knovak (knovak) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2021-06-13 10:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | #june 2018, chris, chris and kenzie, kenzie |
Who: Kenzie and Chris
Where: Juniper Inn
When: Monday, June 11th, Early evening
Warning: NSFW
Status: Complete
Kenzie was nervous. She was so rarely nervous about anything, especially when it came to work, but she was nervous today. The re-assignment to Point Pleasant had come at the tail end of her last job and when she had flown back home from Seattle, she’d only had time to pack and get on another plane to Maine. Unlike the first trip, she didn’t get to travel this time with Chris, which was probably a blessing. Flying alone meant she had plenty of time to panic and then talk herself down off the ledge. They had kept in touch over the past few months. They said hello when they saw one another. Occasionally Chris would text her and occasionally Kenzie would text back. It wasn’t like they had been in love and broken up and now things were weird.
Things would be fine.
They had a job to do and with activity picking up in Point Pleasant again, it was possible they would be there for a while. At least through the summer. So they needed to be okay and work together and… be okay.
It was settling into a lovely evening by the time Kenzie drove into Point Pleasant. The town was so familiar to her now and she couldn’t help the tiny smile that formed on her lips as she pulled into the Juniper parking lot. It was a very odd sense of nostalgia, which was also very strange for Kenzie to be feeling. Work was work. Even if she knew this wasn’t as simple as that.
Dragging her bags inside, Kenzie checked in before asking the desk girl - the same one as before - if Chris Washburn had checked in yet.
“Room 4,” she muttered, tearing off the receipt from the printer and handing it to Kenzie before flashing her a smile. It looked very out of place on the girl’s face and Kenzie took the receipt with a murmured thanks, eager to get moving.
After she was in her room, Kenzie freshened up a bit before finally walking down the hall to Chris’s room. She knocked and smoothed down her shirt, suddenly wishing she had changed out of her travel attire into something more professional. Oh well, too late now.
Chris was nervous too, though he never would have guessed that Kenzie was. They’d kept in touch a bit while they’d been on different assignments, enough to satisfy him that she was still alive and okay whenever he started to fret about her safety. Texting her something casual or a stupid meme to make her respond was his way of checking in on her, though she probably would’ve hated that. Chris didn’t know what else to do. He missed Kenzie, he was man enough to admit that to himself at least, but it wasn’t like he could tell her that.
Being reassigned to Point Pleasant was a mixed blessing. The place was a clusterfuck of the paranormal, but it meant he would be working with Kenzie again, so Chris didn’t hesitate to accept the assignment. He’d flown in earlier than Kenzie was scheduled to arrive, glad that circumstances had given them different flights. It gave him time to settle into the room at Juniper and take a shower, all while his stomach churned uncomfortably.
What was he supposed to say to her? They hadn’t parted on bad terms or anything, it all just felt so ... unfinished, to Chris. Something had been brewing and then it had been forced to stop. Now what? Nothing, he told himself as he pulled on clothes in the silent room. They went back to work and that was it, because that was all it could ever be, at least as long as they worked for the Foundation, something neither of them were willing to compromise on. Still, his heart leapt into his throat when a knock came at the door. Those were Kenzie’s knuckles, he could tell. She’d come to see him.
Chris took a second to shake his hands out and smooth his furrowed brow, aiming for a neutral expression before he opened the door. He mostly succeeded, though he couldn’t help but smile a little at the sight of her. “There she is,” he said as a greeting. “Where you been, slacker? I’ve already got this whole case buttoned up.” Chris stepped back and held the door open wider for her.
Kenzie was trying to fix her ponytail when the door opened and she dropped her hands quickly, pasting a quick, bright smile on her face at the sight of Chris. God, he looked good. Which was not something she needed to be thinking about right now. Or maybe ever. For all she knew, he had a girlfriend now. Some tall, big-breasted blonde woman who liked sports and stuff. "Sorry, my flight got delayed," she said, stepping into the room and resting her hands loosely on her hips. Otherwise, she might start touching things awkwardly, or... just being awkward in general. And Kenzie did not like feeling that way when she was usually so put together for work. "Looks like you made it all right. It doesn't look like much has changed in this place. Are you hungry? Should we go for dinner? Unless you've eaten already then maybe I'll just order some Chinese food." Kenzie trailed off and smiled again. "How are you?"
He was both mildly disappointed and amused that his joke didn’t land, but that feeling was also sweetly familiar. That was how it was, talking to Kenzie, and he’d kind of missed feeling awkward and unfunny because she didn’t laugh at his dumb jokes. It made him want to wrap her up into a hug and kiss the hell out of her, but Chris couldn’t really do that. Not yet, not until he knew that she’d missed him too. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his loose sweatpants and smiled back at her. “I haven’t eaten, no,” he answered. “You wanna go to Moxie’s or somethin’? I’ve been missing their milkshakes.” Chris paused and shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve been all right. Just work and everything, y’know? A little jetlagged maybe, but ready to dig in here again. How ‘bout you, how are you doing?”
If she hadn't been so nervous about this, Kenzie probably would have caught onto the joke and laughed. But just being in the same, small room as Chris - one with a bed, no less - just made her feel all jittery. She needed to get over it so they could work properly together while they were here. Maybe that was something they needed to talk about. It was probably something they should have talked about when they returned to Atlanta earlier that year, but it had been so much easier to avoid it. "I'm doing great," Kenzie said, an easier sort of smile curving at her lips. "Busy, but you know how that is. Moxie's sounds great though. It's been a long time since I've had some greasy onion rings. Um, do you want to drive? I can drive if you don't want to." Maybe once they were both sitting with food in front of them Kenzie could focus and shift back into work-mode. Or at least working with a friend mode. She had missed Chris, it was just a bit difficult to explain how.
Since they were obviously going out, Chris started moving around before she finished talking, first to his open suitcase on the floor to fish out some socks, then to snag his shoes before he perched on the corner of the bed. “Sure, I can drive,” he answered as he started to pull everything on. “I thought I wouldn’t remember where everything was in this town, but as soon as I drove in it all came back to me.” Chris chuckled faintly. “Funny how it like ... sticks with you.” Once he had his sneakers tied, he hopped up and grabbed his keys and wallet, then gestured Kenzie toward the door so she could go out in front of him. He hadn’t missed how she’d said she was doing great, which was ... well it was a good thing. Of course she’d been doing great, because she didn’t need him around, and it was dumb that he seemed to need her in order to feel great.
