South Park: Senior Year

19. Boxing

A bead of sweat dripped down Tweek's forehead as he stared down his opponent. Today was his first boxing match of the year. A twinge of sadness fell across Tweek at the fact that Craig wouldn't be there to see him fight.
They had gotten into a huge argument on Friday last week and hadn't spoken to each other since. Tweek had to admit it was driving him up the walls with anxiety. It'd been almost three days since they spoke and who knows what Craig was thinking now. All Tweek knew was that he wasn't going to be the first to apologize. Not this time. Craig would have to own up to his actions for once and take the blame.
A punch from his opponent lands, pulling Tweek out of his thoughts. He needed to focus.
It didn't take long to knock down the boy in front of him. Tweek was almost surprised by how easy it was but then again, it was only the first fight of the year. A lot of the kids were just starting up while Tweek had been doing this since middle school.
Boxing was the one thing that could distract Tweek from his paranoia. Surprisingly, it actually helped calm him down. It gave him a place to channel all his pent-up energy so he could feel less anxious the rest of the time. This and Craig.

As Tweek made his way down from the ring, he saw a familiar blue hat lurking by the bleachers. Tweek met eyes with Craig but then continued towards the locker room.
"Tweek, wait." Craig called, but Tweek ignored him.
Tweek sat down on one of the benches and pulled his water bottle from his backpack, chugging it. For once it actually had water and not coffee.
"Tweek." Craig stepped into the room, making his way to him.
Tweek stared at the floor.
"Honey, listen. Please." Craig sat beside him.
Tweek glanced at him. "What?"
"I want to talk to you." He replies.
"Okay, then talk." Tweek mutters.
"Well." Craig glances around the locker room at the other boxers. Everyone was staring at them. Tweek felt his throat tighten.
Craig took notice, as he usually did, and leaned in closer to Tweek. "Meet me outside?"
Tweek nodded. "Okay."
He watched as Craig left before standing and changing out of his boxing uniform.

