KP – One Oh One: Part XXXII – What's Left Behind

Even with the snowy start to the Middleton winter, the season was shaping up to be much milder than usual. A warm front rolled in right on its heels, melting the majority of what had fallen by mid-day Saturday. Kim and Ron stayed in bed a couple hours later than normal, having fallen asleep much more quickly than they expected after taking care of Ron's sister. The event of the night before took on a certain surrealness that led them to believe it was one of their mutual dreams rather than something real, especially after Wade confessed he couldn't find any evidence of a multi-dimensional incursion or anybody hacking into the global satellite network.

The one thing they couldn't pass off as a dream was the fact Kim had indeed missed taking her meds two days in a row. Both of them dreaming about coming that close to going all the way was one thing, but there were always small differences in their experiences. Still, they finally wrote it off to being just that, a dream, especially considering the intimacy they shared the evening before.

With the roads clear, Ron's parents were able to get home by lunch time, so they ended up taking their trip up to the ski lodge anyhow, though they kept their romantic escapades reigned in a little more closely. The trip fulfilled its intended purpose, that being a welcome break before the final push of their first semester of college.

Finals week turned out to be one of the biggest confidence boosters of Ron's life. He went in relaxed and prepared and acquitted himself magnificently, pulling down nothing lower than a B. Kim aced the whole shoot-n-match as usual and decided not to rain on Ron's parade at that particular moment by telling him that it was going to get exponentially harder as they progressed. It was time for their break and she was looking forward to it as much as he was.

Kim reflected on the influence they were having on each other's lives. Once she would have been driven to participate in everything she possibly could, basically scheduling every minute of her life to the point that a mission popping up would put her in danger of seriously falling behind. In fact, one time that almost really happened. Ron, on the other hand, was really not into much more than cheer squad, missions and her. Somewhere along the line she started drifting away from all but the most important of her extra-curricular activities. On the surface she thought it looked as if she merely wanted more time to be with Ron, but that in itself wasn't completely true. He demonstrated a willingness to throw himself into everything he possibly could so he could share all of that with her.

In reality, the two of them ended up meeting in the middle. Kim still participated in a healthy number of activities, but found that by being much more selective she was able to devote herself more fully to each one instead of just hitting the high spots on everything.

One aspect of her life she left behind sometimes struck her as odd. During the summer, as they prepared for school, she intended to try out for the Middleton College Cheerleaders. Then, the day tryouts were supposed to start, she started wondering if that was where she wanted to go at that point in her life. It wasn't that she didn't love her time as a cheerleader, but for some strange reason she didn't feel like she had anything to prove there any more. It was just like swim team all over again. After her Sophomore year, she simply let that fall by the wayside. She wasn't the star of the team, but she did play a part in her school placing first in the region. She considered making a stab at the diving team, but didn't have enough interest in it to try out. Again, she didn't feel like she had anything to prove there.

She had a horrible thought about her unwillingness to try out for collegiate cheerleading. For the last three years of high school she was the captain of the team. In college, she would be the low person on the totem pole and, by the way she interpreted the rules, would be for at least three years no matter how much ability she demonstrated. Only an upperclassman was allowed to captain the team. That seemed ferociously unfair to her, but that was the rule.

Could it be that she didn't want to be subordinate to anyone after being the leader for so long?

By the first day of class it no longer mattered. The tryouts had come and gone and the roster was filled. If for some reason she changed her mind, she would have to put her name on a waiting list and enter as an alternate. That meant going to long, difficult practices and then sitting on the sidelines for every performance, forced to hope for some misfortune to befall one of her teammates. That in itself proved to be very unpalatable. In the end, she simply let the matter drop completely, focusing instead on her academic career and her fiancé.

