I.

Bonnie was cold, hungry, and tired, but at least she wasn't wet. Thank goodness for small favors, she thought as she continued to trudge through the streets of Lowerton. The weather man had been right, and the cold rain he had predicted to last all day and through the night was continuing to soak the city. Despite being dry and having an umbrella, Bonnie knew that she still needed to find a warm place to stay the night so she could think about what she wanted to do next. After storming out of the diner, Bonnie had walked around for hours as her mind went over and over what had happened. She had thought that maybe she had found a friend, granted in a most unlikely place, but a friend none the less that seemed to care about her. At least that's what she thought based on the way Ronald had acted like a gentleman around her, being someone she could lean on for support, and when he had purchased those new and badly needed (if not completely stylish) clothes for her. Bonnie shuddered slightly at the thought that she was leaving behind her first new clothing she had received in months. But there was no way she was going to go back to Ronald's place and ask, or worse yet, to beg for them. What was done was done, and she was going to have to try to make it on her own again.

Walking a few more wet blocks in the growing darkness of the coming evening, Bonnie found herself in front of a small homeless shelter. She had stayed at this shelter a time or two in the paste and knew the accommodations were pretty Spartan, a cot and a wool blanket, and receiving a meal there was pretty hit or miss. But they didn't ask too many questions as to why you were there, and it was a safe place to spend the night. A small part of Bonnie's mind acknowledged that she would miss sleeping in Ronald's nice warm bed as she approached the receptionist who served as gatekeeper for the facility.

"Hi, I need a place to stay for the night."

Putting down her magazine, the older woman looked at Bonnie with a stern gaze as if she was trying to determine if the brunette was suitable to let in to the place or if Bonnie was just so much riff raff that was to be avoided. Bonnie figured she must have passed the test when the woman's gaze softened, and a small smile came to her lightly wrinkled face. "Certainly dear. You're in luck. We have one spot left. I guess the rain's driving people to seek shelter tonight."

"Yeah, I would imagine so." Bonnie replied.

"Well, follow me dear, and we'll get you set up for the night." Stepping out from behind her desk, the woman turned a dead bolt and opened a door to allow Bonnie to enter the shelter. "By the way, my name is Margret. Have you had anything to eat today?"

"I had breakfast this morning, but that was it."

"Oh, well, we have a couple of snack size bags of trail mix and pretzels left. It's not much but better than nothing."

"I'm not picky, I'm glad for anything I can get." Bonnie answered.

After being shown to her cot and handed a wool blanket and bag of trail mix and pretzels, Bonnie began to settle in for the night. Staring at the two snack bags in her hands, she contemplated whether to eat one now or to save it for later. Since she had not eaten anything since breakfast, Bonnie was pretty hungry by now, but she also knew that she didn't know when or from where her next meal might come. Deciding to step outside for some fresh air as she attempted to decide what to do next with her life; Bonnie stuffed the small bags of food in to her pockets, after all in a place like this things like food often had a habit of disappearing if left unattended, grabbed her umbrella and made her way to the front door.

"Margret, I would like to step out for a minute for some fresh air." Bonnie informed the kindly older woman serving as the shelters gate keeper.

"Ok, but be careful around that guy out there," Margret said as she pointed to a man who was leaning against the wall of the building. "His name is Tommy, and he likes to hang out here and try to pick up girls. I guess he figures if they're desperate, then their easier to pick up. We've tried to chase him off several times, but legally, there really isn't anything we can do as long as he doesn't bother anyone."

"Thanks for the warning, I'll be careful." Bonnie promised.

Walking through the front door, Bonnie was hit first by the cool evening air and secondly by the smell of something else, smoke. Specifically, cigarette smoke. The young man named Tommy was leaning against the building as he proceeded to take another drag before exhaling the smoke through his nostrils. Usually Bonnie wasn't much of a smoker, but after her blow out with Ronald today and being back on the streets, she knew that a cigarette was just what she needed to help calm her nerves and to help suppress her appetite so she wouldn't eat all of her food tonight. Bonnie was just glad it was a man she was going to bum a cigarette from and not a woman. Men were so much easier to manipulate. Standing up straight and taking a deep breath to make sure her chest jutted out just a little bit more, Bonnie walked up to Tommy and asked for a smoke.

