#like think about it. people will go up for mashed taters. nobody lining up for mashed corn the same way dya understand?

[noctomania]

I'd rather a literal batch of potatoes to be president.

Potatoes can do no wrong. Every culture loves and respects potatoes. They are so accessible - gluten free and also edible to those without teeth - yet with so much to offer in one small package. They are the most humble of foods, literally coming from and looking like dirt. They are for anyone any time. They are simple and easy, but can also be complicated if one desires the challenges. Also, even in the darkest of places - the potato continues to grow. It's in their nature to thrive and to be plentiful. There may be variety, but in the end they are all potatoes. They cross all aisles and seas and boundaries. We can agree to disagree on a lot, and we can all also agree to potato.

We are potatoes.

Potatoes for president.

[scoobydoominuscoobydoo]

Part Seven:

“You’re so smart I could kiss you right now!”

Being a senior seemed to just be a short 365 days of trying to keep it together because damn it you were almost at the finish line.

Mrs. Moony, the track and field coach, always liked to say, “The last lap is always the longest!”

To which she would receive a mixture of glares because nobody was enjoying her trying to make them feel less miserable.

Since track and field was one of the few things Shaggy liked to think he was decent at, he always took Mrs. Moony’s life lessons to heart. At least the ones that applied to him, even though it was always interesting to learn how to prepare a proper sedar dinner.

At first, Shaggy hadn’t feared the step to becoming a senior.

People’s expectations of him never had much of an effect on him.

Not even his parents hounding him about which “respectable” colleges to apply to bugged him all that much. 

He was always gonna be his own person and if people wanted or expected something other than that, than they didn’t want Shaggy and they’d need to fulfill their expectations in someone else.

Even his best friends had expectations for him that were never gonna happen of his own free will.

But that had changed when they reached adulthood.

Well, three of them did.

Since Velma was technically a year ahead in high school she was still 17. But mentally she was in between the ages of 45 and 6, it all depended on the time of day and the cycle of the moon.

Regardless of the grey area that was Velma’s age, once senior year had started the gang all seemed to have adopted the trait called acceptance. 

Never really pushing each other towards any sort of direction like they did when they were younger. Now they just silently supported and reassured that they were always on each other’s sides. Which is something they could all use since the rest of the world was peeking it’s head in their direction and asking in that stupid wishy washy voice, “So what are you planning on doing with your life after high school?”

Shaggy had always laughed softly while rubbing the back of his neck and saying he was considering Career #1 or Career #2.

That was enough for the world to go back to their corner of not minding their own business.

Fred and Velma both had their versions of a five year plan mapped out in their heads and had no issue talking the world’s ear off so that it couldn’t get an opinionated word in.

Velma and Freddie thrived in planning, especially when it came to their own futures. 

Shaggy remembered the first time he saw early applications for Stanford sprawled out in the back of the Mystery Machine. During freshman year Velma had being getting a lot of interested letters and phone calls but the only college that would ever catch her eye was Stanford.

Velms had been crawling between each piece of paper, each asking a lot of questions Shag never even really considered. Especially back when he was 15.

He wasn’t really confident that Velma thought about them either because she ended up throwing the packet away and avoided discussing the subject with her parents and the distressed guidance counselor.

At the start of senior year Fred had gone up to Massachusetts for an interview with Harvard, even though it didn’t really interest him at all. Daph had made that observation a long time ago. Deep down she was sure Fred was getting swept by the world trying to drag him around, not even sure what he wanted to do with himself.

Regardless of whether or not Fred and Velms were ready, they were definitely prepared.

Shag wasn’t really sure what was going on with Daph when it came to her future.

Ever since they had reunited in the 6th grade Daphne had been obsessed with NYU. He remembered that glint in her eye when she’d talk about it, mouth full of tater tots and hands covered in glitter due to art class incidents.

It was the same glint that had overwhelmed him when they first met in that hallway and a strange purple girl had given Norville Rogers a name.

That NYU glint disappeared a long time ago though.

High school happened.

Drama happened.

Fred happened.

It wasn’t really anyone’s fault, once your age has the suffix “teen” in it, NYU glints tend to get chewed up and spit out, now bruised and battered and not really wanting to get up again.

Too many people telling her to be realistic and aim lower. Telling her to hold back.

But if anyone could convince the glint to stand up and face the future again, it was Daphne.

At least, that’t what Shaggy thought.

He had seen little peeks of the glint this year when she discussed all the appealing things on her transcript that she was sure would appeal to NYU’s ideals.

He loved that glint, and he really hoped that Daph was able to help it stand up and bring it with her through the rest of her life.

Senior year had brought forth a new form of jokes that Shaggy utilized wholeheartedly. He called them the community college jokes, and they actually got laughs out of people which was honestly a miracle.

The whole schtick just consisted of him reacting to his grades, or even if anything inconvenient happened, and stating, “Now I’ll never get into community college!”

These jokes were the answer to people’s questions that involved his plans regarding the future.

At this point in his life he believed he had everything together, that he was actually gonna make it through this high school shit with only mild trauma and a crippling fear of silicon.

He could see the finish line, and while his calves we killing him and sweat was pouring out of him, he had made it.

But than Daphne had run up in front of him and stopped him in the middle of the track. “Daph, like what are you doing?” He nervously eyed his parents who were sitting off by themselves on the bleachers. Neither one of them had peeked up from their phones. Their dark eyes always seemed to be on something other than him, ever since he was born its been that way.

He felt his eyes welling up with tears and he wished he could leave the track, just for a couple minutes.

But Daphne was holding on tightly to his shoulders.

“Da-Daphne can you ju-” He was left breathless by the sight of Daph’s bright violet eyes one him, not leaving him for even a second. 

