Buried (a Creek fic)

14. Different

The front door to the Tucker house creaked open, but before either of them stepped inside, Craig called out, “Mom? Dad?”

When there was no response, Craig heaved a relieved sigh and pushed open the door. He flung his jacket onto their living room couch and Tweek timidly entered behind him, clutching onto Stripe’s makeshift rope leash.

“You - er - have a n-nice house,” Tweek chirped, with a small smile and a glance around the room.

“Not really, but thanks,” Craig answered, kicking off his shoes. “So, me casa es tu casa, or whatever that phrase is.”

“I th-think it’s s-su casa, act-actually,” Tweek giggled.

Craig shrugged. “Eh, whatever. I never went to Spanish class, anyways.”

Tweek nervously took a seat on the faded couch and Stripe leapt up next to him. He began trying to untie the rope that was wrapped around the dog’s neck, but his shaky hands were not helping.

“Need help?” Craig offered with a raised eyebrow.

“Ngh - no, I th-think I g-got it,” Tweek mumbled, squinting in annoyance at the rope in his hands.

Unconvinced but not wanting to ask again, Craig walked passed the two and into the kitchen that was connected to the living room. He glanced up at the kitchen clock to see that it was a little past noon.

Damn, were we really at the pond all morning? Craig thought in bewilderment.

“Hey, Tweek?” he called, opening up the refrigerator.

“Y-Yeah?”

“It’s noon. Are you hungry at all for lunch?” he beckoned. “I can make us a pizza or something.”

Instead of an answer to his question, a shrill, “GAH!” cut through the air and Craig backed out of the kitchen in surprise.

“Dude, what’s wrong now?” he asked, peering over at Tweek, who was fuming on the couch.

“I c-can’t get the d-d-damn knot untied!” Tweek cried out and let go of the rope in frustration.

Craig smirked in amusement and stepped over to the couch, plopping down next to Tweek and Stripe. He snatched up the rope and tugged at the knot that was connecting the leash to the temporary collar-like part of the rope that Tweek had tied around Stripe’s neck. In seconds, the knot loosened and the leash detached itself.

“H-How did you - “ Tweek began in shock.

“Your hands were too shaky,” he noted and rose to his feet, trudging over to the stairs that led up to his bedroom. He glanced over his shoulder at Tweek. “Are you coming?”

Tweek jumped up with a squeak and followed Craig, their footsteps clambering after each other until they both entered Craig’s bedroom.

“It’s kind of a mess in here, but just ignore that,” Craig muttered, plopping down onto his bed. “So, what do you want to do? We could play video games, if you want, or we could…”

The look on Tweek’s face caused his voice to trail off. He stood in the doorway, looking down at Craig’s floor with a confused look on his face.

“What?” Craig asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I did-didn’t kn-know you drink,” Tweek said, with hesitation.

“What do you - “ And then he saw it. He guessed that he was just used to seeing the empty beer cans on his floor that he had stolen from his dad, which were scattered across his carpet. He counted eight cans, remembering the six he had drank the night before school on Monday (which was a bad mistake) and the two he had the night before.