author's notes: hey, everyone! sorry it's taken so long for me to update this story, but you now how life is. anyways, here's the next chapter, longer (and weirder) than usual!

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The three of them sat at the noisy, crowded pizza place. Their table seemed to be the only one that didn't add to the general din. Cree blew bubbles into her soda through her bendy straw. She glanced at Maurice then Chad. Both of them were sullen—silent and brooding. Their idea of hanging out apparently meant sitting and saying nothing.

She looked from one to the other again, and sighed. Their gloominess was contagious. But still, she thought she should try to be cheerful. She couldn't think of something that would brighten both of them, so she decided on the one-at-a-time approach. Settling on Maurice, she took his hand. At least he doesn't flinch when I touch him. Of course, he doesn't react much at all. She peeked at Chad, hoping for a hint of surliness at her action—he never approved of their displays of affection in the past. Now, however, he seemed impassive, if not slightly depressed. She couldn't be sure if he saw them at all.

She focused then on her boyfriend, who didn't appear to have noticed that she had taken his hand. It just laid there in hers like a dead fish. She brought it up to rest it against her cheek, and tried to think of something to say.

"So how was school today, Boo?"

She frowned. That was more of a mom question than a girlfriend one.

"School? It was fine."

"So what do you want to order?" Dammit, why can't I think of anything good to say?

"Anything you want is fine."

She removed his hand from her cheek and gazed at it, palm up, as if she were trying to read it. She didn't know why she was doing such a miserable job at cheering up Maurice; maybe she would have had better luck with Chad.

She glanced at him. Chad was staring past them out the window. Lately, he just seemed…glum, yes, but more than that. He seemed entirely devoid of motivation.

Cree frowned worriedly. It had been over a month since the fire at the manufacturing plant, and still he was like this. Not seeing him smile was nothing new, but he didn't even try to pick fights with Maurice anymore. Whenever they were together, he just sat, stared, and said nothing. If only he would talk to her, then she might know what to do to make him feel better. He needed a friend. She had hoped that she might be someone he could open up to, but he always kept her at a distance. Of course Maurice wouldn't do, and there didn't seem to be anyone at school that he was particularly close to. He was on so many teams and belonged to so many clubs, yet he always seemed so alone.

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The phone rang, and a girl around ten or eleven years old answered. "Hello?"

She listened for a moment. "Yeah, he's here, wait a sec." She flagged down her older brother and tossed him the phone. "It's for you. Someone named Cree."

He stared at the phone suspiciously. "What's a Cree?"

"I dunno, she said that was her name."

"It's a girl? Why didn't you say so!" He immediately put the phone to his ear. "Hey, Cree, baby, it seems like forever since I've heard your voice; did ya miss me?"

His sister rolled her eyes and left the room.

"Uh…" Cree hesitated on the other end of the line, "Hi, this is Kenny, right? I'm sorry, but you don't know me. I'm—"

"Someone who saw me in a crowd and decided you had to meet me?" he filled in eagerly.

"No," she answered, growing increasingly uncomfortable. "No, I'm a friend of Chad's."

Pause. "Who?"

"Chad Dickson, you were friends before you moved away to Hawaii."

"Chad…. Nope, not ringing any bells."

His sister, who had evidentally been eavesdropping, reentered the room and cried, "What? You and Chad were best friends for years!"

"I don't think so, why would I hang out with anyone with a name that dorky?"

The girl wrested the phone from her older brother. "Hello?" she said into it eagerly, "are you a friend of Chad's?"

"Yes," replied Cree, relieved to be talking to someone comprehensible.

"Hi, I'm Natalie, and unfortunately related to that loser you were just talking to. So how is Chad? It's been so long since I've heard anything from him that I thought he must have forgotten all about me. I mean—us."

"He's…well, he's okay…but not really. He's been down in the dumps lately, actually."

"Did he own a chicken?" Kenny butted in, "'cause I'm remembering somethin' about a chicken."

"No, that was you, chowderhead, shut up and let me talk." She continued in a more pleasant tone to Cree. "I'm sorry to hear that Chad's feeling crappy and stuff. Is that why you called?"

"Yeah, actually. You see, he doesn't seem to have too many friends around here."

"What about Jessie and Brian?"

"Who?" Cree asked.

"Um…I don't remember their last names. Hold on a sec. Hey, doofus!" Nat shouted in a surprisingly loud voice, causing Cree to yank the phone from her ear. "Do you remember Jessie's and Brian's last names?"

