Chapter 9
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The bathroom was a cramped, small place lit dimly by yet another fading bulb. The air was warm, with muskiness to it that nobody who used it regularly would notice. The floor was dirty, but it not nearly as disgusting as it could have been. This was lost on the lean young man, with matted blond hair, climbed out of the shower. His pale skin glistened with both sweat and water droplets from his shower.

With unseeing brown eyes he wrapped an already damp towel around his waist, positioning himself in front of the off white sink and stained mirror. He quietly dropped his gaze to the edge of the sink where a thin, sharp piece of metal rested. Without any emotions on his face he plucked the razor blade up with two fingers, heedless of cutting himself and studied the metallic edge. "To easy," he muttered and then picked up the bladeless handle inserting the razor, returning his attention to the mirror.

Quietly he set the razor to the side and applied the shaving cream, not saying a word or looking away from the mirror. He appeared lost in his own little world as he picked up his razor, shaving on autopilot. Once complete and his freckles once more distinguishable from his blond whiskers he quietly rinsed the blade and then picked up his toothbrush, still not looking away from the mirror.

Once he had finished all of his chores, he remained unmoving in front of the mirror not saying a word and barely breathing. Then he turned stepping out into the small, cramp apartment. There located on the couch was Brian reading a book not giving him a second glance and Ron responded in kind. He passed through the small living space and paused, spotting a duffle bag near the coffee table.

Quietly he changed directions and retrieved it before heading on to the bedroom where his clothes, along with Brian's, were shoved. Once he stepped inside he set the bag on the bed and proceeded to dress, a pair of black slacks and another winkled, white button up shirt covering him. Once he was clothed, he glanced at the bag and moved over, opening it without hesitation. He stared at the clothes contained inside then raised an eyebrow, noting the corner of a picture frame. Reaching in he pulled the frame out and stared at the blood stained image it contained.

Minutes later Ron left the bedroom, holding the duffle-bag absently his face still blank of emotions. He walked through the apartment, unnoticed by his roommate and out the front door. After several minutes Brian, who was still absorbed in his book, turned the page speaking softly "Idiot,"

The apartment was large, decorated in a soothing color combination of blue and white. It was a two bedroom, on bathroom, affair with a very simplistic layout of furniture. The large living room had a moderate sized TV, a couch, coffee table, end-tables and lamps. The bedrooms were decent sized, with twin sized beds and dressers, located at the end of a short hallway just off of the living room. The medium-sized bathroom was located on the other end of the apartment and the kitchen was separated from the living room by a wall. It had seemingly brand new appliances, a small dining table and a refrigerator.

It was definitely a nice place to stay and to the red head who was currently curled up on the couch, head resting on the armrest, it was a mansion. How could it not compared to the squalor that she had been exposed to not even a full twenty-four hours ago? A cramped, one bedroom apartment in the worst part of town, with hatred coming from all those dwelling inside. Allowing a soft sigh to escape her, the red head closed her eyes only to open them immediately, unable to stand the images that flashed through mind.

They weren't horrible images really, but she would prefer not to think about him. She hated him, loathed him, despised him. She paused and silently wondered why, if she hated him so much, exactly she was spending so much time thinking about him. The reason escaped her, as did the ability to stop her thoughts. Frustration finally settling in she rose and stretched with a soft groan.

The aroma drifting out of the kitchen caught her attention, she could already tell that dinner wouldn't be very satisfying. At least however, it would be food and be eaten in company that wouldn't hate her. Justine at least, seemed a bit friendlier than she had in high school. She wasn't a friend, but she was nice and tried to be pleasant. That Kim decided was a great improvement for the waspish blond genius.

She was distracted from her thoughts of a modest dinner, Justine, and him, by the knocking coming from the front door. Before she could decide what to do Justine's voice drifted out of the kitchen "Kim, can you get that?" The red head shrugged turned heading for the door. She took a quick peek out the peephole and froze, seeing an attractive girl of African-American decent with long raven tresses standing in the hallway.

