I Told You So
What am I doing? Am I crazy?
That what I was saying over and over in my head as I drove to her house.
It's been five years. She's forgotten all about you.
"You're probably right…" I said to the voice in my head, "…but I love her, and I need to know. I need to know if it's truly over. Then I can move on."
My hands gripped the steering wheel tighter as I came closer to her house. I had always thought about her every day. There were days that I hated her, days I loved her, and just days when I needed to think about something other than myself and what a loser I was and the mistakes I'd made.
Kim had been everything to me; my life, my soul. Everything. Ever since we were kids in preschool, I could always depend on Kim to be there. She protected me from the scores of bullies that roamed the playground. She was there when I needed a partner for finger painting. (Which was awesome, I should try it again sometime).
Then Kim and I became Team Possible. We went on missions, helped people, and even saved the world a few times.
I began seeing Kim differently over that time. I saw her as more than my friend; I saw her as a partner and a beautiful woman. I began to have feelings for her.
I thought my fantasy was just that, a fantasy, but when Kim became my girlfriend that fateful night during our Junior Prom, it was the bon-diggity-ist thing that could've happened to me.
I wasn't a Class A boyfriend. I wasn't that athletic, or smart, or handsome, but Kim didn't care. She wanted me, Ron Stoppable. Her Naco Boy.
Our relationship grew deeper each day. Team Possible also got stronger. It finally reached a point where I thought I would spend the rest of my life with her. I wanted to pick the perfect moment to do that.
Kim and I went to a GWA wrestling match. It was the big one. Pain King vs. Steel Toe for the GWA World Heavyweight Championship. Thousands were in attendance and since Kim and I had saved the two wrestlers from a giant jackal-headed man who had once been the owner, they gave us ringside seats.
The match was pretty awesome. I still have it on DVD. But it was after the match that was important. After Steel Toe won the belt, he invited me to the ring. I acted surprised at first, but as soon as I entered the ring, I invited Kim to come up as well. She was a little confused and wondered why I had asked her into the ring when it was my time to shine with my favorite wrestler.
Then Pain King "attacked" me from behind. But Steel Toe and I "beat him up" together. After Pain King got a one-way ticket over the ring ropes and onto the floor, Kim crashed into me and showered me with kisses. That's when I made my move.
I separated myself from Kim and got on one knee. I pulled out the ring and presented it to the woman of my dreams. I didn't even get the chance to pop the question because she tackled me to the ground saying, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" over and over. The whole arena exploded with cheers and applause.
It sounds cheesy now, but she thought it was very romantic and just like me to do such a thing. Even my parents, Kim's parents, Wade, and Rufus loved it as they watched the entire thing on national TV. Literally millions of people watched me propose to Kim.
The next day, it made the headlines of every paper in the world. I hadn't thought about the media frenzy it would cause. Reporters followed us, trying to ask us all sorts of questions. I apologized to Kim, but she just smiled and said, "No big."
Unfortunately, that's where the happiness stopped. Just months into planning for our wedding Rufus, my best friend, passed away. The vet said that it was his time. He had been sick for a while, but I thought he would get better and be able be my best naked mole rat at the wedding. It tore me up.
After Rufus's passing, Kim and I began to fight. The arguments would sometimes reach a fever pitch and we didn't live together, so either my parents or Kim's would be the unfortunate witnesses. We argued about the stupidest things, but they all ended the same: Kim or I would storm off, calm down after a while, get back together and apologize.
In our constant series of fights, Kim had developed a new phrase, which she used all the time now. "I told you so." It replaced "I can do anything."
She said it anytime she could weasel it in. "I told you so. I told you that purchasing the caterers too early would be a mistake. I told you so. I told you that Drakken would use another weather machine, I told you so." Yada Yada Yada.
Then it just happened. One day after a long night, Kim and I began to argue. It was worse than all the others. I don't remember what it was about, but we ranted and some objects were thrown. Kim's brothers hid behind the couch to avoid the flying missiles.
After that argument, we broke up. I just couldn't face Kim again. I had lost me feelings for her, for everyone. It seemed that when Rufus died, so did my connection with everyone I knew. I just walked away from everything and everyone.
Kim had the last word though. It still reverberates in head today; driving itself like a spike to the skull.
