Where Did the Time Go? : Part XXXII

If his mind wasn't otherwise occupied Ron would have been wondering what was taking Kim so long. With the exception of getting ready for a dress-up date, she was a confirmed master of quick changes and he suspected the only reason she took so long making herself 'special' (she was always pretty) was that she spent most of that time staring at her closet trying to figure out what to wear. (He was so right.)

In English his assignment was to pick out a novel and prepare a report on it so, feeling industrious, he borrowed Kim's copy of Battlefield Earth and dug in, confident he would know what was going on since he saw the movie. He didn't get far before realizing just how different that snaptacular piece of cinematic traife really was. At least by that point he was really into the story, though he had to ask the teacher for an extension on the project since the book was really, really long. That request was granted after having a short discussion with her about what he had covered to that point and preparing a short report on it on the original due date for the complete report. She was impressed that he was enjoying the assignment so much and even more so he turned in A quality work.

He didn't mention he had read Kim's reports but since she had trusted him with them, he actually did his own work instead of copying them. He let her read the report first and she was very pleased with it (after scribbling a couple corrections on it.)

"Ron?"

Looking up he gave a little start. He recognized the voice right off the bat but it took a moment for him to reconcile the image. He was expecting frosted hair but in the intervening months since he had last seen the owner of that voice he had let the colored part grow out and had it cut off, leaving his whole close-cropped coif light brown.

"Josh? Dude, it's been like forever." He rose from his seat on the bleachers taking the proffered

hand.

"Good lord, Ron, I almost didn't recognize you." For the first time the two young men stood almost eye to eye. Mankey still had a little edge on him height wise but the two of them had just about the same build, with Ron being a tad broader across the shoulders.

"Yeah, I got a little bit of a late growth spurt. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to college in Cali."

"I transferred to Upperton U a couple months ago. Dad's health isn't good so I thought it'd be better being closer to home, plus the art program I was in pretty much sucked. Still hooked up with Kim?"

"Oh yeah." He smiled broadly. "So, you around to see the old campus?"

"Actually, I'm picking up my date. She's supposed to be ready by now, but you know how girls are."

"Yeah, they tend to take a while getting dressed. Hey, Josh, I think Tara's still around. Bet she'd be happy to see you."

Josh sat down on the bleachers, stretching out his arms. "I hope so, I'm taking her to dinner and a movie tonight."

"Oh cool, the two of you getting back together?"

He looked a little pensive. "Maybe. She's not dating Jason Morgan any more, so I'm hoping we can hit it off again. I think the only reason she started going out with him was because Rockwaller was pressuring her to find somebody a little higher on her precious 'food chain.'"

"Tell me about it. Hey, I've got an idea. Kim and I are doing the same thing, how about we team up?"

"A double date? You sure that's wise. Kim might feel a little 'awk-weird.'"

"Nah, Kim and me are tight. She'll probably be glad to catch up with you." He sat down beside Josh, putting away his book.

"Cool. So what have you been up to?"

Ron leaned back against the bleacher. "Same ole, same ole."

"Barkin still raggin' on ya?"

He curled up his nose a bit. "Barkin's still Barkin, but he's actually gotten pretty cool since my grades started improving. He won't admit it, but I think he's kind of proud of the old Ronster."

"Yeah, toe the line with him and he'll move on to torturing somebody else. Bet he still has Big Mike, Lenny and Junior in detention as we speak."

"Yup. I wonder what it is those guys do to stay in there that hasn't gotten them suspended or expelled yet. Lenny's actually a pretty good student."

Josh shrugged. "I guess some people are just born to battle."

"Yeah, like Kim and Bonnie." Ron said.

"Those two still at it? Sheesh, you think they would have outgrown all that crap by now."

It was Ron's turn to shrug. "I don't think Bonnie's going to improve until she gets away from that posse of hers. She's been alright the last couple of weeks."

"Long as it isn't the calm before the storm. Hey, been meaning to apologize to you."

"'Bout what? We didn't exactly travel in the same circles, you know."

Josh sat up, leaning on his knees. "Last year, when Brick, Walter and me were teasing you about that underwear you had."

"Oh, that? We got over that pretty quick. Now it just seems pretty funny." Ron waved his hand dismissively.

