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The Key to My Heart
Chapter Nine
[hearts on a sleeve]
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Friday night couldn't have rolled around faster, as well as the party Butters had been planning for the past couple of days.
Although the blonde teenage boy was sort of expecting his friends to eventually change their minds and screw him over, he was pleasantly surprised when they had told him about already equipping everyone with the needed party-related goodies. But even more importantly, they made sure that none of them would even attempt to imply anything about the party to their parents, or even worse, to Butters' parents.
And as far as everyone's parents had been convinced, it was just going to be a quiet get-together for Butters and all of his long-time friends.
Right?
Pretty much the only thing that was left for Butters to handle was for his parents to leave the early Friday morning in order to catch their flight to Honolulu, allowing their only child to be home alone for the first time in his whole sixteen years of being alive and kicking.
Obviously, Steven and Linda's trip preparation also included an entire speech about their son not being able to escape grounding if he would even think about trying to organize a party, to have his friends or perhaps even a girl over at their house – even though they would still occasionally have second thoughts about Butters being one hundred percent straight.
The moment his parents pulled away from the driveway of the Stotch residence and started their route towards the Denver International Airport, the teenage boy typed out a quick text message to the party group chat he had created and informed everyone about finally being home alone, thus giving his friends a green light when it came to delivering booze and food for the party.
After another school week was finally over, Token decided to drop off the drinks at Butters' house, while Kyle and Kenny offered to buy the snacks and whatever the heck people also wanted to eat. And considering the fact that they had some leftover money, Kenny decided to put it towards a good cause and buy some well-deserved food for his entire family.
While the guys were busy with getting the supplies needed for throwing a kick-ass party, the majority of female members of the tight-knit group of teenagers hadn't been so interested in the whole party prepping business, except for Heidi.
The brunette teenage girl was the only one who decided to stay at Butters' place for just a little bit longer and help him set everything up. She had absolutely no problem with offering to help the teenage boy, mostly because they had always been very good friends and would often help each other out with numerous things – homework, worksheets for their science classes, cracking jokes about Cartman…
Since they had been hanging out quite a lot recently and were enjoying each other's company, both Butters and Heidi slowly began to develop feelings for each other. However, neither of them had yet grown the balls to confess how they felt about one another, so they both wanted to use the party as an opportunity to do just that – even if it meant drinking a little bit of booze to help them ease down their nervous thoughts and to finally talk about the feelings they had been attempting to conceal for the past few months.
And them confessing how they felt about each other was exactly what happened, albeit much sooner than both of them had anticipated – thanks to the magic of a single vodka shot and a game of 'never have I ever'.
''Heidi, where are the beer packs?'', Butters said, walking around the corner into the kitchen in order to find the six packs of beer Token had left there about an hour ago.
Glancing up from her phone, Heidi cocked her head in the direction of the kitchen and felt her smile forming wide as Butters poked his head out of kitchen. ''Look in the fridge. I'm sure he left them there, just like any person with a logical sense of thinking would do.''
''I did. They are cool as a cucumber and ready for the party.'', the blonde teenager smiled, taking a seat in the comfortable maroon-colored armchair.
''I'm glad that there hasn't been any problems with you throwing a party. I was kinda' scared that someone might be a snitch and tell your parents about it.'', Heidi admitted.
''W-well, truth to be told, they've called me only once since they left for Hawaii. And that was only to tell me that they landed safely and were on their way to the beach resort. I'm sure they are having a blast for their anniversary.''
''And you're gonna' have a blast of your own tonight.'', the teenage girl smirked, before a mischievous idea popped into the forefront of her mind.
''Hey, how about we start the party a little bit earlier, hm?'', Heidi said as she got up from the couch and made a direct beeline for the kitchen, leaving Butters all confused and semi-worried about what the heck she was planning to do.
But when she came back from the kitchen with a bottle of Smirnoff vodka in her left hand and a couple of shot glasses in her right, the blonde boy quickly pieced everything together and let out the faintest gasp possible. ''Isn't it a bit too early to start drinking something so strong like vodka?''