"You'll be back, Ron Stoppable. You'll be crawling on your hands and knees begging me to tack you back. You'll see that you were wrong and I was right. Then I can say, 'I told you so.' That's what I'll do, Ron Stoppable. Now get the hell out of my life!!!"
So I did. I moved around and eventually found myself at a ritzy restaurant in New York City as the head chef. It was a dream come true for me. I moved into a little apartment, not too much, and started a new life.
I would hear about Kim's exploits as the sole member of Team Possible in the news occasionally, but they were few and far between. I thought I was over her, I kept seeing her everywhere. In my thoughts, my dreams, even in my girlfriend. I wanted to forget her, but I couldn't. That's when I turned to drinking.
It was small at first. A can of beer here, a glass of wine there, but it began to pile up. Every time I thought of Kim I drank. The alcohol would numb her image away, but she would always come back, so I drank more. (You see where this is going.)
Being an alcoholic ruined my dream life. The girl I was dating broke up with me. She couldn't take dating a drunk. I lost my job when I punched a customer in the face after he criticized one of my meals — I was drunk of course. And I lost my apartment when I couldn't pay the rent — I spent it all on booze.
The months that followed were hard and lonely. I was an angry, drunken idiot who took a great life and flushed it down the pooper. I found myself working in a greasy spoon dump in the Bronx.
The owner somehow was able to avoid the health inspectors, or he bribed them, because his establishment shouldn't have been allowed to open. I won't go into gory details, but let's just say that a rat wouldn't live there and the slime on the walls wanted desperately to leave.
But I was lower than a rat and slime, so the owner let me sleep in the kitchen, which I wouldn't have called it. Then a miracle happened that only God himself could've cooked up. (Get it? Never mind.)
Felix Renton and Zita Flores — actually it was Zita Renton now — old friends of mine from high school were at the counter ordering. I was shocked that they were there, but even more shocked that they were eating this food.
They saw me and recognized who I was, even though I was dirty, smelly, and a big mess to look at. They beckoned me over and I sat and talked with them while on my lunch break.
Felix was now the head scientist of the Miami Cybertronics Laboratory. Zita had become a video game designer. Her specialty was online RPGs. Turns out they were attending a big scientist convention in New York. The two of them were strolling around when they spotted my humble abode and something just drew them into it.
They asked where I had been. They heard about Kim and me, but never got the full scoop. They had lost contact with Kim over the years. I filled them in on what had happened.
When the topic was focused on me, the last thing I wanted was for them to see what a loser I had become; so I lied. Zita, however, was always good at knowing when I was flat out fibbing to her. She noticed I was touching my face, breathing shallow breaths, and I wasn't making eye contact with them.
Seeing I was caught, I told them everything. Felix and Zita decided right there to take me in and help me. I refused, but once their mind was made up, there was no changing them.
I left the greasy spoon joint and moved into their house with them in Miami. A palace is a more accurate word. Three stories, a swimming pool, an arcade room, and — bless the cheese gods — a Bueno Nacho tucked in the back. Felix and Zita had accumulated a lot of money from their jobs.
I got the upstairs guest room and access to the entire house. Zita and Felix treated me like family. I was truly blessed to have friends like them. Felix put in a good word and got me a job at his lab working as the chef at the cafeteria.
They were aware of my disease and basically twisted my arm and forced me into rehab. I got out a better man. My whole life had turned around. I didn't think anything could make it better or worse, but once again Fate stepped in.
Felix and I were talking one night. Zita was working late, so it was just us guys. We were playing Zombie Mayhem 25,000. I was killing him when I suddenly began thinking of Kim again. It was the first time in months I had truly remembered her. I remembered how she and I played Zombie Mayhem together and how we never finished a game because we always ended up making out instead.
It took me some time to analyze the strange feeling I was having. With all the alcohol out, with all the bitterness I felt out, I realized something: I was still in love with Kim. It was probably festering inside me all this time, but it wasn't until now that I came to realize what it truly meant.
I had to see her again.
But she hated me. I was pretty sure she would beat the tar out of me if she ever saw me again. But regardless, I still wanted to see her; even it was the last time. I had to get it out of my system or I would explode thinking that I could've done something, but failed to act.
Felix asked why I was so obsessed with it. I really didn't know at the time. Maybe to make sure she was happy, maybe to beg her for another chance, or maybe to make peace with an old memory that still burned in the back of my brain.
