Chapter Fourteen - Everything That Almost Was.

There was a comfortable warmth in the air as it danced across the night sky, illuminated by a billion bright stars. The stillness and silence of the clear late evening would be interrupted every now and then by the chirping of a cricket or the rustling of a bat amongst the trees. And yet, the tranquil nature of everything peacefully settled into place was absolutely faultless. It was then that a small burst of light shot across the sky at a million miles an hour.

And fifteen year old Wendy Testaburger felt herself smile.

"Look, there's one!"

Pointing up to where the shooting star had just flown over their heads, Wendy excitedly turned back and smiled at her boyfriend. Grinning back at her just as widely, Stan took her gently by the arm and pulled her in towards him.

Feeling her heart flutter, Wendy sighed happily, "Now this night is absolutely perfect."

It was the end of the summer. There was only a few short days to go until the all the kids in Stan and Wendy's grade would be starting high school. To commemorate the milestone, Bebe's parents had agreed to let her invite a group of her closest friends over for the night for an end-of-summer extravaganza.

While everyone else was inside the house playing video games and board games and eating and drinking all kinds of delicious food, the young couple were outside together enjoying each other's close company. They had been for a swim in Bebe's pool with the rest of their friends earlier that evening, but as the sun had eventually set, Stan and Wendy had been contentedly left on their own.

Now, the two were sprawled out together on a white, wooden recliner in their bathing suits. Stan had his arm affectionately around his girlfriend while Wendy rested her head against his bare chest. The sound of his heart beating so distinctly against her ear made her own soar in complete bliss.

"Can you believe we've actually made it to high school in one piece?" she spoke sweetly into the night air.

Smirking down at her, Stan raised an eyebrow, "You? Yes. Me? Not so much."

Playfully slapping him on the arm, Wendy groaned, "Quit it," she laughed, "Give yourself some credit. I never would have made it this far without you."

Gushing at her loving words, Stan took his spare hand and locked it with Wendy's, feeling his blush deepen as she gave it a tight squeeze.

"From third grade until forever," she said with a cheesy giggle.

Narrowing his eyes at her teasingly, Stan scoffed, "Um, I think you mean fourth grade Miss Can't-Even-Break-Up-With-Me-To-My-Face."

"Uh, excuse me?" Wendy chuckled, springing forward in the chair and turning back to Stan, "You're not completely guiltless either, Mr. Dripping-In-Bitches!"

"Hey, mine didn't count! It was, like, eight days!"

"Mhm," Wendy agreed, "And then you came crawling right on back."

Stan frowned sarcastically, "No way, I totally won you back."

"I made you work for it."

"Oh yeah? Well, why use so much energy if I was so horrible?"

The prodding back and forth between the two made Wendy scrunch up her face in another smile, "Because I still loved you."

Without saying anything, Stan simply gazed at his girlfriend in wonderment. Through the darkness, he could just make out her faint figure. The flood lighting that normally hung by Bebe's pool was all broken, so the two teenagers were enveloped by nothing but the dark sky. But even so, their vision had adjusted to the dim lighting ages ago, and Stan could see exactly what he was doing as he took Wendy by the arm and dragged her in towards him, pressing their lips together in a soft kiss.

Stan knew that there were a number of times during their childhood and in elementary school where he could have been a lot nicer to Wendy and showed her how much he actually cared about her. And as he delicately wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her even further inward, that was exactly the reason why he now never left her doubting how much he loved her, too.

Eventually breaking their adoring exchange, Stan tenderly pecked Wendy's lips one more time and ran his fingertips through her long, black hair as he looked her in the eye and smiled, "Are you gonna' get back in the water?"

"No way," she exclaimed in reply, "It may be unnaturally warm out here, but in there it is still freezing!"

As a devilish smirk appeared across his features, a sudden idea popped into Stan's mind. Subtly slinking his arm a bit further around Wendy, he glanced at her with sarcasm pouring from his eyes, "Oh? Because I was kinda' thinking about jumping back in and hoped that you would join me?"