''C'mon Leo, a couple of shots of vodka will help you loosen up for the party. You don't need to feel forced to chug down an entire bottle of it, unless you want that to be your death wish or something.'', Heidi said with a gentle chuckle, plopping herself down on the couch again.
She scrunched her nose up as the strong alcoholic scent hit her nostrils, pouring the clear liquid into both shot glasses and offering the party host to trickle it down his throat. ''Token bought one more bottle of vodka in case we all manage to finish this one first.''
''Heh, good.'', Butters smiled sheepishly, before shaking his head in pure disgust at the sickly scent of a shot he was being offered to take. ''I don't even know why I agreed on Token hooking us up with vodka. I should've told him about getting some other type of alcohol – like tequila or gin.''
''Vodka's perfectly fine. You can drink it on its own, or you can mix it with an orange juice and get a bomb-ass drink combination.'', Heidi argued, reaching for her glass and taking a swift shot of vodka down her throat. She coughed almost instantly, as the stinging and burning sensation quickly spread inside her mouth.
Watching her take the shot of vodka like an absolute champion, Butters simply shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to replicate what his crush had done just moments ago. He made a disgusting facial expression as vodka slid down his throat, causing him to let out a gasp. ''Oh hamburgers, that's fucking disgusting!''
''I know, right? But sometimes, it can be good.'', Heidi giggled, pouring vodka again into hers and Butters' shot glasses. ''Here, take another one.''
''I will.'', Butters said meekly, placing the shot glass onto the coffee table beside the couch. ''But under one condition – we play 'never have I ever'.''
''Oh…'', the teenage girl widened her blue eyes to the size of saucers, before rapidly nodding her head in agreement and proceeding to take matters into her own hands. ''Well, here's one for you – never have I ever kissed someone while drunk?''
''I haven't.'', he admitted shyly, locking his eyes with Heidi's. ''I mean, I'm not drunk right now…''
''Perhaps you can do it without being drunk?'', Heidi raised an inviting eyebrow, scooting closer to her crush on the couch.
Feeling his heart rate going up rapidly, Butters simply grinned at the brunette teenage girl and leaned forward to capture his lips with hers.
He cupped one side of her face, while his other hand got tangled within her long, brown locks. He pecked at her lips over and over, before Heidi decided to go a little bit further and snaked both arms around Butters' neck, forcing him to lay down on the couch. She teasingly licked his bottom lip with her tongue, feeling the underlying presence of vodka on the blonde teenager's lips.
Once they finally pulled away, Butters planted a gentle kiss on Heidi's cheek and wrapped his arms around her. She nuzzled her nose into the crook of his shoulder, sighing in pure happiness and relief.
"I-I like you, Heidi.", he confessed with a gentle hiccup, smiling shyly at the teenage girl and stroking her hair with his fingers. "I kinda' started liking you a few months ago, but I just haven't had the balls to tell you."
''Why didn't you tell me sooner?'', she looked up at him through her long, dark lashes, glimpsing adoringly into his hazel eyes and brushing away the messy blonde locks from his face.
''I was scared of telling you. You know, people already started assuming that I was gay, that I was fawning over Kenny and what not…''
''Wait, why the fuck would someone think that?''
''Well, your ex-boyfriend started that entire rumor.'', Butters said. ''Just because Kenny is my best friend, it doesn't mean that I have a crush on him.''
''So Cartman was the one who started that whole mess? He can honestly go fuck himself and go suck a big one.'', Heidi rolled her eyes in pure disgust, definitely wanting to get the image of her ex-boyfriend out of her head as soon as possible.
Butters nodded in response. ''Yeah, he was the main culprit for that. But in all seriousness, fuck him.''
''Let's not talk about him anymore, okay?'', Heidi cringed, before offering her crush and potentially soon-to-be boyfriend a sweet smile. ''So, you really like me, huh?''
''I really, really do.'', Butters admitted, nervously twiddling with his thumbs.
''How about we go on a date?''
''Mhm, how about tomorrow?''
''Maybe we could. Unless hangover gets the best of us tomorrow.'', she laughed.
''I don't care.'', the blonde teenager laughed right back at Heidi, wrapping his arms around her once again and pulling her into his warm embrace.
