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The Key to My Heart
Chapter Eight
[undeniable]
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Glancing over at the kitchen clock once again, Wendy tried to force down another yawn. She looked gloomily at her nearly finished bowl of cereal, sighing out and reaching for her mug in order to gulp down the remainder of her hot cocoa.
Her parents had already gone to work, so she had a little bit of time on her own and to try to collect the scattered thoughts that had been clouding her mind ever since Saturday night. And because she had spent the majority of night tossing and turning in her bed, the teenage girl felt kind of affected by the lack of good night's sleep.
Reaching for her phone, Wendy unlocked it and saw that it was a little bit past seven twenty-five AM. Sighing out once again, she hopped off the kitchen stool and walked towards the sink to place the dirty dishes inside of it. As she walked past the centre island, she grabbed her phone and noticed that she had gotten a couple of text messages from her best friend Bebe.
'I'm outside. You coming?'
'Come onnnn'
Smiling softly to herself, the dark haired teenage girl quickly typed out a response and peeked through the kitchen window, noticing that Bebe's car was parked in the driveway of her family's house. Once she caught the attention of her best friend, Wendy gave her a small wave, before spinning around on the spot and walking towards the front door.
'In two, three minutes. I just finished my breakfast, so…'
She buttoned down her black teddy coat and slipped on her black Uggs, swinging her school backpack over her shoulder and grabbing the house keys from the small wooden cupboard that was placed near the door. The teenage girl then locked the front door of her house and made direct a beeline for the curly blonde's car.
''Hey girl.'', Wendy said, opening the passenger door of the car and climbing inside. She shrugged off her backpack and placed it down beside her feet, before turning towards Bebe and noticing that her oldest friend hadn't exactly been her usual self in the early morning – perky for a person who usually didn't rely on coffee to help them get through the day.
''Hi…'', the blonde teenager responded back in a slightly groggy tone, unsuccessfully trying to cover up the fact that she had also been the one to struggle with getting enough of sleep. She let out a yawn, feeling eager to slump her head against the steering wheel and to simply drift off into the sweet slumber again. ''I'm so tired, Wends. I've barely slept a wink.''
''Yeah, I can tell.'', Wendy commented, eyeing her best friend up and down. ''Are you sure that you can drive us to school? I mean, I can still catch the bus and get to school on time…''
''No, it's fine. I'm only feeling sleepy because I was facetiming with Kyle up until one in the morning, and we honestly would've talked a bit longer if it hadn't been for his mom barging into his room to tell him to finally go to sleep.'', Bebe replied as she roared her car engine into life and switched in the reverse gear. She slowly drove out of the driveway and pulled into one of the many South Park's residential streets.
''That sounds like a pretty valid reason to stay up late. Unlike me, who only stayed up because of AP Chemistry homework I've been attempting to do as fast as I possibly could.''
Chuckling to herself, Bebe shook her head at the raven haired friend. ''Oh Wendy, can you give yourself just a little break from all the homework and studying? Both you and I know that you will have an A from the AP Chem regardless.''
''Well, I know.'', Wendy droned. ''But, I just want to do something productive and something that's actually going to distract me from thinking about everything that happened last weekend.''
''What happened last weekend? Does it have to do something with Stan?'', Bebe asked, slightly taken aback by the sombre tone in the raven haired beauty's voice. ''Because it's not like I've seen you guys talking much after his birthday party, or interacting with each other for that matter.''
''I was honestly hoping you wouldn't guess it, but yeah, it is about him.'', Wendy confirmed blankly, resting her head against the car window and gazing into the gloomy October sky.
''Of course I knew it was about him. I know you way too well, Wends.'', the older of the two teenage girls chuckled. ''You know, at first I didn't notice that you left. However, when Kyle told me that Stan seemed to be significantly less thrilled about his birthday and that he saw you leaving the party relatively early, it didn't take me too long to realize that something must've happened between you two.''
''Well, it did. And I think it's going to fuck up our friendship, or if it isn't already screwed up.'', the dark haired teenage girl huffed out nervously.
