Misty didn't like going to parties of any kind. After the incident she tended to avoid them at all cost or at least turn up for an hour and then slip away. Sadly this happened to be party hosted by Ash Ketchum and she knew for a fact that he'd notice that she'd gone. That was why she was sitting at a small table, fixated on her drink while May talked about contests.
"The grand festival is in a few weeks and I should be preparing, not sitting at a table, at a party that's great and all but not my thing," May said before letting out a deep sigh and taking another drink. The alcohol was getting consumed pretty fast at their table although Misty was the one drinking most of it.
"That's exactly what I keep thinking! Well not about contests but I could be doing something much more useful than sitting around." Misty moaned, joining in with May's lack of enthusiasm.
"That means sitting at home eating ice-cream in front of the TV right?" May joked and only laughed when Misty glared at her. "I totally understand though. I'm really happy that Ash and Serena are engaged but the fact I'm missing out on training is a pain."
"Oh will you two lighten up?!" A chair screeched along the ground as a girl with a short pink dress dragged it over to them and sat down.
"Sorry if we're not as enthusiastic as you about this Dawn," Misty said sarcastically, sitting up to lean back in her chair.
"Yeah you're not really sorry. Why can't you two relax? It's one night and if you two got up you could meet someone! Then you can dance the night away, while staring into each other's eyes and watch helplessly as you fall in love," Dawn swooned a little bit as she spoke, staring into space as she imagined it happening. She was snapped out of her daydream when Misty snorted.
"Dawn that sounds nice but you know that won't happen," May said softly, her eyes flickering off to look at someone at the exact time Misty did.
Dawn quickly followed their gazes and after seeing the two guys they was watching she laughed. Both girls whipped their gazes back onto her and glared, only for Dawn to start laughing harder.
"Dawn, shut up, you're drawing attention to us!" Misty hissed, flapping her arm about as if that would make Dawn go quiet.
"No, I'll shut up when you two start acting like you're adults! Misty you're 21 you shouldn't be acting like a little teenager anymore! I always thought you were a bit more mature May at 19, since you always seemed more mature than me but I guess that wasn't true! Now will you two act your own age and talk to the guys?" Dawn asked as calmly as she could muster, but she was honestly feeling a little fed up now. She hoped that they would snap them out of it but May just ended up blushing and looking at her drink while Misty rolled her eyes.
"You know that's rich Dawn. You're 18, you're an adult! Yet you can't talk to Paul for more than 2 seconds without starting an argument! Yet you claim to really like him? What's up with that?" Misty countered. Dawn opened her mouth to protest but knew there was no point.
All three of them fell silent, the chatter and loud pop music playing in the background filing up their silence. Dawn was twirling around her cocktail glass that she'd left on the table, watching the liquid swirl around. Misty lent back in chair and crossed her arms, feeling annoyed that she was still stuck here. May on the other hand was leaning on the table, her mind whirling around in thought until she couldn't take it anymore.
"We're pathetic!" She cried, startling Dawn and Misty. "Dawn's right, we should have done something about our feelings a long time ago, but we're all too scared to do anything. I've known Drew for so long now, yet I'm still scared he'll make a fool of me if I tell him my real feelings!" May ran her hands through her hair while Misty and Dawn gave her sympathetic looks.
Dawn went to speak but was interrupted by a forced cough to the side of their table. All three girls glanced up and noticed another girl standing at their table looking thoroughly amused. When she noticed she had their attention her smile widened and she dusted down her long elegant red dress. "You know, it's a shame that three successful women can't bring themselves to ask the guys they like out." She said, shaking her head in despair.
"This is none of your business Melody," Misty spat and glared at the girl in hopes she'd leave them be.
"Sadly it is. I don't like people looking pathetic and I also like getting people together. This type of party is perfect for the latter," Melody announced, clasping her hands together in joy. When the other girls just stared at her she laughed. "You three shouldn't be so afraid. Seriously, why can't you get the courage to do this? Competing in contests and battling should be scarier than this!"
"That's completely different," Dawn protested. "We're facing a challenge in those, where we either win or lose, it's totally..." she trailed off when she finally understood.
"They're both a challenge," Misty said and grinned when Dawn and May nodded in agreement. "So we should treat it as a challenge!"
"But doesn't a challenge normally evolve, you know, someone challenging you?" May questioned and when Misty and Dawn shrugged they turned their attention to Melody.
Melody thought for a few seconds before she snapped her fingers and grinned. "I know! I dare you three to admit three secrets to a stranger!"
"How is that supposed to help?" May asked when she failed to understand how it'd possibly help them.