The whole world went quiet, like it all seemed to just disappear. 

Leaving just a breathless shaggy dog and a strange purple girl.

He wasn’t sure what to do, he wasn’t frightened by the purple girl, but he wasn’t sure what she was gonna do. Suddenly something happened that made his heart totally stop- it was one pause for a few moments.

The purple girl’s eyes sparkled, with this hope and happiness that felt almost familiar to him. A familiar glint. One he seemed to adore, like it was an old friend.

And those violet stars grew closer and closer until he felt like he was gonna burn up, but he didn’t even care. Because that glint was beautiful.

He closed his eyes, ready to burst into flames. 

But instead he felt something cold and soft.

Her lips on his.

And it’s rushed and clumsy.

And they have no idea what they’re supposed to do. Almost as if it’s their first ever kiss and they have zero experience.

At least that’s what feels like.

Rushed, clumsy, and new.

Oh so new and it feels too right to even be happening.

The right thing never happens to them.

They get chased by men in masks and pretend their parents love them. They Set up elaborate traps that are doomed to fail and they avoid eye contact with with people who laugh at them in the hallways.

He feels her purple hands grip onto his shaking ones. And suddenly he doesn’t care.

Because it’s about time he found something good on this damn track.

They both slowly pulled away and just stared at each other. His face probably looking just as shocked as her’s. 

Her grip on his hand’s tightened.

His heartbeat returned.

He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

Her eyes sparkled.

He let out a startled yelp at the sound of his alarm clock losing it’s fucking mind.

Shag stared down at the meal that had been slapped down on his tray. Normally the lunch crew were very friendly to him since he was one of the few people that complimented them on their food without fail.

“Dorrine must have gotten a visit from her ex again, that’d explain her mood.” He thought as he began to worm his way through all the tables and walked toward the back door.

He sighed as he noticed that the usual soggy french fries were dried out and kinda spongy looking.

It wasn’t that big of a deal since he just dipped them in the canned gravy that they served with the bagged mashed potatoes.

Food truly was a work of divine art.

He pushed open the back door and instantly spotted the unforgettable colors of his people. 

Velma joked about how after freshman year they somehow all became totally color coded when it came to their wardrobe. It wasn’t until Velma had pointed it out that Shag realized just how much green he owned. But that was fine, he liked green.

Today was just wearing a green hoodie over a white tee and jeans.

Fred had used to be obsessed with wearing ascots when they were in middle school. If he wasn’t wearing anything kitschy around his neck than he might as well have been naked. And then it was dumb hats that you would wear on backwards more for principle’s sake than style.

And now they were in the era of watches, but just the old looking ones with hash marks instead of numbers.

Currently Freddie was wearing a silver one that he seemed to favor quite a bit.

And Velms was sitting next to him, picking at the sad excuse of a salad that they served for people who weren’t willing to brave the risk of food poisoning. She was rocking a black turtle neck and a simple orange cardigan.

Velma had always worn turtle necks for as long as Shag had known her. 

The reason back then was she still had baby fat and kids were assholes so a lot of names were shouted out to her and they would stick in her head.

Those words turned into turtle necks.

Now Shag was pretty sure she just wore them because she hated the way anything else looked on her.

Daph was sitting on their table facing his direction as she seemed to be invested in the large Subway sandwich she had in her hands. Her pink cheeks were stuffed and there was mayo stuck on the corner of her mouth.

He grinned to himself. Daphne would always be the strange purple girl. 

It was as if she couldn’t physically leave the house unless she had something purple on.

Sometimes her whole outfit would be an elaborate display of purple with almost every accessory you could think of. And sometimes it was just a subtle display, maybe just purple shoes or a purple hairclip.

Today she had met in the middle with a royal purple tanktop and earrings to go with her black jeans and green scarf.

Daph was never able to put it in human words as to why she adored the color purple some much, but she ensured them that if at least one of the human languages had the right word to describe it, she would use it all the time.

She looked up from her sub, that seemed to be the love of her life at that moment, and made direct eye contact with him.

And then she sent him a bright smile and mouthed out the word “Hi.”

He returned the smile and made his way over to their table.

Well it wasn’t really their table, it was just some old picnic bench in the the central courtyard. After they had been officially branded as the weird Nancy Drew wannabes they ended up hiding outside while eating, unless it rained.Than they’d just sit in the back of the Mystery Machine in a circle, knees touching.

They didn’t purposely isolate themselves, it just kinda happened.

They figured that would be a lot easier than being involved in unnecessary drama.

Of course after all the business with Marilyn Andrews and them finding Natalie McCall, they had been getting a lot more attention.

Shaggy still wasn’t used to queen bee Natalie waving to them and asking them if they wanted to go out and do something with student council later.

So lunch wasn’t as quiet as it used to be, but at least they weren’t getting hounded by teenagers with condescending tones. 

At the moment, the gang was alone.

“You took your own sweet time getting here. Usually you’re the first one in line for lunch.” Velma looked over at him and popped a cherry tomato in her mouth, “God didn’t give you the world’s longest legs for nothing.”

Shag rolled his eyes and grabbed a napkin from his tray, handing it to Daphne.

He pointed at the corner of his mouth and she nodded, wiping the mayo off.

“Well I was about to make a mad dash for the front of the line, like maybe hop over a few tables in the process.” Daph giggled and took another big bite of her one true love.

He placed his tray on the table next to where Daphne was sitting and leaned against the edge next to her.

“But Nat popped out of fucking nowhere and was asking me about hanging out this weekend.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking for his cell phone which he had the terrible inkling he had left sitting in the back of the van.

Fred chuckled, “Nat seems to like popping out of freakin’ nowhere when it comes to you Shag.”

