The heat wasn't so bad. Kenny didn't know what everyone was complaining about. She somehow preferred the humidity to the dry heat she was used to in Texas. So she didn't mind walking to her babysitting job shortly after getting done with her shift at The Wreck. The fresh air was nice. She had gotten along with all the other servers and gotten some good tips. Her smile and cheerful disposition made it easy for customers to chat with her and with that came more gratuity.

Kenny could twist anything into sounding polite and good natured. Even as she laughed while telling her Aunt that no one ever called her Kendra and that she refused to wear a name tag declaring her as that, her Aunt just chuckled and agreed to make her a new name tag as soon as she could.

Everyone was busy as her shift ended and she felt no need to bother anyone to drive her. She pulled up a map on her phone and found that it was only a 20 minute walk to Mrs. Lawson house. She changed into her Jean shorts and a pink ribbed tank top and headed off into Kook land.

She admired the houses with their gates and fancy plants and thought about what it must be like to live in the large white houses. Not in a yearning or jealous way, it was just nice to daydream at times. She found herself craning her neck to look at a quite impressive fountian, as she walked past one house, when she was suddenly knocked sideways into the gravel from behind.

She heard a male voice as her knee crunched against the asphalt painfully "Oh shit! Fuck!". She had caught herself and it wasn't too bad. She hadn't even been too startled. She stood up quickly and brushed herself off, yet still hadn't made eye contact with the individual who had mowed her down. She pushed her hair out of her face and was already assuring the person that she was fine when she realized that she was talking to a very sweaty, very shirtless, and VERY cut man... as she lifted her head her eyes met his concerned brow. He reached out to steady her by her shoulders. Little did he know her balance was not affected from her fall, but rather from her inability to breathe for a moment as she took in the abs of the stranger in front of her. In her slight surprise and daze she almost reached out to touch them.

Rafe was kind of worried about this girl. Did she hit her head when she fell? He looked down at her bleeding knee. Nope just her knee. He was pretty sure of it. He felt like such an asshole. He had looked down at his phone for a few seconds to switch the song he was running to and she just came out of no where. Who walked on this Kook street anyways. And who was this girl? She did not look like she belonged here. Rafe chided himself at his tendendy to make snap judgments. He was working his best to let go of this habit, but it was undeniably true. Her roughed up vans, ripped shorts, and tank top screamed pogue. He had to admit she was a hot pogue based on what he had observed of her legs (even the bloody one), but a pogue none the less.

After staring at her leg for a moment his eyes met hers and he began to apologize which was something he needed practice at anyways. "Im so sorry I totally didn't see you there. Are you ok?."

Kenny came to her senses after a moment and realized she was just staring like an idiot. She lightly shook herself out of her thoughts and pulled herself together enough to respond "It's ok. I've had worse. It's totally fine." Kenny could see the concern etched in the strangers face, so she further assured him with the smile that always convinced others that she was just fine and dandy. The last thing she needed was someone trying to dote over her. Kenny took care of herself and never wanted to impose on others, even if those others had unintentionally shoved her into the ground.

Rafe was struck by her ability to smile so wide as her hair stuck to her neck from the heat and blood ran down her leg staining her white crew sock. His head tilted in confusion at her reaction.
"Are you sure? I mean you're bleeding..."

"Yeah I'm good" Kenny shrugged with another smile. Her hands came up to hold onto the straps of her pink backpack that had been emptied of most of her belongings. Now it just held what she needed to get through the day. Rafe's brow remained furrowed. He was used to dealing with others outbursts, people yelling at him for his mistakes or at least being irritable. He expected a "What the hell?!" For being so careless and for some reason he was met with s shrug and a smile. A beautiful smile he was just now noticing. Do most pogues usually have such nice teeth? He thought errantly to himself. As his mind wandered in confusion, a silence stretched between them for several seconds.

Kenny wasn't quite sure what to do next, but she couldn't stand here staring at the hot shirtless guy for much longer. She also didn't want to be late for her baby sitting job. She had given herself a buffer but now she needed to figure out some way to clean up her leg before she walked in and traumatized a one year old with the gruesome blood, so she needed to get going. She cleared her throat and gave him a small wave before turning towards her destination saying "well alright... um see ya." She immediately chastised herself 'see ya? Why would you say that?'. She got about four steps away before Rafe came to his senses.

"Wait!.. Shit... I.. can I help you? Where are you headed?"

Stopping would have made her look weak. Like she needed the help. She continued on while saying over her shoulder "Im all good. It's just a few streets away".

It took Rafe another beat to start after her. He was going the same direction as her anyways. He didn't want to seem like he was following her so he immediately disclosed "im going this way too."

"Oh ok" Kendra politely responded with another small 'not a care in the world' smile.

After a minute of awkward silence Rafe felt like he had to say something. He didn't feel right leaving her to continue his run. Plus there was something so intriguing about her. He knew a lot of the pogues, especially girl pogues. He didn't think there was any way he could have missed a girl who looked like her. He had been gone for the past 10 months though. So she could have been new to the area. But what was she doing in this area?

