Tweek POV:
That's it, I guess...
Craig and I stand on opposite sides of the bed, silent, packing up our clothes, and toiletries, and stuff. The silence makes me a bit nervous. Why is he so quiet? Did I do something wrong? Think Tweek...what did we do last night? After the beach we...we...
......
WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!! How am I supposed to start a conversation? Do I even have to? Why do I keep getting worked up over something stupid?
I look down at the shirt I'm folding and clench my fists. The shirt wrinkles in my hands and the frustration starts to kick in. I try to refold it but at this point my focus is gone.
"Here."
I hear a calm voice from behind me. Before I can look back, two arms come from behind, going under my own arms and folding the shirt for me. I look up and see Craig's default frown face above me. Craig folds the shirt and places it down. He then turns me around to face him.
"Are you okay?" He puts his hands on my cheeks.
"Y-yeah..."
Craig frowns. "No you aren't, what's wrong?"
"I just- I just don't know...I don't know!"
"Hm..."
My eyes travel all around the room, avoiding eye contact with the boy in front of me. "I-I..."
"Are you worried about going home?"
I put my hands on my face and collapse onto the bed, specifically on my unfolded pile of clothes. Craig takes a seat next to my limp, pretending to be dead body. I groan.
Craig chuckles. "Over dramatic much?"
I look up at him. "You said it yourself, I'm a theater kid after all."
He positions himself so that he has a hand on one of my arms and is looking at me with a sweet smile on his face. "I want to sing with you again," he whispers.
I go still. I need to make sure I heard that right. He wants to sing with me? Again? Wow, I assumed he wouldn't be interested in that type of stuff.
Craig jumps a little in excitement. "Oh, I almost forgot!"
I sit up and tilt my head with a little confused look. "What?"
"Apparently there were winners of the talent show. Well, it is a talent show so I'm not that surprised, I was just a little startled when I found out..."
"W-why?" I ask.
Craig hesitates for a moment. "We uh- we won best couples act..."
I get taken back by that. "O-oh."
Craig looks down, then back up, then down again. "Yeah...Well, at least we make a good team."
"We do, don't we?"
"Mhm," he nods. Craig puts his hand on top of mine. "Seriously."
I pull my hand out from under his. "We have to finish...packing..." I stand up.
"Oh, right." He does the same and goes back to his suitcase.
The sky isn't quite blue yet and a white light shines through the small crack in between the not fully closed curtains. Cloudy? No, not really. You know when the Sun just rises in the morning and it isn't fully up yet. Or maybe clouds are covering it. I don't know, I barely pay attention in science class. Anyways, it leaves a straight line of light that shines over the middle of the horizontal side of the bed. We woke up at 5am because our plane ride is so early. It is a very long plane ride though, because of the distance and all. We also don't even have an air port near South Park. Token's car is in the free parking garage on top of the airport. It takes about an hour to get from the airport, back to South Park. Let's just say, I have a long day ahead of me.
I stuff the rest of my things, sloppily, into my red suitcase. I push the suitcase shut, stuffing the clothes sticking out with the tips of my fingers and then proceeding to hold the suitcase down to zip it shut. It takes a few seconds but I finally get it done and ready to go. I yank the suitcase off the bed and hastily lean it against the wall by the hotel room's door. I look at my phone. We still have about an hour left before we need to leave.
I walk back over to the bed and decide to mess it up again by plopping myself onto it, this time way more uncoordinated than the last. This may or may not have been on purpose. I made an effort to wrinkle the comforter as much as possible. Why did we even make this bed anyways? The staff are just going to end up cleaning the bedding anyways...
Just then, Craig lays down next to me. "What'cha doin'?"
His left leg is basically plastered to my right leg, as they are very close and touching each other. I'm startled by this feeling and wriggle around a bit, adjusting to a more comfortable position. Sure, that comfortable position is just me putting my legs on top of his, but it works. I look to my right and see Craig on his phone. He sure as hell better not have just didn't notice me moving around so much or I'm going to bash him for it.
"Craaaaaiiiig..."
He looks up from his phone, at me. "Hm?"
"G-GET OFF YOUR PHONE!" I yell.
Craig smirks. "Jealous?"
I squint in confusion. "What the fuck, n-no!"
