Author's Notes:

Oh geez, thank you guys so much for the nice reviews! They helped me feel a lot less anxious about this story! :D

I planned to give myself a week to update this, and I more-or-less made my goal... I think it would be a bit too ambitious of me to promise any kind of consistent updates, but I'll try to never take longer than two weeks!

Well, I have to be honest, this chapter was really hard for me to write... mostly because dialogue is, to put it lightly, not my cup of tea. And dialogue is essentially all this chapter is, aside from the minor exposition. I'm just a little (that's a lie, more like very) awkward in person... And I have this terrible fear that it's noticeable when I write people talking. If you think it is, maybe you could give me some tips on how to make it less obvious? That would help an unbelievable amount... :)

This chapter is kind of just... filler, I guess. But I think it explains enough about the situation to be included in the story anyway. And also, I know I promised the chapters would start getting longer, but this one is only barely longer, I think. Actually, reading over it again, it is dreadfully short, and the ending sounds really rushed... But I'll try harder to hit more than two thousand words in the next chapter, and hopefully more than that soon.

Cortez30, don't worry, one of the things I really didn't like about my first draft of this story was my characterization of Wendy (she was pretty much a bitch), and I decided before I posted the first chapter that I would take special care to make her a good person this time. She's one of my favorites, too! :)

So, I have a question for you guys. What would you think if I wrote a Bunny chapter next? I spent the better part of three days reading a really long Style fanfiction, and because of a particular side-pairing that was included, it left me feeling really sad, a little frustrated, and itching to write something about Kenny and Butters... Would anyone be opposed? It's okay if you are, feel free to tell me in the reviews.

Just one more thing. In case anyone cares, the song I mention in the first paragraph is Reason Dies, by Shiban.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter!

Kyle sits up in bed, bleary-eyed and still very tired, to find the noise that woke him up. It's still going on; a loud, badly recorded song that Kyle only after a solid ten seconds realizes is Stan's ringtone on his phone. More specifically a shitty-sounding recording of Reason Dies, which was one of Stan's favorite fucking songs at the time. Kyle snatches his phone off his bedside table, eyeing the picture of Stan that's popped up on his screen, deliberating whether or not he should ignore it.

After a few seconds he decides to just man up and answer, trying to remind himself that he doesn't actually have a legit reason to be so pissed. He has to answer it quickly, before it cuts off.

"Hello?" His voice cracks a bit, and he notices he sounds just a little bit like some kind of zombie. Oh well, maybe it'll make Stan feel bad. He'd fucking deserve it.

"Hey. Did I wake you up?" Kyle has to suppress a scoff. A quick glance at the clock tells him it's almost three in the morning, so what kind of normal person wouldn't be asleep?

"You did." He tries to pump those two words with as much sarcasm as possible, but in his sleep-deprived state they come out more monotonous than anything else.

"Ah, shit. I'm sorry," Stan says.

"Okay."

"No, I am!" He sounds almost offended for a second, before his tone evens out to an apologetic one, "And," he pauses, the static over the phone becoming nearly unbearable during the two seconds he doesn't speak, until, finally, he continues, "I'm sorry for bailing- that was… really shitty."

"Yeah, it was," Kyle agrees.

"Please don't be mad at me, Kyle," Stan almost pleads, and Kyle finds he can't suppress his scoff this time.

"Okay, Stan, whatever you say."

"Kyle!" It's pretty obvious at this point that Stan's getting frustrated. Kyle knows he's being immature, but the thing is, he doesn't exactly care. Nobody personally forced Stan to see Wendy, he did it willingly, and he knew Kyle would be mad at him. So, as far as Kyle is concerned, he kind of deserves this. "Stop being a jerk! I know you're pissed, and I don't blame you, but damn. You don't have to act like I betrayed you or something... I'm trying to apologize."

"And you're doing a great job, really. Keep it up." The sarcasm in his voice is pretty successful this time.

"Kyle..."

"What?"

"Stop."

"Stop?"

"Just- yeah. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called you, I'll just..." he trails off for a second, before sighing like he's angry or... upset, or both, "I'll leave you alone-"

"Stan," Kyle interrupts before Stan can hang up on him. He finally sits up in the bed, pushing his comforter down to his feet and scooting backwards to lean against the headboard, "God dammit, Stan, fuck you. You're an ass, you know that? You just do whatever the fuck you want to do, whenever the fuck you want to do it, because what does it matter that you already have plans with your best friend? And you only do that shit because you know I can't stay mad at you!" Kyle tenses a bit at the realization that, yeah, he's already kind of forgiven Stan. Just like he always does when Stan ditches him to do something else (usually a girl). He supposes that makes him the textbook example of a pushover.

"So you forgive me?" Stan's voice sounds so hopeful for a second that Kyle's irritation almost vanishes completely. Just almost.

"Did you not hear anything else I just fucking said?" He rakes his hand through his curls, ignoring the occasional snagging it causes, "You knew I'd forgive you."

Kyle knows it's damn crazy, but he swears he can feel Stan's grinning.