That didn't keep her from feeling nostalgic about the past. Ron was off with Felix, who was back in town for the holidays, creating a rare moment when Kim was actually by herself. Monique wouldn't be back until the next day, as would Hope. Tara had already come back, but instead of catching up with her friends she made a bee-line for Josh's apartment in Upperton. Kim didn't even to begin to feel jealous of the guys spending some time together, since she was certain the moment Monique rolled into town she would be spending every waking moment (as well as some non-waking moments) with her boyfriend, especially since they didn't have the luxury of going to the same school.

With both her parents at work, the twins in their final day of school before the holiday break and Ron of decimating zombies with Felix, Kim couldn't help but feel slightly lonely. She may have been prone to setting herself in leadership roles, putting herself above the crowd whenever possible, but she craved human contact. Left by herself she felt isolated. She liked living in the now, rather than living in her head. That was a trait she realized when a publishing house asked her about writing an autobiography. She had always done well in her English courses and performed admirably well in creative writing, but when it came down to putting her life down in prose everything she attempted came out as a dry recounting of major events in her life. In the end she gave up on the project.

Kim pulled a box out of the bottom of her closet, running her hands over the top of it as if she could feel what was inside just by touching it. She went over and sat down on her bed, sitting it astride her lap. It was a plain white sweater box, the type used to store away clothing one didn't want to get rid of but would not be wearing in the near future. Her Mom had a box like this one in the attic, though that one contained her wedding dress. For just a moment she considered how her mother would look in the dress then. Sure, she had seen all the pictures hundreds of times, with Anne Credible's long red hair done up into a complicated style under an equally detailed veil. Perhaps some day when just the two of them were home she would ask her to model it for her. That would almost certainly lead the elder Possible to ask her daughter to try it on herself. That would be interesting, since Kim was a little shorter than her mother and because of her much more muscular legs, she had wider hips.

Carefully, Kim pulled off the top and set it aside. The contents were wrapped in white tissue paper, but the colors still showed through the thin material. With a delicacy born more of respect than necessity, she folded back the paper, exposing the deep blue clothing trimmed in dark red and gold inside.

With a sort of reverence she laid the parts of her old cheerleading uniform out on the bed. She still had a pair of pom-poms, but they were in another box. Back when she was twelve, the uniforms were new. Middleton Junior High always followed Middleton High's lead when it came to them, so that year they adopted the bare midriff design the older girl's squad had a year earlier. That caused quite a stir among some of the more conservative parents at the time. In fact, she later came to learn there were complaints about the suits all the way up the line.

Kim never really got what the big deal was. She had been wearing the tummy baring tops since she was ten and never heard a single peep out of her parents about it. Sure, Ron had given her plenty of belly raspberries at first, but she didn't see what was so wrong about the world being able to see her navel. It wasn't so different than a two piece bathing suit…in fact it covered more. Everything she had ever been taught about modesty was literally covered by the outfit.

One thing was certain. Ron always seemed to appreciate it. Even when they were just twelve and she was just a skinny little slip of a girl wearing braces and being pestered by her mother to wear a 'training bra' Ron couldn't take his eyes off of her when she had it on. Maybe that was the reason she wore it home, or to Bueno Nacho so often instead of changing back into her street clothes at school. Strange that she would think of that now and not then, especially since, at least in the front of her mind, she really didn't have any romantic thoughts about him at the time.

She glanced at the clock. It was a couple hours before she was supposed to meet the boys at the tex-mex eatery and perhaps thirty minutes to an hour before her mother would get home. There was just a little time to kill, so she quickly slipped out of her jeans and sweater and put the uniform on.

It felt a little strange standing in front of her mirror, looking at herself in the cropped top and short skirt. For some reason, whenever she wore a mini skirt of her own she would wear a longer top tucked in, as if she were trying to balance out the amount of skin showing. She always left it to the likes of Bonnie to parade around in a halter top and a microscopic skirt, pushing the school's minimum dress code standards to the breaking point.