"Monique?" Kim muttered, hand hesitating over the door handle. Several thoughts raced through her mind, the chief of which was how much she so didn't want to see Monique right now. Despite her confrontation with Ron, Kim remembered Middleton and Monique's attempts to be a best friend. She hadn't done so bad, but Kim knew Monique was no Ron and that was the problem. Kim had grown so used to a best-friend like Ron that everybody else didn't fit the role.

Kim however shoved her thoughts and feeling aside, hitching her false smile into place and opened the door "Hey Mon," The other girl returned the smile and greeting moving in for a hug which Kim returned. Once they had separated Kim stepped back, careful to keep her smile in place "I can't believe you're here. How'd you know?"

"Well of course I am. When I asked you mom and she said you were coming here to see Ron I caught the first flight I could," Monique stepped across the threshold and looked around mildly impressed before glancing back at Kim "So have you seen him yet?"

"Yea, we've had our 'talk. How'd you-" Kim started to say but was cut off by Justine walking into the living room talking.

"It won't be much, but I'm sure it'll be-" The blond genius stopped and stared at Monique with annoyed curiosity and then spoke up "Should I make more? I only fixed enough for the two of us..."

Before Kim could responded Monique smiled "Oh no, don't go through any trouble. I ate before I came over, I just want to talk to Kim. Figured she needed her best friend right now."

"Yes. I think she does as well," Justine agreed, her tone more distant as she glanced at Kim and then turned heading back for the kitchen.

Kim watched her leave and then once the door to the kitchen was closed once more she snagged Monique's hand and led her through the apartment and into the first bedroom. "So how'd you know I'd be staying here?" she asked as she closed the door, ensuring that they had privacy.

"Girl please. I talked to your mom remember? Wade contacted her to let her know you made it alright and that you were staying with 'Ms. I'm-so-sexual-repressed-that-butter-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth' in case she needed you for anything."

Kim suddenly felt very stupid for not realizing that Wade would have told her mom. That was so obvious that she couldn't believe she didn't think of it herself. Kim moved over to sit on the edge of the bed, glad that at least Monique wasn't going to chew her out for being so stupid and thoughtless about coming out here.

"So, tell me what happened between you two?" Monique said as she took a seat next to Kim on the bed, their thighs just barely touching and a hand resting on top of Kim's. The red head glanced at the hand briefly before plunging ahead in her answer, telling Monique everything save for that urge and the fact that Ron had taken her virginity, which was a secret she planned on always keeping. When she finished Kim closed her eyes summing everything up in one sentence "I was stupid for coming back out here."

"Hey, you said it not me." Monique responded, nudging her friend with her shoulder "So when you going to go get your duffle bag back?"

"Not tonight," Kim sighed and stood, moving toward the dresser intent on getting her mind in order "I'll probably do it tomorrow in the afternoon. Justine has this teaching thing at the University she's gotta go to."

"She's a teacher?"

"Yea. Anyway, I think Ron will be out of his apartment then too, I hope he is I don't want to have to deal with him." Kim half turned shaking her head "He's changed a lot Monique."

"So have you girl," Monique responded, reclining back onto her hands "Don't feel guilty for him Kim. You never led him on, just friends remember? His fault if he thought it was anything else."

"Yea," Kim said looking back toward her dresser "Not my fault..." she trailed off and furrowed her brow in thought. She had been saying that so much lately, it wasn't her fault that Ron had gotten jealous. She had always believed that, it had always seemed so true, but now she wasn't so sure. Had she led him on?

"Kim, you ok?"

Kim nodded "Yea, fine..." then lost herself once more in her thoughts about her actions and Ron. She desperately wanted an answer, because no matter how hard she tired she couldn't get herself to believe that she had been innocent anymore. The leaden feeling settled into her stomach heavily and she realized that his jealousy was her fault, because they had slept together and she had whispered those words when she had thought he was asleep.

