Kyle -
DUDE. NO. You have to go...
Stan -
I'm sorry I can't. I told Wendy we would go to the convention together.
Kyle -
Come on man.. you said you were going to be there, it's been almost two years since I've seen you.
Stan -
I get it. I'm sorry. Talk to you soon dude.
What the fuck. Kyle dropped his phone hard back onto the table. He was so excited to see Stan. It had been upwards of two years since he had seen him, and all Stan had seemed interested in doing since high school graduation was staying connected to Wendy's hip. Fuck. Kenny's not going to be there, because apparently Karen and he had a special trip planned for her graduation.
Kyle hated the idea of going to his high school reunion alone. His two closest friends now Bebe and Butters were driving out to South Park together, and a chance at seeing some old friends was too good to pass up. Stan, Kenny and Kyle himself had all lost contact with Eric Cartman shortly after graduation. In fact, the day after graduation, Kyle recalled seeing the bed of Cartman's beat up, white truck full of boxes. Cartman hadn't been all too talkative to the group in the weeks leading up to graduation, so no one had known he was leaving so quickly. Cartman wasn't one for social media since the whole Skankhunt incident, so no one had heard from him in years.
Kyle couldn't help but wonder what the large burnette had accomplished since high school. Snapping back to reality, Kyle suddenly realized someone was saying his name.
"Kyle? Kyle? Are you okay?" Butters was asking with a concerned look on his face. Bebe too, her eyebrows knitted together. Kyle then realized that he was the last one to shutdown his computer, and head toward the door. In fact, Bebe, Butters, and Kyle were the last three in the office.
"Oh -pshh- yeah, Butters, I'm totally fine.* Kyle said, voice laced with fake enthusiasm. Not falling for it, Bebe sighed.
"Stan isn't coming, is he?" Bebe asked, putting her hand on her hip, her face hardening.
Kyle was trying to think fast, and was failing to seem less bothered about it than he really is. "Well I mean. I-I-I, he-he," Kyle let out a defeated sigh. "No, he isn't. He and Wendy are going to some sort of Veterinary convention in Missouri. He just can't be away from Wendy for more than two seconds."
"Well, Kyle, uh geez-louise, Bebe and I are still going with to be there with you. Plus, seeing all our old friends will be fun." Butters said, twiddling his thumbs.
"That's right Kyle, come on, you don't need Stan there to have a good time! You've got us! Now come on mopey bones, let's go have a drink." Bebe says, going over to Kyle and grabbing him by his upper arm so she could pull him up with Kyle doing most of the work, of course. After getting him up, Bebe grabs both arms and takes a step back, admiring her ginger friend.
"Come on, sweet boy, it'll be okay." She says this as she pushes a ginger curl out of Kyle's face. Butters chuckles at this moment. Kyle sighs and gives his two friends a genuine smile. He puts his arm around Butters shoulders and then grabs Bebe's hand. "Come on."
They all pile into Kyle's Camry. After cranking the keys into the ignition, the car roars to life, and Kyle heads out of the office's parking lot, heading to the bar. Once there, Kyle takes a quick peek at his phone, partially hoping for another text from Stan, even though he knows it won't be there.
Walking into the bar the three friends nod at the bartender, Mark. They then head to their regular booth, with Bebe and Butters on one side and Kyle on the other. Mark brings over a couple of beers, nods to the group, then peaks back to the bar to see a group come up and heads back over to the bar with a final nod. After chatting for a bit about the day and finishing off a couple beers each, the group decides to call it a night. They head back to the car in silence, on the way to drop off Bebe and Butters, Bebe decides to break that silence.
"Kyle...you know this weekend really will be okay, right? We'll have a great time." Bebe says looking back to Butters, who nods in agreement.
"I know, you guys. I was just so excited to get to see Stan, he's been so distant since he proposed to Wendy this last year, ya know.." Kyle signed and pulled into park to let his friends out, who luckily enough happen to live in the same complex.
"Kyle, he'll come back around, it's Stan, for goodness sake." Butters says in a matter-of-fact tone. Bebe lets out a little chuckle and nods, pointing a thumb back at Butters.