''So, what happened?''
''He kissed me.''
''Wait, Stan actually kissed you? Like, full on kissed you?'', Bebe commented in disbelief, drumming her manicured fingertips against the steering wheel.
''Yeah…'', Wendy confirmed in a slightly exasperated tone, pinching the bridge of her nose nervously and resting her head against the window of her best friend's car. ''But it's not like I was expecting it. We were just sitting on the bench outside and made small talk, and then he asked me if he can do something. And the next thing you know, his lips are on mine.''
After the whole awkward situation involving her ex-boyfriend, Wendy had spent the majority of the week pretending as if everything were fine and did a lot of things to try to steer her train of thoughts away from Stan – cheerleading, volleyball, putting an extra effort towards finishing her more daunting schoolwork faster…
However, when none of those things had seemed to help her, she simply decided not to talk to Stan until she was feeling a little less frustrated over the whole kissing ordeal.
But to make things slightly more complicated, neither Stan nor Wendy had mustered up the courage to talk to each other over the whole situation yet, with her being the more adamant one when it came to not talking to her ex-boyfriend. Not to mention that she had been trying her hardest to ignore the trepidation of facing the dark haired teenage boy.
And that was the main reason why she gave Bebe an affirmative response when she asked her if she would like to drive both of them to school throughout the week, as well as carpooling with some of their other girl friends that got their licenses before.
''But did you like it?''
Suddenly snapped out of her longing daydream, Wendy cocked a rather unimpressed eyebrow at the blonde girl sitting behind the steering wheel. ''Liked the fact that Stan actually kissed me?''
''Well, yeah.'', Bebe confirmed with a cheeky smirk plastered on her face, switching on the indicator and taking a left turn into the school's half-full parking lot. ''But it's not just about that – he kissed you for the first time ever since you guys broke up.'', she continued further, looking around for the nearest empty parking spot.
''So?'', the raven haired girl responded back.
''So what? Wends, this is like a major gamechanger when it comes to you two. I mean, things have been going on very well for you guys – doing an assignment together, hugging after both of your respective Homecoming games and then going to the dance together. Do I need to say anything else?''
''No?'', Wendy said, with reluctance ringing in her voice. ''I mean, just because we've been friends again for several months now, it doesn't mean we will necessarily go back to that. Or become something more than friends.''
''Well, let me ask you this – did you like the kiss?'', Bebe asked further.
''Uh, no?''
"Bullshit Wendy, I know you did.", the blonde girl replied back bluntly, definitely not giving her best friend any chance to get herself out of the conversation about her ex-boyfriend.
"Look, Stan did ask me if he can do something, but I didn't expect him to kiss me! I maybe didn't pull away immediately, but I got fucking scared once I realized what had I done.", Wendy said, hastily unbuckling her seat belt and reaching for her backpack from the car floor.
Groaning out frustratingly, she climbed out of Bebe's car and closed the door behind her. Once Bebe locked her car, the two teenage girls began to make their way towards the school's entrance and were attempting to at least look forward to lunch time – one time of the day when they could be together with the rest of their girl friends and indulge themselves into their usual chit-chat and newest school gossip.
''Are you actually mad at him for kissing you?''
"I don't know Bebe, I'm more scared to face the fact that I haven't been over Stan in the slighest.'', Wendy replied as she stopped in her tracks, running one hand down the side of her face. "Yes, dating Lucas kinda' helped me forget about Stan, but just how much? You can't compare a relationship that lasted six months to a relationship that lasted nearly six years.
''No matter how sort of a serious my relationship with Lucas was, he just didn't make me feel the same way Stan managed to. Even after we broke up numerous times because of the pettiest little things, that never detracted from how I've felt about him.''
"I honestly don't remember you chickening out this much over a guy ever since the third grade and that substitute teacher.", Bebe pondered through a chuckle, attempting to lift up her best friend's mood.
