Stolovan Thing

Chapter 8

~Kevin~

I rub my eyes, checking the clock as I wake up... 6 AM, God, how early did I go to sleep?

I glance up at my bed to see Clyde sleeping, he's not in a very flattering position. He was as sprawled out as one could possibly be on a twin sized mattress, with one arm and one leg hanging off the side. His hair was messy, like he was tossing and turning all night, or he showered before sleeping... but I doubt it was the latter.

I sit up, careful to not make a sound, I have no idea when he went to sleep, but he's probably not a morning person. I hear footsteps approaching from Esther's room, she's probably returning my stuff.

Sure enough, she swings my door open so hard it actually hits against the wall and flies back in her direction. She stops it with her hand. She had my things in her other hand. "I'm returning these," she muttered, walking over to my desk where I kept all my electronics with the exception of my phone and placed my vr headset down.

"I've been meaning to ask since yesterday, but what the fuck is Donovan doing here?" She's been referring to anyone she wasn't friends with or related to by their last names ever since she got into anime and Japanese culture.

"We had a project to work on," I shrugged. No one except for Douglas, Tweek, and Scott knew about my crush on Clyde, except for probably Clyde now... but I don't want to think about that.

She nodded as if that was all she needed, but she pushed further, "then why'd he stay over?" She questioned suspiciously, I have no idea what she's thinking right now, but her stare is so intense it's making me nervous.

"He asked to." I avert my eyes from her stare.

"I didn't think you two were friends." Even though I'm avoiding her eyes, I can practically feel her stare burning into my skull.

"Y-yeah.. well, we are... surprise..." Even I can hear the lack of confidence in my voice.

"I see..." she then walks out of my room. That's the most interaction I've had with her in months.

I sigh quietly, glancing over at Clyde to see him still sleeping soundly. I cross my arms on the bed and rest my head on top of them, I can't help but to watch him sleep. There's not much else to do until he wakes up.

I ended up a bit closer to his face than I intended, I could feel his soft breaths on my skin, but I wasn't about to move.

I'm really in love with him. I can take his chaotic energy, his flirtation, everything that makes me uncomfortable. I just wish things could progress the way I want them to. The randomness of the universe would never allow that to happen though.

Every time he stirred at all. I jumped back in case he was waking up, that happened at least 12 times before he finally did wake up.

But there was no easing into awake with him. He didn't even move before his eyes shot open, it caught me off guard and I moved away from him as quick as lightening. He didn't say anything, but he probably noticed.

"Morning Kev." He sat up and stretched, his back popping in a few places.

Trying to recover from my shock, I didn't respond right away. I took a deep breath first, "G'morning.." I didn't stutter so that should feel like a win, but it doesn't.

I couldn't look at him, I just felt so guilty for really no reason. I'm pretty sure at this point that his mind just goes a million miles a minute, there's no way he was just sleeping one second and completely awake the next.

I hear him get up from my bed and he walks around just to sit within my line of sight, right next to me. "So what's for breakfast?" He asked.

Right, breakfast. To be honest I forgot that the meal existed, I haven't eaten breakfast in a few years. "Um.." was all I had to respond.

He smiled, I'm betting he figured out that we don't have any breakfast foods, because of his next words. "How about we go to that old diner?" He didn't even have to name the thing, the town was so small I knew exactly what he was talking about. There was only two in town, one way older than the other one. Sure there were other restaurants, but not diners, they're different.

Clyde's car was still where it was parked yesterday, I saw it through the living room window, I was worried someone was going to steal it since he left his keys in the ignition. I was hoping there would be no questioning from my parents but that jinxed it. "Where are you boys going?" My dad asks.

I roll my eyes before turning around. "The old diner, we're getting breakfast." I mutter just loud enough for him to hear.

"Oh, good idea boys. I hope you don't mind if we join you, we haven't gone out in a while." He just invited himself.

"Actually... we do-" I start but I get cut off by him speaking again, not even listening to me.

"Go wait in the car, we're all going together." He says, getting my mom to get Esther as he gets himself ready.

I lead Clyde to the garage, walking to the car and immediately getting in the middle spot, something about Esther and Clyde sitting next to each other, I'd rather be squashed between them even though I'm claustrophobic and would typically choose to sit on the end.

He sat next to me on the side I opened the door. "I hate this family." I muttered, looking down at my lap instead of at him.

He didn't give me some bullshit like how it was better than his, sure mine's disfunctional, but we at least have each other, he doesn't have anyone but his dad who is usually to be found at a bar or the Peppermint Hippos, which was somehow still in business, instead, he got close to me and spoke softly, "yeah, I was hoping to be alone with you, I'm not the biggest fan of them either." His expression was hinting at annoyance, yet there was a smile there, his teeth were clenched in such a way I could easily tell he wasn't at all happy.

I am really not looking forward to this. My family is a pain, they probably won't even let me talk like usual, and they'll probably bombard Clyde with questions because I've never had anyone over except for Douglas, and that one time in fourth grade when we were pirates, but they probably don't remember that despite me missing for a little while.

Soon enough my family comes in and Esther comes in on the other side of me. my dad gets in the passenger seat and my mom the driver. "This'll be a nice outing~" my mother chirped as she opened the garage as well as the hell that was about to unleash before we even left the neighborhood.