Peach Melba

Chapter 4

By, the Unlucky-Charm

Not once in my life had I spent this long in front of a mirror. It was embarrassing to be perfectly honest, embarrassing to myself. I was embarrassing myself in front of myself! One side of me was hiding in shame in front of my reflection who laughed at me. But he was right. I didn't look like myself. However, this would be my only opportunity to show Kyle that I wasn't ALWAYS a bed head, black-wearing, retard. Why have I not done this at school you ask? Simple. Because there are too many people who would notice and comment. In this situation here, Tweek will know what I'm up to and will say nothing, Stan will be too preoccupied or stupid to notice and Kyle is just too damn sweet, so I doubt anything bad could come from him.

The actual visiting hours, turns out, start around 2pm, and that's exactly when I heard the loud beeping coming from outside of my house. The stupid Marsh kid had come to pick me up along with his best friend, and my current infatuation, Kyle. I hopped into the back seat, balancing the desert we had made the night before in my lap.

"Looking good, Tucker." Stan said, before putting the car into drive and speeding away towards the hospital.

None of them said anything on the way there. There was no attention on anyone, giving me the opportunities to check my hair in the front mirror without anyone noticing. I was wearing a white V-neck shirt, which stuck to me more than I would have liked it to and a pair of simple jeans. I didn't look out of the ordinary or anything, but I didn't look like himself either, especially when I took off his jacket.

When we finally got there, we walked in, ignored the receptionist and stepped into the elevator. We still hadn't spoken a word to each other, but it wasn't awkward either, just...quiet.

"2nd floor right?" Stan asked and then pushed the button before I answered.

"Yeah."

We stepped out into the creepy looking white hallway and began walking, until I suddenly remembered something...well, more like forgot.

"Hey dude, which one was his room?" Stan asked me, and I seriously didn't know.

"Um..." I knew the doctor was standing over there, but which one was HIS room? 205 or 207, sure we could knock on both and check, but are we even allowed doing that? I must be looking like such an idiot now in front of Kyle. I'm sure if Marsh was in the hospital, he would remember his best friend's room number, but it's not my fault! How could I pay attention to such a minor detail with him standing there with me in the goddamn room!

"Craig..." I heard behind me, followed by a hand gently settling itself on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

I clenched every muscle in my body, bit down on my tongue and lip and cracked my knuckles; everything I could possibly do to suppress the shudder building up in my body. Goose bumps and sweating could go unnoticed, but if my body randomly began to shake under his touch, it would raise question.

"Y-yeah, but I don't remember which room." I said, very quickly, but I didn't move, that way his hand could remain on my shoulder, but it didn't, and before I knew it, he was walking past me toward one of the rooms.

"It was 207." He said to me and opened the door.

He stepped in and Stan followed him, practically prancing his way into the goddamn room.

"Hey guys!" My best friend yelled from his room. "Where the hell is Craig?"

As I heard him call my name, I jogged in and smirked at him.

"Hey Tweek, how you holding up?"

"I'm fine, what the hell is that you're holding?" He asked, not even bother to ask me if I was okay.

"You're going to love it!" Stan told him with more than enough excitement, clutching the sheets between his fingers.

"You guys got me something? That's so sweet."

"Nah, we made it dude." Kyle corrected him.

"Macaroni art?"

"Even better!" Stan said, hopping in place as I revealed the mystery present hidden under the aluminum foil.

"OMGISTHATCOFFEECHEESECAKE?" Tweek yelled very loud and very quickly, making Kyle take a step back for safety reasons.

"Hell yeah it is!" Stan yelled, patting Tweek on the back. "I cracked the eggs." He added bashfully.

"Awwww! You guys! I'll eat it when the bitch nurse isn't looking."

As I set the dessert into my best friends lap, I realised something. We're having a moment here. If it had been just me and Tweek this second right here would have been much less...lively. It was like a fucking Christmas card picture! Only you know...without the Christmas part. There was the dessert, sitting on Tweek's thighs, then there was Kyle, smiling his sweet smile, compassionate as usual and of course Stan, with his goofy grin and flipping hair being an idiot, but not the annoying type, to my surprise, I was becoming less and less annoyed by the kid.