"Once I hit the entrance ramp I drove here without even using my GPS," Kenzie admitted, stepping out into the hall and then falling into step beside him after he shut his bedroom door. It felt so good to be working with him again. Every assignment she had been given in the past few months had either been a solo trip or she had been given a different partner. The disappointment was potent every single time. And it wasn't like she couldn't call or text him and ask him to hang out... she knew she could have done that. But she was afraid he would say no, or maybe he would want to keep things professional, the way she had suggested after returning home from Maine. It had been awkward and confusing and even now, all these months later, Kenzie replayed it in her head and wondered if she should have done it differently. "I was planning on contacting Nick tonight and scheduling a meeting with him sometime this week. Apparently he's living in one of the apartment buildings now. It should be interesting to get his take on how things have been here since we left." Kenzie snuck a glance at him. "I feel like it's been a really long time since we've talked... you know, face to face."
Chris wasn’t sure if she meant ‘we’ as in her and Nick, or ‘we’ as in the two of them ... both would be true. He nodded slowly, deciding to go with the safer option. “It has been,” he said. “I haven’t talked to him either in a long time. So ... yeah, a meeting sounds good, just let me know when.” Chris knew exactly how long it had been since he’d talked face to face with Kenzie, he’d counted the months pretty recently. And now here she was, close enough to touch, looking exactly how he remembered her, and making his heart beat just as hard as she used to. He’d known he wasn’t over her, but fuck, it hadn’t even faded a little. Chris held the door for her as they headed out into the parking lot, then clicked the button on the key fob to unlock the car as they approached.
"I meant us," Kenzie said with a soft laugh. But she could understand why he thought she was still talking about Nick. She walked to the passenger side door and opened it while glancing at Chris. God, he still looked so good. Not that she thought that would've changed. Kenzie wanted to ask questions, hear about how his life had been since they returned to Atlanta. She had no idea if he would talk openly to her or not. Chris had never been an open book about his personal life, but that didn't mean she wasn't curious. It was different talking to someone in person than through texts.
“Oh, right,” Chris answered with a huff through his nose and a brief smile. Duh, of course she’d meant them. He distracted himself from feeling awkward by climbing in behind the wheel and getting the engine started up. He could smell her shampoo in such close quarters where the only other scent was that cleaner the rental place used on the dashboard, and he wanted to bury his face in it. “I guess, uh ... it’s been a few months. Since I was comin’ back from that job out in Utah to debrief at HQ. Mormons, man. They’re weird.” Chris glanced over at her with a little smile before he pulled out of the parking spot and started to take them to Moxie’s. That encounter had been just a brief one in the office, just enough time for a ‘hi hello how are you’ sort of exchange, but he remembered every detail of it. Like an idiot.
"All religions are weird," Kenzie said with a grin. And yes, she remembered running into him that day too. That desire to ask if he wanted to grab dinner, or even just a cup of coffee. But, like an idiot, she hadn't done it. It was something she had replayed in her head a lot, just like the day they returned home from Point Pleasant. Kenzie liked to think she didn't dwell on her mistakes, but she did. She dwelled a lot. "I kind of had the feeling they would send us back here, once the lab results started coming back on the black goo we found. Unknown, alien substances are always more intriguing than what can be explained, apparently." Kenzie was trying hard not to look at him for the entire drive, but it was difficult not to occasionally glance his way.
“That’s our whole thing, right?” Chris posed, glancing over at Kenzie with an easy smile. “Investigate the unexplainable. I’m not surprised either, this place seems like a goldmine of strangeness. The brief said it had been kind of quiet for months though, wonder what that’s about.” It was easier to talk about work than anything else, even though Chris wasn’t terribly interested in conjecturing at the moment. They had a lot of work to do, they didn’t know much of anything yet, so it was useless anyway except as a distraction from talking about them. Kenzie had wanted to keep it professional and friendly, so that was what Chris was aiming for now that they were working together again.
"I'm sure we'll find out," Kenzie said, because she hadn't really had a lot of time to look through the brief herself. By the time she arrived back in Atlanta from Seattle, she'd only a few hours to get ready for her next flight to Maine. But she supposed she could read through the paperwork once she was settled in her room for the night. Falling silent, Kenzie tried not to think about the fact that Chris seemed a bit... standoffish. Not in a rude way. But he didn't seem as laid back around her as he usually did. She was used to him teasing her, or purposely poking at her in order to annoy her. Her lips parted before Kenzie realized she really didn't know what to say now. There were things to say, but the car felt like the wrong place to say them. "This town is really beautiful," she murmured instead. "I mean, with leaves on the trees and green grass. I'm not going to miss the snow."
Chris felt a bit stiff inside, and not in the fun way, so he wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that he was acting stiff. He didn’t mean to be, it was just hard to fully relax and know what to say to Kenzie. If he let his guard down he might become very unprofessional with her again and he thought she’d made it pretty clear that she didn’t want that. But here they were in close proximity again, in the same small inn once more, where it would be so easy to just slip down the hall and tap on her door at night ... fuck. Kenzie’s words brought him out of his thoughts and he glanced around at the world outside and let out a faint chuckle. “Me neither,” he said. “Let’s get this job done before it comes around again.” Chris paused, realizing that sounded like he was in a hurry to get out of Point Pleasant, and winced inside. “Or we could drag our feet ‘til winter, then claim we’re all snowed in when the higher ups start askin’ why we’re taking so long.” He glanced over at her again with a tiny smirk. “It is nice though. The town, I mean.” Fuck, what was wrong with his brain? He sounded like an idiot.
Kenzie was on board with trying to get their assignment complete before winter settled in again. But with everything so uncertain, there was a possibility they would be here past the summer. Maybe. Kenzie wasn't sure if she wanted that or not. It probably just depended on how they got on because it definitely felt different than their first trip there. "It is. It looks a lot like the town I used to fantasize moving to once I was finished with... you know, the job." Kenzie smiled. "Without the underlying abnormalities and terror, of course." At this point in her career she wondered if there were any cities or towns out there that were normal. Because she was seriously doubting it.
Chris chuckled softly. Of course Kenzie would dream about retiring to a small, friendly, picturesque type of town. He could imagine her in this type of place very easily. It wasn’t so easy to picture himself anywhere in the future though. It wasn’t something Chris ever gave much thought to. He didn’t make those kinds of plans anymore, and he honestly wondered sometimes if he ever would be finished with the job. Maybe it would kill him eventually, or maybe he would just work until he was too old to show up, he didn’t know. “I’m sure you could find one that’s a little less like a horror movie to settle down in,” he said, smiling faintly. “That still a goal, though? I saw a couple For Sale signs on my way in.”