Wendy's eyes abruptly widened as she felt Stan's grip tighten around her waist, "Stan…" she warned him.

"Oh, come on," he sang cheekily. Within a single second, Stan swiftly swept Wendy up into his arms bridal style, cackling along with himself as his girlfriend instantly tried to wriggle free. As step by step he got closer and closer to the edge of the pool, Wendy soon squealed playfully as she attempted to permanently latch her arms around Stan's neck.

"Stanley, don't you dare!"

Ignoring her as he finally reached the very edge and hung his toes over the bricked rim of the pool, Stan took a moment to stand still, simply examining Wendy as she continued to squirm in his arms.

He stared at her from head to toe, smiling faintly at how positively beautiful she was. The feeling of the silky, soft skin of her bare legs and back was almost tempting enough to not let go of her. But even so, with the same joking attitude, Stan tensed all the muscles in his arms as he swung Wendy back, counting out loud as he did.

"One…"

Wendy tried to sound serious, but she couldn't hide the laughter in her voice, "Put me down!"

"Two…"

"Stan, please!"

"Three!"

"Stanley!"

The half a second that Wendy spent flying through the summer air seemed to stretch on for a lifetime before she came splashing down into the cool, blue water beneath her. The chlorine briefly stung her eyes as she held the oxygen in her lungs for as long as she could before she brought herself back up to the surface.

Watching from where he stood on dry ground, Stan was hunched over snickering loudly at the sight of Wendy's perfectly placed raven locks instantly turning into a wet and tangled mess. He paused for a moment, relieved to see her burst out of the water with just as much amusement as he was feeling. However, as light hearted as the practical joke may have been, the teenage girl seemed to be finding the whole event maybe a bit too hilarious.

Settling himself down, Stan tilted his head in slight confusion as he continued to watch Wendy. She wasn't quite in the deep end of the swimming pool, but still, only her neck and her head could be seen, like she was purposely keeping the rest of her body sheeted by the water. And all the while, she was still cheerfully tittering away to herself.

Just as Stan opened his mouth to speak, he was abruptly cut off as Wendy decided to break the silence for herself.

Swishing all of her hair to one side, she took a hold of a loose piece of string hanging from her neck, "My bikini top broke."

With all laughter vanishing from his throat and all colour draining from his face, Stan's expression went blank. His mouth hung open as he tried to reignite his voice box and stutter over an audible sentence, "Uh…"

But, understandably enough, Stan was speechless

"Shit… sorry, do you want me to get your shirt?"

Finally forcing her giggling to subside, Wendy glanced up at Stan through the darkness and silently nodded her head. Somehow, he was able to properly see her and immediately did as he was asked.

Watching on from where she was still submerged, Wendy took a deep breath as she suddenly felt her heart start to beat a few seconds faster. Her curious brown orbs followed Stan as he reached the second recliner where their shorts and t-shirts were sitting. He bent down, retrieving hers and turning straight back around to walk towards her. All the while, Wendy's eyes hadn't left the perfect figure of him. Her vision was glued to his lean torso and slowly crept all the way up past the handsome features of his face to his lengthy black locks as he brushed them across his forehead.

Impulsively, there was a bubbling feeling in Wendy's stomach. She hadn't necessarily ever felt it before, but she knew exactly what it meant.

As Stan reached the pool's edge once more, he walked down onto the first step, feeling the cold water wash over his feet. Somewhat shyly, he held Wendy's shirt out to her. And in the next moment, he felt his expression drop in bewilderment as all she did was slowly back away even further from him.

A nervous lump formed in the back of his throat, "Wendy?"

Timidly licking her lips to speak, Wendy blew out a soft breath, "Come in here and pass it to me."

