I promise an update to Hearts to Count is on the way, it's not like I'm not interested in contestshipping anymore! I'm just procrastinating a lot and school is taking lots of my time. Please forgive me? Take this as an apology? Haha, I hope you'll enjoy it. It's just a tribute to all the World Cup hype going on nowadays (although I don't really care much about it and I also don't like Pitbull singing the theme song so...)
Anyways, please have a nice day. I love you all.
A handsome young man bearing jade green eyes and a light green hair walked along the city sidewalk, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible to avoid any rabid fan girls who might be loitering around. He had gained more of them than what he had in his Kanto and Hoenn adventures, and the last thing he wanted was being disturbed by those fanatic girls while he's trying to enjoy his date with a certain brunette. It was hard to ask her for one, though. The adorable brunette was suspicious about his sudden change.; she questioned his motive. Of course he had come up with a reason, although admittedly, that was a ridiculous one: that he wanted to watch football with her. The World Cup was 'in' and he knew she was a fan of football; he had his sources (which was a May Maple-special edition of CoordiNational with May's in-depth interview).
By the time Drew arrived, May had long been seated in a local cafe named Prestige, one she often refused to visit because of the expensive foods and the ridiculous service charge. The 'exclusive' table service, from what she'd heard, was something about wine-booking service, television and music service, and even a 'hide engagement ring in her food or drink' service. Well, it's no wonder that guys often proposes in that cafe. The service made a proposal easier and more personal. Seeing your girlfriend's surprised face when biting off a ring from her food or when discovering a "Will you marry me?" banner on the bill would be priceless. Although, she was sure Drew wasn't going to propose to her, or anything like that, anyway. They were only seventeen. Sure, they have been in a quiet relationship for about a year, but that alone wouldn't suffice to actually persuade her to take such a big step ahead for this relationship. It was just a normal dinner to celebrate his win in the recent Grand Festival─or at least she hoped.
Since he was being as self-righteous to invite her to celebrate his victory, she figured it would be a brilliant idea to be just as self-centered and burn a hole in his pocket (it wasn't like he was short of money after all). She had wanted to try the infamous apple soufflé since she learnt about it from the Culinary channel anyway. Now, since she wasn't going to pay for it, nothing's stopping her. She even skipped on her breakfast to 'charge up' for this meal.
"You're early, that's new," Drew marked his arrival with a snarky remark.
"Drew," May brought her cup of latte down, staring up at him. "Is it already our promised time? Time flies when one is enjoying it."
Drew got seated across of her and scanned the table. Observing that there were already plates and cups on it, he suppressed an inward smirk. This was May after all, what could you expect from her gigantic appetite?
And just how long has this girl been here to actually finish this much?
"How long have you been here anyway?" He couldn't contain his curiosity as he pitched guesses in his mind.
May chortled sheepishly, "Well, I've been here for about... one hour and a half, I guess?"
"No wonder," Drew sneered, gesturing his eyes around the mess on the table. May gave a slightly disapproving glare.
"I was dead bored!" May plunked her hands onto the table with an audible thudding sound. "So I decided to come out and find some entertainment. The Pokemon Centre's TV broadcasted only about the Battle Subway in Unova, which I don't have any interest on. Geez, we're at Johto, for Arceus' sake!"
"Precisely because we're in Johto, that's why they broadcast interesting things from other regions to enhance tourism, duh," Drew remarked mockingly.
"It's so boring so I decided to come early, but I'm just so unlucky! The channel hasn't showed any match reruns, which is why I'm having all these snacks to make up for the boredom." May dismally rested her chin on her palm, while her other hand fiddled with the straw on her vanilla milkshake.
"I wouldn't consider all of these snacks. You've got a sweet tooth and a big appetite, which is a dangerous combination." Drew commented with a slightly disapproving stare. May eyed him back with the same expression.
"Why? Are you afraid I will get fat, which doesn't suit your preferences?" she shot.
Drew rolled his eyes in aggravation, "As much as I like people who take care of their figure, you and I both know that you getting fat won't make me fancy you any less."
"Hmph," May stubbornly tilted her head to the side, "That could've been a sweet moment but you ruined it by saying you like people with perfect figure."
For Arceus' sake, May!
Drew almost rolled his eyes again. "I'm not going to argue with you about weight issues because I couldn't care less. I am more concerned about the health side of it. Eating such sugary food at such close period is not good, and you did say your tooth is starting to ache few days ago, so I was just being rational. And for the note, there's no such thing as a perfect figure. Every figure is flawed and beautiful in its own ways. You don't see me disliking Flygon for its thigh fat, or your Munchlax for its body figure."
Well, she thought he actually made sense but she continued on her stance. "My tooth doesn't hurt now so I can eat what I want."
