Where Did the Time Go? : Part XXXI

Somehow they made it to the end of February unscathed. When they all returned to school the following Thursday, Bonnie acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She arrived at cheer practice and took up the new routine after offering her normal complaints about it not being enough to win the regionals. Kim had long ago given up explaining they stood a better chance at competitions if half the squad wasn't sitting in the bleachers with casts on. She simply stuck to her guns until the other gave up and started the routine.

Kim only got about an hour's nap during the day after her all-nighter at GJ, though it wasn't from being wired up on the coffee. Up to the point her brothers got home from school, they spent their time just holding hands and talking. Strangely enough, for some reason they didn't dwell on the Bonnie sitch or Ron's dreams. As far as the latter was concerned, once it was out in the open between them it needed no further discussion. The dreams had been stripped of their power, as if the thing, the event that potentially caused all the heartache was simply never opening up to her about it.

They settled back into the routine they so loved. Monday nights were pizza night. Tuesdays they still spent the afternoon at Ron's house, though they actually studied and did homework together since his parents no longer went to Denver, preferring instead to see a local doctor. Friday and Saturday nights went back to being their regular date nights with Saturday being dress-up dates that where they usually ended up going dancing.

One afternoon in early March as Kim was sitting in the girls locker room lacing her hiking boots on after practice Tara emerged from the shower, sitting down beside her still wrapped in a large towel. The other girls had already left but Kim to go over upcoming cheer camp plans with the gym teacher charged with faculty oversight of the squad. She was feeling a bit yucky herself since the weather had turned warm early but she preferred going home to shower, especially since Ron was taking her out to a movie that evening.

"Kim, what is Ron really like?"

She smiled softly. "Tara, pretty much what you see is what you get."

"I mean, when the two of you are alone. Is he sweet and gentle or is he…I don't know, more forceful or anything?"

"More forceful? I don't get it. I don't think he could be forceful about anything."

"So you always take the initiative?"

"Huh? I dunno. I guess we both kind of do. Maybe me a little more than him." Kim allowed herself a small smile, hoping the movie would be a little boring. The new theater out near the interstate had the newer 'stadium-style' seats with the high-backed cushions and the fold-up armrest/drink holders. If the theater wasn't crowded they could sit in the back row, right under the projector window and enjoy the movie or each other's company, depending on which was more entertaining at the time.

The look wasn't lost on the blonde. "What's he like when he makes the first move?"

Kim's smile got a little wider. "He'll usually touch my face or my ear." She pulled her hair back from her left ear, which was usually obscured by her long hair. Thinking about it, she reached into her backpack for a scrunchie, pulling the whole thing into a loose ponytail from the base of her skull. The early taste of spring wouldn't last, it never did this time of the year, and she wanted to stay a bit more comfortable, especially since her hair now hung to the middle of her back instead of just between her shoulders. "He's got this funny little habit. When he pulls me in for a kiss, he'll touch my neck first right here." She put her finger right below her hairline. "He doesn't do it so much any more, but when we first started dating he would do it all the time. He thought he was covering it up by putting his whole hand on the back of my neck, but I figured out what he was doing."

Tara just cocked her head sideways in puzzlement.

"Okay, remember last year when they had the Middleton Days Festival."

"Uh huh."

"Remember that thing that got on my neck that made me act like I was in love with Ron."

"Oh, so he was checking to see if anything was back there?"

Kim nodded. "Maybe the first couple times, but like I said, it became a habit and instead of letting it bother me I just put it down to one of his cute little quirks."

Her friend leaned a little closer. "So, what kind of cute little quirks does he have when you…you know?"

"I know what…Tara!"

"Okay, Kim, I get it, you're embarrassed to talk about that. That's okay." She waved her hand almost dismissively.

"No, I'm not embarrassed to talk about it, there's nothing to talk about."

Tara frowned. "I thought by now…"

Kim shook her head emphatically. "We've decided to wait. We haven't decided how long, but it's at least going to be until we're eighteen."

She leaned in close again. "Haven't you been tempted."

Kim chuckled slightly. "More than a little. Just going to make it better when we're done waiting."

"Have you at least seen him?" Tara whispered secretively.

"Not really." She went on when she realized that was only confusing. "Back before we were together, when we were sophomores I…let's just say there was a sitch where I had to dress him."

The petite cheerleader gasped slightly. "What happened?"

Kim looked around the room to make sure nobody else was there to hear them. "Do you remember the cheer regionals that year?"

"Yeah, who can forget. You wigged out and Ron had to take your place. If he wasn't an official part of the team as a mascot, we would have been disqualified."

"Tara, this can't go beyond this room. That wasn't Ron. It was me."

If the girl hadn't been confused before, she sure was now.

"Wait, so that means who we thought was you was Ron?" She waited until the redhead indicated she was correct. "So somehow something made you look like Ron and Ron look like you?"

"Not so much. We got our brains switched by Doctor Drakken."

Tara tried to get her own brain around that and found she couldn't, deciding it was just another one of the strange things that happened routinely to her friend. Instead she got a sly little smile. "So?"

"So what?"

"So, did you check him out while you were alone?"

Kim made a slightly rude noise. "So not. I didn't see anything more that what I absolutely had to."

"Kim." Tara tilted her head down and looked up.

"Tara! I wasn't interested in Ron that way then." She turned slightly red.