"Of course it's a goal," Kenzie said. "I mean, I love the job, obviously, but I don't know that it's something I'll be doing until I die... let me rephrase that... I don't know that it's something I'll be doing until I'm old and gray with arthritis and memory issues. Eventually, I want to own my own place and be able to travel and maybe enjoy my life without the Foundation hovering over my personal life." Of course she had a ten-year plan and so on. Kenzie liked having goals, having things to work towards. She would feel listless otherwise and that wasn't an option. "As for the For Sale signs in this town, I'm not a masochist. But living near the ocean wouldn't be so bad."
Chris’s smile widened a bit as he gazed through the windshield. “I’m sure there’s a level of promotion you’ll hit where they won’t give a shit what you do in your personal life,” he pointed out. If anybody was going to climb the ranks within the Foundation, it would be Kenzie. He was sure she had plan after plan for her future, she probably even made vision boards about it, whenever she was home for more than a day. It was all stuff he would’ve rolled his eyes at if it didn’t make her so Kenzie. “I’ll be workin’ for you someday, Kenz,” he added lightly, glancing over at her as he took the turn into the Moxie’s parking lot. “Remember the little people when you’re running the whole place.”
Kenzie could have been modest and dismissed the idea of becoming the Boss, but that may or may not have been number thirty-six on her 10 year plan so she merely shrugged and gave him a pointed look as she unbuckled her seat belt. "Like I could ever forget the little people, especially after spending so many years being one myself." When Chris had parked, Kenzie slipped out of the car, immediately taking a deep breath to calm the lingering nerves. Some diner food and a casual setting would probably make things easier. It was best to just point out the elephant in the room and try to talk things out before things got too awkward between them. Kenzie didn't want to feel weird around Chris, especially since they would probably be in Point Pleasant for a while, just like last time.
That disdainful look was familiar at least, and it amused him like it always did, so maybe not everything had changed. He was also amused that she didn’t deny her ambition within the Foundation, but respected it too. Kenzie knew how smart and thorough and determined she was, and those were the main ingredients needed for success, weren’t they? Something like that, he didn’t know. He might end up heading up his own team one day, but he knew he didn’t have the drive to rise to the top. Chris climbed out of the car and headed for the diner entrance, holding the door for Kenzie with a low “after you,” and only glancing at her ass for a quick second as she went in. Once they were seated at a booth and had told the waitress what they wanted to drink, he slouched a bit and browsed the laminated menu. “Not much has changed here, that’s for sure,” he murmured.
Kenzie studied the menu herself, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth thoughtfully before her eyes widened. "No, the desserts are different! Well... I mean, it looks like they added strawberry pie. Everything else looks the same." She had to pace herself because stress eating a bunch of sugar and fast seemed like a bad idea the first night they were there. But the pie did look really good. And she could always get up early to go for a jog. Finally deciding on what she wanted to eat, Kenzie set the menu back down and clasped her hands on top of the table. "I missed doing this," she admitted with an easy smile. "I've been paired up with Hankins for my last few assignments and all he wants to do is watch ESPN in his room and bet on the games. Not really my thing."
Chris quirked a brow and flipped the menu over to check the desserts. It was funny how quickly she realized that, as if she’d memorized the Moxie’s menu ... but he had too, back when they’d been here the first time. Chris had eaten a lot of takeout here. He decided what he wanted as his ‘welcome back’ meal and set the menu aside a moment after Kenzie did. He met her eyes not quite on purpose, then chuckled a bit. “Hankins? Boring,” Chris confirmed with a rueful shake of his head. “Me and him did a short stint in New Mexico a couple years back. That guy’s got a gambling problem.” He paused, then added, “Me too, though. Missed this.” And you. God, it was right there on the tip of his tongue to say, but Chris held it back. He slowly rubbed his palms together under the table as his gaze roamed away from Kenzie again.
Kenzie wondered if things would be this way for the next few months. A light but forced conversation. Chris constantly looking anywhere but at her. It was already driving her crazy, so she could only assume how long it would take before it pushed her over the edge and she unloaded on him. There was only one way to try and fix things. Or at least fix one thing. "So, I've wanted to talk to you for a while now," Kenzie began, keeping her gaze on Chris because she knew talking about things tended to make him uncomfortable. But that was just too bad. Some things needed to be said, and they were a long time coming. "I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for how things ended when we got back to Atlanta. I don't think I thought through everything, and I'm afraid I upset you. I didn't want things to be weird between us, and honestly, I went about it the wrong way, and I'm sorry for that. I have missed this, but I think I missed you more."
He felt the dread in the pit of his stomach as soon as Kenzie said she wanted to talk to him, and Chris made himself look at her once more. His prediction was that she wanted to lay down ground rules while they were there in Point Pleasant again, and top of the list would be No Sex. Kenzie took it in a different direction though, and Chris felt his brows lifting slowly as she spoke. She was apologizing? And worried she’d upset him? She missed him? Chris’s heart was suddenly pounding hard, and he wet his lips and swallowed, not sure what to say for a moment. His instinct was to say he hadn’t been upset, everything was fine, he missed her too in the most casual possible way ... but god, it was hard to lie straight to her face. His eyes dropped to the table and he shifted his body a bit, one hand coming up to rub at his jaw as a weird little laugh escaped him. Fuck, she was just full of curveballs, always. “I, uh ... I missed you too, Kenz,” Chris admitted, looking a little sheepish as he met her stare again. In his former life he’d run into burning buildings for a living, why couldn’t he be brave about this? “Like, a lot. A lot, a lot. I didn’t -- look, okay, I know all the reasons why it’s stupid, but --” He stopped and sighed, his leg starting to bounce under the table. It was easier to speak when he stared at one specific spot on her shirt collar, so he did that and told himself to man the fuck up. “I had ... a lot of feelings for you, when we left the last time. I wanted to keep taking whatever time we could. Together. But you didn’t, so I just ... tried to give you the space you needed and let it go.”
Was it odd that she had even missed the way his knee was constantly bouncing when he was put on the spot or nervous? Hearing that Chris had missed her too made her feel less tense about the conversation, even though instinctively she sort of knew he had. His admittance that he'd had feelings for her took her by surprise, and Kenzie stared at him for a moment, her lips parted in surprise. The waitress returned at that moment to place their drinks on the table and to take their order. Yes, it was highly inconvenient, and Kenzie had no idea how she managed to talk about food while her mind was racing. Honestly, by the time the waitress wandered off, Kenzie wasn't even sure what she had ordered. It didn't matter. Her eyes found Chris's face again and she did her best to refocus. "Why didn't you say something?" Had she been that oblivious? No, she hadn't. Because she'd had feelings too, right? Only she was sure that they had both agreed their relationship in Point Pleasant would be purely physical. At some point, that changed but... it wasn't like either of them had talked about it.
