His Side

Cory was at the door within five minutes. Shawn opened the door and looked solemnly into the face of his best friend.

Cory said nothing, as he usually did at times like this, but he made his way to a seat. He wasn't foolish. He knew something was wrong.

"I got a girl pregnant," Shawn said simply. He glanced back at Cory. He looked both shocked and disappointed.

"Angela, right?" Cory asked shakily.

Shawn shook his head. "You remember Stacey Clinton? You met her a few years ago."

Frankly, Cory didn't want to remember. "Shawn, how could you let this happen?"

"I don't know, Cory," he replied, exasperated. "I went to visit her about a month ago, just to see how she was doing. I don't even know why. We were sitting in her trailer, and we got up to put our coffee cups away, and she kissed me. Next thing I knew we were on the sofa, and she had her shirt off..." He droned off. "I didn't even try to stop her."

"Do you love her?" Cory inquired anxiously.

"No!" Shawn began to raise his voice. He wasn't mad at anyone but himself. "I told her it meant nothing."

"Did you mean it?"

"Of course."

"Then you can tell Angela."

Shawn was on his feet with this remark. "You're not serious? She'd kill me, you know that. It'll completely ruin our relationship."

"Shawn, when I kissed Lauren, I didn't tell Topanga. That was an even bigger mistake than kissing her in the first place."

"Cory, you just kissed her. What I did doesn't even begin to compare with that," Shawn protested.

"Shawn," Cory began calmly, "do you love Angela?"

"More than anything," Shawn replied, slumping back into his chair.

"Then you know you could never live your whole life with that kind of guilt. Not telling her something like this could really hurt your relationship in the long run, even more than if you told her now."

Shawn knew his friend was right. He would tell Angela tomorrow. That would give him a few hours to prepare for her reaction. But all he could think about that night, as he turned restlessly in his bed, was what life would be like without her.