"Who?"

"Useless."

"And hey—doofus right back at ya."

"Hello? Cree? No, that moron brother of mine doesn't remember a thing."

"That's okay, sometimes people forget things."

"Not like he does."

"Yeah…I know the type. Well, thanks, it was nice talking to—"

"Is that why you called?" Natalie cut in, "For a chat?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Then why did you call?"

"I don't really know. I guess a part of me was hoping to arrange some kind of reunion, but since he doesn't even remember Chad—"

"Our dad still lives up there, you know. It's been a long time since we've visited him."

"Did he have a parakeet?" Kenny interrupted.

"No! That was the old lady who lived next door. You are such a lamebrain!"

Cree listened perplexedly to the sound of a sibling scuffle on the other end of the line, beginning to doubt the brilliance of her idea.

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The doorbell rang and Cree opened the front door to see a well-tanned boy in a Hawaiian shirt.

As he stared at her a wide grin spread across his face. "I really hope you're Cree."

"Ye—" she started when he launched himself at her.

Her fist made contact with his mouth before anything else did.

He made a quick recovery, and acting as if this last interaction hadn't happened, the boy (who Cree now realized was Kenny) asked, "So is Chuck here or what?"

"His name's Chad, and he's not here, but he will be any minute. Where's your sister? I was hoping to meet her."

"I ditched her. You don't want her around, trust me."

Cree frowned at him just as the doorbell rang again.

Kenny threw the door open before Cree could stop him.

"Hey! Chad! Long time no see!" he exclaimed to a baffled-looking Maurice.

"No! That's not him!" groaned Cree, pulling him back. "This is my boyfriend, Maurice."

Maurice entered, eyeing the other warily, muttering a "'sup?"

"Oh…your boyfriend," Kenny said, returning the stare in a similar manner.

"Um…honey, this is Kenny, he was in Sector-- I mean, he's an old friend of Chad's."

"And he's here why?"

"I thought it would be nice if…. Okay, so I messed up," Cree admitted miserably.

Kenny shoved his hands into his pockets and began looking around the room uninterestedly. Cree watched him as if he were a bomb that was about to go off any minute. Maurice seemed to have decided that the best course of action was to get as far away from the newcomer as possible, and moved towards the kitchen.

"So…when's what's-his-name getting here again?"

"It's Chad, and he'll be here really soon. He's probably on his way now…I hope…." Her last words were mumbled to herself.

"Yeah, well, tell him I got bored. I'll be back later." He exited out the door he entered.

"But—" Cree called after him, caught between wanting to supervise the reunion and her desire to get him out of her house.

"Don't miss me too much." Kenny waved as he continued down the walkway. As he reached the sidewalk, he passed Chad, who did a visible double take.

"Yo," Kenny said as he strolled by.

Chad stared at him as if he were a ghost, an alien, or a giant talking pineapple.

Walking out the door, Cree put a hand to her forehead in a gesture of defeated disbelief.

Chad finally turned and looked at Cree. He pointed to Kenny's departing form and stood aghast.

She shrugged sheepishly. "I thought…. I thought it would be nice if you met again. Reconciled your friendship and stuff, you know?"

Chad's eyes looked dangerously close to popping from their sockets. "You did this?"

"You make it sound as if I committed a crime."

"Why? Why would you do such a thing?"

"It'll be good. You'll feel better. Really," she insisted. Then she hollered down the street, "Kenny! Come back!"

He zipped back with alarming speed. "Decided to ditch your boyfriend?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Look, it's Chad." She indicated the scowling person beside her.

"Who?"

Cree groaned.

"Hey—you look kinda familiar." Kenny frowned pensively.

"Really?" Cree asked hopefully.

"Didn't I just walk by you?" he continued.

"I told you it was useless," muttered Chad.

"Ugh, it's…why don't you both come inside." Cree herded the two of them into her house. "Kenny, look at him. Are you sure you don't remember him at all? You were best friends."

He crossed his arms, tilted his head, and stared at Chad. "Mmm…nope."

Chad only glared and kept quiet

"You could at least talk to him," Cree urged him in a whisper.

"No, he doesn't remember me, it wouldn't do any good," Chad muttered back.