He turns his head to look at me and leans in a bit. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're lying. Also, for your concern, I'm not texting anyone."
"Wha- I don't care about that..." I pout.
"Mhm, okay," Craig nods and looks back at his phone.
I look at my hands. "Will you sit next to me on the plane?"
"Sorry, Butters already asked me."
I give him a dirty look.
Craig puts his hands up in defense. "I'm kIDDiNG!" His voice cracks as he yells.
"Mhm, okay," I mimic.
"Very funny. Hilarious. Comedy king."
His words cause us both to laugh. This is nice. The laughter between the two of us always feels so natural, like this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Is that weird? I don't feel anxious though...
Craig grabs my hand, abruptly stopping the laughter. He turns off his phone and places on the nightstand, on his side of the bed. That blooming flower of warmth appears when I'm scooped up into him. One of my cheeks is resting on his left shoulder and my body is turned inward, kind of wrapping around him. I accept it gladly, clinging to him.
Craig's arms seem to be shaking a bit. I can't tell what is on his mind and it kind of bothers me. I mean, I am the one usually the one doing that. This is out of the ordinary.
I lift my head up and look him right in the eyes. "What the fuck? Stop shaking."
"Sorry, I can't really control it right now." He sounds worried.
"Are you that scared, Craig?"
"That scared of what?"
"Of going home," I say hesitantly.
His tone becomes sort of impatient. "We've been over this like a gazillion of times. We have a plan, remember?"
"Y-you just seem worried about it still..."
"I- UGH! The more I think of going back, the more I think about how it- how we...might not even work out in the end." He pinches the skin in between his eyebrows and closes his eyes tight. "Jeez, you don't even feel comfortable with-Ugh, just forget it."
"You're going a bit too far with that 'we,' buddy."
"You think so?" He does one of those snickers that people do to ease tension.
"But I do like you."
Craig's body language starts to change, easing into a more relaxed demeanor. "Y-you do?"
"Yeah, all 6 feet and 10 inches of you."
:,) "Why did that sound like an insult?" He says, sadly.
I shrug. "I keep forgetting that our room number is 69. Do you think Token did that on purpose?"
"He definitely did that on purpose. I think he planned all of this too, but that's just a theory, a-"
I stop him right there. "No."
"Awe. But no, seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if he planned for us to room together and share a bed and all that." He looks at the window. "It makes me kinda sad."
"Why?" I ask.
"Because what if none of these feelings are actually real? I-I mean-"
I interrupt. "You really need to stop making our conversations so depressing. You're ruining this."
I can hear the smirk in his voice. "Mhm, and what is this?"
"No comment."
Craig cracks up. "God, teasing you like this is so much fun."
"Laugh all you want." I lay back, relaxing my head under his chin. "At least I'm not a simp."
"I am not a simp."
"Mhm," I say. "Oh yeah, can you do me a favor?"
"Sure- DAMNIT!"
I chuckle. "Cute."
Craig then holds his phone out in front of the two of us and turns on the camera. "Smile."
We both smile and he snaps a picture. I then see him open his phone settings.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Nothing." He taps on wallpaper and changes it to the photo that was just taken.
"Oh my god, you are such a dork!" I sit up.
"Jokes on you," he says. "Now whenever anyone looks at my phone, they are gonna see how not lonely I am. Sucks to be you."
"They are also gonna see how gay you are," I reply.
"I- uh...Shut up." He looks at his phone again and smiles.
"Ugh," I groan and yank the phone from his hands.
"HEY!" He yells. "What was that for?!"
I frown and put the phone on the nightstand at my side of the bed. The bed shakes a bit below us, causing my balance to be off a bit. "This!" I say, planting myself head first into him.
I wrap my arms around his neck, now laying right on top of him, on my stomach. My legs stick up in the air, falling in between his, which are pinned to the bed. I grin and look him in the eyes. There is still that look of shock on his face but it starts relaxing into a warm smile. Craig closes his eyes, which catches me off guard. His face starts getting closer to mine and at this point I'm panicking.
"Uh,Craig..."
No answer.
"C-c'mon now." My neck pulls back as much as it can but to no prevail.
The phone rings.
The two of us spring up and stare at Craig's phone. Craig gives me a "answer it" look. I reply with a "no you" glare. He sighs and picks up the phone.