"Sure, it's not every day I get to smoke with a beautiful woman." The man answered as he handed a cigarette to Bonnie.

"Really? I don't believe that." Bonnie continued to banter. She just had to keep up the charade that she was interested in what he had to say until her cigarette was lit.

"It's true. Women come to me all the time, but their usually pretty ugly." Tommy explained as he lit the cigarette, "But you're hot. You could be a model or something."

"That's nice of you." Bonnie faked as she began to plan her escape from the creep before her ears picked up a new conversation.

"I'm sorry dear, but we're full for the night."

The sound of Margret's voice drew Bonnie's attention away from the cigarette creep and towards the person talking to Margret.

"Please, I don't even need a bed or anything, just a dry, warm place for me and my toddler tonight."

As if on cue, the toddler then chose to speak up, "Momma, I'm hungry."

"I know, dear." The young woman soothed before speaking to Margret again, "Please, you've got to be able to help me somehow."

"I'm sorry dear, but we are full. I can't let you stay here overnight without a cot for you to sleep in. That's state law. But I do have a bag of trail mix I can give you."

Sighing in defeat, the young mother realized that this was about all she was going to be able to get and decided not to argue any further.

Glancing back towards Tommy, Bonnie could see the creep starting to leer towards the young mother. Although he hadn't said a word, Bonnie was able to read his thoughts and knew exactly what he was thinking. She also had a bit of a flash back from a few years ago.

"Yes, I see you are attractive, but I get a lot of those types of ladies in here daily, so my offer stands at one hundred dollars cash for a photo shoot of ten pictures."

Bonnie looked at the man sitting on the other side of the desk between them. Everything about him said sleaze, from his oily slick backed hair to his open shirt with the gold chain to his name, Sal. Everything about him made Bonnie want to get up and leave, everything except the one hundred dollars in cash he was willing to pay her.

Seeing her hesitation, Sal decided to sweeten the deal a little. "Tell you what, you're a sweet thing. Maybe I can get you more, say an extra one hundred dollars. How does that sound?" Sal asked with a wink, "But it's strictly quid pro quo."

"What did you have in mind?" Bonnie asked even though she really didn't want the answer to the question.

"Tell you what, if you sign an exclusive contract with me to be your agent, then I'll pay you an extra one hundred dollars in cash out of my own pocket. I'll even spring for dinner for us."

This caught Bonnie off guard. She had been expecting Sal to suggest something a bit more "unsavory," but not this. As Bonnie attempted to gather her thoughts, she bought some time with a little banter. "That's very generous of you, I guess there are still gentlemen the world."

"Too bad you're not looking at one of them."

The unexpected answer that had originated from behind Bonnie caused the brunette to turn around so she could see who was behind her. What she saw surprised her. The woman who had spoken up had a pale complexion, or at least pretty pale, compared to what Bonnie used to have when she could afford to go the tanning saloons. Her hair was longer than Bonnie's, about shoulder length and in a far from fashionable bob cut. Her clothes, consisting of a baggy sweat shirt and sweat pants, could not entirely hide the fact that the girl probably weighed twice what Bonnie weighed. The former cheerleader's opinion to say the girl was a "plain Jane" would have been generous and was ready to dismiss her as just office help when Sal said something that nixed that idea.

"No body asked for your opinion, Molly." Sal replied angrily.

"Well, you didn't give her the chance."

"This is a simple business transaction between me and her. You're not invited."

"Simple business transaction. Ha, that's a good one, Sal." Molly said before she lowered her gaze down towards Bonnie, "Let me guess honey, you need to make some quick money, and he promised to pay you in cash. He probably said he would double it if you signed an "exclusive" agreement for him to be your manager. I'll even bet he offered to buy you dinner."

"What we agreed to is none of your business." Sal retorted.

"Excuse me, but we didn't agree to anything." Bonnie said, "And what business is it of yours what we agree to?" Directing her last statement towards Molly.

