𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 / 𝐦𝐠𝐦𝐭

everyone is at the beach tonight, which makes sense. the bonfire is already started and going strong by the time we actually arrive, and it looks like we are the last to get there. you think we would come on time considering that it was mostly bebe's idea, but time is little more than a suggestion to her anyways.

craig, tweek, jimmy, and kenny are all sat around a tree passing a blunt around. nichole and the other guys all have a red solo cup in hand, lingering near the fold-up table full of alcohol.

"i'm going to see what they're up to!" butters points then walks over to the smoke circle; taking a seat next to kenny with heidi not far behind. "i'm not going to smell like weed for the entire night." bebe says disgusted, leading us to everyone and the alcohol. that could be a band name 'everyone and the alcohol'!

wendy drapes her hand over stan's shoulder and bebe pours herself some pink whitney before joining her. "tolkien, where did you get all this?" she gestures towards the various drinks laid out on the table. smirnoff, pink whitney, spiked lemonade, like three different types of beer, and little maraschino cherries.

"the stewards keep the trashy shit hidden in a shed cause they aren't supposed to have any drugs, which makes it easy to steal. what are they going to do? tell my mom?" he laughs and takes a sip. how rebellious of him! maybe next he'll go out a couple minutes last curfew- now that would be a riot!

"is that where you got the weed too?" i ask him and look over to the tree they're all under. "no. kenny brought that." he explains simply, grinning as nichole runs back up to him. "how did he get it through customs?" kyle interjects, his tone laced with equal amounts of confusion and irritation. i don't believe his anger is directed towards tolkien though- i just think he sounds like that perpetually.

i notice me and kyle are the only two who haven't began drinking in our little group so far. i wouldn't be surprised if clyde and stan are on their second or third cup though. heidi moves over to our area from craig's gang and tolkien begins telling the tale of kenny and the tsa. "he told them it was for personal use and they didn't question him." tolkien shrugs and goes to re-fill his glass before nichole stops him. well; that was a short story. "slow down." she whispers.

"you should slow down too, stan." wendy says. "okay." he responds, not yet registering what she's said. his reaction would be more upset if he actually listened to her. she lowers his glass from his mouth, but instead of 'holding onto it', she drinks the rest of its contents. "you know i could have just gotten you your own, right?" he grumbles taking back his cup. he reaches around clyde to grab another red solo cup, before filling both glasses with whatever tonic he chose previously.

"hey guys, let's play flip cup." clyde announces. his speech isn't slurred (yet) but he says it weird. slower than usual, most definetly due to his fast-paced drinking. alcohol doesn't make his voice sound any deeper though! he sounds like a little teenage boy still.

i honestly don't care what we do, and it seems that kyle and heidi are the only ones who disagree with his suggestion; so majority rules. "i'll be ref." heidi says, attempting to back out of the game. "i can be referee, it's okay by me. have fun!" kyle tells her. "i don't drink. the filtering process isn't vegan friendly." she explains, winning the battle for not-participating and kyle groans.

"no; you guys are both playing. it's teams of 4."

clyde explains with an attitude. "can two of you grab a six pack and six cups?" he continues, then immediately directing his attention towards something else.

wendy and stan already placed their full cups on a different table nearby, sacrificing them to the game. "i can get cups." i reply. i was close to the alcohol table anyways. "i'll get the beer." kyle says dejectedly and heidi sits uncomfortably next to bebe whispering. once me and kyle reach the picnic table clyde makes another announcement. "since heidi is vegan, i will be drinking her cup aswell after finishing my own." i assume that's what heidi was telling bebe. poor heidi. she just came over to our group and now she's being roped into a drinking game, usually reserved for frat parties and cheap highschool imitations.

i guess you can take the high schoolers out of highschool and onto an expensive, rich island, but you can't take them out of the trashy small town which hooks them on alcohol as young as possible!

"so teams are wendy, me, kyle, y/n, versus you, bebe, heidi, and tolkien?" stan clarifies. "yes. in that order." clyde responds quickly, opening beers and pouring them in cups as the rest of us sit down. jeez. slow down! "how come you don't like drinking?" i ask kyle beside me. i've seen him drink at the stupid house parties i've gone to, but maybe he's grown out of it since spring break. "someone needs to babysit, don't they?"

