A.N- Thank you all those who read/reviewed last chapter! The reviews are what keep me enthusiastic! Yay! I also wanted to congratulate Dinders for guessing Butters' boyfriend correctly! Yeah you got it right the second time! It's bicurious Bradley! tehehe.
This chapter is pretty short and nothing really happens but I wanted to think of it as the mellow chapter before the turning point. I had it done yesterday but I was wondering if I should put the next bit in but then it became over 2K words and I just thought I would put it in the next chapter. Anyway enough of long ANs. Please enjoy! And say goodbye to xxx!
The time I spend here with Stan, Kenny, Tweek, Butters and Craig seem to go tremendously fast, but at the same time, it feels like it lasts forever. It feels as though it has always been like this, like we were always living together and it will always be. It doesn't feel like someone was going to leave. And that reality definitely doesn't sink in to me, not yet, not enough to affect my attitude at least. But should I feel different or insecure about the elimination?
...Nuh-uh. Just have fun.
XXX
I wake up with the deep agonising sensation of being tied up by thick wire and then sat on by a large elephant, which seemed almost as painful as being sat on by Cartman; almost. The light from the outside world shines through my closed eyelids, which tells me that I should get up. With great difficulty I lift my heavy eyelids open and find my face inches away from a sleeping Tweek. Still a little drowsy, I stare into the blonde's calm face absentmindedly. It feels strange how the agonising weight hasn't gone away even after the dream.
Tweek groans slightly and twitches his eye in his sleep and a jet stream of pain rushes through my sides as my back gives a loud crack! and I instantly know where the pain was coming from. Tweek was holding onto me, or more like he was using his arms and legs to wrap around my waist and tighten with all his might. A loud aching groan escapes my mouth by he doesn't even twitch at the sound and continues to breathe out his calm breaths. But when I look down at my waist I see more than one pair of arms and legs wrapped around me. Another shoot of pain grinds my insides as the other pair of limbs that aren't Tweek's tightens its hold. I couldn't see the face of the grinder behind me but from the look of the hands, I think it's Kenny.
"Fuck!" I close my eyes and hiss out through my teeth from pain, but the two blonds seem too happy in their sleep to notice. I try to wiggle in their grip to break free, which I think works when they loosen their grip and groan, but they only go back into their previous grinding which feels ten times worse than before. You may think that being spooned by the two angels here would be awesome but believe me, their beastly squeezing isn't something you'll want to endure.
Hoping that someone would wake up soon, I tense my whole body to endure the pain; I don't know if it works. I just lay there thinking 'Someone please wake up, please wake up!' and then suddenly I hear rustling of a sleeping bag and my heart lights up with hope. 'Thank god!'
Someone sits up a few bodies away from me and rubs his face, and my heart sinks when I see who it is. When he takes his hand off his lifeless black hair drops into his eyes, which he then combs up roughly with his hand, revealing his emotionless face. He slowly turns his head down and widens his sharp blue eyes when they meet my own. Out of all the people that could wake up why did it have to be Craig Tucker?
Well, unfortunately, he was my only option now. Pursing my lips together for a brief moment, I hesitantly part my lips and slowly mouth to him 'Please help me'. I wonder for a long second if he had understood me. He stares at me wide eyed for a moment then relaxes his expression into a glare. My hopes drop at his expression but then it revives as he gets up onto his feet, ducking so he doesn't hit the tent roof. He keeps his glare on me; the way he stares makes me confused. Was he going to help me or not?
I slightly jolt in surprise as he begins to walk towards me, not caring for stepping on those lying on the ground. Stan groans in his sleep as Craig kicks him out of his way and slight anger rises in me but when I notice, the tall boy was standing over me, one foot on each of my sides and stares down at me. I freeze in his stare. Keeping his unreadable eyes on me he kicks up his right foot, sending Kenny flying off of me. The blond boy groans from the impact but rolls onto his side, clinging onto the sleeping Butters next to him. I stare at him with slight shock, amazed at how he could have kept sleeping after that kick. Then I feel Craig's left foot nuzzle against my side and I gaze at it doubtfully wondering if it was going to kick Tweek as it did to the poor boy. I turn my eyes to Tweek, praying for him not to get hurt, but the hard smack from Craig I was expecting doesn't come. Instead, the raven leans into me and gently untangles Tweek's arms and legs off of me with ease. I immediately sit up the second I'm free, looking at Tweek then to Craig disbelievingly, but it all makes sense; Craig would never hurt Tweek Tweak.
My gaze lingers on the two for a second and I feel the area between my eyebrows squeeze hotly. Suddenly Craig flings his head towards me, making my heart jump nervously. He gets up, but I keep my eyes where he was just sitting, not wanting to make eye contact. Then I suddenly feel a strong hand burning onto my skin and aggressively pulling me up, making me gasp from the sudden force. Craig successfully gets me on my feet, but doesn't wait for a second for me to adjust to the height before he pulls me out of the tent, still not caring of stepping on anyone. I nearly step on Stan's feet as Craig drags me out but I jump over him, missing him by an inch. I sigh with relief in the air, but I lose my concentration of the jump and land on the side of my foot, losing all balance. My arms automatically fling in the air in search for something to hold onto. I panic when I find nothing and prepare for a fall until a pair of firm hands grabs me still in the air, not letting me hit the ground. My mind instantly relaxes and I sigh deeply into the ground. It's not until then that I see the hands around my waist and freeze dead on my spot. I slowly look up anxiously until my eyes meet a pair of sharp ice blue orbs. The sapphire eyes stare into mine and I gulp deeply.
"Er… I'm fine now. Thanks Craig" The words that come out of my mouth seem alienated to me. I didn't think that I would be thanking Craig anytime in my life. He grunts with an unimpressed look and lets go of me, but somehow leaving his heat linger around my waist for a second longer. I rub the squeezing area of my waist; the poor thing has already suffered enough this morning.
The sound of crunching twigs and grinding pebbles comes to my ears and I look up to see Craig walking away towards the now burnt out fire. My legs instinctively follow him. He drops himself onto one of the rocks around the fire and leans in to start it up again. I plop myself a few rocks away from him and gaze at his actions boringly. He certainly knows his stuff. With a slight nudge on the wood and a fling of a match a new fire was born and in no time it grows hot enough to warm the morning air.
"Yay" I chuckle softly at the small flames and lean my hands close to it. Craig smirks lightly and I turn lazily around to glance at him, but as I do, a certain rock catches my eye. It sat near the Craig's foot. It was a plain rock but I knew on the other side it said 'Kyle and Stan was here'. I keep my eyes on the back of the rock, sudden warmness filling the pit of my stomach. I don't know how hard or how long I glance at it, but my gaze seems to catch Craig's attention. I swing my eyes away from the rock, hoping Craig wouldn't notice but it was too late, he found the writing.
"Kyle and Stan was here." He says blankly, staring at the rock. His tone is not mocking or covered with a snigger. "That's stupid" I turn to glare at him, anger rising at his comment towards the special rock, but my body stiffens when I see his expression. He glares down on the rock, scowling at it as if it was shouting out silent insults at him. Then almost suddenly his scowl releases into its usual glare, but still somewhat more deep and bitter than usual. "As if you needed to write that down" He matters through his lips.
"Huh?" Not exactly catching what he just said I tilt my head at him. He moves his eyes up at me annoyingly.
"I wouldn't have to write down 'I was here' in order to remember that I was. If it was so important to me I wouldn't forget it." My lips form into a pout automatically. I take that as an insult, but then again, what don't I that comes out of Craig's mouth?
"We didn't write it there to remember it. We wrote it there because- umm" Why did we write that there? Craig raises his eyebrows at me, waiting for a response. "The heat of the moment?" I raise my shoulders and hands up in a questionable manner, unsure about my answer, except for that it's gay. Craig keeps his glare on me but stays silent; does that mean I won the argument? It doesn't really matter. I shrug and look away form him, hugging my arms close together. He looks pretty pissed. Why do I have to deal with this douche bag from so early in the morning?
"You should get to know him better"
Suddenly Tweek's voice comes to mind and my growing irritation towards Craig stops, as well as making me realise one small thing.
"Dude, I'm sorry…" The last word comes out of me more like a mutter and I doubt that he understood it until his head swings around and his eyes stare at the back of my head in surprise. I immediately regret my sudden apology and tighten the hug around my arms for desperate comfort, which doesn't really help. My cheeks warm up from embarrassment. I can understand his surprise; I hardly ever apologise to anyone, and now I apologise to Craig? Ergh. But he doesn't need to be that surprised does he? I mean, him, surprised; at my apology? That's a bit over the top.
I begin slowly, still not facing his amazed expression. "I know why you're pissed" I hesitantly turn my head to face him. "It's because Tweek was hugging me this morning wasn't it?" His body freezes, but he keeps silent. Bingo. "Hey that wasn't my fault okay?" All of I sudden I feel defensive and forget all my slightly remorseful feelings towards the noirette. "I mean he was the one that was hugging me. And we were asleep! Honestly man, if you want him all to your self that much you should just go tell him instead of feeling jealous towards everything that touches him!" Suddenly his slightly confused expression instantly falls into his usual glare.
"What?"
My frustration towards him goes over the top and I roll my eyes exploding out an aggressive sigh. "Dude, I know the truth-" I pause and take in one last breath before the blow. "-I know you like Tweek"
Craig looks at me blankly, clearly not expecting what he just heard. Then slowly, but firmly, his eyes sharpen into a hard scowl.
"You don't have a clue about how I feel about Tweek, Broflovski" His tone is cold but I hardly flinch before I continue.
"You don't have to hide it. I've known for a while now" As if it was possible, his scowl hardens even more and this time I can't help but slightly shudder.
He lets out a small sigh and rests his forehead in his palm. "Sometimes I question your intelligence" His tone calms a bit, but adopts a sharp edge. It's enough to infuriate me.
"What does that suppose to mean?" I glare at him with daggers, insulted by his comment. But he hardly reacts to my death glare. He just looks at me through the corner of his eye then looks back, keeping his head on his palm.
"I sometimes wonder why I even bother."
"With me? Why do you ever!" Even when I shout at him he doesn't look at me anymore. He lifts his forehead and rests his chin in his palm, staring into the fire again, sighing one last time. I shake with fury but I have nowhere to release it since Craig has chosen to ignore me. I just shove my curls out of my face roughly from frustration, then bring my palm to my face and sigh deeply into it helplessly.
Why does he bother?
Why do I bother?
XXX
"Morning fellers"
"Morning Butters" I'm pretty preoccupied with glaring at the fire to actually turn around to greet the blond. It's better than Craig; he doesn't even bother to move a muscle for him. I feel Butters' curious gaze tickling our backs but I try my best to ignore it.
"Gee, is something wrong with you two?"
"Mornin' sunshine!" Kenny hops out of the tent and swings his arm around Butters' shoulder while stretching his back. "The sun is shinin' and my stomach is rumblin'. So what's for breakfast Craigy-o?" He claps his hands together and jumps into the spot next Craig, who just sits there and stare at him bitterly.
"Bacon and eggs" The black head answers simply. Great that means only eggs for me- "And pancakes" He adds, getting out a pack of pancake mixture. Kenny laughs excitingly and pats Craig on the back. For a second I thought that Craig gave me a glance, but I think it was just my imagine.
As soon as the food starts cooking and the smell begins to fill the air, Tweek and Stan comes out of the tent, both looking half asleep with their hair pointing up in all directions. Stan yawns and scratches his head as he drops next to me, then a sudden embarrassing realisation comes to me.
"Stan did I fall asleep on you last night?" My voice is a little panicked and he chuckles sleepily.
"Yeah. I think you found my shoulder pretty comfortable!" Jesus Christ!
"Dude! I'm so sorry! Why didn't you just kick me awake?" Heat began to rise to my face again. Stan just smiles dazedly into the fire. I don't even know if he's understanding what I'm saying; he just sits there smiling like I'm being silly or something!
"It's fine Kyle. You were really adorable" My heart stops. I gape at him with my mouth half hanging. He keeps his half-closed eyes on the fire and sways his head slightly, not acknowledging what he just said. Okay so he definitely doesn't understand what he's saying. But that thought doesn't help the scarlet on my face to settle down.
"Ky-le-" A sleepy voice droops my name out and something crushes into my side. Strong arms wrap around my waist and spiky blond hair prickles my face. "I haven't slept so much in my entire life..." The sleepy voice purrs and by the relaxed tone in it I almost doubt who it is.
"Tweek! Get off of me!" Great, now I was squished in by two drowsed out guys. My heart stops and I look up hesitantly, letting the blond cringe onto me tighter. And sure enough, Craig was glaring at me again. It's not my fault! I protest at him through my eyes but he doesn't change his expression. On the other hand Kenny was smiling excitedly with shining eyes and then he suddenly gets up.
"Kyle tackle!" Followed by his loud voice something strong slams into me.
