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Chapter 9

Kenny's POV

Stan and I finally had a chance to meet up for dinner and drinks. Right now it's just the two of us, but Craig will be here shortly. At least I'll have some time to catch up with him alone before he shows up. "Thanks for meeting me dude. Craig will be joining us soon." I inform him.

Stan nods. "No problem. I'm glad we had time to catch up before I head back home."

"Eli is done with chemo?"

He smiles and nods. "For now. He'll have to come back for the next round in about a month."

"Oh okay. How's the little guy doing?"

"He's trying his best to keep his spirits up. It was hard when he lost his hair."

"Poor kid…" I could only imagine what he's going through.

"Yeah." I can tell Stan is feeling down. "I wish I could take all his pain away. I hate seeing my son suffer."

I nod in agreement. "It's hard to watch your kids suffer."

"How are your kids?" He asks changing the subject.

"They're great. The twins are graduating college in May and Demi is still a straight A student."

"That's good to know. So how are things with Craig?"

"Craig? Things are great." I look around to make sure Craig isn't here yet.

Stan raises his eyebrow. "Are you sure? You don't seem happy."

"No it's not that." I look away.

"What is it? You can talk to me."

Stan doesn't live here, so maybe it will be okay if I confide in him. "If I tell you something, can you keep it between us?"

"Who am I going to tell?"

He has a point. "Craig, he's...he's very insecure." I immediately lose my nerve.

"How so?"

"Every time I talk to another guy, he thinks I'm hitting on them."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean all my male friends are straight so I don't know why he's worrying so much." I chuckle nervously.

"I'm sorry you have to deal with that. Are you sure that's all you had to say?"

"I'm sure..." I look at his face and I can tell he doesn't believe me.

"Well okay. I won't push you any further. Just know that I'm a phone call away if you're in any trouble."

I smile at him. "Thanks dude."

"Oh good, you're still here!" We turn and see Craig approaching us.

"Hey Craig. Long time, huh?" Stan greets him as he sits down beside me and puts his arm around me.

"Yeah it is. I'm sorry to hear about your son."

"Thanks."

"So what are you guys talking about?" Craig asks looking back and forth at both of us.

"We're just catching up." I tell him.

"I want to hear it from Stan…" He squeezes me a bit.

"Like Kenny said, we were just catching up. I told him about my son and he told me how his kids were doing."

"I see…"

"So have you and Kyle spoke?" I ask trying to break the tension.

"Baby, I don't think that's any of your business." Craig says as he squeezes my thigh.

"It's okay Craig." Stan replies. "I haven't spoken to Kyle at all. How is he?"

"He's still Kyle." I laugh. "You know, living the perfect life."

"That's good, I'm happy for him."

"I would like to see you two make up."

"Again, that's none of your business!" Craig steps in.

"I agree with him Craig." Stan tells him. "There's really no reason why we're not speaking to each other. I mean we worked things out so I don't see why Kyle and I can't."

"Kyle is a little stubborn than I am." I laugh.

"You're right about that. Maybe I'll reach out to him the next time I'm in town."

"That would be great! We could all hang out again like old times."

"As long as you don't invite Cartman!"

"Dude, I wouldn't do that." We continue talking and I'm trying to avoid eye contact with Craig. I can feel him giving me death stares. I know the longer I keep us out, the worse things will be we when get home.

Shannon's POV

I'm at a deli across the street from the hospital to meet Josh. He was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago. I'm not into him at all so I want to break things off with him. He just isn't my type. "He's not here yet." I tell Julia on the phone.

"Maybe he's just running late." Julia suggests. I mean duh! Obviously he's late.

"I hope so. I really need to get this over with."

"Yes you do. Are you sure you really want to dump him? He seems to be nice. A little strange…but nice." I'm still surprised that Julia has taken a liking to him.

"I never should've agreed to be his girlfriend."

"Well technically you didn't." She reminds me.

"I know, but I didn't reject him. Now I'm going to."

"Go easy on him."

"I will. The last thing I want to do is hurt him."

"I know you don't."

Just then, I see Josh approaching. "He's here, I got to go!"

"Okay, let me know how it goes." Julia says just before I hang up as Josh sits down.

"Hi Josh." I notice he's looking down. "What's wrong?"

"I have bad news…" He tells me on the verge of tears.

"What is it?"

He looks at me. "I can't see you anymore."

Well I wasn't expecting that turn of events. "You can't? Well why not?"

"My dad said I can't have an online girlfriend. He even took my computer so I can't talk to you online."

I chuckle. I'm wondering if he's really 20. What parent takes away a grown man's computer? "Well this is interesting."

"What is?"

"Honestly, I was going to end things with you."

"Oh…you were?" I can see how disappointed he is.

I nod slowly. "Yes. Josh, you're a really nice guy, but…I'm not into you like that."

"I see…" He looks away.

"I should've told you when you asked me to be your girlfriend. You're so nice and I really didn't want to hurt you. But not saying anything wasn't fair to you."

"I guess it works out." He smiles, but I can see the hurt in his eyes.

"Yeah. Can we still be friends?"

He looks shocked. "You want to be?"

"Sure, why not? You're a nice guy."

"I've never had a friend before…"

I wasn't expecting that. "You haven't?"

"No. I was home schooled and my parents didn't let me out of the house that much so I didn't have too many opportunities to socialize." That explains why he's so…off.

"Oh wow, that's too bad. Well at least you know now you have friend. Actually three, me, Julia, and Kobe!"

"I'm glad you guys like a loser like me…"

"You're not a loser. Why would you say that?"

"That's what my dad always tells me."

Now I really bad for him. "Really? What kind of dad would say something so horrible to his son?"

Josh shrugs. "I don't know what I did, but he's always really mean to me."

"Why does your mom allow it?"

"She'll comfort me and tell me he doesn't mean it. I know he does."

"I'm really sorry. Your dad sounds like a jerk…no offense."

He shrugs again."None taken. He can be."

"He has to be to call his own son a loser!"

"That's nice compared to how he usually is towards me."

"What do you mean?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing, forget I said anything. I should be getting home." He says as he looks at his watch.

"You want to get something to eat while we're here? My treat." It's the least I can do for him.

"No thanks. I really need to get home." He stands up.

"Okay, well keep in touch!"

"I will." He says as he quickly leaves. I learned more about him in one conversation than I have in the two years that we spoke online. I really want to help him, but how?