And then there was me. So tell me, which fucking position was I supposed to be filling in here? They seemed pretty happy, and honestly, I wasn't having a bad time here just watching. My two favourite people in the world and Marsh, it was fun to watch, almost...heart warming? When Kyle put his hand on Tweek's shoulder to ask him how he was feeling, I couldn't help but think 'He has to be mine'. He fit my criteria; more than necessary even! I wanted to ask him if he was doing it all on purpose to get me so flustered, to make me SOMEHOW adore him even more.

"Craig, you okay? Why are you standing over there?" He asked me. I stared at him. Gorgeous smile, deep eyes, intellectual frown. That was him. I nodded and got closer.

And suddenly I was part of it all, and Kyle wasn't a distant dream anymore. He didn't NEED to be mine, he just needed to stay. I'd be happy, as long as he was here, faltering my boring reality and keeping me alive. After this day, surely everything would go back to normal. I would only see him on Thursdays and then wait another seven days for another one. So today, I decided, I was going to make the most of it. I was going to give it my all, so that everything would never go back to normal.

"Enjoy it dude." I told my best friend.

"Thanks guys, you really didn't have to." He said impatiently, rummaging through the tin foil like a madman to find the fork.

"It's no problem." I said and narrowed my gaze toward Kyle from the corner of my eye. "But it took us some time. Stan worked pretty hard on braking those eggs, but Kyle didn't do much though." I said and grinned.

"I did so." He whined and punched my arm gently.

'Maybe if I insult him real bad, he'll tackle me.' I thought, then remembered the football incident and thought that that happening was nearly impossible no matter how much I picked on him.

"Ha! Found it!" Tweek said, raising up the fork like a trophy and then digging into the dessert. "Thanks for the touchdown, by the way." Tweek said, his mouth full.

"No problem dude, it was hard." He said.

"The pressure right?" I said, trying to at least SOUND like I knew two shits about sports. I'm not even sure if 'pressure' could be counted as knowing.

"Nah dude, the touchdown was easy enough. I just had to run." Yes, that's what you were programmed to do, Marsh. "The hard part was dealing with Wendy." He said and chuckled uneasily. He made it sound like it wasn't a big deal, but everyone in the room knew it was. Especially Kyle, who suddenly didn't seem too happy.

Stan must have seen it too because his face fell and his eyes shifted. "Um, anyways, Tweek, how's it taste?"

"Really good!" He said and took another full bite. "Mm, so anything interesting happening guys. I'm seriously bored, so any story will do."

"Yeah, by that he means gossip." I explained.

"Thank you Craig." Tweek said sarcastically. "But yeah, something along those lines."

Kyle chuckled. "Tweek you've been hospitalized for 2 days, only one of them being a school day, nothing much has really-"

"Kenny kissed Cartman Friday night." Stan cut in very casually.

"What!" Tweek and Kyle yelled in unison.

"Ew." I said, because I didn't have any other thoughts on the matter, nor did I want to know more about it.

"How?" Ugh, they had to ask.

"Apparently, Cartman wouldn't leave Butters alone and kept calling him a fag, so Kenny got seriously pissed and kissed him." He explained, addressing Tweek mostly. "So now Cartman's kind of a fag too. Ken texted me and told me to spread it around and make sure everyone calls Cartman a fag now."

Tweek laughed. "Ha! Serves the fat bastard right. Why you guys even hang out with him is a mystery to me."

"He gets us tickets to concerts and events and stuff." Kyle explained with a shrug. "He brings us any new interesting news...stuff like that."

"Yeah, plus Kyle really enjoys having a heartless asshole to argue with in his life." Stan teased, sticking his tongue out at his best friend.

"Yeah." Kyle rolled his eyes. "That's exactly it." He said, with obvious sarcasm.

Hey, I'm a heartless asshole! I wanted to say. You could argue with ME, instead of the fat ass. Would you like to have ME in your life? Because let me tell you, I NEED a sexy, redheaded nerd in mine.

"Must have been gross, kissing Cartman I mean." I said, hoping that it was something normal to say.

"Like kissing a sloppy Joe." Tweek added. "Ugh, Kenny's infected now."