"No, I mean what I said about Kim. It hadn't been that long since Tara dumped me and I was just lashing out. Kim and I…we never really had too much of a spark but I still was real interested in her. I had no business saying the two of you would drift apart like we did. I'm not usually that snarky except with professors who overly criticize my work."

Ron shook his head. "Don't worry about it Dude. Like I said, me and Kim, we're tight. Plus she thinks I'm a badical kisser."

Josh chuckled softly. "I think I did more kissing with Tara on our first date than I did the whole time I knew Kim. I almost can't imagine her kissing anybody."

Ron stretched his own arms out, a dreamy expression on his face. "Oh, she kisses alright."

"What's that word you use?" Josh asked, looking back at him.

"Ah, boo-yah." Ron said softly. He sat up and pointed to the locker room as Kim and Tara emerged.

Kim's eyes lit up as soon as she realized who was sitting with Ron. She ran up a few steps ahead of the blonde cheerleader and wrapped her arms around him in a friendly hug. "Josh, it's been like forever! I can't believe you two are actually getting back together!"

"Let's get past the first date." He laughed as he took Tara's hand. "Ron had a terrific idea."

"So did Kim." Tara chirped, hopping up and down on her tiny feet.

"Okay, you first." He nodded toward Kim.

"Well, Tara told me what the two of you were planning so I said why don't we all go out together." Kim gushed, joining her friend in her little hop.

Ron and Josh both had to sit back down they were laughing so hard. Josh put his hand on Kim's arm. "See, the two of you are meant for each other. Ron said exactly the same thing. So, what where were the two of you off to?"

"Kim's gotten addicted to steak, so we were going to try that new Texas theme steakhouse out by the mall, then we were going to head over to the new theater out by the interchange."

"There's a new theater? Cool. We won't have to wear gloves when Lamar gives us our tickets." Josh said.

"It's even cooler than that. We don't even have to stand in line, we just go up to this screen thingy and buy our tickets with an ATM card and there's twenty eight screens, so there's almost always something to watch." Ron held up his thumbs. "They've also got the most badical concession stand I've ever seen."

A tall, well built man with a tan complexion and dark, perfectly groomed hair stepped off the ramp leading from the airplane. He was wearing an immaculate Italian suit and dark sunglasses, hiding his blue eyes. He passed through customs quickly, his name as well as his sizable personal fortune paving the way.

He seemed supremely confident, an attitude bolstered by the fact he was alone. Almost every time he had been to the United States before he had been in the company of his father, who would be judging and criticizing his every move. Now that he was twenty-one he was able to step out of his father's shadow (which was only a figurative shadow since he actually dwarfed his aging forebear.)

This was going better than he figured. He was indeed thankful that his former criminal activities, at least those he had been tried for, where not in America. True, he had been captured trying to steal corporate secrets in Texas but he had escaped with his father's aid before he could be turned over to the authorities. The owner of the cookie company he had tried ripping off, fearing negative publicity, never mentioned the case, simply redoubling their security.

That made it possible for Señor Esteban Senior Junior to enter the country as a legitimate businessman from Spain by way of Mexico. His father could have his grandiose schemes in his new palatial estate outside of Mexico City. Junior was done with that. The whole villainy thing was his father's hobby, not his. Now that he was out on his own he could pursue his own dream; that of becoming an international pop sensation.

His plan was fairly simple. With his own personal fortune he had fostered after claiming the two billion dollar reward for turning his own father in he was going to buy his own record label and produce the CDs himself. He still had no earthly idea how to handle the money himself, but he had a cadre of lawyers and accountants ready to do his bidding. He would issue the simple orders and it would be up to them to see to it they were carried out.

There was no doubt in his mind he would succeed…

…and that he would have his Blue Fox by his side when he did.

"So, we're sitting there in Middleton Park, looking at my project and all of a sudden this film starts, playing right on that wall and it's Kim at maybe two years old taking a bath."

Kim hid her eyes, wishing she could crawl under the table, utterly and totally thankful she didn't have any Aurora Orchid serum in her system.

"The whole time she's wearing what's got to be her father's trench coat, even though it was like in the sixties that evening. That had to be the freakiest date I have ever been on."

