-this december-

-chapter 19-

December 3
Tweek POV

"tweek, son, why don't you go put up the christmas lights for the shop?" my dad asks me.

while i would love to get away from coffee tasting, it's also a freezing south park winter, and going out side is brutal.

"dad, we're not even christian. we shouldn't really be celebrating christmas ," i tell him, standing up from my taste testing station. i may be making excuses, but it's true. we're buddhists. or, my parents are.

"plenty of non christian people celebrate christmas, tweek," dad responds. "now go get the box."

"well, shouldn't we put up decor for other holidays in winter like hanukkah or kwanza?"

"just get the box."

i groan, grabbing the christmas box. it's full of little red and green lights we hang up in front of the shop. my parents set up small christmas trees and ornaments inside and we add some winter themed items to the menu. we celebrate christmas, like most other families in south park, in the most mundane way, like most other corporate shops.

i set the box down at my feet, pulling my thin sweater tighter around me. i hope the strings aren't too tangled; they're a nuisance to unravel. opening the box and removing some in the light strings, i pull them apart and begin to wind them around two nails in the wood holding the window in place. i stretch the string to another nail on the other side.

"JUST SHUT IT, CLYDE!"

the sudden shouting catches me off guard. "Gah!" i nearly drop the lights, but i catch myself just in time. turning my head, i see no one other than craig tucker hurrying my way. tolkien and clyde are standing a ways down the block. clyde's crying.

as craig gets closer, i can see he's about to. cry, i mean. i set the other lights back in the box and walk towards him. he stops suddenly when he sees me, then quickly wipes at his eyes. i wonder what's wrong. what did clyde do?

"are you ok, craig?" i ask, carefully putting a hand on his shoulder. he flinches and i quickly pull my hand away, not wanting to upset him more.

he looks at me, shoulders shaking, and pulls me into a hug. it surprises me, but i hug back. obviously. "uh, do you wanna talk about it?"

he nods and pulls away. "sorry," he says, wiping his eyes again.

"it's ok," i motion for him to follow me into the shop. "Dad, i'm taking my break! craig's here!" i shout.

"ok! no funny business, though!" he shouts back. i flush. stupid dad. "sorry about him," i whisper to craig.

i grab his hand and lead him to the storage room so we can talk in private. he sits down and i follow him.

"so, what happened?" i ask again.

"clyde's being stupid," he mumbles.

"like, how?"

"it's just- ughhhhh," he groans.

"we don't have to talk about it," i say quickly. he seems upset and i don't want to make him cry or something.

"no, no, it's- its fine," he seems unsure. this whole thing isn't like him. usually he's deadpan and doesn't care. but now he's all shaken up and emotional. i'm scared he might cry. "i- i have a crush on this person, and they're like really great but i know for a fact that they don't like me back and if they found out it would totally ruin our friendship. anyways, clyde found out about it somehow and is convinced that this person likes me back, and it just sucks because he's been telling me for ages that they like me and getting my hopes up just for them to be smashed into tiny pieces later and it's just- stupid," he trails off, sniffling. "'cos, i really like this person, you know? and if i lost them, i don't know what i would do. they mean the world to me; i've told them everything and they're just so interested in my stupid rants about stuff and-" he shakes his head and buried it in his hands. i wrap my arms around him best i can and pull him into another hug.

he has a crush. the stupid, selfish thought keeps running through my head. of course he does. it wasn't like he wasn't going to like anyone and only hang out with you. idiot. he's probably met some nice girl and is going to 'break up' with you for her and be happy.

"ugh, sorry," craig says. i rub his shoulder a bit, not wanting to be awkward.

"it's ok, nothing to be sorry for," i tell him. i feel funny, like i want to laugh and cry at the same time.

stupid

-

tolkien POV

"he's being...stupid!" clyde exclaims, on the verge on tears.

i sigh. "clyde, you were being a bit of a jerk."

"i'm not being a jerk, he's just being dumb!" clyde refuses to see things from craig's point of view.

"look, craig has convinced himself that tweek is straight and will never like him-"

"pfft, tweek being straight? fat chance," he giggles, trying to distract himself.

"anyways, that's what he thinks. and really, craig has no reason to believe that isn't true."

clyde pouts. "i just wish he'd believe me."

"yea, me too." i wrap my arms around him. he's shorter than me, maybe by 2 inches. it's not a huge deal, i'm tall.

clyde leans into me. my face goes hot. stupid, i keep getting flustered over dumb things that he does.

it barely registers to me that we're hugging in the cold on a sidewalk next to tweek's coffee shop, until clyde shivers.

"jesus, it's cold," he rubs his hands over his arms, trying to warm himself up.

"let's go back to my house," i laugh. he nods quickly and grabs my hand, hurrying in the direction of my house. i must be bright red right now. hopefully he doesn't notice.

but when he turns back to me, i see his face is pink too. from the cold? or from something else.