“Hardy har Freddie.” He let out a soft sigh of relief as he remembered he’d put his phone in his back pocket. Velma jumped in, “No wait, maybe Fred is right. I mean all the signs are there, you’re the only one she reached out to on all the social stuff.” She picked up what sort of looked like an olive and threw toward him.

Totally missing and hitting Daph.

She let out an annoyed huff but said nothing, seeming to choose putting her full attention on her sandwich.

Velma smirked, it had just occurred to her that this conversation topic was the last thing Daph would wanna participate in. So Velma did as Velma does. She kept pushing the topic. 

“I mean I’m pretty sure the cheerleaders probably told her everything, about how you were the one who made the promise that we’d find her.” Shag’s cheeks went pink and he rolled his eyes, now he knew Velma was just trying to get him all flustered.

“One, she has a boyfriend who she is pretty happy with last I checked. And two, the only thing I did to earn her feelings was make that promise. Like, other than that I did fuck all.” He reached behind him and picked up a spongy french fry.

Velms snicked and shook her head, still gauging Daph’s reactions to everything they were saying.

For now it seemed that she was just trying to ignore the conversation and pay attention to her food. But Velma could see right through her, and she could see that Daph was getting annoyed. Perfect.

“Oh my dear Shaggy, my darling Norville.” He cringed and threw another fry at her. She stuck her tongue out and continued, “Crushing on someone is not as simple as liking one person at a time. That’s like you having one favorite food.” Shaggy placed a hand over his heart and faked a hurt gasp.

Velma nodded, “I know right? Seems impossible.” She popped another tomato in her mouth.

She sent a quick glance over toward an annoyed Daphne and then proceeded, “You see it’s possible for her to still really like her boyfriend, whoever the hell he was, and also like you, maybe just the teeniest tiniest bit.”

“Mensa level vocab there Einstein.” Fred giggled and poked Velma in the shoulder. “Thank you.” She shoved another one of those olive looking things in Freddie’s mouth to shut him up.

“Or,” She made clear eye contact with Daph, who was avoiding looking at anything besides the damn sandwich,

“It’s possible she’s over her boyfriend and just likes you now, that’s the kind of thing that happens when you’re a sophomore, you’re still young and not really sure what the hell you want yet.” 

Shag writhed uncomfortably, “Okay Velms like that might be taking a little too much liberty. Plus if that were the case, which it isn’t, than it’s more Nat’s business than ours anyway.” She spotted Daph’s small nod and grin at his response.

She sighed.

Daphne will always be easy to read.

“The point is that sometimes people like one person and it seems like a forever deal and nothing is gonna change it, but than they’re brains mature and decide they want something else.” Fred sent her a confused look, which she ignored. 

This was definitely something that was higher than his current social skills level.

The issues that come with being a sheltered mayor’s kid.

Shaggy gave her a confused look as well, but it was a different kind of confused.

“Yeah, like I know that Velms. Like you just described the basics of high school dating. Any reason why you’re talking about this?” Velma sent a subtle glance back to Daph, who was definitely going red.

She smirked, she was done here.

Letting out a loud sigh, she turned back to her depressed salad, “No real reason, I just like to tease you on how much of a ladies man you are. You’re quite the slugger son.”

Shag grinned, “Shut the hell your mouth, loser.” 

Velma and Fred giggled, bringing their attention back to whatever they were doing before they started talking about Nat’s love life.

“Ahem! A-Anyway- oh thanks Daph.” Daph handed him the rest of her sandwich and Velma snickered, she had talked the appetite right out of her.

He seemed to basically inhale to sandwich in a few seconds as his friends watched on in awe. Velma still believed that if they ever needed to be involved in a school fundraiser, they just needed to have people pay to try and get Shaggy full. They would be able to pay back the school’s debt tenfold and then some.

He crumpled up the wrapper and carried on, “The thing Nat wanted to talk to me about was student council having a party tonight in our- I mean the- central courtyard.”

He gestured to the area around them with his free hand.

“It’s supposed to be for the varsity teams and stuff but like she believed we deserved to come.”

Velma groaned, “Oh yeah that sounds like a blast, lets hang out with the lovely young men and women that made high school a living hell for us.”

Shag sent her a warning look and she shut up, bitterly picking at her lunch.

“I didn’t wanna flat out say ‘No’ to her so I just said we’d talk about it and get back to her.” Velma turned and look over at him and whined, “Why the fuck would would you give that poor girl some hope??” Shag flinched and rolled his eyes.

“Because Velms, she’s a sweet girl and she’s just trying to make things right between us and the rest of the damn student body before we graduate and only return for awkward high school reunions 20 years from now.” 

Velma opened her mouth to respond, but she didn’t feel like that statement deserved one of her smartass comments.

So she just sat there opening and closing her mouth, trying to think of the right thing to say.

Suddenly, Daphne finally said something after remaining quiet for the whole time Shag had been out there. He almost was startled by the sound of her clear and high pitched voice, but was still always glad to hear it, “Well since the goldfish isn’t saying anything I will.”

Fred snickered. 

Another olive resembling substance was shoved in his mouth.

Daph turned and their eyes met instantly.

Shaggy gulped, he suddenly remembered the dream he had last night. 

Of them.

And their eyes.

And their hands.

And most of all, their lips. Their clumsy lips.

“I’ll only go if Shags goes.” Velma turned and looked at both of them so fast that her glasses fell down her nose and she needed to straighten them out.

Daph seemed to suddenly realize what she said and looked down at her hands.

“I-I um. I meant I’ll- I’m okay with it i-if we all wanna go.” Fred’s shocked face settled and he nodded. 

Velma snickered.

“Oh yeah only if all of us go.”

“Velma you are invited to shut up at anytime.” Daph still hadn’t looked up from her hands.

