There were just some things that were bothering me about this so... yeah, I rewrote it. XP If you didn't read it before, thanks for reading it now! And if you did, well, yeah, I changed it. I just felt like it had no plot (if you can call this a plot…?) and May was terribly written and... it just bothered me. And it was just generally crappy. So it haz been rewritten! :D I hope you enjoy it! :3
...
Noodles
It had been a very tiring day for May. She had gotten lost twice in the woods on the way to the Pokémon Center, spent two hours training that morning, almost lost her notebook full of new coordinating techniques to someone's insane Growlithe, and almost lost her room to some rookie trainer from New Bark Town. Seeing as it was nearing the end of the day and the sun was almost down, May had decided she needed a break.
Entering the center, her stomach growled, and the coordinator clutched it in disdain. "Don't worry, tummy," she whispered, "I'll get you some food. Just… one… second…" Her blue eyes sparkled as she spotted the line for food. "Perfect!" May rushed forward to wait, jogging in place when the people were moving to slow. "C'mon, come on," she pleaded quietly.
Finally, she reached the front, where Nurse Joy was giving out food to everyone. The woman looked up and smiled at May's eager face. "Hi! Can I get you anything?" she asked kindly.
May tried her best to keep herself from drooling as she looked up and down the numerous platters and containers of food. It all looked just so delicious and she was absolutely starving. Eventually, her sight fell upon one of the most delectable-looking meals she had ever seen. Just a few plates down was a steaming bowl of noodles, its enticing scent drifting up and encircling her as she began to daydream of its taste on her tongue.
"Mmm…" she hummed, her eyes shut happily, "That smells so good."
Nurse Joy followed her previous gaze and smiled. "The noodles?" she asked helpfully. At May's fervent nod, the nurse's own sapphire eyes sparkled with laughter. "You have a good eye for food, young lady," she said, "That's our special dish; all the seasoning is natural."
May licked her lips at the thought. "Could I get that to eat, please?"
"Of course!" Nurse Joy collected a bowl and scooped up the noodles, filling it up to the top before handing it to May, who was practically shaking with excitement. "Enjoy!"
"Oh, I will, Nurse Joy!" May assured, "Thank you!"
"You're very welcome!"
The brunette quickly scurried to a table, sniffing the top of her dinner and breathing in the warm scent. Her mouth watered and she just couldn't wait to take a bite. She sat down, situating herself in a position most comfortable to eat and raised a forkful to her mouth. She was just about to shove it in and begin eating when she spotted a familiar green-haired coordinator walk past her.
"Drew?" she said questionably, lowering the fork back to her plate.
He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "May." Without another word, he began to walk off in the other direction again. May furrowed her brow.
"Hey!"
Drew stopped again and turned completely around. "Yes?"
"That's it? No greeting or anything?" she huffed, arms crossed angrily over her chest, "I thought we were friends!"
"Well, I saw you were stuffing your face like a Swinub and I figured I'd better not interrupt that," he explained.
She gawked at him. "'Stuffing my face'? I just sat down!" May shouted.
"Ma-ay," he sang, "This is a public place. You don't want to embarrass yourself now, do you?"
The brunette growled under her breath. "You know what? I don't know why I even tried to talk to you! You're just so… so… infuriating!"
He smirked, green eyes twinkling. "Wow, May, you get so worked up." He flipped his hair mockingly. "I'm good."
She gritted her teeth, glaring at him. "That is just lovely for you, Drew," she hissed, "Why don't you be 'good' over there." May stuck out a gloved hand and pointed in some random direction. She didn't really care where he went as long as he stopped insulting her.
Drew seemed to ponder this for a second. "Hmm…" he hummed to himself. A smirk rose on his face. "Nah," he said, "I think I'll stay right here." He pulled out the chair across the table from a very irritated—and still hungry—May and sat down. "I was actually gonna look for you later."
"B-but…" May stuttered, fumbling around for an excuse, "Y-you can't sit there!"
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why can't I, May?"
"Because… Because… Well, I…"
Drew smirked at May as she tried to think of a good excuse for not letting him sit with her. Unfortunately for the brunette, she could not think of anything. Feeling defeated, she sighed, indicating to Drew that he could, indeed, continue sitting there.
"So what do you want?"
May was surprised as, for once, he actually gave her a genuine smile, rather than his typical cocky smirk. "I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done at the Wallace Cup," he replied. May's sapphire eyes brightened, anger almost immediately diminishing at his response.
"You saw that?" He nodded. "Thanks Drew!"
