Mended Hearts.
Part XVI.
The rest of what had been a particularly crappy day for Wendy, she had spent alongside her mom and paternal family members who had driven all the way from Denver to South Park, offering their maximum support to both Vanessa and Wendy in what had been an incredibly nerve-wracking and stressful time.
Although she had been really grateful for all the support she and her mother had received, Wendy honestly just wanted to forget about this whole entire day even happening, go up to her room and shut herself off from the outside world for some time – and especially when it came to dealing with her now ex-boyfriend and his more than unwelcome persistent attempts at trying to keep in touch with her, as evident by five or so messages she had gotten from him in the span of only a couple of hours.
The teenage girl retreated up to her bedroom about ten PM, plopping herself down onto the comfortable bedspread after what had been an incredibly difficult day for her, and truthfully, probably one of the worst days in her seventeen years of life.
Unlocking her phone, Wendy noticed that she had one more unread text message from David, even though she had told him not to contact her ever again after ending things between them earlier in the day – but what was even more ironic about the whole situation, and something that she had realized way later, was the fact that she had decided to break up with him on the very same day that would've marked three months of them being together.
And given everything that had happened to her, it was pretty understandable to Wendy that she somehow must've forgotten about it, although if she were to be completely honest, she didn't really care about it all that much anymore now that her relationship with David was a thing of the past.
'Baby, I'm sorry for everything.'
Groaning at the most recent message David had sent her, the dark haired girl swiftly deleted their messages and removed his name from her contacts' list.
''Out of sight, out of mind and hopefully out of my life for good now.'', Wendy mumbled to herself, sinking into the comfort of her favorite white and purple bedspread, scrolling through her phone in order to find something even remotely interesting to help draw away the thoughts of her failed relationship with 'the one that shall not be named'.
However, she also noticed two more notifications she had on her phone – one related to a missed FaceTime call request from Bebe, and the second one being related to a rather surprising text message she had received from Stan.
Now, Wendy couldn't really say she was surprised to see her ex-boyfriend sending her a text message to check up on her after everything that had happened earlier in the day, but still smiled softly to herself over him being so considerate to her and comforting her over everything.
"Well, I really can't stop thinking about Stan going out of his way to comfort me, can I?", the dark haired girl said as she ran her hands down the sides of her face and sank deeper into the comfort of her bed, letting out a faint sigh and her cheeks getting slightly flustered because of her ex-boyfriend and everything he had done to make her feel better (as well as not overstepping his boundaries and making things awkward between them, of course).
The teenage girl couldn't deny that she had been feeling a bit odd ever since coming home from school, and had found herself blushing whenever the thought of being in Stan's arms popped inside her head over and over again.
And while those thoughts made her feel surprisingly warm and fuzzy inside, Wendy just wasn't sure why Stan out of all people had gone out of his way to go after her and be the one to offer her his support, since she knew that they weren't really close and that he had much better things to do than to run after his ex-girlfriend and inadvertently cause more chaos in his already turbulent relationship with Melissa – as he had been dating her for quite a long time, which made everything all more complicated.
The two conflicting viewpoints Wendy had in her mind also didn't help at all.
On one hand, she was glad that Stan had comforted her and had made her feel better, putting a smile back onto her face for at least some time; but on the flipside, the whole chain of events also made her re-think if she truly hadn't felt anything for Stan ever since they last dated, and if his actions hadn't had an affect on those very same feelings.
The latter thought made Wendy's stomach twist uncomfortably.
While she knew that Stan deserved someone way, way better than Melissa, she also knew that she couldn't act upon her potentially hidden, suppressed feelings for him without first waiting for the dust to settle down and her stop being so overwhelmed – mainly in hopes of not making their friendship go south and potentially cause further problems in his relationship more than she had already done (even if it hadn't been on purpose).
Letting out a groan, Wendy allowed her mind to cycle back to the conversation she had with Stan during her free block.
•
Wendy puffed her lips as the cool winter air started to nip at her skin, causing her to fix the matching black scarf and beret she wore on her head in order to warm herself up before walking through the front door of the school, with Stan right in front of her and holding the door open for her.
Giving him a small smile to thank him for his gentlemanly gesture, the teenage girl felt her heart fluttering inside her chest, but quickly decided to try to ignore it as her ex-boyfriend now started walking beside her towards the relatively unshoveled school courtyard.
