"Ron, I don't get it. There's only one thing out this way so you're not surprising me if we're heading to the Bueno Nacho headquarters." Of that she was certain. There literally wasn't anything else out that lonely stretch of two lane road. How it ever got a highway designation was beyond her.
Kim had 'assumed the position' in Mrs. Stoppable's car the moment they left Middleton and pulled out onto the long highway, loosely snuggling his arm while his free hand rested on her leg. Eventually his mother was going to figure out why he hadn't kept up his protest about taking the old car, but for the moment he was enjoying having Kim snuggled up to his arm. He hoped she was enjoying it herself (she was) since the successful completion of this mission would more than likely mean he could afford his own car, one that, unfortunately, would most likely have bucket seats. It could also mean affording a great many things. College, nicer clothes, real birthday gifts later that summer for Kim...
…small velvet boxes, along with their contents.
They were both dressed in new clothes. Ron had on his new gray slacks and a black dress shirt, a dark red tie setting the whole ensemble off nicely. He even had new shoes, just as nice looking as his older dress shoes, but somewhat more comfortable as they were much better quality. Once word of his finals grades got around to his family, all kinds of small gifts had rolled in, giving him just enough to afford some nice shoes he could actually wear for more than a couple hours at a time. Kim was wearing a black blouse and a businesslike green skirt that was very close to the olive hue of her usual mission cargos. In all, they looked like their usual mission clothes had 'grown up.'
Ron had been the one to suggest the new outfits. He called them their 'dress uniforms' at first but Kim suggested the more solid 'business mission gear.' She was more than a little curious when Ron called to tell her to be ready to leave at nine that Tuesday morning after school ended and to wear the new outfit. The whole point to putting them together was to have something appropriate when one of their actual, 'official' Team Possible missions called for it.
Once they left her house, he did something that frightened her, just a little.
He successfully resisted the PDP.
About half way through the one hundred mile drive he started looking at the sky. "I don't get this, KP." He said, leaning forward to look at the darkening sky. "I thought this was the desert but now it looks like it's gonna rain. The last time we were here it rained."
"Doesn't matter, honey. We're nice and dry in here and we've got an umbrella. It's not like you're going to melt."
"Hey, I'm not the one with the magical instant-dry hair."
"My hair only looks like it dried quick. It really takes hours unless I can towel it off really good and like you care what your hair looks like?"
"Well, no, not unless I've gone all Rondo on it like today, but I've also got these nice new duds. Hey, wait, maybe that blouse is one that gets all see-thru-ey and stuff when it gets wet."
Kim leaned away and gave his shoulder a gentle pop. "You had your chance, buster."
"I still like a little peek-see." He leaned over toward her, leering at her waist. Unfortunately, her skirt didn't gap open like her pants did. She popped him again, catching the look.
"Ron, one of these days I'm going to make good on my threat and let you see everything in all its glory."
"Tough talk KP, wanna put your money where your mouth is?" He waggled one eyebrow. It was supposed to look sinister but as usual it just resulted in giggles.
"Depends on where my mouth is at the time, Bad Boy." She leaned closer and gave his ear a tiny nip, instantly regretting it as the car swerved slightly out of their lane.
Kim closed her eyes and smiled, leaning her head carefully on his shoulder, careful not to mess up his carefully coifed hair. It seemed he was going all out to make an impression, most likely at Bueno Nacho. She hoped it was good news, after all, she missed her favorite hangout almost as much as he did. She sniffed behind his ear, sure she could smell Le Goop, wondering how he could have any left after that silly 'going badder' hairstyle he had worn during the Zorpox caper earlier that year.
Their relationship seemed to be as strong as ever, weathering the bump that had occurred four days earlier. The bad parts of Friday were starting to be just a bad memory. Monique and Ron had been absolutely right. It had all been about 'sealing the deal' as Mon had so eloquently put it. Sure, she wanted to be with Ron and would only ever be with him, but that could and would wait. She even made sure to go see his Rabbi with him that Saturday after he left Temple. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of talk about what specifically had happened. Rabbi Katz said they had moved on past that, though they did have to talk about it between themselves.
She was embarrassed about what had happened, that was for sure, but in hindsight she was thankful it played out the way it did. She was certain that, in the light of day, she would have been ashamed of herself for doing that. It would have flown in the face of everything she thought she stood for, after all, she was the one who had insisted Ron turn himself in with her after they fled the school that day. She had done that to prove that she was not going to abuse a trust.
