A/N: Trying to use minimum dialogue. Not sure how long that'll last. I usually devolve into dialogue heavy exchanges quickly. K2, Stendy, other couples mentioned throughout. Enjoy...!
Kyle exhaled deeply through his nose, trying his best to focus on the alcoholic beverage and steaming hot food that sat before him. He was a lone figure in one of the new, trendy restaurants in downtown South Park, sitting at a bistro table made for singles and couples alike. His cell phone was out next to his plate, an ill attempt to cover up the loneliness and longing that started in his gut and spread until it felt like his bones were too heavy to move under the weight of those smothering emotions. Families were packed into the bigger, more friendly sized booths and parties were spread out among the tables that servers, bussers, and sometimes hosts had hastily pushed together to accommodate parties. Even at the bistro tables that lined the windows, most were occupied with more than one person, whether couples or friends. Kyle had only noticed one other table with just one person and that man clearly looked like he was there for business, dressed to the nines in a suit and having a laptop that he was deeply engaged with even as he broke away to speak to the servers when they stopped by, eyes rarely leaving the screen. Laughter drifted over from the families packed tightly in their booths, parents beaming at each other and their little ones, siblings teasing each other, kids asking their parents questions about the food. Allowing another quick cursory glance, he noticed one young child running away from a booth, mother and sister both giving chase, other guests laughing amusedly. Smiling himself, he lifted his drink back to his lips, taking a generous sip before returning his attention to his food, a hot chile relleno, smothered with tomato sauce and a medley of melted cheeses.
A male server brushed past, asking if he'd like a water refill and Kyle declined with a shake of his head, making sure to mutter a quick thank you. He wished Stan or Ike had been available to eat out with him, but he appreciated the time alone. It had been a good two months since he'd moved back into South Park, suffering a devastating and sudden job loss in Denver. His parents thought he was stressing out too much about it and he'd quickly bounce back, but his parents weren't seeming to grasp that he'd put application after application after application out there and things were looking pretty grim to his eyes. He'd even started to apply in the other "Four Corner" states, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. Moving to Denver had been hard enough for him, the idea of starting anew in Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Reno, Albuquerque, or even Santa Fe was downright terrifying to his mind. He certainly wasn't getting any younger, already having completed university, obtaining a master's degree and starting a career in law. Starting to wish he would have considered a career in something less driven, he chewed on his food thoughtfully, letting his mind wander into dangerous territory. It was hard to recapture that stamina from his youth at times, not that life wasn't interesting working in law, he'd definitely seen and heard things he was sure not many were privy to. Getting into a new law firm as a laid off lawyer wasn't exactly easy and the interviewing lawyers could usually spot out right away he wasn't telling the whole truth; he couldn't based on the gag order he'd signed from his former firm. There was a good possibility he'd lose his severance pay and likely the other firm definitely wouldn't hire him. As it were, not many firms were hiring and South Park wasn't exactly teeming with law firms. His father had proposed the idea of him opening his own but Kyle had laughed at that idea; that was one road he wasn't quite willing to travel down yet.
Even with the job loss and moving back in with his parents temporarily, he could appreciate the perks of South Park, such as the nice restaurant he was eating in. He was grateful he hadn't ran into anyone from his past on this outing. Expecting to see his former peers everyday when he'd moved back, Kyle had prepared a story to tell them, fibs mixed in to save him from the shame he felt burn his cheeks when he'd told his parents about losing his job. As luck would have it, he had ran into precious few of his peers and been surprised at the amount of people that he didn't recognize. Had his sleepy little town always had this many people or was it just the people had changed? The first former peer he'd seen, he didn't need to run into because he himself had practically ran to him was his best friend, Stan. When Kyle had left South Park, Stan had stayed, not really having much desire to travel. It hadn't been but a couple years after high school that Stan had asked Wendy to marry him. To this day, Kyle was still surprised that Wendy had been so willing to marry so shortly after high school and before she finished her higher education. She hadn't been as willing to start a family, waiting until after she obtained her degree to agree to having their first child and then their second. Being the progressive feminist she was, Wendy was the one still working while Stan was the one who stayed home with the kids and Kyle knew his best friend loved every minute of it, being the more nurturing one of the two parents. Slight pangs of jealousy did hit him at times when he was around their happy and adorable family but it was usually overwhelmed with the happiness that bubbled up within him for his friends, thrilled that they were getting what they wanted out of life, especially Stan.
