Chapter 2 is up, yo
I bet all my nonexistent fans will be pumped
After the second hour of hearing nothing but Bebe's prattling voice interspersed with some new age hip-hop, Stan's seriously considering opening the car door and making a break for it. With nothing to stare at out the window but miles and miles of anonymous highway and snow- oh God, so much snow- he starts to go a little loopy.
He's literally calculating how fast he'd have to roll to survive when Bebe saves his life.
"We're almost there, guys." She smiles at Kenny and then reaches her neck round to give Stan a look. "I'm not sure if you heard, but I asked Kenny if you two would like to join Wendy and I for coffee." She smiles serenely, and one look at Kenny's guilty face says everything: he's already agreed.
Stan sighs and nods. "Fine."
"I'm sure she'd love to see you."
"I don't know about that." Stan shrugs, remembering the last time he'd broken up with Wendy. She wasn't the sort of girl to hold a grudge… but then, one had to remember the time she sent a teacher to the sun for so much as looking at Stan, so… really, who knew with that girl? "It didn't end that well between us."
Bebe squeals. "Well, now's your chance to make things up!" she winks flirtatiously at Kenny. "It'll be like a double date."
Kenny stifles a laugh and him and Stan share an amused look. They silently communicate the following via facial expressions:
Should I tell her or should you?
Leave it. She'll figure it out.
I can't believe she doesn't know. She's hoping you're going to hook up with Wendy, dude.
I know, I know. Look, whatever. It's Bebe, I don't care what she thinks.
True, man.
"Erm, something wrong, boys?" Bebe asked, sugary sweet. Kenny shakes his head, his smile stretching wide across his face.
"Not at all. I just got a feeling this weekend's gonna be a good one, man."
"You always say that." Stan grumbles from his position on the backseat. "Besides, what's so freakin' exciting about Denver? It's a shithole."
Bebe narrows her eyes as Kenny berates Stan for being a misery-guts. "Hey. Doesn't Kyle live in Denver?" she asks Stan. "I swear I heard something from Wendy about him moving here…"
Stan's jaw clenches. "I don't know, man."
Bebe looks nonplussed. "Weren't you guys licking each other's asses throughout all of school?" she says, evidently confused.
"Yeah, we don't speak anymore." He clears his throat, feeling awkward.
Bebe purses her lips, fixing her gaze to the road ahead. "Well. Too bad. That boy had a great ass," she remembers fondly, a smile playing on her lips. "I don't know if he did squats or something, but damn that booty-"
"Quit objectifying men with your female gaze." Kenny cuts in.
Bebe and Stan snort in unison. "You're just jealous."
"No, I'm serious! We're not hunks of meat that exist solely for your pleasure." He says with a prim finish, closing his eyes sagely.
Bebe's eyes flicker to Stan. "Uh…"
Kenny pauses, grinning. "Although, say the word…" he purrs, and the entire population of the car groans in protest as Bebe shakes her head.
"Jesus, some people don't change." She laughs. "Anyway, guys. We're just about here, at my granddad's place. So this might be the last stop, I'm afraid. I'm going to park here and maybe later get a bus into the city to visit him at the hospital."
Stan's eyebrows raise. "He's not here?"
"No, no. I'm watching his house while he's sick." She gives a sad smile. "It's nice, though. I got a few days off work, and his place is pretty close to the center." She notes the slower moving traffic for the past few miles. "I'm going to meet Wendy, first." She says absently, her car grinding to a halt. Kenny watches with intense fascination as she yanks on the hand brake firmly. "Ew."
Stan nobly cuts in, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. "How much do you need for gas?" he asks, rifling through his admittedly sorry wad of cash.
She scoffs, shakes her head.
"No, no. I was going this way anyway, guys." She pauses, and Stan almost feels bad for hating on her so much on the ride over. A free ride was a free ride, after all. "Although…" Kenny looks eagerly up at her. "Your fee is coming to see Wendy with me." She concludes, a knowing smile playing on her features. "Just for a few hours. Pleeeeeeease…" she says, bringing out those puppy dog eyes and pouting her lips a little bit for good measure.
Kenny nods before Stan has a chance to utter his disapproval. Bebe makes a face of delight and opens the car door, stepping out with her shiny black heels on the tarmac.
"Ken," he says warningly, once she's out of earshot.
"Dude. It's fine. It'll be fine." Kenny soothes, holding his hands up defensively. "We came here for a good time. This is just an interlude. We're going to have a good time."
Bebe knocks on the window before Stan can respond. "You boys coming out?"
The glass fogs up with Stan's protracted sigh.
