Kim Possible: Ronald's Diner
Chapter 2: Table Talk
AN: I must admit that I am surprised at the amount of positive feedback I am receiving about my reboot of Ron's Dinner, and that was after just one chapter. I must be doing something right. As you read this chapter I'm sure you will start to pick up on changes to the story. Part of that is simply from cleaning up the grammar and spelling, but part of it is because the plot has changed a bit and there are certain aspects of the story I wanted to emphasis.
I.
Bonnie's hands slowly slid across the bed as she enjoyed the feeling of sheets against her flesh. There was nothing like a good night's sleep in a warm bed the brunette thought to herself. Then suddenly Bonnie awoke with a start, sheets? Warm bed? How did she get these things? Soon the rest of the previous night began to come back to her. She had gone to Ronald's diner to beg for some food and unluckily he had recognized her. Whether out of pity, or to hold something over her, Ronald had not only given her a meal but had let her come back to his place to shower and wash her cloths. But how had she gotten in his bed? As a number of things raced through Bonnie's mind she quickly examined herself and found no evidence of being violated or molested. A lack of evidence didn't prove anything, and a knock out drug slipped in to her drink would account for her not being able to recall if anything had happened.
Climbing out of bed Bonnie began to looking for her clothing, with a little luck if Ron was still asleep and she could be dressed and out the door before he even knew she had left. However, when she was unable to find any of it Bonnie began to become worried. Had Ronald taken advantage of her? Had he hidden her clothes to make it that much harder for her to leave? But if that was the case then why not leaver her naked instead of with a bathrobe on? Stop that Bonnie! She told herself, you're going to work yourself in to a panic thinking about that kind of stuff.
After taking several deep, calming breaths, Bonnie began to think about things in a more rational manner. She did have to admit although she didn't like the way the situation looked right now, that Ronald was pretty unlikely, at least compared to most of the men Bonnie knew, to take advantage of her. But that didn't mean she completely trusted Ronald either. It wasn't anything personal against Ronald, but Bonnie had learned not to trust a lot of men in her life.
Making sure that her bathrobe was completely cinched up and covered most of her body; Bonnie unlocked the bedroom door. A locked door was a good sign since it meant that Bonnie, who was the only one in the room, had locked it last night. Bonnie then sat these thoughts aside to focus on her current task as she slowly opened the bedroom door to peer in to the living room. As the door opened her nose was quickly assaulted by the smell of something good, the smell of food that was cooked instead of being either raw or burnt. She also realized that no one was lying on a couch. She wondered if maybe Ron or rather Ronald as he seemed to prefer to be called, had gone to the diner and left her here alone. If so then she could try to find her clothes, or if need by take some of his, and leave. As Bonnie opened the door wider she was caught by surprise by the sound of a familiar voice.
"Good morning Bonnie, did you sleep well?"
Looking at the source of the voice, Bonnie realized that Ronald was not only still there but he appeared to be making breakfast. Bonnie had hoped that Ronald would not be home, that would have made things less awkward, but since he was here she might as well make the most of it.
"How did I end up in your bed and where are my clothes?" Bonnie asked sternly.
"I know you didn't want to stay here," Ronald said as he slid an omelet on to a plate, "But you were so tired that you fell asleep on the couch the minute you sat down on it. I figured that if you were that tired then you really needed your rest. I tried to make you comfortable with a blanket and pillow. I guess I must have startled you while I was placing the pillow under your head because you freaked out and began to scream at me to keep away."
Bonnie was only half listening to the explanation as she hungrily eyed the cheesy looking omelet, bacon, toast, and juice that Ronald had prepared. It looked as though he was going to have a very good breakfast.
"I then offered to let you sleep in my bed, since my bedroom locks from the inside, and I would sleep on the couch." Ronald continued to explain as he exited the kitchen carrying a tray with two plates each filled with an identical looking breakfast. Once Ronald had stepped in to the living room he took a seat on the couch and placed both breakfasts on his worn looking coffee table. After placing breakfast on the coffee table, Ronald then returned the tray to the kitchen before speaking again.
"Your breakfast is getting cold, go ahead and eat."
