Trying Too Hard [Bunny Love Story]

►Chapter Nine◄

Ever since I really started to pay attention to those around me, I had come to the conclusion that - in general - people were fairly easy to figure out. By nature, humans were soaked in hypocrisy and feigned kindness, which has resulted in me coming to the conclusion that everyone was, in one way or another, the same. After all, when it comes down to it the one thing that people crave the most is and always will be security. Yet despite knowing all of the basics about the standard human being, I still couldn't figure out why the heck Kenneth McCormick, the man of my dreams, had lied straight to my face.

We had been walking for some time, just staying silent and looking around at nothing in particular. Before leaving he had snuck into his room through the window and hid the sketchbook under his bed, completely out of reach from me unless I wanted to answer some awkward questions. I think the reason that I didn't question him further at first was due to the shock that I had experienced after hearing him purposely lie to me. Of course, it wasn't long before my common sense came back to me. "Hey, Ken?" He glanced at me and hummed in response, waiting for me to continue. "I-if you're the person who's been vandalizing everything and all.. Why are you looking for yourself?" I watched him carefully after asking.

As much as I had hoped my question would have caught him off guard, he seemed to be completely unfazed by it. Like he was expecting something like that. "Don't you know what they were gonna do if they found me?" he chuckled and looked up at the sky. "Stan and Kyle wouldn't have threatened me, but Cartman sure as Hell would've tried to take all the money that I don't have."

"So, you decided to help them look for you?" I questioned.

Kenny nodded. "Helping them would make me seem a lot less suspicious, not to mention I could easily keep them off my trail." He stopped in front of a tree and just sort of stared at it for a moment before jumping onto the lowest branch and pulling himself up with ease.

He's so strong..

"Since we're not actually looking for anyone, let's just hang out," he suggested, grinning down at me. He stood up on the branch and climbed the second one, but didn't go further. Instead, he turned back to me. "You coming up here or what?"

I paused, rubbing my knuckles together awkwardly. "Golly, bud, I don't know.. I don't really have a lot of upper body strength.." I admitted, staring down at my shoes in embarrassment. Once I heard his amazing chuckle, I looked back up again to see he had dropped down beside me.

"I'll give you a boost," Kenny told me, bending down on one knee and linking his fingers together. At first it had reminded me of a marriage proposal, and even though I knew it wasn't my heart had still raced at the thought. "Well?" he asked after a moment of me just staring at him.

My face flushed and I hurriedly stepped into his hands. Never having been lifted up in such a way, so far as my memory could validate, I found myself squeaking at the feeling of being picked off the ground. I grabbed onto the second branch and when I felt him let go of my shoe allowed my feet to come into contact with the lowest branch so that I was standing on it. "This i-is kind of nerve-wracking!" I admitted, glancing back at the ground as I held onto the second branch for dear life.

"Climbing a tree is kindergarten stuff," snickered Kenny as he grabbed onto the same branch and pulled himself up so that he was standing next to me. We were so close that I wasn't even worried about the branch breaking under our weight. I simply looked into his beautiful eyes, lost in my own little world. He was so amazing in every way possible. Intelligent, handsome, funny, caring..

A liar.

I frowned to myself and looked away. Kenny chuckled again and continued to climb the tree. I watched as he did so, gasping when his footing slipped a couple of times. "Be careful!" I told him. He full on laughed and was a good four branches above me when he looked back down.

"You coming up here or not?" he asked. I glanced back to the ground and bit my lip awkwardly. "You're not gonna fall, Butters. You'll be fine." Then he winked at me. He winked! Kenny McCormick winked at me! I almost didn't see it in the darkness, but I was so focused on his face that I caught sight of it! I hesitated slightly before trying my hand at climbing the tree.

It turns out I have more upper body strength than I originally thought and soon enough we were pretty high, sitting next to each other on a fairly thick branch. "I feel on top of the world!" I stated, smiling wide and just feeling so alive being there next to Kenny. He nodded in response, not really saying anything and instead looking around. "What'cha looking for, fella?" I asked him.

Kenny shook his head. "Just admiring the view," he told me. I nodded, completely understanding where he was coming from. If you looked past all these pesky branches and leaves you were able to see pretty much all of South Park! You could probably even see me vandalizing any building if I weren't careful. It's a darn good thing he doesn't suspect a thing, and that I wear a mask every time I go out now.

"I'm really glad you invited me," I told him, the grin never leaving my face.

"Me too," Kenny admitted. I glanced over at him, blushing furiously. "It gets boring just wandering around not looking for anyone," he shrugged.

"Are you guys searching again tomorrow?" I asked.

Kenny shook his head. "We need to sleep some time, you know." He peered through the leaves and out toward the horizon. I followed his gaze. It was still incredibly dark out, as not much time had actually passed, but I was getting a bit paranoid about being outside for such a long period of time. Him and I stayed silent for a moment longer before he broke through my thoughts. "I actually got a phone for my birthday," he stated.

"Really?" I glanced over at him. "That's great!"

The McCormick family could barely afford a regular house phone, one that when we were kids I got the number to because sometimes Eric would be over and needed me to call him. I was still in possession of it, but there was no way I was going to inform him of that. Really, I was already creepy enough in his eyes I didn't need him thinking even worse of me. So the fact that he had a cellphone was something that genuinely shocked me.

Kenny chuckled at my response. "Yeah, I was surprised when I got it too," he admitted. Then he looked back to me. "But I brought it up because I wanted your number. Next time we're going out searching I can just send you a message and we can do this again."

Holy hamburgers! Is he really saying what I think he's saying?! Okay, I need to calm down! I can handle this. Breathe, Butters. Breathe.

"S-sure thing, buddy!" I exclaimed happily. He got out his phone and I opened my mouth to state my number when I found myself stopping. "Oh geez, I've never memorized my number.."

"You didn't bring your phone with you?" he asked, having already taken out his cellphone. It was a flip phone, but it wasn't in as bad of shape as I had originally thought it would be.

"No," I sighed and shook my head. "I left it in a rush to meet up with you! I'm sorry, Ken.."

Kenny chuckled and ruffled my hair. I was beginning to adore this small gesture. "It's fine, you can just give it to me at school tomorrow." He started lowering himself down the branches and hesitantly I followed him. "I left my sister alone for way too long," he explained once we were on the ground again. "And you seem pretty tired so I thought we should both be getting home."

"You're right," I smiled shyly. "I'll walk you home," I suggested.

Shaking his head he said; "No, I have to meet up with Stan, Kyle, and Cartman before I can actually go home. Thanks, though, Bye." We waved to each other before Kenny turned around and started walking down the street. After a moment of just standing there, watching him make his way through the darkness without looking back at me even once, I sighed to myself and stared at my feet.

"I love you," I whispered quietly. He kept walking.