“Don’t wanna.”

Shag rolled his eyes, Daphne had set her off again.

Velma had turned into the stereotypical Bond villain and was now drumming her fingers together.

After a minute of horrifying silence and clear evil scheming she spoke, “Alright, I’ll go to this dumb party to patch up the holes of my flawed high school life.” Shaggy grinned and was about to speak but Daphne placed a finger over his mouth to stop him. 

She raised her eyebrow at Velms than said, “If??”

Velma cackled, “You don’t miss a beat my dear nemesis!”

Shaggy didn’t even know what was happening anymore, and he could tell Freddie had gotten lost in this conversation a long time ago and was now playing puzzle games on his phone while absentmindedly listening to bits and pieces.

“I’ll eagerly go and be nice to every stupid letterman jacket there if......”

Her gaze hopped from Daph to Shaggy and back again and suddenly Shag felt very nervous.

“You two wear matching earrings”

That’s not as bad as he was expecting.

Daph looked back at Shag and he nodded.

She sighed and turned back to Velma, “Alright fine. Do you have anymore weirdly specific demands or are you done exploiting your power?”

Velma shrugged and picked up the last tomato in the bowl, throwing it in her mouth.

Shaggy’s grin resurfaced and he turned toward Fred, “Fredison? Like, you in bud?” Fred was pulled out of his spot the difference streak shortly to send him a thumbs up, “It’ll be really fun, I mean that’s what I think anyway.”

Shag nodded and turned toward a trash can a few feet away from them.

He took the form as if he was about to shoot a basket and threw the wadded up Subway wrapper.

Unsurprisingly, he missed and watched as the wrapper rested on the ground next to the wrapper less basket. Daph let out a loud, “Booooooo!!!!!” And Velma said, “You suck, you’ll never be Shaq!!” Fred sent him and apologetic look and nodded in agreement.

Shag let out a loud groan and threw his hands in the air, “Nooooooo!!!!!! Now I’ll never get accepted into community college!!!”

The people sitting by the courtyard exit in the cafeteria could hear a loud mixture of boos and laughter.

Shaggy didn’t actually remember the exact reason he had gotten his ears pierced. Deep down he was pretty sure Velma had manipulated the situation to convince him that it was his idea but in reality it was hers.

The main reason he went with was, “Hell yeah I’m 18 losers and I can do whatever I want and so I’m gonna get holes punched in my ears!!”

He only had a couple pairs of earrings, both of which were purchased as gifts by Daphne.

The whole experience was a blur since they only had one place where you could get your ears pierced cheap. And it was jewelry store for 12 year old girls. Plus he was pretty sure he cried which made him just wanna bury the experience ten times more.

At this point he didn’t really think the whole ordeal was worth it since Shag only wore things in his ears every so often.

He stared out of his bedroom window, resting his elbows on the window sill, just waiting for that familiar relic to pull up in their fancy half circle driveway. It was still up for debate whether his parents had actually heard him when he told them he was going out tonight and wasn’t sure what time he would get home.

He sighed and closed his eyes, running his hands through his hair.

They wouldn’t really care unless they genuinely required his presence for something, usually to be a model for their “experimental” pieces.

If that was the case than they would be royally pissed off that he left the house and wasn’t on standby for their dumb paintings.

It wasn’t the normal bad stuff he did that pissed them off, the couldn’t give less of a shit about his staying out past curfew or something. But oh boy if he dared to do a load of laundry or go and drop of their recyclables, that’s when all hell would break loose.

The last time he washed the dishes they got so mad that he was only allowed to leave the house for school and nothing else, for a whole week.

Apparently they had been needing those dirty dishes to complete their latest work of art.

They could have given him a heads up or something but okay fine. 

Cruel and unusual punishment it is.

Of course as soon as the gang found out they snuck in through his bedroom window, on the third floor, and hung out with him. Everyday for a week they did that. It was like they were all sharing his punishment to the point that it wasn’t a punishment anymore.

Shaggy grinned as he looked down at chipped paint on the sill that had gone through the runner with them all stomping on it when they’d climb in.

He stared at one large bare patch that was just exposed wood now.

Climbing up a ladder to a third story window every day was just asking for trouble. Especially when it came to Danger Prone Daphne.

It was on a Thursday when her danger prone ways finally got the best of her.

She had somehow lost her footing on the ladder right when she had reached the sill. Luckily she was fast and gripped onto the wood, cringing as she felt the paint peel up under her fingernails.

“Jeepers! Freddie help me!!!”

The whole gang turned toward the window urgently and Velma let out a distressed cry as they all ran over to help Daph.

Shag was surprised that he was the first one to get to her and didn’t waste anytime grabbing onto her wrist and bracing his legs as he began to pull as hard as was humanly possible. He felt Fred grip onto his sides, helping him pull. He was sure Velma was doing the same thing behind Fred.

After a long struggle of forcing themselves to back up and not lose their footing they had gotten her up on the sill.

Everyone let out a loud sigh of relief and Shag let go of her wrists, that had turned totally red from how tightly he was holding on. He was about to ask her if she was alright but she quickly bounded off the window sill, where he now saw a lot of the paint had been chipped off, and wrapped her arms around Shaggy’s neck.

Shag’s eyes widened, that wasn’t what he was expecting.

“Oh Fred I knew you’d save me!”

He closed his eyes and sighed, now that was what he was expecting.

Fred cleared his throat, clearly not a fan of the turned tables. “Er Daph.....”

Instantly Daph’s eyes shot open and she quickly assessed the situation she was in.

She let out a nervous chuckle and backed up, avoiding eye contact with Shaggy. “I-I mean, thank you Shaggy.” Focusing on twiddling her thumbs she let out a couple thank you’s to Fred and Velms as well.