The waitress had to know she’d interrupted a tense moment, but she powered through, and Chris ordered what he’d picked out earlier, even though he wasn’t sure now that he would eat it. The shocked look on Kenzie’s face had been painful to look at, as he was sure it meant she had never looked at him in that light at all. And now she was going to try to let him down easy for the sake of the job they still had to do together, and it would be awful and embarrassing and he should’ve kept his mouth shut. Knee still bouncing away, Chris gave her an incredulous look. “Are you seriously asking me that?” he murmured. “Come on, Kenzie.” Shouldn’t the answer be obvious? He knew she didn’t feel the same way, and it just would’ve made everything awkward, and it wasn’t like they could do much about it even if she did have feelings for him too. “I knew it had to stay just ... what it was, you know?”
"Maybe," Kenzie murmured, slipping her hands off the top of the table to drop them into her lap where she could clutch them together. "But I thought you had just wanted to keep sleeping together. And things had started to become, you know, complicated between us, at least on my end, so I thought it was the responsible thing to put a stop to it when we got back." It was probably admitting a little too much so Kenzie tried to keep her tone as casual as she could, even though her stomach was doing flip flops. "Do you think this is going to be too difficult? The two of us working together now?"
Chris’s brow furrowed as he watched her face. She wasn’t saying anything he had thought she would say, and he wasn’t sure how to respond to any of it. Chris shook his head a little and lifted one hand a bit to put a pause on her questions, because something else she’d said seemed more important to dig into at the moment. They could iron out how to work together after they were on the same page. “Wait ... what do you mean it got complicated on your end?” he asked, studying her closely. It was difficult to read her tone, but if he was going to be stupidly honest with her, Chris wanted the same in return.
Kenzie's brows furrowed in confusion for a moment before her expression smoothed out and she clutched her hands more tightly in her lap. "I just mean..." What did she mean? Chris had been able to admit he'd developed feelings for her, so why was it so hard to admit the same? She was a grown woman, she should be able to have an adult conversation with a man she had spent several months sleeping with. And while Chris might not have been the most emotionally open person, neither was she. Kenzie owed it to him to be honest. "I started having feelings for you too," she admitted, wanting to keep everything matter of fact so he didn't see her as some heartsick, clingy woman. "I didn't know where that line was and I was afraid if we continued our physical relationship after being reassigned...things would become more difficult. Do you know what I mean?"
He stared at her, trying to process that. Chris knew what they’d said they would do -- or not do -- when they first started hooking up, and while he’d intended to stick with the ‘don’t make it weird, it’s just simple sex’ plan, the fact that he’d failed hadn’t been a huge surprise to him. He’d not had a real emotional attachment to any woman since his ex-wife, and he’d already cared more about Kenzie than most of the woman he’d slept with in the interim, so of course he’d fallen into puppy love with her. Kenzie was an ultimate pragmatist, though, or at least she’d always seemed that way to Chris, and she’d failed at the plan too? It was hard to wrap his head around, especially since he didn’t see much in himself that was worth having feelings for. As it started to sink in though, he started to feel that yearning more intensely. “I know what you mean,” he murmured after a moment. Chris wet his lip and tried to stop bouncing his leg, but it only lasted a couple of seconds. “Do you still ... have feelings?”
If Kenzie had been on top of her game, she would have realized that Chris would ask her that question. She had wanted to ask him the same thing, and now she felt like she was being put on the spot, like her answer might somehow shift the balance between them and leave her feeling vulnerable. It was too childish to turn the question around on him because if she did, he might take that as Kenzie admitting in a roundabout way that she didn't have feelings, and then he would feel like his back was up against the wall, and he would tell her no to save face. And yes, Kenzie was absolutely overthinking this. But that was her nature. Overthink and overanalyze until she came to a logical, satisfying conclusion. It worked so well when it came to her job. But her personal life? Maybe there was a reason her love life was non-existent.
Realizing that she was taking far too long to answer, Kenzie knew it was better for the both of them, and this assignment if she was honest with him. "Yes," she stated, unable to look away from his face in case his expression gave away some kind of emotion. "Do you?"
Waiting was torture, and Chris tried not to grind his teeth and stare a hole through Kenzie’s head. His mind was babbling at him, telling him she was taking too long to answer, she was trying to find a way to be diplomatic and not hurt his feelings -- something that suddenly filled him with frustration, why couldn’t women just be straightforward -- and he was an unbelievable fool to even think -- ... But then Kenzie answered yes, and Chris’s stomach somehow felt even worse than before. He could deal with suppressing his own emotions for the sake of doing what needed to be done, but could she? Did he even want her to, if they both felt the same way? Chris was suddenly torn between bailing for the door, and pulling Kenzie across the table to kiss her. Fuck. And of course she asked him the same question, and he couldn’t lie and say no when she was looking right at him like that. Chris swallowed and fiddled with the edge of the paper napkin on the table. “Yeah,” he answered slowly. “I didn’t ... couldn’t stop thinking about you, these past few months.” His tone was a little sheepish, like he ought to be embarrassed about it. He was, in a way, though it was hard to put into words why.
Considering she hadn't really been able to put Chris out of her mind either, his admission eased some of the anxiety that had been rippling through her for the past five minutes. Of course, she still didn't know what it meant to have them both feeling things for each other. It was likely against Foundation policy, and even if it wasn't, they weren't likely to be paired up on assignment again if their bosses knew they were sleeping together or in a relationship. Were they in a relationship? Was that jumping too far ahead in the conversation? Kenzie reached for her iced tea, needing something to do with her hands other than clenching them bone-crushingly tight in her lap. "I was thinking about you too," Kenzie admitted. Her cheeks felt a bit warm, but it made no sense to be shy now. After all, Chris had seen her naked in the past. Not to mention how many times he had kissed and touched the most intimate parts of her body. "More than once, I started texting you, wanting to ask you to dinner, or... something, just to see you." Kenzie tore idly at the paper wrapper of her straw. "I'm not entirely sure how this will affect us, job-wise. But... I don't want to give up this assignment. So maybe we can just try to figure things out while we're here."
