Craig wasn't in the best of moods to say the least, or for that matter, even all of the week. Yet somehow, somehow, he got talked into and agreeing to meet up with one, Kenny McCormick, on this Saturday afternoon. He didn't know why he agreed to it, maybe it was to make Kenny shut up and stop pestering him, or maybe he just got too worn down and tired of his over enthusiasm and just agreed so he could have some peace, whatever the case was, he now found himself on his way to their meetup destination on his bike.
When Craig arrives at their destination a short while later, Stark's Pond, he spots Kenny sitting by it on the grass, waiting, with a bike placed up beside him. There's a warm breeze that passes by Craig as he gets off his bike and walks over to him with it.
"Hey," Craig greets and Kenny looks back at him.
"Oh, hey," he greets back cheerily, "you made it."
"Yeah," Craig says, "so what did you want so much, that you kept on instantly bothering me for?"
There's a short snort from Kenny at that, before he grins and stands up.
"Guess we'll find out," he replies.
He picks up a black case next to him and slides it onto his back.
"What's that?" Craig asks, gesturing towards it.
"Oh this?" Kenny asks, "It's a guitar."
"Guitar?" Craig asks, corking a brow.
"Yeah, I've been practicing playing it for a while now. Kind of a fun little hobby I like doing," Kenny tells him.
"Oh okay, but why do you have it with you?" Craig asks.
"I thought I would practice while I waited for you before, just for fun," Kenny grins. Craig doesn't say anything and Kenny takes his bike off its stand and faces Craig. "Anyways, you ready to go?"
"Go? Go where?" Craig asks and Kenny smiles again.
"You going to keep on asking questions all day, or are you coming along?" Kenny asks.
He hops onto his bike and Craig does the same as he follows after him.
They come to an eventual stop at a dollar store, where they park their bikes outside and head in, not really too concerned about someone taking them while they are away for their short departure. As they enter the cool aired building, Craig gives a confused look.
"Why are we here?" he asks.
"Why not?" Kenny asks back.
Craig doesn't say anything more, as he wasn't in the mood to play any word games with him right now, and didn't feel like figuring out just what it is he was up to. So he follows behind Kenny through the aisles and gives somewhat unamused reactions as Kenny picks up items and proceeds to attempt making funny dumb comments about them all. Eventually they stop by a snack section and surprising to Craig, Kenny offers to buy him a bag of chips of his choice. But Craig knows that Kenny isn't exactly made of money and goes to refuse the offer. However, Kenny insists on it and picks a flavor that Craig often had, either at lunch, or when their friend groups would sometimes hangout, before he grabs a bag for himself. As they near the cash, they pass by some drinks in a large cooler and Kenny grabs two of them, a sprite and . When Craig says that he really doesn't have to buy him anything, Kenny just looks back at him and smiles before saying.
"Don't worry about it."
After Kenny is ringed up and pays, they head back outside into the warm air and back onto their bikes. Kenny leads the way again, and brings him to a park, where they stop under a tree for shade from the sun. He hands Craig the sprite and his bag chips and they sit under the tree in silence and eat their food.
Craig still wasn't too sure why they were here, or what they were doing outside on this less than pleasant day either.
"Summer will be here soon," Kenny says.
Craig glances over at him, where Kenny is looking out over the park, as if searching for something.
"Yeah," Craig says.
"School will be coming to and end this year soon too," Kenny says and looks back at him, "looking forward to senior year?" he grins.
"Oh yeah, I'm just brimming at the seams," Craig deadpans and Kenny laughs.
"Well I'm looking forward to it. A new year, means new things," Kenny says and leans back against the tree.
"I guess," Craig says and takes a sip of his carbonated beverage.
They fall back into a silence for a while as they finish their snacks. Kenny tries to start a few conversations with Craig, but Craig's short responses were making it hard for them to keep on going longer than a few sentences. As it starts to cloud over, Craig gets up.
"It looks like it's going to rain soon," he says, "think I'll head home now or something."
"You're going so soon?" Kenny asks.
"So soon?" Craig repeats, "We've been hanging out for a couple hours now. Besides, what else is there to do?"