"Really, it's none of my business. But I remember being in your shoes once, just getting into this business and needing some quick money. Let me just tell you I can hook you up with some other people who will not only pay better but don't look like they just became the living embodiment of the definition of sleaze."

That last point Bonnie could not argue with at all. As for the rest of Molly's statement, well, more money did sound good. The only trouble was that she needed some tonight. "Will these other people pay cash?" Bonnie asked.

"No. But if you need the money so you can find a place to stay tonight then you can crash at my place for a couple of days."

"Really, you would do that for me?" Bonnie asked, surprised.

"Yep."

"If she walks away from me, then I'll never send another photo shoot your way again." Sal threatened.

"Fine by me." Molly said non chalantly before returning her attention to Bonnie. "So what do you say? Would you rather trust someone like me or him."

"Not that I don't trust you, but what's the catch? If you are willing to let me stay with you because you're hoping that I'll sleep with you, well, sorry I don't go that way."

"You are a cute thing," Molly chuckled, "but I'm not looking to sleep with you. I just want to make life as difficult as I can for ole Sal here." Then turning her attention fully towards Sal, Molly added, "Think of it as my little way of getting revenge."

That had been the very first time that Bonnie had met Molly. She hadn't thought about that moment in quite a while, but now it all came back to her in full detail. She even remembered the cheap cologne that Sal had been wearing that day. It was then that Bonnie made up her mind that someone needed to stand up for that poor mother, just like Molly had stood up for her.

"Excuse me, maybe I can help." Bonnie spoke up as she approached the two women.

"What, you can help? How?" The mother asked.

"Yes dear, how can you help? After all, you're staying here too." Margret asked.

"Let her have my spot here tonight. She needs a place to stay more than I do."

"Are you sure about that young lady? Once you give up your spot, you can't get it back." Margret informed Bonnie.

"I'm sure. She has a small child to look after, I just have myself. I can find somewhere else to stay tonight. Please, let her have my spot."

"Well, this is unusual, but if that's what you want, then I can let this mother stay here."

"Oh, thank you so much!" The young mother gushed, "I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."

"No problem, sometimes we take for granted what we do have." Bonnie replied sagely. She then proceeded to pull the bag of trail mix and pretzels from her pocket, "Here, this should help keep you two fed tonight."

"I can't take that from you. You've already given me your spot for the night." The mother said as she stared at the offered food.

"Don't worry about it," Bonnie said as she placed them in to the woman's hand, "I can get more for myself, but your child may not."

"If that's all settled, then why don't you come along dear, and we'll get you two settled for the night." Margret said as she opened the door to admit her new patrons for the night.

"Oh yes. Thank you, Miss, thank you so much." The mother said as she waved goodbye before walking through the door.

Just before she followed the young mother through the door, Margret stopped and whispered to Bonnie, "You're a good person Bonnie, please be careful around that creep." With that, Margret walked into the shelter and closed the door behind her. After the door had closed, Bonnie glanced around her and noticed that cigarette man was still there and appeared to be even more interested in her company now that she was "back on the streets." Suppressing a slight shudder, Bonnie took on last draw on her cigarette before flicking it into the road, opening her umbrella, and walking away from the shelter.

II.

Tommy was happy as he watched Bonnie walk away from both him and the shelter. The brunette had just given up her spot in the shelter, and now, after bumming a cigarette from him, it was obvious that the girl didn't have two nickels to her name. Once she realized she was going to have to try and find a nice warm and dry place to sleep tonight, and that he could give her those things, well, she would be an easy score. But that was the way it usually worked and worked out for him. A down on her luck girl needing a warm place to stay for the night was always easy to pick up. Easy pickings.

As Bonnie continued to walk away, Tommy followed her and soon caught up with the brunette.

"So lost your spot, huh?"

"Yeah, I did."

"That sucks."

"Yeah."

"Want another cigarette?" He offered.

"Nah. But maybe you can help me out."

"Why would I want to do that?" Tommy asked.

"Oh come on, a pretty girl like me, a good-looking guy like you. I think you can figure it out." Bonnie flirted.