Taking another bite of his meal, his eyes wandered around the restaurant again, observing the various people entering and exiting, trying to see if any faces would surface that he would recognize. None, which wasn't that unusual. It was odd, he wondered what so many of his peers were doing now, maybe most were all at their houses with their families like Stan and Wendy. Besides Stan and Wendy, Kyle had run into Craig and Tweek and that was likely because Stan and Wendy had kept in touch with them and grown close to the other couple over the years. Craig and Tweek had no children but would usually go out of their way to still include the other couple in their life, often people with children drifted away from the childless ones as they tended to befriend other parents, more often than not their children's friends' parents. Craig and Tweek had been tipped off about the suspected depression Stan thought he saw in his best friend and the two had worked hard to drag Kyle to bars, even getting him to go to some drag shows over the last few weeks, hoping to lift his spirits some. It had worked, but the niggling thought was always in the back of his head no matter; he needed to find a job and now.
A blonde female busser was now by him asking him if he wanted more water. He nodded weakly trying to swallow down his food as the taste was suddenly similar to dirt at the reminder that he had no job and here he was eating out. It wasn't as if he hadn't saved money and he was sure he'd get his severance pay, but he still fretted over the money, worried it would vanish just as suddenly as his job had. She picked up his glass and squinted her eyes at him, doing a double take as if she wasn't sure she was seeing correctly. Kyle hoped his face wasn't reflecting the worry in his mind too clearly, maybe she was concerned that he was trying to ditch and skip out on the bill. Setting the glass back down on the table, water swishing dangerously close to the top, she stayed by him, trying to work something out in her mind. Finally, she opened her mouth and asked hesitantly, "Kyle…..?"
Kyle's eyes shot up in surprise and he looked at her again. There was a slight familiarity about her, but he couldn't place who she was. Grinning lopsidedly, she nodded her head and said his name again but there was no question to it this time. Discomfort was starting to weave its way into Kyle's expression as he realized he had no idea who was speaking to him. He gave another weak nod, not trusting his voice to not betray that he had no clue who she was. She seemed to get this and laughed, her blue eyes shining with amusement.
"You can relax, Kyle," she assured him, seeing how tense he was. "It's me, Karen, Kenny's sister." Oh, that was the familiarity she had about her. "How long have you been back in town?" Kyle averted his eyes away for a quick second, debating what to tell her. He truly hadn't reached out to anyone and had begged Stan not to go and tell people he was around, he had only been planning to stay two weeks tops when he first got here. Two weeks had turned into three, four, five, six, and now he sat here eight weeks later, face heating up with shame.
"A few weeks," he told her, absently pushing his food around with his fork, appetite completely gone. He hadn't seen Karen in years or Kenny for that matter. He knew Stan more or less kept in touch with him, but they didn't see each other often. Last he'd heard Kenny was still running an auto shop on the south east part of town, a place Kyle didn't get out to often. His and Kenny's friendship had frayed when his friend had dropped out of high school their junior year; Kyle had begged and pleaded with him not to but it had been to no avail. It had later come out that he'd dropped out to work more hours as he and Kevin were the ones paying all the bills since their parents had vanished into Denver likely for drugs and the siblings didn't want to be put into a foster home again or separated; Kyle was sure he'd run into the McCormick's mother once in Denver and his stomach had gone stone cold at the state she was in. Kevin followed in his parents footsteps, vanishing into the dark of one night and the day Kenny turned eighteen, he marched into the courthouse and petitioned for custody of his sister of which he was awarded. She had finished high school and he hoped she'd gone to college, but since she was dressed as a busser, he wondered where that story ended. "You work here?"
Karen smiled up at him. "Yes, part time. I'm still going to college, one day I'll finish." The smile was infectious and Kyle grinned back at her.
"Good, what are you going for?"
"Medical, I want to be a doctor." She beamed and Kyle couldn't help but be impressed. She heard some commotion at a nearby booth and smiled apologetically, explaining she had to go see what was going on but promised to come right back and he better not leave. Kyle simply nodded, not really sure why she was so insistent he stay there until she returned. It took less than ten minutes before she was sliding into the empty chair across from him on the other side of the bistro table. She leaned forward, "So, come again, you've been here a few weeks. Have you seen my brother yet?"
A frown played across Kyle's eyes as he thought on it; he and Kenny had eventually made amends as often happens when time marches on, though Kyle felt that their friendship had never strengthened to what it once was. That might have just been because Kyle had moved to Denver for schooling purposes so soon after everything had went down. "I haven't," he informed her. She backed away, still smiling and unsurprised.
