A Peaceful Connection (TF)

Kenny rolled to his side, laying flat on the bed, staring at the ceiling silently for a long minute. Kennedy turned on her side, propping her head up, and looked at him with narrowed eyes for only a moment, "You better not, Kenny. I swear to God..."

"I'm not," Kenny let out a breathy laugh, "I'm not freaking out...I'm actually thinking about how...good, I feel right now." He looked at the blonde, who flashed a little grin, "I don't know if that makes me a shitty person because I'm not thinking about Claire. I mean, I feel like I should be, and I know I should be, but I can't. I don't feel upset right now; I feel good. Like I did what I wanted."

Kennedy rolled her eyes, "No, duh, that's because you did do what you wanted for once. Not that it was fucking easy. You making a choice is like pulling fucking teeth."

The teen slowly rolled his jaw, giving Kennedy a mixture of a playful and challenging look, "You know, for someone who barely knows me, you sure like to speak on authority."

"You're not a complex puzzle, Clark. You're a goody-goody; you never want to hurt anyone, no matter what that means. But you know what you want deep inside, too; you just need someone like me to get that out of you." Kennedy spoke with a near smug level of confidence, but for once, Kenny wasn't getting that itch of irritation.

The teen scooted up in the bed, looking down at her, and instead of going with his standard route of snapping back, trying to go round for round with the girl, he just tried to talk. "What about you?" Kennedy raised a brow, "You've been putting some thought into me, how this is working out, but what exactly is it that makes me so attractive to you."

"Wow," Kennedy scoffed, "A bit full of yourself, are we? Just because I fucked you doesn't mean you're some fucking heartthrob."

"Never said that," Kennedy diverted her gaze as Kenny continued, "I asked you what makes you attracted to me."

"No, you said what makes you attractive."

"Are we really going to play semantics? After everything we just said to each other earlier?"

"You're the one who should make shit clearer." The blonde merely muttered.

"Fine, I apologize," He let out an easy chuckle, "So, what makes you attracted to me? There, better?"

"Nope."

"Kennedy, come on, I'm serious." Kennedy kept her lips pursed, and after giving her a few moments and getting nothing back, Kenny sighed, "Alright, alright...ignore that. But answer me something else." He reached out, gently taking her wrist in his hand, and ran his hand along the silver bracelet he gave her all those weeks ago on her birthday night, "This..."

"Fuck," Kennedy hung her head, "Do we really need to do this?"

"Come on, I took a shot in the dark with this thing, and you ripped it apart. You said you hated it, and every time I've seen you, you have it on!" He shot back,

"I never said I hated it asshole; that's how you took it!" Kennedy receded away from Kenny, sitting up and turning her back to him. "I never once said it was a bad gift, never fucking once." Kenny's eyes widened, and he sat up fully,

"Hey, I..." He reached out easily placing a hand on her back, "I'm sorry, I -- you're right, you didn't say that. I only assumed because -- Well, I don't know. You didn't seem excited about it when I gave it to you, plus I left the receipt. I figured you would have brought it back for the money," He admitted, "I didn't -- It was the only gift you got that night, right?"

"Seriously?" Kennedy turned back, giving him a hard glare, "Yes Clark, you were the only one who gave me a gift on my birthday and my icy heart just fucking melted! I was so lost before that!" She sarcastically retorted.

"Why you gotta do that? I'm trying to talk to you about this. Not attack you!" Kenny tossed a hand, "Why not just tell me what it's about instead of letting me guess and getting mad!" Kennedy turned back away, and Kenny also turned his head; there was a very long pin-drop silence. Kenny looked to the door and then back to Kennedy; he didn't want to go, not after everything that finally came out, so he kept himself still. Waiting.

"You tried." Kennedy finally said, her voice so calm and easy that it made him flinch, "I...I was always some bitch to you and for no reason other than how you are, you still tried to get me something. And not just some shit gift; you really tried to get me something you thought I'd like," She looked back to the teen with softer eyes, "I've gotten gifts before Kenny, plenty in my life. But...this one was different."

