He expected it, but that didn't mean he was at all prepared.
Unsurprisingly, Crimson Dawn received an overwhelmingly positive response from concertgoers and even caught the attention of rock community networks like Loudwire and Alternative Press. They were signed to a label before the tour even ended.
It was an extraordinarily boring summer without his friends, and that turned into a slightly less boring school year. He at least had a distraction once the fall semester started, but up until then was grueling.
He followed through on all the promises he made before his friends left. He texts Karen almost every day just to check in. If she's having a bad day, he'll usually pick her up and take her out to eat or he'll bring her back to his house to spend the night if need be. That, or he'll drive her to Craig's to be with Tricia if their plans allow for it.
He hung out with Tweek a few times during the summer, but he reached a point where he couldn't handle the blonde's raving about what he saw in the media about their friends. All of it sounded tame enough, but something felt off to Tweek and Kyle, and even Craig apparently. Tweek said Craig's the one who first told him about Stan leaving an interview early and pissing off a journalist for Loudwire in the process. After that, Tweek started following them on his own and everything reported was just as worrisome, if not more.
Kyle wanted to know if his friends were okay. He wanted to know that they were safe and taking care of themselves and each other. He reasoned with himself that the media is not the place to find that out.
The sporadic phone calls he did get to have with his friends, whether it was all of them as a group or individually here and there, were sacred. He would drop everything he was doing to give his full, undivided attention to the conversation. They always went well and everyone always seemed well overall, but there were little slips that Kyle caught.
The resignation in Marjorine's tone when she said she wouldn't be singing on their album. The hesitation when Kenny mentioned needing to get a same-day refill on his Adderall. The scoff Kenny gave when Jimmy said he liked not having to talk in interviews.
The passion in Stan's voice when he said he was ready to come home.
He only tried addressing one of these slips. He ended up on the receiving end of one of Kenny's agitated outbursts, which he'd only seen happen three times in all the years of their friendship; once to Cartman and twice to Stuart. Marjorine took the phone and diverted the conversation before anything got too extreme and Kyle pretended not to hear Stan and Kenny yelling at each other in the background.
Overall, though, they all seemed happy. Once the tour ended, they were all moved into a decent house together in Bakersfield, California that their label was apparently paying for. It was a two-hour drive to the main label office in L.A., but they own a studio in Bakersfield because it's cheaper than Los Angeles. The house setup sounded pretty sweet: four bedrooms even though they knew Kenny and Marj are a couple, a mother-in-law suite reserved for practicing and rehearsing and whatnot, and a sick-ass kitchen that Kenny and Marj essentially claimed as their own. Marj always bakes something for dessert and they all agree Kenny's become something of a chef.
That is when they have time. Kyle and Jimmy have gotten much closer since the tour began because he has the most time on his hands. From what little he's told Kyle, their label demands a lot of time from Marj, Kenny, and Stan for publicity purposes. He wouldn't say much at first, but as the months dragged on he started becoming more transparent.
The first time seemed like a slip-up. He and Kyle were on a Discord call while playing Minecraft together when he got a call from Kenny. He answered and didn't bother muting himself, so Kyle heard him remind Kenny he had a meeting with a label rep in an hour. He also heard Jimmy repeat this information three times throughout the seven-minute phone call, as well as two gentle commands of, "Stay on t-track,".
