Ronald's diner

chapter 10

I.

An hour after her little disagreement with Ronald, Bonnie felt that she had finally managed to pull herself together enough to face him. With the slightest of chucks, Bonnie realized that the "old" Bonnie never would have taken this long to pull herself together after an argument with some guy. But Ronald wasn't just some guy. He was caring, kind, sensitive, and most importantly, he was Bonnie's friend. Nor would the "old" Bonnie be willing to offer the apology that she knew she owed him. Emerging from her office and towards the diner's small seating area, Bonnie found the young man who was her boss, her friend, and confidant. Ronald appeared to be so caught up in his thoughts as he was cleaning the diners few tables that he didn't even notice Bonnie standing there for several minutes watching him. I'm not sure if he was ignoring her or if he had simply not seen her, Bonnie decided to speak first.

"Ronald, I'm sorry about freaking out on you earlier." Bonnie said softly as she announced her presence.

Ronald simply ignored her as he continued to push the rag in his hand around and around over and over again as if trying to remove some sort of imaginary stain.

"Ronald, I don't hold anything against you. I just had a panic attack, ok?" Seeing that her apology so far wasn't having the desired effect Bonnie decided to press on, "I've sort of been through a lot, and I guess it all caught up with me." Bonnie continued.

Ronald still said nothing.

"Ronald, please talk to me. Tell me what's bothering you." Bonnie pleaded.

"I'm sorry too." Ronald said as he finally stopped cleaning and looked up at his friend. "I just wanted to help you, and I ended up hurting you, and that hurt me too."

Bonnie frowned slightly at this. She figured Ronald might be feeling a little hurt by her apparent mistrust of him, but it still stung when he confirmed it.

"It's ok, I know you didn't mean it." Then pausing for a second, Bonnie took a deep breath before continuing, "I trust you. You're the first man I've even considered liking or even caring about since high school. But I got scared back there for a moment. I, I just want you to know how I feel about you."

Ronald, while listening to Bonnie's explanation, had kept his head down for most of it. Finally, looking up at the young woman who was both his friend and roommate, Ronald was concerned with what he saw in her face. "Bonnie, are you okay? You're looking kind of pale."

"I am feeling a bit tired." Bonnie confessed as she placed her hand on the back of a chair to prop herself up. "Like I said, it's been a hectic past couple of days for me. I guess I'm just drained both physically and mentally."

"Why don't you sit down then," Ronald suggested, "I hope you're not coming down with my cold." Although Ronald would be the first to admit that he wasn't the smartest guy in the world, but somehow when it came to some one he cared about he found the ability to tap in to the other ninety five percent of his brain that he wasn't using. With that enhanced ability to focus came awareness of just how bad Bonnie really looked. Her face was very pale looking, and her forehead was covered in perspiration, add in her shallow breathing, and it all indicated something worse. He feared that Bonnie was suffering from something worse than coming down with a mere cold.

"Me too." Bonnie said as she began to turn the chair around to sit in it. About half way through the motion, Bonnie stopped and fell to her knees.

"Bonnie!" Ronald shouted as he quickly rushed to her side and caught Bonnie before her head hit the floor.

"Ronald." Was all Bonnie could say as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Ronald didn't know what was wrong with Bonnie, but he had two fears. The first was that she might be suffering from appendicitis. The second was that it had something to do when she fell off of the step stool several days ago. Gently holding her in his arms, Ronald spent several minutes attempting to revive the unconscious girl. At first, Bonnie slowly opened her eyes, but then, after giving Ronald a soft smile, she closed them again.