"Nah man." Stan said. "Kenny was infected a LONG time ago."

Kyle laughed. "You're mean." He said in between chuckles.

We talked and laughed for the rest of the time. Marsh and Kyle had a few more stories to tell, which I have to admit, were hilarious. Stan asked me to join the football team a few times. Of course, I politely declined as Tweek desperately tried to hide his snickers under the blanket he had pulled up to his mouth.

Time passed and I swear, no human being on this planet has laughed so much in a hospital as I did. Stan was usually the cause because I have to hand it to him, he has some pretty funny stories. The dude's starting to grow on me, what can I say, I'm an open minded person. But, the one thing that bothered me more than his being an idiot, was him being a total pussy.

Tweek was in the middle of a Butters story when Stan's phone rang.

"Hey babe." He said the second it was against his ear.

Tweek and I looked at each other, confused, as the loud yelling was heard through the receiver.

"I'm at the hospital."

Loud yelling.

"No, no everything's fine, we just brought Tweek some good food."

More loud yelling.

"Well it's me, Ky and Craig."

Bitching.

"I just told you, we brought Tweek some food."

More loud bitching. Jeez, if I were in Stan's shoes, I would have hung up the phone the second I heard her voice.

"But babe I-" He was cut off by, wait for it...

MORE bitching.

"Okay fine." He sighed. "See ya'." He shut it close. "Uh hey guys, I'm real sorry but I gotta go." He put his jacket on along with his hat and smiled awkwardly at all of us.

"Tweek get better buddy." He patted his hair. "Craig dude, I'll see you soon." He turned to me.

"And Ky-" He stopped. "Ky?"

"Yes Stan?" He said in a chilling tone. The redhead had his arms crossed over his chest and was frowning. He was watching him with a certain air of disapproval, like Stan was a child caught in the act. His jaw was tight and his eyes were kind of scary. Of course, for me it was all oddly just a total turn on, but anyone else would have shat their pants by now.

"Are you okay?"

"Going to Wendy right?" He answered him with another question.

"Um yeah, she asked me to."

"Of course she did. Okay then, bye Stan." Kyle said very curtly and turned away from his best friend to face Tweek again.

"Ky, don't give me that!" Stan whined. "I'm sorry! It's just that-"

Kyle sighed and barely smirked. "It's okay, just go dude."

Stan sighed back and left shaking his head to himself.

There was a moment of awkward silence and I knew something was wrong. Wendy's call had hit a nerve. I didn't want to ask him what was wrong or what happened because a few minutes ago he was happy and if I got him started, I knew it would be impossible to get him to go back to his previous mood. I saw him smile and laugh and blush. I didn't want him pissed off. I didn't want to ask him what was wrong because in my mind, I try to block out the idea that something was in fact 'wrong'. I was thinking more of myself than of him and how it would hurt me to see him hurt than the actual hurt he was feeling. It's unbearable! Did that make sense? Either way, that's kind of selfish. And THAT is even more unbearable.

"Kyle are you okay?" I sucked it up and asked, then waited in fear for his response to blow up in my face.

"Yeah, I just hate it when he does that." He turned to me and gave me a weak smile that fell quickly.

"It's okay dude, at least he came. He stayed long enough too." Tweek tried to cheer him up, but I knew that's not what Kyle had meant.

"No, I mean he..." He took a deep breath and glanced at the both of us hesitantly. "God I hate Wendy." He breathed.

"Is it that they spend so much time together?" Tweek asked gently, setting his frail hands lightly on his arm.

"I wouldn't mind all that much if that were the case. It's that Stan acts like...he's like her..." Kyle rolled his eyes at himself and grunted. "Bitch." He took another deep breath. "That bothers me and Tweek I am SO sorry, I'm probably ruining your coffee cheesecake."

"Oh no! Don't think that! Nothing could ruin coffee cheesecake!"

I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be consoling or not but Tweek said it, so he probably meant well.

"Good." Kyle smiled his same old smile. Which was the biggest relief of my life.

"Guys, not to be rude or anything." Tweek yawned. "But I'm seriously tired so if you wouldn't mind..." He said, stretching his arms out with the fork dangling in the airs.