"Why not. I was back then. Still would be if you hadn't figured it out. Come on, just between us girls."

Kim gave up. "Okay, just between us…and no sidelong glances at him later and you've got to realize, he's done a lot of growing and growing up since then."

"Stalling." Tara sing songed.

"Okay, okay." She bit her lower lip ever so slightly and took a breath. "He's most def a natural blonde and…" Gritting her teeth she held her hand out, palm up. "He's got big hands and feet."

Tara balled up her fists under her hands and lightly stamped her feet, all the while grinning wickedly. "I knew it." Her voice dropped down to a whisper. "You say he's grown since then?"

In response Kim just held her hand a couple inches above her head. She wasn't about to add what she could tell when he was wearing something revealing like his white super-suit or when there was a 'is that Rufus in your pocket or are you just glad to see me' moment.

"What do you think your first time will be like?"

Kim leaned back on her palms, sighing. "I've got a few fantasies. Some of them are sweet and romantic…some of them are a little dirty." She added with a wicked smile of her own.

"What's your favorite?"

"It's not real specific. We'll be completely alone. Maybe some candles. Knowing how things go for us, I can't even being to imagine where that might be."

"Just so long as it's not in the back seat of a car or some nasty motel room." Tara said.

"Okay, you've heard about me, what about you?"

She cast her bright blue eyes at the ceiling. "For me it's always been the same. I'm being carried across the threshold in my wedding dress. I make him wait in the bathroom while I change into something special."

"You're gonna wait for your wedding night?"

"Uh huh. Why not, imagine how wonderful it will be, how special. Imagine what all that waiting will do to him?" She finished with yet another sly grin.

"Yeah, that does sound nice. Just don't know if we can manage to last that long." Kim mused.

"Listen, Kim. Blind people living under a rock a thousand miles away from here know you love Ron. That's why I don't feel bad when I flirt with him. It's fun, he appreciates it and I know it's not to hurt either one of you. Remember how you were that short time he was away and how things were for you when he got back? Well, think about the other thing. Imagine if you wait until the two of you get married how it's going to be then."

"Oh, and what if we run off and elope the moment Ron turns eighteen?"

Tara just shook her head, getting and patting the rest of the water out of her hair which immediately fell back into broad waves. "I just can't picture the two of you doing that. You're too tight with the fam. Myself, I'm thinking maybe twenty-five, sooner if the fit is right."

Kim sat back on the circular seat in the middle of the locker room. "There's another one of those things I can't see us waiting that long for. Maybe sometime in college, maybe right after." She frowned slightly, worried about Ron's future. His final attempt at the SAT was just over a week away. It was supposed to be the weekend she went to Temple with him but this once they both were going to miss that. She tried telling herself that whatever happened, their future together was set but it would be so spankin' if he could go with her to Middleton College, whether they ever had a single class together or not.

"Kim, there's something else I wanted to ask you about."

"Shoot."

"What does it feel like when you do those things you do?"

"The things I do? Tara, I just told you Ron and I weren't…"

"No, not that. I mean the missions and stuff. Sometimes I think it would be so cool to be able to haul off and smack some bad guy." She mock-punched the air, almost losing her towel.

"It's all kinds of things. Sometimes it's scary. I don't mean 'boo' scary I mean 'these people could really kill me' scary and it's not the super-freaks that scare me the most, it's your run-of-the-mill thug with a gun. The baddies like Doctor Drakken always had some elaborate scheme to do Ron and me in but in the end, I don't wear any kind of body armor, so all it would take is one crazy and one bullet. The rest of the time, going in it's kind of a rush. Remember our Junior year ski trip when I took you up to Devil's Drop? When we jumped off the edge, that moment when we were just falling before our boards bit in, that's the kind of rush I'm talking about. The best part, though, is when we're done and we know we've helped people."

"I really wish I could do that." Tara mused as she brushed out her hair.

"It's harder than it looks. I've got gifts that let me do a lot of things most people can't do and I've been at it since I was twelve, though the real rough stuff didn't start until I was fourteen. You ever do any kind of martial arts training?"

"Only that self-defense course Bonnie talked me into." She started giggling. "It was so funny watching Bonnie take the instructor down every time. I think she was a brown belt then but the class wasn't for her benefit, it was for me."

That gave Kim slight pause. Bonnie had actually done something good for a friend. Maybe she was just showing off a little bit, but those courses could do a girl a world of good, especially when that girl is a petite and trusting type like Tara.

Tara started getting dressed. It was clear why she had showered at the gym as she was putting on a nice spring dress. It was so warm Kim was wearing her new green top. It was the same color as the ones she used to wear almost constantly but it zipped up the front and had a collar, though it still left her arms and midriff bare.

"Hot date tonight?" Kim finally asked as her friend finished dressing.

"I hope so. It's a college guy." Tara mock-whispered across the room.

"Oh, well, that's a switch. I thought you liked to know guys before you went out with them." Kim finished packing her things into her backpack and stood up to go."

"Didn't say I don't know him. You know him too."

"I do?" Kim giggled, enjoying the girl-talk. Monique had reached the stage with her boyfriend that everything out of her mouth was 'Felix this' and 'Felix that.' Was I ever that way with Ron? Nah, we've been friends so long we must have skipped that part. "So who is the lucky guy?"

"You'll see." She said, shutting her locker and heading for the door.

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney