A/N- I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story. Hope you like this chapter, please review. Next one should be soon.

We get to the party after everyone else is already there, it seems. Stan and I are on speaking terms, though he's still a little annoyed at me. I think he cares a lot less now that he and Wendy have resolved whatever fight they had. I've just been trying to just ignore it.

Token and Kevin are sitting on the porch, drunkenly laughing, as Stan, Butters, Cartman, and I walk up. Token vaguely points in the direction of the keg, and we immediately walk inside to go find it. Cartman is the one that finds cups and we fill them up quickly.

Cartman gags at the first sip. "This is the worst beer I've ever tasted," he says. He proceeds to chug the rest of it.

Stan lets out a surprised laugh. "So that's your first reaction?"

Cartman shrugs. "Now I can get to the real stuff." He looks around for maybe five seconds before he finds the bottle of rum. I swear, he's got some sort of sixth sense for hard alcohol.

Butters just stares into his red cup. "Geez, there's an awful lotta foam in here." He takes a hesitant sip and makes a face like he tasted something sour. "I'd much rather have a mixed drink. One that tastes like juice or something."

Cartman rolls his eyes. "Here," he says, taking the drink out of Butters' hand. Then he chugs the beer and starts rummaging around the kitchen like he lives here. He ends up finding vodka, sugar, and fruit juice and he makes something for Butters and hands it back to him. "Better?"

"Thanks, Eric!" Butters chirps, smiling and sipping. I'm a little concerned by how easy it seems to be to drink- Butters won't be able to keep track.

"Cheers," Cartman replies, a look of mischief on his face. It seems he thought of that, too. He casually sips on his rum like it doesn't burn going down.

I feel too sober for this, so I down my beer and get another one. Stan stares at me for a moment. "Feel like slowing down?" he says carefully. He looks into his mostly full cup and rubs his thumb on the condensation that wraps around it.

I grin and shake my head. "Nope. It's a party."

Stan laughs a little and raises one eyebrow. He looks like he's about to say something, but then Kenny bursts in the room, tumbling over, clearly wasted.

He throws his arm over my shoulder, half hanging onto me. He's grinning so wide that it looks like it hurts. "Kyle!" he says, his voice heavy with booze. "You came! Great to see you!"

Stan leans back against the wall and rolls his eyes. I try to ignore that and focus on Kenny. I have to partially hold him up. It's seeming more and more likely for him to just fall over. "Hey, Ken."

He giggles, leaning on me even more. I stumble backwards a little and chuckle. "You call me Ken a lot. It's funny."

"Oh yeah?" I say. "Why is that funny?"

Kenny laughs even more. "I dunno- hey, if I'm Ken, would that make you Barbie?"

I chuckle and help him sit down in one of the chairs. "Only if we were dating."

He grins and raises his eyebrows. "Are you making a suggestion?" he says.

I laugh and finish off my drink to grab another. I'm way too sober for this. "No, Kenny."

He shrugs, still smiling like a crazy person. He takes a long sip of whatever is in his cup. "Your loss, babe."

I chug my next beer and see Stan giving me a look. I try to send him a telepathic message of dude, back off but I'm not sure he gets it. He's just looking more and more like he's sulking in the corner. I just roll my eyes and turn to Cartman. He's watching Butters sway with a smirk on his face. "Cartman- want to make me one of those drinks?"

He turns to me. "How strong do you want it?"

I glance back at Kenny. "Uh, whatever you gave Butters."

"You got it," he says, grabbing my cup from me.

As he makes it, it vaguely occurs to me that we went straight to the kitchen when we got here and haven't left or said hi to anyone else. We kind of suck at going to parties, my friends and I. We'd do better just getting drunk with only the four of us. Cartman hands me back my drink and I take a long gulp.

"Thanks," I say.

"Don't get used to it," Cartman replies. "I'm not a goddamn waiter."

As I look back over to where Kenny is, I'm just in time to watch Stan stalk out of the room and go over to talk to Bebe. He shoots me back a brief angry look. He seems like he's in a prickly mood. Why'd he bother coming to this? Also, what's his problem?

Kenny pulls himself up with my arm. As he stands up, I realize how close we are. Our faces are maybe a couple inches apart. I also notice that he's about an inch taller than me. He usually has such bad posture that I've never realized that before. "I'm glad you came," he says softly, his eyes too close and too intense. I'm struck for a moment and I can barely move or breathe.

Then the moment is over, and Craig calls Kenny over to there other room. I take a deep breath and try to shake the goosebumps off my arms.

Cartman, Butters, and I continue hanging out in the kitchen for a while, drinking the mixed drinks and laughing more and more the drunker we get. I find my self wondering where Stan and Kenny went off to, but my mind is more focused on the conversations at hand.

Butters is a lightweight and it takes him two drinks to start slurring his words. At this point, I think he's had three drinks. "I don't go to parties enough," he says, giggling. "They're lots of fun."

Cartman chuckles. "Yeah, Butters, we should definitely get you drunk more often."