"Uh yeah Kyle, exactly what he said! We'll be there to get you in the am. We can take my car, okay?" Bebe says this as she climbs out of the car. She winks and blows Kyle a kiss, while Butters waves from in front of the car.
Kyle makes it safely, aside from not remembering the short drive to the back of the complex. Distracted by thoughts of this weekend. After parking and heading up to his second floor apartment, Kyle opts to have a few more drinks. It's been a long week, and an even shittier day. Changing out of his work khakis and button up, Kyle plops down on the couch in boxers and a white T-shirt, then grabs the fruity wine cooler Bebe talked him into getting, which he actually enjoys. Flipping through the television and failing to find anything worth watching, he scrolls through Facebook on his phone. On this particular night, apparently, after breaking the news to Kyle earlier, Stan and Wendy went out sightseeing in Missouri. Who knew it was worth it? After what feels like the millionth selfie of Stan and Wendy, and more than his fair share of wine coolers, Kyle decides to call Stan and tell him how he really feels.
After two rings it goes to voicemail, " Hey Stan it just your best friend, Kyle," he says, slurring his words. After letting out a louder then expected belch, he continues. " Did you forget about me? You-you-you're just always up Wendy's ass. I'm su-surprised you remember my name. Man, you got a real issue. I mean... who forgets their best friend? Whatever, man." With a belch, Kyle hangs up and throws his phone across the room, which skids to a stop by his dining room table. Head spinning, and eyelids heavy, Kyle lays back on the couch and before he realizes it, he's fast asleep.
Waking blearily realizing he doesn't recall falling asleep, Kyle faintly hears knocking on his front door. Still unfocused, and more than slightly nauseous, he stumbles over to the front door. Standing there looking worried out of their minds, are Bebe and Butters.
"KYLE!" Bebe says, eyes widening and eyebrows knitting together. "What's going on, why are not dressed, what's going on with your phone?"
Kyle, who's still trying to comprehend, rubs his eyes, then throws his hands out in front of himself in the international sign for 'slow down'. "Whoa whoa whoa, what time is it!?" Kyle asks looking around his living room for his phone, seeing the digital clock on the cable box he sees that it's already 2 o'clock. "Holy crap!" Kyle exclaimed, then and he leapt over his crooked coffee table and rushed to his room to grab some clothes. Settling on some black jeans, and a green button up, he pulls his hair back into a ponytail managing to gather most of the unruly curls in the hair tie.
"Good?" Kyle asks, rubbing his eyes once more. Butters nods and gives him a thumbs up. Kyle looks to Bebe for her input, but she isn't even paying attention as she's too busy scrolling through her phone. Kyle realizes too late that it isn't her phone, but his. Bebe looks up to Kyle questioningly and accusing.
"Kyle, did you drunk call Stan last night!? He's texted you about 50 times, asking you what your deal is!"
Butters' phone starts ringing, so he takes a moment to excuse himself and take the call. Bebe, still looking at Kyle, locks his phone and puts in on the table.
"Dude, you're not making this any easier on yourself.." Bebe says, not even looking at Kyle now.
"Oh, come on, that's not fair! I don't even remember calling him last night! So it's whatever. I'm seriously not in the mood for it today, so leave it be. I'm not going to be texting him back." Kyle says as he snatches his phone, turns it off, and puts it into his pocket.
"Ready, where's Butters?" Kyle asks looking around. About that time, Butters comes walking through the front door, shoving his phone in his pocket, a distressed look on his face.
"Butters, what's up man?" Kyle asks, turning towards him as Bebe gets up off the couch. Twiddling his thumbs Butters says,
"Well, geez-louise Kyle...it's just that my Dad called. Apparently my grandma is in town and he really wants me to be there tonight at Bennigans to have dinner with them.."
"Butters chill, it's okay, you try and enjoy family time." Bebe said rubbing Butters back.