If they’d been normal co-workers at a normal job, this might not have been such a big deal. Besides the ways in which they were both personally stunted, the nature of their work made relationships hard to begin with -- trying to coordinate a schedule to see Kenzie when they happened to be in the same city was already a daunting prospect. Because she was right that the Foundation wouldn’t allow them to continue to partner up if they knew. Being in love -- or whatever they could call it, the L-word scared the shit out of Chris, if he was being honest -- would only compromise them as agents. So it was difficult not to see this as bad news, even though it excited the tender parts of him. “We can’t tell anyone,” he said. Kenzie had probably already drawn that conclusion, but Chris had to say it out loud. “Not Nick, not anyone. It has to stay between us, or they’ll yank us both out of here. And I’m not ... ready to, uh ... be separated again.” He hesitated to admit it, but Chris wanted her to know that he wasn’t just the job he was concerned about. He wet his lips again, and added, “I almost texted you too, about a million times. With something more serious than memes, I mean.”
Kenzie felt her heartbeat quicken in her chest and she sipped her iced tea to ease the dryness forming in her throat. Despite their admitted feelings, she hadn't been sure if Chris would actually want to continue what they had been doing months ago. He cared about this job just as much as she did and it could be dangerous for both of them to get involved romantically - for real this time. But she agreed that they couldn't tell anyone. Although the only people Kenzie could even fathom talking to about her personal life would be her parents and they lived in Chicago. Her friends were casual friends at best. Kenzie's life was her job and that didn't leave a lot of room for close relationships. His words warmed her, however, knowing that he didn't want to be separated from her again so soon. He had missed her. Setting her glass down, Kenzie couldn't help but laugh. "We're grown adults acting like teenagers again, although I did like your memes. They made me laugh. I agree that we shouldn't tell anyone. And maybe like before, when we're out on the job, we're colleagues. Everything else... that's free time, okay? I don't want to slip up and give them a reason to reassign us."
Chris didn’t have many people to tell either, which was probably sad as hell, but it was what it was. He had a couple of guys he still considered close friends from back in his firefighter days, but he’d lost many more than that over the years. Chris had to smirk and huff when Kenzie said they were acting like teenagers -- it was probably true, he just couldn’t seem to help himself. She gave him all those stupid butterflies and lovesick feelings that teens were so full of. Chris realized they were actually negotiating a way to be together again. But differently this time, with an awareness of feelings on both sides. The prospect was scary but kind of exhilarating at the same time, and he had that butterflies feeling from his chest down to his groin. It was sinking in that he’d told her how he felt and not only had she not freaked out about it, she felt the same. Or at least similarly. Chris’s palms were suddenly sweaty, and he rubbed them against his thighs. “Right,” he murmured, his gaze locked on Kenze’s face. He smiled at her, though it was still a little uncertain. “Like before, the job’s the job, and the rest ... it’s our life. We can spend it how we want.”
Kenzie was aware that it wasn't as easy as they were making it sound, but it helped that they were a thousand miles away from Atlanta, and no one in town knew what they did but for Nick. And he had never come across as someone who would inform their superiors of their relationship even if he knew. The waitress appeared with their food, and Kenzie thanked the woman before placing her paper napkin in her lap. Her appetite was a bit wonky, given she was full of nerves right now, but they weren't bad nerves. Rather than dive into her food, she studied Chris, searching for any sign that he was having doubts. It was likely her deep-seated insecurities talking, but she certainly didn't want Chris feeling like he was being railroaded into something he was unsure about. "And I won't mind it if you need or want any space. We certainly don't have to spend every waking moment together. This can be as casual as we want it to be."
Right, food. Chris wasn’t sure if he wanted his either, even though it smelled greasily delicious, so he didn’t dig in immediately either. This conversation with Kenzie had all of his attention, that was for sure. Any uncertainty he felt came from how long it had been since he’d been in a relationship with a woman, and shock that Kenzie was actually interested in him in that way too. “Right, yeah,” he agreed to what she said. Casual. He’d had casual relationships before, right? He could remember how to do that. Just because he had intense feelings for the woman sitting across from him didn’t mean he couldn’t be casual on the outside. Probably. This was all just ... still new. He was still processing. “Let’s just ... give it a chance and see where it goes.” Chris realized that he wasn’t offering very much out loud, but he really wasn’t sure how to talk about this. He was rusty at being a person with feelings, especially feelings-feelings.
Kenzie noticed that while Chris seemed to be in agreement with her, there also seemed to be an air of... what... apprehension? Uncertainty? Was she piling too much on him at once? They had just gotten back into town, after all. For all she knew Chris felt jet lagged and tired and maybe this was the last conversation he wanted to be having. She studied him with a faint smile, hoping he understood there were no expectations here. Kenzie knew how some men could be about relationships and their relationship would certainly be a bit more difficult. “Do you have any other... thoughts? Or concerns? I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
Chris went about unwrapping his utensils, more for something to do with his hands than anything else. He wasn’t surprised that Kenzie was prompting him to talk more, but it still made him feel weird and on the spot. God, why was he so fucking bad at this? The hyper awareness of his own awkwardness was just making him feel even more awkward. “I know I’m not, uh ... good at talking about shit like this,” he said, giving her an earnest look, his brow furrowed. “My thoughts ... I’m still tryin’ to wrap my head around the idea that it’s not just me havin’ feelings, you know? I just didn’t think you’d ever like me like that.” Ugh, he sounded like a self-hating emo teenager or some shit, didn’t he? Chris rolled his shoulders a little and gave Kenzie a faint smile. “I’m glad you do, though. It’s just been a long time since I had a girlfriend, so ... bear with me? I’m slow. Just try to be patient with me, yeah? If concerns come up, I’ll talk to you about ‘em.”
Girlfriend. The word did something warm to her insides, just as it made her feel a tiny bit paralyzed. She hadn't been someone's girlfriend in a very, very long time. College, maybe. Kenzie began to poke at her food with her fork, though she had yet to take a bit. "You make it sound like I'm some sort of relationship guru. It's been a while for me too. And you know, we were sleeping together. The attraction was there. It was a bit difficult not to start feeling... feelings for you." She was quite eloquent, wasn't she? "Usually, my purely physical feelings conclude in a one night stand. With you, obviously it was different." Kenzie brought her gaze back up to his face and her brows furrowed curiously. "Why didn't you think I would like you?"