Shag decided to brush the whole interaction off and grinned, “You are very welcome my dear.”

He grinned at the memory.

And remembered how the idea of Daph giving him the kind of hugs she gave Fred made his heart race a little too fast.

That was probably the start of him being aware of how much he just liked to look at Daphne. Seeing every little subconscious tick she had. Those little grins she’d give to the little things that made her happy. The way she’d play with her rings when she was deathly bored. Her uncharacteristically boorish laugh that would always make everyone around her just as happy as she was. 

He figured that was the start of things being weird between them. The start of something being there.

Stroking the bare wood his mind flashed back to the first time he ever met his purple girl. Her speaking a little too loudly just to make sure he was listening to every word she was saying. And of course he was, because everything about this strange purple alien captivated him. And everything about her always would.

Sighing he directed his attention back toward the window.

Who was he kidding?

Ever since he had met her he had seen that something standing between them, just pulling them together. Very slowly.

He had just never seen it pulling them, until he asked Daph to dance. 

That was something Shaggy didn’t do with Daphne, but he did it anyway.

And now senior year was a lot more complicated than it needed to be.

He let out a loud groan that made Scooby jump and almost fall off his spot at the foot of Shag’s bed.

Shag didn’t have anytime to laugh at him because he spotted the dim lights of a “groovy” green micro-van. They must have seen him waiting like a loser with no life outside of his friends because Daph stuck her torso out of the passenger side window. He spotted that huge smile and her waving her arms back and forth like windmill propellers.

He waved back to signal that he saw her.

God even from the damn third floor of his house and at 7 o’clock at night he could still see those eyes.

Petting Scooby on the head he said, “See you later bud. Like I’ll try to bring back some high school party snack food for you.” The dog’s head perked up and he licked Shag’s hand. Letting out a low whine as some sort of thank you.

He was 100% certain that his dog could understand English and anyone that said otherwise could take it up with his Great Dane that just whined out a thank you for him.

Walking over to the hatch that was sort of his bedroom door, he pushed it down and watched the ladder fall, creating a path for his exit.

Once he had closed up his “door” he stared down toward the stairs that would lead him into the living room, which was in eye shot of the studio. And judging by the strong scent of charcoal and acrylic that’s definitely where his parents where.

He didn’t wanna risk being spotted and stopped so they could ask him to take his shoes off real quick so mom could do something weird like paint a pair of shoes onto his bare feet. And he didn’t have time for that.

 There was back staircase that led down to the back door, which they could only see if they were in the kitchen.

And they were never in the kitchen.

He took a deep breath as he wrapped his fingers around the knob.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t be grounded until graduation when he came back.

He dashed quickly through the back yard, avoiding the spotlights dad had set up to show off his flower garden. Taking one last look behind him, he opened the fence gate that would take him to the front gate.

“Shags, everytime we pick you up from your house anytime after four you act like you’re trying to break out of prison.” Daph giggled as she turned fully in the front seat so that she was looking at him sitting in the back.

He chuckled halfheartedly and shrugged, “My parents are time wasters, what else can I say?”

Her gaze seemed to be ten times more intense to him when they were surrounded by the beginnings of evening. His dream involving her eyes being the equivalent of young, violet stars didn’t seem all that absurd now that he was looking at her directly.

 Not even realizing that nobody had said anything for a good five minutes because he was too busy just being caught in bright, purple headlights.

Velma rolled her eyes.

Freddie was too busy driving to care what his passengers were doing.

“AHEM!!!”

Daph and Shag jumped out of their pocket universe and back into reality, both turning their attention to Velms.

Velma folded her arms over her chest and smirked at the obvious blush on Daph’s cheeks, “I believe you two losers made a promise to me in exchange for my attendance to this apparently obligatory gathering of jackasses.”

They stared at her blankly for a second, piecing the sentence together before their faces lit up in remembrance and Daphne grabbed her purse.

After a couple seconds of fishing around, she pulled out a small Ziploc bag containing a single stud earring with a purple jewel.

It was then that Shaggy realized Daphne was wearing the stud’s brother or sister on her left ear. When Velma said matching earrings this isn’t what he was picturing. He figured she meant like they’d both wear a set of pearls or something. Not wearing one half of one set.

That was like saying that Daph was his other half to a bunch of people who didn’t have any business knowing any of that.

Suddenly his eyes widened as he realized what was going on and turned to look at Velma. She currently was sporting an innocent grin, but he knew damn well what she was doing. 

He wanted to groan or sigh or something but instead he just grabbed the baggie and opened it.

Why did Velms suddenly care enough to meddle in her friend’s lives?

She never cared enough about that before. 

She’d just let weirdness and drama happen and stay as far away from it as possible.

“Y-You put it in your right ear Shags.” Daph stated, a huge grin stuck on her face. He nodded, his eyes not leaving Velma’s.

She just stuck her tongue out at him and directed her attention to Fred, who seemed to be in his own little world at the moment. Just waiting for the exit that would take them to the high school.

Honestly it gave Shag the chills at just how easily Velma was able to control the mood around her with a single action. Daph was a big, beaming mess. Shag couldn’t stop fucking staring at her. And Fred was stuck in one track mind mode.

He wouldn’t even be surprised if Velma had ordered them to wear matching earrings just so the the van would be dead quiet on the way to the party.

And Shaggy was fairly certain he was the only one that could ever figure out Velma’s ulterior motives.

She wasn’t on a Bond villain level.

No she could scheme fucking circles around Auric Goldfinger.

And due to her scheme, the ride was silent for the rest of the way to the school.

Eventually they were pulling into the school’s parking lot and to the spot farthest away from where they had hidden from Andrews. Seeing the school at night time, when it was dark, sent a wave of chills through Shag’s body.