What she had nearly forced Ron to do would have been just that. Her parents showed both of them a great deal of trust, a trust that would have been broken and she was certain she would not be able to live with that. Then too it was a simple matter of honoring her parents. While her mother made it clear she could make her own decision, her father was completely the opposite. He may be overprotective of her, sometimes prone to drama over it, but he loved her unconditionally and abusing that trust and love would have broken his heart if he ever found out. Not finding out would mean lying to him, probably for some time to come. That was something else she wouldn't know how to live with.
"Ronnie, how about we wait until we turn eighteen?" She whispered as the first heavy raindrops started pelting the car.
"Wait for what."
"It."
"Huh? What are you…oooooooh. I dunno, KP. Kinda feels like we're planning too much out."
"So, how long do you want to wait?"
"Well, maybe eighteen. Maybe until we…uh, well."
Kim sat up, looking at him expectantly. "Come on, Ron, spit it out."
"Well, I was thinking about when we get ma…ma…"
"Uh huh. Sounds like somebody's been thinking an awful lot about a certain 'm' word."
"I, well, you…KP, the way I feel about you, it's not like you're my girlfriend."
"Oh? Then what am I?" She put her hands on her hips, glaring at him a little.
"Well, yeah, of course you're my girlfriend, cause there isn't a really good word for how I feel. You know, kind of like we're ma…ma…well, you know, but we really aren't."
"Um, Okay, I get it, I think."
"Kim, I just can't get my brain around how my heart feels. It's hard to put into words."
"How about this. You can't conceive of a future without both of us in it."
"Um, yeah, that's it."
"…and that means somewhere down the line we're going to get married."
"Uh huh. That."
"Ron, it's okay. I mean, I've thought a lot about that. I can't think of a future without you in it anyway. I used to think it's cause we'd always be tight, but now I realize just how much I need you in my future, and not just as a friend."
"Yeah, KP, it did kind of hurt when you said that to me, especially when you followed it by saying we had to grow up. I was so completely lost in love with you by that point I didn't know what to think any more."
"God I was so ferociously stupid when I said that. Why couldn't I hear how I sounded?"
"KP, let's talk about happier things. You were stupid, I was scared to say what I needed to, end of story, time to go on to anther one."
"Agreed." She snuggled down on his arm again.
The rain started coming down in sheets, drenching the car. It was oddly calm and comfortable in their little pocket, protected from the rain and the wind that raged outside. That was the great thing about the old, heavy cars, they were so smooth out on the open road, no matter what nature threw at them.
"Maybe we shouldn't agree to wait at all." He said finally.
"What? I thought you said…"
"Uh, that didn't come out quite right. What I'm saying is we shouldn't decide about anything until we're old enough to. You're going to be seventeen in a month and a half, and I'll be just a week behind you, that means we only have just over a year to wait anyway. So let's wait until then to make up our minds how long we'll wait. That way it'll be an official adult decision.
"Ron, the way you think sometimes. That's still deciding to wait."
"No…oh, yeah, it is…but that way we're not planning on doing 'it' right when we turn eighteen. We can just play it by ear."
"Oh, I like playing it by ear." She nuzzled he ear again, the car veering just slightly out of its lane.
"Whoa, Kim, concentrating on the old driving here. It's raining pretty hard."
"Yeah, a little too hard. Find a place and pull over. There, that underpass. We'll wait a few minutes until it blows over. Storms like this don't last too long."
They were alone on the long stretch of highway, so there wasn't anyone else to share the underpass with them. By the time he pulled under it the rain was coming down so hard he could barely see the road anyway.
The wipers were barely off when the nuzzling started again. Kim purred ever so slightly, planting 'Eskimo' kisses on his ears and cheek.
"Wow, that's…nice."
"Best way to make out that doesn't mess up my lipstick." She said, giving his hand a good squeeze.
"Maybe it'll rain on the way home." He put his hand on her bare knee.
"Oh, heck with it, there's a reason I have lipstick in my purse." She patted her bag, sitting to her right.
That was just enough jostling to wake her purse's occupant. Dress slacks unfortunately didn't have a pocket to accommodate chubby little naked mole rats, so Kim had taken to carrying a slightly oversized purse when they dressed up. So far it had worked, except once when the Kimmunicator went off. They finally found a solution in keeping the device in Ron's pants pocket while Rufus slept in the purse.
He poked his tiny head out to see what the fuss was about. Much to his chagrin, his humans were mashing their faces together again, a pass time they had undertaken quite a bit over the last few weeks, almost reaching a month. He harrumphed and squeaked "Hrk, Mush" before disappearing back inside, pulling his Kleenex pillow back to his head and dreaming of the giant machine where you could press a single button, dispensing warm, gooey cheese.