Somethings Change

The Reason

Kyle turned the doorknob and entered his house, tapping his shoes before entering, closing it behind him. He slipped his shoes off and looked up to see Ike sitting on the couch watching 'The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer' just like usual. Kyle knew better than to disturb him during his show. Quietly, he made his way up the stairs. Kyle was surprised when he reached the top and saw his mom walking toward him.

"Welcome home Bubbi. How was your study session?" She asked.

"Really good actually." He was probably smiling brighter than he should have.

"That's really good to hear." Sheila rubbed him arm. "You have a friend staying for dinner. He's is your room, dinner will be ready soon."

She started making her way downstairs before Kyle could ask who it was. But he already had his suspicions considering he was close enough to this person that his mom would just let them hang out in his room. He stopped outside of his door, hand on the knob as he took in a deep breathe. Opening the door, a wave of relief rushed over him seeing, in fact not Stan. Kenny laid on his bed reading through a magazine. He looked up and smiled at him, closing the magazine and hopping off the bed.

"Hey!" He gave Kyle a wide smile, hugging him tightly.

"Hey Dude! What are you doing here?" Kyle hugged him back just as tightly but pulled back sooner than Kenny did. Still Kenny released him and rubbed the back of his neck.

"About that-" he started, gesturing Kyle to sit on the bed. Kyle did as he was instructed, watching as Kenny took a seat in his desk chair, swiveling it to face him. "I had the day off today and some extra time. So I hung out with Stan." Kyle tensed again with that statement. "He was kinda worried because he saw you walk outta school with Wendy hanging off your arm."

"Yeah I told her that people were looking at us weird." Kyle grunted and ran a hand down his face. "I can assure you there's nothing going on between me and Wendy. We were just studying."

"I never said there was." Kenny smirked. Well Kyle felt foolish now. "So nothing happened with you and Wendy? Really? Is that why you're so red right now."

"Shut up!" Kyle punched Kenny in the arm while the other just laughed.

"Still Stan was pretty jealous." Kenny stopped laughing and grabbed Kyle's wrist, it wasn't hard since Kyle wasn't throwing fast or hard punches to avoid hurting Kenny. He looked away from Kyle, out the window where Stan's house was. "Grumbling and ranting. Almost looked like he was either gonna cry or hit something. Thing is, I don't really know who he was jealous of." He said, side eyeing Kyle now.

Kyle's face stayed red, staring down to his lap and avoiding contact. "He's really that jealous huh?"

"Kyle, what's really going on? Things have seemed different with you two since middle school." Kenny let go of Kyle's wrist and stood. He moved from the chair and sat next to Kyle on the bed.

"It's nothing, nothing happened." Kyle continued to avoid contact with the other, only looking at his hands in his lap.

"Is it because he told you he liked you?" Kyle's head shot up, his eyes meeting Kenny's. "Stan told me he'd confessed to you but said you turned him down."

"It's not what you think."

"I thought it seemed weird for you to turn him down. Considering you liked him since we were like ten, I figured you'd say yes for sure. But if you don't like him anymore-"

"No!" Kyle blurted grabbing lightly Kenny's jacket. Sighing deeply to try and compose himself, Kyle released Kenny's jacket. Kenny just sat expectantly. "I do really love Stan. I always have and I'm sure I always will." Kyle looked down and clasped his hands together. "It's because I love him so much that I can't be with him."

"I don't understand." Kenny dropped his crossed arms and just looked at Kyle confused.

Kyle sighed and turned back to Kenny. Pain covered his face as tears threatened to spill over. "Every relationship I've been in has fallen apart so quickly and so badly. If I dated Stan, he'd start hating me and we'd inevitably break up. I'd lose my best friend in the whole world." Kyle was now wiping tears away, his voice went from a hushed tone to almost shouting. "I love him so much Ken! He's the most important person in my life, I can't lose him!" Kenny pulled Kyle in. Holding Kyle as he sobbed into his shoulder. He didn't care about the tears staining his jacket or how late it was getting. Kenny said nothing, not even when Sheila knocked on the door to let them know dinner was ready whenever they wanted it. After some time the sobbing turned into small sniffles. Slowly Kenny let go and looked at Kyle's face. His eyes were red and face wet with tears. "Sorry." He practically whispered. Kenny just patted him on the shoulder.

"So you said you didn't like Stan because you didn't want him to hate you?" Kenny whispered back. They didn't need to but Kenny felt like Kyle would appreciate the quiet tone.

Kyle sniffled again. "I'd rather be alone forever as long as it means he'll stay in my life." Kenny nodded in understanding. He pushed Kyle's hands away and wiped his face using his sleeves. "No man, don't do that. Your jacket-"

"It's already covered in your tears, a little more won't hurt." Though Kenny was trying to reassure him, Kyle still felt pretty bad about it, Kenny could tell. "Here let me try again. I care more about you than some dumb jacket." He said giving Kyle a sad smile.

Kyle smiled back, a real smile. "We'd better grab dinner before my mom comes back." He hopped off the bed and checked his face in the mirror before opening his door. Kenny followed him, but headed for the door when they got downstairs.

Kyle's mom popped her head out of the kitchen. "Are you not staying for dinner Kenny?" she asked. He shook his head. 

"Sorry I gotta get back to take care of Karen." He said slipping on his boots. 

"Oh well, let me pack you up some food for you two!" She said happily disappearing back into the kitchen.

"Say hi to your sister for me." Kyle said holding out his fist. Kenny bumped it with his own and smiled brightly.

"Course dude!" Sheila handed him a tupperware container filled with food. "Thanks Mrs. Broflovski. I'll send it back with Kyle tomorrow, washed of course."

"Oh please Kenny, call me Sheila. You're basically already an adult of your own." She said giving him a hug. It was weird to see she only cam up to his chin now. "Kyle your dinner is on the table." She said releasing him and patting Kyle on the back before walking away. 

"See ya." Kenny waved, closing the front door behind him as he left. 

Kyle just sighed and walked to the table. He sat down and grabbed his fork. He took one bite before he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Check he saw 2 text messages. The first he opened was from Wendy.

Wendy: Hey thanks for coming over! I'll see you tomorrow! 

He smiled and sent back a quick reply. 

Kyle: Thanks again for having me over, See you.

Kyle opened the other message, a text from Stan. He'd ignored the other texts Stan had sent, but ready through them all.

Stan: Hows it goin?

Stan: Im hangin with Kenny

Stan: So are you like purposely ignoring me? lol

Stan: Hey dude pick up!

Stan: You aren't even home yet?

Stan: Dude you good?

Stan: I just wanna make sure your ok

Stan: Just let me know if you got home safe.

Kyle smiled  still feeling pretty bad about ignoring the messages earlier. 

Kyle: Sorry dude, I was distracted by homework and junk. I'm home, thanks for worrying about me.

Kyle almost immediately got a reply. 

Stan: Ah cool. Sorry I spammed you, night.

Kyle sigh. He picked up his plate and took it to the kitchen. He went through the process of putting it away and cleaning up, before proceeding back to his room. In all honesty he really wasn't hungry. All he wanted to do was go to sleep.