''Well, she ended up in the sun. It's definitely not something I'm super proud of, but at least I showed that I'm willing to fight for the person I love.'', Wendy said. ''Anyway, I don't know if I will be able to avoid Stan much longer. He has sent me several messages on both IG and Facebook since Sunday, but I muted him. I've just felt really overwhelmed with everything.''
''It's okay sweetie.'', Bebe said, offering her best friend the sweetest smile possible and pulling her into a comforting hug. ''I'm sure things will fall back into place between you two. They always have and probably will always do.''
''You think?'', the dark haired beauty asked.
''One hundred percent. I think it's starting to become pretty obvious that you guys still have feelings for each other, but are too fucking stubborn to talk about it and sort your shit out. I know you both can, because Kyle said the exact same thing once he pieced everything together.''
''I hope so too.''
Because no matter how much she had been trying to forget the bittersweet memory of being in the lip lock with her ex-boyfriend, Wendy just couldn't get it out of her head. And she simply couldn't force herself to further deny the feelings she had for Stan.
But more importantly, she was just hoping that he had still felt the same way about her as she felt about him.
''I'm sorry, but I still don't buy it. You're really going to throw a party this weekend?'', Kyle chuckled in slight disbelief, taking a bite out of his chicken tortilla.
''W-well, why not? My parents are flying out to Hawaii for their anniversary and I will be home alone all weekend.'', Butters smiled nervously, twiddling with his thumbs. ''And my crazy grandma suffered a heart attack, so she's forced to stay in the hospital for at least some time!''
''So in other words, you will be home alone for the first time ever?'', Kenny chimed into the whole conversation, poking a straw into a half-empty Pepsi can that he had managed to snatch away from Butters. He smirked cheekily, imagining himself and his entire group of long-time friends getting obliterated for the second weekend in a row.
The boisterous group of teenage boys was sitting at their usual lunch table, but this time they were joined by Butters, whom Kenny decided to invite to sit along with them during lunch – mostly because they had all overheard him talking about potentially throwing a small get-together for all of his classmates. And of course, they decided to give the blonde teenager a few useful tips and tricks about organizing a kick-ass party and making sure than no one would rat him out to his strict, overprotective parents.
''Yeah.'', Butters confirmed with a sole nod of his head. ''Can you fellas help me out with it?''
''Sure, no problem.'', Clyde said. ''My sister can hook us up with drinks, so don't consider that to be a big problem. You just have to tell me what kind of booze do you want at your party.''
''Nothing too special, I guess. Beers, and vodka in case someone wants to mix it with juice or Red Bull.''
''I can bring us enough food and snacks for everyone. Maybe even some good quality vodka, like Absolut or Smirnoff.'', Token inserted himself into the party-prepping conversation. ''Since this is the first time you're throwing a party, you should put in at least a little bit of effort.''
''Oh geez, you really don't have to buy anything. I just want everyone to have a good time, and that's it.'', Butters smiled gently, brushing his knuckles together.
''Fair point then.''
The rest of the lunch time seemed to drag on endlessly, until Kenny noticed something very peculiar and realized that a particular member of their group of friends had decided not to eat lunch with them that day. "Hey dudes, did you notice that Cartman actually decided to skip lunch today? Or at least go somewhere else to eat?''
"Dude, what the actual fuck? Fatass never misses lunch. It's his favorite part of school day and probably the only reason why he even goes to school.", Kyle commented, taking a quick glance around the school's cafeteria and noticing that his long time frenemy was nowhere to be seen.
"Apparently, Cartman managed to get himself a girlfriend. Or something adjacent to that.", Kenny inserted himself into the whole conversation again, only confirming everyone's suspicions about why the fattest teenager of them all had been missing out on lunch time for the possibly first time in a while.
"You're shitting me, right?", Token spoke from the opposite end of the table.
"I'm not. He and that Italian chick Lucy actually hooked up at Stan's birthday party last weekend.", Clyde explained, causing everyone at their lunch table to erupt into laughter.
