More Than Friends

The Date

Stan

Stan sat at the table in the food court, bouncing his leg impatiently. Kyle was supposed to be there ten minutes ago. He checked his phone for what was probably the fifth time since he had sat down. He didn't want to text him and risk him getting in trouble somehow.
He sighed and scrolled through his phone, almost dropping it when it finally chimed. He opened the notification, but it was just a message from Red.
She had sent him a selfie with the caption: Have fun on your date 😘.
He rolled his eyes, smiling to himself.

He looked up when he heard someone calling his name. Kyle and Ike were walking towards him, the redhead grinning and waving excitedly. Stan waved back and stood up.
"Hey, I was starting to worry you weren't gonna make it. Hey Ike." He smiled at Ike, who nodded at him. "Hey Stan."
Kyle sat down at the table, Ike sitting next to him. "We had to come up with a really good cover for why we were going out."
Stan nodded and sat back down.
"What'd you tell her?"
Kyle chuckled and shook his head, looking at Ike.
"She thinks we're at a Canadian Heritage exhibit in the art gallery here in the mall." Ike crossed his arms, a smug smile on his face.
Stan laughed, impressed with the younger boy's deviousness.
Ike stood up from the table. "I'm supposed to meet Firkle at Hot Topic. Later." He gave them a short wave and wandered off.

Stan looked across the table at his best friend. "You hungry? Cause I'm starving."
Kyle groaned. "I'm totally broke dude."
Stan chuckled. "I didn't ask if you had money, I asked if you were hungry."
Kyle shrugged, looking at the table. "I could eat."
They stood up and made their way over to the Panda Express. They ordered and took their food back to the table. Stan pulled his food out of the bag, practically drooling at the smell of the orange chicken. He heard Kyle laugh and looked up to see his best friend grinning at him. Stan grinned back sheepishly. "I haven't had orange chicken in years."
They ate their food in silence, Stan practically inhaling his. He finished his last piece of chicken and licked all the orange sauce off his fork. Kyle was watching him with an amused look on his face. Stan felt his face heat up and he shot his best friend a goofy smile. Kyle chuckled and slid his container over. "Here, you can finish mine."
Stan snatched the container and proceeded to finish it as well. When they were done, they walked their trash to the garbage can and headed in the direction of Hot Topic to find Ike.

They walked into Hot Topic looking around for Ike and Firkle. They found them in the t-shirt section laughing at some of the t-shirt sayings. "These shirts are so emo." They heard Ike giggle while Firkle ranted about how emo the shirts were and how only poser conformists wore them.
Kyle waved at Ike to get his attention. "Hey we're going to go walk around. Text me if you need anything." Ike waved them off and they left Hot Topic, wandering off in no particular direction.

Kyle

Kyle nudged Stan's shoulder with his. "So what do you want to do?" His best friend shrugged at him. "I don't know, what do you want to do?"
Kyle thought about it for a minute, trying to come up with something, when he saw Stan freeze next to him. He followed Stan's line of sight and saw the animal adoption center. In the window were a couple of puppies playing. He looked over at Stan, noticing his best friend's face was lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. Kyle grinned and grabbed Stan's wrist, tugging him into the adoption center.
He felt a surge of warmth in his chest as Stan scooped up one of the puppies, cooing at it and burying his face in its fur. His best friend had always had a soft spot for animals. With a jolt he remembered Stan's dog Sparky, and wondered what had happened to him. He didn't want to ask Stan and possibly upset him though. He looked back at his best friend and felt his heart rate pick up as Stan grinned at him, his eyes lit up with pure joy. He stood there frozen in place as his heart pounded in his chest.What the hell is wrong with me?
He shook his head and turned his attention to the other puppy, leaning down to scratch its head. He scrunched his face in disgust when it slathered his hand in slobber. He heard Stan giggle behind him, and shot him a glare over his shoulder. Stan laughed as Kyle pulled hand sanitizer out of his pocket and rubbed it generously over his hands. Kyle watched Stan cuddle the puppy one more time, before putting it back with the other one. "We should probably find something else to do before I end up going home with a dog."
Kyle nodded, smiling. "Let's go to the bookstore."
They left the adoption center, heading towards the bookstore.
Kyle immediately headed towards the science fiction section to see if they had the most recent book in the series he was reading. He scanned the shelf, finding what he was looking for. He pulled the book off the shelf and flipped it over. 19.95? Ugh why am I broke? He slid the book back on the shelf, hoping it was still there next month. He turned to see that Stan had wandered off somewhere. He walked a few aisles over and found his best friend in the music section. Stan leaned against a shelf, flipping through a guitar book.
He glanced up as Kyle walked over. "Find anything good?"
Kyle shrugged. "Just a book I've been waiting on. Hopefully it's still here next month."
Stan placed the guitar book back on the shelf. Kyle nodded towards the door of the bookstore. "I should probably go check on Ike."
Stan nodded. "I think I'm going to get that guitar book. Meet you in a few?"
"Ok." Kyle left the bookstore and headed towards Hot Topic.