He obviously wanted us to leave, but why? I knew for a fact that he was lying about being tired. The kid never was and plus he just ate some coffee based food which meant he'd me very jumpy for the next few hours. I watched as Kyle nodded and began putting on his jacket. Just for the sake of Tweek, I didn't say anything and followed.

"By the way Craig." My best friend said. I knew it. There was a catch, I could tell in his tone. "What is this stuff here?" He pointed at a part of dessert.

"Which part?"

"This one."

I sighed and rolled my eyes as I began making my way to his bedside again. What the hell did he want? He had eaten this stuff before.

"This." He said and pointed at the cake.

I was about to answer 'caramel' when something on the cake caught my eye. On top of it, Tweek had carved a message with the fork.

"Take him 2 ur hous!"

"It's caramel idiot." I said, and mouthed an impatient 'I know' to him once Kyle was looking away.

"Well how should I know, you hadn't used it last time!" He winked, letting me know he was speaking in code.

"Well I didn't know I could." I answered. "I'll use it from now on."

I was sure we were talking about Kyle by now; at least that's what I was doing. I'd pick him over cake any day. I began to walk away from my best friend, but I should have known better. I would never get the last word with this guy.

"Hmm, yeah you should. But next time, try eating it when it's HOT and STICKY. It'll taste better, I'm sure." Tweek grinned like a maniac and I could almost SEE the evil laugh he was holding back.

I swear, if the 'caramel' itself wasn't standing in the room with us, I would have jumped him like some kind of ninja.

"Bye Tweek." I called and pushed Kyle out the door with me just in case Tweek decided to add something even more explicit to his already sexual innuendo. I needed to get out before he stuck even more mental imagery into my head.

When we stepped into the cold air, only then did we realise, oh shit, Marsh was our ride.

"You must hate her even more now." I chuckled.

He grinned shyly and stared down at his feet. He was wither blushing or the cold was just stinging his face, either was it was cute.

He didn't answer me and we kept walking. He was obviously upset and I really didn't know what to do. The only person I ever had to deal with like this in my life was Tweek and in that case all you have to do if feed him coffee and listen to him panic. Eventually, he would calm himself down. But Kyle had no special preference to coffee (not that I knew of) and wasn't the type to start panicking and bawling. HE was quiet. Which didn't make me uncomfortable, but scared me. Because when people like Tweek yell and freak out, at least you have an idea of what's going on in their heads, but only Moses knows what the fuck Kyle was thinking of at the moment. Plus, he's much brighter than the rest of the population in this damn town, so obviously his thoughts aren't simple either. I have every right to be scared, damn it!

The only way, I figured, was be quiet too and let him think. Maybe if I was lucky, he'd sort it out himself. So, that's what we did. We walking in silence until we got to my house.

"Bye Craig." He said when we stopped in front of it.

I was about to say goodbye when I remembered Tweek's cake message.

"Um, uh...no." I stuttered.

No? No what you douche! Speak like a normal person!

Kyle raised an eyebrow at me. "Come in." I said.

"Oh, um, I really-"

"I'm not giving you a choice." I said and grabbed his arm.

Great, act like a rapist. Good job Tucker.

He didn't say anything, so I took it as permission to drag him into my house. We stepped in and I shut the door behind us. By the time I locked the door, he had taken his shoes off and was just standing there, blinking at me. I took my shoes off too, my hand still grasping his arm, and dragged to the kitchen, where I finally let go.

"Sit." I ordered.

He sat and watched me with curious eyes as I began opening cabinets and drawers.

"What are you-"

"Tell m what's wrong." I said. "Don't say there isn't, you should probably talk about this to someone." I spoke awkwardly, because the only place I had seen situations like this was in the movies. The characters were girls, but I didn't have any other option here.

"It's no big deal." He said.

"Okay, so tell me this." I said, reaching out for some fancy ass bowls on the top shelf. "Why does Stan do whatever she wants, like that. Have you told him that it's not right, 'cause Marsh can be slow sometimes."

He chuckled half heartedly and I hope he was smiling. I couldn't see his face.

"This happens a lot." He began, and I was happy he couldn't see me either because I smirked to myself. It was easier to crack him than I thought.

