Ronald's diner

chapter 1

I.

Ronald stood looking longingly across the street towards the church on the other side and considered whether or not he should go in there. Yes, he had received a wedding invitation, a personal one at that, but it would still be a bit akweird for him to be there. And that assumed that he could even be able to behave himself in front of Kim and her husband to be. The last time the three of them had gotten together had not ended well, not when you are asked to leave and never come to Chez restaurant again.

Ronald stood there for several minutes, thinking about whether or not he should stay or go when the decision was made for him. His ears perked up as the first few notes of the wedding march entered his ears from across the street. As the march continued to play, Ronald knew that he was losing Kim, losing her to the love of her life. Ronald didn't hold that against her. He just wished that he had been that man that she had fallen in love with.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Ronald began to walk away from the church before stopping and turned to face the church one last time, "Congratulations, KP, have a good life." As Ronald walked away, he didn't really care that much where he was going. Neither Hana nor his parents were home and wouldn't be for several hours, and since Rufus was with Hana today, he couldn't turn to his closest friend. Even Felix and Monique were also both out of the question since they were at Kim's wedding. No, right now, Ronald had no one he could turn to.

After a while, Ronald found himself standing in front of a local bar. Normally, he wasn't much of a drinker, but right now, he felt that he could use one. Several hours later, an inebriated Ron left the bar and began to make his way towards his apartment in Lowerton.

II.

After a few moments, the insistent knocking on the apartment door stopped for the second time. Thinking that whoever was at the door had finally left, Ronald began to pour himself another drink only to be interrupted when the knocking began again. Sighing in annoyance, Ronald staggered to the door and opened it to see who it was that wouldn't leave him alone. "Well hi Tara, how you doing?" Ronald said with an alcohol assisted goofy grin.

"Ronald Stoppable. I'm glad to see that you even bothered to answer the door this time." Tara said sternly as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"What do you want?"

"I came to check on you." She answered, her voice softening a little.

"You came all the way down from Middleton to Lowerton just to see me?" Ronald said sarcastically as he leaned against the door frame to support himself.

"Might as well since you can't seem to make the trip from Lowerton to Middleton." Tara retorted just as sarcastically

"What makes you think I want to come and see you?"

If Ronald had been sober, he might have noticed the look of anger that crossed Tara's face just before she slapped him.

"Damn it, Ronald, stop being an ass!" Tara yelled. "I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about your family. You're folks haven't seen or heard from you in over a week now, and their worried about you. And what about Hana? She keeps asking how come you won't come to see her."

"I just feel like being alone." Ronald said dejectedly.

"Maybe that's what you want, but it's not what you need," Tara said before gently turning Ronald's head till he was face to face with her. She then continued in a softer voice. "Look at yourself, Ronald, you're a mess. I've never seen you like this before. You look nothing like the person I used to know. Ronald, you were always a nice guy, a real friend, a friend who I'm worried about." Tara stopped as she choked up a bit. "Please, please clean yourself up and go see your family, let them know that you're ok." At this point, Tara couldn't hold back her tears anymore. "Please, Ronald, I, I couldn't stand the thought of losing another friend like how, how I lost Bonnie."