Suddenly she was back in the old tree house, the night magical and different. She could feel the tears from her fight with her parents, the anger. The shouting and ranting and then...the comfort she had received from his hugs and how his lips felt against hers. She could feel the rough wood floor and the sounds and smells and his warmth. She forcefully shoved those memories away, knowing beyond any doubt that she had indeed betrayed Ron completely.

She gasped for breath as that hammered home and she reached out to hold herself upright against the horror. She was vaguely aware of Monique rising off the bed and moving over to touch her shoulder. Oh god, Kim wailed silently, what have I done?

"Kim...hey, come on...are you alright?" Monique asked from what sounded like a million miles away. Kim only managed a nod, desperately trying to regain control focus her mind on what she should do. Apologizing to Ron would be the smartest course, the only course, but how? He hated her and she still hated him, but she had betrayed him...things were suddenly much to complicated. She was saved the trouble of such complex thoughts however as a familiar voice reached her clearer than Monique's. Through her shut door the voice was muffled but Kim recognized it and she stiffened, straining to listen to every word uttered.

She heard Justine's voice, distant, saying that 'yes, Kim's here...' then the other voice clear and strong "I think she might want what's in here." She pushed off the wall and shrugging Monique's hand off eased her door open to peek into the living room. She saw Justine taking Kim's duffle bag "You could give it to her yourself..."

"No, you give it to her. I have to work..." Kim trembled stepping into the hallway, willing herself to face him now. But the front door clicked shut and it was only Justine left in the living room.

"Was that...did he bring my...?" Kim asked moving closer, aware vaguely that Monique was hot on her heels.

"What?" Justine said looking over at her startled and then nodded offering the duffle-bag "Yea, Ron said you might want..."

"I heard him," Kim said taking the bag, opening it. She quickly searched the contents and then dropped it, her voice growing hard "He took-" then not finishing her statement marched to the front door and slammed it angrily behind her leaving the two girls startled and worried. Kim hesitated in the hallway only long enough to decide which way to go and then marched off toward the two elevators, spotting him almost immediately.

Her anger quickly boiling to a white hot level she stormed toward him and grabbed his arm yanking him around as the door to the elevator opened. His face showed his surprise but Kim didn't care, instead jabbing her finger into his face as she shouted her accusation "Admit it!"

"Admit what!"

"You stole my picture!" Kim retorted angrily shoving him slightly "Now admit it!"

"You're picture?" Ron asked slowly, his eyes showing his anger flickering to life "YOU'RE PICTURE! What makes you think its your picture uh? Maybe its mine. As payment for what you took from me two years ago!"

"I didn't take anything from you!" Kim shouted back, moving in so that they were toe to toe "You didn't have any right opening by bag anyway! Who the hell do you think you are?" Ron was quiet for a moment, the only sound that of the elevator doors sliding shut once more.

"Who do I think I am?" he asked softly "That's an interesting question."

Kim felt her explosion of anger return with an added bout of annoyance at his response "Shut up! It was a rhetorical question. You didn't have any right going into my bag, or to take my picture."

"I think I did," Ron responded, the softness in his voice disappearing instantly "So why don't you back the hell off!"

Kim's response to this was to shove him "No! I don't care what kind of justification you've developed in your twisted mind. I don't care if maybe you were entitled to talk to me like trash, but you have no damn right to take anything of mine I don't want you to have!"

"Oh," Ron shouted, shoving her in retaliation "Is that right? You egotistical bitch, you stole from me so why the hell shouldn't I steal from you?" Glaring at her with a great amount of venom he turned viciously jabbing the down button once more.

"I never stole anything from you!" Kim said forcefully, grabbing his arm and yanking him back to face her as she shoved a finger in his face "NEVER! I don't care what you have in your twisted mind, you didn't have the right to go through my bag and steal MY picture!"

