Rushed: Part One.
As background music continued to quietly thump from her stereo and the sounds of more and more party guests arriving echoed up the stairs, Bebe stared herself up and down in her bedroom mirror.
She grinned at her reflection, flicking her mass of curly, blonde locks over one shoulder. The teenage girl was wearing a black skirt that sat at mid-thigh and a pair of skin coloured stockings. Her top was mauve in colour. It sat off-the-shoulder, decorated with lace in the front, while her boots were as black as her skirt and had a slight heel to them.
She really did look the part of the birthday girl. And Bebe certainly looked every part the seventeen year old that she now officially was.
Smirking proudly at herself once more, Bebe spun around on the spot and switched off the pop music thudding from the speakers of her stereo before she pulled open her bedroom door and stepped into the hallway. The similar tunes pumping downstairs were only being drowned out by only one thing - that being the noise of all of Bebe's friends as they continued to gather in the living room and out on the back deck. She was so excited to see everyone and to party with them all. The majority of Bebe's girlfriends had already arrived, and as far as the teenager knew, a few of the guys were at her house now, too.
Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs and was about to head into the kitchen to attend to her guests, Bebe jumped in slim surprise at the sensation of her phone vibrating where it sat secured by the waistband of her skirt. Reaching for the device, Bebe found herself smiling again as she spotted a text message from one of the girls.
Marissa was a Middle Park girl, but she and Bebe had instantly clicked when they met at their school's try outs for next year's junior cheer squad. The two teenagers may have hung out with different groups of friends at school, but Bebe still felt like she and Marissa were close enough to invite her to her birthday party.
Bebe quickly read the message from her friend before she typed a short reply.
hey girl! I'm just about to leave.. is it okay if I bring one of my friends so I'm not a total loner?
hey! yeah, of course, that's fine! I'll see you soon :)
For a short moment as Bebe locked her phone and put it away, she sighed quietly to herself. As much as she was looking forward to her party that night, and as grateful as she was to have so many of her friends celebrating with her, there was still one important person who Bebe wished could be there to join in on the festivities.
Wendy had been in Malibu for just over a year and a half now, and Bebe missed her like crazy. While the two best always made sure they spoke to each other some way every single day, it still was just a little disheartening to be missing out on spending another one of their birthdays together. But, at the same time, both girls were happy enough. Bebe was just as comfortable in South Park as she had always been, and Wendy had well and truly settled into her new life in her new city with her new boyfriend.
Just before Bebe could get too down on herself about missing her best friend, she suddenly pushed any thoughts of Wendy to the back of her mind as she heard a knock at the front door. The loud rattling had been just audible over the music and chatter resonating from the back deck as Bebe stepped forward and pulled open the heavy, wooden door.
The very second that she did, the blonde teenager felt her heart skip a beat.
"Oh! Hey, Kyle."
The obvious smile plastered across the Jewish boy's lips was far too wide to go unnoticed.
"Hey, Bebe."
A shy silence instantly fell between the two of them. Bebe almost cringed as she felt herself blush from the way Kyle was staring at her. She looked absolutely gorgeous - so much so that Kyle wasn't sure if he would actually be able to find his voice again.
Right as he cleared his throat and attempted to form some further words, Kyle suddenly grunted instead as he felt a nudge in his back from the person standing behind him. In the next second, he was near enough pushed right out of the doorway as his accomplice barged past him to get inside the house.
"Hey! Happy birthday!"
Gazing up at the huge grin on Stan's face, Bebe just couldn't help but smile back.
"Thanks," she said with a laugh, hugging the dark haired boy as he threw a friendly arm over her shoulders.
It was an incredible relief for everybody who knew him to see Stan so geuinely happy and enthused about his friends and his life again. It didn't feel like all that long ago when he had been a completely withdrawn, depressed, broken shell of the fifteen year old boy whose heart had been totally torn in two.
Bebe had heard plenty of rumours about what had happened to him and what he had done to himself when Wendy moved to Malibu and left him... but it was nothing she had ever been brave enough to actually ask Stan about. But now, that pained, destroyed soul was gone. Stan was truly back to his old self, and had been for almost a year now. He was playing football again, he was excelling in school, and he was having all kinds of crazy adventures with his friends.
There was only one thing that could have been considered slightly odd... he had never asked Bebe about Wendy. Not once. Not about what she was up to, or how she was doing, or even if she missed him. Was that weird? Bebe wasn't too sure. The only thing she was sure of was that the smile rarely fell from the Stan's face anymore. Not ever.
As the teenage boy went happily bounding through the house in search of the other guys, Bebe and Kyle were suddenly left on their own again. The lighting in the living room was dim as the fairy lights that Bebe's mother had set up along with the rest of the party decorations continued to twinkle. But even so, Bebe could see all too clearly how much Kyle was still smiling at her.
She bit down on her tongue for a second as she stumbled over the start of a sentence, "Um... the guys are all out on the porch if you wanna' join them."
Kyle sounded just as nervous as he licked his lips to reply, "Sure," he spat simply, finally strolling into the house and around Bebe. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he stopped himself, freezing on the spot before he swivelled around to glimpse at the beautiful blonde again.
