It Finally Happened: Part XVI

"Kim, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Ronnie."

"Can I be trusted?"

Kim blinked twice, not knowing even how to begin to answer such a simple sounding, yet incredibly complex question.

"Oh." He said, letting go of her hands, misinterpreting her hesitation.

"No, Ron…I mean yes. Hell yes you can be trusted." She grabbed his hands again, holding them tight as he tried to pull away. "Ron, stop it, hold still and listen to me." She fixed him with her eyes.

There was hurt and fear in those chocolate brown eyes.

"Listen, that's something that's a whole lot more complicated than the answer to 'do I love you?' would be. If you'd asked that I'd have said yes before you could close your mouth, but there's a whole lot more to trust than just that.

"Can I trust you with my life, absolutely yes. Can I trust you to come through when it's vitally important, yes, but there are things, some little and some important that, frankly, you could stand some improvement in.

"For one thing, can I trust you not to eat junk food? No. Can I trust your driving? Sometimes, though not if you get the tiniest bit distracted. See, Ron, there are lots of different levels and kinds of trust."

"Well, it's nice to know somebody does." He finally let go of her hands and leaned on his desk putting his head on his arms.

Kim got up from the floor and made to sit on the edge of his desk, giving up when the cheap particle board creaked alarmingly even under her slight weight. Instead she put her arm around his shoulders and gave him a firm squeeze. He sniffed slightly and rolled his head to the side, looking at her. Tears were starting to well in his eyes.

"Aren't you going to ask me again what's wrong?" his voice cracked as little drops of moisture started rolling down between his freckles.

"No, Ronnie. I trust you. I trust you and I love you and I know that when you're ready you'll tell me." She let go of his shoulder and sat back down on the floor, resting one hand on his lap as he sobbed into his arms.

They both sat like that for about thirty minutes, Kim gently rubbing his leg as he cried, fighting her own inclination to beg him to tell her anyway, doing her best to heed her mother's advice. Finally he pushed away from the desk and all but collapsed onto the floor in front of her, wrapping his arms around her shoulder.

"Kim, my parents don't trust me, they…" He choked up a bit again, continuing with some difficulty, "…they went behind my back and set up the whole deal with Bueno Nacho."

"What deal? You never even told me why we went there."

He let go of her, sitting back, leaning his weight on the legs of his desk and told her about the message from Ned and the meeting it led to. Kim pulled her legs up to her chest and listened while he explained the whole thing, the commercial, the royalties and then about the trust fund. He went on to tell her about wishing for a car, to buy all sorts of nice things for her, though he didn't go so far as to tell her about the nicest thing he wanted to buy for her with the money.

Kim pursed her lips, thinking carefully about what to say to him. "Ron, I hate to say this, but, overall, I have to agree with your parents about this. I think they were ferociously wrong about doing it behind your back, but, from their point of view, the only time you had any real money to your name you lost all of it, and, let me tell you, that was more money than I've ever seen in my life, more money than I could ever dream of you having."

"So you really don't trust me either? See, I knew it. I'm just a loser."

"RON! I don't want to ever hear you use that word about you ever again. I didn't give my heart to a loser. You did something that was…stupid and this is one of the consequences of it. You're going to have to live with that. I told you that trust is a really complicated thing and you aren't just given trust, you have to earn it sometimes.

"Just listen to what you wanted to do. You wanted to run right out and buy a whole bunch of nice things. It's sweet you wanted to get me nice presents, but that's not why I'm with you. You had to learn a whole lot to do as well as you did this year in school and by the same token you have to learn how to handle things like money. That means using it wisely and so far the only example you've given everyone was completely the opposite. Yes, you might need your own car. I'd like one myself, but I don't have the money to do that. It's going to take time and patience, but I'm sure you can save enough. You said you're going to get an allowance from the trust once the money starts coming in, well, prove to them you can manage it. Save it, put it away and once there's enough, go out and buy you a used car, or even another scooter. How long would that take? I miss riding around with you on one."

Ron slumped over to the side. Kim caught hold of him and guided his head into her lap, playing with his hair. "I guess you're right, KP, but I feel so…I feel like I'm being treated like a baby. Right now, every time I think of my parents, I get this feeling they're doing so much to me, to my life that I don't even know about. I even get this weird feeling they would do something terrible like moving away and not telling me. I'm afraid they might do something that would pull us apart forever."

"Ronnie." She leaned over and gently kissed his cheek. "I love you and whether I can be with you every day of the week or I just get to see you every once and a while I'm still going to love you. We've been together for most of our lives, a little bit of distance isn't going to change how I feel about you and what we're about."

Gently she got up, raising Ron along with her and guided him toward his bed, throwing the clothes piled there on the floor. She sat him down and joined him, kissing him warmly and tenderly, still brushing away the remnants of his tears. He started responding, giving in to the kiss, then joining in as she pushed him down onto his back.

"Uh, Kim, I don't think…"

"Shhhhh. Trust me."