Stan follows Bebe and Kenny's lead. Stan concludes that Kenny had the superpower to lead almost anyone astray, if he had the will to do so, because somehow the plan changes and they end up in a grubby dive bar instead of a coffee shop.
"Guys, it's midday. We'll look like alcoholics." He grumbles, tacitly ignoring the fact that he's never been averse to day-drinking up to this point.
"It's your birthday!" Kenny remarks, throwing his arm around Bebe, to which she sends him a slight frown. "Have some fun."
"You didn't tell me it was your birthday, Stan." She shakes her head. "Happy birthday!" she pauses. "Shit. We need to celebrate properly. I'll buy you a drink or two, okay?" she flashes him her charitable smile, shaking off Kenny's arm.
He remains undeterred.
"Yeah, thanks." Stan nods. "It's not a big deal, really…"
"Not a big deal!" Kenny scoffs, shocked. "Bebe, Stan hasn't been laid in almost a yea-"
"Shut up, dude!" he hisses. "Stop that!"
Bebe smiles. "Well, let's see if we can change that tonight! There's nothing better than having a wing-woman on your side, trust me!"
Kenny snorts. "I'm not so sure about that-"
"Argh!" Stan cries, cutting them both off from laughing at him, and taking a swig of his beer bottle. "When is Wendy getting here?!"
"Someone's keen," Bebe grins. Stan decides he's seen just about enough of her chemically-whitened teeth for one day. "Looks like your prayers have been answered, birthday boy!" she signals to the door, where a windswept young woman stands, scanning the bar for her friends.
Kenny lets out a wolf-whistle involuntarily. Stan nudges him. "Sorry, dude. It's just…"
Wendy was beautiful, all long shiny black hair and tight turtleneck; and of course still sporting that same purple beret as ever. Kenny stares for a couple of seconds before Wendy's eyes land on them as Bebe waves her over excitedly, standing up to greet her friend.
They share a brief hug and a cheek-kiss and Stan takes the opportunity to take a large swig of his beer, and then sticks out a hand.
"Wendy," he tries a smile. Luckily, her features are kind and she seems genuinely happy to see him.
"Hey, Stan." She pauses, delicately shaking his hand. "Is my memory going, or is it your birthday today?" she asks, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
He nods. "Yeah."
"Happy birthday! It's so good to see you." She gives him the classic once-over. "I can't believe how much you've changed."
What did that mean?
"You're looking good." He nods back.
"Thanks! And Kenny, how are you?"
"Can't complain." He shrugs. "We're in Denver for an epic weekend bender." He says almost proudly, as Stan shrinks in cringe at how teenage that sounds.
Wendy laughs. "Of course you are." She rolls her eyes with mirth. "Are you both still living in South Park?" she sits down on one of the bar stools. "Oh gosh, there's so much to catch up on. Where do we start?"
Bebe cuts in. "We can start with the fact that Stan here hasn't been laid in over a year!" she giggles.
Stan covers his face with his hands.
"Jesus Christ." He bemoans. "Really, Bebe?" Kenny shoots him an apologetic look, but Stan's having none of it. Kenny knew what an infernal gossip Bebe was, so this was really on him. Kenny receives an elbow to the rib.
"Fuck, ow!"
"A year!" Wendy exclaims. "Wow. I guess there isn't much of a gay dating scene in South Park, hey?" she shrugs. "Shame. Although you're bound to have more luck in a big city like this."
"Who says I want to date?"
Kenny rolls his eyes and makes a nodding gesture behind Stan's back.
Bebe's still looking shook to her very core.
"Hold the fuck up." She starts, holding a finger up to shut everyone up. "You're GAY?!"
"Flaming." Stan answers, a little drôle in his delivery.
"As the day is long." Kenny adds, giggling.
"Christ, Bebe, keep up." Wendy laughs. "Why the hell did you think we broke up in junior year of high school?" she asks, incredulous that her friend apparently didn't know.
Bebe looks like she's doing all sorts of math in her head, so Stan puts her out of her misery. "Look, if it's any consolation- I didn't really tell anyone. The only people who knew in high school were Kyle, Kenny and Wendy." He pauses. "And later Cartman…" that last part of the sentence comes punctuated by a well-deserved shudder.
"How come?" she asks, dumbfounded. "I mean. You don't look very gay."
Stan does have to concede that about himself. He's not flamboyant, that's for sure. "What do gay people look like?" he asks, scratching his stubble. "Am I supposed to go around wearing contour and daisy dukes?" he shrugs.
"You could be like a new Little Gay Al," Kenny remarks with a laugh.
"Whatever." Stan chugs down his beer. "Wendy, don't you want a drink?" he asks, just to get away from Bebe's spotlight question time.