Kyle cleared his throat, "Hey, but... I wouldn't mind if, um... you wanted to hang out a little later?"
The butterflies in her stomach soared into backflips as Bebe's face lit up, "Okay."
"Okay," Kyle echoed, his features just as bright, "Cool."
Watching him slip away into the gathering crowd of her friends, Bebe's cheeks were still warm with a blush as she quietly shut the front door. This all felt sort of bizarre to her. She had never fallen victim to the kinds of emotions like the ones she was feeling for Kyle ever before. The two of them had always been pretty good friends, but the older they got, the better friends they soon became and the closer they grew together, too. Kyle was so smart and so sweet - not like some of the other loser guys that he and Stan hung around with.
Bebe had to laugh to herself when she remembered the brief period of time in third grade where she had developed such a huge crush on him. But as quickly as those feelings had disappeared, they only seemed to have totally rushed back to her now, and with way more force than she ever could have imagined.
There was only one difference this time around. And that was - for whatever reason - this time, Kyle definitely seemed to like Bebe back, too.
Stan smirked at Kenny and playfully nudged into him as he brushed by his blonde friend to reach the dessert table. He didn't have the first clue how he was going to manage to fit anymore food. The teenager was already full of just about all the party food, punch and other junk in the whole world. But when it came right down to it, Stan was simply having too much fun to care.
There was probably nothing the dark haired boy loved more than hanging out with all his friends, and Bebe's party had definitely proven to be the perfect escape from his busy school schedule of late. Football season may have been over, but Stan was still swamped with a whole pile of work he needed to complete in these last few weeks of tenth grade.
Quickly shaking his head to rid it of the boring thought, Stan directed all his attention to the punch bowl and poured himself another cup. He had been having too much of a great time at Bebe's for the past couple of hours to let thoughts of school ruin that now.
Filling his plastic, red cup right up to brim, Stan then spun around on the spot with such eager haste that he failed to notice the figure walking directly towards him.
"Oof," he grunted, cursing under his breath as his drink went flying to the floor. The person opposite him made a similar noise as their drink slipped from their grasp, too. The only thing was, the second red cup hadn't made the same safe landing that Stan's had. Instead, much to the teenage boy's annoyance, it spilled all the way down the front of his favourite white t-shirt.
"Goddamn it," he grumbled, instantly flicking up his heated expression. With his tongue sharply coiled, Stan drew an angry breath. But, in the very next second, Stan felt his eyes soften.
"Oh my God! Holy shit, I am so sorry!"
As the fire in his belly fizzled out, Stan sensed a small smirk cross him at the sweet, feminine voice of the pretty red-head standing in front of him.
"Oh no, that's okay," he stuttered, "My fault, I should've been looking where I was going."
As the auburn beauty felt her frantic nerves settle at the boy's gentle tone, she gazed up at him, locking her eyes with his.
And for the shortest possible moment, she almost swore she felt her heart flutter.
A peculiar silence fell between them before Stan awkwardly cleared his throat, trying to think of something to say, "Uh... so, how do you know Bebe?"
"Oh, I don't," the girl replied, "My friend Marissa does. They met at cheer try outs or something. Rissa just asked me to come with her tonight so she wasn't the only one here from Middle Park."
Stan smirked cheekily at the Middle Park girl as he shot her a confused frown, "And yet, here you are standing around all by yourself?"
"Well I was literally just sitting with Marissa," the girl responded with a giggle and a roll of her eyes, "But then some blonde guy came up and offered her some punch, and now..."
Trailing off with another small laugh, the red-head gestured over to the other side of the room with a simple nod of her head. Stan's brow furrowed even deeper as he peered over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes. Within half a second, though, the quarterback's face fell back to a blank expression as he spotted the all-too-familiar sight of Kenny nestled up to close to a girl who Stan could only guess was Marissa. Stan chuckled to himself. Kenny was leaning right into Marissa, whispering into her ear and sharing a cup of punch with her.
But, really, what else was new?
"Well, that didn't take long..." Stan mumbled to himself sarcastically before turning back to the girl beside him.
He hesitated for a moment. As he continued to gaze at the gorgeous teenager, there was a weird feeling fluttering in Stan's stomach. It was a sensation he certainly hadn't felt in a long, long time. But before he could analyse it too much or get too lost in his own thoughts, the dark haired boy licked his lips to speak again.
"Let me get you another drink."
The polite offer from the tall boy made the girl frown with a laugh of disbelief, "But I just spilled my last one all over you."
"Not a big deal. I'll let you get away with it," Stan spoke with a teasing shrug of his shoulders, "This time."
His shirt may have still felt wet and uncomfortably sticky against his skin, but for whatever reason, Stan really didn't mind all that much. And besides, the friendlier he was being, the more he got to see this pretty girl smile.
And she just happened to have one ridiculously infectious smile.
"I'm Stan, by the way."
The girl felt tingling goosebumps coat her arms and a shiver run up her spine. Thank God Marissa had invited her to come along that evening.
"I'm Darcy."