Kenny seems to frown at that and looks back out over the park, his expression changes as his attention is drawn to something.
"Hold on," he says and stands up. "I'll be right back."
"Wha—hey, where are you going?!" Craig asks.
"Guard my stuff!" Kenny exclaims before he jogs off.
Craig lets out a sigh, he partly thinks of just going and leaving Kenny's stuff there, but stays and watches where he goes instead. Another look of confusion crosses his face for the second time that day, as he sees Kenny stop an ice cream vendor, talk to them, and come walking back with two frozen treats in his hands.
"Here," Kenny grins and extends one to him.
"What's this?" Craig asks.
"What do you mean 'what's this?' It's ice cream, so hurry up and eat it before it melts."
"But I didn't— "
"Take it," Kenny says, "Can't have a warm day without something to cool down with it on, right?"
Craig sighs again but takes it.
"Thanks, I guess," he says.
"You're welcome," Kenny says. There's a drop of something hitting his cheek, then another on his nose, and then many as it starts to rain. "Shit— " he says and quickly picks up his guitar case and runs over to his bike, "Follow me!"
Craig let's out a grumble in complaint, but follows Kenny on his bike. The two come across a gazebo and quickly run under its roof, with their bikes, for shelter.
"This is terrific, it's raining, like I knew it would," Craig monotones and takes a seat on a small wooden bench set up in it. "Now I'll have to wait till it stops, for however long that will be."
"At least we got ice cream," Kenny says, holding his frozen treat up.
Craig looks at him blankly before glancing off elsewhere and Kenny walks over, unwrapping his treat and taking a seat next to him on the bench. Craig eventually does the same and they both eat to the sound of the now pouring rain around them. Kenny removes his guitar from his back after he finishes eating and sets it down next to him. He then takes off his hoodie and ties it around his waist. Craig looks over at him as he opens up his case and takes out a brown acoustic guitar and holds it across his chest.
"Going to practice some songs for a bit, to pass the time until the rain stops, hope you don't mind too much," Kenny says.
"It's fine," Craig says and looks away again, "not like there's anything else to do right now."
Kenny gives a small smile and readies for the first song. Truth be told, there was some small part of Craig that was curious as to whether or not he could play good, and wanted to hear him play. Although he would never outright admit it to him, least it boost Kenny's ego and cause that cheeky ass grin to appear across his face because of it. But the moment the first string of notes hits his ears, he could tell that Kenny was going to be good at playing. And as the song progresses, he's proven to be even more correct by it.
Craig looks out over the scenery, there's a strange calming that was slowly taking him over as he took in everything around him. The rain, the guitar, the warm air and damp smell, Kenny's voice. Wait, Kenny's voice? Craig looks back over to him, Kenny now had his eyes closed and was singing along to the song he was currently playing. Craig's eyes widen a bit in surprise once Kenny finishes, and Kenny's eyes open again.
"Oh, uh sorry," Kenny says, seeming a bit embarrassed, "sometimes when I'm jamming to songs I like, I get a bit carried away and start to sing them out loud. Hope I didn't ruin the song too much for you or something."
"No, you didn't." Craig tells him, "you're actually... pretty good," he adds quietly.
"Oh yeah?" Kenny says,
And just as Craig had predicted before, that cheeky ass smile appears across his face.
"Don't let it go to your head though," Craig monotones and Kenny laughs.
"I shall not," Kenny chuckles, "but I'm glad to know that you like it," he hums. "Do you have any requests?"
"Not really," Craig says, "I'm good for whatever you want to play."
"Okay then," Kenny says and starts the next song.
Craig goes back to listening to him play and takes off his own sweater, once he finishes eating his ice cream, and sets it down next to him to let it dry on the bench. At some point, he finds himself humming along to a few of the songs Kenny's playing and even requesting a song, despite what he said earlier. Kenny just chuckles at his change of mind, but plays it for him and Craig can't help but jump in and sing along with Kenny this time, surprising him a bit by it. Kenny plays a few more songs and Craig continues to sing along with him until he hits a high note with a voice crack and laughter erupts from him towards the end, causing both of them to laugh as it finishes.