"Wow, imagine Cartman ditching lunch for a girl. That feels extremely weird knowing the fact that he would sell his mom for a bag of Cheesy Poofs.", Kyle snorted, adjusting his trusty green hat and trying to eat his lunch again. "Hopefully that poor girl doesn't end up like Heidi. You all know what she turned into when she started dating him – Cartwoman.''
"No, I actually don't think Lucy will. Believe it or not, he actually likes her. And he admitted that right before he managed to chug down two fucking six-packs of beer and went home hand-in-hand with his new girlfriend.'', the brunette teenage boy confirmed, taking another bite out of his hamburger.
Even though he had been sitting at his usual lunch table with the group of his long-time friends, Stan instead decided to focus on eating his lunch and simply not to indulge himself into the whole party-prepping conversation. Mostly because the dark haired teenage boy hadn't necessarily been in the mood to listen to any one of his friends' party ideas and advices, and frankly, he just didn't want to go to any more parties – at least for some time.
Ever since his sixteenth birthday party, Stan had been feeling particularly dejected. While he knew that the main reason for feeling that way was him kissing his ex-girlfriend and her subsequently storming out of his house after she pulled away from their tender, heart–racing exchange, the raven haired teenager still felt like he wanted to kick himself for even attempting to do that.
However, he was completely aware of the fact that it was his decision to go along with that train of thoughts. And while him and Wendy hadn't been on speaking terms for nearly a week, Stan was still determined towards finally talking to his ex-girlfriend and wiping the slate clean between them.
Looking over his shoulder, Stan saw Wendy sitting at her lunch table with all of her friends, and felt his heart tumble down into the pits of his stomach. He looked at her for a few longing moments, trying to soak up as much of her beauty as he possibly could.
And after all those years of knowing her, he just couldn't get the image of Wendy out of his head.
The way her long, raven hair cascaded down her back. Her twinkling brown eyes framed with long, wispy lashes. Her adorable smile and even more adorable giggles she emitted. Her personality which had barely changed over the years – a perfect mixture of brains, political activism and feminism, sassiness whenever needed, kindless and willingness to help out everyone.
But much to his dismay, the dark haired teenage boy was suddenly snapped out of his longing daydream by Kyle, who was sitting right next to him.
''Dude, what's up with you and Wendy?'', the Jewish teenager asked, taking one more bite out of his lunch.
''Ugh, nothing. Why do you ask?'', cocking a cynical eyebrow at his best friend, Stan snorted to himself and tried to come up with a way of how to get out of the conversation about his ex-girlfriend.
''Look Stan, I might not be an expert when it comes to relationships, but I sure as hell do know that you still have a thing for Wendy.'', Kenny suddenly cut in, smirking cheekily at one of his best friends and taking a sip out of his orange juice box. ''I know this may sound extremely gay, but you know that you can tell me everything, right? Even including the things about girls.''
Pushing his lunch tray away from him, Stan huffed out nervously and ran one hand down the side of his face. ''Look, it's nothing too complicated, okay?''
''However, ever since we kissed at my birthday party, I've been thinking about Wendy more and more.'', the raven haired teenager admitted, sighing out softly. ''I don't know, I guess I'm just not sure if she still feels the same way about me.''
''Well, you will never know if you don't talk to her. I mean, that's kinda' the only way you can find out if both of you still have a thing for each other, am I right?'', Kyle said, heaving his shoulders up and down.
''You think?'', Stan said meekly. ''She's been ignoring my messages on Instagram and Facebook too.''
''Well, text messages mean dog shit in this situation. I've seen the way Wendy looks at you, and although I'm not exactly the master when it comes to reading the girls' emotions and facial expressions, I can tell that she's probably in the same head space as you – she's not sure if you feel the same way about her and maybe wants to sort things out with you in order to repair your friendship, or whatever the heck is going on between you two.'', Kenny explained.
''You mean, it's the same way you look at Red and vice versa?'', swapping a sudden mischievous grin with his dark haired best friend, Kyle decided to tease his another best friend.
''Keep your nose out of my relationships, okay?'', the blonde teenager teased back, shaking his head playfully at both of his best friends. ''Just because Red and I went to Homecoming together, it doesn't mean we actually are together.''
''I guess I'm just gonna' give it a shot, regardless if Wendy still wants to talk to me or not.'', Stan suddenly spoke up, reaching down for his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. He grabbed his lunch tray and pushed himself up from the bench, making a beeline for the nearest trash can.
The dark haired teenager was absolutely determined towards fixing the friendship with his ex-girlfriend. And the encouraging words coming from his two closest friends only made Stan's self-confidence rise.
But more importantly, he had never been clearer about his feelings for Wendy than in his entire life.
Strolling down the hallway towards his tenth grade English classroom, Stan looked around the hallway in hopes of finally finding Wendy and talking with her about everything that had happened between them on his sixteenth birthday party.
And although his self-confidence was still moderately high, there was an anxious feeling bubbling in the pits of his stomach. However, once he spotted Wendy standing by her locker, the raven haired teenager felt his heart skipping a gentle beat and nearly all of his nervous thoughts quelling down.
Adjusting the straps of his backpack, Stan made a direct beeline towards his ex-girlfriend and cleared his throat before finally communicating with her for the first time since his birthday.
''Hey Wendy.''
Completely unaware that her ex-boyfriend was now approaching her, the teenage girl flipped through some of her books and tried to make the most out of the remainder of the lunch break she was still having, right before it was the time to head towards her tenth grade English classroom.
Snapping her head up, the mere sound of Stan's voice was more than enough to make Wendy's heart thump against her rib cage. She gave her ex-boyfriend a polite smile, desperately trying to shake off the nervous feeling that had started to coat every inch of her body. ''Oh, hey…''
''What's up?'', Stan asked, smiling right back at his raven haired counterpart.
''Well, nothing too unusual. I'm just going through some notes for my AP Chem class.'', she explained quickly, trying not to get too distracted by Stan's incredibly charming, goofy smile. ''What about you?''
"Nothing much.'', he replied. ''I was actually wondering if you have any plans for this weekend?"
"Hm, apart from studying and reading a good book, I really don't have much planned. Why?", she replied back in a slightly exasperated tone, not even bothering to glance up from her AP Chemistry notebook.
"Well…'', the teenage boy began nervously, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. ''Since Butters' parents are out of town this weekend, he's going to throw a party. And I wanted to ask you if you would maybe like to come with me."
Glancing up at him through her long, dark lashes, Wendy let out a gentle scoff and and finally placed her notebook inside her locker and slammed it shut. She folded her arms across her chest, cocking a cynical eyebrow at the dark haired quarterback. "I love how you have the decency to ask me if I would like to go to party with you. I don't really recall you apologizing for kissing me.''
"Wendy…'', Stan responded in an almost pleading tone. ''Look, I want to apologize. Sincerely, if you give me a cha-"
''Apology accepted.'', she cut him off suddenly, letting out a sad sigh. ''It's fine, really. You got drunk and kissed me. It happens sometimes.''
"I'm really trying to mend our friendship, okay? I'm being serious.", Stan replied, gently placing both hands on Wendy's shoulders.
"I'm not going with you to the party, just to make things clear.'', letting out another sigh, Wendy simply shook her head. ''But that doesn't mean I'm not going to accept your apology, you know? We can still talk and be friendly with each other, as I also don't want our friendship to go down the toilet because of one drunk fuck-up.''
Breathing out a sigh of relief, Stan removed his hands from Wendy's shoulders and instead put them into the pockets of his comfortable football jacket. He smiled softly at her, feeling incredibly relieved over the fact that she did accept his apology, albeit in a snappish kind of way. ''Good. I feel the same way too.''
"So, when does the party start?", Wendy asked, reaching down for her backpack.
''Well, Butters said that he will tell us eventually, but he said that it won't start neither too late nor too early.'', Stan explained. ''Maybe around eight, eight-thirty?''
''Good.'', the teenage girl smirked as she walked towards their English language classroom, before looking over her shoulder. ''Are you coming to English or are you waiting for the freaking tea party to begin?''
Chuckling at Wendy's sarcastic remark, Stan nodded his head in response as he began to drag himself towards the classroom. But from one corner of his bright blue eye, the teenage boy noticed one particular person that could probably help him out with Wendy the most.
Probably being the key word in that situation.
"Hey Bebe."
''Oh hey Stan.'', stopping right in her tracks, the curly blonde turned towards her best friend's ex-boyfriend and smiled gently at him. ''Don't think that I didn't see you talking to Wendy. Is everything okay between you guys now?''
''Well, I guess it is. It's not like she was in the mood to listen to my explanations, so she immediately accepted my apology. I really don't know if it was genuine or not, though.''
''You're worrying a bit too much. I can assure you that her reaction was genuine, because I know she's been kinda' hoping you would at least attempt to apologize to her. I just want for both of you to be on good terms, okay?''
''Good, but I'm still kinda' scared that this won't be enough. Maybe I should try to apologize again?''
"It will, so don't forget about that. Believe me, I know everything about that happened between you two on Saturday.''
Groaning out, Stan hung his head back. ''Damn, you do?''
''I do, but I can sort of see it from both perspectives – you drank a bit and kissed her, while she got all panicky because you guys actually kissed after such a long time.''
"Although I drank a few cans of beer and then kissed Wendy, I might've wanted to do it anyway. It's not like I forced her or anything, because I asked her if I can do something and when she said yes, I kissed her.", Stan admitted, leaning against one of many school lockers.
Widening her eyes in pure bewilderment, Bebe let out a gentle scoff. ''Really?''
''Well yeah, because I came to conclusion that I still have feelings for her.", Stan confessed gently, heaving his shoulders up and down. ''And also, I kissed her in hopes of potentially rekindling our relationship. But in hindsight, I probably should've given it much more thought.''
"Stan, that's like a major gamechanger.", Bebe said. ''Look, Wendy's sort of a champion when it comes to hiding her feelings. However, I've known her for such a long time that I can tell when something's really bothering her.''
''Yeah, I'm aware of that…'', he droned.
''So, you want to be with her again?'', the blonde teenage girl placed hands on both of her hips, raising a curious eyebrow.
''Isn't it more than obvious? I mean, I don't want to rush anything with her.'', he responded. ''I really wanna' give her the time to gather her thoughts, and when she feels ready to talk about her feelings, I'm more than willing to listen to her. I really fucking miss her.''
''She misses you too, although it probably doesn't seem like it.'', Bebe chuckled, before chewing down on her bottom lip and stewing in deep thought for a few moments.
''Well, here's something I can do – if you're gonna' go to Butters' party this weekend, I can help you by distracting Kyle. I know he's big on all of you guys participating in drinking games, but I can force him to do shots with me instead. That way you can have a chance of talking to Wendy without being interrupted!''
''You would honestly do that?''
''Yeah, because you guys are both my friends. And also, I fucking hate seeing her being down in the dumps over you, especially because I know deep down that she's scared to face how she feels about you and that you might not feel the same way anymore.''
''Well, now you know that I still feel the same way about her. I just have to muster up the courage to talk to her about it.'', Stan replied. ''And thanks for helping me out. I seriously can't thank you enough for this.''
Smiling sweetly at the raven haired teenager, Bebe patted him on the shoulder. ''Don't mention it. Fingers crossed that things eventually work out between you two.''
Hello dear readers, I'm back with another chapter!
I really don't have too much to say about this chapter other than a lot of things are coming to light between Stan and Wendy, as well as falling into place. ;)
And sadly, we only have two more chapters to go before I wrap the story up! I can't express just how much I've enjoyed writing this story and how much I appreciate every single one of your guys' reviews, favorites and follows.
Until the next time guys,
- xoxo, whisperinthemoonlight. ❤