They hadn’t said they were Together now, but Chris didn’t have much language to use about it except ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend,’ even if using those terms made him feel weirdly immature. Chris listened to what Kenzie was saying, a bit of anxiety coiling in his stomach. Had she only had feelings for him because they’d been knocking boots? But Kenzie had said she still felt things, so it hadn’t worn off in the months they’d been apart, he tried to let that reassure him. Her question was a bit more difficult to figure out how to answer and Chris dropped his gaze to his food, making much the same useless motions with his fork as Kenzie was. “I dunno, you’re just ...” way too good for me? That sounded shitty in Chris’s head though, and he knew she would argue about it and he didn’t want to go down that road. “I just didn’t think I was your type of guy,” he settled on, and gave her a sheepish little smile. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m fuckin’ thrilled about it, but yeah it’s just a surprise.”
Kenzie had never thought about her feelings for Chris beyond her professional relationship until they had begun sleeping together. She knew, deep down, that she had a crush on him and had for a long time. But Kenzie had been pretty adept at ignoring it. Honestly, despite their bickering slash flirting, she had never expected him to really want her in any capacity. At least until he had suggested having sex last year. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you think my type is," Kenzie said with a small laugh. She finally took a bite of food, feeling a bit more relaxed now that they had come to some sort of agreement. Chris still looked a little... off... but she would gladly chalk that up to his surprise that she had feelings for him than any sense of doubt or uncertainty about this. She sipped her tea and then arched a brow. "If it makes you feel any better, I never thought I would be your type of woman either. So I guess we're both full of surprises."
When Chris did think about Kenzie’s type, he envisioned a guy who was as responsible and meticulous and uptight as she could be, someone brilliant and successful, like a doctor or something. Somebody who liked binders and color-coded file folders and watching nature documentaries. Not like him, basically. Chris had never been bitter that Kenzie was obviously smarter than him, guys who were intimidated by that were extra stupid, he’d just never thought that she would find him attractive beyond his body and what it could do for hers. He was kind of a dumbass, he told bad jokes and teased her constantly, he wasn’t the neatest guy in the world. Sure, he was brave in the face of danger -- not so much with emotions, obviously -- and sometimes had good instincts about their work, but what did that mean on a personal level? Chris’s ex wife had made it very clear that their marriage fell apart because of his deficiencies, what hope did he have here? But if he started questioning it now, he would definitely fuck it all up before it even got off the ground, so Chris told his insecurities to shut the fuck up. He desperately wanted to give this a chance, he’d missed Kenzie so much and now she liked him back and he needed to try to trust that she knew what she wanted. He huffed a little laugh at what she said, also drinking from his glass before he shook his head. “I won’t ask if you don’t,” he muttered, still smirking. “So I guess ... does this count as a first date?”
"That's fair," Kenzie said with a smile. Best not to potentially insult Chris by describing the kind of women she assumed he dated. Or at least slept with before her. She had never seen a photo of his ex-wife and he rarely, if ever, talked about her. That was okay with Kenzie though. She was interested in Chris's past, but she wanted to know more about him than who he had been with. His question prompted Kenzie to pause with her fork in her food and she glanced around the diner before arching a brow. "Here? Well... I suppose we could label it a first date. But is it a first date if we weren't... you know..." She motioned between the two of them. "... when we got here?"
It hadn’t been a very serious question, but Kenzie’s answer was so Kenzie it made Chris laugh a little. Of course she would want to clarify the specifics. “Nah, I can do better than this, so it doesn’t count,” Chris decided, giving Kenzie a lopsided little smile. Then he quirked a brow and corrected himself, “I will do better than this.” If they were going to do this, Kenzie deserved a better ‘first date’ than impromptu Moxie’s while Chris was still wearing his sweatpants. Granted, they would have to be careful about how they were seen in public if they wanted to keep this strictly between them, but he could still take her out to a proper dinner. He finally realized that this meant they would be going back to Juniper as a couple -- or something like it, anyway -- and he felt an excited flutter in his stomach.
"We will do better than this," Kenzie pointed out with a smile of her own. "It's your first date with me. I'm not going to put all of the pressure on you to make it great." It wasn't like they had to plan anything romantic and sprawling. They had known each other for years already and honestly, Kenzie wouldn't have minded something casual, even dinner at Moxie's. But like Chris, she would like it to be when she hadn't just gotten off a plane and driven hours to Point Pleasant. Like Chris, Kenzie was realizing they would be leaving Moxie's in a different place than how they had arrived and while it made her feel a little anxious, she liked it. At least they were on the same page and not dancing around each other. She wanted this assignment to be comfortable for the both of them.
Chris chuckled to himself again, rather unsurprised by that assertion. Kenzie was independent and capable of planning dates, and even if that wasn’t something Chris was used to in a girlfriend, maybe it would be nice to be taken out sometimes instead of always doing the taking. “I appreciate that, ‘cause you’re gonna have to keep your standards real low if this is gonna work,” he said, smirking at her. Considering that they were on a mission in a tiny podunk town, he was sure she wouldn’t expect anything grand out of him. Besides, neither of them had dated for a long-ass time, he was fairly sure, so hopefully she would forgive him for being rusty. Feeling a bit more settled except for that antsy anticipation in his stomach, Chris started to eat.
"Oh, stop." Kenzie shook her head and took a bite of her food. Her appetite was mostly returning now that her nerves had smoothed out. She wasn't worried about being swept off her feet, or taken to expensive restaurants, etc., etc. Kenzie just wanted companionship with someone whose company she enjoyed and Chris marked that box. He challenged her and made her laugh. He also got under her skin, which could annoy her, sure, but it kept her on her toes too. It didn't hurt that he was gorgeous and Kenzie already knew they had some intense sexual chemistry. "I think we need to be a bit more aggressive this time around," she began, happy to have the more personal parts of their conversation over. "I want to try and talk to some of the people who went missing in January and are back now. Maybe see if I can get one of the deputies to open up a bit too."
For a second, Chris thought she meant aggressive in a sexy way, his thoughts still firmly on Kenzie and the two of them. Then he realized she’d shifted gears into work mode, and tried to adjust his own brain accordingly. There really wasn’t anything more to discuss about Them, he supposed, and that was a relief to him too. Chris was much better at just letting things unfold rather than trying to plan them. He started to pick at his food as he considered what she said, nodding slowly. “The brief said they lost a couple,” he said. “Deputies, that is. The force was small to start with, but now they’re really stretched tight, could make it easier to get one of ‘em to crack and spill something. Hell, they might welcome our help if they really know.” He chuckled darkly and popped a few fries into his mouth to munch on.
