An Awkward Morning Then A Few More

The morning after his night with Juliet was something of a surreal experience for Kenny. He didn't have a single regret for what he did last night with Juliet, but there was still something lingering in the air, something that was keeping him at unease. The teen laid in bed thinking over the events of the night, everything felt so perfect until the very end. Then Juliet got up without a word to shower, and eventually Kenny returned to his bedroom in silence. Neither action was made out of spite, Juliet never seemed angry either, just distant.

I don't know what I should do now. It felt amazing to hold her in my arms last night, finally say everything I always wanted to and then feel those soft warm lips on mine but... Kenny let out a sigh and sat up in bed, tossing the blankets off his body. How do I go back to seeing her as Juliet my cousin? I know we only agreed for it to be a one time thing, just to experience it but now every time I think of her I remember holding her close and driving myself inside her. Kenny gave his head a shake. "If only she wasn't my cousin." I need to take a cold shower.

The teenager got up and stepped out into the hallway, and at the very same time, Juliet's door opened and the brunette did the same. The two cousin's froze the deer in headlights and stared at one another. "Uh...Hi..." Kenny awkwardly said with a week smile.

Juliet diverted her gaze, staring down at the floor, "Hey..." The silence lingered again, "Were you using the bathroom?"

"To take a quick shower, but you go ahead, I can wait." Kenny offered and Juliet gave a small nod, her eyes still refusing to meet his. God this is so fucking awkward, she can't even look at me right now. I need to say something, try and smooth this weird phase over as best I can. Kenny thought as Juliet tentatively walked past him, moving to the bathroom door, "S-So..." The teen all but croaked.

Juliet paused finally lifting her head and looking at her cousin. "Yeah?" Her tone almost sounded hopeful, like maybe Kenny was able to just utter a few words and everything would feel better.

"Last night..." Kenny scratched the back of his head and Juliet's eyes widened, "Was really great..."

Juliet's hands balled into fists and she squeezed her eyes shut, "Last night was a mistake. You need to forget it." Juliet's sharp tone made Kenny flinch and he all but winced as she stormed to the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid." Kenny smacked the side of his head with each word, "Why the fuck would I bring that up when she was already so uncomfortable? Fuck me..." Kenny groaned as he spun back to his room and shut himself back inside.

That's how things went between Kenny and Juliet for the next few days. Anytime they were near one enough it was beyond awkward, and more often than not, Juliet couldn't seem to even stomach looking at him either. In turn, Kenny found himself just about back at the start of the summer. Trying to limit his interactions with Juliet kept him in his room, and after everything with Will, he hadn't talked to any of the other girls, let alone gone to Club 36. He couldn't even find the drive to try and work on his car.

Still, almost seventy-two hours alone in his room only talking to Mindy occasionally on voice chat was starting to drive him wild. Kenny was missing the activity of being out, working on his body, and just expanding his interests. He needed to do something, but he wanted to do his best to make sure he could do it alone. This is how Kenny ended up slipping outside and walking his way up to the nearest hiking trail. It was rarely used by most members of the town as it was mostly an uphill march with only a few spots of flat ground. Kenny couldn't exactly say this idea was working out to be one of his favorites, but he knew it still marked off the check of being on his own.

With that settled, Kenny started his march uphill. As he went he found himself think once again about more than Julie. He missed seeing Ellie, Quinn too, even if his conscious tried to tell him he had no business being near either one of them, he couldn't help himself. Hell, thinking about it, he missed Nicole too. While he hadn't found the courage to message any of the girls, the redhead seemed to be giving him the same treatment. The only messages he had gotten were a few from Bella which he continued to willingly ignore, and just an occasional one from Tessa about their upcoming date.

Kenny felt a small, hopeful smile on his lips as he thought if the older Westchester girl. She was the only one not in the knott of bullshit. All she'd ever done with him was say she liked him and gone out on a date. That was nice, comforting even. If anything, he still had one girl in his life that wasn't making him question himself at every turn. The only hang up he had was due to Ellie, and if they weren't really talking or seeing one another anymore...

Suddenly Kenny heard a scream from behind him. He turned and before he could even adjust his eyes on the charging blur coming towards him, it slammed into him. Kenny felt all the air fly out of his lungs, it felt like he just took a cannon ball to the stomach. The person pushed off of him while he let out a few hacking, wheezing gasps, trying to get his breath back. "You complete, utter bastard!"