After he had gone out of his way to ensure Wendy was indeed feeling better, Stan realized that it didn't make much sense now to try and get to his eleventh grade English class on time, so he instead decided to stick by his ex-girlfriend's side for at least some time and take a quick stroll outside during whatever time was left of Wendy's free block.
The weather outside was surprisingly pleasant for the end of February, although thick piles of snow had still remained strong and had resisted the warm rays of sunshine that were threatening to melt them down into a dirty, slightly yellow slush that would eventually get mixed with wet ground below it and turn into a less-than-pleasing looking mess.
Snow crunched underneath Stan and Wendy's boots as they made their way through the school courtyard, stewing in comfortable silence as the cold winter sun brought a faux feeling of warmth along with it.
"Are you feeling better?", Stan asked as he broke the silence, shoving his hands deeper into the pockets of his jacket and trying to get himself a bit more warmed up.
Nodding wordlessly, Wendy could agree that she was feeling a bit better after Stan had comforted her, which unfortunately also made him late for his English class, so he had then decided to skip it instead – despite her telling him about the possible consequences of doing that and getting himself into trouble for what was a pretty dumb reason.
Although she had told him that skipping his class wouldn't be such a good idea, Stan had kept on insisting that it wouldn't make any difference to him and that he just wanted to make sure she was okay.
And while she was grateful for him taking the time out of his day to make her feel better (although he really shouldn't have), Wendy couldn't shake off the nagging feeling at the back of her head regarding Stan's actions and whether his girlfriend would eventually find out about it and inevitably throw yet another temper tantrum.
Still not being sure if Stan and Melissa's relationship had been on a good path again, the raven haired girl decided to find things out for herself – of course, mainly out of pure curiosity and without overstepping her own boundaries.
"So, how are things between you and Melissa?", Wendy casually asked as she walked beside Stan, catching his attention with her question and causing him to divert his gaze towards her.
The teenage boy was a bit surprised that Wendy was the one now making small talk with him, but he decided to go with the flow regardless, not really thinking about why she was asking him how things had been between him and Melissa – but given the fact that the noirette had inadvertently found herself in the center of their relationship drama more often than she would've liked to, and had obviously found out about Melissa's past transgressions, he felt like there was nothing wrong about discussing his current relationship with his ex-girlfriend who also happened to be a good friend.
"Fine, I guess.", Stan replied. ''You know, same old, same old with her.''
"Oh come on, Stan.", Wendy snickered, knowing full well that her ex-boyfriend wasn't being all that honest with her at the moment. "Are things really that good between you two?"
''Well, why wouldn't they be?'', he laughed nervously, looking away to the side for a few brief seconds before locking his blue eyes with the chocolate brown ones of his ex-girlfriend. "And besides, why do you ask?"
"Just out of common courtesy.", shrugging her shoulders, the dark haired girl gave Stan a gentle smile, before inwardly cursing herself for probably asking something that wasn't her business – but then she remembered that she hadn't really heard anything about their relationship for some time, thus deciding to find things out for herself.
On one hand, she indeed was asking how his relationship with Melissa had been going for the sake of not having the awkward silence linger between the two of them; but on the flip side, she also wanted to know if his relationship had truly been as stable as he claimed it to be.
''Buuut, I can tell that your body language and the tone of your voice say otherwise.'', Wendy continued, smirking. "You know that I know you very well, don't you?"
Raising one dark eyebrow, Stan suddenly stopped in his tracks and let out a chuckle. ''Am I missing something here? Since when are you a body language expert?''
"I'm not. I can just read people's emotions very well and notice when something's off with them.", the ravenette admitted. "But more importantly, I've also been unwillingly dragged into your relationship drama by your girlfriend and have heard quite a lot about some of the things she's done to you. So yeah, it's not that difficult to presume that things haven't been all sunshine and rainbows for you."
"Well, to be honest…", Stan began, his facial expression dropping into a disappointed one. "You're not really wrong about it."
"Okay, so what happened?"
"Things haven't been all that good recently."
''Well, do you still love her?'', Wendy asked as the two of them sat down on a nearby bench, with a slightly worrisome look now spread across her face.
''Of course I do, it's just that…'', her ex-boyfriend said as he sighed and ran a hand through his messy black locks, placing his signature red and blue poofball hat back on. ''For the past three to four months, she's been giving me less and less reasons to love her.''
"Really?"
"Yeah.", he admitted with a weak chuckle. ''She's been so weird and distant lately, and whenever I try to ask her what's up, she pretends like everything's fine and doesn't give me a proper answer.''