"It's possible." Kenzie sometimes thought that it would be easier to tell people who they were and what they did. Like it would somehow loosen people up a bit and cooperate. She felt more comfortable being honest with law enforcement than she did some average Joe, though. "Maybe Nick has gotten another in with one of the deputies. I guess he would be the best place to start with all of this. He's certainly been here a hell of a lot longer than we have." Taking another bite of her food, Kenzie chewed thoughtfully. She would definitely need to talk to more people in town. It was strange for Point Pleasant to be so quiet after so many months of anomalies. Her gaze met Chris's again as she washed down her food with a sip of her iced tea. Then she smiled. "Do you think Nick will be excited to see us again? I wonder if he's gotten comfortable here."
Chris knew there were certain secrets they were obligated to keep -- contractually, in some cases -- so the Foundation could retain its anonymity and power of surprise if they did need to roll into a situation in force. But sometimes he thought it might be easier just to talk to the people who were in the know, who really needed help. But all those decisions were way above his pay grade, so he didn’t push for anything and just did his job. As he washed a bite down with his drink, he shrugged a shoulder. “He’s got to have, right?” he posted. “I mean, it’s been months and months for him, and s’far as I know, he didn’t even have to stay here. I know it’s a gold mine for his writing, but still.” Chris made a face. He wouldn’t have opted to stay in Point Pleasant voluntarily, that was for damn sure. “But sure, we’ll talk to him tomorrow. See what’s been up since we been gone. Hopefully he’ll have some recon for us, at least.”
Kenzie had found this town fascinating when they arrived last year. She still did, in all honesty, but she wasn't sure she would even think to live here permanently. Nick was a writer though, and as Chris said, Point Pleasant was probably an endless source of ideas for him. If she had been assigned to Point Pleasant with anyone other than Chris, she likely would have contacted Nick tonight to meet with him. But because it was Chris sitting across from her, Kenzie was willing to put off work for the evening. "I feel like this town has the capability of changing a person," she said after taking another bite of food. "I could feel it when we were here before. Did you ever feel that tug, after we returned to Atlanta?" Kenzie knew what she was asking might make her sound crazy, but Chris was the only one who would really understand what she meant. "Like we had unfinished business here and needed to come back?"
In their line of work, there was very little that made people sound crazy to Chris, he’d seen too much shit. Plus, he would definitely never write off anything that Kenzie told him. Anybody who would didn’t know her, or the true state of the world. He chewed thoughtfully, his brows a little furrowed. He recognized the feeling she was talking about, he’d experienced that same pull to go back to Maine once they’d left. Chris had chalked it up to missing Kenzie and their time together, but maybe there was more to it. “Yeah,” he answered slowly once his mouth was clear. “I was kinda thinkin’ it was just ... me missing you, but ... it did all feel like I needed to come back to it. You think it’s the town itself?” It felt a little foreign to admit that he’d missed her, but that was the kind of thing he was supposed to say out loud now, Chris was pretty sure.
Kenzie's expression softened somewhat. Her lips quirked into a faint smile before she took another drink of her tea to suppress it. It was strange to hear Chris hear he had missed her, even if he had admitted to as much earlier. After setting her glass down, she poked a bit more at her food with her fork while considering his question. "I definitely think this town has a pull to it. It's hard to explain all the anomalies otherwise. But I think part of that was you missing me too," she added, lifting her gaze to his with a knowing smile. "Or maybe the two of us missing each other. They're just different feelings. But the anomalies... that pull. Maybe that's why Nick is still here after all of this time and he just doesn't realize it."
Chris half-smiled back at her, kind of pleased that she’d included herself in that too. He didn’t know if she’d missed him the same way he’d missed her, but just the fact that she’d thought about him while he wasn’t right in front of her was pleasing. And that now she felt like she could tell him so. He tried to set that aside to focus on the rest of what she said, but honestly he was ready to get done with their food and go back to Juniper so they could really reconnect. “Yeah maybe,” he said, nodding a touch while he forked up another bite of food. “With such a high concentration of phenomena here, there’s got to be something drawing them in. Wouldn’t be a stretch to think it would apply to humans too.” Chris paused and shot Kenzie an amused look. “Or maybe Nick got a girlfriend and decided to settle down.”
There was definitely more to the town than what they had discovered before and Kenzie was looking forward to digging a bit deeper. "Well, good for him, if he did," Kenzie said. "Though I can't imagine it's easy to maintain a relationship when keeping so many secrets." It was why Kenzie had never been able to maintain a relationship. She couldn't exactly tell a lover who she worked for or what she did for a living. It could be easier for Nick, since he wasn't exactly an agent. Kenzie set her fork down, starting to feel a little full. "Honestly, in this place I feel like it could go either way. He found someone, or the town is keeping him here. I suppose both options have their own level of intrigue."
He could definitely relate to how hard it was to keep secrets. That was part of why being with Kenzie was so appealing -- he wouldn’t have to lie about anything. They could actually talk openly about their jobs, something that Chris hadn’t been able to do since he was a firefighter. Kenzie would understand him in a way that no other girlfriend ever had. “Or maybe that’s how the town’s keeping him here,” Chris suggested, his tone only half serious as he bobbed his eyebrows at her. “Maybe he’s got a girlfriend who’s some kinda siren, he just doesn’t know it yet. Or the town pushed them together somehow. I dunno, just a thought.” Chris gave her a lopsided grin before he ate some more, his appetite demanding that he finish his plate.
Clearly pleased by the possibility, Kenzie's brows rose. "Ooh, a siren. I've never encountered one of those. I like your thinking." It was kind of fun, speculating on Nick's maybe-girlfriend that they've never met. A woman who may not even exist, really. For all they knew, Nick was just writing and practicing celibacy. "Now I'm going to be so disappointed if we meet up with him and he's single." Kenzie moved to reach for her bag, intending on paying their bill before hitting up the bathroom. As it was, her hand came into contact with... nothing. It took her a second to realize that she had left everything in her room at Juniper, including her wallet. The trip to Moxie's hadn't really been planned. "I think I left my wallet back at Juniper," Kenzie said sheepishly. "You get dinner, I'll buy breakfast?"
