A/N: Umm, well, maybe I shouldn't be starting a new story cause I still have one in progress… but I'd forget the idea if I didn't start now! I will probably take a long time to update this story (and all my other stories), but please, please stick with me. I hope you enjoy this story!
"Do as you may, Dawn, you'll never get me to date Drew!" May groaned, as she lay on her bed with her feet dangling off. "Why are you so stuck on this idea that we're in love or something? It's pure nonsense!"
Dawn sighed. She couldn't understand why May was so obstinate about the fact that she'd never date Drew. It was obvious, really, that both of them had a thing for the other. Drew gave May roses, red roses, for goodness sakes! How was May so oblivious? Dawn flopped onto her bed face-first exasperatedly. "Okay then, May, I'll stop with this 'nonsense'," she said, as she picked herself off of her bed and made air-quotes around the word nonsense. "I'll leave you two alone. But you'll see sense soon enough. You can't hide from your soulmate."
May growled. "He's not my soulmate! I don't believe in things like that, anyway! I'm leaving to practice my contest moves!" She said as she got off of her bed and stomped out of the room that she shared with Dawn at the Oreburgh Pokécenter.
"But May," Dawn called after her. "Don't you want breakfast first? I'm going to the cafe. Do you want me to get you something?"
May didn't answer. "I guess she can get food by herself," Dawn said to herself. "She'll get hungry sooner or later."
Dawn put on a light jacket, which she left unzipped, and walked to the front desk of the Pokémon Center with the intention of signing up for the contest the next day before the line got too long. Already, she saw a line of around ten Coordinators at the front desk, talking to Nurse Joy. Dawn took her place at the back of the line. As the line inched forward, she wondered if May had signed up for the Contest yet. She made a mental note to ask Nurse Joy. Oh, and she hadn't figured out what she was going to wear! She really wanted to wear something to match-
"Excuse me?" Nurse Joy said in a slightly annoyed tone of voice, jolting Dawn out of her stare.
"Oh, sorry, Nurse Joy," Dawn sighed apologetically. "My mind was elsewhere."
"That's okay," Nurse Joy smiled. "I do that myself. Now, what's your full name, sweetheart?"
"Dawn Berlitz."
"How old are you?"
"Thirteen."
Nurse Joy finished typing the information into the computer. Then she hesitated for a few moments. "Okay, could you stand right on that blue line over there?" Nurse Joy said, pointing to a blue tape line that was in front of a white screen. "I need an updated picture of you because your birthday was just a couple weeks ago, right?"
Dawn shuffled over to the screen. She had known that this would happen, and hoped that she looked presentable, at the least. She was okay with pictures, but they were not her favorite and her smile always seemed just a bit distorted to her.
"Say cheese!"
Dawn deigned to say it. It always had seemed silly to her, anyways, to say cheese. Dawn put on her best smile and hoped that she hadn't blinked, because this picture would be going on the big screen at the contest.
"Perfect!" Exclaimed Nurse Joy, and Dawn hoped that it was true.
Dawn smiled at Nurse Joy. "Thank you so much! And oh, I have something to ask you, if that's okay with you."
"Sure! Hopefully I can answer," Nurse Joy replied. "Ask away!"
"Has May Maple signed up for the contest?" Dawn asked hopefully.
Nurse Joy scrolled through the applicants list. "No, I don't believe she has."
"Oh," Dawn said. "She's planning to enter." Then her face brightened. "May's staying at the Pokémon Center! If you see her, could you remind her to sign up for me?"
"I will do that next time I see her," Nurse Joy said. "Dawn, you are a very thoughtful friend, that's for sure."
"Thanks again, Nurse Joy! Have a nice day!" Dawn said, not wishing to hold up the line any further.
Dawn zipped up her jacket and walked out of the Pokémon Center. A light drizzle was falling, but the sun was peeking through the thin cloud cover. Dawn turned right and walked two blocks before opening the door of a cute coffee shop called Skitty's Coffee. The doorbell gave a little jingle as it opened, and the bittersweet aroma of coffee flooded her nostrils. The line was long on a Friday morning, with many people sitting around and doing work, and many more sitting around and chatting with their friends over a cup of steaming coffee. Dawn looked at the menu hanging over the counter.
Hmm, a chai tea sounds good for a day like this, Dawn thought hungrily. And an oatmeal for breakfast. It's not really what would taste the greatest, but it's much better for me. I-
"Dawn!"
Dawn whipped around, her blue hair spinning, to face the second voice that day which had jolted her out of her thoughts.
"Do as you may, Paul, I'm never going to date May!" Drew said exasperatedly, as if he was explaining something to a child for the umpteenth time. He rolled over on his bed onto his right side to face Paul. "What makes you think that I have any interest in her?"
"Umm, Drew, giving a girl roses is not a very subtle way to tell her that you like her," Paul rolled his eyes. "Do you really think that May believes that terrible lie about the roses being for her Beautifly?"
Drew paused, carefully calculating what his next words would be. "Why wouldn't she?"
"So you admit that they're for her!"
"No!" Drew yelled, grabbing a pillow off his bed in the room he shared with Paul at the Oreburgh Pokémon Center, and smacking Paul in the face with it. "They're not for her Beautifly, but they're not exactly for her, either."
Paul grabbed a pillow off of his own bed as well, and retaliated by hitting Drew in the butt. "Then who are they for? Her Skitty? Or her Glaceon?"
"I…" Drew hesitated. "I really don't know anymore," Drew conceded, keeping his pillow in front of his chest. "They were for her Beautifly, at least for the first couple of times I gave her a rose. But now, it's kind of become a tradition, and I just do it."
"So the roses are for May in general. Good to know," Paul smirked, setting his pillow back on his bed. "I'll be sure to tell May next time I see her."
"No!" Screeched Drew once again, turning bright pink, and dropping the pillow that he was clutching. "Don't do that, please, no," he begged. "My life will be over if anyone finds out I like her!"
"So you do like her," Paul said, a knowing smile on his face. "I'll be sure to tell her that, too!"
"Yes! No! Yes! What?" Drew sputtered confusedly. "I'm done! I'm going outside to work with my Pokémon, who are much more understanding than you." He yelled angrily, his normally cool demeanor all but gone.
"Okay then, Drew," Paul called to him as he stomped out the door. "I'm going to Skitty's Coffee. When you cool down, you can meet me there for breakfast."
When Drew was gone, Paul sighed at his friend's self-imposed ignorance. He just couldn't bring himself to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, (Paul laughed at that inside his head because it was blatantly obvious) May liked him back. Paul peeled himself off of his bed, set the pillows that they had dropped back in their places on their beds, and walked out of his Pokémon Center room. Taking a right turn and walking two blocks straight, he ended up at the coffee shop that he had first discovered on a trip with his parents when he was very young, Skitty's Coffee. Paul adored their lemon pound cake, but he thought he should save it for a victory snack once he beat the Oreburgh Gym Leader. But still, he couldn't get over the fact that Drew was still in denial that he liked May.
Does Dawn have this issue with May? Paul asked himself. Because if she does, she must be driven mad by her!
Paul glanced up at the lengthy line, trying to estimate how long it would take for him to get to the front of it. Suddenly, he caught a flash of blue hair. Could it be-
"Dawn!"
Paul put his hand over his mouth, frantically hoping that he hadn't just yelled Dawn's name out loud for the entire world to hear. Unfortunately, a petite bluenette whipped around, and Paul's cheeks flushed red.
A/N: Thank you to my friend UniqueBookworm, or Sushi, who beta-read this for me! It is really reassuring that some mistakes were caught and my grammar was fixed!