversation, kissed Cory on the cheek and left.
"Cory! Don't you get it? I don't like Morgan; I don't want to be friends with her. I want to be friends with you without her. I don't want her in my life. Why can't we just go back to the way things used to be? Live a normal life! Without Morgan, the British Fashion Designer!"
"Well," Cory said, "she's not British anymore. She's losing the accent, she only has it when she's asleep."
"So she's your roommate?" Topanga asked, even more sadly. "Topanga, what did you expect me to do? Wait around until you came back? I didn't want to do that with my life, Topanga. We didn't think you'd come back. Okay? We just thought...that you'd be gone forever. Then you decide to come back and assume that all time stopped while you were gone. Well it didn't, people moved on and people fell out of love and in love again. I don't know who you are or what happened to you in Seattle but Angela's right. You aren't Topanga anymore, you're different and I don't like that. But Morgan will never change."
At that moment Angela and Shawn walked in the room, and smiled. Cory rolled his eyes. "Doesn't anyone know who to knock in this place?"
"Well, no, but we don't have anything to tell you. We just came in here for absolutely no reason at all," Shawn lied.
"Oh, yeah. There's nothing wrong." Angela said. "What's wrong?" Cory asked. "You know you're terrible liars, right?"
"Yeah," Angela agreed, "but there is absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing, except for the fact that, you know Morgan?"
"Yeah," Cory said slowly, trying to understand what they were getting at. "Well, she left," Angela said.
"Left? Left where?" Cory said, panicking. "She didn't say," Angela said. "She just said she was leaving, she'd be back soon, and then she gave me this. She told me I was supposed to give it to Topanga."
This all seemed to have been done in slow motion. Angela pulled her right hand out, and opened her cupped fingers. It glittered at first, but then Angela moved her hand slightly so that everyone could see what it was.
It was a ring, the same ring Morgan had been wearing.
Topanga squealed and slipped it on, then kissed Cory. "Things are back to normal! Morgan's gone and she practically told us to get married! The universe loves us!"
Cory, however, didn't have the same reaction. He was confused. He had so many mixed feelings it felt like if they were any more mixed, then they'd be unable to classify. He was upset, disappointed, unsure, but most of all: heartbroken.
"Morgan didn't leave...forever, did she?" he asked. "I hope not," Topanga said. "Finally, a load off my mind. Now we have to clean this place up."
"I don't think so," Angela said, ignoring Topanga, who had started Lemon Pledge-ing the place. "I think she just left to go you know. Clear her mind and everything."
"If you're right, I know where Morgan is," Cory said. "Really?" Shawn asked. Cory nodded. "Yeah, really."
He grabbed his car keys and ran off. It was getting cold, even in October, which was strange.
Five minutes later, he wound up at The Digital Hang-Out. Not surprisingly, there weren't that many people there - only a few. But then again, it was 10:00, and the rush hour was 8.
However, there were a few. He entered the coffeehouse not so carefully and looked around. There, in the back, was Morgan.
She was beautiful; no one could argue that. But there was something wrong. Instead of where her perfectly placed mascara used to be, she seemed to have washed it off (but Cory didn't notice this, of course. He just thought there was something wrong.)
"Hey," he said as he sat down next to her. She looked surprised. "What are you doing here?" she asked him quietly.
"I came back," he said. "I knew you'd be here."
"Why'd you come back, I mean, I figured, since you and Topanga..."
"I came back because I don't love Topanga."
"Yeah, you do. I'm just backup to you, aren't I. I'm just replacing Topanga. Tell me you don't love me."
"Why would I do that?"
"So that I can leave. So I can go back to wherever it is I wanted to go and not even have to worry about it."
"You'll worry about it."
"No, I won't. I just want to leave. I want to get in my car and get far, far away from here."
"Why do you want to leave? I've been so close to losing you twice, and that's two too many times."
"Just tell me you don't love me."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"I don't want to lie to you."
Morgan had to stop and think about this. He may be right. Maybe they were all just making a huge deal out of it, and that it didn't really matter what anyone thought.
"So why's Topanga here?" she asked finally.
"I don't know, I guess...I guess Topanga's not like the rest of us. She thinks that after awhile things will all be the same. Morgan, answer a question for me. Will you ever leave like Topanga did?"
Morgan stopped again. She wouldn't, that was her first instinct. But how did she know that there wouldn't be another Morgan Mendoza, coming back in to the life of Cory and Shawn and Angela and disrupting everything? She and Topanga didn't agree, but how did she know that they would agree when it came to something like this?