It was possible that Nick wouldn’t even be honest with them about why he was still in Point Pleasant, but it wouldn’t be a huge hardship to check up on him without his knowing. Not that Chris was suspicious of him or anything, it was just another aspect of this weird-ass town to explore, if they got the time. He wondered for a second if Kenzie would’ve taken a shine to the author if Chris hadn’t been around -- it was impossible to miss that the man was good looking -- but he dismissed the thought. It didn’t matter. Wiping his fingers off on a paper napkin, Chris laughed a bit at the embarrassed look on Kenzie’s face. “Oh that’s how this is gonna be, I see, I see,” he teased, grinning as he leaned to one side to pull his wallet out of his pocket. “Only my girlfriend for ten minutes and already spending my money.” He didn’t mind paying in the slightest, but he just had to give her some shit for forgetting her purse.
Hearing Chris refer to her as his girlfriend jarred her a bit, only because she hadn't been anyone's girlfriend in a really long time. Plus, it was Chris. Her mind worked over the fact that it meant Chris was her boyfriend, right? It was such a strange thought while also being a little arousing at the same time. Kenzie smiled when he teased her. "Isn't that the perk of being a girlfriend? Never having to pay for anything? I can't remember it's been so long. Besides, I'll make it up to you." There may, or may not have been innuendo there and she decided it would be more fun for Chris to figure it out himself. "I'm going to run and wash my hands. Um... if you feel the need to ask for a piece of strawberry pie to go, I would be more than okay with that."
Whether it was genuinely present or not, Chris heard the hint of innuendo and felt that pleasant flutter in his gut again. If it had been a long time since Kenzie had been a girlfriend, Chris was pretty sure it had been longer for him since he’d been anyone’s boyfriend. The word sounded so high school, but it was the only one he really knew. They were already partners in a different way, so that didn’t sound right, and he definitely wasn’t ready to be anything more just yet, so boyfriend it was. He just let a smirk cross his face and nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he told her, waving her off to go to the bathroom. He would handle the pie and the bill and not think twice about either one.
Kenzie knew she was ready for this, but it was difficult not to think ahead to where this could potentially lead. A long lasting, satisfying relationship? Marriage, maybe. Kids? Maybe. That specific prospect made her clam up inside so she opted to push that to the far, far future. On the other hand, this could end up being a disaster. Chris could lose interest, they could be found out by their superiors and reassigned... meaning they would probably never see each other and grow apart. It felt silly to consider all of the "what if" possibilities, but Kenzie couldn't always shut off her brain. She should have created a pros and cons list on the plane so she would have had all the facts in front of her. But it was okay. She liked how she felt now and though it was rare for her, she was willing to be happy with now. It was easier being in this town again, where they were alone but for Nick, who seemed happy enough to let them work on their own unless they needed him.
After using the restroom and washing her hands, Kenzie returned to the table. She smiled when she saw the to-go box, no doubt containing her pie. "Ready to go?"
Unburdened by all that worry, Chris got Kenzie’s pie and paid for their food swiftly enough. He took a toothpick from the dispenser to tuck into his mouth, and soon enough Kenzie was arriving back at the table. “Ready if you are,” he answered, standing up. He handed her the to go box with a little smirk. “They were outta pie so I just had ‘em box up some meatloaf for ya.” He strolled with her to the door and pushed it open for the both of them. It was hard to ignore the growing sense of anticipation in his stomach, but Chris was trying to keep it under wraps. It was just Kenzie ... but it was also Kenzie, a fact that apparently made his palms sweaty now.
Kenzie took the box and couldn't help but peek inside real quick, just to make sure he was messing with her. Which he was. Closing the box, Kenzie shot him a look, her lips twitching with amusement. They headed for the car and Kenzie was feeling much more at ease now than she had been on the ride over. "I can't wait to take a shower and wash all the airplane off of me," Kenzie said after buckling her seatbelt. "Hopefully without any ghostly company." Yes, she recalled how her room had been "haunted" and of course, the basement. It was hard not to remember everything that had happened at the Inn the last time they were there and while the anomalies were intriguing to her, it was difficult not to focus on how many times she and Chris had slept together in those rooms.
Settled behind the wheel again, Chris got them on their way, chuckling faintly at Kenzie’s words. He’d already taken a shower to wash off the travel grime, but he definitely wasn’t opposed to taking another one if Kenzie wanted him to join her. They didn’t pay Juniper’s water bill, after all. “How ‘bout other kinds of company?” he asked, glancing over at her, a little smile curling his lips. “No worries if you want your space to settle in.” It felt lame to tack that caveat on, but Chris didn’t want to make any assumptions yet, and maybe Kenzie wanted some time to herself since she’d pretty much just arrived. He didn’t want Kenzie to think that he took it for granted that he was invited. Chris had to feel her out and learn where her boundaries were, now that they were a Thing.
Would it be smarter to spend the night apart? Maybe, but it felt silly to do that after the conversation they'd had and the feelings they admitted they felt. Besides, Kenzie had been craving falling asleep beside Chris for the past four months or so. "I think I would like the company," Kenzie said, unsuccessfully trying to suppress a smile as she looked over at him. "I mean, you did buy dinner after all, so it seems only fair to take a shower with you." It meant she could see him naked again. Wet and naked. She could touch him and later curl up with him in bed. They were there on an assignment and they had real work to do, but damn if Kenzie wasn't looking forward to the down time. She had missed him and it was hard to articulate just how much without sounding like a clingy loser.
Chris had missed her too, and a bright smile crossed his face when she said yes. He tried to cover it up with a smirk a second later, but it was difficult to keep his face in check. A huff escaped him at the rest of what Kenzie said, and she shot her an amused glance. “Is that what a shower costs? I’ll keep that in mind,” he murmured. He knew that she knew she didn’t really owe him anything -- or he at least hoped she knew that -- which meant she wanted to shower with him. That probably should have been obvious, but after being apart for so long and being so unsure of where they stood, it felt good to know that Kenzie wanted him again. Chris tried to focus on driving instead of the fluttery anticipation in his stomach. Why hadn’t he kissed her again before they got in the car? Damn.
"A meal for a shower seems like a really good deal," Kenzie said, still clearly teasing. She definitely felt better now than she did when she first arrived in Point Pleasant. In some ways it felt like the last four months hadn't happened at all and they had never left this town. It was a feeling she wanted to enjoy for a while. To be a woman instead of just a lonely workaholic. Lonely wasn't something Kenzie had ever considered herself until she and Chris had parted ways earlier that year. Like Chris, Kenzie was feeling pleasant anticipation and when they got back to the Inn, she carried her takeout box inside, more than ready to just relax for the rest of the day. Or maybe, not really relax, but at least put work and everything else out of her mind for a while. "So... your shower or mine?" she asked, trying not to laugh at how lame that sounded.