Ron knocked her finger out his face with his hand shoving his own into hers "I don't care about what you have to say. You also don't have the right to shove me or to come traipsing back into my life unasked!"

Kim, eyes narrowed shoved him hard "I didn't want to come back do you realize that? I had to though, because I owed you an apology!" She took a breath, mastering her anger "Now you owe me one! And you need to give me my picture back."

The elevator doors opened once more and Ron turned toward them "No," yet before he could take a step he was grabbed by the arm and pulled backwards so hard that he stumbled almost falling. He rounded on Kim as the doors shut, his face revealing his anger "What the hell do you think your doing? I'm going to be late for work and you don't have any damn right to grab me KP!"

"Oh yes, that's right! You're the great Ron Stoppable, on your holier-than-thou-because-I'm-a-victim horse!" Kim shouted "You don't get to walk away. Not this time. I don't give a damn if your going to be late for work, or anything else for that matter. You are going to apologize and give me my picture back!"

"Apologize?" Ron said for a moment incredulously before becoming harsh "Screw that and you! I'm not going to apologize for anything..."

"Yes you are!" Kim shouted shoving him hard once more. This anger, loathing, hatred, it was all so new to her. She wasn't even sure if it really was for Ron or for herself, she only knew that she could shove him and shout and rave. When he shoved her back just as hard she retaliated by shoving him hard enough to make him trip.

Ron righted himself and glared at her, his anger appearing ready to boil over "You're pushing it...I mean really pushing it. This isn't high school! You don't get to push me around, you lost that right a long time ago! So get that through your thick head!" All of that said he shoved past her roughly and jabbed the down button once more, hard and with a great deal of force.

"You we're never this big an asshole in high school!" Kim said hotly grabbing his arm yet again and yanking him around to face her "Give me that picture and apologize."

"Is that all you can think about!" Ron shouted, face livid as he pulled his arm away from her grasp "That damn picture and how I was in high school! I've said it before and I'll say it again KP, you're still a selfish bitch!"

Kim felt her anger, it had been ready to explode already just like his. It was only her great self-control that kept it in check and now that was gone. There were those words again 'selfish bitch', he had called her that before and it had angered her but never like this. Because now she knew just how true those words were. Guided by anger and guilt and an impotent rage at herself she lashed out, her open palm smashing into his cheek whipping his head to the side from the force of the blow, leaving an angry red mark on his pale, freckled cheek.

Then suddenly her world erupted into stars of pain as he reacted on instinct and swung out with his own open hand, slapping her cheek in return. Her vision was obscured for a moment as her hair scattered across her eyes from the force of the blow. Her first instinct, her very first instinct born from years of personal combat was to attack, but it was her second instinct that took over. Her eyes watered before warm tears slid down her cheeks, not from the slap but from the knowledge of who it was that had just slapped her.

Through the tears and hair she looked back at him and saw the horror that was etched on his features, how his arms hung limply at his sides. A sob wracked her body, the image doing more to destroy her. He looked as horrified and destroyed as she felt, so helpless and lost...and then he reached out toward her slowly and awkwardly stammering "I-I-I d-didn-"

Kim was lost but when his fingers were inches from touching her she retreated, cringing from his touch shouting at him "Stay away from me! Don't touch me!" She bumped into a wall and rested there for a moment watching him, her world shattered into a million pieces. She watched him stare at her lost and then he moved backward bumping into the elevator doors his eyes not wavering from her.

They both continued to stare at each other, Kim crying and Ron looking truly horrified, and then the doors to the elevator opened and he stumbled backwards into the car. Then suddenly he was gone, the doors closed and Kim stumbling raced back along the hallway to Justine's apartment. She tripped and would have fallen if not for a pair of slender arms catching her, not that Kim cared. She was gone, lost in a world of dark despair, unknowingly whimpering a single name.