Kenny slightly nodded, "Well, Claire loved to talk about you and how you loved the stars."

"I don't give a fuck about the stars," She said with a little bitter-sweet smile, "Claire is just remembering it wrong."

"Remembering what wrong? She said you two always star gazed when you were younger. Like always."

"We did, but it wasn't because of me," Kennedy turned in the bed to face him, "When we were real young, and I mean all the way back before our lovely fucking mother ran out on us, she would take us out back and teach us about the stars. It was her job, an astronomer -- Doesn't matter, it was just how she spent time with us. Teaching us the consolations and shit. Claire loved it...I didn't but whatever, right? The thing is, when Mommy Dearest up and left, Claire was a wreck so I was the one who kept taking her out back to look at the damn stars at night. She was always crying, and it was the only way I knew I could distract her for a while..." Kenny reached up a ran her fingers through her hair, "It was fucking stupid..."

"Doesn't sound like it to me," Kenny immediately denied with a warm tone, "It sounds really nice...and something that meant a lot to her, even if she didn't get exactly why you were doing it." Kennedy shrugged, "And it had to matter to you too."

Kennedy thought momentarily and wet her lips, "I've always taken care of Claire; that's just the way it is. I love my sister, Kenny; I'd do almost anything for her but -- Goddamnit, I told you, I wanted something for once...just fucking once. I wanted the guy who for no other reason than giving a shit, he'd go out and buy me a bracelet even if I didn't deserve it. He'd even make sure it was something that meant something to me..." Kennedy's cheeks finally flushed, "So there, that's why I wear it, alright? Are you happy now?"

"Yeah," Kenny answered with pure honesty brought on by nothing more than relief. "I'm happy that it meant that much to you, but I'm happier that you told me why. You do get that I don't want to fight with you all day every day, right? I'm not really into that."

Kennedy gave a half smile, "Bullshit, you like it." She lightly teased,

Kenny slowly rolled his eyes, "Maybe somewhat, but I would actually prefer talking to you once in a while, you know."

"Well, you got me talking."

"And you got me into bed; I guess we both got something tonight, huh?"

"Oh as if you didn't want it," Her tone was surprisingly playful as she grabbed a pillow and tossed it at the teen, "You came in here and were drooling over my ass,"

"You knew exactly what you were doing by showing it off to me," Kenny tossed the pillow back with a little challenging look in his eye,

"Please, I could have wiggled once and gotten a rise out of you," Kennedy threw the pillow aside, "You're like putty in my hands."

The teens leaned forward, "Funny thing to say considering how everything went, with you on your back and me on you."

Kennedy pounced at the teen, and Kenny fell back onto the bed, their lips locked together in a fierce wrestle for dominance. Kenny's hands planted on Kennedy's slender hips and the blonde slid her fingers through his thick brown hair, clutching him tight until she sharply broke away, "I don't know what the fuck this is or why I'm "so attracted to you" but I am," She heavily panted out, "You want to hear me talk? Then listen to this. You are fucking mine now. Got it. You are going to be mine. That's what I'm telling you."

"Yeah?" Kenny felt his heart pounding hard and his lips curling into an uncontrollable smile but like a truck slamming into him at full speed, his smile dropped and eyes went uncertain, "But...f-fuck...Claire...I...I have to break up with her." Kennedy stared at the teen as he finally returned to the reality of his situation, "I...I'll have to do it tomorrow morning...fuck, she's going to be crushed...she -- We had plans coming up for my birthday next week...I --" The teen shut his eyes and slowly exhaled, "No...No more bullshit. I don't like it, but I know that's what I gotta do." He looked back at Kennedy, "I'll do it in the morning, okay?"

"Take it easy, Clark." Kennedy calmly returned taking the teen by surprise yet again, "You're right; doing it tomorrow morning will crush her, and I don't want to see my sister hurt."

"You know, stealing her boyfriend kinda makes that impossible."

"For most people, yeah, but not for Claire. I know my sister; we just need to handle this the right way. And you need to trust me." She sat herself up, looking down at the teen with an expectant gaze, "Do you trust me?"