Several hours later, the party at Butters' place had been in full swing and was pretty damn good – to say the least.
Music was blasting from both speakers placed in the living room, while the seemingly never-ending amounts of booze were trickling down everyone's throats. Enough food and snacks were bought for everyone to munch on, including for the fatass himself, Eric Cartman.
The gang of teenagers had been playing all types of drinking games that would usually get someone obliterated very quickly, including everyone's favorite game of 'never have I ever' – which was often used as a very handy tool to extract the juiciest secrets out of anyone.
When people weren't participating in drinking games or simply didn't feel like drinking anything else other than the tropical flavored punch, they would often get engaged in a makeout session somewhere in the house – and it would usually happen between two people that already had an established relationship, or perhaps between two people that were yet to announce their relationship out to the world, like Kenny McCormick and Red Tucker.
But some teenagers hadn't been interested in anything else other than quietly drinking their booze and watching their friends have a good time, with the most notable ones in that department being both Stan and Wendy.
Just like she had told him during their confrontation a few days ago, the raven haired teenage girl was still more than willing to talk to her ex-boyfriend as if nothing had changed between them and the state of their 'friendship'. But no matter how much she had been trying to find the fine line between being friends with Stan and displaying the tiniest amount of affection towards him, Wendy just wasn't sure if she would be able to conceal her feelings for her ex-boyfriend any longer.
The teenage girl was slouched comfortably in the maroon armchair, with her legs crossed and dangling over the edge of the cozy piece of furniture. She was clacking her fingernails against her nearly empty beer can, occasionally glancing over at her friends playing spin the bottle and locking her brown eyes with the blue ones of her ex-boyfriend.
But still, neither Stan nor Wendy could tear their eyes away from each other.
Admittedly, Stan looked handsome in a bright orange and blue Denver Broncos hoodie she had gotten him as a birthday gift, and a pair of distressed blue jeans. His raven black hair was strategically messy and poked through his red poof ball hat, while his charming smile was there to tie the whole look together.
Wendy, on the flip side, decided to wear something that was slightly out of her comfort zone, but still casual enough. She was wearing a white top with spaghetti straps, a pair of high-waisted black skinny jeans and black ankle boots with sharp, pointy heels.
And she looked absolutely stunning to the teenage boy.
However, Stan's mind had been predominantly cluttered with the thought of finally telling Wendy everything he had been feeling for the past eighteen, heart-wrenching months.
Although Stan usually had no issues with confronting other people, there had always been something about Wendy that made it hard for him to talk to her about more serious things – especially the ones regarding their relationship. But tonight, he decided to shake off all those ridiculous thoughts and confront his ex-girlfriend about his lingering feelings for her.
Placing his empty beer can onto the coffee table, Stan sucked in a deep breath and tried his best to properly organize the nervous thoughts dancing inside of his head. He got up from the second maroon-colored armchair and shuffled across the room towards his ex-girlfriend, giving her a small, sweet smile as he finally approached her.
It's now or never Stan.
"Wendy, can I talk to you?'', Stan asked, putting his hands inside the pockets of his comfortable hoodie.
''Yeah, I guess.'', looking up at him through her long, wispy lashes, Wendy simply shrugged her shoulders in response and drank the remainder of her beer. ''What is it about?''
''You will see. Can we talk somewhere? Alone maybe?'', he responded with a look of hope pooling in his beautiful blue eyes.
''Alone?", she questioned, feeling her heart pound against her rib cage as Stan gave her nothing else but a sole nod of his head as a response.
Her mouth instantly went dry as the apprehensive, nervous feelings began bubbling inside her guts at the thought of being completely alone with her ex-boyfriend, possibly well out of an earshot from all their friends. Her mind swiftly became overwhelmed with a million and one potential things Stan would say to her, but none of them were even on par with the biggest nerve-racking thought of them all.
How the hell she would be able to muster enough courage to tell Stan about her surpressed feelings for him?
That was just one of many anxious thoughts being present inside the raven haired girl's mind, while she was becoming more and more nervous with each step she took behind her ex-boyfriend.
