KP – One Oh One: Part XXXIX – Sparkling

Ron spent the better part of the day on pins and needles. The look Kim gave him as she let him in the door that morning told him everything he needed to know. They only thing that was going to let him live to see two thousand seven was in the bag he was toting. In fact, he didn't even speak a word or attempt a quick good-morning kiss, but meekly handed the bag over to her. She took one look in the bag, gave him a glance that said 'you better have' and disappeared upstairs.

When she came back down she wrapped her arms around him and attempted to transfer as much of her lipstick as she could to him. He had earned himself a welcome respite, but he was not dumb, he knew it would only be temporary.

He sat on her bed late that morning after they had come back from brunch, his hand clamped over his eyes even though she was behind her changing screen taking off her new navy dress. "So, KP, what do you want to do today? It's not supposed to start raining until dark. There's that new indoor pool, or that horse farm out on the interstate. We could go swimming, we could go horseback riding…"

About the moment the words spilled out if his mouth, he realized he was sounding just like an old commercial. If Kim noticed, she didn't care. Her mood had swung one hundred eighty degrees from when she answered the door that morning. She was actually humming tunelessly as she slipped into her favored winter clothing of a deep teal shirt and black slacks. She opted for the baggier ones, though she still slipped on her black canvas sneakers.

"I was thinking more of taking in a matinee at the cheapie theater. They're still running that pirate movie you were so gung ho to see back in the summer."

"I dunno. That's supposed to be out on DVD in a couple weeks."

Kim stepped out from behind the screen, buttoning her pants. She sat down beside Ron and kissed him. She lingered there a couple minutes, though her hands were occupied holding her shoes. "Ronnie, I don't really care which movie it is. I just want to spend some time holding hands, sharing popcorn, smooching, know what I mean?" She set her shoes down beside her on the bed and pulled at his tie. "Now, we could stay here and do all that, but I'm willing to bet we'd have Daddy looking over our shoulders the whole time."

"We could always go to my house and watch the first movie." He offered.

Kim grinned back at him. The only DVD player in his house was built into his computer, meaning they would have to sit on his bed watching the tiny seventeen inch screen, listening to his itty bitty speakers while a movie that should at least be seen in high definition widescreen with half decent speaker played. Of course, if she really meant what she did about her intentions, they really wouldn't care so much about how big the screen was.

Something went click in his head and he mentally beat his forehead on a pretend table-top. Danger, Ron Stoppable, Danger a glass-domed robot warned him in the back of his mind. She wants to go see a movie holding your hand and sharing a tub of popcorn. Do it you idiot! Kim liked the private time stuff as much as he did, but she also liked some more innocent romance sometimes. He had to admit there was something downright fun about just simply kissing in the back of a dark, nearly empty theater.

Of course, they had to be careful about which movie they went to, if that was their intention. Neither of them were too excited about the computer generated cars earlier that year, but they went anyway since it was the only thing playing on casual date night they felt was worth watching, figuring if it was boring they could spend the evening putting Kim's latest, so-called Kiss-Proof lipstick to the test. It turned out the average age of the audience was hovering around nine or ten and the place was packed. With a little boy to one side and a tween in questionable clothing to the other it was most def not a night for making out. Fortunately, the movie turned out far better than each of them hoped and they renewed their knowledge of just how good it felt to simply hold hands.

When they started getting more physical, Ron thought it would be all that, all the time. He had the notion that all of the things that had come before; holding hands, hands around each other's shoulders, things like that were merely place holders for the other things, that they would then simply skip to what for them was their current 'main event.' It took a couple miscues during their dates to discover that wasn't actually the case. Just because they had been down that particular road a couple times didn't mean that was what she wanted every time they were together. He also had to remember once more that, because of Kim's personality, she pretty much took the lead, even though she sometimes complained about that very issue.

Kim finished tying he shoes and turned her attention back to him. Smiling sweetly she walked her fingers up his chest, again playing with the knot of his tie. "So, what do you want to do today?"

He smiled shakily. "Whatever you want to do."