"Yeah, I figured. I'm sure he would have told me if you'd visited." Karen propped an elbow up on the table and rested her chin in her hand, looking thoughtful. Kyle noticed several men pass by, both in the restaurant and through the windows obviously checking her out and he briefly wondered if Kenny would have gone off on these men. He could recall Stan chuckling over some stories of their friend scaring the living daylights out of some of the guys that chose to chase Karen and, apparently, she and her brother had more than one fight about it. She was the definition of what their culture dictated standard beauty to be; blue eyes, blonde hair, big eyes, fit with an hourglass shape, and a killer smile. It had been a few years since Kyle had seen her brother but he knew Kenny shared the same qualities with the obvious exception of gender. Kyle himself wasn't feeling particularly attractive at the moment as he'd let himself go a bit since losing his job; gaining a little weight, not too much but he was sure he was on his way. His hair had grown and he'd made little effort to tame it lately, when he was put together, he believed he saw an attractive person reflecting in the mirror. Right now, he was sure he likely looked more on the wild side than anything else. Karen waited a beat to see if he would say anything and when he didn't, she pried, "What brings you back to South Park? I know the Mexican food here is amazing but people don't often uproot from Denver to get it."
Kyle shrugged, not liking where this conversation was going at all. "Just family…matters," he dodged the question as best as he could and prayed to whatever god might listen for her to not press the matter. She picked up that he didn't want to discuss it. She reached into her apron and pulled out a pen and scrap piece of paper. At that moment, Kyle realized she wasn't a busser, but a server. He wondered if she was still on the clock; she was sure spending a lot of time with him if she had tables she needed to attend to. She slid the paper over to him. It was her brother's name with his cell and business phone and his home address and the auto shop address. He regarded her warily. "Does Kenny know you just give out his personal information like this?" For some reason, this made her burst into a fit of laughter.
"You're too funny, Kyle!" she exclaimed through giggles. "No, I don't just give my brother's info out to anyone, but it's you, and I know he'd love to hear from you. It's not like I'm setting you up on a date." Kyle looked up at her surprised and she went on teasingly, "What? Would you like for me to put a good word in for you?" Kyle's face was starting to turn red as the realization struck him that Karen was much more like her brother than he remembered, the physical similarities were not the only thing they had in common. Kenny had started to date both girls and boys around freshman year in high school and Kyle had always just thought it was some phase likely brought on because Kenny had done everything plus some with girls by that age and how on earth he didn't have twenty kids roaming around would forever perplex Kyle. Kenny was either extremely skilled with protection, good at targeting women who were skilled with protection, or he just couldn't have children. At any rate, based on his interactions with Karen, Kenny had likely had his hands full for a while. The phase had not passed even after Kenny had dropped out, he dated indiscriminately, however, not nearly as often once he'd taken up custody of his sister from what Kyle had been told. Kenny's name had come up less and less without Karen's name attached to it. Karen waggled her brows at him not bothering to hide her mirth at his flustered response. "Why, Kyle, how long has this been going on?" she asked, possessing so much charm she might as well be hanging off a bracelet.
"You really are your brother's sister, no doubt about that," Kyle finally managed get out through his surprise. Karen was just as bold as the boy he remembered from his youth.
Karen's smile brightened for a moment and she nodded in agreement before the smile fell and a thin line replaced it. "You should visit sometime, though, really, Kyle." She scratched behind her ear for a minute suddenly looking uncomfortable. "It'd be good for my brother; all he does is work."
Kyle bit the insides of his cheeks, not sure how well that would go over. Kyle had been jobless for two months; who would have thought, the high school dropout keeping his job while Kyle possessed a master's degree and a good amount of student debt to show for it and now no job; he was sure overqualified for a lot of jobs, he'd discovered. "He still working at the auto shop?"
Karen nodded. "Yeah, he owns the place so he's there all the time." She shook her head slightly and Kyle thought he could detect the start of agitation in her eyes. "It would just," she was scratching the back of her head now, Kyle quickly realizing she scratched at herself when struggling to express something, "you know, it'd probably be good for something or someone new to break up the routine." She offered up another million dollar smile, "And it looks like you could use some excitement, too." There were lyrics blaring at their table without warning and she apologetically pulled her phone out of her apron pocket, pressing it to her cheek and answering. Kyle wondered if it was Kenny, but, based on the conversation he could hear, it sounded more likely that it was one of Karen's friends. After a few minutes of reassuring the person on the other end of the phone that she was off work and on her way, she ended her call, and returned her attention to Kyle. "Don't lose that," she admonished, looking pointedly at the paper with her brother's information scrawled in her loopy cursive.
Kyle grinned at her and was rewarded with another smile. He wasn't sure how soon he would use it, but, "I won't lose it," he promised.