So here is another chapter! I'm not sure when the next will come out but I will try to at least get one chapter out next month. I know I keep saying it but thank you to everyone for your patience. I'm beyond grateful! So I hope you guys like this chapter. I really, really, REALLY enjoyed writing it!

Chapter 8

With a thank you and good night, Goldfish Bowl Syndrome was done with the show and we all made our way to a corner booth seat that could fit us. Token and Clyde took the two outside spots of the L, or more of a C, shaped booth while Bebe was beside Token, I took the middle area, and Craig was beside me. It was a somewhat small booth so we were all scrunched together but I was not about to complain. Craig and Token ordered three beers, on Bebe and me of course since we never bought them their first round. The third was for Clyde since he was still underage, but as long as he didn't purchase it himself the bar owner didn't seem to mind much. Bebe decided to have a soda and myself a coffee since we were also underage and I didn't like to drink anyway. Bebe usually didn't drink around me either. It wasn't because people who drank made me uncomfortable or anything just that she would only have one maybe two if she did drink while I was around. She always said that she could have a good time with me around no matter if she drank, and she would always add that that was more than she could say for some people she knew.

"So what did you guys think?" Clyde aimed at Bebe and me after he took a sip of his beer.

"Hands down one of the best shows I've been too. I mean, really. I'm not just saying this either, because I've been to a lot of shows. And god damn were some of them awful. I mean I could do better and Jesus knows no one needs to put me on a stage. You guys have the good raw sound of a up and coming band and that sound works so well with everything that you played tonight. You morphed it in order to stay true to the cover songs but still had the sound that is Goldfish Bowl Syndrome." She took a quick sip of her soda.

"All in all my answer is that you guys kicked ass."

"Damn if we need someone to give their opinion of us in a magazine we're making sure you're there to do that." Token said and Bebe laughed.

"Just call me up, let me know." She bumped her elbow into Token's arm and he hid his smile behind his beer and I tapped Bebe's leg to cock an eyebrow at her and she just rolled her eyes and elbowed me as well.

I took a sip of my coffee just as all eyes were on me and I realized that I hadn't answered Clyde's question.

"Oh Jesus!" I got out after I harshly swallowed the coffee and almost knocked the cup over as I set it on the table while I also blushed so hard I could feel the heat travel down my neck.

"That good? Damn, didn't know music did that to you Tweek." Clyde said and I swore my face had burst into a tomato.

"It was really good. Jesus, like, I don't think I can be as eloquent as Bebe about it, but I really liked it. You...You all sounded really good." I looked at my hands as I grabbed my coffee cup with hands that I hoped no one else saw shake. I had nothing against Token and Clyde but I didn't really notice them all too much during the show... How could I with Craig's melodic voice, the way his hands handled the guitar, how his bangs brushed against his eyelashes while he leaned into the microphone, his lips as they brushed against the mic while he sang, his fucking hips that moved either slow and deliberate with the song or in a fast swaying motion as he danced along to the song. I moved my eyes up just enough so I could see Craig's long, pale slender fingers as they lightly brushed the sweat from off of his bottle. I bit my lip quickly and then shook my head to try to throw the thoughts out.

"I don't know how you guys aren't bigger than you already are." I managed out, though my voice had grown a bit hoarse and I hoped no one else noticed.

"Goodness so many compliments from you two. You guys need to go out and convince people to see out show." Clyde said as he leaned back in the booth.

"Give us some recordings that we can show and we won't have to say anything. They'll come just from that." Bebe said, and Clyde tipped his beer to her.

"Bravo Ms. Stevens, you win the prize for best compliment of the night." Clyde said and Bebe took a little bow.

"I'd like my prize to be for us to split the cost of a greasy ass pizza because I'm starving."

"I second that, though I don't know about the ass pizza, but a pepperoni pizza sounds amazing." Token said with a laugh and Bebe laughed as well.

"Hey, don't knock an ass pizza 'till you try it man. Fuckin' great." Bebe said and ended it with a toothy grin.

"I think I might have to pass on that." Token replied back and Bebe just shrugged her shoulders.

"Your loss there."

"Ass pizza aside, I concur with Token, a regular pizza sounds fucking amazing, who's up for some Dominos?" Almost immediately after Craig asked the question all hands went up. Clyde's so fast that his beer almost fell into his lap, but Clyde cured that possibility by chugging the last of it with his hand still enthusiastically in the air. Craig pushed at Clyde to get him out of the booth. However, Craig had to practically push the stubborn Clyde out of the booth completely, but Clyde caught himself. All while he kept his hand in the air.

"I'm not putting it down till I have pizza shoved down my throat."
"I'll do the honors then." Craig promised with narrowed eyes, and Clyde took his hand down.

"Now as enjoyable as that sounds, I'm gonna have to pass." He said with a wink and lip bite towards Craig, to which he got a shake of the head and an eye roll from Craig.

"With that, I'm going to talk to the owner to see if he wants to set anything else up with us and to go on and get the money. You guys can go on and pack up some of the stuff, leave mine and I'll grab that. I won't be long." With that he was off to the back room where the owner must have been, and we followed his directions and grabbed all that we could carry and headed back outside. Token unlocked the back of the van with the key and started to put the equipment just like they had had it before. A perfect game of tetris, just without the last remaining pieces that were still inside of the bar.

"I'm so hungry!" Clyde whined once we were finished and leaned up against the cars, and he tried to fake passing out into Token's arms but when Clyde realized he wouldn't be caught he caught himself with the door handle of the van. Thankfully it was locked or it would have swung open and who knows what 'graceful' catastrophe that would have brought.

"You were going to freaking let me fall!" Clyde yelled out once he had situated himself back into a standing position.

"Yep." Token said simply and that made Clyde groan even more. He didn't argue, but instead grabbed the keys from Token and barreled head first into the now open passenger side door. His ass and legs hung out of the van, and his upper torso was stretched across the seat.

"What the hell are you doing?" Token asked in a way that seemed like he had asked that question about a million times before.

"Craig is taking too god damn long and I'm bored. What cures boredom?" He asked just as he turned the van to auxiliary and the radio came on.

"Music!" He started to flip through the stations. He made disgusted noises with some, and hmms of approval for some, but he still flipped through.

Token leaned closer to me and Bebe so that we could hear him.

"He's the absolute worst when he has control of the radio. The little dick can't ever choose a station he likes. We'll stay on a song for a minute, tops, then off to the next."

Bebe opened her mouth to say something but then she shut her mouth and pushed herself off of her car and reached in to slap Clyde's leg.

"You put it back on that station! That was Yeah Yeah Yeahs. You do not skip over that shit!." She declared and when Clyde tried to kick her away she let out a 'Hell no!' and in a second had climbed over Clyde. Even though he flopped around like a mad bull she managed to shove his hand down and went back to her station. Once it was on she yanked Clyde out of the van as she got out and pushed him away from the door.

"You stay down. We're listening to this song. I haven't heard Heads Will Roll in freaking forever." She declared and then put her hands out to me.

"And you will dance with me."

I pressed myself more against the car and my eyes widened.

"Bebe I don't dance in front of people." She had already started to dance towards me and she let out a laugh.

"But Tweek you can really move those hips when you wanna! You dance in front of me all the time." She grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. I stumbled off of the car but stayed still. I liked to dance, but Jesus it's not like I really knew how. I just do stuff to go along with the song. It's not there is any method to it. God I know I look stupid when I dance, I've got to! I've got no grace to anything I do. Bebe just indulged me to indulge me. I couldn't! There were people around.

"Come on you two give him some encouragement." Bebe said as she moved her body around my frozen one. Clyde crossed his arms with a huff but still bobbed his head a bit, still sour from Bebe winning the previous battle, and Token moved his head and shoulders around to the beat of the song.

"Come on Tweeks, you're the last one standing." She grabbed my shoulders and started to move them side to side and somehow my body betrayed me and my hips started to move along with it, then I started to move around more with Bebe, and soon enough we were dancing together just as if we were in Harbucks closing up with no customers. Bebe grabbed my hands and I moved my hips along with her and we slowed down with the music a bit then she leaned against me which made me tilt back and I did the same to her all while we moved our shoulders up and down with the music. We pushed away from each other and even though I was on my own I didn't stop. I put my arms into the air slightly as I moved my body and I saw that Clyde had started to air drum at this point, and Token had moved onto dancing with Bebe.

