Mended Hearts.
Chapter XVII.
Wendy sighed contentedly as she slowly drifted off into yet another pleasant dream, laying comfortably underneath the toasty warm covers and snuggling deeper into the coziness of her bed.
After nearly two and a half weeks of not getting enough of a good night's sleep as a result of constantly worrying about her dad's condition (which had actually started to improve and had put both Wendy and her mother much, much more at ease now), she hoped that she would finally get to have a restful night for the first time in a while.
She snored lightly and occasionally stirred in her sleep, silently praying that her peaceful sleep wouldn't get disturbed by something, or maybe even worse, by someone.
And while all of that sounded fine and dandy in theory, little did Wendy know that her hopes and dreams would get shattered very soon by one particularly unwelcomed sound coming from her phone – thus cementing the fact that reality sometimes was indeed one hell of a bitch and could easily make one's day (or night for that matter) crappier about tenfold.
Her eyes snapped wide open as her phone suddenly began to vibrate loudly against the wooden nightstand, forcing the teenage girl to let out a tiny murmur and to rub her eyes in the pitch black darkness of her bedroom.
Wendy rolled over to the other side to reach for the rectangular device, letting out a groan as the light from her phone screen hit her eyeballs. She silently cursed out whoever had the audacity to call her so late at night, especially after she had finally managed to fall asleep after tossing and turning for a better part of the night.
She rubbed her weary eyes with one hand and held her phone in the other, squinting at the screen as she was trying to read the caller ID through a slightly hazy vision, eventually dropping a faint 'huh?' and widening her chocolate brown eyes in surprise as she realized who had been the person attempting to call her.
''Stan?'', Wendy said in utter disbelief, laying her head against the pillows and running one hand down the side of her face. She let out a groan as she continued to stare at the caller ID. ''What does he want now?''
Although she was being indecisive about whether she should return the call or simply ignore it, the progressively louder ringtone and vibrating only made Wendy's decision more obvious – so her choice was to return the call, mainly because she really didn't want to inadvertently wake her mother up and cause her to storm inside her bedroom in order to scold her for being so loud in two in the fucking morning.
Swiping her finger across the screen and accepting the call, Wendy mentally braced herself for whatever her ex-boyfriend had in store for her, since his phone call had come completely out of left field and had left her rather stunned.
''Hello?''
''Heeey Wendy.''
''Hello?'', Wendy replied, her voice slightly hoarse. "Stan?"
''Wen, is that you?'', Stan replied on the other end of the line, with no response coming from his ex-girlfriend just yet. ''Wennnn?''
Wendy groaned inwardly, choosing to ignore the fact that her ex-boyfriend had called her by a nickname he had given to her all the way back in fifth grade and had used to call her by whenever he had tried getting her attention – with that small, but seemingly unimportant detail being enough to make her heart start thumping against her ribcage.
"Of course it's me, you dummy.", she responded in a playful tone, trying to somehow ignore the increasing beating of her heart. "Who else did you think was gonna' answer your call other than me? You know, it's my number after all?"
''I don't know, y-you tell meee."
Although not catching her off guard at first, Wendy fell silent as she realized that Stan's speech was slurred and that he was calling her whilst intoxicated – which meant that his current state of mind hadn't exactly been the clearest and that he hadn't been really aware of what he was doing.
"What's going on?", Wendy asked as the tone in her voice suddenly shifted, becoming increasingly more worried due to Stan's current condition. "Are you drunk?"
"N-no?", Stan slurred, hiccuping on the other end of the line. "I-I'm perfectly fine."
''Yeah, I can tell.'', the dark haired girl stated sarcastically, pinching the bridge of her nose. She propped herself up on one elbow and bit down on her bottom lip, before proceeding with her next question and hoping to get at least some kind of an answer from Stan.
"Why did you call me?", Wendy asked, trying to sound as reasonable as she possibly could given the current circumstances. "I mean, it's two in the morning."
For a few moments, an awkward silence began to linger between two teenagers, soon followed by Stan letting out an audible sigh.
''B-because…'', he began. ''It's j-just weird w-without you here, and I-I miss you.''
Falling silent again and being unsure of how to respond to what she had perceived to be Stan's accidental confession, the silence prolonged on Wendy's part as she began thinking about what she should say in return – since all of this had come out of nowhere and had made things even more complicated.
''Stan, stop it.'', she demanded, albeit trying not to come across as harsh. ''You're super drunk and aren't even aware of what you're saying!''
''W-who s-says I'm not being honest?'', he retorted.
''I do.'', Wendy clarified. ''All that booze you drank is probably clouding your mind and making you say these things!''