Butters leans over in his chair, his head almost on Cartman's shoulder but not quite. "I'm feeling awfully dizzy," he murmurs, smiling up at Cartman.

I get this weird feeling in my chest, like Butters is revealing more than he should, even though he hasn't really said much. I also start feeling like I'm intruding on something, but I'm a little too drunk to be too concerned with that.

Cartman ruffles Butters' blond hair. It's a quick gesture, and Cartman does it so casually I almost miss it. "Might want to slow down then," he says, and he starts to reach for Butters' drink.

Butters leans up suddenly and grabs the cup protectively, giggling. Cartman just shrugs. "Suit yourself," he says.

I lean back in my chair and close my eyes, the world spinning and muffled around me. I maybe doze off a little bit for a moment, because I feel like the chair and I are falling in to nothingness. Then I feel a hand on my shoulder and open my eyes. The world keeps spinning for a moment before I'm able to focus. Kenny's grinning face is staring right back at me.

"Oh good, you're not dead!" he chirps sitting in the seat next to me. Butters is now completely leaning on Cartman and it looks like he's asleep. Cartman shoots me an amused look. "How did you manage to fall asleep?" Kenny says, sipping on his beer.

"I wasn't asleep," I say, finishing my mixed drink.

"You were out for maybe fifteen minutes," Cartman replies, raising an eyebrow.

I look over at Butters, nestled into Cartman's shoulder. "What are you going to do with him?"

Cartman sighs and looks down at Butters. I swear I see some affection in his eyes, but I am drunk, so who knows. "I'll drive him back to my house when I sober up. He can just sleep on the couch or something."

"That's not very gentlemanly of you," Kenny replies. "Shouldn't you let him take the bed?"

Cartman shoots Kenny a glare. "Watch it, poor boy."

Kenny grins and puts up his hands in defeat. Just then, Craig comes into the room, almost falling, Tweek close behind him. He sits down directly in Kenny's lap without hesitation or warning.

"Hey, what's going on over here?" he asks, petting Kenny's hair. I don't know why, but my cheeks start feeling hot and I start feeling stupid. I'm not sure what's going on with me.

"You're hurting my knee," Kenny laughs, trying and failing to push Craig off of him.

"But you're so much comfier than a chair," Craig replies. He's grinning and his voice is so animated. It's surprising, considering his usual monotone and apparent apathy. I guess some people become really different when they're drunk.

"Get off, asshole," Kenny says, trying to shove Craig off. After a minute of trying, it works, but Craig drags him down, too. They both end end laughing hysterically on the kitchen floor.

"If you guys bleed on the floor, you're cleaning it up," Clyde calls from the other room. He probably heard to crash.

"I'm gonna have bruises tomorrow," Kenny says, getting up. He immediately falls again, but catches himself on the counter, laughing again. I find myself staring at him a little too much, so I turn quickly to Cartman.

"Could I get another drink?" I ask.

"Didn't I tell you I'm not a waiter, Jew boy? I can hand you the vodka, but I can't reach the juice," he says, gesturing towards the blond boy sleeping on his shoulder. "I can't really move."

"Close enough," I say, reaching my hand forward as he hands me the vodka. I pour myself what I hope is the equivalent of a shot or two and down it.

As the party goes on, I keep drinking, though more slowly. Tweek and Craig pass out on the kitchen floor pretty quickly. I still haven't gone to the living room, so I have no idea who's still here. It seems like there's a good amount of people left, because the music's still pounding.

Cartman glances at his watch and announces that it's three thirty in the morning, and I have no idea how it got that late. "I'm okay to drive now," he says after standing up to check. He picks up Butters pretty easily- unsurprising, because Butters is tiny- and then looks at Kenny and me. "Do you guys want rides home?"

I nod, and Kenny does too. As we walk to the car, I feel how wasted I am and curse myself for having those last few drinks. It's always the last few that's the problem.

In the car, I fall asleep. I'm not sure how quickly, but pretty quickly. I am completely out until I hear voices around me, though they sound a bit like I'm underwater.

"Dude, is he completely out?" Cartman says, sounding a little annoyed.

"Yeah," Kenny replies. "As out as Butters, really."

I feel like I'm dreaming, but I'm really not sure. Cartman sighs. "Well, can you wake him up? Damn Jew, making all this harder."

"Listen, I'll just carry him inside and sleep on his floor or something. Make sure he's okay, you know?" Kenny replies softly.

"Whatever, one less stop to make."

I start to fall completely asleep again when I feel arms pull me gently un and out of the car. Kenny and Cratman exchange goodbyes, and I black out again.

I don't wake back up until I feel someone laying me down onto my bed. My eyes flutter open to see Kenny's face inches away from mine.

"Kenny?" I mumble, frowning. I feel confused, since I was pretty sure I was dreaming all that.

He chuckles softly. "Go back to sleep, Ky."

I stare at him for a moment, my arm still around his shoulder from when he was carrying me. I find my eyes glued to his lips, and I don't understand why. Until I lean up and kiss him, without even thinking about it.

Then I pull away, murmur a thank you for taking me home, and fall asleep.