Apple was Keller-Marsden's biggest client, which meant they needed to keep Shawn onboard. He was able to get Cory rehired, even if only as a janitor, and they took to riding the train in from Cedar Heights together.
"Thanks again for getting my job back," Cory said.
"No problem. Speaking of your job, what exactly did you tell Topanga?"
"How did you know I lied to Topanga?"
"One, I've known you for 11 years. Two, your brother can't keep his mouth shut."
"What exactly did he tell you?"
"You're supposed to be the successful one, and I'm supposed to be the screw-up."
Cory winced. "Um…what I really meant was…"
"Don't worry about it. Believe me, I'm as surprised about this as anyone."
"You're not mad?"
"No, just tell me what you told Topanga."
"Um…I told her you almost got fired for slacking off in the mailroom, and I had to save your job…and that I got hired on as a demographic consultant and they have me working on the Apple Computer account."
"Ok, now I'm a little mad."
"You're not going to tell her, are you?"
"Your secret's safe with me, and Angela and Eric. Not sure about Jack, though."
"Jack's never liked me." Cory complained.
"You guys just got off on the wrong foot. He did have kind of a lot sprung on him at once."
"You think maybe this dinner would be my chance to make a good impression?"
"You can either try to get him to like you or you can have him lie about his younger brother with pathologically low self-esteem being a complete failure at the one thing he's actually good at so you can impress your girlfriend. It's one or the other."
Cory thought for a moment. "I'll try again some other time," he finally responded with a defensive tone. "I think the problem is he just doesn't realize how much we mean to one another."
"Cor."
"Yeah, Shawnie."
"That sounded really gay."
By this point, Cory was growing exasperated. "You know what I meant."
Shawn smiled slightly. "Yeah, I did."