''Oh wow, yikes.''
''Well unfortunately, I know those signs all too well, because that's the exact same way she acted when she first cheated on me not even after four months of dating.''
"Seriously?"
A silent nod from Stan made Wendy's jaw drop in slight disbelief, as well as making her feel so sorry for him.
"Stan, I think you deserve to be with someone who will love you no matter what and who will treat you just like you deserve it.''
"Well, it's not like Mel really fits that anymore, does she?"
''I don't know, you tell me.'', Wendy replied sarcastically. ''It's up to you to decide what you wanna' do with your relationship, not me.''
''I'm pretty sure Kyle and Kenny would both tell me the exact same thing.'', Stan said. ''Hell, they've told me that multiple times.''
"Well, there you have it! If you're unsure about what to do, then you should talk with them and hear their opinions on it. Although I'm sure they would probably repeat them.''
''I'll think about it eventually.'', the quarterback said. ''And thanks for hearing me out; it really felt good to let some things off my chest and talk about them with someone.''
''Likewise.'', Wendy responded, giving Stan a small, kind smile in return.
•
About two weeks had passed since the events of what had been a particularly bad Thursday for Wendy, filled with quite a bit of ups and downs (specifically, with a lot of emotional ups and downs).
And while she had been trying her hardest to go back to her usual routine and not worry too much about her father's condition that had fortunately gotten much better, things still occasionally became too much for Wendy to handle – although her friends had offered her their maximum support and definitely made everything a bit easier for her to go through.
One thing that also hadn't seemed to leave her mind, was her ex-boyfriend's totally unexpected, yet sweet gesture and the fact that he had gone out of his way to make sure she had been okay after going through two rather emotionally difficult situations for her.
Ever since then, Stan and Wendy had been on even better terms for the first time in six years, exchanging friendly smiles and waves whenever they crossed paths.
Wendy had found herself thinking about Stan and him being so kind to her more often than she would've liked to admit it, but also snapping herself out of those thoughts and reminding herself that he was still in a serious relationship with someone else – even though that particular person wasn't worthy of him at all.
What he had done to her was genuinely sweet, and even though she really wanted to deny that being in Stan's arms hadn't had an affect on her overall mood, Wendy thought she would be damned if she said otherwise.
Those very same warm and fuzzy sentiments seemed to have plagued her thoughts even as she was currently sitting at her usual spot in the cafeteria, surrounded by her closest gal pals and catching up on the events of the day and newest school gossip with them.
The girls had been talking about a good potential party spot for this weekend, since Clyde's parents would apparently be out of town this weekend and leave the whole house to him – giving him an excellent opportunity to throw yet another kickass party and allow everyone to relax for just a little bit before school would inevitably get stressful again.
However, Wendy was so lost in her own little world, that she decided to look in Stan's direction for a fleeting moment, seemingly forgetting about her best friend sitting right next to her and tapping her on the shoulder as a way to somehow get her attention and give her own opinion on going to the party at Clyde's.
"Earth to Wends?"
Snapping herself out of her reverie, Wendy shook her head slightly and flashed Bebe a gentle smile, indicating that she hadn't been all that absent-minded and that she probably didn't forget the topic of their conversation.
''Yeah, what is it?'', the dark haired girl said. ''We were talking about Clyde's party, right?''
''Well, some of us.'', Bebe teased. ''You were looking at Stan, weren't you?''
''What? Duh, I obviously didn't .''
''Oh come on Wends, you can't fool me. I've seen you glancing at him quite a lot over these past two weeks.''
Rolling her eyes, Wendy couldn't really say that the curly blonde was wrong this time around.
'Okay, sure, I've been looking at him more often than I would've liked to, but that means jackshit! Plus, he still has a girlfriend!'
"He still has a girlfriend, you know?", Wendy retorted. "I'm not even gonna' try and mess with their relationship, even though I think Stan is way better off being alone that being with someone who treats him like shit.''
"Well, actually.'', Bebe smirked. ''I've heard a rumor that Stan's been wanting to dump Melissa for quite a while!''
"I still have no clue how the heck he can be with someone like her for such a long time.", the ravenette said. ''I mean, it's not like I was the best girlfriend to him either, but we were like, ten years old and didn't know what it was like to be in a proper relationship.''
Glancing once again in the direction of her ex-boyfriend, Wendy felt her heart pounding lightly against her chest as her gaze suddenly caught Stan's, giving him a quick wave which he happily reciprocated – making her feel even better as she realized that his girlfriend wasn't sitting beside him at lunch today and wasn't about to cause yet another shitstorm.
