A Cleansing

Kenny went downstairs to the lodge's first floor; an uncertain feeling formed in his stomach, and it seemed it was not going anywhere. Nicole Moore was an enigma to the teen; at face value, Kenny knew she was a hot, loose, party girl who loved to tease guys as much as befriend them. He learned that there was a little more to her over the years as friends, but even he was genuinely surprised when she officially started dating her long-time fling. Devin made a lot of sense to Kenny; they were similar in so many ways that it seemed the logical progression that Nicole would develop feelings for the teen. Now, however, Kenny was as lost as he could be. In one moment, Nicole is heartbroken; the next, she says that Devin was the best of a lousy situation for herself, and now she is preparing to wipe the slate clean with a smile. All of this, and it hadn't even been two hours since they had arrived.

Then there was that look Nicole gave him...that subtle glance up and down his person that made Kenny's mouth grow dry. Nicole made it a point throughout their school years never to get involved with friends, at least not by much. The redhead may have teased, but on multiple occasions, she blatantly stated that she wouldn't do anything with them, too concerned about the fallout over such a moment. So why the hell did Nicole kiss him on the cheek? A playful sock on the arm? Why did she look him up and down with that cute little brow raised and seem **** to let anyone else join them on this little bonfire? Kenny let out a soft exhale and shut his eyes, giving his head a slight shake., the obvious answer in his head was, I have no fucking clue, and this was quickly followed up with, She just broke up with Devin, dumbass, she's not making moves, you're just imagining shit or over reading the situation as usual.

It wasn't a happy thought, but it was at least comforting. It settled Kenny enough to return his focus to the task. Kenny headed up the hallway, glancing into the den and quickly diverting his gaze as he saw Devin sitting on the couch next to Avery while Juliet and Mindy lounged in their chairs. He would have liked the chance to discuss the situation with his friends but not at risk of Devin overhearing or catching on to what was happening. Kenny went further down the hallway and stopped once more as he heard Brian and Anna chatting in the kitchen. Peeking into the room, he let out a small relieved smile as he saw them merely pour a few cups of hot cocoa, "Hey guys,"

"Sup Ken," Brian nodded and lifted a metal pot, "Want some?"

"Uh, no, sorry to interrupt, I just needed to ask you something, is all," Kenny apologized as he fully entered the room,

"You weren't interrupting anything," Anna nonchalantly waved off, "You alright?"

"For now, I think?" Kenny joking replied, "It's weird being set in the middle of things between Nikki and Devin,"

Anna sighed softly and frowned, "Those two are like fire and ice. I swear, I didn't want to tell Nicole not to date Devin, but they were always constantly at odds or "breaking up" before getting back together. It's unhealthy, and I can't imagine that this time will be as simple as a few days of the cold shoulder," The blonde girl muttered while lifting a hand and rubbing her brow, "Did she tell you what happened this time?"

"Uh...yeah, she did, but I'd probably ask her yourself if you wanted to know," Kenny responded, clearing his throat and immediately looking at Brian, "Hey, you guys have a fire pit, right?"

"Fire pit?" Brian repeated in confusion, "Yeah...just off the side of the deck; why are you using it?"

"If that's alright," Kenny shrugged, "It's not really for me, it's for Nikki,"

"Oh god, what's she worked up in her head now?" Anna groaned, "Brian, Kenny, excuse me for a minute; I need to talk to my friend," The two men nodded as Anna set down her mug and swiftly exited the kitchen,

"Trouble in paradise, day one, huh?" Brian joked as he sipped at his coco, "Tell me, how bad did Devin screw up?"

Kenny let out a breathy laugh, "What's worse than incomprehensible?" Brian and Kenny briefly chuckled, "So, a fire pit is cool?"

"Go for it; logs and shit are stacked up alongside the lodge, just gotta take the tarp off. Should be dry and ready to go, though," Brian explained. "So this fire is a group thing or..."

"It will be...eventually," Kenny said as he gave his head a quick scratch, "Nicole wants to...have a moment before we can all gather around out there,"

"Ah, gotcha," Brian hummed back, "Well, just let us know when the coast is clear to join in," The teen added while tossing Kenny a lighter from a kitchen drawer,

"Will do," Kenny agreed and turned, heading out of the lodge and around the side. It took him a moment to locate said fire pit, unsurprisingly covered in a thick blanket of snow. He brushed off what he could and pulled off the top cover with a grunt. With that finished, he moved to the lodge wall, where he found plenty of stacked firewood. He slipped out a few logs and returned to the pit, ripping off some dried bark for kindling and carefully laying the logs inside.