"Okay, Joss. Now, what do you really want to do?"

"Well, this is going to sound strange, at least coming from me."

Kim sat up, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow. "Oh, you've got me intrigued. What strange thing can Mister Never-be-normal have in mind? It's not something kinky, is it?"

Ron glanced over her shoulder, certain that the mere use of the word 'kinky' meant that her Dad was about to put in an appearance at her hatch, having overheard it and demanding and explanation. Fortunately, for once, he didn't.

"See, ever since you had that little tiff with Doctor Director, the only real missions we've been on have been, well, forgettable."

"Ron, those people still needed our help. So we didn't have to fight some villain, by the end of the day we still did good. What are you saying, that we need to go on a mission?"

"Yeah, I know, the next words out of your mouth are going to be 'careful what you wish for,' but yeah, I want a good old fashioned Wade beeps us, we change into our gear, we hop on some rickety plane or even a hot air balloon and we go make short work of the bad guys. I mean, the only time either of our Kimmunicators went off while we were down in Florida was Wade calling to wish us merry Christmas. In the old days, the moment Nana put the presents on our laps we would have gotten the call."

"Okay, yes, I'm gonna say it, Ron. Be careful what you wish for. When we go on that kind of mission it's not because we're out to have a big, fun adventure, it's because somebody somewhere is doing something dangerous, something that could hurt other people if we didn't do anything about it. If you want adventure, we can always ride out to the airport. Half the pilots out there would be more than willing to take us up for some sky-diving. For that matter, we could ride up to Mount Middleton and actually spend most of our time skiing. You could always try following me down a black diamond run. Or, if you really want some horror, we could head over to your house and ask Gene for some pointers on our wedding night."

"Ack!" Ron absolutely knew she was kidding with the last one, but the thought was still just too terrible to comprehend. It was bad enough when his father insisted he put that one particular item in his wallet. It was just as bad when he occasionally asked if it needed replacing.

Kim started pulling at his knot, undoing his tie. "I know, if you want to go on a mission, we could always lock my doors and, you know."

"KP, I thought we talked about that."

"We did. Not like we'd get the chance to go through with it. That would just force the issue and a mission would interrupt."

Ron got the joke and started laughing. "Except, I bet it wouldn't work unless we were actually willing and meaning to do that. I don't think pretending counts."

"Probably not." She got up and pulled a Club Banana bag out of the closet. "Here, I got this while I was out shopping with Monique."

He peeked in the bag. He had seen it sitting there before and figured it was just more of Kim's usual clothes. Instead it turned out to be a nice deep teal sweater, with a shallow v-neck, plus a pair of black cargo pants to go with it.

"That's all I could find that would match that had room for Rufus in it." She nodded toward him, all curled up on her pillow, still sleeping off his extended waking time the day before.

"I don't have to wear a choker with this? Do I?" He held the sweater up to his chest. Obviously Kim wanted another 'dressing-alike' option besides both of them wearing his old, battered red jerseys. All four of them, including the one that had been altered to fit her, were starting to finally get a bit threadbare.

She leaned on his upper thighs and brushed the tip of his nose with hers. "While I have you in the throes of 'he'll do anything because he's scared I've really got PMS' I bet you would if I said yes." She smiled broadly at him. "No, Ronnie, I'm not wearing mine today either. I feel a little too puffy to be wearing something called a choker today anyway. Now, get changed. I'm going to run downstairs and switch the cars around so we can take mine."

The movie turned out to be just what they were hoping for. The theater was the older one near the mall. After a couple of the big 'stadium style' theaters opened it had converted to a cheaper, second-run venue rather than go to the expense of tearing out the insides. They had already seen the movie three times, so during the slower parts they tended to spend their time paying attention to each other instead of the screen.

Not long after they got back to Kim's house, the pendulum started swinging the other way. Actually, it started in the theater parking lot when Ron asked to drive. In his mind, he wanted to be in a position where Kim could cuddle his arm while he drove, much like she used to when they had to rely on his mother's old Pontiac. She didn't take it quite that way and growled slightly when he reached for the driver's side door.