Initially, all Stan could do was remain frozen. His knees felt weak where they tried to hold him up on the pool step. He glanced down to the purple cropped t-shirt he held in his hand and then over to Wendy where she still sat hidden by the water. The lump in his throat quickly dispersed at it suddenly went completely dry. The teenage boy knew exactly what was waiting for him under the water, and yet, he still couldn't will himself to move.

Catching an encouraging smile in the corner of his girlfriend's lips, the dark haired boy seemed to lose all control of his body as he eventually entered the pool further until his feet were touching the tiled floor. Holding Wendy's shirt up so it didn't get wet, he began to wade his way towards her, his eyes narrowing suspiciously as she continued to back away until she was completely leant against one of the walls at the side.

Wendy's eyes widened in anticipation with each step that Stan took towards her until they were finally face to face again and she could feel his rapid, nervous breath against her mouth. With their expressions utterly locked as strong as they ever had been, their standoff continued for only another second or two longer before Stan placed Wendy's shirt on the bricked edge of the pool, freeing both of his hands. That meant the next move had to be Wendy's.

Both of the teenager's hearts were absolutely racing by now. This was by no means easy for them. They may had been together for four and a half years now, but what everybody seemed to forget was that when they got back together for a second time in the fourth grade, they had been exactly that – fourth graders, only nine years old. For their entire relationship, they had been children, and that's how they both still felt now – like kids. Of course, they were older now, and they both might have begun to think about each other in a more mature kind of way… perhaps Stan more so than Wendy, but he had never acted on it before. He cared about her. He didn't want to do or propose anything that was going to make her uncomfortable.

But now, here they were.

With her knees still tightly bent so only her neck and face were visible out of the water, Wendy reached a shaky hand behind her head and completely pulled off her broken bikini. Slowly lifting it out of the water, Stan followed the long, pink string with eagerly keen eyes as Wendy placed it on the edge beside her dry shirt. She instantly looked down for a moment, trying to resist the urge to second guess herself. Was she doing the right thing? Was she doing what she really wanted? Or was she acting like a complete idiot?

Soon enough, though, as she glimpsed back up and met Stan's adoring blue orbs, she was able to push all these ridiculous questions to the back of her mind and smile a small, affectionate smile at him as she bravely tossed all her hair behind her neck.

Releasing the pressure in the centre of her legs, Wendy took a deep breath and finally stood up, revealing herself from the water and in front of Stan.

The teenage boy sensed his accelerating heart completely slam on its brakes. At first, he was sort of torn. He didn't know whether or not it would be totally sleazy to more or less glue his eyes straight to Wendy's bare chest, but in the short amount of time he had, he soon managed to find the perfect pattern between looking her in the eye between his overwhelmed scrutiny of her.

There was an instant yearning ache in the very pit of Stan's gut. This was the furthest he and Wendy had ever gone, and they hadn't even done anything yet. But as he prolonged his silent, engrossed gaze upon her just long enough for her to start to wonder if he even liked what he saw, Stan quickly decided it was time he did do something about it.

"You're so beautiful."

Wendy felt her body tingle from head to toe at the three simple words Stan murmured into the quiet night air. Right when she had felt like perhaps curling up and shamefully shrivelling away, the sentiment from her boyfriend had sent her confidence rocketing sky high. And it certainly made her feel beautiful.

Reaching forward and clutching at the back of his neck, Wendy tugged Stan in towards her and firmly planted her lips against his. The cold temperature of the water around them simply sizzled away at the heat that exploded from their kiss. As Stan slinked his arms around her hips, Wendy cupped his face in her hands. While at first the timid and slightly unfamiliar situation was leaving them both in a bundle of nerves, soon enough, Stan's testosterone started to overcome him.

Placing one hand tenderly against the small of her back, Stan pulled Wendy's body flush against his. The fingertips of his opposite hand slowly crawled up her back, stopping at about half way before he daringly allowed his touch to creep around to the front of her body.