Bonnie's mouth was watering and her stomach made a audible rumble but she suppressed her urge to eat as she repeated her earlier question, "Where are my clothes?"
"They're in the dryer."
"You said they were in the dryer last night. How can they still be there unless you didn't go get them? I bet you did that on purpose didn't you." Bonnie accused.
"No I didn't do that on purpose. The dryer I put them in last night malfunctioned because it didn't dry them so I had to put them in a different dryer this morning."
"I don't believe you."
"Damn it Bonnie, your starting to sound just like Kim!" Ronald suddenly snapped.
Bonnie was surprised Ronald's sudden outburst.
Ronald also seemed slightly surprised by his actions as he looked away from Bonnie. "I'm sorry Bonnie, I didn't mean to yell at you like that. You don't deserve that." Then looking at Bonnie again, "Why don't you sit down and eat. I'll go get your clothes out of the dryer." With out another word Ronald walked past Bonnie and out the door.
Bonnie could only stare at the sight of the retreating Ronald as she comprehended what she had just seen. Apparently Kim and Ron weren't on the best of terms. But it also reminded Bonnie of how easy it was for her to fall back in to old habits, such as being snippy with Ronald, who had not only given her a meal and a place to sleep last night, but had made her breakfast as well. Letting out a sigh Bonnie sat down on the couch and began to eat her breakfast as she thought about how to repay Ronald for his kindness.
About half way though Bonnie eating her breakfast Ronald came back with a small pile of cloths in his arms and placed them next to Bonnie. "Here are you clothes."
"Thank you. I'm sorry I was snippy earlier…"
"Don't worry about it." Ronald said cutting her off, "Let's just enjoy our breakfast."
Several minutes later after finishing the last of her meal, Bonnie closed her eyes as she sedately leaned back against the couch.
"Thank you Ron, err I mean Ronald. That was delicious." She said with none of the usual sarcasm or I'm better than you attitude that everyone associated with voice. The result was, at least as far as Ronald was concerned, a rather pleasing sound.
"Hey it was no big deal. I'm just glad that you look better than you did yesterday, even with your bed head."
Bonnie's eyes flew open as she bolted upright and gasped in horror as in her mind's eye she imagined a picture of her hair being all tangled, wild, and unkempt looking on a picture of her in her most stylish out fit that she would wear to the mall. But as the rational side of her mind caught up with her thoughts, the picture of her in the stylish out fit was replaced by what she looked like not twenty four hours ago. And now here she was, in a warm place, with a roof over her head, cleaner than she had been in weeks, and with a full belly, and she was still worried about little things like how she looked.
As the giggles that began to escape from her lips soon became a full felt laughter, Ronald began to wonder about her mental stability. Finally getting over her bout of giggles, the first one Bonnie had had in several months, she looked at Ronald and mentioned what was on her mind.
"Thank you for giving me a place to stay last night, and I know that you don't really expect any kind of repayment but I would like to try to repay you somehow."
"You really don't have to repay me, but if you do we can probably figure out something." Ronald answered.
"Fair enough, but that's a lot easier to do if I'm dressed, so if you don't mind I'm going to go and get dressed." Bonnie said as she quickly gathered up her clothes and headed for the bedroom.
As his roommate from the previous night shut and locked the door to the bedroom Ronald began to wonder who she might like working in at his diner.
II.
After getting dressed and taming her "bed head" hair, Bonnie finally exited Ronald's bed room and announced with a touch of her old Queen Bee flare, "Now that I'm presentable to the world again lets get this day started."
"I didn't think you were that un-presentable to start with." Ronald grinned.
"And don't you forget it," Bonnie said, "now lets talk about payment."
"Payment?"
"Yes payment. You know what I owe you for last night."
"I told you didn't have to. But a thank you would be nice."
"Thank you. Now what else do I have to do? You mentioned we could probably figure something out. How about me helping you at your diner? I could wash dishes for you today."
"Bonnie, what makes you think that you have to wash dishes in order to repay me?"