''A-and what if I'm not lying?'', Stan countered, earning himself a sigh from his ex-girlfriend. ''What if I-I'm being honest?''
''More power to you then, I guess.'', she replied. ''Where are you now anyway?''
''At Clyde's, b-but I'm about to go ho-hom – ''
''What?!'', Wendy blurted out, though a little bit too loud for her liking, mentally slapping herself for not taking into account that her own mother had been sleeping in a room not far away from hers and had been trying to get some well-deserved rest after what had been several rough weeks for her as well.
''Stan, you know that you can't drink and drive, right? What if something bad happens to you?'', she continued, voice softening upon her next words. ''I really don't want another person in my life to end up in a car accident just because they were driving under the influence.''
''Weeeell, I didn't come w-with my own car. H-Heidi picked up me, K-Kyle, Kenny and fatass.'', Stan revealed. ''I was a-about to go home anyway.''
''Alone?''
''W-well, duh.''
''Stan, you can't go home on your own! You're super drunk and will put yourself in great danger if you try doing that!'', Wendy tried to reason with Stan, thinking about a way to talk him out of doing something so incredibly stupid and dangerous.
''But – ''
''No buts!', she said determinedly, but also mulling over what she should say next and whether her plan could potentially come off as super weird to Stan.
''Just give me ten minutes and I'll come over to Clyde's house to pick you up, okay?"
''Really?''
''Yes, really.''
''Promise?''
''Yes, I promise.'', she said in a gentle tone, before reluctantly ending the phone call and plopping herself down on the bed again, groaning.
Not believing what the hell was going on, Wendy hoped that Stan would at least listen to her and wait for her to come pick him up.
Because if she were to be completely honest, losing a couple of hours of sleep meant nothing to her if it meant that Stan's wellbeing would be taken care of and that he would get home safe and sound.
While she had been reluctant to go at first, and had laid in her bed for a few more minutes after finishing the phone call with Stan, Wendy did eventually drag herself out of bed.
She changed out of her pajamas and put on something that would make her look a little more put together, grabbed her car keys and somehow managed to snuck out of her house relatively unnoticed – which she could mainly attribute to her mother being such a heavy sleeper and the fact that she could probably sleep through a goddamned fire drill.
Sneaking through the back door and discreetly closing it behind her, Wendy walked through the snow-covered backyard towards the front of her house and made a direct beeline for her Toyota hybrid that was parked in the driveway. She rubbed her hands together in an attempt to warm herself up before she would get inside her car and drive off in the direction of Clyde's house, briefly pulling out her phone from her coat pocket and noticing that Stan had sent her two more messages in the meantime.
'Where are you?'
'Weeeends?'
Wendy quickly typed out and sent her response.
'I'll be there in 10 minutes, don't worry :)'
Even though she had been sort of second guessing herself over the decision she had made, Wendy had realized that it would've been particularly cruel of her to now jump ship on what she had promised to her ex-boyfriend and not drive him all the way to the Tegridy Farms weed farm – with that same thought remaining with her as she hopped inside her car and began driving.
A few minutes later, she arrived at her destination and parked her car near the curb, shutting off the engine and glancing over to a familiar brown-colored house of her classmate's, which unsurprisingly had quite a lot of cars parked in its driveway and in close proximity to it.
Getting out of her car and locking it behind her, the cold weather already started to nip at Wendy's cheeks and forced her to pick up the pace as she approached Clyde's house. The unshoveled snow also crunched underneath her boots as she walked up to the front door, hearing the loud music thumping on the inside and numerous voices of her classmates who had probably been having quite a lot of fun.
She stomped her feet against the paved entrance in an attempt to kick off the excess snow from her feet, knocking on the door and hoping that someone would answer it as soon as possible – and luckily for her, she didn't have to wait that long before the front door swung open and revealed none other than her best friend standing in the doorway.
''Wendy?'', Bebe asked in a surprised tone as she saw her closest friend standing at the front door. ''What are you doing here? I thought you said you weren't coming to the party.''
''Well, I wasn't going to.'', Wendy said. ''Buuut, I came to pick up Stan.''
The curly blonde quirked one perfectly groomed eyebrow at the ravenette, her curiosity now piqued. ''What? What happened?''
"It's a long story."
"Care to explain?", Bebe asked as she closed the front door behind her, willing to stand in the chilly February weather and potentially freeze her butt off, just so that she could hear Wendy out and give her any advice if necessary.
She also looked around for a few seconds to make sure no one would be eavesdropping on them, giving her dark haired friend a non-verbal cue to go ahead with her explanation.