Remembering what her inner voice had told her earlier, the teenage girl groaned inwardly and reminded herself that a simple friendly wave would change absolutely nothing between her and Stan.
'Yeah, this indeed means absolute jackshit.'
Come Saturday night, the newest party held at the Donovan residence had been in full swing for nearly three hours now, with literal liters of alcohol pouring down everyone's throats and loud music blasting from a pair of stereo speakers in the corner.
And while most of the partygoers were either busy chugging down whatever was their preferred drink of the night or simply talking with each other whilst nursing their drinks, some of them simply opted out of both activities and thought they were better off doing something else instead.
Stan Marsh was definitely one of those people who sometimes belonged in both categories, but given what his plans for tonight were and the possible consequences that would most likely ensue, he honestly felt like he needed to drink at least a little bit before going ahead with those plans.
The dark haired teenager was currently sitting on one of the leather couches, having one arm wrapped around Melissa's waist and quietly nursing what was only his second drink of the night. His girlfriend sat right in his lap, occasionally exchanging pleasantries with him or talking with other people that were sitting in close proximity to them – as she had wanted to put in more effort towards befriending some of Stan's friends and trying to change a rather negative opinion most of them had on her.
From his position on the couch, Stan watched the rest of the guys being busy with playing various drinking games and getting themselves pretty obliterated in the process, with some faring much better than the others and some who were already on their way to hug the toilet bowl. He also smirked over the fact that he had chosen not to partake in such activities at least for once, as tonight he wanted to be sober enough when talking with Melissa about the future of their relationship.
''Hey babe, let's do some shots!'', the brunette girl said as she suddenly hopped off Stan's lap and started walking in the direction of the kitchen, only to be stopped by Stan taking her hand in his and giving her a questioning look.
''Are you serious?'', he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
''Well yeah!''
''Mel, I really don't – '', Stan sighed as he ran a hand through his thick black locks, before being cut off by Melissa.
Giving him the most adorable puppy eye look she could muster, Melissa hoped that a few shots of vodka would make Stan less tense and hopefully make him needier in the process, thus helping her keep an eye on him even more and make him be by her side almost all night long. ''Pretty please?''
''Okay, fine.'', he replied hesitantly, watching Melissa as she got up again and walked over to the booze table, coming back a minute later with a bottle of vodka in one hand and two shot glasses in her other hand – all while wearing a suspiciously elated grin on her face.
She popped open the cold bottle of vodka and placed two shot glasses onto the coffee table, smirking as she expertly poured the clear liquid into them and handed Stan his own shot glass, who wiggled his nose in slight disgust as the strong alcoholic scent hit his nostrils.
They both downed their shots with relative ease, but also let out a cough as the burning sensation spread rapidly in their throats.
Wiping the remnants of clear liquid off his lips, Stan placed the now empty shot glass onto the nearby coffee table and cleared his throat, still feeling the disgusting aftertaste of vodka in his mouth. ''Hey Mel, can we talk?''
''Sure babe.'', she smiled at him, cocking her head to the side. ''What is it?''
''Well, I think it would be better if we could go somewhere we can be alone? You know, I really don't want other people overhearing our conversation and then spreading stupid shit around school.''
''Alone?''
Nodding wordlessly in response, Stan then took Melissa's hand in his and walked them out of a fairly packed living room towards a more secluded part of the house, where not a lot of people were present and where he could hopefully have a serious and normal conversation with his girlfriend – well, at least for once.
''So, what did you wanna' talk about?'', Melissa asked once they got to a spot in the Donovan house where they could be relatively on their own, trying to somewhat ignore the clamoring coming from the living room and their classmates roaming all over the ground floor.
Letting go of her hands and taking a deep breath, Stan mentally prepared himself for the inevitable conversation he would have with Melissa, and hoped that she would somehow react calmly to everything he had wanted to say to her and not cause another shitstorm – but given the fact that she usually tried her hardest to avoid having a serious conversation when it came to their relationship problems and attempted to sweep everything under the rug, the teenage boy knew that there unfortunately would be a different outcome to the one he hoped for.
''It's about time you and I have a very serious conversation about the future of our relationship.'', Stan began nervously. ''And before you start accusing of me of anything, please hear me out first, okay?''
''The truth is, I don't know if I can be with you anymore.''