Bonnie rolled her eyes as if she was talking to a child, "Because that's the way it works. A guy gives a girl dinner and a place to stay for the night and she repays him. And judging by the looks of your place here you're not exactly "Ron millionaire" are you."
"No I'm not Ron millionaire," Ronald conceded, "But since you mention it, maybe I could us a little repayment from you."
"That's what I figured, all guys are the same." Bonnie said in disgust.
"Hey you haven't heard me out yet."
"No, but let me guess, it involves me in various states of being undressed."
"What? No way Bonnie, I wouldn't demand any kind of repayment like that." Ronald replied in surprise.
"Then I guess it's back to washing dishes as I don't have any money on me."
Ronald sighed in frustration before answering. "Yes you can help me at the diner, but it doesn't include washing dishes."
"Then what?" Bonnie asked like wise frustrated.
"Come to the diner with me and I'll show you."
III.
The car ride to the diner had been quite as the two were wrapped up in their own thoughts after the morning's disagreement. After three songs and one commercial break on the radio, Ronald's used Pontiac came to a stop behind his diner.
"Are you sure about this Bonnie? You don't have to do this you know." Ronald said as he opened the car door.
"Yes I'm sure. I know you don't expect any repayment from me, but I would feel better if you did let me help you around the diner today. I'll do what ever you need me to. I'll wash dishes, I'll sweep the floor, whatever." Bonnie answered as she followed suit.
"Well I said you didn't have to do those things and you don't. But there is something else I would like to know, are you any good at math and accounting? Because I could use some help with that." Ronald grinned kind of sheepishly.
"Sure, I got an A in economics in high school. Besides, as long as you have a calculator then it can't be that hard can it?"
Two minutes later at the back of the diner, Ronald showed Bonnie the broom closet which served as his office. Bonnie could only stand there in a state of shock as she looked at the state of things on Ronald's desk, the term clutter would be far too generous to describe the scene before her. As near as she could tell the paper work on his desk and merged in to a single pile that not only stood almost three feet high, but also hung off the sides of the desk by a good six inches to either side. "Ronald Stoppable, you call this an office? It's an insult to the very concept of organization."
Ronald was struggling for an answer when he heard the bell at his front door chime. Saved by the bell he thought. "Oh look at that, the first customer of the day. Guess I need to go take care of them, I'll leave you here to handle things." He said as he began to retreat out of the office.
IV.
"Hi Bonnie, thought you might like some lunch."
Looking up from the still rather sizable pile of paperwork in front of her Bonnie saw Ronald standing in the door way holding a plate with a sandwich on it.
"Is it lunch time already?"
"Not quite, its only 11 o'clock, but I thought I would make you something before the lunch time rush hits."
"Wow, I didn't realize it was that time already." Bonnie said as she stood and stretched. "But then again taming this mountain of paperwork may well take the rest of the week."
"Hmm, if I didn't know any better I would say that you were trying to find a way to keep your self employed. Either that or your looking for an excuse to hang out with me some more."
"Don't flatter yourself." Bonnie retorted as she accepted the sandwich. "Honestly I don't know how you manage to run your own business? You have overdue and past due bills, bills that have been more than paid in full, outstanding invoices for items that weren't delivered, and that's all from me just putting things in to like piles. No wonder you and Kim aren't together, no fore thought or organization on your part."
"Now that's the old Bonnie I remember, always a snide remark." Ronald answered sarcastically. "But it shows what you know. Kim and I didn't break up over something so trivial as just my lack of organization."
"Then why did you two break up?"
"None of your business, that's between me and Kim." Ronald said as he turned his back on Bonnie and walked back towards his kitchen.
Watching as the annoyed man walked out of the office, Bonnie turned back towards her desk and caught a glimpse of a picture hanging on a wall that showed Ron and Kim together. Both of them were smiling and they looked young, maybe early high school. Bonnie didn't know what was up between the two of them but she got the impression that Ronald was still hung up on Kim.
V.
The sound of thunder finally caused Bonnie to look up from the some what smaller but still sizable mess she had been trying to organize on Ronald's desk. Listening to the receding thunder and the patter of rain against the roof made Bonnie glad that the task had taken all day, even if it meant having to spend the day with a loser like Ronald Stoppable. Still any day under a warm roof was better than one in the cold rain, even if it was spent trying to organize paperwork.