''It all happened so fast, but anyway…'', Wendy began. ''I was sleeping, and Stan called me out of a sudden and sounded super fucking drunk, so I got worried about him and asked where he was. He then told me that he's here and that he was about to go home on his own, but I told him it would be way too dangerous for him to go home in such a condition and that he should probably get someone to drop him off instead.''
''I initially thought he came with his own car, so I got even more worried when he mentioned possibly going home on his own and driving in a drunken state, but he then told me that Heidi was the one who drove him and the guys to the party.'', she continued. ''However, he still planned on going home, so I somehow managed to talk him out of it and convince him to wait until I get here.''
''Well, you did the right thing.'', Bebe said, patting her best friend on the shoulder supportively. ''It would be really dangerous for him to walk all the way back to the weed farm, which isn't close to here at all.''
"Bebe, can you tell me what the hell happened to Stan?", Wendy asked, with worry in her voice now becoming more evident. "Something must've caused him to get so drunk, because he doesn't get this shit-faced unless something really serious happened to him or he's trying to drink those problems away.''
"Well…", Bebe began to ponder, placing her pointer finger against her chin. "I don't really remember all that much, but Stan and Melissa at one point went somewhere alone and quickly began arguing with each other, with him confronting her about apparently cheating on him again and acting super weird behind his back. He pretty much pried things out of her and made her confess all the shit she's done to him again."
''Of course, of course it has something to do with her. I don't know why am I even surprised to hear that?'', Wendy sneered, not really shocked by the fact that Melissa and her shitty behavior had probably been the main reason behind Stan getting so drunk tonight. ''But wait, how do you know what happened between them?''
''Well, when I was about to bring more refills for the drinking game, I happened to walk right by the room Stan and Melissa had gotten in, and could hear them arguing about something. It wasn't great at all, but I managed to hear most of it and could also hear Melissa spilling everything!'', the blonde explained. ''I think she went to her cousin's birthday party and got super fucking wasted there, to the point where she had to puke and some guy had to help her out with getting on her feet again. And to make things even worse, that guy eventually turned out to be her ex-boyfriend and she ended up making out with him in the closet. So yeah, she cheated on Stan again and didn't have the balls to tell him that all this time!''
''Holy fuck.'', the ravenette said, still in disbelief over what she had just heard. ''I know Melissa is quite a piece of work, but jeez, that's a whole new level of low for her.''
''I know, right?'', Bebe agreed. ''Poor Stan!''
''Okay, so what happened with Stan after Melissa told him about cheating?''
''Well, they had that pretty huge fight and he told her they are finally over. I think he then grabbed himself a bottle of whiskey and locked himself inside the closet to drink. Melissa eventually came back to the living room and left about half an hour before you came here.''
''So, where is he now?'', Wendy asked as Bebe ushered her inside and closed the front door behind them. The two of them walked around the corner and stopped at the threshold of the spacious living room area, with curly blonde pointing towards the couch Stan was currently sitting on.
Wendy's heart nearly dropped to the pits of her stomach as her eyes landed on Stan, who looked everything but okay.
His dark locks were messier than usual and were sticking out in almost every possible direction, his eyes seemed to look really red and puffy (presumably from crying) and his speech, though somewhat better than it had been earlier, was still slurred. His clothes seemed to be the most intact though, despite his dark blue hoodie being strewn haphazardly on the couch headrest and his undershirt a bit rumpled.
The teenage girl's gaze softened as her eyes met Stan's, though she was quickly (and much to her chagrin) snapped out of her reverie by Bebe.
''Kenny at one point went to look for Stan and searched almost every room in the house, until Craig suggested that he must've locked himself inside the closet instead. Luckily, it didn't take that long to get Stan out of there and bring him back over here. Kyle and Kenny have been by his side ever since and have managed to make him a little more sober. Heidi has also helped them out.''
''That's good to hear.'', Wendy said, a small smile tugging at her lips. ''I'm sure he'll feel better once he gets home and falls asleep. He really has to sleep off all that booze.''
''Well, I'm sure he'll feel even better knowing that you're here now.'', Bebe replied teasingly, giving her best friend a wink and seemingly rendering her speechless with such a statement.
''Wait, what?'', Wendy asked as she walked up to a little circle of their friends that had gathered around Stan, with her still not believing what she had just heard. ''Bebe, what is that supposed to mean?''
Getting Stan to come with her had turned out to be much easier said than done for Wendy.
