Dance In The Rain

~28~ Broken

"If he doesn't give a shit that Kenna walked alone today, then I'm going out...."

"No offense, Kenna...But Tate, it's completely different. He has never punished Kenna before."

"He made me stand in a timeout with Tate once...And grounded me....." she mutters as she finishes tying the end of my braid and criss crosses her legs on the bed.

"Big whoop!" Tate scoffs as he goes over to the mirror and checks his hair.

"What are you wanting him to do? Spank me? That's totally weird!" Kenna scoffs back, and Tate turns angrily to shush her.

"It's not weird for you to waltz in without knocking. Or grab pizza you haven't been invited to...Or sleep here all the damn time......., now would you PLEASE use your inside voice?"

Kenna glares at him as he walks back over to the window and starts to climb out. "Don't get murdered, asshole!"

"Why, would you miss me?" He taunts as he gets out and peeks back into our room with an angry grin.

"No, but she would, and you of all people should care about that...But I guess I forgot who I was talking to."

He flinches just a touch and then smooths out his face. "You hate me for something I did while I was drunk, months ago. I hate you for simply existing," he growls as he shuts the window and we both look toward the door to see if Holden heard.

After a minute, I turn to face her and see tear tracks down her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" I ask as I grab her hands and stare hard into her blue eyes.

"Nothing," she sniffs as she wipes the tears away angrily.

"Tell me, Ken."

She shakes her head and wipes at more tears, and then sniffs. "That just stung a little."

"He was being an ass...He didn't mean it."

"No, he meant it. And that's why it stung."

"What?"

She lets out a humorless chuckle and blows out a breath.

"I've had a thing for him since you guys moved here. Then he pissed me off so much when he pushed you that I was able to forget about it, but lately those damn feelings have been coming back, and I know we could never....but...It would be nice if we could be at least friendly, you know?"

"I wish you guys could get along," I say, ignoring the fact that she has feelings for Tate. I've suspected it for a while, but Tate HATES her. He despises her, and I know there isn't a chance. Plus, I also know Holden wouldn't let her stay here if he knew she had feelings for him...And I love her being here...

"So, how long until Holden finds out that he snuck out? I need some good drama in my life," she grins, changing the subject completely.

"I don't know how he thinks I can cover for him. Holden's gonna freak out."

"Man I'm so glad I'm here..." Kenna chuckles as we turn on some music and surf through TikToks.

~*~

"Hey guys, I wanted to play Phase 10! Any interest?" Quinn asks about an hour later as she peeks her head in our room.

"No thanks," I say quickly, hoping she will just shut the door. But she doesn't as she turns towards Tate's bed and notices he's not there.

"Where's Tate?"

At our silence, she rolls her eyes.

"Hey Holden?" She says.

"Yeah?" He asks from the other room.

"Come here for a second, will ya?"

Holden comes up behind her a moment later and softly puts his hand on her right hip gently. "What's up?"

She just motions with her head toward our room, and he follows her gaze and looks around. "Where is he?" He sighs, looking like he's aged ten years this week.

"He was pissed you didn't get me in trouble today, so he left. He didn't say where he was going..." Kenna says, and when I look at her she just shrugs. "I'll take the blame for tattling."

Holden blows out a breath as he gets out his phone for a second. Then he rolls his eyes and puts his phone in his back pocket. "He's at the lighthouse. I'll be back in a few minutes," he says as he kisses Quinn on the head and leaves.

Quinn shuts our door without a word and Kenna grins big. "Drama...I'm so glad I'm staying here tonight."

I roll my eyes but clear my throat. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course you can," she says as she turns serious and stares hard into my eyes.

"The day I skipped school...Gage Mackney came and found me."

"HE WHAT?!?!" She squeals, and when I put my finger to my lips, she whispers. "Oh my gosh, Jules!!!!!! What did he do?!?"

"He told me he liked me..But apparently his mom hates Holden and that's why he hasn't asked me out. But he wants to after he gets ungrounded."

She grins wide and claps her hands together. "I've known him since kindergarten. He's a really nice guy."

"What do you know about his family?" I ask, and she visibly shutters. "His mom is like those women on Desperate Housewives...And his dad is pretty intimidating. Imagine the scariness of Dwayne Johnson, but the physique of Chris Hemworth...They're pretty old though, like 40, but they're beautiful for their age."

"Do they....uh......"

"What?"

"Well, I think he might have gotten in big trouble for skipping. He got grounded for a month....Do you think he just got grounded?"

She watches me for a minute, and understanding washes over her. "Oh no, he totally got spanked too."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I've known him since Kindergarten and his dad is scary...I can almost guarantee he got it way worse than you did."

"Way worse how?" I ask, feeling dread in my stomach. I didn't want him spanked because of me...I feel awful

"....well, Holden doesn't spank you bare, does he?"

"No?"

"Well, around here, most parents do it bare...Remember when my mom punished me here and you guys went outside?"

"Yeah?"

"Bare"

"YOU'RE JOKING!!!!!"

"I wish I was. It's kinda weird Holden doesn't do it bare. You guys got off lucky."

"He didn't look like he was walking funny the next day," I argue, still not believing it.

She shrugs like she's bored of the conversation. "Us locals can take a spanking."

That's a weird flex

We hear the front door and Kenna grins. "Drama time."

Our door opens and Kenna and I start to stand up, figuring we will be kicked out momentarily.

"Go to bed, Tate," Holden says, sounding completely exhausted as he shuts the door.

"What the hell?" Tate whispers as he looks at me in shock.

"Are you not in trouble?" I ask.

Tate shrugs as he kicks off his shoes and sits on his bed. "He didn't say a single word to me. Me and a few buddies were up in the lighthouse. He motioned for me, told Micah and Jay to go home, and then drove us in silence...Think I'm going to get in trouble tomorrow?"

"Probably," I nod as Tate's shoulders fall.

"Before school?" He asks.

"I don't know, Tate."

Tate looks at me in shock and then takes off his shirt. "Is Holden broken? He's been acting really weird since Chippy died."

Kenna finally talks as she looks at Tate. "If you seriously don't get in trouble for this, then imma go with yes. He's broken."