Chapter 22:
Work did get kinda lonely without Freddie and Daphne around...
Perfect.
Shaggy couldn't help but feel amazingly giddy at the realization that he and Velma were alone together... well, except for Scooby. But he could keep a secret... right? Maybe?
Aaaugh. This wasn't really any better. This opportunity Shaggy had been waiting for, had been putting off telling Velma for, didn't make this confession any easier to put into words. Maybe poetry?
Shaggy tried to think of some. Your brunette hair of chocolate tone... your sweater of bright orange... I wish to talk to you alone... standing by the doorhinge?
Shaggy wanted to puke.
"Hey Shaggy!" Velma called from across the lab. "Can you bring the bottle of 3 M hydrobromic acid over here?" They were using some weird test kit to determine whether random samplings of evidence (i.e., hair, dandruff, mucus) might indicate the presence of an alien of a species which was not authorized to be at the CCC. Shaggy had no idea how any of the tests worked; he simply acted as Velma's gofer, along with Scooby. He picked up a bottle and carried it over.
"Shaggy, I meant the bottle with the 3 moles per liter solution... not the bottle with 3 milligrams of solution!" Velma was getting annoyed.
"Oh... right, right..."
"And where are your goggles?"
"Right--" He reached up to his face, then realized their absence and felt around his neck. "--here," he finished sheepishly.
"Uh-huh..." Velma stared him seriously in the face. "Look, just get started on your lunch break, why don't you? I'll be done in a minute. But no food in the lab!" she lectured, as Shaggy almost opened his lunch box.
Shaggy stepped out of the room, into a small lounge across the hall. Maybe in the few minutes it took Velma to finish up, he could think of the perfect line, some sort of magical spell to explain everything...
Velma walked in, just then. She sat down on the couch opposite Shaggy and ripped open her lunch bag, pulling out a single sandwich, a can of soda, two cookies, and a banana. Virtually the same lunch she had packed on the day he met her...
"So... you're done? In the lab, I mean?" Shaggy knew that was a pathetic way to start a conversation... everything was pathetic... he was pathetic...
"Yes Shaggy, I'm done... thanks to you, there's nothing left to test!"
"Me? What did I do?"
"You spilled the dish of samples, nimrod, remember?" Oh great. Maybe Velma was just cranky because of low blood sugar... or maybe she was loathing every minute she was stuck working with Shaggy. There was no way she could possibly love him... or even like him... could she even stand him? What if she hated him? What if the only reason she had ever put up with him was because of Daphne and Freddie?
"Oh... whoops..." Shaggy could not say anything more as Velma attacked her sandwich, working her frustrations into the meat and cheese in its center. She swallowed and started again.
"Come on, Shaggy, think! When we have work to do in the lab, you act like it's just another place to clown around, you know that? You spill things, you break things, you don't follow the dress code... honestly, the only reason you're still alive is dumb luck!" There it was again. Shaggy had no looks, no brains, no talent... just a whole lot of luck. That was all.
"And another thing... I don't think you really care about this job at all!" she said, flinging her sandwich aside in frustration. Great. She was mad now. "You never want to reach out and investigate the entire building, like we're supposed to. You always cower behind either a random object... or me. Is that all I am here, a shield?"
Hey, she was cute when she was mad...
"You're afraid. You're a klutz, and you're afraid. You've always been afraid, and I bet you always will be. How come you never want to take chances like the rest of us?"
Take chances...
Of course!
"Seriously, if just once you would venture out and try something that scares you, I'd be thrilled!"
Shaggy kissed her.
It wasn't a bad kiss, either. It was right on the lips, where Shaggy caught a taste of Velma's sandwich... salami and sharp cheddar on pumpernickel, with chipotle sauce... mmm...
Suddenly, his inhibitions washed back over him like a wave. What had he just done? Why had he just done it? If there were any chance of even keeping Velma as a friend the rest of his life, he had just blown it, for sure... Now she would surely give him a slap across the face. He ducked.
There it was, right on his shoulder... Velma coming in to slap him... there it was, her hand...
But wait a moment. Her hand came down gently, smoothly. It stayed right where it was, only now it was pulling on his upper arm. She drew him up to his full height and looked him in the eye.
She kissed him back.
Neither of them finished their lunch; they spent the allotted lunch hour standing there, kissing, years of hope, fear, and frustration washing into that one moment...
Finally Velma spoke.
"Shaggy?"
"Yes?"
"I'm thrilled."