Kenny looked from one to the other, bored once again. "Okay, then, that was worth the nine hour flight! Well, it's been real. It's been fun. Can't say it's been real fun…." He headed out the door again.

"Wait—" started Cree, going after him, "you can't just—"

"Oh, right! I almost forgot!" Kenny grabbed her and planted his lips on hers.

"Urk!" She was about to punch him, but someone beat her to it.

Not Maurice. Chad. He looked furious.

"What'd ya hit me for?" Kenny whined. "All I did was kiss—" he stopped, as if a light had suddenly been switched on in his brain. "Oh…wait…I think I know what's going on."

Chad watched him guardedly.

"Yeah," said Kenny, the wheels of his brain turning faster now. "I kissed Hot Stuff and then you got all jealous and pissed off." He crossed his arms and nodded sagely. "I get it now."

"No you don't. You never understand anything," Chad was quick to deny. He glanced nervously at Cree, who was wiping her mouth.

"Sure I do. I mean—I don't swing that way, but I've got friends like you, so I'm cool with it."

Chad stared, running the other's words through his brain. "What?"

"But like I said, I'm straight, so like, don't try to kiss me or anything."

"What!"

"Don't take it personally, man, we can still be friends and whatever."

"You don't think-- No! No, that's not it at all!" Chad sputtered.

"Dude, don't start shouting and stuff; it's not that I don't like you, it's just that I like the ladies."

Chad couldn't decide whether to scream or to throttle Kenny. Or send him on a collision course with the sun. "Look, you've got it all wrong! I'm not gay!"

"Hey, man, there's nothing wrong with—"

"I know that! But I'm not!"

Kenny was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded, which was a bad sign. "I see. Still in the closet, huh? Well, I don't want to out you or anything, but you should really come out. I'm sure you'll find the right guy out there somewhere." He punched Chad in the arm encouragingly.

Chad only set his jaw and glared at Kenny in a murderous manner, trying to keep his breathing even. No matter how many times he tried to explain to Kenny, he knew he would never get it through his impenetrable skull. He then focused on Cree, who was watching them and clearly doing everything she could not to laugh. It would have been better if Kenny had just blurted out how I feel about her!

"Well, I'm blowing this popsicle stand," Kenny announced. "Good luck with…you know, stuff." After a final wink at Cree, he was out the door.

Once he was out of earshot, Chad grabbed fistfuls of his hair and roared. Then he pointed accusingly at Cree.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"I…I…" she stammered, covering her mouth in an attempt to suppress her laughter.

"What the hell were you thinking!"

"I'm sorry! I never expected—" her words were cut off by a guffaw.

"Stop laughing!"

'I—well—at least he's not angry at you about the decommissioning, right?" She snickered a little before taking a breath and continuing, "I think it's a step in the right direction."

"I can't believe you! I'm—I—" he stammered, and finding himself unable to finish the sentence, he turned to stomp out of the house.

On his way out, he passed Abby, who glanced at him but said nothing. Chad's only greeting was a growl of general anger and frustration.

She frowned and continued inside her house, where she saw Cree grinning with an expression of irrepressible glee.

"You look happy," Abby observed.

"Chad's yelling again," Cree said, almost proudly. "I think he'll be fine."

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That night Chad lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, doing a sort of mental inventory of his life. He still didn't have Cree. Maurice was still alive. His childhood best friend now thought he was gay, and it was Cree's fault.

But still, he couldn't help chuckling over the whole ridiculous situation. Kenny was such an idiot. And Chad hadn't seen Cree looking that happy in quite a while. In all this time that he had been pining over her, he had been so focused on his own unhappiness. It was only now after he had seen her beaming, laughing expression that he realized it had been a while since he last saw it. When had he last seen it? When was the last time she was truly happy?

Well then, he was glad that the ludicrous incident made her happy, even it was at his expense. And not only that…the whole experience made him realize that she must care about him in some way. Why would she go through all that trouble of tracking down Kenny if she didn't? And that was something. It wasn't exactly what he had been hoping for, but it was something.

She doesn't love me, but she likes me enough to want to mess with my life.

That would have to be good enough.

We're friends.

He cringed slightly. What is it about that word that can be warming in some situations, but soul-crushing in others?

Friends….

Still, it was something.

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author's notes: surprisingly little angst in this one. well, as it's been said, it's pretty hard to angst when Kenny's in the room. Kenny's been trying to break into this fic for a while now, hopefully this'll appease him.