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Eleven
“Happy birthday, Kyle!”
We all shout as Kyle blows out eleven candles on his birthday cake. ‘We’ being me, Kenny, Cartman, and a few other kids from school. We’re all gathered around Kyle’s kitchen table. I’m excited because after we eat cake, it’ll be present time. I really want Kyle to open my present. I’m sure he’ll love it!
Mrs. Broflovski slices the cake and hands out a slice on a paper plate to each party guest. Kyle’s piece is the largest, obviously. Kyle and I are barely eating the cake; we’re having too much fun chatting. Cartman is nagging us to hurry up and finish, even though he proceeds to ask for another slice of cake.
At last, it’s present time, and Kyle decides to open my present at the end since I’ve been hyping it up so much. Cartman is in agony each time a gift is opened because his mom isn’t there to give him his own gifts. Kyle finally gets to my present and beams at me. He pulls the tissue paper out of the bag, reaches inside, and hauls out a smallish box. He looks at the front panel to see that it’s an Xbox controller.
“I know you only have one controller, so now we can play together!” I explain why I chose that gift. Kyle grins and sets the box down.
“Thanks, dude! That’s awesome!” He’s about to put the box back inside the bag to keep everything organized, but I stop him.
“Wait, there’s one more thing in the bottom,” I tell him. He stands up to touch the bottom of the bag and yanks out an undersized picture frame. It’s decorated in blue and green, and it has three letter stickers at the bottom: SBF, for Super Best Friends. Inside the frame is a photo of the two of us, one of our favourite photos of us both. I watch Kyle’s grin widen before he puts the frame down and turns to me. He looks at me for a second before hugging me.
“Thank you, Stan. This is the best birthday ever.” He says quietly, still holding me in a tight hug.
“Happy birthday, Kyle.”
Thirteen
“Happy birthday, Kyle.”
I greet my best friend as I arrive at his house. He’s having a smaller party this year: just me, Kenny, and Cartman. Butters was supposed to come too, but he got grounded. I’m the last to show up. Kyle lets me inside and shows me to the present table. Kenny and Cartman are arguing over the video game they’re playing in the living room.
“There’s chips and little snacks on the table. Help yourself.” He smiles as he tells me, though the smile seems somewhat ingenuine. I’m left standing alone in the kitchen as he goes to yell at Cartman.
The other two gifts are on the kitchen table next to the snacks. I put the wrapped box with the others and take some food on a small styrofoam plate. I walk out to the living room again and stand near the couch. Kenny and I are watching Kyle and Cartman fight. Typical. I barely notice Kenny taking a cracker from my plate.
Not too long later, Kyle decides that it’s time to eat cake and open presents at the same time. We each get a moderately sized piece of cake and watch Kyle open his presents. He seems appreciative of each one. This year, I got him a neat little lamp for his room.
“It changes colours. I thought you’d find it cool.” I point out to him like he can’t read the box. He smiles at me, but again, it’s kind of a weak smile.
“Thanks, I like it.” He sets the box aside. But I have a strange feeling that he doesn’t like it as much as he says he does.
I’m probably just being paranoid.
When it’s time to leave, I hug Kyle before I walk out the door.
“Thanks for the light. I truly do like it.” He assures me. I guess he could sense my paranoia.
“Happy birthday, Kyle.”
Fifteen
“Happy birthday, Kyle!”
Butters and I planned to say it at the same time. We startle Kyle, who’s at his locker. He turns around to face us.
“Thanks, guys!” He responds with a grin before noticing that we’re each holding something behind our backs. I can tell he sees the bag I have, even though he doesn’t say anything. So I hold it out to him.
“These are for you!” I tell him, simultaneously hinting at Butters to give Kyle the other present. Kyle looks at both of the bags.
“You didn’t need to get me anything, you know. I’m not having a party.” Kyle says modestly. But I insist.
“I- er, we still wanted to give you a couple of birthday gifts. We didn’t plan to bring them together, but we both had presents with us, so we decided to give them to you at the same time.” I’m probably explaining more than what’s necessary, but I’m sure Kyle doesn’t mind. He takes both of the bags.
“You guys are the best. Can I open them now?” He asks. I nod, encouraging him to.
He opens the yellow and white striped bag first — the one Butters brought. Inside is a small container full of homemade cookies.
“My- my mom helped me to make ‘em!” Butters tells Kyle. “I hope you like them!”
“I love them! Thanks, Butters! I bet they’ll be delicious.” Kyle puts the container back inside the bag and moves on to my gift.
He takes the tissue paper out of the top of the green bag, reaches inside, and grabs the box for an Instax camera. His face lights up.
“No way, dude! You got me this?” He sounds excited, and I’m glad he does.
“Yeah. I know you think they’re cool, so I saved up to buy you one. It’s green, too.” Kyle seems to get happier after I say that, if it’s even possible to be more cheerful. He puts the gift down and attacks me with a hug.
“Thank you so much, Stan! You’re the best! I love you, dude!” Kyle tells me. I didn’t know he’d be this excited about the camera, but I’m glad he is. I hug him back and pick him up off the ground a little bit.
“Happy birthday, Kyle!”
Eighteen
“Happy birthday, Kyle :)”
That’s the text message I send him.