While Kyle had tried to convince her that he had also been sober enough to drive Stan home, Wendy had immediately shot down that idea and had told him that he wouldn't have to worry about his super best friend getting home safe and sound because she was about to drop him off instead – with Heidi also backing her up, comforting her boyfriend and saying he had absolutely nothing to worry about, since he knew he could trust Wendy one hundred percent and that she had always cared a great deal for Stan.
Craig had helped Wendy with getting Stan to her car and buckling him up, and once she had done the same and had made sure that nothing had been left behind, Wendy was ready to hit the road and start driving towards the Tegridy Farms weed farm. She had also managed to find a local radio station that played 70's and 80's rock music, knowing that was Stan's favorite music genre and that it could help him feel a bit better.
And about thirty minutes of a relatively peaceful drive, Wendy let out an inner sigh of relief as the weed farm came into her line of sight, flicking on the left turn indicator and taking a sharp turn towards the gravel road.
Once she stopped her car near the wooden fence, Wendy shut the engine off and pulled up the parking brake, diverting her gaze towards Stan now, who had been sleeping rather peacefully in the passenger seat and had occasionally let out a snore or two.
Not being able to help herself but chuckle at how adorable her ex-boyfriend looked whilst sleeping, it prompted Wendy to reach forward and to lightly stir him from his sleep, knowing that he would eventually have to fall asleep in his own bed instead.
"Hey Stan, we're here.", she whispered softly, shaking him by his shoulder.
Fluttering his eyes open, Stan let out a tiny moan as he stretched his arms out and slumped his head back against the car seat, taking a minute to get accustomed to his surroundings again. Although he felt like his head was going to explode, he was glad that he at least didn't have that unwelcome feeling of nausea still bubbling inside his stomach. ''Mhm, already?''
''Well, it was half an hour drive from Clyde's house to here, you dummy.'', Wendy giggled, turning to face her ex-boyfriend.
''T-thanks for dropping me off.'', Stan said as he gave her a small smile, unbuckling his seat belt and opening the passenger door.
''Don't mention it.'', she replied, unbuckling her own seat belt. She then stepped outside of the car and waited for Stan to do the same thing, feeling much more at ease over him being in a slightly better condition now. ''I'm just glad to see you're okay now.''
''I think I am?'', he responded, scratching the back of his neck and smiling sheepishly at his ex-girlfriend. ''My head feels kinda' weird though…''
"Well, considering how much you drank and how bad you looked at one point, it doesn't surprise me.'', Wendy admitted as she locked her car, turning around on the spot to face Stan. She, however, started to grow concerned as she noticed Stan was having a bit of trouble standing straight and that his legs were slightly wobbling. ''But hey, are you sure you can walk on your own?''
"S' okay, I can walk j-just fine on my own.", Stan slurred, taking a careful step forward and trying not to fall face first on the ground.
"Yeah, I can tell.", the dark haired girl pointed out as she rushed over to Stan's side, wrapping one arm around his waist and slinging his left arm around her shoulder, thus allowing him to lean on her for support.
Despite being in pretty good shape thanks to playing volleyball and being on the cheerleading squad, Wendy just wasn't sure if she would be able to carry someone who was nearly eight inches taller than her and who had a lean, but muscular and a fairly strong build that was required for playing football.
The two raven haired teenagers eventually made their way over to the front porch, with Wendy reaching for the doorknob in order to see whether the front door had been locked and if she would have to search for the house keys in that case.
"Where are your house keys?", Wendy asked as she realized the front door had indeed been locked, forcing her to look around for the keys and trying to find them as soon as possible.
"Behind the flower pot.'', Stan pointed to the object in question.
''Why am I not surprised that your dad has a flower pot with an actual pot flower planted in it?'', the teenage girl laughed, shaking her head in slight disbelief – but then again, they were on a weed farm, so Stan's family having a lot of weed-themed things didn't surprise her at all.
Grabbing the house keys that were placed behind a flower pot, Wendy jammed it inside the keyhole and opened the front door as slowly as she could, not wanting to potentially cause even more unnecessary problems and God forbid cause Stan's parents to wake up if they happened to be at home.
Speaking of which…
''Are your parents home?''
"N-no, they went to some weed c-convention in Fort Collins.", Stan revealed, now holding onto the door frame for support and letting go of Wendy for a few moments.
''Good then.''
Taking a step inside of his house and shutting the front door behind them, it took Wendy a couple of seconds to remember what the interior of his house looked like, mostly because she hadn't been there ever since early August when his mother had invited her and her own mother over for some catching up.
Thankfully, the journey from the living room to Stan's bedroom was a short one, with Wendy walking right behind him and making sure he didn't stumble into things as he walked over to his bedroom door, opening it and gesturing for his ex-girlfriend to come inside after him.
