A Somber Wake Up Call

Kenny's eyes slowly cracked open at early sunrise, bright beams of light shining into the rec room through the blinds of the large glass windows along the left wall. However, it wasn't the natural light that woke the teen today; rather it was the soft sniffles and whimpers coming from Anna. It took all of a few seconds for Kenny to remind himself of what happened last night and why he was nearly cradling the blonde girl in his arms. Kenny lowered his head, catching sight of Anna's eyes squeezed shut, a few wet drops on his shirt and her face hardly pressing against him for comfort, "Hey..." Kenny softly said causing Anna's eyes to flutter open,

"O-Oh, Kenny, I-I'm sorry," The blonde girl sniffed while lifting a hand and wiping her eyes, "I didn't mean to wake you up,"

"Don't worry about that," Kenny gently replied while reaching down and brush a few wild hairs out of Anna's face, "How are you doing?"

Anna's lower lip trembled, and she lifted her wet eyes to lock on Kenny's, "N-Not good," She whispered back, "N-Not good at all," Anna reiterated with a breaking breath before pushing forward and burying her face in Kenny's chest, crying just as hard as last night.

Kenny pursed his lips and nodded, Yeah...good question, idiot. He internally thought as he tightened his arms around Anna's back and gently rubbed up and down for a minute, waiting for Anna to get this burst of emotion out of her system. "It's okay, Anna, it's all gonna be okay," Kenny murmured out a few soft times before the blonde girl surprised him and sprung off the couch, stumbling away from him still in tears, "Anna?" Kenny asked, quickly sitting up,

"You don't need me b-bothering you with this," Anna cried back while rapidly wiping her eyes, "I-I'll be fine, j-just...don't worry a-about me," Anna said as firmly as she could while hugging her own body. Kenny frowned and stood up, slowly approaching her, "K-Kenny I'm f-fine, you don't need to sit here until I s-stop crying," Anna said while taking a few small steps back.

Kenny wet his lips and let out a dismissive sigh, reaching the girl and pulling her back into a hug. Anna's arms tightly went back around Kenny's back, her body nearly going limp in his arms, "You're not bothering me with this," He firmly stated, "And I'm not going anywhere until I know you're past this...stage or whatever,"

Anna let out a breaking sigh of relief and let her tears start to flow once more, "T-Thank you! Thank you, K-Kenny! Thank you!" Anna babbled out, "I don't know what to do! I don't know what to do!" She quickly followed up with, her tears promptly wetting Kenny's shoulder,

"Of course you don't, what do you do in a situation like this?" Kenny replied with a small shake of his head, "I know I don't have an answer for you..."

"W-What would you do?" Anna asked with a shaky exhale,

"Well...when Nicole basically did this to me by fucking Rachel and JJ, I did what you almost did," Kenny explained with a dismissive sigh, "I acted out, tried to get some **** and had sex with Kailyn,"

"Y-You did?" Anna asked while pulling back so she could look Kenny in the eye, "Why would you do something like that?"

"Why were you about to have sex with me last night?" Kenny easily replied with a raised brow,

Anna hung her head in shame and sniffed, "I don't know, I...I wanted to hurt Nicole and Eric for hurting me...I didn't even know what I was doing,"

"Exactly," Kenny nodded, "That was me,"

"But you stopped me," Anna suddenly said with a weak smile, "Y-You didn't let me do that,"

"Of course not, Anna," Kenny nearly scoffed, "I know you, and last night, when you came in here and kissed me, that wasn't you," Anna's smile grew a bit more full as she focused on Kenny instead of the pain in her heart, "Anna Ross, in her right mind, doesn't come charging over to me and try to push me into bed. Anna Ross would only do something like that once she...knew it's what she really wanted. Screaming, tears, aggressive displays of affection...that's not you, and I wasn't about to take advantage of a situation just to have sex with you. You're my friend, Anna; I'm here to look out for you, not...get into your pants," Kenny weakly chuckled,

Anna rolled her lips in and bit down on them for a moment before pouncing forward, hugging Kenny's neck tight, "You're a good friend, Kenny...a good man," Anna wholeheartedly stated, "I...I'm sorry for thinking that you ever could have been the problem when it came to you and Nicole," She bitter added on, "I should have known that only Nicole could try and taint something as good and sweet as a guy like you,"

"Thanks, Anna, but...I'm not saint," Kenny lightly argued, "I've made my own questionable choices this week,"

"But you didn't do it to hurt anyone...that's the real difference," Anna firmly replied, "Because you're not like that, you wouldn't play with a girls heart. Make her think you were in love with her and then just fuck my best friend!" Anna growled while starting to grind her teeth before letting out a small exhale and going quiet. The pair held the silence for a long minute, "I-I'm sorry," Anna whispered out,

"It's okay," Kenny murmured back, "You're angry...it's more than understandable,"

Anna gently began to pull away from their embrace but paused pushing up and planting a soft kiss on Kenny's cheek, leaving the teen slightly wide-eyed, "Thank you, I...You have no idea what you did for me last night means, and this morning too. I...I don't think I came to you last night just because I wanted to screw you for ****...I think," Anna said before nibbling her lower lip nervously, "Part of me knew that you were someone I could trust to help, so thank you for making me right,"

"Y-Yeah," Kenny said after a hard swallow, "Of course, A-Anna," Suddenly the pair heard the sound of someone clearing their throat from the doorway, they both quickly glanced over to the door.