The closer she was getting towards being one-on-one with Stan, the more an idea of being able to avoid their confrontation was becoming distant and crumbling away into thousand little pieces.
''Stan, where the hell are you taking me?'', Wendy yelped slightly as she watched Stan opening the door of Butters' family dining room and gesturing for her to enter inside.
''Somewhere we can talk to each other without getting interrupted.'', he said gently, closing the door behind him and turning around to finally face his ex-girlfriend.
''And you couldn't have thought about some better place other than the dining room?'', the teenage girl crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head in disbelief.
''Look, it's fair to say that here we have the best chance of actually talking to each other. The majority of our friends are either being fucking loud, playing seven minutes in heaven with each other or are throwing up in the bathroom. And do you see anyone rampaging in here?''
''No…'', Wendy replied, licking her lips tentatively before proceeding to talk about the potential reason of why she was inside the dining room with Stan. ''So, what do you wanna' talk about?''
Feeling his anxious thoughts skyrocket, Stan swallowed a nervous chunk down his throat and nearly brought himself to the brink of throwing up from all the nervousness that had been consuming his mind ever since arrived to the party.
''Do you have to puke?'', Wendy asked in a worried tone, but soon felt relieved to see Stan giving her an affectionate, kind smile.
''Almost had to, but it's been a while since I last puked.'', he chuckled, before rubbing the back of his neck nervously and trying to come up with the best way of how start the conversation with Wendy. "Look, I really want to talk to you about something."
''Talk about what?'', she cocked a curious, but cautious eyebrow. She was waiting on a knife's edge, desperately wanting to hear Stan's reasons behind the two of them being completely alone.
And when he finally did give her a response, it was probably one of the things she had been expecting to hear the least.
''Wendy, I think it's about time that both of us stop pretending that we are over each other.'', Stan began. ''Because frankly, that's going to bring us nowhere.''
''What are you trying to say? That I'm not over you?'', she responded back, not wanting to believe what she had just heard.
''Well, it seems like it. I don't know why is it that hard for you to admit it?'', he said. ''Up until a few days ago, I was pretty much in the same headspace as you Wendy! Desperately trying to convince myself that I was over you, but when my birthday came around and I drank a bit, I simply came to a conclusion that trying not to face my feelings for you was becoming harder and harder to do.''
''I thought that we shared the same opinion about our kiss – it was a simple mistake.''
''But what if that wasn't a mistake? What if it was something that I've wanted to do ever since the Homecoming dance and when we danced together to that romantic song. Don't you remember just how close you and I were to kissing?''
''Well, I do remember, but…''
''But what Wendy?'', he said in a slightly pleading tone. ''Why am I now being the one who's braver to talk about my feelings and our 'friendship'? You are the one that's definitely not afraid to confront other people and tell them what's bothering you.''
The dark haired girl sighed out sadly, finally dropping her hands down to her hips. ''Because right now I am afraid, Stan. And you are just, I don't know…''
''More open to talk about my feelings?'', he asked.
''Yeah.'', she confirmed timidly. ''It's been something that I've wanted to do for the past year and a half too. However, I've just kept on convincing myself that I was over you and that you weren't going to have much time to talk to me anyway.''
''What do you mean by 'didn't have enough time'? Are you trying to blame me for our breakup?"
''No, of course not.'', she retorted. ''But don't you remember your reasons for not being able to see me in middle school – soccer practices, playing basketball with guys and a whole lot of other things?''
''Well yeah, but I was willing to give in more effort towards spending some time with you.''
''But why didn't you try harder then?''
"Wendy, we've been on and off for years. I just thought that putting in more effort towards something that seemed tiring and emotionally draining wasn't really worth it – at least in that particular moment.'', Stan argued, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
"Okay, but what about our breakup then? We both decided that breaking up would be the best option, so don't start backflipping on that.", Wendy pondered.
''You're right – it was a mutual decision.'', he agreed. ''But I thought that we would eventually sort things out before we start high school.''
''And we didn't, because I don't think either of us were willing to do that. Or at least felt brave enough.''
''What about Lucas then?'', Stan said meekly, making Wendy cringe the very second she had heard the name of her other ex-boyfriend.