Stepping out of broom closet that served as Ronald's Office, Bonnie spied the man in question as he finished counting out change to the last customer in the restaurant.
"Here's your change, have a good day George."
"Same to you Ronald," the customer said before spying Bonnie. "Oh I see you finally got yourself some help around here, and she's a looker too." With a final wave towards Bonnie and Ronald, George opened his umbrella as he walked through the door and in to the growing darkness.
"Hey Bonnie." Ronald said as he closed the cashier drawer. "Did you finish organizing my paperwork?"
"No, but considering the size of mess it would probably take me a few days at the least." Bonnie said as her gaze lingered on the cashier drawer for a second.
"If you want to come back and work on it some more tomorrow I'd be more than happy to let you."
"And what makes you think I want to do that?"
"Well for one thing I'm closing up the shop early today, but if you to want stay here and keep working then I won't hold you back."
"I'll pass. I said I would repay you for last night and I did, so we're even now." Bonnie said as she began to make her towards the door.
"Ok, we're even for last night. But what about tonight?"
"What do you mean what about tonight?"
"Well look at it outside," Ronald said as he pointed out the front window, "It's raining cats and dogs out there, and if I remember correctly last night you didn't say you had a place to stay."
"It's not like I don't have a place to stay, what do you think I am homeless or something?" Bonnie asked sarcastically.
"That thought had crossed my mind."
"And just what makes you think that? Do you think I can't take care of myself? That I'm broke, that I don't have any friends? That Bonnie Rockwaller needs help, a knight in shining armor?" As some of the old "Queen Bee" Bonnie began to resurface.
Ronald simply rubbed bridge of his nose in frustration before answering. "In a word Bonnie, yes."
Bonnie opened her mouth to respond but was quickly cut off.
"I'm not saying that to belittle or put you down Bonnie, but when I saw you last night, well you looked like you hadn't had a place to stay for quite a while, and more importantly that you hadn't had a friend for a while too."
"That's not true." Bonnie replied quickly.
"Then where ever it is you live it must be a real dive."
Bonnie slowly shook her head no. "I mean it is true about me being homeless. I am homeless. There, I said, I'm homeless. Hold that over me all you want but.." Bonnie stopped to let a small sob escape from her, "But don't say I don't have any friends."
Ronald hadn't meant to be that harsh to Bonnie, he had only wanted her to reconsider about staying over at his warm, dry apartment again. But as he watched the brunette sit down and begin to softly cry, Ronald knew that he had struck a raw nerve.
"I'm sorry Bonnie. I didn't mean to upset you like that. I was just offering to let you stay the night at my place so that you would be out of the rain. I guess I sort of fell back in to the old high school mindset of trading snarky barbs with you instead of being an adult about things and offering help to someone a little less fortunate than I. And your right about one thing, you do have friends, like the one talking to you right now."
"I'm not your friend," Bonnie sobbed softly, "I'm just someone your taking pity on."
"Then maybe we can be friends, it's not like we don't know each other. After all we were on the cheerleading team together in high school."
"Where I treated you like a complete loser."
"Well at least I'm not the one living on the streets, so who's the loser now?"
Bonnie couldn't help but to feel a bit ashamed by the truth of Ronald's words. "Ok so I'm a loser now. There I said it, happy now?"
"Bonnie, get over your self." Ronald sighed. "No I'm not happy that you called yourself a loser. You know that I don't get pleasure from some one else's misfortune." Pulling up a chair he sat next to the brunette and continued, "So why don't you let me help you out?"
"Why?" Bonnie quietly asked.
"Why? Why not? You've seen some rough times Bonnie, and to be honest so have I. So as a friend, someone who's had a rough ride around the block a time or two let me be a shoulder you can cry on." Kneeling down next to Bonnie, Ronald handed her a napkin and waited for her answer.
"That's what she said too."
"What was that Bonnie?"
