Drifted - Stan and Kyle

[Chapter 9]

"I'll take you home, Stan," I spoke as if it was no big deal, but I was kind of freaking out. This would be the first time he and I had been alone together for weeks. I took a deep breath and looked at him.

He smiled gently, hair falling lightly in front of his eyes, "Thanks, Ky,"

"Anytime." And I meant it. I wanted Stan to feel better about our friendship, and letting him know I was here for him was something important I had to do. 

We walked out of the library and into the parking lot in complete silence, that was until I heard his stomach grumble.

"Hungry?" I teased, clicking the key into the ignition. He chuckled softly,

"You could say that," His stomach grumbled again, "Wanna go get breakfast for dinner?" He suggested. I shifted the car out of park and tried to hide my idiotic grin.

"When would I ever say no to that?" I relaxed and began driving to our favorite diner. As I drove, I could feel Stan looking at me,

"What?" I asked, turning out onto the main road.

"I just don't understand-" Uh oh- "-how the hell you drive a stick shift?" He asked, visibly extremely confused. I let out a huge laugh, and took his hand in mine,

"Here, put your hand on the gearstick- I'll teach you." Stan nodded and put his hand on the shifter. I put mine on top of his, guiding his hand with my own. 

"Each gear corresponds with a speed, and there's an extra peddle called the clutch which..." As I explained the mechanics of a stick-shift car to him, I shifted the gears with my hand on his. I could feel him looking at me as I drove but I didn't think much of it, this was just another step in regaining our super best friend status.

"Oh, I sort of understand," Stan lifted his finger, signaling he wanted me to take over,

"Shit- sorry dude. Yeah, it's complicated at first but it's second nature now." I put my hand on the gear shift, but his pinky finger lingered against mine.

As Stan and I entered the diner, the only open seats were at the counter. We sat down and poured over the menu, but I remember Stan always got the same order whenever we were kids. I had chosen the complete breakfast, and he had the supreme blueberry pancakes. We waited in awkward silence for our food to come. Unsure of what to say, I remembered his Instagram feed.

"I saw a video of you playing on your Instagram, could you play for me sometime?" I asked, taking a sip of my water. When I looked up at him his face was flushed a light shade of pink,

"Yeah, totally-" A slight smile could be seen as he said that, but it went away just as quickly as it appeared.

We both ate in silence, but this was due to the fact neither of us had eaten since lunch. 

Soon, Stan set his fork down, 

"Man, I'm stuffed." He leaned back in his chair to stretch, and his shirt lifted as he did, exposing his lower stomach. I felt an odd feeling of butterflies wash over me, What the hell?? 

"Me too," I cleared my throat, "but I'm so glad we finished most of our project, now all I have to do is Calc."

"Oh shit me too- thanks for reminding me. I've been hardly getting by on homework this week," Stan leaned his head on his hand, sighing exhaustedly. I couldn't help but feel a little bad.

"Wanna just come over and we can do it together? If not that's fine but since we're on the subject-" I spoke quickly, not wanting to seem like I'm forcing anything, but he lit up at my offer.

"Wait, really? Thanks! I've needed a bit of help on this unit and my study halls never line up with the teacher's free periods." 

"Yeah of course! Let's go now though so we can get it done soon." And just like that, we were back at my house, becoming study buddies. 

I opened my front door, my mom was helping Ike with some homework it looked like, and my father was cleaning up from dinner.

"Hello Bubbie- and oh hello Stan! Lovely to see you again kiddo." My mom beamed as we walked in,

"Great to see you too, Mrs. Broflovski!" Stan returned the happy greeting, and that couldn't help but make my heart flutter a bit. I felt relieved. 

"Are you boys eating with us?" She asked, but I shook my head,

"No, ma, we already ate, so we're gonna go upstairs and do homework," I kicked off my Converse, and Stan untied his vans. I'm glad he remembered our family's "no shoes in the house" rule. 

"Alright good, because your father already cleaned up dinner. Leftovers are in the fridge!" She said, going back to help Ike.

"Alright, thanks ma!" I turned to see Stan looking at me tenderly, and I gave him a shrug of confusion in return.

I led Stan up to my room, and he immediately commented on the posters plastered on my walls.

"The Cure and Sublime? Sick." He smiled awkwardly and I returned a slanted smile. We laid down on my bedroom floor, took out our Calc textbook, and began the homework. 

"Okay so right now we're doing limits-" As I explained limits and continuity, I felt his eyes on me, not the page.

"What dude?" I asked, looking over at him, "Do you not understand?" I questioned him. He nodded silently.

"Could you- could you explain it a bit slower?" He asked softly, he looked like a lost puppy and I felt a little bad.

"Oh yeah sorry man," And so I went back through the practice problems slowly, and he nodded along with my explanations. 

"Wait I don't understand this-" He pointed to a problem where we needed to evaluate the limit. I looked up at him, but he was already looking at me,

And our breaths were mixing, his hand just barely touching mine, our noses touching ever so slightly...