Chapter Two "As Time Goes By"
"Okay, Tippy, have you got everything?" Jedidiah asked Topanga. She was sitting on the couch flipping absentmindedly through one of Chloe's vegetarian cooking magazines as Chloe swept the floor and Jedidiah tried not to pace anxiously. She hoped Shawn was picking her up soon.
"Yeah, Jedidiah, I have my sleeping bag," She pointed, "I have the tent, I have a water bottle and a toothbrush, I have the extra blanket you gave me, even though it's August" she laughed, "I'm fine."
"And where are you going?" Chloe asked.
"Franklin Campgrounds. Just outside the city."
"And when are you getting back?" Jedidiah asked.
"I don't know, sometime tomorrow afternoon," Topanga said nonchalantly.
There was a knock at the door, "Come in," she called.
"Hey Topanga, Hello Jedidiah, Chloe" Shawn walked into the Lawrence's living room nodding to each of them, "You ready to go?"
"Yeah, can you grab some of my stuff?" Topanga asked picking up the sleeping bag carefully.
"Yeah sure."
"Wait-" Jedidiah started, "You're going with Shawn?"
"Yeah, dad," Topanga laughed, "And Cory and Stewart. You know, my friends?"
"Chloe did you know about this?" Jedidiah appealed to his wife.
"Yeah, Jedidiah. What's the big deal?" she responded.
"Well, honey, our daughter is going out to the woods with..."
"Her friends dear," Chloe sighed, "and by next week, she'll be at Yale, all the way in Connecticut and we won't know who she's out with or where she's going," Chloe stopped sweeping and looked up, "Have a good time kids."
"Thanks Chloe," Shawn said, "Don't worry, Jedidiah, your daughter's completely safe with me."
Jedidiah gave him an apprising look and Shawn took an uncomfortable step backward.
"Okay, well then," Topanga said, "With that, we're going to go."
She and Shawn walked out the door and to the car.
"Sorry about that," Topanga told Shawn, "The last 6 years he's been completely chill and for some reason he's been like that for the last couple of weeks, it's so strange"
"Well, now that Cory, Minkus and I are college men he knows we're dangerous after all," he grinned at her, "Nah, Topanga, the man doesn't want his little girl to grow up, it's not that weird," Shawn shrugged, "Not everyone's father throws them out of the house to live with their brother."
"How's that going for you?" Topanga asked smirking at him He was playing for sympathy but he knew he wouldn't get it from her.
"Umm... it's interesting. I mean, it's not that Jack and I aren't hitting it off. It was just really strange to have this connection with him, but not actually know anything about him," He brushed his hair away from his face. It immediately swung back.
"I think I get what you mean, Shawnie, " Topanga said as he opened up the back of his rust-heap station wagon.
"We're starting to click now though," Shawn told her. He set the tent and her one small bag inside and took the sleeping bag from her.
"Careful with that. I'm smuggling a little something for the night in it," Topanga waggled her eyebrows at him.
He grinned at her and pulled the back door shut "Really? What did you get?"
"Chloe's homemade strawberry wine. I was going to try to steal a little of Jedidiah's pot, but he was running low and I thought he'd notice."
"Why would you have to steal pot from your father? I thought your old hippie parents were down with that. In fact didn't Jedidiah get you a dime bag for your birthday one year?" Shawn asked.
"Yeah. That was an interesting sweet sixteen," She laughed, "But no, I haven't smoked in a while, and I don't have any of my own, and normally I could just ask, but you saw how weird he was being about me going camping with you guys when, in like, June, he wouldn't have cared. I don't think he'd react well to me being like, Hey Jedidiah, I'm going to the woods with three dangerous college guys, by the way can we please have some illegal drugs?"
"Hey-" Cory yelled, sticking his head out the window, "I wanna start a fire before it gets dark. I brought marshmallows!"
"Doesn't matter," Shawn said to Topanga under his breath, "Not up for it tonight anyway, and you know we'd never convince Cory to do it. Maybe Minkus, but not Cory."
"Now, there aren't, you know, wild animals in this camp ground are there?" Cory asked as Topanga slid into shot gun.
"You're being neurotic again, Cor," Minkus sighed pulling his black plastic rimmed glasses off his face and wiping them on his T-shirt. Shawn had ridiculed Minkus for nearly a solid week last summer when Minkus had shown up at Cory's house wearing the tight jeans and tight rimmed T-shirt that Topanga had talked him into when they went to the mall. "You're practically on display, man" Shawn had snickered. But the look worked on Minkus. He was muscular in a skinny sort of way. His bowl-cut days were long over and his hair, which had darkened as he grew up and was now a medium sort of brown, hung to just above his shoulders in a shag cut.
"That doesn't answer the question Minkus," Cory responded, "Now animals, yes or no?"
"Cor," Topanga laughed, "It's a campground."
