Walking Contradictions

"Wow." Thomas breathed, looking up at the large brick house in front of him "Is that a third story?"

"Four if you count the basement." Kenny sighed, turning the Camaro's motor off. The sky was a light shade of pink, the rising sun blocked by the mountains towering overhead at the limit of the small northern California town. "Thanks for letting me stay with you all weekend. It was nice getting away for awhile."

"Well you're always welcome back." Thomas smiled, pushing his door open and getting out, looking around at the thicket of trees surrounding the house. It didn't make a lot of sense to put a giant suburban house in the woods at the base of a mountain, but whatever.

Kenny slowly got out and hugged her new found friend tight. "I'll see ya around."

"See ya." Thomas smiled as he walked down the paved white driveway and headed down the winding mountain road.

Kenny took a breath and walked towards the dark house. She fished for her keys and unlocked and opened the door as quietly as she could. "Shhh." She got in and pushed it quietly closed and let out a breath.

"Where have you been?" A voice boomed behind her.

Thomas looked up and groaned. A fork in the road. And he didn't remember which way they came from, both ways looked the same. "Well fuck!" After going down the left way a few feet he decided that wasn't right and went back the other way. But after going down that way a little, he decided that wasn't right either. "Eh fuck it, I'll ask her." So he turned around and headed back up the hill to Kenny's house to ask her for help.

This time when he approached, there seemed to be a darkness enveloping the house. Sure it could have been the rain clouds that were coming over the ridge, but he decided it was more symbolic when he heard the yelling.

"Kendra, what happened to you? You're father and I have been worried sick. You didn't call, you didn't come home, we had no clue who you were with or if you were hurt or dead!"

"Leave me alone!" Kenny yelled, storming up the stairs and into her room.

"Will you quit yelling? You'll wake your father up."

"I don't care, let his fat ass wake up!"

"Kendra!"

Kenny slammed and locked her bedroom door and looked around. Her baby sister was asleep in her bed again; great. She shook her head and threw her closet open, pulling out her duffel bag from the cheer leading camp she went to in middle school. She stuffed it full of all the clothes she could fit and zipped it closed. All of the commotion downstairs hadn't woken her sister, yet opening the window did.

"What's going on?" Brianna mumbled, lifting her head.

Kenny took a breath and went over and hugged her little sister. "I love you. Don't let anyone ever tell you any different. But I have got to get out of here."

"Are you coming back?" A pounding started at the bedroom door and Kenny heard her father yell something inaudible.

"I don't know. But I'll see you soon, ok?" She kissed her sister's head and then returned to the window and threw her duffel bag out.

Thomas watched as Kenny threw the duffel back out the window and it came plummeting down. Please don't come out after it. Please oh please don't jump. The pair locked eyes and he heard yelling and pounding on the door behind her. He watched as she closed the window and disappeared again. "Ah fuck!"

As soon as Kenny threw the bedroom door open, her father raked her across the face with a firm hand. Her sister screamed and she fell back.

"You little bitch." He snarled, looming over her. "After everything we've done for your ungrateful ass!"

"Fuck you!" Kenny snarled getting back up and forcing her way past him and downstairs.

"Kendra! If you go out that door, don't expect to ever be welcomed back." Her father bellowed.

"Good!" She yelled, opening the front door.

Thomas sighed in relief as he watched her come down the front steps and grab her duffel bag from the bushes. His relief was gone when her father came out side and charged at him.

"You did this to my baby!" He yelled.

"Thomas, run!"

Before he could even make it five feet, Kenny's father had him by the collar and was trying to break his neck.

"Fuck you!" He managed and then put all of his strength into the luggie he rocketed into the brutes eyes. He was then dropped and hit the ground running, grabbing Kenny by the arm as they both sprinted away from the chaos.

Turns out he was right the first time, as they ran down the left side of the fork in the road. "So I guess we're stuck with eachother now, huh?" Thomas panted as the started to slow down.

"Yeah I guess." Kenny smiled in reply, fixing her skirt. She looked down the road and suddenly grabbed Thomas's hand and pulled him down the embankment and into the woods, pushing him to the ground. "Shh!"

They stayed flat against the embankment and dead silent and as truck slowly rumbled by overhead. "They're looking for me." She whispered once it had gone past. "Come on!" Again she grabbed his hand and almost jerked his arm out of it's socket and she led him deep into the woods. "I can't go back. Not now, not ever."

"Well like I said, you're welcome at my place."

"That was the plan."

"Oh." They walked for awhile, hand in hand without even realizing it.

"You need a new mattress." Kenny suddenly said.

"What?"

"You need a new mattress. I could feel every damn spring the other night."

"Oh. Well it wasn't exactly new when I got it." Thomas felt a bit attacked but let it go. "So I got a question."

"And that would be?"

Thomas stopped and held on tighter to Kenny's hand to keep her from leaving him behind. "Well, you're living with us now I guess. And we've slept in the same bed the last two nights. And you're pretty cool. So..."

"You're wanting to know if I'd go out with you?"

"Well..yeah."