"So uh.. where are you headed?"

Kenny pulled her phone out of her back pocket to check the distance to her destination.

"Hmm, I guess about a half a mile that way and then just a few hundred feet that way." She pointed as she spoke.

Rafe really felt like shit now. This girl was going to walk half a mile with blood running down her leg all because he wasn't in the mood for the soft rock song that shuffled onto his Playlist.

His house was coming up on the right. He didn't want to be a creep, but he had to do something. He had been working harder than he would ever let anyone know in Therapy. He had committed to cognitive and behavioral therapy as well as working on his ability to feel true empathy and sympathy. It kind of annoyed him at times even. He used to be able to not give a shit about anything or any one. Ward killed off whatever feelings he had in him as a kid. He tore him down so much that he turned off his feelings and chose to live as a shell of an angry human. The drugs and alcohol helped to numb anything else that may have been left over other than anger. Now that he had been working through his serious daddy issues (do they call it that for guys too?) and he was no longer doing drugs, he somehow found himself even getting teary over those pathetic shelter commercials where they tried to get you to donate to the poor hungry stray dogs and puppies.

"Ah this is me" he pointed to the large house to his right. Before Kenny could respond he continued "You gotta let me help you out. I can bring you a bandaid or something, a paper towel and some water or something? You don't have to come inside or anything."

Kenny chewed on her cheek and turned her body towards his house. She was very curious to see just one of these houses on the inside. For some strange reason she trusted the man who had stayed walking with her for several minutes. After all he was so hot, he could really get anyone he wanted to sleep with him. It's not like he needed to have some elaborate plan to push some random girl over and lure her into his house.

Kenny pulled out her phone and checked the time. She still had 20 minutes till she needed to be there.

"Um sure.. why not? I have a few minutes to spare... I don't want to freak my new boss out by showing up with my leg all gross anyways."

Rafe internally flinched 'she's headed to work' he thought. 'Ugh I really am an asshole'. He typed in the code to the gate, as Kenny followed a few steps behind, taking in the beautiful flowers and greenery.

As they approached the front door Rafe paused "Do you want to come in and sit down? And I can grab the first aid kit? Or you could wait out here?"

"Sure I'll come in." Again said with a smile. Rafe found it contagious and he gave a half smile back, but it was still beyond confusing.

Kenny was never one to feel awkward or shy for more than a few seconds. Life was too short to be unsure of yourself. She figured if people didn't like her then they wernt the type of people she wanted to be around anyways. She dropped her backpack on a chair and confidently asked "Do you mind if I use your bathroom?"

"Oh yeah for sure." Rafe started walking from the entrance towards a hall way. "It's the second door on the left" he pointed.

After the door clicked behind her Rafe took the stairs two at a time to retrieve the first aid kid that he had in his room. Unfortunately the most use it had gotten was from when he had to clean himself up after beating the shit out of pogues and Kooks alike when his rage had inevitably become too much for him. They had always gotten in a few good punches and his knuckles were usually bloodied and needed a bit of care. Thankfully he hadn't needed it at all lately.

Kenny was already standing next to the front door staring at a picture on the wall when Rafe came trotting back down the stairs. As she turned he saw that her knee and leg had been mostly washed clean of the blood, but it had started to bleed a few fresh drops again from her removing the dried blood.

She reached for the first aid kit while offering a soft thank you, but rafe held it close to his body, out of reach, determined to make this right himself.

"No. Sit." He said somewhat forcefully, as he pointed to the chair. Kenny hid her shock at the order, but nevertheless moved towards the chair. Rafes long legs took two quick strides to move around her, so that he could lift her backpack from the chair before she had the chance to move it. He hung it carefully on a hook by the door.

Kenny stared up at him for a second before Rafe looked expectantly at the chair next to her.

Kenny took a seat. She throughly hated being taken care of and she was not used to being ordered around. She had had plenty of jobs, but she was so competent and over achieving that there was never a need for 'orders', just simple requests or basic skill training.

Rafe knelt down and absentmindedly held onto her ankle for a second while he examined her scrapes and decided what he needed. He opened the kit and rifled through it to find some alcohol cleansing wipes, alarge bandaid and gauze, as well as antibiotic ointment. Kenny had cleaned her knee off, but there were still some dirt and debris around the edges of her scrapes. She most likley would have been fine with the wash off she did herself, but Rafe felt like a dick and he wanted to make it up to her in some way.

She didn't even flinch as he swiped through the scrapes with the alcohol pad. When he looked up at her to gage how she was doing, she just offered him the same smile he had been given before. He then focused on cleaning and bandaging her up as she watched him intently.

Kenny took the opportunity to fully check Rafe out, as he was occupied with bandaging her knee. He still had his shirt off. He had run his fingers through his hair at some point making it look perfectly messy in a way that made Kenny want to continue running HER fingers through it. She got so caught up ogling him she barely noticed he was done caring for her knee until he stood abruptly and said "Well that should do it."