"O…kay."

Kim slipped the dress shirt off his shoulders then pulled it free of his arms after unbuttoning the cuffs. She put her hands on his chest, then leaned in for another quick kiss. He looked almost frightened, not knowing what she intended. Hadn't they discussed this…at length? The thoughts running through his head were, to say the least, pleasant. Even though they had decided to wait for it, he was, after all, a normal, healthy young man and along with that came fantasies. It looked to him like one of those fantasies was about to come true and that both excited him and frightened him.

Trust me, she had said. Boundaries had been set, boundaries they wouldn't cross, at least not yet.

She made him turn over, onto his stomach, his arms splayed out to the sides. Curling her legs up under her, she put her hands on his back and gently rubbed him. It was not a massage but gentle touching, her hands barely in contact with his skin, ruffling the fine, fair hairs growing there. She took her time, delicately exploring every nook and cranny of his narrow physique, careful to keep the touch tender and not tickling. Years of experience told her where he was sensitive that way, yet with patience she was able to glide over those places, pretending the warmth of her palms left a mark and she would not stop until she had covered every square centimeter between his neck and the waist of his shorts.

When she was done she gripped the muscles at the back of his neck, rubbing them more deeply. There was still tension there, so she slowly kneaded them. This she had done for him before, often in return for the same treatment from his large hands. It almost seemed a shame they couldn't both do this at the same time.

"Not going to sleep on me there are you, Rondo?" She whispered in his ear, simultaneously rubbing the tip of her nose on the outer rim.

"And miss this? No way."

"Good, wouldn't want to have to resort to less…delicate measures?" to illustrate her point, she gripped his almost non-existent 'love-handles.'

"Whoa! Tickles!"

Smiling in satisfaction, Kim went back to delicately swirling her hands over his back, every so often finding a knotted muscle and leaning in on it a little harder. Before long she was rubbing his whole back, finally finishing with a little pat to his backside.

"What do you think, baby?"

"Wow, I don't think I can move now."

"Oh, and what if I want a turn."

"Uh, I don't think turning over would be a really good idea right now." He turned his head and smirked.

"Hmph." She mock pouted, crossing her arms.

"Stopping isn't going to help, not with your butt still pressed up to my side like that."

"Okay, I didn't want to have to do this, but here goes."

"Wha…"

"Close your eyes."

"Huh?"

"Just close your eyes."

"Okay, they're closed."

"Okay, now pretend that was, uh, Shego giving you a backrub."

He opened his eyes, grinning almost wickedly. "That's so not helping, KP. She might be wicked bad but, well, she's wicked bad!"

"Hmm, bad example then. Okay, pretend it's…oh, this is just evil."

"No! Don't say it Kim!"

"DNAmy."

"Arrgh! You got me" He rolled onto his side and, before she could react, wrapped his arms around her waist, tickling her bare tummy furiously.

"RON! STOP! CUT IT OUT!" she squealed. Finally he let her go, causing her to slip off the edge of the bed, landing on her butt.

"Ow." She huffed, not really hurt but milking the sitch. She crossed her arms on the edge of the bed, propping her head there. "Feeling better, Honey?"

"A little. I guess I'm still really bummed about what they did."

"You're going to have to talk to them about it and I don't mean jump on their case either. I mean sit down and have a man to parent talk with them. Be up front and honest about how this hurt you, but don't go in angry about it. That'll go a long way to proving to them you can eventually be trusted with it."

Pulling herself back up, she leaned over and kissed him again. He pulled her close, holding her tightly, pent up passion from the incredibly sensual backrub taking hold again. For a few minutes both of them got lost in the kiss and embrace until it was finally Kim who pulled away.

"Come on, get up there, Honey."

"What is it with you calling me Honey all the time? It's so…Mom and Dad."

"I don't know, it just kind of happens. I could call you my sweetie-poo or my snuggie-bunch or something." She cooed in a saccharine voice.

"Okay, you win, Honey it is, but please, not in front of our friends."

"Deal. Now get up and get dressed."

"Um, well, hand me a shirt." He pointed at the pile she had raked off the bed.

"We're not going out in swimming trunks. Tell you what, I'll go downstairs so you can properly change and we'll go hang out at the mall."

"Mmm, sounds like a date."

Kim stuck her nose in the air. "No, Mister Stoppable, it's hanging out. Tomorrow we are going to have a proper and official date."

"Yes ma'am. I am here to serve you." He gave her the best mock bow he could execute from a sitting position. "And where exactly does the ma'am expect to be taken on this date?"

"There is a new restaurant opening tomorrow night and I expect the best table in the place. You will pick me up at seven and I will show you where we must go."

"By your command." He started to bow again but switched to a grab at her waist. She sidestepped nicely, sending him piling into the floor this time.

"Get dressed, Ronnie. I'm ready for some snackage." She said as she closed the door.

She slowly walked down the stairs, the wheels turning in her head as she made plans for their date.