Finally, the front doorbell rang again and Kyle immediately jumped up to get away from the uncomfortable topic. What does it matter to the other, whether he found her attractive or not, he wondered inwardly while hoping for a better mood with Stan. Unfortunately, as soon as he looked outside, he was disappointed, because their group would consist of four people tonight.

"Sorry we're too late!" The black-haired man apologized to him, slightly annoyed, and of course he was accompanied. This, well noticed, was not in a good mood. Immediately, his stomach knotted even more. He was hoping for a nice time and not the disaster he had kind of sensed ever since Kenny joined him.

"What has become of this damn country? A woman is being kidnapped on the street and nobody is doing anything about it!" Erica complained, not exactly quietly, who was simply being dragged behind by the said kidnapper, like a small child who couldn't get the coveted sweets in the supermarket. It was very obvious that she probably didn't want to come here. Despite her angry face, he couldn't help but notice that there was a lot of glitter on the spot. She appeared today in light-colored jeans and a floral top that was almost the same color as her shoes. When their eyes met, he realized he probably shouldn't have looked so directly.

"Don't stare at me like that! The scumbag pulled me out in the middle of a video." That also explained the headband to keep those pesky hair strands back. Kyle put up his hands defensively, looked elsewhere and let the two in. Then he closed the front door with a sigh and should probably distract himself with making food while it seemed possible. But how long could it take to put a tray of frozen pizza rolls in the oven? Not long enough, because after five minutes he was back in the living room to offer the two new guests something to drink as well.

"Stop bitching and sit down!" Stan ordered the only woman here, who was pacing back and forth in front of the sofa. The complaining never ended. At least until her gaze fell on the blond man and she took a deep breath. He just silently got a water bottle, another soda, and two glasses. Then he sat down in his previous place on the couch. Kenny was lounging on the other side of the furniture, a little amused, and Stan was sitting next to him in his old man's chair. This massaged his temples for a moment.

"Yes, I am calm. I guess I should be thanking you, because you kindly dragged me over here, so I get to beat up Kenny. Come here you lousy rat!" Erica's anger was probably directed at this unfortunate guy now. He wondered if that the difficulty was, what the other two were describing. How did the behavior differ from before? If that occurs more often, he already saw black for a meeting for the two of them.

"Oh yes." The blond one seemed as if he remembered at that moment that he had done something that people were now angry with him.

"I told you it was an accident. That could have happened to him alone too." Kenny jumped away from the upset lady in the house and didn't seem to take the situation seriously.

"Could you please stop romping around here!" Kyle begged as he saw objects wiggle, because nothing had to fall down. But he didn't try too hard.

"What's wrong with them?" He then asked his friend on the left. But this looked just as clueless as to the behavior of the two.

"No idea. I don't know what it's about." Stan answered and he looked back at the other two.

"The point is that this horny bastard banged my assistant and now he's unable to work!" Erica explained angrily when she finally grabbed the culprit's collar, but didn't take her eyes off the blonde.

"Wait? What? So you started something with Butters after all?" The black-haired wanted to know curiously and pushed himself to the foreground. The host here rather wondered why the one just mentioned was also Erica's assistant. No wonder his pal found their relationship confusing. And wasn't that cheating? Shouldn't she be angry about that instead? Or did the two have an open relationship? He shrugged it off, though, because that wasn't his place to dwell on.

"I should have told him not to hop in bed with you if I knew he was going to sprain his arm. Damn, I have a lot of appointments next week. How am I supposed to do this without someone like Butters?!" The woman continued to complain and Kyle felt like a bell was ringing in his head. No, he thought that was a very bad idea. She didn't come over here very happy, so she won't like the suggestion that he could replace Butters. At least for a few days until she finds someone better. On the other hand, he can ease his conscience a little and maybe get to know her a little better. Stan was right about the fact that everything was far from settled between the two of them. He just wanted the vibe between them to stop feeling weird. That they could make small talk if they happened to see each other again in South Park and one of them didn't have to think about not accepting a friend's invitation just because the other person went. Ordinary acquaintances, because he didn't dare hope that they could ever be friends again. He opened his mouth too wide for that back then. Also, he just let too much time pass before he apologized.

Still, Kyle had to muster up some courage to make his proposal. She can't say more than no, so he cleared his throat. But this went unnoticed and continued to berate Kenny, who tried to explain that the accident didn't happen during sex and why this started a relationship with Butter's. The redhead cleared his throat again, but louder this time.

"Dude, do you have a dry throat or what? Don't you have any cough drops in the house? The noise is a bit annoying." Ok, now he found her a bit bitchy, because she was free to just disappear again if she didn't want to be here. And he took a breath to tell her just that.

"And I think your yelling annoys him." But Stan intervened. He sighed and tried another way.

"Now let's all calm down and let him go. There is certainly another solution for this. I could maybe .." So the redhead tried to submit his idea, but the lady didn't even let him finish.

"Ha, no." Erica interjected a little dismissively, which he found unfair of her.