"Things like this only happen once in a lifetime," Cory replied. "They only happen when the universe isn't happy with the way things are going. So the universe, in desperate attempts to help other people, sends another person down to help those people. You helped me, Morgan. You showed me that life isn't always so serious and you have to take time and stop and smell the double lattes with skim milk. And you also taught me that sometimes, a miracle can happen and you won't even know it."
"When did I teach you that?" she asked. "When you came back from L.A.," he answered. He must be right...when she did come back, when she didn't stay and stick it out, maybe that was...
"Stop!" she said, suddenly. "I'm...I have to be in another place entirely." She said. She climbed out of the booth and practically ran out of the coffeehouse. Luckily, Cory caught up with her.
"You don't get it, do you?" Cory asked. "I don't care about Topanga! She doesn't matter me to me! What matters to me is that you'll stay."
"I'll stay if you let me go," Morgan said. Cory hadn't realized it - he'd been holding onto her arm.
"You also taught me," Cory said, realizing that not only could he not let go of her, he also couldn't stop talking or else she really would leave, "that you shouldn't settle for the one you can live with, you have to go for the one you can't live without."
"You've lived without me for all your life except three little insignificant years, what does it matter?" she said hysterically. For some reason, Morgan was scared and now she was crying.
You'll probably know by now that it always seems to rain when important things happen. This is funny because rain usually signifies something terrible, like something terrible is about to happen. For instance, the only example I can think of is when Shawn and Angela were outside the Digital Hang-Out, kissing. It was raining then, I'm pretty sure. But this wasn't bad; actually, Shawn and Angela played an important role in getting Morgan and Cory together. So you'll know that when it starts to rain here, not only is it important, it's not bad, either.
"It matters, trust me, it matters," Cory said, but he didn't quite understand himself.
There was a clap of thunder, and like on cue, the rain began to fall. Slow and steadily at first, but then, quicker and quicker until you could hardly see your hand in front of your face.
Which was why, actually, it's a wonder how Morgan and Cory looked into each other's eyes and saw the only thing that was there: love.
Love isn't measured by how much you have. It's by how much you feel for one person, and who that one person is. If that person is worth it, you'll know it.
And when Cory held Morgan in his arms and they looked into each other's eyes, their hearts did little flippy things - which Morgan had previously learned was frisson - and they both knew it was worth it.
Morgan was still crying, Cory was still afraid that if he didn't do something right then and right now he'd lose her forever this time.
At that moment, Topanga, Shawn, and Angela drove up in Topanga's silver BMW.
It's a wonder how anything that involved seeing happened, since in a storm as bad as this you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Yet, Topanga could see well enough to drive, Morgan and Cory could see well enough to see into each other's eyes and fall in love.
Oh, that reminds me. You know how sometimes, you realize you either like someone or love someone, or hate them, but you never really know when that was decided and when your heart and your mind decided on this, and they never consulted you about it?
Well, when Morgan and Cory looked into each other's eyes that moment, they knew it was decided. They knew that both their heart and their mind decided it was okay to fall in love with the other one, and you know what? They actually didn't care what their mind and heart decided: It was fine with them.
Still, it's also a wonder how Morgan and Cory were able to kiss each other (I know, again!) and this one, I'm sure, topped all the other ones they've had.
And Topanga, Angela, and Shawn had to witness it all.
It's also a wonder how Morgan got the ring back on her finger, since both of them were drenched from head to toe.
No, you know what?
It isn't a wonder.
It's a miracle.
"Uh-huh, whatever," Topanga replied. "Topanga, what's with you? Why are you being so mean?" Cory asked her.
"I'm not being mean," Topanga said. It was all Morgan could do not to laugh. "Actually, I'd be nicer, if SHE wasn't here." Topanga said, motioning to Morgan.
"Listen, Cory, not to be rude or anything, but I was kind of hoping that, you'd take me back." Topanga suggested.
Cory stared at her. Morgan pulled her left hand up to tuck the hair behind her ears, and what, surprisingly, caught the light?
"Oh my God. Is that a very important ring on a very important finger on a very important hand?" Topanga said, panicking. "No!" Morgan said, trying to hide her hand. Too late.
"Cory! What...oh...well...tell me it's not..." Topanga was lost for words. She finally found the right ones - "How could you DO this to me? I come all the way from Seattle just to see you and this is how you repay me?"
