"It's your lucky day McCormick." The rusty door creaked open with a musty clank, and heavy boots stopped in front of my cell. I scoffed, keeping my back to the door.
"You're letting me go after just a day?" I muttered. "I don't believe that."
"Well, believe it. C'mon McCormick," the guard croaked in his scratchy voice. I still didn't budge, just secretly imagined that the guard got his horrible voice from some freak accident. Something violent and awful, full of trauma and blood.
"You're so impossible Kenny," a voice huffed, much different from the guard. I turned my head around in surprise. Kyle Broflovski stood in the doorway, an unreadable expression upon his face. When was the last time I had seen him? Maybe when we broke up? He looked much better than that time, when he was screaming curses at me as tears ran down his face. We had dated for couple months, which was actually one of my longer relationships. He knew my record of short relationships and yet he still believed me when I told him "forever". Really, his fault. I think.
"Kenny." Kyle furrowed his eyebrows and scowled, something he had never been able to do on command before. It had been funny to watch him try and scrunch up his face to look intimidating when he got mad at me. "I bailed you out. Now get out of that fucking cell before I have to drag you." I shifted my body off of the pitiful bed in the cell, groaning inwardly from the pins and needles and stiff joints that protested. What was I, some old man? I stretched, taking my sweet time. Slowly I made my way over to the barred door and stepped out into the dimly lit dirty hallway. The guard shoved a box of my things into my hands and dismissed me with a grunt. Inside was just my phone, wallet, and a friendship bracelet Kyle had made me when we were ten or something. It surprisingly had lasted a decade. I put everything in my pockets, then Kyle grabbed my arm before I could say anything and led me to the exit.
"Goddamn it Kenny," Kyle growled softly, surprising me. "This is the fourth time you've gotten yourself arrested."
"Sorry," I said, finding my voice sounding similar to the guard's. Scratchy, words coming out like they were difficult to say but I couldn't keep them in either. Kyle looked at me in disgust. No, not disgust- he was worried, or more likely ashamed.
"Dealing crack? Smoking pot? Vandalism? Again? Nothing's changed since goddamn high school. You're never going to learn your lesson," he sighed. "I blame that bitch Tammy."
"Is she here too?" I asked, half hopefully.
"No," Kyle shook her head. "And thank god for that. She's awful. Probably somewhere in a club getting high or drunk surrounded by some harem or whatever. She's always been like that. Never thought of consequences." Kyle paused before the exit of the jail. "What did you see in her Ken?"
"... she was hot…" I murmured, unable to meet Kyle's eyes, boring into my face and watching my every expression. He simply scoffed.
"All your partners were like that, weren't they? Just hot," he said. "You're so shallow."
"Tammy was different!" I protested. "You just judged her too quickly Kyle because that's what you do Kyle, you judge people and then get upset when people do that about you. If you had spent time with her- really spent time with her- you'd know she was beautiful, and caring. And actually really great with kids. So what if she lives a high-risk lifestyle? She was everything I wanted in someone, but it didn't matter. She broke up with ME, remember?"
"Yes. I laughed about it in your face." Kyle opened the door, closing the subject. He didn't like talking about all my other relationships throughout high school. He was kind of a little bitch about it. After I dumped him, he proceeded to cling to me, vying for my attention constantly, but when I gave it to him, he pushed me away and blamed me for never being there for him. So I ended up hurting him a lot when I said I wasn't interested at all. I followed Kyle through the door, taking in the sharp mountain air and car exhaust, intertwined with the stale stench of cigarettes that lingered. I guess it was what freedom smelled like.
"Why do you keep bailing me out?" I asked Kyle. "It can't be cheap and you don't have anything to gain. Plus, don't you hate me for what I did to you?" Kyle paused, and looked at me closely, gripping my shoulders.
"You used to be something Kenny," he said. "An incredible guy that I fell head over heels in love with, one who was funny, and interesting, protective, caring. You weren't half bad at sports either. Maybe I'd even say you were my best friend, or at least one of them. You had this simplistic charm about you that just attracted everyone. Then you started hanging out with… those people." He spat the words with acid in his voice. "They taught you that life was meaningless and you should just give up and drink. You had somewhere that you were going. Was it glamorous? No, but you could still go there. There's something left in you, and I know it. You just gotta get yourself out of this rut." He looked at me, his eyes full of hope and passion as he spoke about me in the way that only parents would do. Or, the way normal parents would do. My parents still didn't give two shits if I was alive or dead. I looked at Kyle, I really looked at him closely. His bright eyes were gleaming from what I think were the beginnings of tears, his soft gingers curls naturally framing his face to make him seem a little younger, and he was biting his lips in confusion of what to say next. I knew that expression well. It was like we were high schoolers again. Nostalgia washed over me and my heart beat in my chest, excited by something new and familiar, precious and untamed. Exactly the way I loved him. Maybe we weren't done after all. Maybe I had cut it off too early and there was something left in Kyle that I hadn't missed until he was gone. My hands went down to his waist and I closed my eyes and leaned forward, expecting to be met halfway. All I got was a shove backward. Kyle's face had completely changed- now he looked at me in disgust.
"Stop. You're not going to do this. I don't want to be a notch in your bedpost again," he said. "Not again. I'm done with you. Those feelings have long since died." He turned around as if to walk away, but looked back over his shoulder. "Do something with your life Kenny McCormick. But whatever that something is, it sure as hell won't involve me anymore. I'm done helping. Grow up. The world doesn't revolve around you anymore." A faded blue pick-up truck pulled up around the corner and a smiling guy with messy black hair almost entire hidden in an old blue and red beanie sat in the driver's seat. I recognized Stan instantly, but he was a little different. For one, he was sober enough to drive and looked like he'd been sober for a while. I guess he had gotten over his alcohol addiction. Kyle's face lit up when he saw him, a genuine, kinda dorky sort of smile I hadn't seen since I had been with him. He walked over to Stan's open window and gave him a small kiss before getting in the shotgun side. Stan glanced over at me, looking like he wanted to say something, but shook his head and looked away. The truck drove off, leaving me alone on the curb. I took a few weak steps in the same direction before my legs buckled and gave out under me. I didn't even want to get up. Not after I had just officially lost him forever. No one had ever cared as much as Kyle had.