"Hmm, sounds promising. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I could use a nice warm, dry place to stay. Do you know where I can find one?"

"I sure do. My place is nice and dry and not too far away from here." Tommy said with a wolfish grin, quite happy with how easy it had been to pick up this girl.

"But I couldn't impose on you like that. We just met."

"Oh, you wouldn't be imposing on me."

"Tell you what, let's get to know each other a little first." Bonnie said with a wink of her eye.

"What did you have in mind? Dinner? A movie?" Well, maybe she was going to be a little harder than he thought. She had obviously played this game before.

"Not bad ideas. But not what I had in mind." Bonnie said as she indicated down the alleyway they had been walking past.

"I like the way you think." Tommy said with a leer as he and Bonnie walked into it.

Stopping about halfway down the alleyway and under an awing, Bonnie closed her umbrella, turned, and put her back against the wall. Then, with a seductive smile and a crock of her index finger, she invited Tommy to come closer to her.

Walking up to the brunette, Tommy placed a hand on one of Bonnie's breasts and slid the other down to her hip as he leaned in close to her.

"My, I guess what I've heard about you is true." Bonnie purred.

"And what's that?"

"That you're a bad boy."

"Yes, I am a bad boy." Tommy said with a wolfish grin as he continued to paw at Bonnie, "You must like bad boys then."

"Nah, I just know I can trust you."

"How do you know you can trust me?" Tommy asked, perplexed.

"Simple, you've already lived up to your rep." Bonnie said as she slammed her knee into Tommy's crotch as hard as she could. His eyes were tripling in size due to the sudden surprise Tommy removed his hands from Bonnie and fell to the ground in the fetal position and began crying like a little girl.

Bonnie simply stepped over the whimpering man as she opened her umbrella and stepped back out into the street once more. Stopping for a moment, as she contemplated which way to go, Bonnie finally made a decision and began to retrace her earlier steps back to the diner.

III.

"Hey there, Ronald. Are you feeling ok? You don't look so hot." George said as a way of greeting as he stepped up to the cash register to pay for his dinner.

"Had a long night last night, and I am sort of feeling run down." Ronald admitted.

"Where's your assistant? Shouldn't she be helping you then?"

"She left." Ronald said flatly.

"She left? She didn't stay very long then."

"No. We had an argument last night, and it sort of blew up again today." Ronald conceded.

"Ah, I see. You miss her, or at least her help."

Ronald slightly nodded his head, yes.

"Well, I'm not one to tell others how to run their lives, Ronald, but might I make a suggestion?" Hearing no objections George continued, "What ever your relationship with that young lady is, whether it be as friends, lovers, or just co-workers, if you are concerned about her and feel that things run better with her here then go find her. Talk to her, work out whatever it is that you two argued about. Just letting things fester isn't good for a relationship no matter what sort it is. The sooner you close up shop today, the sooner you two can fix things up."

Ronald stood there for a moment as he digested what he had just heard before the light bulb came on. "By George, you're right."

"You'd be surprised at how often I hear that, but yes, I usually am." The middle-aged man chuckled.

"I do need to talk to Bonnie. She was right that I need to stop running from problems. We can be adults about things and work them out. Thanks for the advice, George."

Ten minutes later, Ronald had shut down and locked up his diner for the night and began his quest to find Bonnie. As he began to walk down the street looking for her, Ronald pulled his thin jacket up around his neck as much as possible to try and keep the rain out. Mentally, he cursed Bonnie for a moment for taking his only umbrella when she had stormed out of the diner that afternoon, but he then pushed that thought to the back of his mind. Mentally being mad at her wasn't going to fix anything, if he was mad at her he needed to confront her and say it face to face, otherwise they would never work things out, and he would lose another person he cared about.

IV.