Wendy's lips parted ever-so-slightly and a small gasp escaped her as Stan's hand brushed the underside of one of her breasts. Without a single uncertainty, the teenager girl parted her mouth even further agape as the two of them were soon tangled in a much more intimate exchange. The taste of his mouth against hers drove Wendy absolutely insane with desire. Even after four and a half years of kissing him near enough every day, each one only seemed to grow more passionately sweet.

As his blood continued to excitedly flow throughout his body, Stan smiled between the kiss at the pleased sounds quietly escaping Wendy. His longing curiosity was quickly becoming hungrier as he went on to explore her body more and more. His hands caressed her whole chest, squeezing and grabbing at her and grazing the sensitive, pink nubs on the end of each of her breasts as their comfort levels with one another increased.

A deep, delighted breath expelled from Wendy's lungs at the new, sensual emotions consuming her entire being. She had never felt more close and entwined with her boyfriend ever before, and as Stan continued to kiss, caress and touch her, this was all she could think about as she leapt upwards in the water and wrapped her legs around his hips.

Surprised by her sudden actions, Stan caught Wendy by the legs and pressed her into the wall of the pool for extra leverage. With his hands now completely preoccupied with holding her up, the teenage boy ran his fingertips along the soft skin of her thighs and re-focused the rest of his attention on tenderly kissing her neck. Ever so slowly, the movements of his mouth crept even further downward towards her chest, but before he could even fully comprehend what he was doing, he felt himself freeze on the spot.

Releasing his lips from Wendy's neck, Stan glanced down and gulped to see her grabbing onto the drawer string of his board shorts, simultaneous with her whispering his name.

"Stan," she purred in his ear. Tugging onto the white string of his shorts, she placed her other hand seductively on the back of his neck once more, "Do… do you think… we could…"

Immediately, Stan's eyes widened to the size of saucepans. Was Wendy really offering what Stan thought she was offering? It was only ten minutes ago that they were merely lying beside each other looking up at the stars, and now all of this? The tingling sensation that had moments ago been coating Stan's body had now suddenly disappeared from the shock he had fallen into. With a mass of uncertainty, he tried to lick his lips, but his throat was so nervously dry that he couldn't even muster the moisture to do so.

With the more time that ticked by, Stan sensed Wendy begin to tug at his board shorts with a bit more purpose. She looked up at him with battered eyelashes, patiently waiting for him to do or say absolutely anything. Finally finding the will to clear his throat, Stan offered Wendy a smile of pure devotion. Just as he parted his lips to whisper back to her, the two jumped in surprise to hear the backdoor of the house swing open.

"Guys!"

Wendy's face instantly dropped in a combination of alarm and embarrassment. Quickly thinking on his feet, Stan tightened his grip around his girlfriend and pulled in her towards him so their bare torsos were pressed together. Hidden by the darkness of the broken flood lighting, he simply held onto her, as if they were sharing a normal, innocent hug. Wendy breathed a sigh of relief as he kissed her on her cheek and encouraged her to hurry up and reply to Bebe.

"Yeah?" she called back.

The fifteen year old blonde girl flicked her hair to the side and yelled across the yard to her two friends, "Come on, you're missing dessert! What are you two doing?"

"Sorry, we're coming," Stan immediately snapped back.

Waiting with subtle quietness as Bebe told them to get a move on, the young couple's heated and excited mood fell abruptly flat. At the realisation of everything she had just done – and attempted to do – Wendy sensed her face turning bright red. Groaning to herself, she collapsed her head down onto Stan's shoulder, feeling totally mortified within herself. What the hell had she been thinking?

"Shit… Stan, I'm – "

"No, no, stop," he shushed her, "It's okay."

Tilting her chin up, Stan looked deeply into his girlfriend's brown orbs and smiled at her. He was still holding her as close as ever as Wendy felt a fresh set of goosebumps pop up over her skin. Thank God he wasn't feeling awkward about what had just happened, she thought. She may have just become caught up in an indulgent moment, but Wendy knew she had been moving way too fast.