"Gotcha!" Tweek giggles and pins me down to the ground and then more weight pounds onto me.
"Fuck-" My guts feel like they are going to be squeezed out through my throat. It feels like they are at least three fully grown men grinding me into the ground. I cough out in pain but the guys don't seem to want to move off me.
"Pancakes are done" As if that monotonous voice was the magic word, all the weight flings off of me, leaving me there to catch the breath I desperately needed. I look up and see Butters, Tweek and Kenny rushing over to Craig excitedly. Fucking blondes.
"You okay dude?" Stan looks down at me with a more awoken expression than before, confused whether he was meant to be worried or laugh. so I choose for him.
"Yeah I'm fine!" And I laugh, and he joins in as well.
Soon a plate with a large pancake is passed to me and Stan by Kenny. I still have the urge to punch him but I hold it down because I couldn't wait to dig into the food.
I don't think of it as being the last meal for the one of us.
I completely forget about that fact.
XXX
When we arrive back at the house we immediately spot a fancy black Mercedes parked beside the door. Its sparkling body definitely looks out of place in these woods. I hear Kenny whistle impressively at the car, but I get a bad feeling about it. All reality shows that I have ever watched took the person eliminated home in a fancy black car, and I bet Cartman would do the same. That car was to take one of us home.
While everyone rushed to the car to press their noses against the window to examine it, I walk straight pass it and enter the house. Surprisingly or not, Craig does the same.
"Ah! My favourite douches; how are we both today?" As soon as we set foot into the house we're welcomed in by Cartman's humongous face; only this time it's in person, not on screen.
"Fuck. You. Fatso" I say coolly. For some reason I don't have my usual boiling temper towards him, only cold hatred. Cartman merely twitches at the word 'Fatso' but keeps his ugly smug on his face.
"That's alright Kyle," He puts his hands up in a mocking surrendering manner. "I know that you're just trembling inside with fear from the idea that you might be the one going home in the black Mercedes parked outside." I lounge at him, pinning him to the ground with my forearm to his neck and punching him with the other, but that's all in my head; in reality, I just scowl at him and clench my fists until my nails pinching into the skin nearly breaks through. It's not the idea that I might be going home. It's not even the loneliness to think that somebody else might be going home. But it's the idea that he has the power to choose who's leaving, to choose who stays with who, his power to make anyone's life in here a living hell and that we can do nothing but obey him, is the idea that makes aggravating knots in my stomach.
A storming sound of footsteps and excited voices comes through the door and we turn around to look at the other four boys entering the house "Hey, what's up with the-" Kenny stops dead when he sees Cartman in the room, not only Kenny, but the whole crowd just fell silent. I sigh. So they finally understand what's going on, huh?.
Cartman just sneers at their shock and gestures towards the lounge room. "Shall we, Gentlemen?"
We all walk doubtfully into the room, and Cartman indicates us to sit down. I dump myself aggressively onto the couch, still glaring at Cartman, and to my delightful surprise, Stan sits next to me; my fuming mind is a little too preoccupied to get carried away though. Kenny jumps next to Stan and Butters places himself next to Kenny, squishing the four of us on the small sofa. This time my mind does get distracted as Stan's warm body squeezes against mine. But my mind comes back again when a loud clap echoes around the room.
I jolt in my spot and accidently kick something on the ground. "Sor-" I stop dead in apology when my eyes meet Craig's. I sink back with a pout and cross my arms. As if I care if I kick Craig. I give a quick glance back downand see that Craig was sitting next to Tweek, talking to him. He seems much more relaxed around Tweek than when he is around me. If only he was always that mild and straight forward towards him, he might then even have a chance. But come to think of it, he's like that with the others as well, sans Stan. Those two seem to have a problem with each other, maybe not as big as the one he has with me though. Agh, thinking about Craig sucks.
"Are you listening Jew face?"
"What?" I come out of thought automatically when I hear Cartman's voice call out Jew. He looks at me, unimpressed and really annoyed, which I couldn't care less of. "Yeah yeah, I'm listening"
"Then tell me Kyle, who's leaving today?"
"Yeah umm..." My mind doesn't immediately processes his words, but they slowly begin to sink in. What? I jolt my head up and gape up at him. He already said who's eliminated? I look around at everyone to check if the fatass was joking, but from all their quiet expressions, I can tell that they were already told. My eyes land back on Cartman who lifts one eyebrow up at me. I gulp down a lump in my throat.