Bonnie had been walking for a while as she made her way back to Ronald's diner. She didn't know what she was going to say to him other than that she owed him an apology for the way she had acted. Yes, Ronald had been treating her as a charity case, but all things said and done, it could be a lot worse. Either that or some of the old Bonnie was still there and just wasn't happy with good enough. In that respect Bonnie decided that she should consider herself lucky, at least no matter how bad the situation was she still had the luxury to be at least a little bit choosy about what sort of charity she got, unlike that mother Bonnie had given up her spot in the shelter for, or how she had been when she meet Molly.

Tommy had been a slimy little weasel, but he was an amateur and someone Bonnie could handle. The mother with her toddler probably couldn't have. Bonnie suddenly stopped in her tracks as a sudden euphony had occurred to her. What she had done earlier, with helping out that mother by making sure Tommy wouldn't get his grubby hands on her at the expense of Bonnie's warm bed for the night, was something that had been done for her before. With a wave of regret Bonnie realized that some of the things her friend Molly had done in the past, while the former cheerleader had looked down on them at the time, had been done for her benefit by a truly good and caring friend. Bonnie had treated her poorly for it and threw it back in her face.

Resuming her journey, Bonnie soon found herself standing in front of a darkened and locked up diner. Spying Ronald's car still sitting in its parking spot from the morning quickly removed the idea that Ronald had simply gone home and forgotten about Bonnie. But if his car was here, then where had Ronald gone, especially in this weather.

"He's out looking for me." Bonnie said with a bit of sadness. Even after their blowout, he was still looking there out for her. "I don't know what I did to deserve a friend like you, Ronald, but as long as you're out looking for me, I'll be out there looking for you too."

V.

Ronald was cold, hungry, tired, and wet. He wanted to go home, to have a hot shower and a hot meal, and to forget about today and just start over as if he had never met Bonnie. The only problem with that was that he couldn't fully convince himself to do it. So instead here he stood waiting for the crosswalk light to change, in the pouring cold rain hoping that he could find one person out of the forty or so thousand that lived in Lowerton. The old lady at the shelter he had checked at had been less than fully helpful. All she had done was indicate a general direction that someone matching Bonnie's description had traveled.

As Ronald stood there trying to decide which way to look next, it took a moment before his brain registered that rain wasn't falling on him anymore. Lifting his head to look around, the young man soon realized that he was standing underneath an umbrella, and holding that umbrella was Bonnie.

"Hey." Bonnie said neutrally.

"Hey." Ronald replied equally neutrally

"Thought you could use a little shelter, you look soaked."

"Thanks, and yeah, I am."

"Want to tell me why a nice guy like you is running around in the rain?"

"The cause is standing right next to me. She ran off with my umbrella this afternoon." Ronald said somewhat snidely.

"Fair enough, I did take your umbrella this afternoon." Bonnie conceded, "Still doesn't explain why you're out here in the cold rain instead of your warm, dry apartment."

"I thought about doing that. But then I thought about something you said to me about me running away from things."

"You're not the only one who does that."

"No. But I've tried both running from things and confronting them. Neither one of them worked out well for me."

"No disrespect, Ronald, but I haven't seen you confront anything in the past. What did you mean?"

Ronald sighed as a flash of bad memories popped into his head for a second. Squeezing his eyes shut to force the images from his mind's eye, Ronald then continued.

"Bonnie, the last time I tried to stand up for myself, it ended up costing me, Kim."

Bonnie was surprised by this statement. She had always assumed that Kim would wear the pant's in their relationship, but to dump Ronald because he actually stood up for himself? Bonnie's already low estimation of Kim in her mind managed to sink lower by several notches.

"That's why I didn't come looking for you at first. And I'm sorry about that." Ronald continued, "I thought our friendship was beyond fixing."

"Ronald, you don't need to apologize for that. And please don't ever say that again."

"Say what?" Ronald asked, perplexed.

"That our friendship is broken or over. I couldn't stand the thought of losing you as a friend." Bonnie said, adding the last part in a hurry. "I've lost too many already."

"Then, as one friend to another, do you want to go home?"

"Yes. I think we could both use a hot meal and a good night's sleep."

As the crossing light turned the green the two friends began to make their way back to the diner to pick up Ronald's car, and along the way not only did they share the dryness of the umbrella but they also both shared hopes about their friendship.