"As long as you don't come crying to me at 2 A.M asking for a toothache medicine, fine." He deadpanned. May blushed slightly at his jab, remembering the described event few days ago. For a few minutes, she kept silent and continued drinking her latte and vanilla milkshake. Drew glanced at her side occasionally, but kept his attention at the overhead LED TV which was showing a fishing guide for trainers.
When May finally spoke up, her voice was hesitant. "Are you not going to order anything? And you said we're going to watch football together, so─"
Drew tore his attention from the TV hanging on a column not quite far ahead of their seat. "Right, I will get the staff to change the channel to a sports channel. And maybe clean up this little mess..." Drew said, glancing down at the table full of cups and plates.
A waiter walked down to their place when Drew gestured, and sure enough, the waiter tidied up the plates and cups. Once the table was spotless, the waiter took out a little notebook and a pen. "Good afternoon, good sir. Here's the menu. What would be your orders?"
"I'll have black tea." Drew nonchalantly crossed his leg over the other, "And we would like to request for the Sports channel."
"Umm, and... One more apple soufflé for me, please." May grinned.
"Noted, we'll have your orders ready immediately and the channel changed. May I get you anything else?"
"Nope, thank you."
"It's my pleasure. Please enjoy your day here." The waiter said before giving a small nod and walking back to do his job.
When the waiter was not within earshot, May scoffed teasingly at Drew. "Oh, Drew, you're so pretentious. What black tea? It's called coffee!" May laughed heartily after her own words, holding her stomach.
Drew raised an eyebrow. "You are the uncultured swinub here," he voiced, "Black tea and coffee is different. Don't tell me you don't know there is such thing called black tea?"
His raised eyebrow got higher, emphasizing the "Are you kidding me?" face he's making. May only continued to chuckle like a child.
"Are you trying to tell me that black tea is just tea that is black?" her giggle didn't falter when she spoke. "And coffee is not?"
Drew's expression transformed into something more like "Are you crazy?". He flicked the end of his bangs before setting the position of his tablecloth.
"Well, that's exactly the case." He answered while his hands worked. "How didn't you know about black tea, anyway? Which isolated place have you been living in? A cave?"
"Not isolated enough to refer to coffee as 'black tea'," May retorted with a laugh.
Drew felt slightly insulted by her remark. How dare she say something like that, when she's clearly the one who's isolated enough to now know about black tea? Not only is she degrading teas in general, she's also degrading his pride. How did the daughter of the Petalburg Gym not know about black tea, anyway? Is this the 'regional accent' thingy which makes all kinds of tea to be named as tea? That means she didn't know about green tea, then?
Disregarding his offended pride, he toiled to produce a logical comeback. "Do you know how to make tea and coffee?"─to this, May nodded─"You put the tea bag inside hot water to make tea, right? Or tea leaves, traditionally. But with coffee, you don't need coffee bags. You either use grounded coffee beans or ready-powdered kind."
To that, May's expression abruptly changed as if a lightning struck her head. Right! How could it be possible that she forget it? Coffee is from beans, while tea is from leaves. How could she miss that point? How could she not remember it?
Oh, god. It turns out black tea is not coffee, indeed.
Now it was Drew's turn to be smug. A victory smirk slowly formed on his lips. It was then the right moment that the waiter came with his black tea and he oh-so-arrogantly sipped his black tea.
"Now your brain gear is working." He playfully teased, "What part black and tea you don't understand?"
May struggled to voice out. "I..." she swallowed, "I just... I forgot that coffee is from beans."
"Really. Only you can probably forget these basic things." Drew half-mockingly sighed, taking another sip of his tea. His eyes never left her. The way she became flustered when he exposed her little mistake, the way her expression changed into something more nervous yet coy; he could watch them all day while drinking his favorite black tea. There's no denying that he continually ridicules this petite brunette just for the hell of it.
"Oh, the football match is starting!" May's eyes suddenly lit up, causing Drew to follow where her eyes lead him.
"It's just a highlight of yesterday's match." Drew corrected when they watched the program. Apparently, it was a sports news program rather than a match. It was broadcasting the scores and highlights of previous matches, possible team line-up and forecasts of the next few matches, and the like.
"I was looking forward for a match, too." May disappointedly plopped her chin onto her palm.
"What team are you rooting for?"
"Well, Switzerland, for the whole tournament." she replied, eating her soufflé.
Drew raised an eyebrow upon hearing her answer.
"What?" May inquired sardonically, her eyes forming slits. Drew just chuckled and flicked his hair.
"Nah," he said, "I just didn't expect you to choose something people rarely choose."
Now it was May's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Are you implying that I am too 'mainstream' and always following the flow?"
"Maybe yes, maybe no," Drew nonchalantly shrugged.
May snorted. "What about you then?"
"As for me..." Drew placed a rose on her empty plate, "I choose Portugal."
"Portugal?" May echoed, caressing the rose's petals. Drew's eyes wandered from her eyes, to her hand, and back to her eyes again.
"There is no Portugal in tomorrow's match." She continued bemused.