"Oh man, Butters. No, it's okay! You enjoy your family time and it works out great, we can still ride out together and back here to Denver. It's okay." They headed out to the car, Butters mumbling something about how sorry he feels, Bebe off in her own world, and Kyle concentrating on not vomiting. Aside from feeling as though he is knocking on death's door, Kyle really is feeling much better than he had been the night before. Even if Kyle won't always have Stan, like the two boys had promised, he will always have Bebe and Butters. Who needs Stan anyway, Kyle thought bitterly. LOcking his door, the trio heads to Bebe's car.
"Ya know guys, I really am beginning to feel pretty excited about tonight." Kyle said with a smile on his face. Bebe, eyes still on the road, nods and says,
"Good Kyle. You deserve to have some fun every once in a while."
Kyle scoffs as they climb into the car, "Bebe I always have fun. I am a blast to be around!" he exclaims. Kyle continues, "In fact on that note, I am going to take a super awesome totally exciting nap before death comes for me." Kyle sticks his tongue out at Bebe, turns over as much as the seat belt will allow him and closes his eyes.
The next time Kyle awakens it's to complete silence. A bit startled, he sits up and looks around, then realizes he is at a gas station about 30 minutes outside of South Park. Why would they decide to stop here? Kyle wonders as he climbs out of the car, and makes his way inside. Walking in, he sees Butters trying to decide what fountain soda to get, while Bebe is crouched down looking through a shelf full of goodies. Kyle walks up behind Bebe without her noticing, intending on scaring Bebe, but his stomach lets out a loud monstrous growl. Bebe jumps anyway and turns around quickly,
"KYLE! God, you jerk, you scared me so bad!" She says lightly, smacking his arm.
"Sorry, guess I hadn't realized how hungry I am!", Kyle says laughing turning towards Butters who is now at the counter setting down some cash.
"Kyle, you need to eat something, treats on me guys!" Butters says with a smile so big only Butters could flash it. After paying for their items the group head back to the vehicle.
The remaining car ride was spent with the friends taking a stroll up memory lane. Bebe and Kyle both excited for the evening ahead of them, Butters wishing he was also going.
The first stop they make after getting to South Park is at Butters house. Butters lingers for a few moments before seeing step out onto the front stoop of the Stotch household. With a heavy sigh Butters climbs out of the car and weakly waves to his friends as he crosses the lawn. Continuing on to the reunion, Bebe pulls into the school, parking in the first spot she sees. Moments before Kyle goes to grab the door handle and hop out of the car, Bebe reaches to the back seat grabbing her purse and pulls out two smaller bottle of clear liquid.
"Come on, Broflovski, you said you were fun." Bebe says as she passes the other shooter to Kyle.. Kyle takes the bottle and swallows clear liquid burning as it goes down. After finishing his shot, Kyle throws a wink at Bebe and tosses the empty bottle to the back seat and hops out of the car.
"Come on, Stevens, I told you I'm a blast!", Kyle says as he stick his arm out for Bebe to link hers to. Heading into the school, the first thing they see is a table with name tags spread out all across it. There's "Stanly", "Kenneth", "Eric", and a good few others. Manning the name tag table is an old friend, looking up and sticking his hand out Kyle says, "Jimmy! Bud how are you doing, what have you been up to? Plenty of comedy I'd hope." Shaking hands Jimmy continues,
"Yeah I-I-I've been good. And a-a-actually I'm going b-b-by Jim now. More ma-ma-mature don't you think? I have a-a-a Netflix s-s-s-special coming out s-s-soon." Jim says nodding his head and smiling proudly.
"Sounds good to me, Jim, keep it up, I'll keep an eye out for it!." Kyle says, turning to walk toward the gym with Bebe still on his arm, waving back to their old friend. Walking up to the entrance to the gym, they hear music and lots of voices. Stepping in through the door Kyle sees a lot of kids he has known all his life, and other kids he couldn't remember the names of if his life had depended on it. Then, there they were, the group of friends they had been waiting to see.