"I'd love one," she says gratefully. He jerks his thumb towards the bar and indicates that they should deviate from their present company, so she happily obliges. As they walk out of earshot, Wendy hisses to Stan. "I'm so sorry. She doesn't mean anything bad, she's just out of touch."
He waves it off, good-naturedly. "It's fine. I live in South Park. It's nothing I'm not used to."
He points out.
"Oh God. Yeah. How is that?"
"Er. Well, not great. After Cartman publicly outed me, that fuckin' asshole, I got a few bricks through my window, shouted at a few times. Well, my mom's window. After a while people kinda forgot, I guess. Which is nice."
Wendy nods, as sympathetic as she could possibly be from her limited perspective. Stan wonders if maybe now is a good time- fuck it, he's going to ask. "Are we good?" he wonders aloud, out of the blue. "After everything that went down in junior year, I mean." He says. There's a brief silence between them as Wendy orders a beer. The two of them stay by the bar, feeling like they might be about to have a rather private conversation.
Stan continues. "I'm so sorry it happened that way. I wasn't ready to deal with it at the time, and everything with my dad, and Kyle, and…" he trails off. "Basically, I'm sorry you got dragged into my catastrophic mess of a life. You didn't deserve that." He concludes, hoping vainly that the sympathy card may earn him some points.
To his mild surprise, she waves him off, indicating that it's not necessary. "Stan. I'm the one that should be apologizing. You were having the crappiest time of all of us, and I was too immature to realize. All I could see was that the boy who I was obsessed with, breaking up with me." She shakes her head. "I wish I could go back and just be civil to you. I'm sorry."
He stares at her for a few seconds, and then laughs.
"Pffft." The noise snakes it's way out his mouth, hissing and ugly. "Jesus. All this time, I thought you were flamin' pissed at me."
"I thought you were upset with me!"
Stan grins, tipping his beer forward. "Well, then. Here's to not being pissed at one another!"
"Here's to non-evil exes." Wendy agrees, clinking the two bottles together ceremoniously.
There's a short and comfortable silence between them for a few seconds, as both eye up Kenny and Bebe but neither of them makes a move to re-join the table. Stan places his beer down on the sticky bar and sighs. "We should meet up more often." He says, wondering if maybe he's pushing his luck, now.
Wendy's eyebrows knit together, and she looks down at her drink. "I mean. That sounds good, but I'm not usually in Denver. I'm still studying at Harvard. I'm just here for the week, and even now I'm buried under with work." She explains, idly pulling the paper label from her beer bottle.
"You're still at Harvard?"
"Law school takes ages, Stan." She cocks her head to the side. "I'm starting to wish I was Broflovski…"
Stan falters and Wendy notices; immediately corrects herself. "God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring him up…." She hesitates, curiosity getting the better of her. "You really aren't talking, still? After all this time?" she inquires.
Stan plucks his beer from the side and pours the last few drops into his mouth, savoring them. "Yeah, well…. you can talk about him. I don't care."
Wendy seems unsure. "Erm. I just meant that he already graduated Harvard, with his business degree. Law takes significantly longer, and you earn less to start with." She sighs. "I'm jealous of you too, living the college-debt free life!" she says; a little too brightly.
"Did you see him a lot?" Stan ignores her conversation-changer, pushing his empty glass bottle away, and wiping his mouth. "Kyle?" Wendy nods wordlessly. "How's he doing?"
"You really want to know?" she asks, deciding to tread lightly. Stan nods. "Last I heard, he had some fancy graduate job here in Denver. Wanted to move closer to his folks over in Boulder, I think. Knowing Kyle's mom, that definitely wasn't by his own choice." She snorts at the thought, and Stan nods in agreement. "We weren't ever Super Best Friends, don't get me wrong. But… we stay in touch." She wryly references their old saying and Stan's eyes move downward. "Are you ever going to tell me what he did to you?"
Stan shrugs. "Look, it's teenage drama now." He tries for a smile, which is overtly fake.
"If you want, I could call him up; invite him along." She nods towards Bebe and Kenny, who are giggling about something over in the corner. "Seems like we're having a weird kind of reunion, as it is."
Stan closes his eyes. "I'm sure we wouldn't have anything in common, anymore."
"Who cares!" Wendy exclaims. "Fine, fine." She dials it back at notch at his condescending look. "It's your birthday, your choice. But… let me know if you change your mind, okay?"
Stan nods, his gaze traveling off into the middle distance, distracted. "Shall we get back to the others?" he asks, just for sake of moving on from the other topic. "After I get another drink." He adds, importantly.