We graduated from high school about a week ago. We went to prom together as super best friends, and it was a lot of fun. A couple of days after, though, he left on a trip to visit his aunt in Utah. He said she lives near a good college. I hope he doesn’t go to college out of state since it would be difficult to see him if he did. I’d probably go insane without him. Okay, maybe not. But it would suck.
He doesn’t text me back until a few hours later when he replies with a simple “Thanks!”
I text him back almost immediately.
“I sent an e-card to your email. Did you get it?”
“Not yet”
“Oh”
I’m not sure what else to say. Kyle didn’t give me much to work with there. I’m sure he’s just busy, checking out colleges and all. He’s getting his life together, which is good. That makes one of us. I’ve done nothing since we graduated. It’s kind of nice not to have any responsibilities for a while. Other than looking for a job, which I’ve been trying to do. I applied for a few, and now I’m just waiting to hear back.
Kyle’s always been the more organized one. He’s smarter, he does better in school, and he keeps his stuff tidy. I’ve always sort of looked up to him, even though he’s shorter than me. But I aspire to be like Kyle, even though I know I never will be. He’s way too cool. I’m so lucky to have such an awesome best friend.
That is...if we stay best friends.
I’m hoping we won’t lose touch if he does move far away. I’ll miss him like hell. I’m not even with him on his eighteenth birthday. I hope he doesn’t forget about me or something.
I sigh as I say to myself,
“Happy birthday, Kyle.”
Nineteen
“Happy birthday, Kyle.”
I’m standing in the doorway of Kyle’s apartment as he stares up at me in shock. He definitely wasn’t expecting to see me today. He’d given me his address if I ever wanted to visit, so I decided to surprise him on his birthday.
Kyle jumps up and wraps his arms around me. It looks like he’s equally as excited to see me.
He did end up moving to Utah, he got a scholarship for the school he applied to, and it’s been almost a year since I last saw him. But we’re together again for now, and he invites me inside. I look around to see that his apartment is decorated quite nicely.
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” I compliment. Kyle brings me to the couch, and I sit down.
“Thanks! My aunt helped with the decorating. Do you want anything? Water, soda?” He offers, as politely as ever. I look at the walls. There’s pictures in frames of Kyle with people who I don’t recognize. His college friends, I assume. There’s a small, colourful lamp on the table next to the couch. I recognize it.
“A glass of water would be great,” I respond. Kyle gets right to pouring water in a glass as I continue to look around. A green Instax camera is sitting on a shelf. I recognize that, too.
Kyle hands me the glass of water, and I thank him. He sits down next to me.
“So what have you been up to? Any news? Got a girlfriend?” Kyle nudges me as he asks. It’s like old times; I missed this. I take a sip of water before answering.
“Nope, I’m still single. I got a job at PetSmart, and I’m going to apply to some colleges soon. I decided to take this past year off.” I update him on the key points that he’s missed. We haven’t been talking much since Kyle has been busy. “How about you?” I ask in return.
“I made a few friends, which you’ve probably picked up by the photos on my walls.” Kyle chuckles as we both look at the walls again. “I’m not dating anyone, but I’m pretty sure one of the girls I hang around has the hots for me.”
“Ooh, are you gonna go for it?” I ask in almost a teasing tone of voice. Kyle laughs and shrugs his shoulders.
“I don’t know yet. Maybe. Other than studying and making friends, I’ve been playing some video games. Improving my skills for the next time I see you.” Kyle gestures to an Xbox with two controllers next to it. “We could play if you want.” It sounds more like a request than a suggestion.
“I totally do! Let’s see if you can beat me at Rocket League now.” I get up and grab both of the controllers.
But I stop and put them down when something across the apartment catches my eye. The bedroom door is open, and on Kyle’s bedside table, I see an undersized photo frame. A green and blue undersized photo frame.
“Stan? What are you looking at?” Kyle asks once he notices that I’m distracted.
I don’t reply. Instead, I walk to the room and pick up the frame. It’s the same one I decorated back when I was eleven. It’s got the same photo in it.
Kyle comes over to see what I’m doing. When he notices that I have the picture frame, he seems to get a bit embarrassed.
“Oh, um, I hope it’s not weird that I kept that all these years. I like it a lot. It’s the best gift I’ve ever received.” Kyle tells me. I look at him again, and I hug him.
We’re quiet for a moment as we hug. I’m so overwhelmed with happiness, and I can tell Kyle is too. When we finally break the hug, I propose an idea.
“Hey, what do you say we update the photo in the frame?” I suggest. Kyle seems to like the idea.
“Let’s do it! I’ll get my camera!” He hurries across the apartment to get the Instax camera I bought him a few years back. We take the photo, and once it’s printed, Kyle sticks it inside the frame. It’s a bit too small, so the original image is still visible behind the miniature Polaroid. Kyle places it back down on his nightstand.
“I changed my mind,” Kyle says without looking at me. But he doesn’t sound upset.
“About what?” I ask. I’m kind of nervous, even though it doesn’t seem like he’s going to say a bad thing.
“When you first gave me that gift, I said it was the best birthday ever. But I changed my mind. THIS is the best birthday ever.” He’s facing me now, and he has the biggest smile on his face. His smile is contagious, so naturally, I’m smiling back.
“Happy birthday, Kyle.”