Just as Kenny lit the kindling up and the flames started to catch onto the logs, he opened the sliding door on the deck. Glancing up, he found Nicole and Anna stepping outside, mid-conversation or mid-argument, "Look, are you here to support or irritate me? Because if it's the latter, then you can go back inside while Clark and I do this," Nicole sharply told Anna as she continued down the deck, her arms full of a bundle of items,

"Of course, I'm here to support you, Nikki, but I don't want to see you do something too rash," Anna sincerely replied as she followed right behind,

"I'm not doing anything "rash" all I'm doing is putting my ex-boyfriend behind me!" Nicole snapped back, "If that's rash to you, then I don't know what to tell you,"

"Nicole, you have everything Devin has given you in your hands, and you're going to burn them in a fire. I'm sorry, but that's irrational, don't you think?" Anna frowned as the pair walked down the deck stairs and into the crunching snow,

"Correction, I also have gifts meant for him in my hands," Nicole smirked, "And it's not everything...when I get home, I'll have an even bigger fire," The redhead added under her breath, "Why can't you just support me in wanting to put my past behind me?"

"Because you only ended this relationship an hour ago and won't tell me why?" Anna replied with a toss of her hands, "And Nicole, let's be honest for a second, you and I both know this isn't the first time you've been "done" with Devin,"

"That was different!" Nicole instantly yelled, "This isn't the same thing, Anna; I...I need to do this! Now please, I'm begging you, either help me with it or go away," Anna pursed her lips and let out a disappointed exhale through her nose while Nicole continued, "Fuck yes, Ken, you already got one going!"

"Yeah..." Kenny nodded as he looked the girls over, "Everything okay?"

"Everything is perfect," Nicole smiled, "Right, Anna?"

Anna reluctantly let out a slight nod, "Yeah, we're fine, Kenny. Let's help Nicole...move on, I guess,"

"That's what I like to hear," Nicole grinned as she set down her pile of items on the pit's edge, "Let's start here! A set of guitar picks, into the fire they go!" Nicole laughed as she picked up a small box and tossed it into the flames. Kenny and Anna stood aside as Nicole watched the box engulf in flames before grabbing another item, "Hmm, some leather wristbands he got me; don't need these anymore," Nicole said aloud, this time with bitterness in her voice.

Item after item, gift after gift, Nicole flung them into the fire without care, but each time, her quips grew angrier and colder until there was nothing but narrowed brows and a look of disgust left on her face. "And last but not least...the fucking shirt I got that prick custom made..." Nicole growled as she lifted the garment, "I even did the artwork myself. How funny is that?"

"It's not funny, Nicole, it's unfair," Anna sympathetically replied, "It's alright to be sad, you know that, right? This doesn't have to be ironic anger,"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you," Nicole frowned, "You never believed Devin and I had a chance in the first place! You were waiting for this day when it all fell apart to give me a nice big; I told you so, huh?!"

Anna and Kenny both looked at the redhead in utter shock, "N-Nicole, I never would want something like this to happen, even if we weren't friends; I wouldn't want this," Anna honestly replied,

"Right, right, all those times of you asking me if I was sure when we started dating was nothing. You constantly reminding me of how things didn't work out in the past wasn't your fucking way of telling me I was being a fucking idiot, right?!" Nicole barked back,

"Nicole," Kenny lightly interjected, "Anna is your best friend; she looks out for you like you look out for her. No one, least of all her, was waiting for your relationship to fail. I know you're upset at everything right now, but you can't take this out on her," The teen softly stated as he approached the girl and rested a hand on her shoulder,

"Fuck..." Nicole whispered under her breath and tightly squeezed her eyes shut. Like a bolt, Nicole slammed herself against Kenny's chest and pressed her face into his shirt. The teen hesitated once more before gently bringing an arm around her and resting it on her back.

"Nikki, it's okay," Anna softly tried to reassure her friend, though she received no response. Kenny looked over to the blonde and silently mouthed if he should go and leave the pair alone for a minute. Anna immediately denied him and hung her head, "I'm going to go inside. Let you finish this in your own time. When you're ready...you can come get me...if you want,"

With that, Anna turned and headed back into the lodge, leaving Kenny and Nicole alone by the roaring fire. It took a few more minutes before Nicole finally started to pull away from Kenny's hold. She let out a sharp breath and wiped her wet eyes again as if trying to hide them. "Sorry Kenny, I, uh, I got a little overwhelmed there," Nicole apologized with a scoff towards herself,

"It's alright, you don't need to apologize," Kenny replied, "Do you...want to keep it?"