"Wolves?"
"No. Bunnies and birds and squirrels."
"Rabid squirrels?"
Topanga shook back her mass of curly hair and pulled on her seat belt "Sure, Cory. Rabid squirrels. Whatever you want."
Shawn had been ignoring this conversation as he whispered to the steering wheel in soothing tones "Okay, baby, we're going outside of Philly now, but I promise we'll come back in the morning," he ran a hand along the dashboard, "It'll be fun, you just gotta make it there for me sweet heart."
"Shawn, I really wish you would get a car that didn't run on positive thinking, sweet talk, and divine intervention," Cory said.
"Hey, if you're going to talk that way about Francesca, you're going to walk," Shawn warned him.
"Sorry Francesca, " Cory muttered.
"She forgives you," Shawn patted the dashboard softly and turned the key in the ignition. The engine sputtered momentarily and then began to purr.
"Oh good girl," Shawn sighed in relief patting the door. They pulled out of Topanga's driveway and turned into the neighborhood. The car was a piece, but Shawn had bought it with his own money, it was his, and he loved it. Topanga rolled down her window. It got stuck halfway down.
"Oh yeah, you have to push it down with one hand and turn the crank with the other now" Shawn sighed in mild annoyance, "Cory broke it yesterday."
"Sorry. Again."
Topanga laughed and started working the window further down, "God, I'm going to miss this car! I'm going to miss Philadelphia, and Chubbies, and you guys. I'm going to miss you guys so much!"
"I am just excited to get the hell out of here," Minkus sighed, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss you all like hell, but the only thing getting me through this summer with my parents is knowing it's the last freaking one. I'm going to Yale, finding a place in New Haven and never coming back."
The other three nodded mutely. They all knew about Minkus's family stuff.
"Can't blame you, man," Shawn said. He had lived at the Minkus residence for a while when his mom had taken off and his father had gone after her. He had not stayed long before moving in with Cory, and when the Matthews home had just been too crowded he had ended up staying with Topanga and her parents.
"You're going to come back on breaks though, right?" Cory asked.
"Yeah, my parents will take you back with us," Topanga said.
"And there's always room for you at my place," Shawn said. Topanga and Cory agreed.
"Yeah, I'll be back for breaks. I'll have to visit you guys, you know that," Minkus smiled.
"What about you guys?" Topanga asked, "Are you excited for Pennbrooke?"
"Yeah, definitely," Cory said, "Though I gotta say it's going to be really, really weird to not have Feeny as a teacher."
"Yeah," Topanga and Minkus agreed.
"I'm just bummed that my roommate wakes up loudly from clown dreams all the time" Shawn grinned into the rearview mirror.
"Yeah, I know. My roommate spends an hour every morning getting his hair to do this," Cory countered, waving his hands in front of his face in imitation of Shawn's hair.
Topanga and Minkus snorted.
"How did you find that out?" Shawn demanded.
"You live with my brother, the only other guy I know who spends enough time on his hair to worry about how much time you take in the bathroom."
Topanga and Minkus kept laughing and Shawn started shouting to be heard over them
"Okay, okay. Here is the plan you philistines-" they settled down to listen," We rented a lot near the back of the park on a really slow night, there is no patrol of any kind. We set up the tent, start up a fire, roast Cory's marshmallows, and once it gets dark the lovely Miss Lawrence has acquired a bottle of wine. Anybody else manage to snag beverages?"
"I lifted a bottle of scotch from the basement," Minkus said, "They'll never notice it's missing."
"And I took Eric's rum that he's never going to drink and I don't think he realizes he still has," Shawn offered, "Cory?"
Topanga and Minkus turned to look at Cory, who had reddened slightly, "Oh, see, when you said beverages, I thought you meant..." Cory laughed nervously, "I didn't realize you meant beverages. "
"What did you bring Cor?" Shawn asked, clearly amused.
"Diet Orange Shasta. It was on sale," Cory said, pulling the bottle out of his back pack.
The other three laughed.
"No worries Cory," Topanga told him, "Between the three of us we have more than enough."
"I don't know about this you guys," Cory said, "We're underage, in a public place, with wild animals, " Minkus rolled his eyes, "It doesn't seem like a good idea."
"Come on Cory," Minkus said, "It'll be fine. Relax."
"Seriously you guys, I don't know if I'm comfortable with this,"
"It's our last real summer, Cory. We are never going to be together in the same way again. One last bonding experience you know?" Shawn said.
Topanga turned in her seat to face him, "Cory, don't let them pressure you, if your really not okay with this, I think Francesca can make it back to your house. But," She bit her lip, "it won't be the same with out you."
He couldn't resist that, "Okay, fine. I'll come," Cory groaned "But you know if we get caught I'm pinning whatever I can on you three right?" He laughed.
"Shut up and pass the Shasta, Cor," Minkus replied.