"That's nothing." Ron cut in. "The last time Kim and I came here," He waved his hand at the bustling restaurant. The wait at the steakhouse was over an hour so they all agreed it would be fun to go to Muddrakker's. "It's like twenty degrees outside and snowing to boot but Kim's going out if it kills her."

"So not the drama, Ron. I would have been perfectly happy sitting at home in front of the fire."

"Right. Anyway, I'd had these reservations at La Cirque for like two weeks, but they closed early because of the storm so we ended up coming here. Well, before we could even finish our meals they decided to close up too so we went out to the van. By then it wasn't just snowing, it was a complete blizzard."

"Let me guess." Josh cut in. "The van wouldn't start."

"Exactly. So we're stuck there in the snow. We called Wade but he couldn't do anything. All the while it's getting colder and the snow is getting worse."

"I bet the two of you cuddled." Tara said dreamily.

"It was too cold even for that." Kim replied, picking apart a buffalo wing.

Ron went on with his narration. "We tried walking home, but it took us forever just crossing the parking lot."

"What did you do?" Josh asked, reaching for the wing platter.

"We ended up getting a ride home in a police car." Kim finished, shooting Ron a look to leave out the part they ended up snuggled up all night together, even though it was purely sleep. "I like this place, but it just seems like something freakish happens every time I come here."

"Yeah, what was the deal with you that night." Josh asked. "I mean, I'd have never figured you for a klutz like that, spilling your drink and knocking the whole table over on me, all the while spraying ketchup all over my face."

"Bad guy issues. When I ran off at the park I was actually fighting a pair of Ninjas."

"Oh, so that's where you got the cape. What about those two kids who were shadowing us?"

"My little brothers." Kim replied dryly.

"See, I told you, the weirdest date in history. You could have told me what was going on, Kim, I would have been cool. So, you two must be pretty serious, considering all the Bling you're wearing."

Kim's hand went to the middle of her chest, pulling out the heart pendant necklace with the class ring hanging from its clasp. "Ron barely even wore it before he gave it to me. I had no idea it was going to be so big."

"His hands are big, you know." Tara said with a sly little grin. Kim lightly kicked her shin under the table, prompting the blonde to stick her tongue out at her.

"Actually, I was talking about all the emeralds. Ron, man, you've got good taste in jewelry."

"I is what I is." He said, grinning at Kim. She squeezed his leg lightly.

Josh went on. "I mean, they're exactly the same color as her eyes. Now I'm going to have to come up with some money to buy Tara sapphires."

"I'm going to remember you said that." Tara said, hugging her date's arm.

Ron looked at Kim's eyes. "That part was easy. I knew the moment the jeweler pulled them out they were right." He gripped her hand as she smiled back at him. Her eyes turned dark as she looked past him.

"Oh, isn't this rich. Must be a foursome night or something."

Ron turned around, locking eyes with a grinning Bonnie.

"Bonnie, this is a private conversation." Kim growled at her.

"Oh, I'm sure the four of you want some alone time, especially so you can get some time to get reacquainted with Josh. Good thing you brought along a spare so Stoppable won't get lonely." She nodded at Tara who looked like she had been slapped across the face.

Josh stood up, joined moments later by Ron. About that moment Tad Thacker, the star quarterback of the Lowerton Lemurs stepped up beside Bonnie, looking down at Ron. He was tall and built like Brick but he didn't have the rounded edges of his date's one-time boyfriend.

"Why don't you sit back down, mascot." He growled.

"Why don't you take your date and leave us alone." He said dangerously.

"Come on, Tad. We wouldn't want to make a scene." Bonnie said musically, touching the big football player's arm.

"Not until you apologize to Kim and Tara." Ron growled at Bonnie.

"Ron, it's okay." Kim pulled at his arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Bonnie said smoothly. "Sorry I ever consented to have that little hussy on the cheer squad. Maybe you didn't know this, Joshie, but there's a real good reason Ronnie here is so smitten with Kim. Not that you ever found out about it." With that she turned on he heel and walked off, her nose in the air and her brutish date in tow.

Kim watched them go, then watched as Ron stood there, clenching and unclenching his fist.

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