"You didn't even let me finish. How do you know what I wanted to say?!" He replied in almost the same tone.

"I can practically read it on your face." She said and crossed her arms, but still gave the blond man annoyed looks from the side.

"What?"

"You seem so tense because you really don't feel like it!" She explained further and sighed. The woman took a water bottle and drank straight from it.

"She is right. You seem really tense. Did you eat something wrong again?" The black-haired intervened again, after he briefly touched his head at Erica's rude action and then checked on him.

"Kyle's stomach problems aside, I don't think his idea is that bad." Ironically, Kenny came up with an endorsement for this cause. Before that, when the two of them were still alone here together, he received a completely different mood.

"Excuse me? I guess I misheard." She just shook the blonde man and now she seemed disappointed that he wasn't on her side.

"Even if you pay him, you can't keep Butters forever. With him here you can practice what it's like to work with someone else. So professionally, because you know very well that your current assistant lacks steadfastness." Well, Kenny was looking quite grown up now, probably because the lady was burdening the absent guy way too much. Even as a child, Butters could almost never say no to Cartman.

"I have to agree. Besides, you said yourself that he can only do it every now and then. Taking him with you every day doesn't count." Stan also got involved and he didn't know if he was supporting it because of Kenny or him. In the end it wasn't that important.

"Firstly, he doesn't do that every day and secondly..." She looked directly at him again and he noticed that she only did this briefly, like before at the door. And if looks could kill, he would have fallen over on the spot. Inwardly, he wondered what had happened to the partly nice woman from last week. But now he couldn't get out of the number anymore.

"Why with him? Kenny, can't you .." At first Erica wanted to spank him and now she's begging this poor guy for his time.

"Nope." The blond replied with a smile and she hurriedly turned to Stan.

"No, forget it." She hurriedly got the second refusal.

"You guys are so mean to me." She whined at it, acting.

"Before you start your fake howl show here. Take him. And just to make that perfectly clear, only as your assistant." He didn't even want to know why the black-haired man had to explain that so clearly.

"Dude, I have better taste these days." Erica replied, letting him feel a little offended, but he deserved it. Actually, he shouldn't care that she wasn't interested in guys like him. Actually.

"If I don't find anyone else by Monday then... What's that burnt smell in here?" That was Kyle's cue to jump up and storm into the kitchen. But the snacks were fine, but the cookies on the tray underneath not so much. He had probably completely overlooked that before. Hopefully his mother hadn't baked them for some event. Then he was now in a bit of a bind.

"Oh, that looks awful." The only woman in the house said what he was thinking, sounding gleeful. As he put away the tin with the burned stuff, he glanced into the living room and realized that the other two had disappeared. They didn't really just leave me alone with her so we could work this out, he thought, panicking a little.

"Stay calm. They just went for a smoke." Now she sounded more relaxed and apparently could read minds.

"Stan started again?" He inquired, raising an eyebrow because it wasn't mentioned on the phone and it wouldn't be that good for his health either.

"With his asthma? Nah, Wendy wouldn't be happy about that. They only left us alone so we could talk about our feelings. Just like adults. What did you tell Stan anyway?" She wanted to know and continued to look amused at the burnt pastries. She must have liked the idea that his mother would give him trouble for it later on. He found it childish and rolled his eyes with a matching facial expression.

"That we talked at the bus stop at night." Suddenly she had to laugh and also raised her hand to her mouth, probably to hold back. This is the first time he's seen her like this and he turned his eyes back to the stove to finally turn the thing off.

"Of course. Two grown people just 'talking' at a bus stop." She continued, amused and with a certain emphasis. He seemed clueless for a moment until she indicated coitus with her fingers.

"I didn't mean it like that! I also mentioned about your car and the parking lot." And suddenly they're both talking almost normally. Only that she probably wanted to rob him of his mind at times. Was that her act of revenge? Hardly likely. There was still a little Cartman in her from the past.

"Sounds like a scene from cheap porn. 'Oh hello, mister. My car won't start, we should go over there to that dark corner and wait for help. Oh, I bet you like to snuggle up to me. It's so cold on this dark night.'" Apparently Erica thought this was funny, but he had other thoughts on his mind.

"Stop it!" So Kyle begged her, because he was getting uncomfortable.

"And then my dress ripped on the car door." She giggled like a shy girl at that, but she wasn't at all.

"That didn't happen, Erica!" He couldn't help but throw that back louder and clearer into the room. That also made her freeze for a moment and become calmer. But it wasn't long before she looked down again, offended. Her cheeks were now rosy under the glitter. Or they were before, but until now he avoided looking her in the face closely or for too long when she seemed so angry.

"You're supposed to call me Cartman." It suddenly came out of her sheepishly.

"I didn't want to yell at you, but .." The redhead certainly didn't want to scare her and so he took another step away from her.

"By the way, why did you come here in the first place, huh?" But she recovered quickly and her voice took on something icy again. Like earlier, when she told him venomously that he was out of the question as an assistant.

"What do you mean?"

