The ride back to the house is tense in both Bebe's car and the Prius Leslie operates. She had been with Jimmy all night and when Bebe found them as the video premiered, they all agreed they were ready to abandon the scene.
Kyle sits in the backseat trying not to throw up on Stan, who has claimed his lap as a pillow for the ride. No one says a word partly because they're all too stunned and enraged to form a coherent sentence, and the other part is that they don't feel the need to speak over Stan's soft snores. Kyle wonders when the last time he slept soundly was.
They pull into the parking lot of the hotel Wendy reserved as they were leaving the party. Going to their house was not an option as they were subjected to random visits from their managers and after ditching early, they were sure to receive one. Kyle wakes Stan so they can clamber out of the car with Wendy, leaving Bebe to haul ass to the house to pick up the others. Leslie had the idea to ditch her car at the house to leave them completely untraceable.
He feels like he's in a trance as Wendy gets everything situated to retrieve their room keys. His heart boils in a vat of acid and his mouth tastes bitter from the bile that rises every time he replays the day's events in his mind.
The silence from the car ride threatens to follow the three into the hotel room, but Wendy gets a call from Bebe to notify them of her whereabouts.
"You dropped us off not even twenty minutes ago. How fast are you driving to already be heading back? Oh god, did someone just honk at you?" She rambles into the phone as she paces the room.
Kyle and Stan sit next to each other on one of the queen-sized beds, thighs pressing together as they lean against one another for support. Kyle can't help but snicker listening to Wendy chide the blonde on the other end of the phone.
"Who is she talking to?" Stan whispers, peering up at Kyle like he's trying to remain inconspicuous.
"What? She's talking to Bebe," Kyle responds, furrowing his brow when Stan just shakes his head like that information was useless. "Her girlfriend, Bebe. The blonde girl who drove us here," He says.
Stan shows no reaction aside from his eyebrows twitching upwards for a second. He slowly turns his gaze back to Wendy to find her settled in a chair by the window twirling a strand of her hair while she smiles at something said on the other end of the line.
"When did you two get so close?" He asks flatly.
Kyle stares at him in surprise for a moment before looking across the room too. He's asked himself the same question plenty of times in the last however many hours.
"We didn't, actually," He answers, "I think we both just saw something we hated and had similar reactions."
Stan hums in acknowledgment and they look at each other in sync. Kyle watches as Stan slowly scans every part of his face like he's trying to crack a code of some sort. It's something Kyle had been uncomfortable with a year ago, and despite being apart for so long, he finds that he doesn't mind it now.
"You're very similar," He finally says.
"Well, maybe that's why you like me, too," Kyle says before he can stop himself. He can't be upset for letting it slip when Stan blushes, smiling tiredly down at his hands in his lap.
"They're pulling in now. You four have a lot of explaining to do," Wendy interrupts their moment by standing from her seat as she sets her phone down on the desk in the corner.
"Do we really have to-"
"Yes," Kyle and Wendy cut him off in unison, giving him equally fierce glares at the notion of letting everything they've witnessed go without an explanation.
