Reminisce

On a clear afternoon day, inside a building shaped like a giant sombrero two friends where eating. The girl, a red head, was eating a salad. Or would have if she wasn't stating at her companion, a blonde boy, and his pet a naked mole rat, eat enough junk food to kill a normal person. "Aw come on Kim." He paused while whipping his mouth off with his sleeve. "You gotta help me!"

Kim got over her shock of witnessing him eating more then he ever had, and simply answered "No." And went back to eating her salad.

"You SO have to help me KP! Please!"

Kim kept eating her salad and while not looking at him answered with a hit of a smile on her face "I'm not the one who got roped into cleaning their attic."

"Please Kim?"

It's the way he said please that made her look at him. Now the problem with her patented "Puppy Dog Look" is that she used it too much. Some one was bound to copy it, that some one was Ron, who was doing a fair impersonation off it. If that wasn't enough Rufus also did it "Hmm, Please?"

It was too much, "OK, I'll be over tomorrow afternoon to help."

Kim rang the doorbell, while looking around to make sure nobody saw her. For she was wearing…Smarty Mart clothes! The door open and to reveal a middle age woman with glasses, carrying a set of car keys and a purse. "Thanks for helping Ronald, Kimberly. I'm sure you had other plans for today."

Kim had to think. With it being the weekend she usually hung out with Ron or Monique. That's if she wasn't saving the world. "It's no big Mrs. Stoppable. Going out?"

"Yes, I need to run a few errands. I'll be back later. Go on in, Ronald is in the attic already." With that the older woman exited the house as Kim let herself in.

"Ah….Ah…Ahchu" That sound was Ron sneezing. The vast layer of dust was wreaking havoc with his sinuses.

"Bless you." Rufus called out with a rodent size dust broom. Doing his best to sweep.

"Thanks buddy." Ron said as eyed an old steamer trunk that had to be moved. "Man I hope Kim gets here soon. I really need help…." He was cut off, as the teen heroin appeared though the entrance to the attic. "KP! You made it! Are those Smarty Mart clothes?"

"What? You don't think I'm going wear anything from Club Banana when I might have to burn them? I still remember the stories you told me of what you found when you had to clean the basement!" She paused. "You're just lucky Smarty Mart doesn't sell hazmat suits."

Ron smiled, "They do! They're in isle…." He was cut off.

"I SOOO don't want to know. I'm just lucky Bonnie or someone else didn't see me buy these last night."

Ron sighed. He had giving up on trying to convince Kim that Smarty Mart and Club Banana where owned by the same company, and had the same clothes at both stores. Only Club Banana's prices where more then doubled then Smarty Mart. "Anyway, the parentals told me that EVERYTHING must go, unless it's valuable. I have a box for the valuables over there." He said pointing a box by the stairs leading into and out of the attic.

Kim was impressed. "Looks like your fairly organized."

Ron blushed a little. "Well, I can't hang around you for so many years and NOT pick up something." He pause and with a far away look in his eyes "How may years has it been?"

Kim had to think for a moment. "12 years next month." She smiled. "I still remember how we met in Pre-K."

"Yeah." He sighed as he sat down on an old chair. "You saved me the very first day we met."

"Yeah, but to be fair." She started as she said next to him on another chair. "You DID tell the those three bullies who was picking me to back off. If you didn't do that, causing them to go after you I would not have fought them off. I was too scared when they where picking on me. But I lost it when they started picking on you." She smiled. "I guess I have them to thank for us meting."

Ron smiled and looked at her. "I wonder what happened to them. I don't remember seeing them after that day."

"Don't know, don't care. I'm just glad we didn't have deal with them anymore." She got up. "OK, so what's next?"

He got up as well. "Hate to say it KP, but That's next." He pointed to the steamer trunk.

Kim looked the trunk. It was BIG. It was taller then her and wider then her and Ron if they where joined at the hip. She guessed it weighed several hundred pounds. Assuming it's empty. "What's in it?"

"No clue."

"Hmm, no clue." The naked mole rat agreed.

"I spent the last 10 minutes before you came, looking for the key. Even Rufus can't pick the lock."

"Hmm, no." The creature said sadly.

"Wouldn't your dad have a key?" She asked while walking over to the trunk, inspecting the lock.

"He had to work today."

She stopped what she was doing to look at him. "Home alone again?"

"Yeah, my parents are never home on the weekend. That's why I spend most of it over your house."

She had a small smile. "I thought it was for the free food."

"Well…. That too." He paused and serious look came over his face. "I do it manly because I like spending time with you."

Kim's smile increased. "That's so sweat Ron. I like spending time with you too." She turned to the trunk again. She removed what looked like a hairpin from her pocket and began to fiddle with the lock. Ron looked on in confusion and was about ask when he heard a soft click, and watched Kim open the trunk. "Hey Ron, you should see what's in here.