"everyone ready?" wendy yells, and is quickly met with 'yes' to varying degrees of excitement. heidi just nods. clyde confirms loudly. everyone else is in between. the other group, noticing a game is happening comes over and crowds around the table. "you guys stink." bebe says. "thanks." kenny acknowledges her comment flirtatiously, nodding his head and grinning as she scoffs. "alright!" wendy is in a drinking mood tonight, which she continually displays through her eagerness. "three, two..one!" and 'flip cup' commences!

wendy drinks quickly, but doesn't gulp it down like clyde does. some of it runs down her chin into her lap though, which definetly makes for an interesting spectacle. clyde finishes first and attempts to flip his cup unsuccessfully. wendy finishes and flips her cup on the first try. clyde whines like a baby at this which craig makes fun of, snickering at him.

stan gets distracted by wendy and her sloppy drinking but gets his head in the game and comes back into focus. he starts to drink just as clyde finally lands his cup, beginning bebe's turn. "ew. this shits gross." bebe sticks out hee tongue, disgusted after one sip. she's always preferred cocktails. "DRINK." clyde yells angrily and she obeys her drunk boyfriend- but only for the sake of winning the game. she isn't one for appeasement.

stan finishes, flips a couple times, then makes it, beginning kyle's turn. bebe is a couple seconds behind stan but lands her cup on her second try.

kyle drinks at the same speed wendy does, but keeps it in his mouth and off his lap. clyde races over to heidi's spot and chugs her drink at record pace, tying the game. kyle flips his cup successfully first but clyde is right behind him. i guess he honed in his cup flipping skills.

i drink my own share of beer as fast as i can (i don't like to be a loser) and flip my cup. god this game is boring! tolkien finishes drinking right after me and also works on landing his cup drink side down on the table. "ugh." i complain. we're both taking forever to flip our cups, but right before tolkien lands his, mine flips over correctly.

wendy cheers and hugs stan, who wobbles underneath her. clyde moans dramatically in despair, dissapointed for losing his own game. i think the alcohol will pacify him just fine, whenever it hits him. kyle turns to me and gives me a high five. it's a little awkward, but i think it's a sweet gesture! and kenny yells enthusiastically for our team.

"yipee!" butters cheers which craig promptly makes fun of him for. "yipee? butters. you're 16." he jokes, not actually caring how he expresses himself. "also, who are you rooting for?"

"everyone? that's how cheering should be. no one left out." he responds happily. "that's lovely butters." tweek says and jimmy laughs.

"this is so stupid. if heidi would have drank her own damn cup we would have won." clyde mumbles drunkenly, pouring himself another beer. "six cups?" i ask him. that's a bit much for anyone to be drinking, including clyde and his stocky stature. "no? seven." he replies lazily. it would be kind of funny, if he was being ridiculous instead of a dickhead. "no dude. this is your sixth." tolkien corrects him. "whatever. where's nichole?" clyde questions, irritated from being proven wrong- again. he should lower his confidence (and drinking) before he gets embarassed.

tolkien looks around, as do the rest of us curiously. everyone's keeping an eye on clyde and his obnoxious behavior. "i don't know. i'll go find her." and he walks off in search of her. "that was great." wendy exclaims and gets herself two shots lined up. "okay party wendy. what's got you so hyped up to drink tonight?" bebe jokes, but is genuinely asking. "vacation!" she smiles and downs her shots without flinching. "cheers to that." kenny raises his blunt, acting as if it was a glass instead.

the smoking group decides to stay with the rest of us and kind of takes over the picnic table. bebe goes back to her beloved pink whitney, heidi goes home, stan gets himself 'one last beer' and wendy drinks like there is no tomorrow. kyle and i both grab one cup and fill it with our drink of choice- or concoction in my case. i guess he decided to disregard his babysitting role. he chose the same beer stan did, and i elected for a pink whitney-lemonade-beer-cocktail. with cherries of course.

after talking for a bit, we decide to move elsewhere to a mostly sober crowd, the ocean.

we sit by ourselves on the beach where it's quiet, a distance away from everyone else. "this is low key nasty." i tell him after taking a sip. "it can't be that bad." he takes my drink gently from my hands and drinks from the other side then makes a disgusted face. "oh." he hands me back my gross cocktail. "yeah it is." he agrees with me, washing down the taste with his normal-tasting beer.

i still drink my mixture, just very slowly. no point in wasting it. "how did your parents react when you told them about tolkiens invitation?" i ask, solely for the purpose of making conversation. people say his mom is crazy so i'm kind of surprised to see him here. "they've known tolkien's family for awhile so they were chill about it. they gave me a huge list of rules though." so did my mom! but mine wasn't very long- and i've already broken one of the rules.

"seriously?" i say shocked, expecting more pushback from his strict parents. cartman always goes off about how his mom is a bitch. "my mom is not as crazy as everyone says she is." he laughs knowingly. "you should meet her sometime. she honestly isn't that bad." kyle adds. "aww. you want me to meet your parents." i joke. now that i think about it, i don't think i've ever sat down and been introduced with a guys' parents. "not like that." he defends himself, smiling nervously.

"i think you guys would get along." he digs a little hole in the sand with his fingers and places his cup inside then locks his hands together over his knees. "and why's that?" i copy his genius idea of the sand cup holder and place my own drink in mine.

"you guys are just- similar. i think your personalities would connect." he thinks for a while on his answer. i think it's sweet how much he clearly respects and loves his mom, but everyone thinks she's a bitch so it's not an entirely appreciated comparison.

