Chapter 24: Double Date

The sleigh zipped along the snow-covered paths of Middleton Park; the horse drawing it hardly seemed to notice the weight of the four teenagers inside. Ron was feeling rather smug at the moment. He couldn't have pictured a better double date when Oscar had said that Mrs. Randall was happy to let him borrow the horse and sleigh for an evening. The night air was cold, but the four teens were dressed for it and they had blankets. As it was, the cold simply gave Ron and Sue an excuse to cuddle close, his arm around her and her head resting against his shoulder. Sue looked at him, then gave a pointed look to the front seat with a very self-satisfied grin.

Oscar had given Cindy the reigns, much to her delight, but was keeping very close in case he needed to take them back. Of course he had neglected to mention that the horse was an older one that had been pulling the sleigh for years. Yet Cindy didn't really seem to mind his close proximity. Ron and Sue could clearly see that the two were establishing much more contact than was absolutely necessary.

Ron and Sue looked at each other again with conspiratorial smiles. It looked like they had teamed up to put another couple together! It was a beautiful night. It had snowed during the morning but had cleared earlier that afternoon. The result was a clear sky full of stars shining down on an unblemished blanket of snow, which reflected the Christmas Lights from all of the decorated trees. Ron felt Sue's warm breath on his face, felt her hand rising up to the side of his head, and lowered his face to hers.

Monique gave Kim a ride back home from the mall, which gave the two teens a chance to exchange gossip. Since Kim had just purchased Ron's Christmas present it was only natural that the current topic of conversation was a blonde haired wrestler with a goofy grin.

"So how'd you make out putting 'Kim and Ron Fridays' back together?" Asked Monique.

"I didn't get around to asking. I called him Thursday evening to invite him over for dinner, since I knew his 'rents were out of town. It turns out Oscar and him were putting in a study session followed by a Zombie Mayhem competition, followed by Ron unleashing his kitchen skills on some fish fillets. He wound up inviting me over for dinner and I accepted."

"I don't blame you for that but what's that have to do with Fridays?"

"After Oscar left, we were chatting a little and he let it slip that they had a double date set up for tonight."

"Girl, I'm still not seeing how that kept you from asking the boy about putting the two of you back together each Friday."

"I don't know, Monique!" Kim suddenly burst out, "for some reason, once he said that he had a date I just didn't want to talk to him anymore. I know I shouldn't act this way but it just bothers me. Here I gave him so much grief about the way he acted when I was dating Josh and I'm acting even worse."

"You're jeallin' girl," Monique concluded as she stopped at one of Middleton Park's crosswalks. A horse-drawn sleigh, carrying two couples, crossed in front of her car. "Speaking of dating, if I had a BF who took me out for something like that it'd make some major points."

Kim looked up and smiled. "Yeah, that is roman…THAT'S RON IN THE BACK SEAT!"

Monique looked closer; sure enough it was Ron and Sue snuggling in back. As the sleigh followed a curve out of site, the two shared a kiss. It wasn't an all out grope-fest but it was an arms-around, eyes-closed type of smooch. Appropriate for the moment, Monique thought. A snarl from right beside her spun her head around.

"What do they think they're doing?" Fumed Kim.

"That should be obvious." Monique quipped. Kim spun to glare at her. Time to find out if she's jeallin' about the time that boys spending with Sue or jeallin' about the fact that Sue's another girl.

Monique deadpanned, "now that Ron's a wrestler, I wonder what kind of moves he's putting on her when they're alone?"

"Mon!" Kim managed a tortured squeak. "You don't think they're…"

Monique played her trump card, "and Sue plays in the band. That's probably given her some wild tongue-work that she's using on him right now."

"Aaawwpp," Kim squawked. For a moment Monique thought she was going to jump out of the car and go running after the sleigh. "Why…that...they…they're…and…"

Monique managed to find a parking space so she could take the car out of gear and collapse with laughter. "Girl," she finally managed to gasp, "you are SO jeallin' right now."

"I AM NOT!"

"Then why did you just go ballistic like that?"

"Well…I mean…I'm just worried about him."

"Worried? He sure seemed to be in good hands back there. REALLY good hands."

"MONIQUE!" Kim shrieked at her friend. "That's not funny!"

"Sure it is." Said Monique, wiping her eyes. "But really, why are you worried about him?"

"He's spending too much time with her, what about his grades?"

"Didn't you say that you talked about his report card? Didn't you say his folks were cutting him more slack because his grades have come up? If she's having any affect on his grades, it's for the better."

"Well, what if a mission comes up?"

"Then you call his cell phone and he either high-tails it to your place or he arranges for a pick-up wherever he happens to be, no different than when you were dating Josh."

"Well, it just doesn't seem right."

"That does it," Monique concluded, "I know how to prove to you, right now, that you're jeallin'. You up to a challenge?"

"Okay."

"Good, now close your eyes and focus." Kim did so. "You're not with me in this car; you're with your mother. You two stopped at that crosswalk and saw the sleigh. Only now it isn't Ron and Sue in back, it's Oscar and me. What do you do?"

"Monique!" Kim's eyes snapped open, "You have a crush on Oscar?"

"No. Just tell me what you do!"

Kim thought for a minute. "I wait until tomorrow, call you up and pump you for every little detail."

"No going ballistic like you did just now?"

"I did n-…I did go ballistic, didn't I?"

Kim took a deep breath. "I guess I'm jealous that Ron's found someone else to spend time with. I've been a hypocrite. Here I can date but I get peeved when Ron does." She snorted, "I even got jealous when he started to hang out with Felix. I've got to learn that I'm not going to be the sum and total of Ron's life."

Okay girlfriend, if you don't want to admit that YOU would like to be in that back seat with him I won't push it but when are you going to wise up and just grab that boy? Monique thought. She then said, "well, I've had my fun for the night. What say I get you home before you rip my door off?"

"Sorry Mon," Kim apologized. "I don't know what came over me."

Both you and Ron will be a lot happier once you figure it out.