"Thanks, Kyle."

"Yeah, it's fine..."

They're quiet for a few seconds, and Kyle almost falls asleep again just before Stan says something into the phone. Something that sounds suspiciously like, 'me and Wendy are going out again', but Kyle must have heard wrong.

"What?" he asks, rubbing his face to try to wake himself up.

"I said me and Wendy are going out again..." Kyle's lips instantly pull into a frown. Wendy and Stan, together, is never a very good thing, regardless of what Stan has tricked himself into believing.

"... You're serious?" Kyle asks after a second, really hopeful that his best friend is just playing some kind of joke. But, on second thought, this isn't very funny at all.

"Yeah, man!" Kyle winces at the happiness in Stan's voice. He's dead fucking serious.

"Stan... Jesus Christ..." he mutters, dragging his hand across his face and sliding forward until he's lying down on the bed again. For some reason, it never crossed his mind that they might decide to 'rekindle their lost love', or some shit, even if he should have seen it coming.

This will be about the seventh time they've gotten together, just since freshman year. Seventh. Shouldn't there be a point that you realize when a person just isn't right for you?

It's not so much that Stan now has a girlfriend again, and Kyle has, in a sense, missed his opportunity to go for single Stan for the time being. Yes, that's part of why he's so irritated about this, but the problem lies more in the fact that it's Wendy- again.

Wendy is a nice girl, really, and Kyle actually admires her a lot- more so than he'd admit to anybody. She's smart- really smart- in nearly every subject in school, and rarely comes out of a class without the highest of scores; and this is something that, admittedly, Kyle is jealous of. She doesn't seem like she tries too extraordinarily hard, she just is that smart; whereas Kyle's brains are due mostly to constant work, and only slightly to natural talent. Frankly, it's frustrating.

Not only is she smart enough to make nearly anyone feel inferior if she wanted to, but she is gorgeous. She's not sexy like Bebe Stevens, who has pronounced curves and a striking face; and she's not even cute like Red, who has a short stature and a round, rosy face. She's beautiful in entirely her own, effortless way. Kyle isn't exactly sure if it's ridiculous or not for a guy his age to be jealous of a girl's looks, but he is. He's insanely jealous of her long, soft, ebony black hair that looks perfect whether it's down or in an updo. He's even more jealous of how that hair frames her face, just as pale as his own but somehow without appearing pasty, as he's convinced his does.

Honestly? He feels like a piece of shit in comparison; like it's an absolute joke for him to actually think Stan might, under any circumstances, consider him when Wendy exists. So, there's that, but there's also the fact that, in Kyle's opinion, they don't get each other.

Wendy is, in a lot of ways, an activist. She does everything with a sort of wild passion that isn't really matched by many people in South Park (save for Mrs. Broflovski, of course...), which is the exact opposite of Stan, who doesn't seem to care about anything if it doesn't directly concern himself, his family, his friends, or animals. And that's almost true, because his concern is very limited when it comes to everything else.

Wendy and Stan even argue about this... a lot. Wendy always gets mad at Stan for not caring, and Stan gets mad at Wendy for wanting him to care. Kyle sees both of their points, honestly (not that he'd tell Stan), but he's gotten the impression that this isn't something they're ever going to work out.

Maybe Kyle is stupid for thinking that something like that even matters in a relationship. It's supposed to be about loving the other person, right? Not agreeing with all of their qualities. But, at the same time, he's of the firm belief that if they can't see eye-to-eye on such a basic level, they shouldn't be together.

Stan's voice breaks him out of his reverie, forcing him to return his focus to the present, and the fact that Stan doesn't learn after breaking up with the same person multiple times.

"Dude, I thought you liked Wendy," Stan says, but it sounds like a question. I thought you liked Wendy- so what's the problem?

"It's not that I don't like Wendy, Stan," Kyle says, not exactly feeling prepared to deal with this shit at three in the morning, "Don't be ridiculous." He really hopes Stan will just drop it. He doesn't want to talk about how wrong Wendy is for him, at least, not right now. Not when he's still feeling like second-best. "Look, could we talk tomorrow? I have to get to sleep."

"Oh..." Stan sounds dejected for a second, before adding, "We don't have to talk about Wendy if you don't want to, dude. I mean, since I didn't come over today- er, yesterday, we didn't get to see each other, so I kind of wanted to talk to you anyway. Unless you're too tired or something, it's okay..."

"Uh," Kyle isn't sure what to say. Not that he didn't expect Stan to give up talking about Wendy so easily, but... Actually, yeah, he didn't expect it. "Yeah, I can stay on the phone a little longer."

"Okay, good. So," Kyle can hear Stan chuckling to himself, "Did you hear about what Craig did yesterday?"

And just like that, they lapse right into normal conversation. Well, what constitutes normal for a teenager in South Park, anyway. And, for the time being, Kyle's successfully managed to avoid the topic of Wendy, as well as his unrequited feelings. Maybe, if he can just keep this up for a few more years, he'll eventually be over it. He can hope so, anyway.