I twirled my hips as I turned around but my waist was caught by Craig so that I didn't run into him. I froze immediately and let out a loud yell which didn't deter the rest of the group from finishing dancing.

"Join the fun why don't ya Craig!" Bebe said as she tossed her head around a bit to make her hair go crazy.

"Too bad you guys started without me." He said back, but stayed looking at me. I gulped and his fingers slid down a little to where they almost went to my hips but then he moved them off and instead started to dance in front of me. He danced just like he had on stage, just without the guitar this time, that I noticed was in a case behind him.

"You're not going to dance?" He asked me and my body again had a mind of its own as my hips started to go back into their previous motion. Craig was one of the only other people that had seen me dance. The only other one besides Bebe I was comfortable enough with. But it had been years. I shook my head slightly with the music, which made my hair fall more into my eyes, and I brushed it away in tune with the music and a smile broke out on his face and he decided to shake out his hair as well with the music and that made me smile as his black hair fell messily around his face.

The song ended with that short dance with Craig and we all fell against the cars, and we all laughed like maniacs.

"Now that you've had your wish Bebe, can we go get pizza?" Clyde mentioned and Bebe pondered her answer, which made Clyde throw up his arms and groan.

"Shit you baby, of course we can! I need that ass pizza." Bebe laughed and walked over to me.

"Yo Craig, you know where this place is right."

"Yea." He said while still looking at me but then averted his eyes to look at Bebe.

"We've gone to it before after our last show here actually."

Bebe put her arm around me.

"Well then, as always, lead the way!" She said enthusiastically.

The Dominoes. Smelled. Like. Fucking. Heaven. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until that smell of pizza hit me. It was just a carry out store so we ordered three large pizzas, and two things of bread sticks. Token mentioned a park that wasn't too far away that was open 24 hours and had picnic tables so off we were to eat our hot pizza out in the cold. And possibly be murdered by someone who took random people who happened to be eating pizza at 11:30 at night in that park.

The park was fairly small with a gazebo in the middle. Trees lined the back of it and picnic tables were scattered. Lamps were lit, and sidewalks curved throughout the park, and a small bridge went over a creek that led back into the trees. We set out our spread on a picnic table near the gazebo and Bebe me and Token were on one side of the table; Craig and Clyde on the other side. We could have been mistaken for famished wolves because we tore into the food. The only sounds that could be heard for the first few minutes were heavy breathing and quick chewing. Bebe even slapped away Clyde's hand when he went for a breadstick that I guessed she had her eyes on. He even growled but realized that he shouldn't poke the bear.

There was no pizza left at the end. We had destroyed everything, and we were proud. We all were slumped in our seats and satisfied looks were all around. You didn't realize how good pizza really tasted until you're starving and can only think of how good it'll be. Which doesn't compare to how it'll actually taste. The melted cheese, tomato, pepperoni, the sweetness of the sauce, the hint of garlic.

"That was fucking amazing." Clyde moaned as he rubbed his stomach, and everyone else hummed in agreeance.

"Anyone up to dancing again?" Bebe asked, to which everyone groaned in response.

"Cool cause I'll puke." She said in response.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I got very confused as I pulled it out and saw that it was a text. From Craig. I clicked it open.

C: You okay to take a walk?

T: Right Now?

I looked up at him and he nodded.

T:Sure.

Craig stood up from the table, and I followed suit.

"Tweek and I are going to go for a quick walk, don't break anything while I'm gone." He looked right at Clyde when he said that, and Clyde just waved him off as he groaned and held his stomach.

"Too full of pizza to be destructive. Will die soon." Clyde slurred out and Craig just shook his head as he waited for me to walk up beside him. We started to take one of the sidewalks that winded around to lead to the bridge towards the back of the park. Craig didn't try to start any conversation so I didn't either. He must have had a reason for this walk. He probably realized that this trial run with me was a mistake and he was going to make it clear that he didn't want to see me anymore. Something hard formed in my stomach that I knew wasn't pizza. I knew it was coming, but I didn't think that I would fuck up this bad until at least being reunited for at least a month. Jesus. I could just run and never hear him say what he wanted to, then I wouldn't have to have that confirmation... But he had stopped. I was too late. Nowhere to run now.