Her eyes found his as he stood towering above her, far too close for comfort. He stared down at her for a beat before taking a step back to give her the space to stand. He held his hand out in an offer to help her rise and although she did not need the support, she took ahold of his hand anyways and pulled herself up.

Kenny was never one to shy away from direct eye contact and that was not something Rafe Cameron was used to. Most people feared him or hated him. Most of his human interactions lately Involved him keeping his head down out of shame.

Kenny's ernest bright eyes on his unnerved him, however he could not seem to look away. Something about her drew him in and made him want more. He hadn't been looking forward to interactions with anyone other than his therapist lately. This was the first time in a long while he felt a yearning to just have a conversation with someone. It didn't even matter what it was about.

Kenny counted to 5 in her head before speaking. She was still not quite sure how to respond to favors or people helping her. She was usually the one doing things for others.

"Well thank you. I should probably get going, so im not late."

Rafe never broke eye contact. "Let me drive you." He said without even having to think. Kenny was already shaking her head "Oh no it's totally fine, you've done more than enough-"

"Im driving you." Rafe interrupted with finality. There he was ordering her around again. He did not even realize he was doing it. He was just used to getting what he wanted and Kenny was used to giving people what they wanted. She rolled her her lips together for a moment before relenting.

"Alright. I guess if you really want to."

Rafe suddenly realized he was still shirtless. "Let me grab a shirt." He turned to bound back up the stairs.

Kenny finally was able to take a deep breath that she desperately needed to clear her head. Sex had been the last thing on her mind the last several months. She had lost her virginity when she was 16 to some shitty guy who took her to the movies and made her pay. He didn't even make her come. She had a few other just as disappointing experiences over the years, but she could get by just fine on her own.

The way this guy had ordered her around made something strange jolt inside of her, like she had not experienced before. It really didn't hurt that he was glistening with sweat with his basketball shorts slung low on his hips where his muscles were visibly sloping down making a prominent V into his shorts. Kenny thought about how she wanted to run her fingers along the small swells of muscle on his stomach just to see what they felt like.

She was ripped from her daydreaming, as he came back down the stairs, unfortunately now clothed from the waist up.

He had car keys in his hand. He grabbed her backpack before turning and taking a a hard left. He waved her to come along with him.

He led her through a heavy garage door and went around the side of a large older truck and opened the passenger side door for her. 'Chivalry? What the fuck is going on'. Kenny was nearly certian she was dreaming now.

She murmured a thanks and hopped into the car.

Rafe got into the drivers seat, opened the garage door, and started the car. When he didn't switch it into gear Kenny turned her head to look at him expectantly.

"Put your seat belt on." He ordered her. Kenny let out a small chuckle and with a subtle shake of her head. She relented and buckled herself in.

"What?" Rafe inquired, slightly irritated, as it seemed she was laughing at him. He attempted to hide his frustration.

"Nothing. You're just kind of bossy." Kenny said with a laugh that softened the blow a bit, but not quite enough for Rafe. His eyes fell in defeat.

"Shit. Sorry. Not trying to be."

He didn't even realize when he was doing it. He was trying so hard to fundamentally change who he was for the better, but maybe it would just never be enough. Maybe this was just who he was; A domineering asshole.

Kenny saw his face change and tried to back pedal "You're good. It's fine. I get it. Safety first right? I mean I don't need to get even more banged up you know?"

What the fuck was she saying? She was rambling. And did she just say 'banged' out loud? She wanted to crawl in a hole. Rafe offered her a half smile and turned to back out of the drive way.

He drove several hundred feet before reminding Kenny he had no idea where they were going. "Just tell me when to turn."

"Oh yeah. Just turn left on Ocean View and it's number..." She took her phone out to recheck the number "315."

Rafe drove carefully and in silence till he pulled up to the curb of the house. Kenny checked her phone and she was still 5 minutes early, thanks to her ride.

She took off her seat belt and turned to open the door when she realized that she had no idea who this guy was. She had been in his house, his bathroom, and his car and for a brief moment fantasized about touching him anywhere she could get her hands on and she didn't even know his name.

"Oh, I realized I never got your name."

"Rafe". On instinct he stuck his hand out to shake hers. She politely reached out and let her hand be enveloped by his.

"Rafe" she repeated. It wasn't a name she had heard before, but she felt it suited him. She, born out of genuine happiness, flashed her thousand watt smile while finally introducing herself.

"My friends call me Kenny" she beamed up at him with sincerity. "Thanks for the ride Rafe."

Before he could say anything else she was firmly closing the door and skipping up to the gate of the house they were parked in front of. Rafe watched as she spoke through the intercom and the gate was opened for her. She turned and waved at him, which caused him to realize he was being weird just sitting there watching her.

He came to his senses and pulled away, driving on auto pilot back to his house. He went through the motions of showering and the whole rest of his day, all the while not being able to put the thought of Kenny's smile out of his head.