"The class reunion. You should have stayed away." Ah, she meant that and it just sounded a bit like a threat. He probably wouldn't be able to make sense of this woman that quickly. He also preferred not to tell her that he didn't really feel like coming, but it was worth it because he met Stan, Kenny and many others again. Even if the reunion between the two of them got off to a rocky start, he still wants to count that among the good things.

"You know, Stan was really happy to see you again. After ages. Who knows why he's so attached to you. I certainly don't. But instead of spending a night with him you're hanging out with some chick!" She threw at his face coldly and Kyle had known it but why didn't his buddy just said that.

"Actually, I wanted to spend time alone with him today." He replied instead and he didn't really want to argue with her, even though he had the feeling that she felt like it.

"I thought so." Erica replied as if that seemed clear to her from the outset.

"So you two are not a bother. I just thought since we're not that close anymore, I didn't want to force Kenny and you into this. It wasn't my intention for Stan to drag you away from your work." Alongside, he grabbed a serving tray from the cupboard.

"It's ok." She sighed annoyed and Kyle didn't know what to do again. He wondered if the other two were even still on the property.

"Did you at least have fun with your date?" She then asked in a somewhat snotty manner and grabbed a pizza roll.

"What? I can eat them, can't I? Even though I'm an unplanned guest, I'm not going to eat it all away." Was certainly said because he was staring at her again. So he cleared his throat.

"No, that's not a problem. Um, there's just a little glitter.."

"Oh, that's plant-based. I'm for a better environment!" She declared proudly, with a little tomato sauce at the corner of her mouth. He blinked, because he probably shouldn't be staring at that point, and forced his head back in the direction of the snacks to place them all on the tray.

"Anyway, I won't die if I eat that." Erica added after she finished chewing. He went back to the living room with the meal.

"So how was the date?" She followed him and sat where Kenny sat before.

"Why do you even care?" He really tried to ignore such small things as he set the snacks on the table, poured water into his glass, and then reclaimed his corner of the couch with a pizza roll.

"I am a woman. Gossip is my thing. Also, I want to know how far you and Red have went? Did she cheat on her husband? A little trouble in her marriage and she runs straight to the next guy." As if you didn't like gossip when you were Eric, but the housekeeper kept that to himself.

"Red? What makes you think I was going out with her?" Kyle didn't recall talking to her at the event, other than a polite hello. Not that it used to be much different when they were in school.

"Then who? Oh my God! You tried it on Nichole?! I know you used to really like her back then, but isn't anything sacred to you?" She said reproachfully and he really didn't have to put up with that.

"First, I was asked out, and second, it was Heidi. Before you start rattling around here more." Though he intended to get a little annoyed at her odd insinuations as well, when he mentioned the woman he was dating last week, Erica's facial expression changed and she turned away from him.

"You dated her?" She sounded disappointed, but he didn't have to ask her for permission. Nevertheless, the guilty conscience gnawed at him again.

"If there's a reason I shouldn't see her..." But he didn't even get to the end of his question when the other two stepped back into the house.

"Now it's getting cold outside." Stan said and also took something warm from the tray before sitting down in the armchair again.

"Do you see? Kyle is still alive. She was a good girl." Kenny sat down in the middle of the couch and stroked the lady's hair.

"I wouldn't leave him alone with me too often, though. You never know." Erica was joking again, as if the previous moment hadn't happened. His question went unanswered and he thought it best not to repeat it again. Nevertheless, he was already wondering what must have happened between the two women that both have such a negative reaction. Didn't the two hug at the class reunion or was it just for show? Another thing that shouldn't concern him.

The rest of the evening went almost as the host had hoped from the start. There were still some discussions here and there, but Erica wasn't really upset anymore. Probably because she realized that she now had to accept the situation as it is. He figured it could have been worse for her than with him as a temporary assistant. But still, he didn't know much about what her weekly schedule looked like, but that will show up on Monday at the latest and he will help where he can. Well, as long as he didn't have to advise her on makeup color palettes, he could handle it. Thanks to Kenny, he also got her phone number, because he just grabbed the lady's device and texted him with it, which she probably didn't like that much. She had no intention of giving him her home number, so of course he suggested he delete it. But then she looked to the side again and said that now that he had the phone number once, it was all right. He also wondered why the blond man knew his number by heart. To which this replied with a shrug and a it's your own fault if you don't change it. Kenny is probably right on that and actually he took it easy.

The later the night got, the more Kyle got the feeling that the woman was only holding back because the other two were still there as witnesses. Sometimes she threw him such a nasty grin, where he didn't know if it was just an act or if she wanted to convey to him that the coming time with her will be hell. When the three finally left the house around three in the morning, he leaned exhausted on the door after locking it. At first he thought she didn't want to come at all and then it wasn't in her interest to leave before the other two. Now he had even more doubts about his proposal, but it was thanks to Stan and Kenny that she agreed, so he couldn't turn her down again. And working with her can't be that bad. If he kept telling himself that, maybe it will come true.