And yet despite all of that remorse and second-guessing, Stan only felt a million times closer to Wendy.

Thinking about what she had asked him, Stan tried to push the thought to the back of his mind, "One day soon. We will. Okay?"

Hearing his words of assurance echo sweetly through her mind, Wendy mutely nodded her head. She didn't need to say anything more, and she especially didn't want to say anything that was going to make her feel more humiliated.

Just as she was starting to feel better, Wendy suddenly sensed a cold chill sweep over her as Stan released her from his grip and waded over to the pool steps. A tremour of slight abandonment shook her core as she watched him climb out and stroll over to the recliner chairs. Maybe he was really was feeling more put off than he originally let on?

But of course, the thought had just been another stupidly insecure one as Stan reached down and grabbed Wendy's towel, returning poolside with it. He took a quick look over his shoulder to make sure no-one else happened to be standing by the backdoor of Bebe's house, and then gestured with a smile for her to exit the pool and enter his warm grasp.

Doing as she was asked, the elated grin beamed across the dark haired girl's face as she hastily went running towards Stan and allowed him to collect her and her half naked body in the towel he had held out for her. The teenage boy wrapped it around his girlfriend, completely covering her as he clutched at her with his safe, affectionate hug and softly kissed her wet hair.

Nuzzling into the crook of her neck as Wendy did much of the same, Stan sighed happily.

"I love you."

The butterflies came soaring back to life in Wendy's stomach. No other sentiment could ever ring more true.

"I love you, too."

Stan hated that memory.

He hated the thought of it, he hated the knowledge that it existed, and the more he seemed to remember it, the more he began to hate Wendy.

… Okay, so maybe he could never hate Wendy. But even so, it didn't detract from how deceived and lead on and cheated he felt. Because little had they both known, it would only be about two and half weeks after that tenderly passionate night in Bebe's pool when Wendy's uncle would tragically pass away and she would take a four day trip to California with her parents – effectively changing both of their lives forever. He could only imagine how much worse if would have felt if they did happen to lose their virginities to each other that night.

Shaking his head to try and rid it of the vile thought, Stan groaned under his breath and pushed his lunch tray away from him. It didn't matter how much he tried to distract himself – no matter what he did, all he could think about was how less than a day ago Wendy had thrown herself at him and the two had actually shared a kiss for the first time in two years. Well, they had been sharing it until Stan put an abrupt stop to the ridiculousness of it all.

It was Thursday now. Thursday afternoon at lunch break, to be exact. Stan was sat at his regular lunch table in between Kyle and Darcy. He was attempting to appear unaffected by everything that had occurred the day before, and while it was certainly helping that he was yet to see Wendy again, Stan's deflated mood was still all too visible to Kyle.

The red headed teen frowned at his best friend out of the corner of his eye. Stan had been acting peculiar all day, and for the life of him, Kyle couldn't figure out why. Of course, he had his sneaking suspicions, but none of which he was prepared to question Stan about. As he tried to think of an indirect way to prod at his friend's thoughts, Kyle suddenly had a brain wave.

Clearing his throat, he turned to Stan, phrasing his words as vaguely as possible, "So, did you guys get it fixed yesterday?"

Snapping out of his dismal trance, Stan's brow collapsed in confusion, "What?"

"Your mum's car?" Kyle specified with a raised eyebrow, "Didn't it stop working yesterday?"

Gritting his teeth together, Stan kept his answers short and sharp, "Yeah, it's fine now."

Kyle tried not to burst out laughing. What the hell was Stan lying to him about now?

"How'd you get it started again?"

"We called Kenny. He came and fixed it."

Oh, sure… Kyle thought to himself.

Just as he considered opening his mouth and speaking again, Kyle stopped for a quick second as he spotted Bebe sitting down at the table opposite him. He smiled, waving at her adoringly until all of a sudden he felt a tenseness in the air develop around him.