If Drew's expression had darkened even the tiniest bit as he asked his next question, May did not notice. "Was that your friend Ash I saw as well?"
"Yup!" she replied, beaming brightly, "Ash and Brock are traveling over in the Sinnoh region now with this other girl, Dawn. I'm sure you probably know who she is if you watched the Cup. She was the one I battled in the final round?"
"Oh right," he smirked, "The one who beat you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" May asked, eyes narrowed dangerously at him, "I think she won that fair and square! Deserved it too."
Drew leaned forward in his seat, studying her face and causing a light blush to cross her nose. "From what I understand, she was nothing but an amateur," he said, "Guess you still haven't gained any skills, yet, huh May?" That was enough for the blush to go from embarrassment to rage.
May shot up from her seat and hastily pointed her finger in his face. "You take that back right now!" Drew just sighed and leaned back, contentedly ignoring her outburst and thereby feeding her anger even more. "I mean it Drew!" she shouted, "Take it back you jerk!"
"Whatever, May," Drew said carelessly, waving off her insults, "I'm just pointing out, you probably could have done a lot better if–"
"What? If I was you, or something?" she interrupted, an eyebrow raised.
"Exactly." He sat back in his seat and crossed his arms behind his head.
The brunette continued to glare a bit irritably at him, muttering quiet phrases along the lines of "arrogant jerk," and "what does that stupid egomaniac think he can get off insulting me like that?"
He sighed. "You know May, you could really use some new insults."
May just rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the delicious plate of noodles sitting on the table in front of her. All she had planned to do by sitting here was to eat a nice meal and maybe get just a little more training in before bed, but of course he had to show up. And nothing ever went well when he came along. For her, anyway. She sighed.
"Are you still sitting here?"
"Yes."
"Why don't you leave?"
"Well, am I bothering you?"
"Yes."
"Then, I won't leave."
May growled under her breath at the irritating boy sitting across from her. He was obviously enjoying this. A little too much for her liking. Knowing she could not let him get to her, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. This would be so much easier if she wasn't so darn hungry and those noodles didn't smell so good, but she certainly didn't need Drew insulting her table manners as well.
"Why do you enjoy bothering me?"
Drew raised an eyebrow at her question. He never really expected her to actually ask him. She always was a bit naïve. He figured he might as well tell her; she probably wouldn't understand any deeper meaning to his answer. Not that there was one, of course.
He laughed lightly. "Well, to be honest, you need it."
May blinked. That wasn't an answer she had been expecting. "Huh?"
"Really, May." He shrugged. "You need me."
"Need you!" she shrieked, "Why would I ever 'need' you?"
"Think about it May," he said, "Think about everything I ever do to you. It bothers you, doesn't it? And then what? You fight harder. Because you want to prove me wrong." His green eyes bore into her blue ones, and she found herself unable to form any words. "You need me."
"I–"
"Oh look at that! Drew finally asked out May on a date!"
"Harley?" May yelped. She gaped at him, wondering where he could have possibly come from before actually processing his words. "No, no; that's not it! You've got it all wrong!" she frantically defended with a heavy blush on her cheeks and her arms waving wildly, as if she could simply shoo his words back into his mouth. Drew, on the other hand, was as cool and collected as ever, simply raising a questionable eyebrow at Harley's assumption as he stared at the older coordinator.
"Are you sure, hon?" Harley asked, a teasing smile on his face, "I mean, the two of you alone, eating dinner, smiling and all pleasantly talking… It looks very suspicious!" The tone was lilting and too sing-song, causing an extremely heavy blush to rise to the brunette's cheeks and reach the tips of her ears.
"Pleasantly talking? He just insulted me like… five times! At least!" exclaimed May, eyes wide and frantic, "I was just sitting here, trying to eat a nice meal, and he comes over and starts annoying me!"
Drew wrinkled his brow in confusion. "Didn't you call me over here?"
Poor Drew was ignored as Harley's preferred target was giving him a much better reaction. And, oh boy, was he enjoying that reaction. "Are you sure, May? You didn't seem very annoyed. I thought for sure it finally happened!" Harley continued on, not even giving Drew a glance from the reaction he was getting from May.
May gaped at the man, shocked as to the words that were coming out of his mouth. "Finally? What do you mean 'finally'?"
As if it was completely obvious and should not have gone past May so completely undetected, Harley continued, "Isn't he still giving you those roses, hon?" in a sing-song voice, his teasing once again persisted, "Red roses are a sign of romance, you know!"