Clyde, Tweek and Craig. "Hey guys!" Kyle says up beat, a hand shake for Craig, a nod for Tweek and a simple high five for Clyde. After some idle chat between friends, Kyle notices that Tweek and Craig have rings on. Noticing that Kyle had been looking Craig looks at Kyle face stone serious, "Shut up Broflovski.". With a chuckle Kyle turns around to see if he can find any other familiar faces, seeing one the same time as Bebe who squeals in delight at the sight of this familiar face. Continuing to squealing and flying across the gym barely missing a clash with a few groups of people chatting, Bebe jumps into the arms of a tall handsome old friend.
"Token! Token! Token!", Kyle can hear Bebe hollering as she swings from Tokens neck. Making it back to the group, Bebe's feet are now firmly planted on the ground. Bebe and Token would probably be in the same boat as Tweek and Craig if the two hadn't decided on school in states more than a few hours drive apart. Token greets Kyle and begins chatting with his old group from school. Kyle takes this chance to slip away, grab some punch and take a quick trip to the bathroom. Stopping by the punch bowl on the way, Kyle was not surprised at what he found when he took the first sip of his punch bowl. Someone had spiked the punch, seems like South Park never changes.
Stepping out of the gym and heading down the hallway to the closest bathroom, Kyle eyeballs a nearby set of lockers to set his punch on before slipping into the bathroom and taking care of his business. Once done, Kyle grabs his punch off the set of lockers and notices something scratched into the in a little closer, he can see a "K.B.+ D.R." inside a misshapen heart. Kyle thinks for a moment and then all of a sudden it hits him. Kyle Broflovski and David Rodriguez. Flashbacks of the summers Kyle spent working at the restaurant that David's parents owned, the time he had spent with David. He and David's first kiss. David had moved away with his parents their Junior year of highschool."Wow." Kyle thinks out loud to himself.
With flushed cheeks, Kyle grabs his punch and heads down the hall back to the gym. Stepping into the gym, initially Kyle does not notice the change in mood, the slower music. Heading to the group he was with earlier, he notices then the change in mood. Tweek and Craig, body to body, slowly swaying back and forth to the song. Clyde paired off with some female Kyle doesn't recognize, and Bebe with Token. Bebe's head on Token's chest, hands intertwined, eyes shut as they sway, lost within the music.
Kyle is hurt. He knows he has no reason to be really, but here he is all alone like he was fearing he would be. Briefly considering he just go sit at a table in some corner, Kyle decides it would be easier if he just left, thinking it was the perfect night to have a few drinks at Scooter's. Waving to a few friends he recognizes, he heads to the exit. On the way to the bar, Kyle had told himself there was no way he was going to let Stan, Bebe or anyone else for that matter ruin his night. He was going to have a good night. He had already spent enough time fretting over what wasn't.
Entering the bar, Kyle does not see anyone he recognizes, so he walks up to the bar and takes a seat by himself. After ordering a beer, some man Kyle doesn't know from South Park comes up and orders a refill on the beer he's just finished. While waiting for his beer, the handsome mystery man with short ginger hair, a black button up and khakis glances at Kyle, looks around the bar and glances back. After receiving his beer the man turns to Kyle and says, "Broflovski? Kyle Broflovski?" with a questioning look on his face.
Kyle, confused and not knowing who the man is, replies, "Well yes that's me, but I'm not sure who you are."
"You were friends with that psychopath, Eric Cartman.", the man says in a matter-of-fact tone that surprises Kyle. Taking a chug of his beer the man swivels on the bar stool turning to the bar keep,"Two shots of whatever you recommend.", tapping the bar and turning back to Kyle, the man sticks his hand out for a handshake and says, "Scott. Scott Tenorman."
Memories of the chili cook-off, Kyle was in the 4th grade, Eric had crossed a line that time. Eric had claimed to have had Scott's parents killed, and not that that was not already horrid, he said he had also put them into the chili Scott had been eating. The police force in South Park was as worthless as a bible was to an atheist, they hadn't done anything about it claiming there was not enough evidence as Kyle recalls. There was no concrete evidence that Eric had done anything more then played a sick joke. Kyle had not given the man in front of him any thought in the past 14 years.