''What does my ex-boyfriend have to do with you and me?''
The raven haired teenage boy instantly remembered how heartbroken he had felt during their Freshman year whenever he saw Wendy with some other guy. And how incredibly furious he had felt over the fact that the jackass named Lucas actually had the decency to cheat on such an amazing girl like Wendy.
Because it took Stan every single ounce of his body not to walk over to the older student and smash him right across his face.
"Do you have any idea how much I wanted to kick Lucas' ass when I heard about him cheating on you? Seeing how happy you were with him made me think about all the opportunities I've missed out on you during our Freshman year. You have no idea how many times I've wished I was that guy."
"So, that's why you had to start dating a girl who used to be one of my closest friends for years? To try and get me out of your head?''
''You were dating someone else at the time, so we were pretty much on the page.''
''Well yeah, I was dating someone that wasn't from our circle of friends. That is completely different.'', Wendy argued in a slightly agitated tone.
"I'm not going to waste my time arguing over the people who we used to date after our breakup.'', Stan folded his arms over his chest and stared directly into Wendy's gorgeous brown eyes. ''I'm serious when I say that I've regretted the way I treated you before. Wendy, I miss you way too much.''
"None of the girls I was interested in after our breakup could ever compete with you.'', the teenage boy admitted, finally allowing emotions to get the best of him. "I've never fallen in love with anyone else like I did with you."
''Stan…'', Wendy sighed.
"Look, I'm the first one to admit that I wasn't necessarily the best boyfriend ever. And that's why it hurt so much seeing you with Lucas, because I thought that you actually found someone who's on par with you in terms of personality and the things you like."
"Fuck his personality and the interests we shared – he cheated on me.'', the teenage girl said, rolling her eyes.
"And that made me want to beat him up even more. He wasn't worthy of you at all.", Stan admitted gently, taking a step closer towards Wendy and tucking a long, loose strand of her hair behind her ear.
"But is it late for us?", she asked apprehensively, feeling the goosebumps form all over her skin underneath her ex-boyfriend's gentle touch.
"Wendy, it's never been too late for us.", he said with a chuckle.
"You know...", Wendy began timidly, dropping her hands down to her sides again and brushing her fingertips against Stan's. She could feel salty tears forming in the corners of her eyes, but when she realized that there was really no point in holding back her tears, she allowed one small, solitary tear to run down her cheek. "For the past year and a half, that tiny part of me has been hoping that you would eventually come back around.''
"I know.'', Stan smiled gently, sliding both hands underneath Wendy's head and wiping away the tears from her cheeks. He pressed his forehead against hers, gazing into her hypnotizing brown eyes. ''I was wondering if you're gonna' finally admit it."
But feeling as if they hadn't been close to each other enough, for the second time in eighteen, heart-wrenching months, Stan captured his lips with Wendy's in a gentle kiss. He clutched both hands onto either sides of her face, allowing himself to re-familiarize with the taste of her lips. Their lips began to move in a slow, but tender rhythm, making their hearts absolutely soar out of their chests.
Wendy sighed out softly against his lips, wrapping both arms around Stan's neck and pulling him closer towards her. She ran her fingertips through his soft black locks that she had still loved oh so much, entwining them at the nape of his neck. Deciding to give in a little bit into more their kiss, Stan stooped down and placed both hands underneath Wendy's thighs for an extra leverage. He lifted her up just slightly, placing her down on the dining table and standing in between her now parted legs. She cupped his cheeks with her hands, smiling tenderly into their kiss.
The kiss tasted even sweeter than the one they had shared a week before, but it also reminded both raven haired teenagers of just how much they had been aching to be in each other's arms and be this close again.
They pecked at each other's lips over and over, with neither Stan nor Wendy being ready to pull away just yet. Both teenagers wanted to prolong the amazing moment for as long as they possibly could, at least up until their lungs started to gasp for air. Once they finally parted away from each other, the teenage boy gazed into her chocolate brown eyes and planted a tender kiss on her forehead, fishing down for her hand in order to lace their fingers together.
''You think we should give us another try?'', he asked, comfortingly rubbing circles on top of her hand with his thumb.