"If it happened every once in a while, I'd go as far as making fun of him about it, but now it's like, every time we're out somewhere with anyone, she calls him and asks him where he is and everything. Most of the time, it's not even to spend time with him. Once she called him over from so that he could help her pack for her trip! Who does that? We were at Stark's pond and he just left!" He ranted.

I took out a couple of peaches and began slicing then into crescent shapes. I placed them into the bowls in a circular form, leaving a round space empty in the middle.

"On top of it all, he treats him terribly! Even Bebe says so sometimes, even though she's not anything better. I don't want to sound like a shallow bastard, but at least with Bebe, Stan would be getting laid!"

I laughed at the last part and so did he. "Go on." I said.

"The worst part is that he's aware of it all, but just let's it happen. He stays with her because it's 'safe', in his words. Shouldn't you have to like someone to stay with them? Plus, she really hates me. I'm the only case where he can say no to her. Whenever I'm tutoring him for example, she calls him and offers to teach him herself. Like I'm RIGHT THERE, I can HEAR her! Anyway, for some reason that's the only place Stan has a say." He stopped talking the second I drizzled on the topping; right on time.

"Here." I said and settled one of the bowls right in front of him.

"What is it?"

"Peach melba."

He picked up an ice cream covered peach and popped it into his mouth. "It's good. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"What's the pink stuff?"

"Raspberry sauce."

"I like it."

We ate in silence and very fast. I like the last part because the ice cream had melted by then and you could dip the peach in there and it would be like fondue.

"Um Craig." Kyle said and I looked up. "Do you have a tissue?" He asked looking around the room.

My mouth almost fell open at the sight. My guess would have been that he tried drinking the last drops of melted vanilla ice cream and it...dripped. He had some dripping from his mouth down to his chin. Even though his hand was covering most, I felt a twitch somewhere and I really hoped it would go as far as twitch. Damn, if Tweek were here, I don't even want to think of what he would say.

"Um, right." I got up and brought him a towel because really, I have no idea what happened to the Kleenex box that was usually on the table.

"Sorry, by the way." He said, once he had wiped it off.

"Dude it's fine, I'm the one who didn't have any tissues."

He chuckled. "No, I mean for before. The ranting."

Of course that's what he meant idiot! Why would he have apologized to me for having spilled ice cream on himself!

"Why? It's fun to see you like that." I said. "It's good to see you get angry at people; it's a comfort knowing that I'm not the only one you hate." I smiled and tried to make it look sexy.

Oh God, I probably LOOKED like a rapist now, I mentally face-palmed myself.

"I don't hate you." He said simply, smiling and looking ahead. "You just confuse me."

I confuse him. What, in my short amount of dialogue with him, was SO complicated, as to confuse him, of all people. What could I have possibly said to 'confuse' him so much.

"I confuse you...? How?"

I picked up our bowls and began rinsing them in the sink.

"You're just...confusing. You're not like everyone else."

What the hell was this kid talking about? Everyone else? Butters isn't like everyone else and yet I find nothing confusing about him. Why am I the different one here? I'm a regular teenager! Well, at least that's what I make people think. I'm actually in love with Kyle Broflovski and obsess over him daily. I was born without emotion and thanks to him I'm slowly starting to feel. I'm still in the closet and I will only come out if Kyle asks me to, which is never because he won't even know I'm in there in the first place.

So, unless Kyle somehow figured all of THAT out, he has no plausible reason as of why I 'confuse' him so.

"Yeah, but I don't get what's so confusing about that." I explained to him. "So come on, what is it about me that boggles you so?"

"It doesn't matter, I don't want to sound like smartass. Forget it."

"Be my guest."

"You're not gonna let it go are you?"

I threw the towel I had used to wipe my hands onto the counter and sat back across him.

"Well you brought it up, so no, I will not."

He sighed. "Fine. Personally, I don't think the people in this town are very...complicated. They're very simple minded...in a nice way, like-"

"They're a bunch of idiots." I cut in. "You don't need to sugar coat it, you're right."

"Okay, sure. And I always found it very easy to read all of them. Based on their pasts, their lifestyles, I could understand the cause of their actions and their way of thinking." He explained, refusing to meet my eyes.

