****
With the money they had raised in hand, Mona and Ryan took Weasel’s banged-up motorcycle in for repairs. It was an estimated one thousand dollars’ worth of damage. It was going to need new brakes certainly, along with new controls and fixed up bodywork in order to run right again. But Mona didn’t want to stop there. She didn’t want his bike to simply work again. She wanted to improve upon its performance, because she felt like she owed it to Weasel. She put in about six hundred dollars of her own money to add on some extra features. They would give Weasel’s bike a nice, new blue finish. It wouldn’t just be puttering along again; it would be singing down the race track.
Before they left the bike shop, she checked out the helmets and decided to buy a new one for herself. It was teal and white like The Duke, though a slightly lighter shade of teal. Buying a new helmet for her rides meant that Mona meant business.
The repairs on Weasel’s bike were going to take a week, which was fine with them because his recovery from his injuries was going to still take quite a bit longer than that. As long as the bike was ready for him when he was back on his feet, they would be happy.
Later on, after they’d come home from the bike repair shop, Ryan took Mona out on a date to a restaurant that was a more classy affair. He wore a suit and everything! Mona put on a sexy red dress that showed off the tattoos on her upper arms and the paleness of her skin. Her dyed black hair was a stark contrast with her light skin, particularly when more of her skin was on display. She was not a prude by any means, she just usually reserved showing off this much skin for when she was on a date like this.
She had been waiting to go on a date like this with Ryan.
“Why didn’t you tell me so?” he laughed when she confessed that to him. “I asked you what you wanted to do on our first date and you said you wanted to go to an arcade.”
Mona smiled at him. “It’s better to have waited for you to think of this.” She gave him a wink. “You picked out a nice place.”
The restaurant had white tablecloths, paintings of the walls, a piano player, the works. It did not seem like the sort of place two motorcycle club members would go to. Mona loved that. Just because she lived a life of engine grease didn’t mean that she didn’t want to be treated to a fancy meal.
When she looked at the menu, she let out a giggle.
“What?” Ryan asked her curiously. He looked a bit uncomfortable to be wearing a suit, though it looked quite nice on him.
She had not noticed before how young Ryan still looked. Sure, he was older than her by a few years, but he was at the young end of the Running Hill Riders’ spectrum. She wondered, feeling suddenly bashful, if she looked young to him, too.
Pointing at the menu, she showed him the cause of her giggling. “They actually have caviar. Ryan, where did you find this place?”
He blushed a bit. “I looked it up online. I actually searched for ‘fancy restaurants in Detroit.’”
“Awww,” she said, grinning at him. “Are you serious?”
Ryan looked down, embarrassed.
That only made her coo more. “AWW! Well, I think you did a great job. This place is very fancy.”
The duo ended up mostly sticking to tried and true entrees. She got some ravioli and he got a steak.
“I’d get the caviar as an appetizer,” she said. “Except that I’ve heard from reliable sources that it’s a fancier concept than an actual food. I heard it’s really salty.” She made a face.
Ryan chuckled. “Well, that’s a relief because it’s also expensive.”
After they gorged themselves on fancy, less familiar types of food, they went home together to have a dessert of Tarts Du Pop. The s’mores flavor.
“Given the choice between fancy and laid-back, I do prefer laid-back,” Mona told him, taking a bite of her lightly-toasted pastry. “Let’s save dinners like that for once a year.”
Ryan smiled at her. “I like the way you think. Although, some years might need to be fancier than others.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
All of a sudden, Mona felt like she was dreaming. Ryan got down on one knee beside her chair in the kitchen. He placed his small plate on the table in front of her. It had his pop tart on it, as well as a diamond ring placed on top of the pastry as though the chocolate and graham flavored treat served as its cushion.
“You don’t have to answer right now, and it doesn’t have to be anytime soon, if you want to wait, but… Mona Myers, will you marry me?”
Mona brought her hands up to cover her mouth. This was a surprise. It felt like they hadn’t been dating for very long, but then again, they had known each other for years. She was already so comfortable with him. She trusted him more than anyone. She lived with him. She loved him.
“Yes!” she said, looking into his eyes and beaming tearfully. She nodded to confirm it. “YES!”
Smiling back and getting a little tearful himself, Ryan took the ring off the pop tart and placed it onto Mona’s left ring finger. They kissed happily.
He laughed softly. “You taste like s’mores.”
They were going to have quite a few announcements to make at their next meeting. For now, they celebrated privately over their silly treats, before going upstairs and celebrating further between the sheets.