Do You Even Care? / STYLE SOUTHPARK

☆Chapter 19 ☆

...Kyle's POV...

The fourth-period bell rings as the door shuts behind us. Ahead of us is the student parking lot, Stan's truck is parked nearest to the parking lot exit. He's been driving more recently, taking the bus less. He gets up into the driver's seat and I get into the passenger seat silently.

He drives with one hand on the wheel and the other on his knee, the tips of his fingers tapping on his jeans. He seems unusually fidgety.

"Dude, I'm so excited for the movie," I tell him with a grin.

"Yeah me too," he smiles, glancing over at me for a moment before looking back to the road.

...

We both walk into the theater smiling and talking about how cool the poster outside for the movie looks. The ticket seller either didn't notice or didn't care that were high schoolers and should be in school.

We walk over to the concessions counter and stand a few feet from it. "I was thinking I'll get a Coke and maybe some Twizlers," I tell him as I fidget with my wallet.

"I got it, don't worry about it," he says pushing my wallet down, away from the counter. I raise an eyebrow at this gesture while he pulls out his wallet.

He orders two cokes, popcorn, and Twizlers. He pays in cash and the boy behind the counter hands us our stuff with a polite smile.

As we walk down the hall of the theater Stan keeps opening his mouth like he's going to say something but not saying anything. He's acting so strange today. He hands me my drinks we draw close to our theater number.

His gaze lingers on me just a moment longer than what feels normal and I feel my face heat up in response. Does he...? No. You just think that because you want him to. He doesn't.

"Here," he gestures up at the little sign that says which number this theater is. We walk into the dark room silently. It's mostly empty in here, two people sit near the front and one sits a row behind them. We take seats in the very middle, setting our snacks on the little trays.

Ads play on the screen and every so often I catch Stan looking at me and every time I do he looks away quickly. Ok, What the hell? Does he like me? Yes. No. Fuck, maybe?

The movie starts and for a while, things seem normal. I mean it is normal, we're just two friends watching a cool movie. Still, I can't shake the feeling of his glances from earlier. Even though I know it means nothing, I can't help but overanalyze it.

The movie goes by normally and at the end I can't help but smile, that was a great movie. Stan is smiling too as we leave the theater. Our eyes meet and we start laughing, just for a short moment.

"That was a sick movie," I comment.

Stan nods, "Totally!"

...

We agreed to go back to his house and now it's just coming into sight ahead of us. He pulls into his driveway and turns off his truck, sighing as he does.

We both climb out of the truck and walk towards his door. "What'd you wanna do?" He asks me and he grabs the door handle before realizing he needs a key. He starts to dig through his pockets.

"I dunno," I reply with a slight shrug. "We could play Minecraft," I suggest a beat later.

Stan laughs, Indian his key, "You're obsessed with that game, Dude."

I roll my eyes. He isn't exactly wrong though, I do like Minecraft a lot. "Don't act like you don't like it too," I quip back at him with a teasing smirk.

He nods as he lets the both of us in. Inside, I flop down onto the couch and it squeaks slightly. This couch must be several centuries old by now.

Stan walks past me and into his kitchen. "Want anything?" He shouts back at me.

"Nah," I shout in reply.

I listen to the sound of him rummaging in the fridge and then the cabinets. Then comes the sound of his footsteps walking back towards me.

He's holding a bag of chips and he sets them on an end table as he plops down onto the couch next to me.

He glances over at me, opens his mouth slightly, and then shuts it.  He must have something to say, something important I guess. He's been like this all day,  it's making me a little paranoid.

"So Minecraft?" I ask with a grin.

...

My eyes will barely stay open as I glance at the clock, it says it's 4 am. I glance over at Stan, his controller is in his lap and his eyes are half open. Even half asleep I admire the way the glow from the TV in the dark room illuminates his face, somehow it makes each of his features look just right.

As though reading my mind, Stan glances at the clock and sighs. "We should watch a movie or something," he suggests in a sleepy voice that on top of the perfect lighting makes my stomach hurt with butterflies.

"Definitely," I mumble back.

He grabs the general remote from between us and clicks on Netflix. He scrolls idly for a minute but we're looking for something to sleep to so he hastily chooses a nature documentary about the rainforest. I don't protest the choice.

Suddenly, he moves himself close to me, laying his head on my shoulder with a small exhale. One of his arms snakes between my lower back and the couch. I don't protest this either.

He picks his head up barely and turns it to look at me. With his sleepy blue eyes, he smiles at me softly. "Kyle, I'm in love with you," he admits in a small voice.

I feel my cheeks redden but I feel hazy and I'm sure he does too. He's tired, he won't even remember this in the morning. He doesn't actually mean it. That train of thought makes a certain sadness run through my bones and veins. I know I'll remember this in the morning. How could I forget?

I chuckle calmly, "No you don't. You won't say that again when you're fully awake," I mumble back to him.

"I will," he grumbles, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Sure you will.

But with me no longer vocally debating him he seems to be satisfied enough to go to sleep. He lays his head back on my shoulder and cozies in.

...

I groan as I wake to the sound of birds chirping outside through the window that I'm willing to bed that Stan's mom opened. As I start to wake up I notice Stan's head still on my shoulder.

Then he lifts his head. "Oh, you're awake finally," he teases me.

His words make me realize how close his face is to mine. His breath is easy to feel on my face. This makes my cheeks blush helplessly and I feel my heart thumping in my ears.

I follow his eyes gaze to my lips and then meet his eyes with mine. With this, I feel my heart now banging so hard in my ears and chest that I'm scared it might explode. Is he feeling everything this intensely right now too?

"Can I?" He whispers, moving closer.

"Please."

Then I feel his lips collide with mine.