And You And I

S205 (U2): The echo of a distant time

Author's note:

Hey, guys, welcome back. I don't know about everyone else, but it's been a long two weeks for me. As promised, here is the second update of season two. This week I'm bringing you another set of four chapters for you all to sink your teeth into. So, I hope you all enjoy.

Before I start (yeah you know the drill by now, lol) thank you all for your support and all the votes and comments. I always enjoy reading and responding to them. It really means a lot to hear from you all and it gives me that extra boost to keep writing And You And I.

First up is chapter five: The echo of a distant time. The chapter title is taken from the lyrics to Pink Floyd's twenty-three-minute epic Echoes, from their Meddle album, a track which is all about connecting with other human beings and showing them empathy rather than antipathy. A concept which is quite fitting for this chapter. So, without further delay, let's get started. Enjoy.

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Kim's mouth fell open when she saw the blonde-haired boy that stood on her doormat and her brain ground to a halt halfway through uttering, "what are you..."

Ron, dressed in baggy, khaki-green cargo pants and a black raincoat, which was soaking wet and dripping water all over the place, looked just as shocked to see her, even though he'd been the one to ring her doorbell. However, he managed to raise his left hand, squint at it for a few seconds and read, "Rim, I bink wee shoooo," he then exclaimed in exasperation, "oh come on, I spent ages writing that! The packet said that pen was waterproof!"

A cocktail of emotions, with more ingredients in it than a Long Island iced tea and including joy, sorrow, anger, fear and love, flooded through Kim at the sight of her former best friend trying to read something he'd written on his hand, which had clearly smudged. However, the moment he started yelling at his misfortune, one thing cut through all the rest and she could not help herself. She began to laugh. Everything about the situation was just so... well, so Ron.

"It's not funny, Kim! Do you know how hard it is to write a whole pile of stuff on your hand? Do you?" Ron exclaimed.

Without even thinking, Kim quickly replied, "no, because I never had to cheat on a test."

"Well, it's not easy. And those pens were supposed to be waterproof, Kim. Waterproof!"

"That'll teach you to buy Smarty Mart own brand then, won't it."

"This is serious, KP. A guy could lose complete faith in an entire brand when they make such false claims about a single product."

Just like that, for those few brief moments, it felt like the clock had been dialled back and they were in high school again. That none of the anger, bitterness or hate had touched their relationship. In this instance, it had been a classic case of Ron becoming overly indignant about something and her poking fun at him, serving only to ratchet up his irritation. And Kim dearly wished she could simply forget all the bad blood between them. Except there was just too much of it for that to happen. And like any echo, this one from their past quickly faded.

She looked pointedly at her former best friend, the moment having passed. "Ron, what are you doing here?" she asked. While she kept her tone level, she could not stop herself phrasing the question in her own head as, what the fuck is he doing here?

Ron too seemed to have remembered himself as his expression turned properly serious. A strange sight to be sure. For Ron was almost your classic Oscar Wilde character. Someone who handled the serious things in life with great triviality and the trivial things with great seriousness. Yet here he was, treating a serious thing seriously. Maybe if he had done that during our relationship, we... Kim almost laughed at the thought, as her mind quickly countered, what, stayed together? Plodded on as you were, while you became ever more awkward in the bedroom, yet blissfully unaware that you're gay? Geeze, I wonder how that would have worked out?