Ronald's diner

chapter 8

I.

"May I come in? I heard that Ronald was sick so I brought him some soup."

"Yes, you can come in. Ronald's here, he's just asleep in the bed room." Bonnie answered after seeing the look of confusion on Tara's face.

Nodding her head in semi understanding, Tara walked towards the kitchen and placed the soup on the table as she tried to collect her thoughts and organize her questions in to some sort of coherent order. Seeing Bonnie after all these years and then finding her staying at Ronald's apartment of all places had been quite surprise, almost as surprising as what happened next. Tara turned around and was about to ask the first of about two hundred questions that were running through her head when she suddenly found her self being embraced by a softly crying Bonnie.

"Bonnie, are you ok?" A confused and concerned Tara asked.

"I'm sorry Tara. I'm sorry for the way I treated you in the past. I didn't deserve a friend as good as you." Bonnie mumbled between soft sobs.

"It's, its ok Bonnie," a still confused Tara said as she wrapped her arms around Bonnie to return the embrace, "I know you where having a rough time of it in high school."

"Yeah, but I still should have treated you better. You kept my secrets and were there for me when others would have laughed at me. You actually cared about me when no one else did."

Tara gently pushed Bonnie back until the tear streaked face of the brunette stood arms length from the blonde's. Tara had never see Bonnie like this before, the Bonnie she knew had always been strong and confident, and had usually hidden her emotions. The Bonnie before her now was humble, meek, and has not hiding behind any sort of mask. Tara was about to ask Bonnie about her life, how she had come to the place in her life that she was now at when the sound of a large sneeze caught both girls off guard.

"Excuse me." Ronald said meekly with a soft smile as he stood in the door way to his bedroom, "But I thought I heard a familiar voice in here."

Bonnie, whose back was still toward Ronald, lifted her tear streaked face till her eyes were level with Tara's and for just a second Tara saw the conflict in Bonnie's eyes as the brunette attempted to decide whether or not to turn and face Ronald.

"Here Ronald, I brought you some soup." Tara said.

"And I'll serve you some, when you get back in to bed." Bonnie said firmly as she turned to face Ronald. The confidence in her voice was in direct contrast to the how vulnerable her tear streaked face made her appear. The fact that Bonnie was willing to show this side of herself to Ronald spoke volumes to Tara about how much Bonnie had changed, and how little Tara knew about this "new" Bonnie.

"I'll go back to bed if you promise to clean yourself up first." Ronald countered, "Then you two can catch up on things."

"You need to rest Ronald, I'll catch up with Bonnie later." Tara suggested.

"No! Don't leave, I haven't finished saying I'm sorry yet." Bonnie pleaded.

"Bonnie its ok; I forgive you."

"No, I need to finish. I can't let things go unfinished again."

Neither Ronald nor Tara knew what she was talking about but from the way Bonnie was becoming more and more agitated they decided it was probably best to let Bonnie say her piece.

II.

After serving up a steaming bowl of Tara's soup for Ronald, the three former cheerleaders retired to the bedroom. Making sure Ronald was seated comfortably, Tara sat on the foot of the bed that was opposite from Bonnie and settled in to hear her friend's tale.