"I think you did enough driving during our vacation." She brushed past him and slipped into the driver's seat, activating the power and the synthetic engine sounds.

"Aw, come on KP."

"No, Ron. It's my car, I drive it, Okay. Maybe it's about time you got another one since you didn't want to spend any money getting your last one fixed."

"Hey, you said it yourself. I paid three hundred for that car, then twice that keeping it running for as long as it did. I could buy ten times as much car for what they said it was going to cost to fix it."

"Then why haven't you gone and bought one? You seem to have so much more money in your allowance these days, if you saved some of that we wouldn't have to take mine so much."

"Okay, never mind." He shut up and got in the car, glancing at the fancy ring on her left hand as she backed out of the parking space. That alone had completely decimated his savings and he was just then starting to recover from that. He was just wise enough to keep the fact that he was the only one between them with any real kind of income to himself. He was more than wise enough not to mention the second engagement ring. Kim may well have been just as happy to go all the way to their wedding with the tiny original one, but that wasn't what was on his mind when he went to purchase it. She certainly didn't complain.

Back home Kim settled in to spend the afternoon reading magazines. He sat quietly with her, occasionally bumping his sock-clad foot up against hers. That seemed to mollify her mood just enough that she slipped her own shoes off and engaged in a little innocent footsie with him. Still, she managed to bounce from mood to mood throughout most of the afternoon, into dinner. He almost suggested she might need another of the pills he brought that morning, but bit his tongue. The only real safe course of action was to hope that her mother would suggest the same course of action.

Not long after the east coast ball-drop Kim headed upstairs, returning in her long pajamas. She had the top open, but that was because she was wearing her old purple halter top with the green heart under it. She curled up next to him and whispered in his ear.

"Why don't you run on upstairs and put on yours. I really don't think I'm going to make it much past midnight, so once the ball drops we can go on to bed and get some sleep."

"Sure KP." He figured it was a pretty good idea. The year before they ended up sleeping in their party clothes, but since there were no other guests this time around there was utterly no reason they couldn't all get comfortable.

He was coming back down the stairs when he heard the first pop. Being familiar with that sort of thing, he immediately knew it was Kim's Dad opening a bottle of champagne. It was kind of odd to him how his mind had changed when the subject of alcohol came up. When he was in his mid-teens he often thought by college he would have discovered beer. So far, from what he had sampled, he wasn't overly impressed with any of it, though some of the imports, like the one Mr. Dr. P favored, was somewhat palatable, but the domestics just plain tasted awful. Wine he could tolerate, though he found he would rather buy a whole case of pop than spend that much money on 750ml of something that he just didn't get what the big deal was. He knew that attitude would have to change if he were to pursue his intended career, but for himself, he could take or leave it.

His only experience with the harder stuff was only second-hand, and figuratively speaking, it left a bad taste in his mouth. He was thinking of the party they had gone to early in their last year of high school where Kim's drink ended up getting spiked, making her sick-drunk. At that moment, he decided adult beverages were best left alone. Since he really didn't like them all that much, what was the point other than getting drunk, which, given what he had seen, wasn't very appealing in its own right.

Ron was surprised when he sat back down with Kim that a glass of light amber bubbling liquid had been placed in front of his spot on the couch. She already had her own and was taking a couple tentative sips from it, as if she was trying to decide if she liked it as well.

"Guess this means we're not sitting at the kids table any more, baby." She whispered as he eyed his own glass.

He sighed, pursing his lips. Wrinkling his nose, he tried a sip for himself. It was dry and, to his palette, rather bitter. He found he would much rather have had the more brightly colored white grape juice the twins had in their wine glasses.

"Hmmm. Not really my thing, Kimbo."

She took a bigger sip of hers. "It's not so bad. Like they say, it's an acquired taste."

"I'll take their word for it." He set the glass back down on its coaster and spread a big hunk of cheese ball onto a pair of wheat crackers, handing one to Rufus who gobbled it down in just a couple bites.