He didn’t like this one bit.

He saw Velma leaning her head against the walls of the van, reaching up and tracing the spot wear the bullet holes used to be. Fred’s dad had payed to repair them a couple weeks after it happened.

After they had gotten enough pictures for all the newspapers and networks of course.

Fred was just keeping his hands on the keys that he had just pulled out of the ignition, face blank like he was trying to prevent himself from getting shaken up about something that was already over and done with.

Daphne bit her lip and kept her eyes on the compartment where they kept the spare tire, never really brave enough to bring it up with Freddie again.

Velma had yelled at him for a long time at the police station after they had given their statements and were just ready to go home.

But after that, nobody really saw a point in fighting over it.

It didn’t matter anymore.

There was maybe a couple minutes of brooding silence before Velma let out a sigh and began to crawl toward the back door.

“Let’s get this shit over with.”

That seemed to snap everybody out of it and as a group they walked toward the school.

The setup was about what you’d expect from the Student Council budget.

Balloons and tablecloths.

That was about it.

In the school colors of course.

Orange and Purple.

As soon as the gang entered they were welcomed by a bubbly Nat, who wasted no time announcing their arrival to the whole damn party.

Shaggy and Velma eyed each other, both in the mood to go hide behind the snack table to avoid all the new eyes on them.

Daphne and Freddie instantly got comfortable moved into conversation mode with a group of the cheerleaders. Shag turned to ask Velma if she wanted to hide in the big bowl of pretzels with him, but saw that she was already there, stuffing her face so she would have an excuse not to talk.

Of course Jesse McIntyre didn’t care and quickly approached her.

Now he was in dangerous territory, but luckily he seemed to be a master of one sided conversation seeing as Velma was only contributing the occasional nod and Jesse still looked thoroughly invested.

Shaggy smiled, still awkwardly standing at the entrance alone.

He looked over at Fred and Daph, one of the cheerleaders must have said something funny because Daph was letting out that amazingly terrifying laugh.

Fred’s laugh look so composed compared to her’s, a couple of the cheerleaders looked a little spooked by the noises coming from the girl’s mouth. Shag sighed, this was usually how parties ended up when all four of them went to one.

Fred and Daphne being the only ones brave enough to have conversations.

Velma letting other people start conversations with her.

And Shaggy standing alone near the snack table staring at his phone. 

Or in this case, staring at Daphne but that’s neither here nor there.

He wasn’t really sure how long he had just been standing like there staring at Daphne Blake like a sad asshole, but he soon felt a small hand grab onto his and begin to tug him toward all the “fun.”

Startled, he looked down and saw Natalie gripping onto him, a wide smile on her face.

Shag always thought it was a little weird that Nat had like the exact same shade of blue eyes that Fred did. Freddie constantly promises they aren’t related but Shaggy still didn’t totally buy it. He felt like someone had to be lying.

But other than the eyes, Nat and Fred were nothing alike.

Nat’s natural hair color was a light sunkissed brown, although she usually had it dyed some crazy unnatural color.

This month she had it dyed a dark purple that was darker at the roots and faded into a lighter purple at the tips.

He gulped, everything he was gonna look at for the rest of his fucking life would remind him of Daphne wasn’t it?

Cool. He was glad to be in a perpetual state of patheticness for all eternity.

His eyes shot back down to Nat, who was about the same height as Velms. Meaning she was far too small to him, like miles down. She giggled before saying, “I’m not letting you get out of having fun.” 

He groaned, “Aw damn it, so close.”

She giggled again and steered him toward a huddle of people.”

His heartbeat picked up, it was group of the football players. The same ones that would call him “Mop Top” and “The Jolly Green Giant.” He had no idea how to talk to new people that he knew nothing about. That was pitiful considering he had grown up with most of them and he could only recall their first names.

That big bowl of pretzels suddenly became incredibly tempting.

‘No! We’re not chickening out! This was our idea to begin with and we’re gonna follow through with it!’

‘Who the fuck is ‘we’?! I’m on my own moron.’

“Everyone,” Nat’s clear voice rang out and attracted the group’s attention like a suspicious noise attracted Fred away from Mystery Machine. “You guys remember Shaggy right?” Still not letting go of his hand, she pulled him forward so that they were both included in the man huddle.

A couple of them stared at him blankly, having no idea who the hell this tall boy was.

Most of them smirked and nodded.

A few looked sort of sheepish, probably remembering something rude they said to him or about him.

One guy, Christopher Merlin, said, “Yeah he’s with the Nancy’s right?”

Is that what the gang was officially branded as now? The Nancy’s?

Shaggy figured it could have been a lot worse, if anything is could be taken as a compliment.

A very backhanded one.

Nat sent them all a very intimidating smile and said, “He’s also the one who stood up to Hayden and the cheer squad and promised them he’d find me.” Shag raised an eyebrow and looked down at her, “Stood up to,” is definitely stretching his actions out way too far.

He had really only said something to Hayden because if he didn’t Daphne would probably scalp her.

He wasn’t totally sure how far the truth had been re-woven before it had reached Nat. So it was possible that all the attention she was giving him was misdirected. Or he was just refusing to believe that Velma’s pointless teasing had some light to it.

It was then that he realized that Nat was still squeezing onto his hand, and that alone was really weird. But the fact that they were in front of half of the football team made it seem like some crazy dream he’d have that Fred would try to over explain and Daph would ask what he had for dinner that night.

He had the strong desire to pinch his arm and suddenly wake up in a cold sweat.

All the stares he was getting from guys who had never really been on amazing terms with was making him ever regret convincing the gang to come to this thing.

Since when was he the one that cared about ending their high school days on a good note?

Nat had been carrying on a conversation for what seemed like a million years, Shaggy was just praying that she’d be done soon and just drag him over to the damn pretzels.