"do other people think i'm a bitch?" i ask, but realize that doesn't sound good. "no offense to your mom of course. i'm sure it's just a lame cartman rumor." most terrible rumors about people are started by him. but a lot of the time they hold some truth to them, i'll credit him with that.

"no, not at all! everything i've ever heard about you had been positive, and i don't think you're a bitch or anything. i like talking with you." he smiles at me, trying to convey his sincerity. kyle definitely doesn't have an issue with eye contact and in the pale moonlight his hazel eyes look a deep golden. i have to force myself to look away. "and what do they say?" i say.

if i'm given the opportunity to know what others say about me- why would i not take it? as long it's only nice things of course.

"are you interrogating me or something? what's with all the questions?" he retorts. "no. i'm just curious." i shrug while drawing small animals and shapes in the sand. it's childish, but it's entertaining.

"well, i don't hear comments on you often or anything, but everyone i know likes hanging out with you. they think you're funny." that's sweet! "kenny compliments you and stuff sometimes. he calls you hot. but don't take it offensively, you know he's just a slut. oh! and stan talks about you when he's drunk on occasion. don't tell wendy. he mutters various things, mostly about how he thinks you're pretty or friendly.. or some shit like that." kyle pauses to pick up his drink.

"tolkien likes how you're there for everyone, especially nichole. don't tell wendy this either or bebe, but he thinks they're bitches sometimes. especially to nichole." he finishes speaking. i'm glad everything he said was nice, like he said. or at least i'm glad kyle didn't tell me anything bad someone's said about me.

"they also say you make really great sand-fish." he answers after a bit, smiling at the end. i love listening to him speak. the way kyle talks is just so captivating; his humor, timing, detailing, it's great!

"my sand-fish have won awards you know."
"is that so?" he plays along. "yep. even a couple oscars. can you believe that? women in power." i continue, not paying attention to the wet sand getting caught underneath my fingernails. "nope. cause my sand-fish.." he trails off, drawing his own next to my two. "win all of them. every year." he gives one of his a top hat and the other a bow-tie. "well which one wins best actress?" he drew two rather masculine fish to me. "don't be so assuming now y/n. the top-hatted one is a girl." he rolls his eyes and corrects me playfully.

i scoff. "don't be sassy with me boy." i imitate stan's dad distinct voice. this year i was invited to stan's birthday party, and his dad was entertaining to say the least. he made his enterance in a cheap, strippers, police uniform. i hadn't been to stan's house before, and my interactions with mr. marsh before that been limited to sporting events and that time he broke into the middle school. he was hilarious though-even if it was weird! and completely sober!

"you sound like my mom." he finishes off the last little drops left of his beer. "wait- no. the sentence does, not the voice. my mom doesn't sound like that." he quickly clarifies and i laugh at his speed to clear it up. "how would i know?"

"i'm sure cartman's fat ass has recorded her at some point and showed everyone." that would be true! "i fucking hate him." kyle shakes his head, closing his eyes for a moment. "everyone does." i say quietly and then we sit in a comfortable silence for a bit, looking out to the sea. "we should go home now." i stand up and dust the sand off my legs. "probably." he repeats my actions and we walk to the ruins of what was the original party scene.

now it is just a dirty picnic table, a stained fold up table, a couple half filled bottles of alcohol, empty beer cans, and kenny asleep on the wooden bench facing the ocean like he's homeless. kyle attempts to wake him up gently by rubbing his back in a circular motion but to no avail, eventually ending up shaking him violently before giving up. "oh my god." he sighs. "should i just leave him out here?" he asks me, not taking his eyes off kenny's slumped body.

"it's supposed to rain either tonight, or tomorrow night i forgot." i tell him honestly and dump my cup in the less-full trash can beside the fold up table. kyle sighs again and hands his cup to me so he can pick up kenny. i throw it away along with some of the cans nearby and kyle adjusts kenny over his back, fireman style. i laugh at both of their faces and pull out my phone to take a picture.

"what are you doing?" kyle asks confused.
"taking a photo of you guys." i say and then the flash turns on, blinding him. "sorry kyle." i apologize half-heartedly and smile at my product. a squinting kyle and a drooling kenny. "lovely photo you guys." i tell the only awake participant. kenny is still sound asleep. "send it to me later." he adds before walking off towards his house. "bye! nice talking to you!" he shouts from the distance. "bye!" i shout back, waving even though he can't see me.

i settle into my surroundings, taking the free moment to appreciate the island around me for the first, real, time. the dark beach is so beautiful and the only sounds to be heard at this time of night are the crickets and the waves crashing against the shore. i think i can sort of hear laughter from the other side of the island, and some of the lights at tolkiens house are on and visible through the gigantic windows. a common feature of all the homes. i don't think the party has ended just yet, but it has for me and i head home completely content with my night.