Tweek pushed open the gym doors and scanned the yard for Craig. He spotted him near a tree by the parking lot and made his way over.
"Hey." Craig said.
"Hey." Tweek replied.
It was silent for a moment. Tweek picked at the scabs on his hands, waiting for Craig to say whatever he needed to. Part of him was relieved Craig was talking to him. Part of him thought this was worse. What was Craig going to say? Was he going to apologize? Were they going to break up? Oh god. What if they do break up?
"Look, I'm..." Craig starts.
Tweek looks up at him.
"I'm not gonna quit." Craig says.
"What?"
"I don't think I need to." Craig explains. "I understand why you're concerned, I guess, but I don't... care. I smoke so rarely, I feel like you're overreacting."
Tweek stares at Craig, his jaw agape. "I'm overreacting? You're illegally smoking cigarettes at fuckin seventeen! You skip your classes to go out and smoke!"
Craig rolls his eyes. "Oh, and you doing fucking meth is any better."
Tweek is taken aback by this. "What?" He snaps.
"Come on, dude." Craig scoffs. "You've been addicted to that shit since third grade but you're getting on my ass about nicotine?"
Tweek clenches his fists. "F-First of all, it's not like I willingly got myself addicted to... That. My parents put that shit in our coffee and fed it to me almost every fucking day since grade school. I only found out a year ago!" Tweek yells. "You know that! And you know that I've been weening off since. I have done e-everything I can to get off of it! You are choosing to smoke." Tears burn Tweek's eyes. He can't believe Craig would even bring that up. He knows how much Tweek is fucked up over it. He knows how hard he's been trying to get clean.
"Either way, you have no right to get on my ass about this when you're no better than me." Craig mutters. "You're the one who's a fucking junkie."
"AGH!" Tweek lunges forward and shoves Craig.
"What the fuck?!" Craig shoves back.
Tweek goes to shove him again, but Craig grabs his wrist.
     "Stop it!"
"Agh! Let go of me!" Tweek hits Craig in the mouth and pushes him to the ground in an attempt to get him to release his grip.
Craig looks up at Tweek in surprise, blood dripping from his lip. Tweek looks back with the same expression.
Suddenly, Craig jumps up and shoves Tweek down, swinging a punch toward his face. Tweek manages to dodge and grabs Craig by the hair.
"Ow, fuck!" As Craig tries to pull away, his hand lands on Tweek's face, and his fingers in his mouth, tugging on Tweek's cheek.
Tweek bites down causing Craig to pull Tweek's head up and then slam it down on the ground. Pain shoots through him and feels as if his brain is rattling against his skull.
Tweek grunts and pushes Craig off of him. He places his hand on the back of his head. It's wet. He pulls his hand back to find his fingers covered in blood.
"Shit." Craig says, his fearful expression leaving no trace of the anger before.
Tweek's eyes widen. "Oh my god. What did you do?" He places his hand back on his head.
"I-im sorry, I don't- I didn't mean to-"
"I'm gonna die!" Tweek yelps.
"You're not going to die. Come one, I'll take you to the hospital." Craig says, grabbing Tweek's hand and leads the two of them to his car.
"Agh. I'm bleeding too much!" Tweek says, pulling his blood-stained hand back into view.
"You're okay, Tweek. You'll be fine." Craig says opening his car door for him.
Tweek sits down, being careful not to lean his head back on the seat. Craig gets into the driver's seat and takes his hoodie off.
He hands it to Tweek. "Here use this to put on it."
"But it'll get stained."
"It's fine." Craig takes Tweek's bloody hand into his own. "I promise."
Tweek places the hoodie on the back of his head, hopefully stopping the bleeding. He taps Craig's hand nervously, counting the numbers out loud.
"One, two, three. One, two, three. One. Two. Three." He whispers to himself.
"You're okay, Honey." Craig assures him, parking in front of the emergency room entrance.
The two boys rush inside. Craig talks to the receptionist. Tweek pays no attention to the words they share. He keeps tapping. One, two, three.
Craig looks back at Tweek and pulls the hoodie away from his head for the receptionist to see. She says something and then Craig tells Tweek they need to sit and wait. He nods and lets Craig lead him to a chair. Tweek sits, retrieving his hand from Craig's, and taps his fingers against his thigh.
"Tweek, look at me." Craig says.
Tweek does as he's told. Craig has tears in his eyes. Tweek stops tapping.
"I'm sorry." Craig wipes his face before a tear falls. "God, this is so fucking stupid. I'm sorry. This is all my fault."
Tweek stares into Craig's glossy, green eyes. He opens his mouth to speak but is interrupted.
"Tweek Tweak?" The nurse sounds confused as he reads the name aloud.
Tweek stands abruptly, and Craig follows.
     "H-here." Tweek says.
"Come with me." The nurse says with a kind smile.
Craig retakes Tweek's hand as they follow the nurse. Craig squeezes it, three times. Tweek squeezes back.
     Craig and Tweek follow the nurse back into one of the rooms. He tells them he needs to get the doctor. Both boys nod.
     Not long after, the doctor walks in.
     "Alright, let me get a look at you." She says.
     Tweek pulls away the hoodie from his head. He taps on his leg faster as she examines him.
    "I'm going to move some of your hair to see the wound better." She warns.
   He winces as her fingers touch the wound.
     "Alright. It doesn't look too bad. You'll probably just need a couple of stitches and you'll be good to go." She smiles. "Is this your friend?" She gestures to Craig.
     "He's my..." Tweek pauses. "Um, yeah."
     "Was he there when the wound was inflicted?"
      "Yes."
      "Im glad he was there to get you here. I'm going to clean out the wound now, okay?" She explains. "Could you lay down on your side for me?"
      Tweek does as he's told.
      "So, how did you hit your head?"
     "Oh. Um. Well..." Tweek looks to Craig.
    Craig's gaze falls to the floor. "We got in a fight. I accidentally bashed his head against the ground."
     "Accidentally?" The doctor questions as she pours some sort of liquid over Tweek's wound. He bites his lip to keep from whining.
     Craig doesn't respond. His face is dripping with guilt.
     "Well, Tweek, it's possible you may have a concussion. I'd like to do a quick exam before I begin the sutures."