"I mean for the whole competition."
"Oh, I see. It's falling behind on points. Well, almost all the famous and 'big' countries are losing, so I don't think Portugal will win." May stated, "It's also among the countries I don't want to see winning the World Cup.."
"Why?" he enquired.
"Why? I find Cristiano Ronaldo a snob, and I don't like him," May griped, "If Portugal wins, he's just going to be snobbier and it's just yuck. Have you noticed his goal celebration? It's kind of annoying. And his neck is also too big. I don't get why people like him, he's so overrated. I personally like people who are more down-to-earth like Steven Gerrard. Just enough, not too bulky and stuff. And also Daley Blind from Netherlands. They're so cute yet gorgeous."
Drew watched her hand gestures as she babbled, 'forgetting' to listen the parts of certain players being 'cute and gorgeous'. Although, he had to say that he enjoyed watching her natter. He loved watching the brilliant glow in her eyes when she talked about what she likes. It's the same glint as when she received his rose. Pure, stunning glimmer that made him want to embrace her tenderly.
"Drew? Why are you spacing out?"
Drew flicked his hair coolly. "Nah, I'm just thinking you're being subjective. You dislike the whole team because of one player."
"I..." For a while, May seemed like her words were lost somewhere, "I am not, it's... Okay, fine, it's because of that one person."
She crossed her arms in an angry fashion, although the rosy blush on her cheeks gave away that she's embarrassed of being caught off guard once again by him.
"Hnh, thought so." He sneered, "But people tend to do that. Even I, I suppose. It's not good when it happens, is it? Letting one person cloud up your judgement..."
"Oh yeah?" May seemed intrigued, her annoyance from before disappeared. Despite being interested to catching him off guard, she always falls short on words when it happens. Things usually get serious when he admitted his faults, and seeing him reprimanding himself wasn't something she could instantly grasp. Back then, when she pointed out that she knew he once cried, he admitted of him being naïve, and she just stood silently contemplating what was on his mind. Now that this is happening, she didn't want to be silent and let the conversation end. She wanted to see this side of him; not to poke fun of it, but more to the sight of him accepting himself as he was.
May cleared her throat quietly. Could it be that he also had a team he disliked because of someone in the team? I wonder...
"Umm... Do you have any teams you dislike?" she hesitated.
"Not particularly," He disclosed. "Rather than that, I think I came to support this one team because of this one person."
"So, you have a favorite player? Who?"
Drew smirked for a bit. "Well, it's not exactly someone from the team, it's just that this one person reminds me of the whole team."
"Huh?" May was bewildered.
"It's more to the color of the flag, too, I suppose." Drew tried to hint, a slight smirk on his lips. She was confused and he knew it. He liked seeing her try to solve his puzzles.
"Portugal's flag is... Red and green with the yellow logo?" she thought out loud.
"Yeah." His smirk became more visible. "What does it remind you of?"
"Oh, I see! A traffic light!" May lightened up, her grin wide to her cheeks. Drew, however, almost facepalmed at her answer. God, this girl is as clueless as she can be, isn't it?
"Come to think of it, Switzerland also has this plus thingy on their flag! It kind of looks like a hospital logo, isn't it? I didn't notice it before!" May laughed brightly, her eyes gleaming with delight. Sure, Drew was quite dissatisfied by her not getting his clues, but her childish laugh could've just made up for it, except that he really wanted her to know the truth.
"I gotta say you're getting a good grasp out of this, but that wasn't what I actually meant," Drew popped her little bubble shortly after her laugh subsided. May's expression slowly changed afterwards.
"Really? Then what is it?" She said, almost as if she's questioning herself, "What else is green, red─"
"It's you."
"─and yellow─What!?"
"Red, and green, like a rose. Like you." Drew finalized. May stayed in her spot, seemingly to process what she just gathered. Then, she recalled the time when she asked why he gave her roses and he told her it's because roses remind him of them being one, petals as red as her, and stem as green as him. The information just all added up now that he spoke about roses. He thought the colour scheme of Portugal's flag reminded him of her and him being one. How could she not realize this ten minutes ago?
Drew flicked his hair before speaking up. "In case you don't know, your face is now as red as-"
"Shut up, I know!" she yelled in embarrassment, "I just...don't know what to say, that's all."
Drew smirked, "Well, you don't have to say anything, you just have to comprehend that you're the one making me support this team, which means you're the subject of my subjective thoughts, and you're the one clouding up my judgement."
May's face didn't cool down at his words even a bit. "The way you said it─it's like I'm the center of your universe," she muttered shyly, faking a grumpy face at the ground. All the while, her hands clenched up nervously. She refused to meet her eyes with his, and he noticed it. He noticed her bashfulness and silently adoring how beautiful she was, with all the expressions that she could pull off.
Yet he didn't voice it straightly, he just let her know with three simple words, "Yes, you are."