A better idea would be to let go of Nat’s hand and excuse himself from the conversation, that’s what Shag normally would do.

But Shag wasn’t exactly set to normal tonight.

He figured he’d be fine as long as he wasn’t directly addressed.

But of course the second he thought it, the fates chuckled and pulled their puppet strings, forcing Shaggy Rogers to be directly addressed at a high school party.

“So, Shagster,” That was a new one, “When the hell did you do that to your ears?” One of the players that was standing next to him, Shag was sure his name was Randy, tugged lightly on his right ear. The one with Daph’s earring in it.

Suddenly everyone looked back at him, a look of realization on everyone’s faces as they saw what Randy was gently yanking on.

Shaggy didn’t answer for a few seconds, as he was trying to collect his thoughts and his thoughts were currently a big jumble of, ‘Oh Zoinks. Fuckin. Shit Shit Shit.’

And he was fairly certain that all of those weren’t a proper response to Randy’s question.

‘Wait, what the hell did he ask me again?!’

‘Ears....’

‘Oh yeah.’

He let out a quiet breath and finally replied, “Like, um, at the beginning of this year. You know, because I was officially 18 so I wanted to do something dumb but not really dumb.” God this was painful.

“Yeah? Well, purple looks just darling on you.” Randy chuckled and turned back towards the group.

Shag let out a soft laugh, behind that laugh was the desire to go hide in the Mystery Machine. But that would mean letting go of Nat’s hand forcefully and just leaving the circle. And suddenly Shaggy was afraid of hurting these people’s damn feelings.

Seventeen year old Shaggy wouldn’t have cared.

But to be fair seventeen year old Shaggy only had to worry about the mask of the week and an occasional bad grade because he hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before.

He was sure his hands felt incredibly sweaty in Nat’s, but of course she was barely acting like her holding his hand was beyond their current friendship level.

Suddenly his clammy hand that felt almost fused to Nat’s was pulled from the small girl’s grip and he swore he felt his hand take in a big gulp of air. 

Looking up he wondered what had forcefully released Shag’s hand from a death grip.

As he looked over he saw that familiar bright red hair rush between him and Nat, “Henry oh my word it feels like forever since I last saw you!” 

Daphne had run forward and pulled one of the players, now identified at Henry, into a classy side hug. Henry gave her a confused smile and chuckled, “Daphne I saw you in Macro this morning. You threw a pack of Skittles at me remember?”

Shaggy grinned, he remembered that.

Daph stared at the football player blankly, as if it occurred to her that he wouldn’t remember that. Eventually she let out a sheepish giggle and began to rub the back of her neck, “I-I guess that just feels like forever you know?”

Shag could feel his insides imploding for her, now she had been trapped in a painful social situation.

Henry just gave her a soft smile and turned his attention back to Randy, who was now rambling about how they took Skittles out of the school vending machines for some reason.

Daph let out a quiet, possibly relieved, sigh and turned back toward Shag sending him and amused look.

In return he gave her an apologetic one.

For a split second Daph’s eyes had left his and darted to the left of him. It was then that Shaggy remembered Nat was standing next to him, and had been gripping onto his hand up until a minute ago.

It came to his mind that Daphne didn’t need to run between him and Nat since it probably would have been much easier for her to just run between him and Randy.

He quickly brushed those thoughts to the side since this was Daphne and she tended to do everything without thinking about it and just ended up confusing herself when she was asked why the hell she did that.

After another minute of awkwardly standing in the middle of the huddle Daph silently took the spot between Randy and Shag.

Neither of them contributed anything to the conversations happening around them.

They just stood next to each other, and that was enough to make both of them feel safe.

Shaggy had shoved both of his hands in his pockets in fear that Nat might try to grab his hand again and then she would have to suffer holding onto his nasty, damp hands.

Occasionally the group would be sent into loud bouts of laughter, and during those times Daph and Shags would giggle along, pretending they 100% knew what hilarious thing had just been said and they also thought it was hilarious.

Sometimes she’d catch him looking at her and vice versa and then they’d look into each other’s eyes for a couple seconds before giggling awkwardly and turning away.

So far this party thing had been fairly standard for the two of them, although it had a pretty shaky start and Shag doubted he would ever actually get to the damn snack table. But that was okay, he thought, at least he wasn’t stranded and alone over here.

“So wait. Wait, wait, wait...” 

Everyone’s attention was drawn to the guy standing next Henry, Shag recognized him as Elliot, Daph recognized him as the 3rd date she had gone on during sophomore year.

“Daphne I thought you were dating the Jones guy?”

Shaggy looked down at her, she was wearing a very confused expression.

She bit her bottom lip let out a puzzled laugh, “Um....I’m not. W-We’re just friends as far as I can tell.”

Randy snorted, “Where the hell did that come from Elliot? Are we playing Truth or Dare, 8th grade edition?” Elliot gave him and annoyed glare, “Well fuckin’ I’m sorry dude! I just kinda always assumed Blake and Jones were and item and then the Nancy’s show up tonight and it’s fucking Blake and Rogers wearing the couples earrings.”

He lifted up his hands and gestured between the two of them.

Instantly all eyes were on them, and Shag could feel Nat’s powerful stare. 

That was it.

It was time to just die.

Anytime.

Right now preferably.

Daphne let out another nervous chuckle and Shag saw her fingers begin to fidget as she tried to think of a response.

Deciding he needed to help her, he took in a deep breath, “It’s- There not couple’s earrings. Like Velma just dared us to wear matching earrings to this party so that she would-um come.” That was never gonna get any easier was it?

Randy raised an eyebrow skeptically, and the rest of the team followed him.

Nat let out a chuckle, “So you two aren’t a thing?”