In any case, Fate had stepped in. Felix and Zita were given promotions and were being moved to Denver, Colorado. Since they both had family in Middleton and it was only fifty miles from Denver, they decided to move back there.
It couldn't have worked out any better. We all moved back to Middleton, where everything had begun, and ended, for me. I had saved enough money to buy my own condo, so I wouldn't feed off of Felix and Zita anymore.
I had my life back and I was back home. I went to go see my parents. They cried when they saw me. I spent a few days with them. My sister, Hana, had grown quite a bit. Even though I had left when she was a baby, she instantly recognized me. and even called me brother.
Playing with my six year-old sister was the best. She still ran around the walls like a ninja, but that's what made her special.
Mom and Dad asked me about Kim. They were still in good friends with Mr. and Mrs. Dr. P, but hadn't told them I was back. They could see what I wanted to do. They helped lessen my fear by telling me that Kim was still in Middleton and that she wasn't married or seeing someone.
They gave me her address and wished me the best of luck. I would need it. I also remembered seeing an interesting look on their faces as I left. They did that the first time I told them how I felt about Kim.
After I saw Kim, I was going to go see Wade. I'm sure he'd be happy to see me. He and I always clicked. Maybe Team Possible can get back together... whoa, hold on. Can't count my chickens just yet.
Ah, I'm here. A simple one story brown brick house. It's nice. Her car was in the driveway; she was home.
I exited the car, my body trembling. I put my hand up to my mouth to check my breath, but stopped and laughed. I had been sober for year now, but those old habits.
God, I am nervous, I thought. Be cool Stoppable, be cool. It's only been five years and she might still hold a grudge. She did say to get out of her life.
I cursed at my sometimes-negative mindset. I went for a more positive way of thinking.
You can do this. Tell her you still love her. Apologize for being such a jerk and you will be rewarded. Yeah right.
I shook my head to get in focus. The setting sun cast long shadows across her house. I felt like a thief about to break in. Feet felt like lead as I walked up her porch.
I stared at the wooden door and suddenly was faced with a dilemma: do I knock or ring?
It may have sounded stupid, but I've always felt that each choice had a different personal level. Ringing the doorbell was a typical thing that a salesperson, or a complete stranger would do. Knocking on the door was more intimate. Whenever I picked Kim up from her house, I would knock.
I didn't know what to do. I had been a complete jerk to Kim. It had been five years. I was a stranger and only deserved to ring, if that, but I should knock to let Kim know that it was someone important behind the door. That way she would actually answer the door and not ignore it, believing it to be someone who wanted to peddle something.
After thinking it over, I willed my self to knock. I knocked three times and waited for what seemed like an eternity. My feet shuffled on the wooden porch and I quietly whistled a little tune.
The door opened and I was face to face with Kim.
"Hell…" She began to say, but stopped when she saw me.
She had grown a bit. Gotten more curvy and let her hair grow longer. It was still the same wonderful shade of strawberry red I loved so much. She was so beautiful.
Her green eyes seemed to bore into me. I was trying to read her face. Was she happy? Was she angry? Was I going to need to call an ambulance to pick up my lifeless body after she creams me? She was shocked, that was for sure, but that quickly wore off. Then her eyes seemed to flash with anger, but it was small.
There were so many scenarios that I began playing in my head. Most ended with me going to an emergency room.
We stood there in silence for a few moments. I decided to break it.
"H-Hi K…" My words were cut off when Kim's arms wrapped themselves around my neck. She drew me in close and pressed her lips to mine. I was so taken aback that I was stiff as a board for a while, but I loosened up and slide my arms around her waist and deepened the kiss.
I had gotten my answer. She still loved me. It was a surreal moment for me. I had gambled it all and won big time. When she separated, I saw her green eyes sparkling from the tears that were now rolling down her cheeks. I put my hand up catch one. Kim grabbed it and brought my hand to her cheek, caressing it with her face.
"I told you so, Ron Stoppable. I told you you'd be back," she sobbed. "But you took so long. I thought I'd lost you."
"I'm back, KP. And this time, I'm here to stay with you. Forever." And that was the truth.
THE END
A plot bunny was born a few days ago and grew quickly into this. I remembered hearing many country, hip-hop, and rock songs about losing love and getting it back. That's kinda where I got the inspiration.
I hoped you all enjoyed it and I hope that you will read and enjoy my other stories. Thank you. Please review! KingOAnime.