"You sure you don't wanna sleep over, dude?" Craig asked. "You're more than welcome to. It might not be great for you to be alone right now."
"Thanks, Craig, but I'll be alright," Kenny replied. "And thanks for letting me hang out here with you guys today."
"Of course, dude. We'll hang out again real soon. And please don't hesitate to text, call, or just come over whenever you need to."
Kenny nodded as he stood up to leave the room. "Thanks again, guys. I'll see you all later."
Everyone bade farewell to Kenny as he left the room and made his way out of the house. When they heard the door downstairs open and close, Craig immediately pulled out his phone.
"Alright, I need to call Stan."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Clyde asked. "What are you gonna say to him anyway?"
Craig held up his finger as he scrolled through his contact list, finding Stan's name. He wasted no time pressing the call button and raising the phone to his ear. After a long moment of silence, he sighed and lowered his hand.
"God dammit," he muttered under his breath.
"He's not gonna answer, dude," Clyde said. "I'm sure he's just as upset and confused about the situation as we are."
"Hang on," Craig replied, attempting to call the number again. "He'll have to answer if I keep calling. This is important."
After a few rings, Stan finally picked up.
"Yeah?" he groaned. "Dude, if this is about…"
"Stan, just listen," Craig interrupted him. "You need to talk to Kenny. I'm not gonna be a dick to you about what happened, but you really need to talk to him. He's hurt, Stan."
"Craig, me and him aren't even officially together. I don't know why he cares so much. I wouldn't have agreed to anything if I knew he was gonna react this way."
"Tell that to him, dude. But please try to be sensitive about it. Believe me, he's really shaken up about all of this and I'm worried about him."
"I can't promise anything. Maybe you should talk to him. Apparently you're better with these sensitive topics than I am."
"You're the one who needs to work this out with him," Craig said, beginning to lose his patience. "Seriously, Stan, I know you're not the kind of person who would deliberately hurt someone like that, but you honestly did. You need to take responsibility for it and try to make it right."
Stan sighed and remained silent for a moment. "I'll try, dude. This just got blown way out of proportion. I just don't want any part of this relationship stuff anymore."
"Then why did you tell Clyde you love him?" Craig blurted out, the bluntness of the statement causing Clyde and Tweek to exchange a surprised look.
"Oh, Jesus Christ…"
"You can't fuck with people's emotions like that, Stan. You don't tell people shit like that if you don't mean it."
"Who says I didn't mean it?" Stan shouted back.
"You just said you want nothing to do with relationships. All I hear when you say that is you have no problem telling people you love them but can't commit to actually loving them. So what is it? Do you love Clyde? Do you love Kenny? Do you just say that to everybody you sleep with?"
"Just stop it, Craig! You don't know anything about me or how I feel! Seriously, just let me think all this shit over and get off my fucking back!"
With that, the call came to an abrupt end. Craig threw the phone at the empty spot on the bed.
"What a fucking asshole."
The room went silent for a long moment until Craig plopped down on the bed and buried his face in his hands.
"Seriously, how did we get dragged into all of this?"
Tweek reached over and rubbed his shoulder. "Love can be confusing sometimes, Craig. You remember how it was when we were first getting together."
Craig nodded. "I just wish it wasn't all so complicated."
"So what are we gonna do?" Clyde asked. "It doesn't sound like we can trust Stan and Kenny to work this out on their own. At least not yet."
"I think you should talk to Kenny, Tweek," Craig said, raising his face to look at him.
"Me?" Tweek shrieked. "Why do you think I should talk to him?"
"Because you're good at helping people with their problems, babe. No matter what you say or think of yourself. You are, trust me."
Tweek looked away, the sheer nervousness evident on his face. "What would I even say to him? This goes beyond what I can help him with on my own."
"It's not on your own," Craig replied. "But I think you can help him feel better and maybe even prepare him for what Stan is gonna tell him."
"Wh-what is Stan gonna tell him?"
"Well, I can tell it's probably not gonna be good. No matter how Kenny tries to play it off, he still has feelings for him and is hoping they're gonna end up together. Stan, on the other hand… Well, I don't think he even knows what he wants."
"Do you hope you can be with him?" Tweek asked, looking at Clyde, who was taken aback by the sudden unexpected question.
"I…I mean…I…"
Tweek lowered his eyes and looked away. "I'm sorry, Clyde. You don't have to answer that."
"No, Tweek, it's ok. It's just…I have no idea. I mean things with us got going really well really fast, but now after all this… I don't know. I'm so confused."
"It's alright, Clyde," Craig reassured him. "I'm sorry I got you into all of this. It sucks this is how your first experience with guys turned out."
Clyde shook his head. "You had no idea, dude. In any case, I'm still happy that you offered to help me. It was really nice of you, regardless of what's happening now."
Craig smiled. "You're too fucking pure, dude."
"Hardly," Clyde smirked. "But uhh… Is it cool if I sleep over? I really don't feel like being alone at home right now. I can go downstairs or something if you guys wanted some…alone time."
"Sure, dude. And you don't have to do that… After everything that's been going on, I think we should all just focus on getting some rest. In fact…"
Craig stood up from the bed and signaled for the others to do the same. He organized the pillows and laid out the blanket, rubbing out the wrinkles with his hands.
"There's room on here for three people," he said, laying down on the spot closest to the wall. "Just three gay dudes sleeping together on a bed, nothing weird about that," he grinned.
Tweek smiled and took his place in the middle next to Craig, who wrapped his arm around him. Clyde soon joined him on the end, laying on his side and laying his arm over Tweek's belly. They pulled the blanket over themselves and Craig switched the light off.
Tweek kissed Craig on the lips. "Goodnight, Craig. I love you."
"I love you too, Tweek."
Tweek then turned toward Clyde and pecked him on the forehead. "I love you, Clyde. As…as a really good friend."
Clyde smiled nuzzled Tweek's arm. "I love you too, dude. And you too, Craig. You guys are the best friends in the world."
"Love you too, Clyde." Craig replied.
The three of them cuddled on the bed and soon fell asleep, allowing the stress of the day to melt away for the time being.
Tears rolled down Stan's face as he held his thumb over the send button on his phone.
Wendy, I know I've been a shitty boyfriend to you in the past, but I can't stop thinking about you. No matter what I try to do to fill this void inside of me, my thoughts always return to you. Please just give me the chance to talk to you and try to make things right. What happened was the biggest mistake of my life and I would do anything to have you back. Please, Wendy. I love you.
His hands were shaking as he forced himself to hit send. As soon as he did, he tossed the phone onto the floor and buried his head in a pillow, which barely managed to conceal the sound of his sobbing. He pulled at his hair as the pillow became soaked with tears. He heard the phone vibrate but didn't dare check it, terrified of what he might see. Eventually crawling under the covers, he fell into an uneasy sleep.