‘Define thing.’ Shag thought as he would admit that things were really complicated between them. But that was also none of their damn business.

He shook his head, “Like we’re just friends guys, right Daph?”

For a second he was wondering who he was asking the question for.

The crowd of curious football players and one student council president.

Or for himself, maybe searching for some sort of reality check that would remind him that Daphne was always gonna be in love with Fred.

That “always” was probably the biggest thing keeping his feelings hidden, so far down that even he didn’t see them. And maybe if he heard that “always” again in the form of her agreeing that they were just friends, than he’d be able to accept and move on.

But instead of Daph agreeing with him, she just stared up at him for several seconds, looking absolutely lost even though she knew right where she was.

And suddenly Shag felt lost too. There was no “always?” Where was it?!

What the hell did this mean now?

Daphne never answered his question.

Instead she exited the huddle and rushed past everything and everyone, and straight toward the exit into their courtyard.

And of fucking course Shag wasted no time following her because now they had been transported into some stupid rom com and chasing after her went right along with this Freeform worthy script.

Fred and Velma both sent concerned glance toward them but Velma signalled to Fred to just let them go.

He nodded, confusion clearly on his face.

The huddle plus Nat stared after them.

Nat let out another chuckle before turning back to the group.

“Elliot what door have you opened?”

Elliot scowled, “Oh sure it’s always my fault Miss ‘So like you are totally not dating right?’” He pretended to bat his eyelashes and twirl his hair with his fingers.

Nat rolled her eyes, “Randy, you’re the one that went to the same class as them, what do you think.”

He remained silent for a few seconds, maintaining a pensive look, “He asked her to dance at prom a couple months ago right? And she actually danced with him right?”

Everyone nodded and looked at one another knowingly.

Except Nat who seemed to be missing some crucial detail.

“So? Guys and girls can dance and not have it result in a marriage proposal.” She placed her hands on her hips.

The huddle all snickered before Henry clued the confused girl in, “Dear Natalie, we have basically grown up with Daphne always being a part of our life, dances included.” Nat still wasn’t getting why this was a big deal.

“During the eight year worth of dances, stupidly awkward middle school dances to trashy dance parties where losers spike the punch,” He sent an annoyed look over toward Randy, who just let out an exaggerated cackle, “Daphne Blake has never, and when I say never I fucking mean never-no exceptions, danced with anyone except Fred Jones.”

Shaggy groaned and ran his hands through his hair, what exactly was happening right now?

What was he trying to accomplish by chasing after her?

Was he trying to be dashing or something?

Because he doubted he looked anywhere near dashing as he tried not to trip on loose tiles.

Not to mention his hands were still in his pockets.

So he definitely looked like some sort of freakishly tall, armless creatures that was just bounding through nature.

Truly horrifying.

He wasn’t even surprised that Daph could run so fast even though she was wearing heels.

He had seen her take on some terrifying men in masks twice he size in six inch heels. 

Lucky for him, high heels weren’t particularly quiet shoes and so he had a distinct *clip clop* to follow. This went on for several minutes and he had the sinking feeling that Daph would never stop running for the rest of eternity.

So he decided to call out to her.

“Excuse me!! Daphne! Have you run out of juice yet?!”

He then turned a corner and was surprised to see that he had caught up to her quite a bit. Now she was only a few feet in front of him.

“Jesus I’d like to talk to you about the Avengers’ initiative, good God!”

He heard her let out a soft laugh.

She stopped running.

So did he.

She still hadn’t turned around to look at him.

He shifted his weight from on foot to the other, just staring at her messy red hair that had gotten wrecked up by the force of her endurance running through the whole damn school. 

When she did eventually turn around he was terrified.

Mainly because his brilliant rom com hero’s plot hadn’t been written out this far.

He stared at her for a few seconds.

She didn’t look mad or sad or happy or anything really.

She just looked like Daphne with messy hair and red cheeks.

What really sent his heartbeat going beyond the speed limit was that fucking glint in her eyes. Why was it there?!

‘Fuck it. Like we’ll do it live’

He took a couple steps forward.

He gulped.

Breathing was really hard if he thought about it.

“Daph, like what’s wrong?”

Brilliant, he clearly had grand control of this situation.

Daph looked down at her feet, an amused smile on her face.

When she did reply, it seemed annoyed, “Timing, that’s what’s wrong.”

He raised an eyebrow.

Timing?

Timing.

His eyes widened.

Timing!

Oh.

Timing.

“Yeah.”

Daphne looked back up at him, her eyes still practically glowing.

“Shags I.......I really wish I had danced with you sooner than the end of senior year.” She took a step forward and he instinctively took his hands out of his pockets, letting her grab onto both of them.

He intertwined his fingers with her’s instantly.

“I wish I had been smart enough to ask you sooner....”

She shook her head and smiled up at him.

“My dumb ass probably wouldn’t have said yes.”

He thought about for a second before nodding.

“And damn it, when I finally did say yes to you it fucking a few months before all four of us separate for our new lives!!” He saw her eyes begin to tear up so he squeezed her hands tightly.

She let out a pained chuckle, “I don’t suppose NYU happens to interest you at all huh?”

He smirked at her, “New York has amazing food, and you soon. But other than that I don’t see any appeal.” She sighed and nodded.

Silence.

For a long time, just silence.

“Wait so you are for sure accepted into NYU than?” She beamed brighter than any star he had ever seen, honestly all stars were posers compared to her damn smiles.

“Orientation starts August 26th.”

He squeezed her hands again.

“So I have one more summer with you....”

She squeezed back.

“Indeed you do.”

-

A/N Okay this took me way too long to write and I know it’s really long but the fact that it’s so long is why it’s been like eight millions years since i updated!