Just as always, Wendy had come along to join Bebe where she sat, but the moment that she had, Kyle could instantly see Stan's demeanour change. He hadn't exactly been in a chipper mood anyway, but the second that he laid eyes on Wendy, the atmosphere around Stan sunk even lower.

Kyle watched him, concerned to see Stan screw his fists up so tightly just at the sight of her. Although, the Jewish teenager had to admit, he wasn't surprised in the least. Glancing back over to Bebe, the two locked eyes as Kyle subtly gestured between the dark haired, ex-couple. Immediately, Bebe could only shrug her shoulders, causing her crush to roll his eyes.

Taking his phone out of his pocket, Kyle slowly shook his head as he turned slightly away from Stan. Their newly rebuilt friendship obviously hadn't lasted very long, judging by both of their attitudes. Even from a few feet across the cafeteria, Kyle could see the misery in Wendy's expression, but unfortunately, that's wasn't particularly his problem. His only priority was to try and keep Stan on top of his unpredictable emotions, and the first step in achieving that was to find out exactly what happened the day before.

'Did you have to fix Stan's mum's car yesterday?'

Hitting the 'send' button on his phone, Kyle watched the text message disappear from his screen and go zooming across town to where Kenny was at work. As he waited for his mechanic friend to get back to him, Kyle glimpsed back at Stan with a sigh.

As much as he usually indulged in the feeling of being right, Kyle sort of hated the fact that he had correctly predicted this circumstance.

"Dude, be straight up with me. Are you okay?"

The soft words from his best friend seemed to drift in one of Stan's ears and out the other. He wasn't in the mood to talk. He wasn't in the mood for anything. In fact, the only thing he even slightly felt like doing was ensuring that Wendy got the message loud and clear that he had projected on to her yesterday. But as she eventually took a brave glance towards him, staring at him with longing eyes across the cafeteria, it seemed that Stan was going to do something more drastic than just throwing her out of his car.

Shooting his expression back at her with a blank, lifeless look, an abrupt idea recklessly popped into his mind as he suddenly heard Darcy say something to him about catching up with him later while she stood up to leave the lunch table.

Bingo. Surely this would get his message across.

"Darce?"

Obliviously, the auburn haired beauty turned back at the sound of Stan calling her name. She flashed her perfectly white teeth at him just as she had been about to leave and gazed at him curiously as he rose up from his place at the table, too. Taking a few short steps towards her, Darcy sensed a look of bewilderment sweep across her features as Stan stopped within a mere couple of inches from her.

What happened next caused all kinds of reactions to explode throughout the small space.

Kyle's face completely dropped as he murmured to himself, "Oh, you fucking idiot."

Darcy felt her heart absolutely spring out from her chest as right in front of everyone in the lunch room, Stan cupped her face in his hands and planted his lips firmly and passionately against hers. She was shocked, the teenage girl was in complete amazement. The pace of her pulse only continued to grow as the kiss stretched on even longer and Stan lapped at her lips over and over again.

Finally, as he pulled back, squeezing at her hips as he did, Darcy felt her whole being soar in utter happiness.

"Uh…" she stuttered with a nervous giggle.

Chuckling back at her just as sweetly, Stan pecked her lips once more, "Go on, I'll see you after school."

Shaking her head from where she sat, Bebe scoffed at the stupidity of what she had just seen. As she watched Darcy float up on cloud nine and out of the cafeteria, the blonde girl turned all her attention to her best friend, "Wow. What the hell kind of fight did you two even have yesterday?"

Up until that point, Wendy had been silent. It wasn't out of stubbornness or sourness, the dark haired girl simply felt such a heavy, heartbreaking weight on her chest that she couldn't bring herself to muster any words. And just as she had thought that her emotional torment couldn't get any worse, she felt her core shatter at the sight of Stan kissing Darcy.