It had only been since spring that she had last worn them, but somehow it felt like years melted off of her as she twirled in the mirror, letting the skirt fly up around her. Just to see if she still had it, she dropped into a split. Her muscles complained just a little since she didn't do any warm-up stretches first, and she mentally berated herself for that. Still, it felt a little bit like coming home. From memory she did a few of the moves, trying to shake the rust off. In moments she was cutting compact flips and doing a few of the dance moves Ron had talked her into incorporating in their routine.

She sat back down on the bed, just a touch out of breath, the lay back. Did she make the right decision leaving all of that behind? It was indeed too late for second guessing, unless she wanted to try out for her sophomore year. Almost sadly she changed back into her street clothes and wrapped the old uniform back up. Maybe some day she would bring it back out, but just for Ron's benefit. A few stray dirty thoughts crossed her mind. Maybe on their honeymoon…

…yes, that would probably drive him wild, but that sort of thing would definitely be saved for their wedding night. They had another one of their long conversations about the subject. Their recent experience told them that they were indeed ready, both physically and emotionally, but in the end, they really did want to save that for their wedding night. At the rate they had been going, it seemed like that was an impossibility, until they decided together if they loved each other enough to go there, they also loved each other enough to wait. With that in mind, there would be no more spur-of-the-moment slips again. They could enjoy each other's company without the stress of worrying where it would lead.

The sound of the garage door opening announced her mother's arrival. She carefully put the box back in its place in her closet and reassembled the stack of boxes that had covered it. There wasn't anything embarrassing about her trip down memory lane, but she wanted to keep it private none-the-less.

"Kimmie!"

"Up here, Mom!" She raced down the steps of her open hatch, catching her mother halfway up the main staircase.

"I'm afraid I've got some bad news. Nana called your father while he was at work today. Her hip has been giving her some trouble, so she doesn't think she's going to be able to come for Christmas this year."

Kim was crestfallen. She had always been close with her grandmother, but their relationship had grown even greater when she discovered more about the older woman's past. They had been together every single Christmas of her life.

"So, it's just us this year?"

"I'm afraid so. Since Uncle Slim and Joss came here for Thanksgiving, they're going to see her other Grandma for the holidays. Even Aunt June's family are going away this year since Larry elected to stay in New York where he's going to school."

Kim sat heavily on one of the hall chairs. "Well, at least my friends are back in town."

"You're going away?" Kim looked at Ron's other best friend with open shock.

Felix nodded sadly. "I know you were looking forward to catching up with Monique, but Mom and her boyfriend invited us to come along on their trip to Bermuda, and believe it or not, Mon's Dad agreed to let her go."

Kim slumped down with her chin on her palm. "Ronnie, please don't tell me your parents have gotten some wild hare to go away too."

He shook his head as he squeezed her shoulder lightly. "Nah. They're pretty much staying put most of the time until CJ is older."

"Look at the bright side, Kim." Felix explained. "We'll all be back around for New Years. We can all get together then."

"Yeah. It's just, with Nana not coming it just doesn't feel right for the holidays."

Ron's eyes lit up. "Hey, what's the weather like down in that part of Florida this time of year?"

"Um, well, I called Nana before I came to meet you guys. She said it was pretty warm down there right now. I figure it's kind of like what we're used to here in late spring."

"Then why don't we go down there for Christmas? I'm sure she's excited about us and we really didn't spend all that much time with her when we were down there that summer."

Kim sat up straight, smiling broadly. "Ronnie, you're a genius! I bet I can even call in a favor and get us into Fantasy World. You've always said you wanted to ride Supersonic Mountain."

He looked momentarily stricken. "Uh, you sure you want me on rides like that?"

She smiled radiantly at him. "It's gonna be a crackers and water regimen for you for sure, but hey, I bet we'll have a blast." She leaned over to him and whispered "Plus that means we can ride all the romantic rides as well."

He smiled warily back at her, knowing he had most likely just created a monster.

Kim put her hands down on the table. "Okay, it's settled. I'm going to call in a favor and get us a ride down there, cause we're spending Christmas at Nana's."

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