He walked over to her. It never ceased to amaze him what she could do. Once he closed the distance his eyes grew wide, and his mouth dropped. For inside the trunk, among other things was "MY EASY BAKE OVEN!" He said that with such glee and pride one would think he just found the Arc of the Covenant.

Kim rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking about that Ron." She said as watched him cradle the light bulb powered machine like it was a child. "Look at all this jewelry."

"Don't you know what this is KP?" He said holding out the oven like it was some terrific prize.

"A girls toy?" She said whimsically. Rarely did she make fun of Ron. But this was too good to pass up.

"Correction. This was YOUR toy."

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. Looking at him as if he sprouted wings. "What' a talking about Ron?"

"This is the first gift you ever gave me!" He replied with pride. After he said that a long forgotten memory come flooding back to Kim. She was 7, and her Nana gave her a gift for Christmas. Which turned out to be an Easy Bake Oven. She didn't really like it. Then Ron came over warning a pink sweater with a heart on it that his grandmother gave him for Hanukah. Needless to say, he didn't want it. And they agreed to trade. It was the first time they exchanged gifts. Every year since then they had gotten each other a gift. "It's because of this that I discovered my passion for cooking."

"Passion??? From a device that requires a light bulb to work."

"This is more then a mere toy KP. This is the single greatest toy EVER made. It inspires creativity. And in fact…" He paused. "Hey Rufus could you bring that trophy over here." Rufus nodded and ran over to where the valuable box was located. After a few moments of digging around he pushed a small trophy out of the box and on to floor. Then pressed to drag it to where Ron and Kim where. "Thanks little buddy!" Ron said as be picked up a trophy that was just a little bigger then Rufus. "I won that because of this toy. The first trophy I ever won, all because of this toy." He then handed it to Kim.

Kim looked at the trophy. It was a little faux gold Easy Bake Oven mounted on a wood base. Inscribed on the base was the Easy Bake Cook Off Champion. "How come you never told me?" She asked giving it back to him.

Ron blushed a little. "Well, It's kind of embarrassing. I was the first, and as far as I know, only boy to win." He then took the trophy back and handed to Rufus. Who took it back to the box. "But that's besides the point. It's because of that I learned to like cooking. I started helping my mom in the kitchen. And before I knew it I could a cook as well as her. Maybe better. The only thing I'm good at is because of you."

Kim was taking aback. She didn't know what to say at first. "You're good at other things to Ron!"

"Yeah. Messing up." He said laughingly.

"No! Your good at being my best friend." And with that she hugged him.

Shock he hugged he back. The spent a few moments hugging each other. When they separated she continued. "I couldn't save the world with out you! In fact, if I remember right, I was at cheerleading tryouts when our first real mission came. If you weren't there to tell me I would have missed that. It was the catalyst for all our other adventures together." She paused and put her hand on his shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. "You even save my life on a couple occasions. I owe it all to you Ron."

Tears threatened to come to his eyes. He didn't want to cry in front of her. So he quickly turned his attention to the trunk. "Um….So what about the jewelry?"

Kim smiled knowing what he was trying to do. "It's just to seems to be a lot. There has to be a small fortune here."

Ron chuckled "No, most of it is costume jewelry. There are some real pieces in here like this one." He said holding a gold locket that was suspended by a gold chain.

"It's beautiful."
Ron looked at it in silence for a moment. "I…I want you to have it."

Kim's eyes widened. "Ron, I can't accept this."

"Please Kim, I want you to have this. Think of it as a better Christmas gift then the one I did get you. Or an early birthday gift."

Kim took it in awe. "Are you sure this is alright? Wouldn't you're parents be mad if you give away something this valuable?"

"It's fine, it's mine anyway."

"What do you mean?"

His face turned red from embarrassment. "My grandma left all her jewelry to me. She always thought I was a girl."

Kim cracked a smile. "That explains the pink sweater. But are you sure?"

"I think she would be happy I gave it to my bestest best friend."

This time tears threatened to come to her eyes. To take her mind off crying she opened the locket and saw it could hold two small pictures. "Thank you Ron!" With that she hugged him again.

"Your welcome KP." He said hugging her back.

They spent the rest of the clean up in relative silence. Only pausing when an item would spark another memory of there adventures together. Deciding the steamer trunk was too much of a hassle to move they simply cleaned around it. After the last item was in the trash Ron's mom came back home. "Kimberly, Ronald. I'm home." Putting down her keys and sorting though the mail she walked into the living room to find two teen-agers asleep on the couch, heads leaning against each other. A photo album was in her son's hands. A smile came to her lips when she saw the necklace Kim wore. Taking a blanket she put it over the two friends and walked away with a knowing look in her eyes.

The End