Looking at her and feeling her concern exceed its natural growth, Bebe took Wendy by the shoulder, "Come on, Wendy, you know he doesn't care about her like that."

Reluctantly holding back a mountain of fresh tears, Wendy blew out an aggressive breath as she forced her sadness to turn to anger. Bolting up from her seat, the fiery raven-haired teen scraped up her whole lunch tray and slammed it into the garbage bin beside her.

"Hey, come on, Wendy," Bebe said, jumping up to Wendy's side in an attempt to console her, "He didn't mean it, he's only doing it to try and get back at you."

"I don't care!" Wendy finally snapped.

The teenager girl had been up all night crying into her pillow thinking about Stan. About how much she had hurt him, how much he had yelled at her, and everything from his confession about counselling to his confession that he never stopped loving her.

But that still wasn't enough for him? Now Stan had gone and done this, too?

"He told me to never speak to him again, so that's exactly what I'm doing," Wendy spat, "He's a piece of shit, Bebe."

"I know you don't mean that," Bebe instantly retorted, "You've loved each other since you were eight, and you both obviously still do."

"We're not eight years old anymore, Bebe!"

The volume spewing from the back of Wendy's throat almost caused a number of people to spin around and gawk at her. Withdrawing herself a bit, she sighed in defeat and shot one final, restrained glance at Stan.

It sure had been nice knowing him.

"Things change," she muttered to her best friend, "Kids grow up."

With that, Wendy relinquished, turning around and sadly shuffling out of the cafeteria with Bebe hot on her heels.

Still watching with intent as they did, Kyle was suddenly rocked from his deep concentration as he felt his phone vibrate in his hand. He had almost forgotten that he had texted Kenny in an effort to squander Stan's lie, and as he opened the message to read it, it seemed that he had successfully done just that.

'What? No?'

As much as Kyle wanted to shake his head in disbelief, this entire scenario was becoming pretty damn predictable by now. If Stan had truly gotten into a fight with Wendy so horrible that he didn't want anything to do with her anymore, then fine. Kyle didn't particularly see any problems with that, anyway. But if all Stan was going to do was lie, sulk, kiss Darcy and ultimately dig himself an even deeper hole, then Kyle wasn't sure he wanted anything to do with it anymore, either.

Stuffing down the final few bites of his lunch, Kyle grabbed his school bag and stood up from his seat, nudging Stan in the shoulder as he walked past him.

"Hey," Kyle grunted. The lack of energy in his best friend's eyes only proved that Stan honestly had no idea what he was doing anymore, "Don't drag Darcy through anymore of your shit than you already have."

Thrown back by the sting of Kyle's words, Stan's expression widened. A short moment later, though, he felt the back of his throat grumble in annoyance.

He was starting to get pretty sick and tired of everyone judging every single move he made and every single word he spoke. And right at the top of that list, tying in a very close first place with Wendy, was Kyle.

Stan was well and truly free of Wendy now. Even more free than he had been when she was physically gone. As far as he was concerned, he was welcome to do whatever the hell he wanted.

"Whatever, Kyle."

Snorting at the arrogant tone in Stan's voice, Kyle merely held his hands up in surrender and continued to walk out of the cafeteria. He had seen Stan crash and burn once before, and frankly – whether he was his best friend or not – Kyle wasn't so sure if he was willing to stick around and bear witness to a second train wreck.

Well, well - more pieces of the puzzle coming together!

I would to hear what you all thought of this chapter! I've been looking forward to writing it for sooo long because of the cute little flashback scene :3 What does everyone think Stan was going to say before they were interrupted by Bebe..? I would be particularly interested to hear.. ;)

Also, how much trouble has Stan possibly got himself in by kissing Darcy? Man oh man...

Thanks to those of you still keeping up with this story! Please leave me a review! I would very much appreciate it :)

Till next time guys,

Reneyyyyyyyyy x