Drew looked like he was about to speak, but the flustered girl sitting across from him beat him to it, once again treating the coordinator as if he hadn't been there the whole time or been the one Harley had been accusing her of having a relationship with. "N-no!" denied May, "They're for… for my Beautifly!" She glanced over to Drew as she continued, "Right, Drew?"
Before the green-haired coordinator could much less open his mouth for any sort of jeer or defense of any sort to deny the accusations suddenly being placed upon him, Harley quickly intervened. "May, darling, please. Don't tell me you believe that excuse?"
"I… uh…" the girl stuttered.
"Um…"
"I mean, really! You two are so obvious, and you'd be completely adorable together!" insisted Harley.
"Obvious?" questioned Drew, as he finally got a word in, "Really, Harley? I, for one, actually think that with a trainer like her to put up with, Beautifly deserves the roses I give it."
"'…trainer like her to put up with…'" mumbled May, "Hey, wait!"
"Shush, May not now," Drew brushed off the girl's protests, "Maybe you should mind your own business, for once, Harley, and back off."
The purple-haired man was seemingly startled by Drew's aggressiveness, despite knowing the boy had never been particularly fond of him and took a cautious step back, hands held out defensively in front of him. "Testy today, are we? Alright, alright, I'll go. I have to go to work on a new project of mine, anyway."
"A project?" asked May, looking curiously up at the purple-haired man, "What sort of project? Are you practicing a new combination, or something?"
Harley gave a small laugh, as if even the notion of May's suggestion was a joke. "Oh, you know. Just a project," he carelessly waved it off. "Well, bye-bye now! Don't get into too much trouble you two." With a wink, he walked off, leaving May and Drew alone once more and letting awkwardness replace him.
"Harley is so… odd…" May noted as they watched the older coordinator exit the room. She cringed slightly as she saw Harley's hips sway in a way she knew hers never would.
"Yeah…"
May looked back down at her noodles. She sighed disappointedly when she realized they had gotten cold during her and Drew's exchange with Harley. "So much for a nice meal..."
Drew looked at her plate. Knowing how the girl loved good food – and noodles were indeed a favorite treat of hers, as well – he could tell she was most likely extremely upset at having her dinner ruined for her. "Yes. Quite a shame."
"As if you care." She glanced back up at him, eyes narrowed as if daring him to make a joke.
He smirked his trademark smirk, albeit a little less teasing than usual. "You could just ask Nurse Joy to heat them up for you," Drew helpfully pointed out.
"Yeah… but it won't be the same as eating them fresh."
"I thought you loved food. Does it really matter that much?" He raised a questioning eyebrow as he awaited her response.
"I do love food." May nodded at him. "But I prefer good, warm, freshly made food," May stated firmly.
"Whatever you say, May." Drew stood up from the table, causing the brunette to look up at him.
"Oh, are you leaving now?"
"Yeah, I wanted to go and practice something new with Roserade."
May looked back down at her plate, not meeting his glinting emerald eyes. "Oh. Okay. I'll see you later, then?"
"Probably," Drew said, mouth stretching into another smirk, "And in the next contest, you can continue your losing streak."
May looked back up, a competitive glint in her blue eyes. "Don't count on that." She smiled.
He rolled his green eyes at her. "Here," he said, tossing a rose onto the table, where it landed cleanly beside her plate. May studied it for a moment, running her fingers over its smooth red petals, and up and down its smooth, thorn less green stem. Biting her lip, she looked up to see Drew's back turned to her, just about to exit the center and through the doors.
"Drew?"
He looked at her over his shoulder. "Yeah?"
"Are… are the roses really always for Beautifly?" she asked, "Or is it really... just an… excuse?"
He smiled back at her. It was genuine and… friendly, something she had never quite associated with her chartreuse-haired rival. May was surprised to find the gesture made her heart flutter pleasantly. It felt… nice. "I don't know May," he answered, "Maybe." And with that last statement, he walked outside, the door bumping shut behind him.
To say his answer hadn't given her something to think about would be an understatement. May was quite honestly baffled. What was that even supposed to mean? Did it mean… no. He couldn't... like her, could he? Was Harley actually… right? May realized she would definitely have to think about this seriously later. But first…
First, she would have to see Nurse Joy about those noodles.
...
Yup! I dunno. I think it's better than it was before. Like it? Hate it? I love your opinions! (hint, hint) ;D
Happy Columbus Day! And happy Thanksgiving to any Canadian friends out there! :D
Updated: 10/10/2011