"Actually, Topanga," Cory corrected, "you shouldn't have left in the first place. Then it would've all been okay. I mean, you made mistakes, mistakes that can't be fixed."
"No! They can be fixed! All you have to do is tell me that you love me and not Morgan and.I'm wrong, aren't I?" she asked, sadly.
"Yeah, I think you are," Cory said, almost as sadly. Neither of them were exactly very happy...they were both sad because they both knew no matter what they did, nothing could be redone.
"But...I thought we were supposed to be together for the rest of our lives," Topanga said. She was sounding very upset, and you couldn't blame her.
"We will. We will. We'll be friends the rest of our lives. But, Topanga, sometimes things don't work out the way we want them to."
"I don't want to be friends, Cory, I want things back before she came!" Topanga said. Morgan, sensing the fact that she didn't belong in this conversation, kissed Cory on the cheek and left.
"Cory! Don't you get it? I don't like Morgan; I don't want to be friends with her. I want to be friends with you without her. I don't want her in my life. Why can't we just go back to the way things used to be? Live a normal life! Without Morgan, the British Fashion Designer!"
"Well," Cory said, "she's not British anymore. She's losing the accent, she only has it when she's asleep."
"So she's your roommate?" Topanga asked, even more sadly. "Topanga, what did you expect me to do? Wait around until you came back? I didn't want to do that with my life, Topanga. We didn't think you'd come back. Okay? We just thought...that you'd be gone forever. Then you decide to come back and assume that all time stopped while you were gone. Well it didn't, people moved on and people fell out of love and in love again. I don't know who you are or what happened to you in Seattle but Angela's right. You aren't Topanga anymore, you're different and I don't like that. But Morgan will never change."
At that moment Angela and Shawn walked in the room, and smiled. Cory rolled his eyes. "Doesn't anyone know who to knock in this place?"
"Well, no, but we don't have anything to tell you. We just came in here for absolutely no reason at all," Shawn lied.
"Oh, yeah. There's nothing wrong." Angela said. "What's wrong?" Cory asked. "You know you're terrible liars, right?"
"Yeah," Angela agreed, "but there is absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing, except for the fact that, you know Morgan?"
"Yeah," Cory said slowly, trying to understand what they were getting at. "Well, she left," Angela said.
"Left? Left where?" Cory said, panicking. "She didn't say," Angela said. "She just said she was leaving, she'd be back soon, and then she gave me this. She told me I was supposed to give it to Topanga."
This all seemed to have been done in slow motion. Angela pulled her right hand out, and opened her cupped fingers. It glittered at first, but then Angela moved her hand slightly so that everyone could see what it was.
It was a ring, the same ring Morgan had been wearing.
Topanga squealed and slipped it on, then kissed Cory. "Things are back to normal! Morgan's gone and she practically told us to get married! The universe loves us!"
Cory, however, didn't have the same reaction. He was confused. He had so many mixed feelings it felt like if they were any more mixed, then they'd be unable to classify. He was upset, disappointed, unsure, but most of all: heartbroken.
"Morgan didn't leave...forever, did she?" he asked. "I hope not," Topanga said. "Finally, a load off my mind. Now we have to clean this place up."
"I don't think so," Angela said, ignoring Topanga, who had started Lemon Pledge-ing the place. "I think she just left to go you know. Clear her mind and everything."
"If you're right, I know where Morgan is," Cory said. "Really?" Shawn asked. Cory nodded. "Yeah, really."
He grabbed his car keys and ran off. It was getting cold, even in October, which was strange.
Five minutes later, he wound up at The Digital Hang-Out. Not surprisingly, there weren't that many people there - only a few. But then again, it was 10:00, and the rush hour was 8.
However, there were a few. He entered the coffeehouse not so carefully and looked around. There, in the back, was Morgan.
She was beautiful; no one could argue that. But there was something wrong. Instead of where her perfectly placed mascara used to be, she seemed to have washed it off (but Cory didn't notice this, of course. He just thought there was something wrong.)
"Hey," he said as he sat down next to her. She looked surprised. "What are you doing here?" she asked him quietly.
"I came back," he said. "I knew you'd be here."
"Why'd you come back, I mean, I figured, since you and Topanga..."
"I came back because I don't love Topanga."
"Yeah, you do. I'm just backup to you, aren't I. I'm just replacing Topanga. Tell me you don't love me."
"Why would I do that?"