Quietly a bedroom door opened admitting an attractive woman with long black hair, who was dressed in a white blouse and blue jeans. In her grasp, seemingly supported only by her arms, was a red head who was sobbing and whimpering a name over and over. The two women crossed the darkened bedroom and after several moments the red head was finally put into the bed and covered up.

After a moment of double checking, the black haired woman turned and walked out of the room, leaving the door opened just enough. She paused in the hallway and then turned marching back into the living room, her face a mask of righteous fury. "That was a horrible fight," A waspish blond haired girl said as she rose off her couch, the duffle bag seated on the coffee table "Did she go to sleep when you got her to bed?"

"No," The black haired girl said hesitating to stare at the blond woman "Do you know where Ron works Justine?"

"Several blocks away, in a strip club," Justine responded "I think you should leave it alone and stay with her."

"I don't care what you think," the other woman said hotly "I'm Kim's best friend and nobody does that to her."

"Monique, not to rain on your parade, but they obviously have something complicated going on and I think Ron is still her best-friend." Justine said, crossing her arms.

"What?" Monique looked at her closely, eyes narrowed "I've been with her for the last two years, I'm her best-friend...best friends don't slap each other, or hate each other or anything!"

"Whatever," Justine sniffed disdainfully "The club is called the 'XXX Strip Club' I think...ask around and I'm sure you'll find it."

Monique nodded and marched to the door, pulling it open she stepped out into the hallway and then taking a breath moved off to the elevator, obviously readying for her hunt. Surprisingly it didn't take her long to find him, once she had reached the street she only had to go to her right and make it two blocks before finding the boy. He was seated on the bottom set of steps to another apartment building, head resting on his forearms that were propped up on his knees.

She took only two steps before he spoke up, his voice hallow "I wouldn't get any closer if I were you."

Monique paused glaring at him "Why not, you'll slap me? I'm not as fragile as Kim is Ron." when he lifted his head to stare at her, she took an involuntary step backwards. Seeing the faint smile on his lips Monique snorted "So this-"

Ron however cut her off, his tone curt "What do you want?"

"I'm the one that's going to be talking you self-centered-"

"Shut The Fuck Up!" Ron suddenly exploded, springing from the steps quickly forcing Monique to back away terrified. He stopped short of her, his chest heaving and face filled with murderous hate "You think you have a fucking right to come here and lecture me? To insult me?" He trembled in suppressed rage as he worked to control himself.

"I-"

"Who the fucking hell do you think you are? I hate to tell you this Monique, but you're not Kim and you never will be. I was willing to tolerate her shit but I'm sure as hell not willing to tolerate yours!"

"What the hel-" Monique started then fell silent as Ron shouted her down yet again.

"I said shut up!" His voice echoed into the night and his face was a bright red from his anger "Now listen carefully, I want you to back the hell off and shove that lecture you want to give me. Because I already know I shouldn't have slapped her! I don't need some self-righteous bitch, full of her own self worth, sticking her nose into my business!"

"Oh, are you going to do something if I don't?" Monique taunted, once the shock of his outburst had passed.

"You don't get it do you. The restraint I showed with Kim doesn't apply to you, just being this close its all I can do to keep from hurting you. Because she was a friend, she deserved my restraint and you don't. What she did was bad, but what you did was worse and for that I am more than willing to-"

"To slap me? To beat me to a pulp?" Monique rolled her eyes, crossing her arms "Sorry, but that just doesn't scare me."

"No," Ron said his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper so that only she could hear him "I'll kill you. If you think I'm playing try me. I know exactly what the hell I did. Now get the fuck out of here!" Monique stared at him in wide eyed incredulity and he stared back, gaze lacking any warmth or emotion. Obviously unsettled Monique backed away before turning to run back to the apartment building where Justine and Kim were.

AN:

Another chapter in the bag. This one was really hard to write, due to the fact that I have just seen 'So The Drama'...for the tenth time or so...but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, this chapter should have proven thought provoking, now i'm off to see what else my muse can produce.