The bridge didn't have any railing so he sat down on the edge and motioned for me to join him. I did, and I sat so that our thighs were touching because if this was the last contact I had with him, I wanted it to be some real damn contact. If he moved away from me so be it, but I hoped he would at least give me this. He didn't move away though and I let out a sigh that came out as a faint puff of white.

Craig ran a hand down his face and then clenched them together in his lap.

"Tweek...if you could do me a favor. Don't ask any questions."

Here it comes.

"I've thought a lot about what I want to say so the rest of it will have to wait. I'm not quite ready to tell the whole story."

What?

"O-kay..." I said unsure and Craig turned his head to look at me, but it looked like he struggled to say what he wanted so he turned his head to look forward at the trees in front of us.

"God Tweek...I'm so sorry." He wrung his hands a couple times as he left me speechless.

"I'm so god damned sorry Tweek." He finally was able to look at me and speak.

"I can't explain why I did it, but I can tell you that I am so sorry I left you in South Park."

I felt the stone in my stomach rise to my throat and I felt like I was being choked. I kept my promise and I didn't ask anything but let him say whatever he wanted to.

"You must have felt so fucking betrayed when I left without saying anything, but I want you to know that I never stopped being your friend. I wanted to contact you after I left...but...I never stopped caring about you. I should have said something then, and I should now about why I did what I did but I can't. I hope you can forgive me for that. But I promise that I will explain one day...but until that know that you are..Tweek...?"

No matter how much I tried to keep the tears behind my stinging eyes they came forward and ran down my cheeks. I looked away from him because I didn't want him to see me cry. Big fat tears that rolled from my eyes hit my pants leg. I clutched the jean fabric over my legs in my fists and tried to hold back the sobs that wanted to roll out.

God knew that I wanted to know why he left, why he never contacted me, why he wanted to have contact now even though us getting back together like this was just from a chance encounter. But he had said that he cared, that he had never stopped. I moved my hands from my pants and clutched a big handful of my shirt and jacket over my chest and hunched over as my gut tightened as the sob tore through me. I sucked in a breath and my body shuddered as I let out another. I wanted to scream but all that came was another open mouth sob.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I thought so many bad things about you, god I even tried to hate you. I didn't know what I did wrong. I blamed you at first but then I knew that it must have been me. It had to have been me. God I wanted so bad for you to show back up. For us to be back in high school. It hurt so much. It hurt so much. Craig, god I missed you. I missed you so much. You just left and I was there just left behind. " I rambled as tears streamed out of my eyes.

"Shit, Tweeks. God it was never your fault. Never..never." I heard Craig say as he placed his arm around my back and with his other arm wrapped it around my front and pulled me into his chest. I moved my hands once more to clutch to the fabric that covered his chest and another sob shook my body and made him hold me tighter.

"I will make this up to you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry Tweeks. Tweek, God, I'm so sorry." He started to rock me and he placed his chin on top of my head and stroked the back of my head with his hand.

"I missed you so much." I said again because that's all I could think at the moment. How much I really missed him, How much I had suppressed that.

" I missed you too Tweeks I really did." He said back and his fingers started to move through my hair. The overwhelming sobs stopped after a minute or so of him just holding me and it turned into silent crying. He didn't let me go and I thanked him for that in my mind.

"Craig?" I asked, and he hummed in response.

"Can you promise me something...?" I asked and wondered if what I wanted was asking too much but I had to know. He pulled me away from his chest slightly and brushed some hair away that was stuck to my cheek from my tears. He looked me right in the eyes.

"Anything Tweek." He said with such sincerity that I wanted to start to cry all over again but this time I held it down. I paused before I said anything, I really shouldn't have asked because I shouldn't ask this of anyone...but I wanted to try. Shit, I needed to. So I looked down at his chest, but realized that I needed to look right at him when I asked. So I did.

"Don't leave me again..."

"I won't" It was an instant response, and his eyes never wavered. The relief that flooded through me was instant and I trusted him. I was scared. I was scared shitless about what this might bring. Even though I felt that, I was beyond happy. Craig Tucker had taken two years of torture and made it all worthwhile.

Craig and Tweek feels give me life.