"Example?" I asked. I had understood what he meant, but I just wanted to know what he had 'read' from these people.

"Um, Wendy. She's a bitch to Stan because her mom wasn't like that with her own husband, and you know what happened? He cheated on her. So Wendy sees that and thinks that if she's the exact contrary of how her mother was, her man won't cheat. Of course, she didn't think that EXACTLY, it's all in the subconscious." He explained unhappily, because he obviously didn't feel comfortable speaking about this.

I wanted to ask him for another example because I'm not going to lie, I was damn interested in his analysis of Butters.

"I see. So my analysis confuses you? And you're realising this now?"

"No. That's the thing; I AM realising this now. I mean you're so...COLD with everyone, but then when I actually met you, you weren't."

"So what was your original reading? Horrible right?"

He chuckled. "I wouldn't say horrible, more like harsh. In my head, I always thought that your parents weren't the type to smother their kids in love and adoration, so I figured you and your sister grew up to be angry people who just didn't care about anything and only spoke when something needed to be said." He explained, kind of accurately.

He was right. He was 100% right. I wanted to tell him that because that's what I wanted people to think. Now, he thought he knew the 'truth'. He thought he knew the real Craig and Ruby, but he didn't! I wanted to yell at him 'No! You were right the first time!'. It's just that this kid right here, had the misfortune to be the object of affection of BOTH Tucker children, so of course we'd be different to the one person we like! But that just happens to be YOU!

"But I was wrong, I guess. You're really nice and not as dumb and shallow as I thought you'd be."

"So...it confuses you that you were wrong?" I inquired. If he answered yes, he would sound like a real smartass but I was hoping he did, because I wanted this conversation to end. I was in dangerous waters. He was VERY close to uncovering something I didn't want him to.

"No, that's not it at all!" He said, defensively. "What confuses me is why you show this side of you to a very little amount of people. I understand with Tweek; you guys are best friends, but why with me? You used to be cold with Stan. You ARE with Kenny and Cartman, but why not me? You were never cold with me, even when we first met."

He was on the edge. On the limit. If he thought just a BIT more. If he pushed himself a LITTLE further, he would find out. My heart had stopped, I was sure, because I couldn't feel it beating. I sure as hell couldn't breathe and I looked terrified; like I had just seen a ghost. I wish I had. I would rather ghost over this situation.

"I like you." I said. I meant it in ONE way and luckily, he understood it in another. "There's very few people I like and you're one of them." I shrugged. "That's it. I think you're a good person. I don't feel like I'm wasting my time when I talk to you."

And I love you. I love you more than my health can take. So please, please, spare me these personality readings, because I like how everything is now. If I tell you...I'm too scared of the results.

"Thanks dude." He said and smiled a full tooth smile.

"Yeah, Craig Tucker can be nice." I rolled my eyes. "Just don't tell anyone." I added, even though I doubt he would .

"Ha-ha, imagine me running toward you in the hall and hugging you. The reactions would be funny." He laughed.

"Ha-ha, ha-ha, NO!" I told him sternly and then softened. "Please don't do that, people will think I'm nice."

"And...you don't want them to know why...?"

"Because then they'll approach me." I whined.

"Oh, and we can't let that happen now can we." He teased me.

"No we can't."

Eventually, we migrated to the living room, where we watched some TV and talked some more. Nothing important really, except when he asked me if I was interested in any girls.

"Not really." I answered. "None of them really do it for me."

"Yeah same here. Once, Stan tried to hook me up with Heidi." He chuckled. "Neither of us wanted to go so we sat in my living room and played video games all night instead of going to the restaurant. She told me it was the best 'date' she ever had."

"Wow, so that's a date with Kyle. You're so romantic, dude." I joked.

"Yeah, that's a date with me."

"Hey Kyle."

"Yeah?"

"Wanna go on a date with me?"

"Sure. Let's say Tuesday after school, my basement?"

"That's fine with me."

"Will I be expecting a kiss?" He asked me, his eyes still glued to the television.

I slowly turned my head toward him and searched his face for hope. None.

"Watch out. I just might not be able to restrain myself."

This time, he turned to face me and smiled through some hazy eyes.

"Can't wait."

God, if you only knew, Broflovski.