Kenny looked him up and down, taking in his rundown shoes, blue jeans with holes in the knees, and black Zepplin shirt and his sexy messy short black hair. "Well, you have taken me in. And you have taken pretty good care of me. And you are nice and pretty cute. Eh sure why the hell not?"

"So you will?' Thomas smiled and went up on his toes.

"I will." Kenny smiled.

"Yes!" He pulled his new girlfriend into his arms and spun her around. "Ok, if they kill me, I can die happy."

"That's why we should make sure they don't catch us." She pointed out, kissing him quickly and then dropping down. "Come on, we gotta keep moving."

As they trudged through the woods for the next hour they could hear the truck rumbling down the road not too far away and could hear her parents calling her name.

Kendra! Baby please come home!

Don't let me catch you and that damn boy! You hear me? Kendra!

Don't let me get my hands on you, boy! I'll wear your ass out!

Thomas shivered at that last one and tightened his grip on Kenny's hand. "I really like you."

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. "Is that so?"

Thomas just smiled and nodded, grabbing her small waist and pulling her into a sweet kiss. "You're pretty cute."

"And you're pretty cheesy." She smiled back. "But sweet, so it works out."

They kept on through the undergrowth until they finally broke through to the field where the town met the forest. They looked out on the quiet place. A pack of kids biked down the main street, a couple were playing with their dog not far away, and everyone seemed to be going about their Monday like there was nothing going wrong anywhere in the universe. The pair shared a smile and walked hand and hand through the field and then down the main street of town to Jack's.

"Man I said get you some, not someone!' Sarah yelled as soon as they came in the door. She rolled her eyes and then turned back to Sam. "You've never heard anyone credit them for inspiration!"

"What are you debating now?" Thomas sighed, clocking in.

"Ok, maybe you will agree with me. Don't you think The Beatles had more influence on music than The Rolling Stones?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you! What about you kid?"

"Eh, I don't know. I'd have to say The Stones." Kenny replied, flipping through used CDs. "I mean, they stayed together and have put out more, so they have more material for people to sample and pull from. I mean, they've definitely influenced people, maybe they just weren't credited."

"Thomas, you picked a good one." Sam called out. "I told you someone would agree with me."

"Oh please! The Beatles weren't around long enough to suck!" Thomas cried out from the back.

"Gimme Shelter didn't suck." Sam replied.

"One song verses whole albums of awesome?" Thomas scoffed, putting his armful of CDs down with a clatter on the counter.

"They had other good songs. Oh, Thomas, I got you that poster you wanted." Sam pulled a poster tube out from under the counter and handed it over. "Oh and I need you to put those promo posters up."

"Can do."

"All I'm saying is that more people have admitted to liking The Beatles and have credited them for inspiration. Who willingly admits to liking the Stones?"

"I do!"

"Sam, you like The Smiths too. The fuck does that say about you?"

Kenny tried to contain her laughter listening to them go back and fourth. This place was awesome! All the music her heart could desire, cool people, and it was chill here...aside from the arguing.

"Next topic!" Sarah proclaimed.

Sam sighed and crossed something off his list of debates. "Going ass to mouth."

"You never go ass to mouth." Sarah said firmly with a nod.

"Unless you and your partner are total freaks." Thomas said as he came out of the back with several posters under his arm. He went up to the window and pulled down the Nirvana poster and replaced it with The Cure. "Can I have the Nirvana poster?"

"Sure, kid. Next?"

"Bestiality." Sam recited.

"Disgusting!"

"Oh you don't like dog dick?" Thomas asked, putting Weird Al up in the window proudly. "Did we ever get the new Beastie Boys record in?"

The debating continued on and on for hours while Thomas and Kenny would randomly chimed in and Sarah would ask the occasional customer their thought on the matter at hand and would then tell them to enjoy life in whatever way they wanted while they could. Kenny lounged around by the CD player with headphones on listening to new releases and unwinding, reviewing the events of this morning in her mind over and over again for about 8 hours, which is easy to do when you have music.

Thomas sat down beside her and hit pause. "We ordered a pizza. Hungry?"

"Yeah, sure." She smiled.

"So you two are dating, huh?" Sarah asked, swinging her legs back and fourth as she sat on the counter.

"Yup." Thomas smiled, kissing Kenny on the cheek.

"Do it again, I totally wanna throw up." Sarah teased flatly. "Why don't we ever do that?" She whined to Sam, who was engrossed in whatever it was he was doing.

"Get off my ass, woman." He replied blankly.

Sarah gasped. "Oh wait, I could never date someone who likes The Smiths!"

The door opened and the pizza delivery guy walked in. "One meat lovers and one cheese. That'll be $10.50."

"I got this." Sarah said, sliding off the counter. "Say kid, do you like The Smiths?"

"Hell no, they suck." The delivery guy responded.

Sarah just turned and gave Sam a toothy grin. "Keep the change." She said, sliding a $20 across the counter. She then flipping the meat lovers box open, grabbed a slice and regained her seat. She looked at Thomas and Kenny and smiled. "Welcome to the family, kid. You're stuck with us now."