Nicole momentarily tilted her head in confusion before understanding and looked down at the shirt. "Keep it?" Nicole thoughtfully echoed before her face tightened, "Fuck no," Nicole calmly tossed the shirt into the flames and watched it disappear into ashes, "Now...I feel a lot better," Kenny nodded, and the pair stood silently for a moment, "Ken, is it cool if I have a minute to myself here? You can go inside and grab the others; I...need a second,"

"Yeah! Yeah, yeah, of course," Kenny immediately accepted while heading off towards the deck and back into the lodge. Back inside, Kenny spread the word to his friends that they had a roaring bonfire outside, and everyone was welcome to come and hang out. It didn't take long for everyone to agree with the plan, though Juliet did physically have to shut off Avery's video games to get him to join in.

Kenny caught sight of the incident and couldn't help but laugh, "Thanks, Julie, it's a hell of a tough job to pull Avery away from a game; glad someone was able to do it, though,"

"No problem," Juliet replied, though the brunette didn't move an inch, merely staring intently at her cousin,

"Uh, Julie, why are you staring at me like that?" Kenny asked with a raised brow,

"Waiting to see how long it takes until you tell me what's going on, seeing as you've stepped in to be Nicole's new squeeze, I'm curious," Juliet quickly replied,

"First off, I'm not Nikki's new squeeze, whatever the fuck that means, I'm just being her friend," Kenny lightly argued, "And, honestly, I don't know,"

"Really?" Juliet replied dismissively, "You spent the last couple of hours with her; Anna came back inside and said you two needed a few minutes alone. That sounds like something to me,"

"She's going through a lot right now. People know now that she's done with Devin," Kenny replied with a short scratch of his head, "She needed a way to put her relationship behind her as quickly as she could, and now she just wants to have everyone together to hang out. I don't blame her; going back to normal and having some fun with friends is what I'd try to do,"

Juliet continued to stare back at Kenny for a few moments before giving her eyes a slow roll, "Hmph, I guess that's as good as I'm going to get," Juliet shrugged back, "But a little advice? Devin has had a sour look since the second he realized you and Nicole were outside alone, I'd do my best not to let him see any..." friendly" behavior outside, hmm?" Juliet said as she began to walk towards the stairs,"

As Juliet returned to the stairs, Kenny rubbed his eyes with his hand. He quickly found himself stuck in a love triangle, and despite any attraction to Nicole, he wasn't sure he was ready for that. "Jesus Christ," Kenny mumbled; the teen headed back towards the deck only for Anna's voice to call out to him. He looked over and saw her give him a small wave as she approached, "Hey, what's up?"

"I don't fully know everything about what's happening with Nicole, but I can tell you've been helping her through this," The blonde girl said with a warm smile, "I want to thank you for that. If she's blaming me right now, I feel better knowing at least someone is in her corner,"

"O-Oh," Kenny replied with a nervous grin, feeling himself grow tongue-tied over the conversation immediately, "Happy to help; it's nothing,"

"No, you don't get it," Anna wholeheartedly denied, "Nicole was right; I've known Devin and Nikki weren't going to last for a while now. I wanted them to, but they always had issues; they couldn't commit to each other, and Devin was too jealous. I was afraid of what she'd be like when it finally ended. It's surprising, but this was her first real relationship. I am thankful that she ended up finding some solace with you. She's so lucky to have you," Anna said, her voice holding a touch of pure joy,

"Have me?" Kenny softly repeated, only to stop as he heard the sliding door from the cabin crack open

The pair turned back and watched as the rest of their friends began to filter out onto the patio with a bag of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers in hand. Nicole peaked her head into the lodge and smiled, "You coming or not, Clark?" She grinned, her eyes immediately locked onto Kenny's. Anna and Kenny immediately headed outside, joining their friends down at the fire pit, Brian in the midst of sweeping off the snow from the wooden benches.

Everyone started to sit around the fire right as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. Of course, Nicole had chosen to sit right next to him, making him grimace as he saw Devin take a seat across from them. Anna and Juliet sat off to his left, with Brian separating them while Mindy and Avery were to his right. Kenny held out hope that Nicole would do nothing to set Devin off. As soon as he sat down, Nicole said, "So, who wants S'mores?"