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Damien gave her one of those raised brow looks--one that said, 'Are you for real?'

At this, she squeezed her hands tighter in prayer and stared him down with her best puppy dog eyes.

Eventually, he threw up his arms in defeat.

"Fine." He sighed. "You know this is going to end badly, though, right?"

Sienna conceded a small nod.

"Serious question time. In all honestly, how did it feel when he forced you to lick my boots?"

As he asked the question she glanced at his boots and felt her blood rush south. Weirdly, the memory turned her on, though, at the time, she had felt nothing other than humiliation.

"Embarrassed, I guess," she muttered, feeling her cheeks redden. The more she thought about it, the more aroused she became.

'Oh great,' she thought. 'Now I'm getting turned on by Damien.' It had to be his similarities to Adrian triggering this odd reaction. That, or the fact she was a hormonal mess at the minute.

"You shouldn't be. You aren't responsible for what he makes you do," Damien said. "He embarrasses you; he embarrasses himself."

Sienna felt her lips stretch into a dreamy smile as he spoke those words. The deeper they sank, the more she understood what he was telling her. She wasn't responsible for all the shitty and awful things that people had done to her.

"You're the only person who's nice to me," Sienna said. "And you get it. You understand."

Damien said nothing.

"Why are you being so kind to me?" she asked. "Is it out of pity?"

He laughed at this.

"I'm not acting out of pity or kindness," he said. "I have my morals and I stick by them."

"Really?" she asked, looking up at him with big eyes. "You don't think I'm a pitiful mess?"

"Well I didn't say that," Damien said, flashing her a silly grin.

He pulled a sandwich from his pocket, ate a couple of bites, and threw some for the pair of pigeons that loitered about the park. The two pigeons became a dozen as more flew down from the roof of the disused youth club building.

"I was horrible to you and... you were kind to me," Sienna mused out loud. "I'm so so sorry."

"You know that's like the fifth time you've apologised, right?" Damien turned to her, running out of bread. He placed a hand on her shoulders and leaned forward, staring into her eyes. "I forgave you a long time ago."

Sienna nodded gently, staring back at him.

"You are worthy of being forgiven. Okay?" he said, speaking slowly and clearly so any idiot could understand.

"Okay," Sienna said, choking on the word as the tears started up again.

He chuckled and wiped at her face with his gloved hand.

"You're going to be okay. Okay?" he assured her in a firm voice.

"Okay," she said, sniffing away her tears and putting on her brave face.

A jogger ran past, scaring away the flock of pigeons momentarily. After a moment the birds tentatively made their way back to the feast Damien had created for them, pecking at the ground and each other.

Sienna watched them, feeling the sun warm her back as the light shifted.

"You smoke?" Damien asked as his friends shouted him over.

"No," Sienna said.

"I mean... weed," Damien expanded.

"Oh, I've never tried it," she said, feeling childish and lame. Even the school freaks and geeks were getting high.

"Wanna try?" he asked, getting up from the bench.

"Sure," Sienna said. She wanted to look cool and was genuinely curious to try it. The pungent aroma filled her nose as she followed Damien to his friends. They weren't the same people he hung out with at school. A large guy with a beard, tattoos and a biker jacket passed the joint to Damien as he approached. Sitting next to him was another guy dressed similarly with half his head shaven and a girl who looked like an adult version of Vampirina.

'She's so pretty and cool looking,' Sienna thought, with a flash of jealousy. 'I bet she's just Damien and Adrian's type.'

Sienna felt dull and childish next to her. When Damien passed her the joint, he told her to breathe it in, hold it in for as long as possible and try not to cough too much.

She did cough, but the others didn't tease her. The girl told her it was normal to cough the first time.

As Damien talked to his cool older friends about the #notallmen debate, Sienna tried not to laugh at the memory of an episode of SpongeBob her kid brother had been watching this morning. Then she noticed with amazement that the paving slabs seemed to be moving up and down.

"Ooo," she cried, trying to place her hand on the moving floor.

"Okay, that's enough drugs for you, Mrs," Damien said and laughed.

For some reason, this struck her as hilarious, but she felt the need to argue.

"You don't get to tell me when I've had enough," she said, waving her arms in a bad impression of some actress whose name she couldn't recall.

"She's the girl you told us about?" the beardy guy asked.

Damien nodded. "She's that girl, yes."

Sienna worried for a moment that he might have told them about the burger incident, and they would all hate her.

"That guy who made you lick Damien's boots is a next level douchebag," the pretty girl said. "I'd like to stomp on his balls with my boots."

Looking down at Damien's boots, Sienna blurted, "I sort of liked it. It was kinky."

She didn't know why she said it, but it made the others gasp in shock then burst out laughing.

"I like this too," she said, pointing at Damien's belt.

"Okay, and on that enlightening note, I'm taking her home," Damien said.

He took her hand as she told his friends it was nice to meet them, and they looked so cool, and she wished she could be that cool.

The paving slabs began to move up and down, making the road feel like a Mario Kart race. As she jumped from platform to platform, Damien decided to carry her.

"Wow, you're so much stronger than you look," she said as he picked her up and carried her like a baby.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have given you weed that strong if you've never even smoked a cigarette."

"I like it!" Sienna cried. "It's like being drunk without the drunkenness."

"Where do you live?" he asked.

"I can't let my Mum see me like this," she panicked. She thought of going to Scarlett’s, but she might still be with Riley and Adrian would get moody if she showed up without him summoning her.

"My parents are both out of town," Damien said. "You can stop at mine."

"Hmm," she said, nuzzling into his chest as he carried her home.