Chapter 16: Date #1, Dinner Date

Riverna's Restaurant, a 'somewhat' formal dining establishment, not far from the Middleton Mall. All manners of dinners could be found during the day. The majority wore business casual but the jeans and tee crowd didn't feel terribly out of place. It was a favorite spot for dating teens for whom fast food wasn't quite right but formal dining was too pretentious. It was also a fine place for two fashionable teenaged girls to meet for a late night meal, heart pouring, and gossip.

"So it's over between you two?" Monique asked.

"For over a week now," Kim answered, "to be honest, we've really been limping along for a couple of weeks before that. Josh isn't a bad guy and he IS hot but we just ran out of things to talk about."

"Why do you want to be talking with that fine specimen? I could think of a lot more fun things to do with that boy!"

"Monique!" Kim blushed. "The lip locking was nice but it only kept us together for the first couple of weeks, you know? After that I started to realize that we really didn't have that much in common. He likes art and music, I like cheerleading and saving the world. We didn't even have classes together so the normal, teen homework sessions weren't in the cards. To be honest, it was only Ron pushing us together that made it last this long."

"Ron did that for you?"

"Can you believe it?" Kim shook her head with a wondrous smile. "Ron was a real jerk to Josh when we first started, even though he set us up for our first date. But after he came back from Japan he was all 'schedule your couple time and fit the friend time around it.' Josh and I were so surprised! He even walked right up and apologized to Josh. I think that the two of us stayed together just because he was trying so hard to keep us together."

Monique frowned slightly. "Girlfriend, I've seen a lot of BF/GF couples stick together a lot longer than a couple of weeks even though they didn't have anything in common. You and Josh are both HOT! You sure there wasn't anything else breaking you two up?"

Kim gave her a sad smile. "Sometimes you're just too smart. The fact is that I'm not an easy girl to date. Not only am I so busy with my classes, the squad, and my other school activities, but I do go running off at odd times to save the world and my best friend and assistant happens to be a guy. A lot of boys find that a real turn-off. Josh is really into his band and his art. He wasn't willing to schedule his interests around mine and I wasn't ready to give up my interests for him."

"So now you're into the 'mope a bit and move on' stage?"

Kim smiled. "I've actually gotten over that stage already. Like I said we broke it off a week ago and it was as good as over for at least two weeks before that."

Monique looked at her friend. "So what's got you all sad then? You're really in a funk right now."

Kim's expression fell. "It's Ron."

"Ron?"

"Yeah, you know how I said he was a jerk for the first couple of weeks?" Monique nodded. "I think that I was being just as much of a jerk as he was. Friday nights were always 'Kim and Ron' nights and I cut that off when I started dating Josh. Not only that but I really pushed him away almost all of the time. I was being a crummy friend. It hasn't been the same with us since."

"You miss that goof?" Monique was priming the gossip pump.

"Boyfriends will come and boyfriends will go but Ron's been my closest friend for more than half my life. There were times that I'd be soooo wound up from a rough week in school and he'd have me laughing for hours every Friday. I could talk to him about anything, at any time. Now he seems to be avoiding me. Oh, he stops by if I ask him to, he walks with me to and from school and he's always on for the missions but it just isn't the same. I want my best friend back."

"Have you talked to him about this?"

"No, I was planning on talking to him tonight. I had tried calling him just before you called me but he wasn't at home. To be honest I've also been a jerk about his wrestling. It seems really important to him but I can't help but think he's using it as an excuse to avoid me. Of course, before today I didn't really appreciate how much grief he was taking as the mascot."

Monique nodded. One of the first topics of conversation had been Ron's confrontation with the squad. "That really isn't like him, standing up for himself, is it?" She asked the head cheerleader.

"That's another thing that's changed about him since he joined the wrestling team. He stands up for himself. He fights back pretty well against the goons in D Hall and he stands up to me when I start running over him. And don't forget him and Bonnie in the Lunchroom."

Monique smiled wide, "I don't think anybody will forget that! But speaking of the skinny blond boy, do I have some news for you!"