''Yeah, definitely.'', she grinned up at him.
''You know…'', Stan began. ''I'm sixteen now and slightly more mature than before, so I think I will be able to learn from the past mistakes I've done in our relationship and do my best to fix them.''
''Stan, I'm not forcing you to change because of me. I'm not perfect either, and you know that very well.'', Wendy responded. ''But I'm always going to appreciate you putting in the effort towards becoming a better person, although I can indeed say that you have matured since elementary school.''
''Don't forget that I've also done a lot of mistakes in our relationship before.'', she continued further.
''Well, everyone makes mistakes.'', he argued, kissing the very tip of her nose and making her blush like crazy.
''What about us spending enough time together?'', Wendy asked curiously, but let out a scoff once she realized what she had asked. ''Oh crap, I really didn't mean to start annoying you with that already.''
''You worry way too much, babe. We will just have to find that perfect balance, but considering the fact that we were able to do our assignment rather quickly and still have the time for other things, I don't think that's going to be a problem anymore.'', Stan beamed at Wendy, tugging onto her hand and waiting for her to hop down from the table.
''Awesome.'', she beamed right back. "Come on, let's go back to the guys."
Pulling her into another tender kiss, Stan opened the door of the dining room and walked out of it, never wanting to cease the kiss he was sharing with his girlfriend. They grinned happily into their kiss, before pulling away from each other and making their way back to the living room.
Neither of the two teenagers were able to hide the goofy grins that had been plastered across their lips, just like the irresistibly red blush that had formed in their cheeks. And frankly, both Stan and Wendy hadn't been ashamed of the fact that it was all worth it in the end.
Because finally, they were back to where they belonged – together, as a couple.
Some time later, both Stan and Wendy started to feel particularly sleepy and decided to call it a night when it came to partying at Butters' place.
They were eagerly rushing to slip on their coats and leave the blonde teenager's house, as well as to discuss about where they were to head next. And once they said goodbye to all their friends and thanked Butters for throwing a very nice party, the two raven haired teenagers closed the door behind them and walked hand-in-hand into one of South Park's many residential streets.
''So much for staying the night at Butters' place, right?'', Wendy teased.
''Well, I was initially thinking about crashing over at Butters' place, but since the guest bedroom has already been taken by Kenny and Red, and Token and Nichole fell asleep on the couch, I just didn't want to cause more mess for the poor guy to clean up.'', Stan explained, smiling right back at his girlfriend.
''Hm, you can sleep over at my place?'', she suggested. ''Butters doesn't live that far away from me."
''Really? I mean, I would love to, but…'', Stan smiled sheepishly. ''Aren't your parents going to be pissed off when they find out you brought your boyfriend over?''
''Who says they will know that I had anyone over?'', Wendy smirked cheekily, standing up on her toes to plant a tender peck on her boyfriend's lips. "Besides, my parents are both out of town this weekend. Mom has this business conference in L.A., while dad went on a skiing trip to Aspen with his colleagues."
''Killer.'', Stan smirked right back as he continued to walk alongside his girlfriend.
''But, I'll let you sleep over at my house under one condition – you have to let me wear your Broncos hoodie to bed.''
''Really Wends?'', the teenage boy responded, chuckling to himself in slight disbelief. ''Fine, you win.''
''Hell yeah.'', she sung back teasingly, re-affirming the grip she had on Stan's hand and taking another step towards her family home.
That night, both Stan and Wendy happily fell asleep in each other's embrace after such a long time, definitely not being able to shake off the amazing sensation that the longing dreams of them being together again weren't dreams anymore, but instead a reality that neither of them had been willing to slip away ever again.
So, they finally got back together! ;)
Can you tell just how much I enjoyed writing this chapter? If Stan and Wendy were about to get back together, I made sure that it would be written with an extra dose of fluffiness. It is incredibly fluffy and sappy, but you guys are well aware that this is my writing style.
And with a great amount of sadness, I have to say that this is the penultimate chapter in this fanfic. Since we only have one more chapter to wrap things up, I want to give this story a proper farewell before moving onto new, fresh stories. :)
Until the next time,
- xoxo, whisperinthemoonlight. ❤