"Hello?" He says with an annoyed spunkiness in his voice.
I can clearly hear the person on the other side of the phone. It's Stan.
"Craig, hi! My buddy, my bro, my amigo-"
"My god, spit it out Stanley," Craig snaps.
"Can you come by my room, I need-"
"No." Craig hangs up on him.
The two of us look at each other for a few seconds before the phone rings again. Craig answers the phone but instead of Stan, it's Kyle.
"No, seriously he broke something," Kyle says.
"I hate you." Craig hangs up again and grabs his backpack, running to the door. "I'll be right back, uh- wait here."
"I wasn't going anywhere...anyways," I retort.
Just like that, he's gone, and right before I finish my sentence too. That's Craig Tucker for you. I wonder what Stan broke...I know Craig is pretty handy but couldn't they have just called staff? I'm definitely not disappointed that he's not here though. Why would I be? Before you think anything, no that...whatever that was, was not...whatever you thought it was gonna be. Nope. Nothing.
I shoo the thought away and hop back onto the bed. I sigh, pulling out my phone and open Snapchat. I tap Clyde's story. There is a blurry picture of Token giving a confused look to the camera. It's so like Clyde to not hold the camera still while taking a photo. I mean- I can't hold it still either but I'm not the one here with a steady hand. I keep tapping until I reach Craig's story.
It's me...
I'm right there, a picture of me on his story. I'm looking out the window of our hotel room in it, not even knowing he was taking a photo of me. The caption reads: "He has no idea I've been taking photos of him this whole time."
Oh my god. How many photos of me does he have? He knows I can see his Snapchat story, did he do this on purpose. I grin slightly at that thought. My cheeks feel warm now. I turn to my side, grabbing a pillow and hugging it tightly. My my thighs move up too, bending my legs as my waist rubs up against the pillow. Sadly, my moment of bliss comes to an end after realizing I look like a bottom and the dark cloud of shame shows up like a guy who got invited to a party by only one person and everyone is confused on why he is there and who invited him-
. . .
Okay, at this point I'm just describing Butters, but that's not the point. What I mean is, this pose is embarrassing and-
"Holy shit."
I'm still in the pose...
Craig and I stare at each other for a few seconds, motionless. I let out an awkward chuckle...He does the same. Pretty soon, we are both breaking out into a relentless fit of laughter. When it dies out we are left staring at each other in silence again.
I finally mutter under my breath. "It's not what it looks like."
Craig walks over to the bed and leans down to look at me closer. I don't move, still in the same position. Craig climbs into the bed too, mirroring me but instead of clutching a pillow his arms are just laid out in front of him, bending at the elbows a bit.
"You look comfortable," he says.
"Hm," is all I can seem to get out as I sit there, staring at him.
He's a bit mesmerizing at times. The way he carries himself, I never know what he's going to do next, how he's going to react. Maybe I'm just the one who isn't good at reading people. Either way, I'm fascinated and it's scary.
"Hey, I have a question."
I snap out of my thought bubble with a startled face. "W-what?"
Craig's face relaxes into a smug, happy expression. "Will you go to homecoming with me?"
I cough. "I-isn't it a bit too early to be asking questions like that?"
"Only if you think about it too much."
I look away then meet his gaze again. "Hm...I'll have to get back to you on that one," I tease.
"Fair enough." He rolls over where he is facing the ceiling. "Fair enough."
I mimic his movements and stare at the ceiling as well.
"Don't lose your feelings for me when we get back home," I whisper.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Tweek."
• • •
Bullshit.
Some things, you just can't hold on to. Throughout the course of that summer, I guess I hadn't realized how happy I was...how happy he made me. Do any of us actually ever realize how happy someone makes us before we lose them? Do we ever end up pondering that we don't want that person to leave? Maybe sometimes but I know I didn't.
Did this story even have a happy ending? No...it couldn't have. Happy endings don't even exist in real life. Oh shit, sorry to get all deep and emo on you. Okay but seriously, think about it.
A lot happened that summer. It's funny how fast they happened too. Every moment really passed in the blink of an eye. You are probably wondering what happened after that conversation in the hotel room, after the plane ride home, after summer.
Well, that's a story for another day.
[THE END]