"Umm... me?" I guess doubtfully. Cartman sighs frustratingly and begins to tap his foot on the ground and rolls his eyes away from me.
"No Kyle, you're not leaving." Butters says gently. Cartman grunts and rolls his eyes back onto me, stopping his tapping, but I keep my wide eyes on Butters. He gives me a warm and gentle smile. "I am"
My eyes widen with what he says with shock. Butters' gentle smile becomes a little bit troubled and he shrugs sadly at me. I don't know what to say. I frown at him hopelessly and swing my head towards Cartman who just sniggers at my confused expression.
"That's right Kyle. As much as I wished that it was you who would be leaving, the viewers chose Butters." I can see Butters slightly fidget in his spot through the corner of my eye, but as torturing as it is I can't seem to tear my eyes off of Cartman. Cartman gives me a small snort before turning to Butters.
"Thank you Butters, we all really enjoyed your compony here. Now, if you could pack your things, a black Mercedes is waiting for you outside. Would you like a chocolate?" Cartman says with his business tone and pulls out a pack of chocolate from nowhere. Butters chuckles and stands up with his bright smile.
"No thanks Eric, I'm alright." He then turns to face all of us with even a brighter smile than he was just showing Cartman. "Thanks fellers. The time I had here with you guys was the best time I had in my life!" Then he gives a small wink towards me. I immediately interpret the message and can't help but spill a small smile.
'Except for maybe the times I spend with my boyfriend'
He then leaves the lounge room without turning back and we can't help but just gape at his calmness. Cartman snorts, already lost interest in the small goodbye and turns to the rest of us. "And for the rest of you-" He begins to say but I don't listen. I stand up and dash out the room after Butters. I can faintly hear Cartman yelling out my name but I don't care.
When I slam the door open Butters stares up me with surprise, more to the sound of the dramatic entrance than my presence I guess.
"Is something wrong Kyle? Did you forget something?" He asks me worryingly. I shake my head and he smiles. "Eric's silly. I don't have anything to pack up since we weren't allowed any bags here" Giving the room one last glance he gets up and walks towards me, gives me a smile, and walk out the door. I follow him of course. Butters pauses at the front door of the house, gazing at the Mercedes.
"Kyle?" I stiffen behind him when he calls my name as he turns around to face me. "There's one last thing I want to tell you before I go"
"Yeah?" I tilt my head curiously at him and he smiles.
"You know how you asked me what it feels like to be loved by somebody?"
"Yeah" He widens his smile and leans in to my ear, gesturing that he wanted to whisper something. I stand on my toes and lean into him.
"I think you'll learn it soon enough" I feel the heat rise to my face as he looks at me, still smiling.
"What does that suppose to mean?"
The second I ask, a large body (at least larger than mine) tackles Butters into a hug.
"Oh gee, hi Tweek" Butters chuckles and pats the spiky blond hair. Tweek immediately lets the boy go and takes a step back until he's beside me.
"I just, ngh, wanted to say bye"
"Us too Butters!" Another excited voice calls and lunges at Butters.
"We'll miss you dude" Stan says as he comes beside me.
"Or more like your cooking" I hear a monotonous voice say somewhere behind my back. Butters laughs loudly, something really fresh to my ears, like I've never heard before.
"Thanks a lot fellers, really thanks a lot"
After his last words of thanks he walks to the black Mercedes and hops into the back seat. The car jolts to life and the back seat window immediately opens, and an arm pops out of it and it begins to wave frantically. We all do the same, raising our hands and waving them as if it was a race of who could wave the hardest. The car turns and disappears into the trees, the hand still waving until it is completely out of sight.
When the shiny black melts into the shadows of the woods Tweek twitches next to me and I proudly rub him on the back. I'm so glad he's become secure enough to be able to make a close friend during the short time here. I smile up at him and he looks down at me, returning a shaky one back.
I give the trail of the car tires one last glance. From Butters' last whisper a strange feeling in my stomach was simmering.
I have a strange feeling as if some things were about to change; maybe even dramatically.
A.N- School started, so probably no faster updates :( As I said the next chapter I think will be a changing point and towards a step onto the road to the end. I think the story would be progressing from now on and maybe not so much playing, hope not (love mucking around). There is like one more activity I have in mind. More Kyle tormenting to do :) Reviews keep me writing so please do if you want updates!