While Stan immediately plopped himself down onto his bed, Wendy took some time to look around his bedroom.
A lot of things in his room had remained the same, minus the toys and various other knick knacks she remembered him having in his room when they were younger. His room was also surprisingly clean and kept moderately neat, except for a slightly messy desk and the corner in which he kept his beloved guitar.
Turning around to see if Stan had managed to already fall asleep, Wendy felt her lips spreading into a small smile as she saw him having a slight, but adorable struggle with getting his hoodie off, although he eventually removed it and accidentally took off the dark gray undershirt along with it.
Wendy's breath nearly hitched in her throat as she glanced over to Stan, who was now standing shirtless only several feet away from her – so she tried her best not to get distracted by his broad shoulders and toned muscles, although it was all little to no avail, since she felt her cheeks flushing even more and her chest constricting at the sight of her now shirtless ex-boyfriend.
Trying to now get certain thoughts off her mind, Wendy decided to break the awkward silence that had transpired between her and Stan.
''Can I ask you something?''
Stan nodded wordlessly in response.
''What caused you to get so drunk?'', she asked. ''I mean, you normally don't get this drunk.''
''Melissa.'', he replied flatly, sitting down on his bed. ''I broke up with her.''
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"S-sorry for what? Y-you don't have to apologize for anything, b-because it's not your fault we broke up."
"Well, I beg to differ. She's obviously held some kind of grudge against me ever since I moved back.", Wendy retorted, sitting down on the bed next to Stan, her cheeks flushing even more due to him being so close to her now.
"And?"
''And what?''
The ravenette felt her heart pounding against her ribcage as Stan's fingers gently brushed back a strand of hair behind her ear, making her skin comfortably warm underneath his touch and causing an odd feeling of warmth to spread inside her.
Peaceful silence also resonated as Stan rested his forehead against Wendy's, his bright blue eyes now locked with the chocolate brown ones belonging to his dark haired counterpart.
''Wends…"
"Y-yes?"
"C-can I kiss you?"
Wendy fell silent, not sure how to respond to Stan's proposition that had come completely out of left field.
"Uhm, I mean…", she replied, her cheeks flushed to the brim. ''Maybe you should get some rest instead?''
Trying to come up with a quick excuse and somehow get herself out of this whole ordeal, Wendy knew that one part of her was telling her to allow Stan to kiss her anyway, despite him being intoxicated and not aware of the current circumstances, while the other part was telling her to simply screw everything and cave into something she had been attempting to suppress all this time – how she had been truly feeling about her ex-boyfriend and the fact that she hadn't been over him as much as she was letting everyone to believe.
Even though deep, deep down she really, really wanted to kiss him, Wendy had been well aware of his current state and that she just couldn't allow herself to take advantage of him, so she decided to take matters into her own hands and do something that was still along the lines of what Stan wanted to do.
She leaned forward and planted a singular kiss on Stan's cheek, stroking it gently with her thumb and then proceeding to kiss him once more, but this time on his forehead. She could notice that his cheeks were now equally as red as hers, which prompted her to silently walk out of his room and leave him a bit confused over what had just happened.
Wendy just wasn't sure if she had done the right thing, but she did know that one thing was now becoming even more crystal clear to her.
The fact that she hadn't actually been over Stan all this time, and that she had been foolish enough to convince herself otherwise.
Arghh, so close, am I right?
This chapter ended up being a nine thousand words long monstrosity, so I decided to split it in two parts instead. I just thought that putting out a chapter that long would probably be too much for you guys to take at once. :)
So, the tension is building up between Stan and Wendy even more now, and it will be just a matter of time before things reach their boiling point! It's very getting obvious they still feel something for each other, but it remains unclear whether they will act upon those feelings or will try to ignore them for as long as possible?
And yes, I did watch the first episode of season 26, and while I did like it, I also came to a somewhat very sad, but realistic conclusion.
It genuinely pains me to say it, but I think I've lost all hope for Stan and Wendy again having any scenes together in the show. I should simply stop fooling myself into thinking we will get one measly Stendy crumb every new season and be happy that Trey and Matt actually haven't forgotten about them – it sure is one tough pill to swallow, but what else can you do about it?
My rambling aside, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I've been feeling extra generous, so aside from posting a new chapter of Mended Hearts, I'll be also posting a new oneshot in my The Book of Love collection of oneshots and a fluffy little Stendy Valentine's Day oneshot!
Thank you all so much for taking the time out of your day to read this story and leave any comments/feedback, because it truly means a lot to me!