"Do we really have to watch Leno?" he groused.

"Sorry, the other channel has Clark, and he's still not at his best, I'm afraid to say. Did you know his doctor conferred with Mom last year?"

"I remember you saying something about that." He glanced over at the big easy chair at the other end of the couch. Anne Possible was sitting on her husband's lap, nursing the last swallow of her own drink. She downed the last of it and got up, heading to the kitchen. She returned with the bottle, refilling everyone's glass save Ron's, which was still mostly full.

The last half hour leading to midnight passed rather slowly. James got up and opened the other bottle and made the rounds with it. Ron was dozing slightly, so he didn't notice that his glass had somehow been emptied. They were getting ready to toast the new year, so they all needed something in their glass. Kim got up herself and topped her glass with a couple minutes to go.

"Five, four, three, two, one, HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

All six of them clinked their glasses together and everyone but Ron drained their glasses. Kim's parents were obviously quite into each other and quickly said their goodnights, heading up the stairs. Jim and Tim disappeared outside and joined the rising cacophony of fireworks going off all around the neighborhood, leaving the two of them alone on the couch.

Kim looked at him, her green eyes glittering in the dim light of the television. She put her empty glass down and took Ron's from him, taking a big swallow of it. "Happy new year, Ronnie."

"Happy new year to you, KP."

"Don't I get a new year's kiss?"

"How silly of me." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for the kiss. She gave into it hungrily, pulling him down partially on top of her. Finally, as the sound of firecrackers reached a new crescendo, she broke it and smiled warmly at him.

"Told you there would be fireworks." She whispered. "Come on, time for bed." She got up, pulling him with her.

"I'm not quite ready to say goodnight. Maybe if we dozed off down here nobody would notice."

Her smile turned decidedly more wicked. "Didn't say we were saying goodnight, just that we were going to bed. I thought I'd have a little bigger Cuddlebuddy than Pandaroo tonight." She licked her lips, wrapping her arms around him again, pulling their hips together.

"You sure that's okay? I mean, your Dad doesn't mind if I stay in the guest room."

"Shhhhh. They're already gone to bed and I don't think they're going to be getting up any time soon, if you know what I mean."

"Okay, TMI."

"I think they have the right idea."

Ron was about to say something when Kim picked up her glass and drained the last of it. Light bulbs went off in his head. He had exactly two sips of the bitter tasting liquid himself, but Kim could have had a total of at least four glasses full. The two champagne bottles sat empty on the coffee table, shared, for the most part, between three people.

"Okay, but let's get some sleep. It's been a long day."

Kim giggled, leading him toward the stairs. "And it's going to be a long night." She said musically.

Ron let out a long breath, not quite sure what he was going to do. On one hand, he could simply refuse and after kissing her goodnight, just head down to the guest room. On the other, that would likely upset her, and even if she was only slightly tipsy, she was still prone to mood swings. He could hold her like she wanted and still do the honorable thing. He knew that anything more would be taking advantage and to him that was probably one of the worst things he could do.

He just wished he knew how inebriated she really was. He also wished he had noticed her not only getting refills of her own glass, but of his. It was the first time they had ever had drinks like that with permission and he was completely shocked at how she had reacted to it. In the morning, after she had recovered, they were going to have a long, long talk, probably in the company of her parents. If there was any potential for a future problem, he wanted to head it off before it could blossom into something worse.

Stopping at her hatch, he closed and latched it. They had spent the night together in her room on several occasions, but over time, with other options like his own home or trips away, they had never pressed the issue considering her father's usual disapproval.

He turned around just in time to be hit in the face with Kim's pajama bottoms. He glanced over at her, sitting sexily on the bed, her legs tucked under her. Much to his relief, she still had her underwear on.

As gingerly as he could, he sat down on 'his' side of the bed. Kim wrapped her arms around him, burying her head in his chest. He was about to say something when, thankfully, she started snoring. Gently he laid her down on her side and pulled the covers up.

He lay on his back for close to an hour, thinking, before sleep claimed him as well.

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