"So that I can leave. So I can go back to wherever it is I wanted to go and not even have to worry about it."
"You'll worry about it."
"No, I won't. I just want to leave. I want to get in my car and get far, far away from here."
"Why do you want to leave? I've been so close to losing you twice, and that's two too many times."
"Just tell me you don't love me."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"I don't want to lie to you."
Morgan had to stop and think about this. He may be right. Maybe they were all just making a huge deal out of it, and that it didn't really matter what anyone thought.
"So why's Topanga here?" she asked finally.
"I don't know, I guess...I guess Topanga's not like the rest of us. She thinks that after awhile things will all be the same. Morgan, answer a question for me. Will you ever leave like Topanga did?"
Morgan stopped again. She wouldn't, that was her first instinct. But how did she know that there wouldn't be another Morgan Mendoza, coming back in to the life of Cory and Shawn and Angela and disrupting everything? She and Topanga didn't agree, but how did she know that they would agree when it came to something like this?
"Things like this only happen once in a lifetime," Cory replied. "They only happen when the universe isn't happy with the way things are going. So the universe, in desperate attempts to help other people, sends another person down to help those people. You helped me, Morgan. You showed me that life isn't always so serious and you have to take time and stop and smell the double lattes with skim milk. And you also taught me that sometimes, a miracle can happen and you won't even know it."
"When did I teach you that?" she asked. "When you came back from L.A.," he answered. He must be right...when she did come back, when she didn't stay and stick it out, maybe that was...
"Stop!" she said, suddenly. "I'm...I have to be in another place entirely." She said. She climbed out of the booth and practically ran out of the coffeehouse. Luckily, Cory caught up with her.
"You don't get it, do you?" Cory asked. "I don't care about Topanga! She doesn't matter me to me! What matters to me is that you'll stay."
"I'll stay if you let me go," Morgan said. Cory hadn't realized it - he'd been holding onto her arm.
"You also taught me," Cory said, realizing that not only could he not let go of her, he also couldn't stop talking or else she really would leave, "that you shouldn't settle for the one you can live with, you have to go for the one you can't live without."
"You've lived without me for all your life except three little insignificant years, what does it matter?" she said hysterically. For some reason, Morgan was scared and now she was crying.
You'll probably know by now that it always seems to rain when important things happen. This is funny because rain usually signifies something terrible, like something terrible is about to happen. For instance, the only example I can think of is when Shawn and Angela were outside the Digital Hang-Out, kissing. It was raining then, I'm pretty sure. But this wasn't bad; actually, Shawn and Angela played an important role in getting Morgan and Cory together. So you'll know that when it starts to rain here, not only is it important, it's not bad, either.
"It matters, trust me, it matters," Cory said, but he didn't quite understand himself.
There was a clap of thunder, and like on cue, the rain began to fall. Slow and steadily at first, but then, quicker and quicker until you could hardly see your hand in front of your face.
Which was why, actually, it's a wonder how Morgan and Cory looked into each other's eyes and saw the only thing that was there: love.
Love isn't measured by how much you have. It's by how much you feel for one person, and who that one person is. If that person is worth it, you'll know it.
And when Cory held Morgan in his arms and they looked into each other's eyes, their hearts did little flippy things - which Morgan had previously learned was frisson - and they both knew it was worth it.
Morgan was still crying, Cory was still afraid that if he didn't do something right then and right now he'd lose her forever this time.
At that moment, Topanga, Shawn, and Angela drove up in Topanga's silver BMW.
It's a wonder how anything that involved seeing happened, since in a storm as bad as this you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Yet, Topanga could see well enough to drive, Morgan and Cory could see well enough to see into each other's eyes and fall in love.
Oh, that reminds me. You know how sometimes, you realize you either like someone or love someone, or hate them, but you never really know when that was decided and when your heart and your mind decided on this, and they never consulted you about it?
Well, when Morgan and Cory looked into each other's eyes that moment, they knew it was decided. They knew that both their heart and their mind decided it was okay to fall in love with the other one, and you know what? They actually didn't care what their mind and heart decided: It was fine with them.
Still, it's also a wonder how Morgan and Cory were able to kiss each other (I know, again!) and this one, I'm sure, topped all the other ones they've had.
And Topanga, Angela, and Shawn had to witness it all.
It's also a wonder how Morgan got the ring back on her finger, since both of them were drenched from head to toe.
No, you know what?
It isn't a wonder.
It's a miracle.