Kenny lifted his swaying head and, even with his eyes seeing double, he could make out the figure of Quinn. The redhead was in a tight hiking outfit of a tight tank top and extremely short powder blue shorts. Any other time Kenny might have been enticed, but seeing her balled fists and gritting teeth, the only thing he felt was fear. "Q-Quinn, let me --"

"Shut up!" Quinn barked back, "Four days! Four fucking days, and I don't hear a fucking thing from you! Four fucking days after everything gets fucking destroyed and I get fucking nothing! Then today, I see you here?! Just taking a fucking stroll without a care in the world?!" The redhead's entire body was trembling with fury as Kenny pulled himself back to his feet.

"Quinn, please. I was meaning to call you. I-It's just after everything with Will I --" The redhead's hand flew out in a flash and connected with Kenny's face, sending him to the ground again, "My brother! You fucked his girlfriend! How the fuck could you do that to him, he was your friend!" Kenny kept his head low and grimaced, "Oh no, you're gonna give me some fucking answer's Kenny! No running the fuck away from this! Spit it out!"

Kenny wet his lips. She's right, if anything the very least that she deserves is an explanation. Kenny looked up at Quinn, but decided it might be best to stay on the ground. "At the start of the summer, before anything happened between us or anyone else. Ellie came into my room and we...fooled around or whatever..." Kenny began and Quinn let out a scoff, "It wasn't in the way you're thinking!"

"Oh yeah?! And please, tell me how I'm fucking thinking!" Quinn spat back.

"It wasn't out of spite, or disrespect towards Will! It was...okay, we wronged him, I know that but at the time, Ellie and your brother were going through a really rough patch. She felt like he was going to leave her eventually and for months he had been neglecting her physically." Quinn opened her mouth to retort but Kenny quickly lifted his hands, "I know, I know! That doesn't excuse anything and I should have stayed away, but I never had a girl show me interest so when she made me an offer I took it...and then, I kept going back to her. I convinced her to do more with me because I liked her and she accepted because...she wasn't happy with Will anymore." Quinn crossed her arms and kept a hard glare on the teen, "We talked a few times about the situation and I think that's what made Ellie finally break it off with him, and after that, it didn't feel like such a bad thing to keep going."

"Even after you and I started up? You still kept going with her." Quinn pointed out and Kenny nodded. Quinn pressed her lips together and took a long moment, doing her best to control the urge to lash out once again. Kenny waited patiently, "So Nicole isn't the only girl you've been fucking then?" Kenny nodded again. "God!" Quinn pushed her hands over her face.

"Quinn, everything is such a mess, I know, but I just didn't feel like I had to make a choice for so long. I couldn't be with Ellie because of Will, I couldn't be with you for the same reason. Nicole doesn't date people, and you obviously know about my feelings for..." Kenny felt his stomach sink, "For Julie..." He softly finished.

Quinn lowered her hands, her face was now bright red and Kenny made out a few streams of tears over her cheeks. Before he could even try to say a word, Quinn let out a bursting yell and jumped at him, pinning him to the ground. Immediately he could tell this wasn't anger anymore, this was anguish. "Why would you tell him?!" She **** out, breaking down into tears, "You ruined everything! Will is never going to leave me alone now! He won't even let me go and see Juliet anymore! Why Kenny, why would you tell him about us?!"

"B-Because...it was the right thing to do..." Kenny softly replied.

"When did you ever care about doing the right thing?!" Quinn retorted as she dropped down, all but curling up on Kenny's chest.

"Quinn, I'm sorry." Kenny easily brought his hands up and wrapped them around the girl, "I'm so sorry for doing this to you. To Will. To everyone. I promise, I'll do whatever I can to help you though. I'll...I'll tell Will that I'm staying away. I'll make sure I'm never around so you can still see Juliet. You shouldn't be punished because of my mistakes."

Quinn lifted her head and looked at Kenny with reddened, puffy eyes, "You'll stay away? Like...leave? And I won't see you anymore?"

Kenny swallowed hard and gave one final nod, "I'm not good for you. And you know that now." He saw a blank look cross over Quinn's face as the girl clearly tried to take in that information. "Quinn, you know it's the right call. You deserve way better than me, don't let it cost you your friendship. Just let me go...for your sake."