Dabbing her eyes once, Bonnie lifted her head and looked at Ronald before repeating herself, "I had a friend once that said that same thing. Like you she was a really nice and caring person, and she really helped me out when I needed help."
"See, I'm not the only person that feels that way. Maybe you should listen to us wise persons, we might learn you a thing or two." Ronald said while holding up three fingers.
Despite herself Bonnie couldn't help but to chuckle a little at the blond man's antics. "Maybe you're right."
"Of coarse I'm right. Now lets see what I can whip up for some dinner, I don't know about you but I'm starved."
Over dinner the two had had a long discussion about Bonnie's living arrangements, namely the fact that she didn't have any. Being the gentleman that he was, Ronald had offered to let Bonnie stay the night at his place once again. Although this was not something Bonnie had wanted to do, the chance to stay in a warm, dry, and safe place made for a quite convincing argument. As did the list of rules she laid down, the most important one being that Bonnie got to sleep in the bedroom with the door locked while Ronald slept on the couch. Once Ronald had agreed to these terms he had finally convinced the former "Queen Bee" to stay one more night at his apartment, or at least until it had stopped raining.
VI.
Bonnie was enjoying the lingering flavor of dinner in her mouth as she rode in the passenger seat of Ronald's car. Staring out the window as rain continued to fall Bonnie began to wonder just how true the old saying was about the fastest way to a "man's" heart was through his stomach or if it was equally applicable to women. If Ronald could cook like this everyday she just might fall to her knees and beg for his hand in marriage. The image of this brought a small grin and slight chuckle to the brunette.
"What's so funny?" Ronald asked.
"What?" Bonnie asked as her thoughts were pulled back to reality.
"Just wondering what brought that smile to your face. It looks good on you, you should wear it more often."
"Compliments will get you no where Mr. Stoppable, although if you want to test that theory that's fine be me. But to answer your question, nothing much, just had a thought is all."
"You don't say. Come to think of it I've had a thought too."
"Well wonders will never cease then."
"Hey low blow there, I haven't even told you what I was thinking about."
"You mean your thought was something coherent and logical, the stars must truly be aligned just right tonight then." Bonnie teased. Although she had fallen far from her place as a "Queen Bee", Bonnie still enjoyed a good verbal sparing.
"Well I was thinking about your panties." Ronald said.
This brought a raised eyebrow from Bonnie, "Want me to smack you before or after you try to dig yourself out of this hole?"
"What? Oh wait that's not what I meant!" Ronald stammered as he attempted to back peddle as fast as possible.
"Then just what were you thinking? After all you've already seen them up close and personal." Bonnie said while adding just a touch of huskiness to her voice.
"I was thinking that you might need some more of them, unless you want me to see them up close and personal again by washing them tonight."
"Are you offering to buy me a pair of panties? That's the nicest thing a guy has done for me in months." Bonnie teased.
"Tell you what then, how about I also buy you a new pair of socks, a shirt, and some pants too. That's got to boost my standing by a few points I'm sure."
"And just what will I owe you for all this? There's no such thing as a free lunch after all." Bonnie replied coldly as she crossed her arms over her chest. Things had been going to well for her lately, so it was probably time for a little bad luck. She also knew that in some way shape or form she was going to have to repay Ronald, with a little luck the repayment wouldn't be to bad, maybe a few extra days helping out at his diner. If that was all it cost her then Bonnie could deal with that, after all there had been times in the past when she had paid more for less.
"Bonnie," Ronald said annoyed, "I don't expect repayment for this."
"Sure, I've heard that one before." Bonnie replied sarcastically.
Shaking his head in disbelief Ronald began to wonder if it was worth trying to be this nice to Bonnie. "Tell you what, you want to repay me for this, fine. Work as my accountant for the rest of the week at the diner."
Bonnie thought about that for a moment before answering. "Ok, but on one condition, you let me help around the diner as need be in addition to just being your accountant." She said while adding air quotes at the end. I want to try to repay you as quickly as possible and be on my way.
"Deal." Ronald said, "Oh and one more thing."
"What?"
"We're going shopping at SmartyMart."
Bonnie's screams of no could be heard half way across Lowerton.