"Sorry," Craig snorts, "for ruining the song with that ridiculous high note I butchered."
"Nah, it's alright," Kenny says, calming down, "you just added your own... pizzazz to it!"
There's a loud snort from Craig as he breaks out into a fit of laughter again.
"If you say so," he laughs.
"I do," Kenny nods.
Craig starts to calm down again, wiping away a tear that formed in the corner of his eye from laughing so hard and he looks up at Kenny.
"But, I really am sorry," Craig says, after a brief pause, "I know I've probably been acting like a bit of a douche today."
"No worries," Kenny says and Craig looks away.
"It's just been a bad week for me I guess is all," Craig says, his tone distant.
"Why's that?" Kenny asks.
"I don't even know where to begin," Craig starts, "for one, I'm pretty sure I'm failing like two or three of my classes and will need to make up for them during summer school. My parents seem to be fighting all the time at home now, and I can't really get away from it at school either, because my friends also seem to be arguing over stuff as well, or I don't see them as much. Then there's the pressure of having to study for my exams and worry about next year and it being my last, then having to look for what college to go to, or what the hell I'm supposed to do after school is over and just— " Craig leans forward and lets out a deep sigh. His hand runs over his face and pushes his hat off as it slides through his hair. "Sorry, I just, there's been a lot going on and I guess it's been taking a toll on my mood lately is all."
"It's okay," Kenny says. "It's better to let things out than keep them locked up. People aren't meant to retain so much stress on themselves, so it's good to let it come out. Whether by talking about it, or through other creative means," and he gestures to the guitar in his hands. "Anyways, I am sorry to hear you are going through all that right now though. To be honest, I kind of can relate to some of it as well. Just got to take things day by day in doses you know? Don't put it all on you at once, it ain't good for your health." he places a hand onto Craig's shoulder, "If you want to talk more about it, or feel like there's no one you can turn too, my ear is always open for listening," he smiles.
"Thanks," Craig says and offers a small smile back.
As Kenny removes his hand from him, the rain begins to lighten.
"Remember, you're not alone," Kenny tells him. The rain comes to a slow stop then and Kenny looks out towards it. "Hey, looks like the rain has stopped now!"
He puts his guitar away and there's small tinge of disappointment Craig feels at it.
"Yeah," Craig says, "it seems so."
"Don't sound so disappointed now, I thought you wanted the rain to clear," Kenny says amused as he stands up.
"Of course I did!" Craig says, "It's now warm and muggy out because of it."
"Well then, I guess you should get going before it starts again," Kenny chuckles. "Glad we got to spend some time together, it was nice. But sadly, I have a few things I still need to take care of, so I need to head off as well, before it starts to rain again."
Kenny slides his hoodie back on as Craig stands and does the same. After his hat is put back on, he walks over to his bike and takes it off its stand, then he walks out from the gazebo and looks back at Kenny as he gets his bike as well.
"Hey uh," Craig says and Kenny looks at him, "did you want to hangout again tomorrow or something?"
"Sure," Kenny replies with a grin.
"Cool, I'll text you or something then," Craig says, sounding a bit awkward. Just as he gets on his bike, Kenny speaks up again.
"Hey Craig," and Craig looks at him, "glad to see that you're feeling better now," and Kenny smiles. "Looks like I achieved my goal today."
"Goal?" Craig asks.
"Yeah, to see you smile again," he replies.
As Kenny gets onto his bike, and readies to head home in the other direction, surprise crosses Craig's face for the third time that day. Suddenly everything had started to make sense to him. Why Kenny had invited him out that day, and probably knew that something was bothering him all week, when no one else noticed. Why he kept on insisting to buy those things for him before, despite not having much money of his own to spend and telling him not to worry about it. Why he didn't want him to leave before. All of it had made sense now to him. And as he watches Kenny give one more smile and wave back to him before he heads off, a faint burn dances across his face as Kenny's last words playback in his head again, and his surprise slowly turns into a smile as he whispers.
"Thank you. Kenny."
END