Melissa's mouth was immediately agape upon hearing Stan's words, but she instead chose to calm herself down this time around and not lash out at him and jump straight into ridiculous conclusions like she usually did.
''Look, I did forgive you for cheating on me months and months ago, and have actually noticed you being much kinder to me and treating me with the same respect I treat you. And yes, you've tried to be more transparent with me and you've claimed to be doing so, but I honestly feel like you've instead slowly reverted back to your old ways.''
''What ways?'', Melissa shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, trying to pretend that she didn't know about what her boyfriend was alluding to.
Snorting in disbelief, Stan knew that he should've seen this coming – his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend once again playing dumb and trying to avoid having a serious conversation with him.
As expected of her, of course.
''Oh please Melissa, do you think I'm seriously that stupid?'', he responded bitterly. ''I can tell when you're not being honest with me and when you're trying to weasel your way out of conversations like this one.''
Not sure how to respond to him, Melissa was simply left stunned by the fact that her boyfriend called her by her full name for the first time in a while, meaning that he was indeed being serious about the whole thing and wasn't going to let her manipulate him again.
''All I want is for you to be honest with me at least for once, and especially today.'', Stan took a deep breath, trying to calm himself on the outside before asking his girlfriend a question he had been dreading to ask her for the past few months.
''Did you cheat on me again?''
Melissa's face visibly blanched.
''What? Where did you even get that stupid idea?''
''Well, let's see – you've been acting really weird and distant around me lately, you are quick to change the topic of our conversation whenever I bring up things like these and aren't afraid to give me half-assed answers. Plus, not to mention that you've blown me off on more than one occasion recently.'', Stan began.
''I haven't been.'', Melissa immediately retorted. ''It's not my fault that school's been super stressful recently and that I haven't had a lot of time to focus on something else, you know?''
''Please, just stop with your excuses.'', the teenage boy replied. ''I know you like the back of my hand and can tell when you're lying.''
''I think you should just stop acting this way and stop hiding things from me, because I remember that this is the exact same way you acted when all that cheating shit happened during spring break.''
Mulling over what she should say next, Melissa then came to a simple conclusion that there was no way she would easily get herself out of this sticky situation, and that she should probably tell Stan the whole truth – because she had obviously gone way too far this time around, although she still hoped that he would somehow take her seriously and maybe forgive her.
''Okay, yes.'', she admitted. ''I made a pretty dumb mistake.''
Melissa was a bit thrown off by no response coming from Stan, which she interpreted as a sign for her to go ahead with her confession. She took in a deep breath before continuing, her eyes deliberately avoiding Stan's.
''So, do you remember when two weeks ago I went to my cousin's eighteenth birthday party?'', she said. ''Well, almost everyone got fairly drunk and made all sorts of shenanigans around the house, including myself.''
''I then got drunk to the point where I couldn't really stand on my own, so my ex-boyfriend Caleb went to help me and stayed by my side as I was puking my brains out on the back porch. And then I don't how it even happened, but suddenly my lips were on his and we ended up making out in the closet.'', the brunette continued. ''But it was all just a dumb mistake. I swear!''
''Just a dumb mistake ?'', Stan asked, not believing the sheer audacity of Melissa to downplay the entire situation and think it wasn't that big of a mistake. He could feel his blood boiling rapidly and his heart thumping wildly against his ribcage.
''Dumb mistake is when I accidentally get your coffee order wrong, or when I throw a wrong ball to my teammate during our games. Cheating on your significant other isn't !''
''Well, it is a pretty dumb mistake to me . I know I shouldn't have cheated on you again, but I was totally drunk out of my mind and didn't know what I was even doing! I'm sorry, okay?''
''I'm not buying any of your crap anymore.'', Stan stated. ''I'm so sick of you treating me like crap, lying to my face and then acting as if everything is just fine. Not to mention that you've cheated on me once already, and I was dumb enough to fall for your pity party and give you another chance.''
''So, what are you gonna' do now? Dump me and go back to your old girlfriend, who conveniently also dumped her ex-boyfriend a few weeks ago?'', Melissa snapped back, not having any of Stan's attitude towards her.
Pinching the bridge of his nose in utter disbelief over Melissa dragging Wendy into the whole mess, Stan hung his head back with a groan. He could feel his blood boiling even more now, not believing that his ex-girlfriend decided to bring up Wendy's name again – and especially now out of all times.
''What does Wendy even have to do with all of this?'', he responded. ''She didn't even come to the party, so what's your problem with her now?''
''I don't know Stan, you tell me.'', Melissa sneered. ''Do you honestly think I'm stupid and that I don't see you two acting all flirty with each other?''
''Again, we're just friends!'', Stan replied, now pacing back and forth in an attempt to somehow keep his composure. ''And that's it!''
''I don't care! All I want is for her to stay away from you and leave our relationship alone!''
''What relationship? I'm done with you, we're over. I just don't want to deal with this bullshit anymore.'', he clarified.
"What bullshit?", Melissa retorted aggressively, shooting Stan one of her typical death glares and trying to somehow turn things in her favor, although it was becoming crystal clear to her that she probably wouldn't succeed this time around. ''You didn't even explain why you dumped me.''
''I didn't ?'', Stan mocked, not believing that his ex-girlfriend was trying to manipulate him now. He took a few steps back, before shaking his head in disbelief once again. ''You really are a piece of work, aren't you?''
''Shut the fuck up, okay?'', she responded, visibly fuming. ''If calling me a piece of work was meant to hurt my feelings or something, then I can tell you that you're so wrong, and that you should simply fuck off.''
''Well, I gladly will, because I'm fucking done with you, okay?''
And with those words, Stan spun around on the spot and silently walked back to the living room, predominantly in hopes of finding himself something extra strong to drink and help him forget about this horrible evening even happening in the first place.
Locking the closet door behind him and sitting down on the wooden floor, Stan let out a cough as the strong aftertaste of Jack Daniels hit the back of his throat, although it hadn't seemed to bother him at all, as he took another swig from the bottle and placed it beside him on the floor.
Although drinking copious amounts of alcohol had always been something the teenage boy tried to stay away from as much as he possibly could, the whole shitshow with Melissa and new revelations about her were good enough reasons for Stan to make an exception tonight and get absolutely shit-faced for the first time in a while.
He couldn't believe the lengths Melissa had been willing to go in order to get herself out of that whole messy situation and somehow try to play the victim card yet again. She had seemed to be so nonchalant about everything, so Stan thought he was lucky not to fall for her bullshit again and allow him to manipulate him like she had managed to do before.
Another thing that had left a pretty bad taste in his mouth was the fact that Melissa had decided to bring up Wendy's name yet again – as if she had purposefully targeted her for their relationship crumbling away, but not herself, who had been the true culprit behind that.
Now, Stan wasn't that surprised to see that Wendy hadn't been present at the party tonight, considering the fact that the past two, almost three weeks had been pretty rough on her, so the raven haired girl declining an invitation to Clyde's party wasn't that big of a surprise.
However, one thing that caught Stan off guard was the fact that he had found himself oddly missing Wendy's presence and hearing her contagious laugh – with those same sentiments seemingly fueled even more by his currently intoxicated state and not really clear sense of what he was doing.
Instinctively reaching for his phone that was in his jeans' pocket, he opened the contacts' app and scrolled all the way down to Wendy's name, being initially confused by why he even had her number in the first place, but then remembered that she had given him her phone number when they had worked on a group project for their History class.
He then clicked onto her name and brought his phone up to his ear, listening to the ringing sounds and chewing down on his bottom at the same time.
Although his brain was telling him to immediately hang up and pretend like he had done nothing, his heart was telling him otherwise, secretly hoping that Wendy would somehow respond to his call in two in the fucking morning.
And after what had seemed like forever to Stan, the person on the other end of the line finally picked up.
"Hello?"
Oooh, a cliffhanger!
Well, I hope this 6k word chapter (the longest one yet!) will make up for the lack of updates recently.
Apologies for a slower update this time, but school has kept me moderately busy over the past two months and I also picked up several more shifts at my retail job during the holiday season (things usually tend to get really crazy for us that time of the year, which only adds more unnecessary stress). So yeah, life got in the way once again, but everything got sorted out and I will hopefully be able to get back on track with writing fanfiction and updating my works more frequently.
I honestly thought I would be able to finish Mended Hearts before the end of the last year, but given my consistently inconsistent update schedule and the fact that life more often than not gets in the way, it is safer to say that the story will be wrapped up in the first quarter of this year instead.
So, what do you guys think of this chapter and things between Stan and Wendy slowly, but surely developing and them starting to feel something for each other again? We only have nine chapters left until the story ends, so there's plenty of things still left to happen!
Thank you all so much for taking the time out of your day to read this story and leave any comments/feedback. It truly means a lot to me!