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Chapter 7

Cartman's POV

"I can't believe she took my daughter from me!" I cry as Butters comforts me. We're lying in his bed and he has his arm around me and rubbing my back. Obviously I stayed in South Park and Heidi made good ok her threat and took Kayla back to Vermont with her. I've been a mess since they left.

"I'm so sorry Eric!" Butters whispers.

"I miss Kayla so much already!"

"I know you do..."

I wipe my eyes. "Maybe I should go back to Vermont..."

Butters abruptly sits up. "No!"

I wasn't expecting that reaction. "No?"

"You can't go back to Heidi."

I shake my head. "It's not about Heidi, it's about Kayla!"

"You know if you go back, you're going to get back with Heidi."

"I'm not, I just want to be with my daughter!"

Butters narrows his eyes. "Do you love Heidi?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"A question you need to answer."

I look away. "Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters Eric!"

I look at him. "Yes I love her. She's the mother of my child."

"But..."

I raise my eyebrow in confusion. "But what?"

"I know there's a "but" coming."

I shake my head. "No buts, I do love her."

"Are you IN LOVE with her?" I turn away from him again. "Eric?"

"No…at least I don't think I am…"

"What does that mean?"

I can't tell Butters the truth about who I'm really in love with. "Never mind, let's change the subject."

"Fine." He puts his arms around me. "So what are you going to do?"

I shrug. "I don't know, but I have to see Kayla."

Butters frowns. "If you go to Vermont, I'm coming with you!"

"Why?"

"I want to make sure you come back this time!"

"Oh I'm going to come back…with Kayla!"

"What if Heidi doesn't let you take her?"

"I don't know..."

"All the more reason I should come with you." He runs his fingers through my hair.

"I just want my little girl..."

"You'll see her soon." He starts kissing me on the neck, but I back away.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" He tries to kiss me again and I push him away.

"Are you seriously trying to seduce me?"

"I just want to make you feel better Eric." He pouts.

"I'm not going to feel better until I see Kayla."

"In the meantime, let me help you feel better." He kisses me and begins to unzip my pants.

"Butters?"

"Shh! I've waited four years for this..."

"Damnit Butters?" I push him off the bed.

"What's wrong Eric?"

"Now isn't a good time!"

"Why not?" I can tell Butters is feel hurt and rejected.

"It doesn't feel right..."

Butters sighs. "Whatever you want Eric..."

"I better go." I get off the bed.

"Where are you going?"

I shrug. "Probably to a bar, I don't want to go back to my mom's house right now."

He stands up. "I'll come too."

"No! I need some time alone."

"Well...all right then Eric." Butters says dejected.

"Don't be like that Butters."

"I'm not. You just don't know how much I've missed you over the years."

"I missed you too."

"Then why are you pushing me away?"

"I'm not, I just have to deal with this Heidi situation."

"I can help you."

Yeah he wants to help himself get in my pants. "I'll call you later!" I quickly tell him as I leave.

I decide to go Applebee's for food and a few beers. I got an order of ribs and I'm now on my second beer. I can't get over what almost happened between Butters and me. I like Butters, but I feel like he tried to take advantage of me at a vulnerable moment. I take a sip of my beer. "Fat ass?" I look up and see Kyle and Stan. I smile.

"Hey fags, what's going on?"

"I see someone still hasn't grown up." Kyle rolls his eyes.

"Says the guy that just called me fat ass..."

"When did you get back in town dude?" Stan asks.

"A few weeks ago."

"You couldn't call anyone?"

I shrug. "I don't have your number."

"So where have gave you been all this time fat ass?" Kyle asks.

"Vermont..."

"Vermont?" They say in unison.

"Yeah dude."

"Why the hell were you in Vermont?" Stan raises his eyebrow.

"Heidi is in school there."

"She didn't graduate yet?" Kyle asks. "We graduated over the summer. I just started grad school."

I sigh. Typical Kyle, always with the judgmental questions. "If you must know, she took a semester off during her freshman year because we had a baby!"

Kyle and Stan look at each other then at me in shock and awe. "Dude, you have a kid?" Kyle's jaw drops.

"Yes Jew! I have daughter!"

"Wow...I never would've guessed."

"She's four now."

"So where is she?"

I down my beer and start to tear up. "She's in Vermont with Heidi..."

"What's wrong dude?" Stan asks putting his hand on my shoulder.

"I don't want to get into it."

"Well you shouldn't drink alone, do you mind if we join you?"

I shrug. "You're already here."

"True." The two of them sit down.

"So I hear you and Wendy are dating." I say to Stan.

"How did you know?"

"I ran into Wendy at Tweek's Coffee Shop."

Stan seems taken aback. "Oh...she's didn't mention that to me. But yeah we've been together for four years. We rekindled our relationship in college."

"That's great." I reply sarcastically. I look at Kyle. "So who's the Jew dating these days?"

"I'm single." Kyle says in an agitated tone.

"HA! No surprise there." I laugh.

"Fuck you fat ass! I'm single by choice!"

"Yeah right. It's because no one wants you!"

"Whatever!"

"So what's up with Kenny these days? Is he still living in poverty?" I notice Stan and Kyle exchanging looks. "What?"

Stan lowers his head. "Kenny's dead…"

My eyes widen. I'm kind of surprised to hear that, but at the same time, I'm not. "Really? How did he die?"

"He committed suicide last year."

"Wow…" I'm actually at a loss for words.

"Kenny had a lot of issues."

"Really? What issues did he have besides being poor?"

"He started doing drugs, he had health issues, and he was flunking college." Stan explains.

"Ha!"

"It's not funny Cartman!" Kyle steps in angrily. "He really needed help!"

"So why didn't you guys help him?"

"We tried! We even had him go to rehab."

"So what happened?"

"He got out and started doing drugs again. He was really depressed, then he started having liver problems." Stan informs me.

"Really?" I realize it really isn't a laughing matter.

"Yeah, drug related obviously. It was became too much for him. You should've seen him. He lost so much weight and he was really pale. His family didn't have money for him to get proper treatment so he was really suffering. Honestly, he probably would be dead if he didn't kill himself."

"So how did he kill himself?"

"He shot himself in the head."

"Damn!"

"Yeah, it's been hard on his family."

"Why? It's not like they were relying on Kenny's high income."

"Dude, they lost a family member!" Kyle interjects.

"I didn't think they would notice."

"Of course they noticed!" Stan adds. "His parents lost a child, his siblings lost a brother. Why wouldn't they notice?"

"Yeah dude. You're a parent now! How would you feel if your daughter committed suicide?" Kyle really hit a nerve with that one.

"I would be devastated!" I tell him. "But it's different!"

"How?"

"I actually give a shit about my daughter! I've never left her cold and hungry to get high or drunk no matter how tough things got and yes things do get tough! Heidi and I are struggling. I was working a minimum wage job and she's in school full time! We didn't have a lot of money, but we made sure Kayla's medical needs were taken care of!"

"Cartman, I-" Stan begins to say, but I cut him off.

"Heidi took my daughter from me and moved back to Vermont and I'm fucking losing it!" I start to tear up. "I miss Kayla like crazy and I don't know what to do! She's still alive and I'm losing it so I don't want to even imagine how I would feel if she were dead." I start crying a bit, but I quickly wipe my eyes. I notice Stan and Kyle exchanging looks.

"Dude…"

"Why don't you just go back to Vermont to be with your daughter?" Kyle asks.

"Because of Heidi! Heidi is mentally and physically abusive! I fear for my life when I'm with her! She has a violent temper that no one knows about, but I do! She scares me!" I hear Kyle chuckle. "Fuck you Kyle! I don't even know why I opened up to you!" I put down a 20 dollar bill. "I'm out of here!"

"Cartman, wait!" Stan grabs my arm.

"No Stan, I'm gone!" With that, I storm out. The nerve of that asshole! I tell him something very personal and he laughs at me! I'm going through hell right now and he doesn't care. Stupid Jew! I'm going to show him! I'm going to show all of them that Heidi is the abusive bitch I've said she is!