"If you can confess you're feelings to a stranger, then you can do it to the actual person! Or hope they tell them, but that's a bit cowardly. Then we can progress from there!" Melody said as if her plan was perfect.
The girls fell into silence after that, contemplating whether or not to accept the dare and who they'd even say it to. Suddenly Misty hit her fist against the table and said; "I accept your dare!" May and Dawn stared at her in shock while Melody's grin widened in delight.
When Melody was about to speak Misty help up her finger. "However, I'm going to do it in a far more exciting way that'll be much quicker as well," She said as she downed the rest of her drink and rose from her chair. "Dawn you were right. I need to act my age and deal with this crush. Let's do it!"
May and Dawn continued to watch in shock as Misty stumbled over to the front of the room, where a DJ was currently playing all the music. It conveniently was sitting at the back of a large stage, plenty of room for someone to stand on and gather everyone's attention.
"Here goes Misty, don't muck this up," Misty mumbled to herself as she walked up to the DJ and explained her little plan. After a few minutes he relented, handed her the microphone and shut the music off. The crowd of people instantly expressed their annoyance, to which Misty promptly stuck her middle finger up as she moved to the front of the stage and turned the microphone on.
"Is this on? Oh yeah good, right can you all shut the bleeding hell up so I can get something over with. This will probably be far more entertaining than whatever crap was playing," She said.
"Tone down the language Red, it's not very flattering!" A voice shouted from the crowd which Misty recognised instantly.
"Like I care what you think Gary!" Misty said as confidently as she could and hoped her red face wasn't that easy to see under all the lights. Her heart started hammering as if she was suddenly reminded that the guy she liked, a lot, was still here. She half hoped he'd gone but he was clearly still around.
"Anyway, I'll try to make this quick. My acquaintance Melody, who's over to the side by the way, has decided to dare me, May and Dawn to admit three secrets to a stranger. But I thought how much more fun this would be do in front of an audience," She informed everyone and let out a shaky laugh.
"So here's number 1. I am not drunk, even if I may have stumbled up here, or seem a bit dizzy. I have had two glasses, I'm fine. So everything I say from now on is the absolute truth and I'm saying this all because I want to," Misty said and thought she could hear a protest from Melody about that not being a secret but brushed it off.
"Number 2, some of you will have known this and will probably voice your opinion a second after I say this, but I used to have a huge crush on Ash for a little when I was travelling with him," Misty said and as predicted Brocks voice shouted something about how everyone knew this already. She then located Ash and saw how his shocked face before seeing Serena's furious one.
"Oh woops, probably shouldn't have admitted that at an engagement party right? Yeah Serena, don't worry, I'm not interest in that goofball anymore. I thought he didn't have a clue about romance so got over him. Congratulations by the way, for actually bringing out his romantic side. Just to be clear, I have not liked him for 8 years now and never will again, so happy engagement guys!
So that leaves my last secret, which you're all probably going to get a right laugh out of," Misty let out another shaky laugh before locating the person who she was doing this for. It wasn't hard to spot him, leaning up against the bar at the back of the room with his chestnut hair spiked up in its usual messy way. Misty's heart fluttered when she saw his smile and the realisation that she was making him smile. She lifted her gaze slightly to look into his brown eyes and could have melted when their gazes met. She was stuck and it took a lot of control for her to draw her eyes away and focus on the crowd instead. It was time to suck it up and admit the truth.
"My final secret is...I have a huge crush on Gary Oak!" She heard the gasps and saw some of the shocked faces. Misty knew she was blushing a lot now and couldn't bring herself to even glance in his direction.
"Next up is May Maple!" She shouted into the microphone, which caused most of the crowd to glance round at May who looked horrified at the attention.
"No, no, no, no! I can't do this in front of so many people, this is insane," she whispered to Melody and Dawn, her hands starting to shake in a panic. Her eyes stayed locked to the table and she refused to get up.
Dawn tilted her head as she watched her friend before she sighed and stood up herself. "I'll go up before you if that makes it any easier?" May gave a small nod and refused to look up even as Dawn rose out of her chair, sauntered confidently up to the stage and took the microphone from Misty. "You did great," Dawn quietly said to her before Misty quickly raced back to their table.
"Hello everyone, sorry to disappoint but I'm going next instead. Although who can be disappointed when it's me taking up the stage," She joked and didn't expect the catcalls that came her way afterwards. Dawn giggled at that before sweeping her gaze over the crowd to find Paul. Funnily enough she found Drew dragging him over to Gary, with the latter now sitting down and looking in someone else's direction. Funny they weren't sitting together earlier, Dawn thought before shrugging it off.
"My first secret is I'm actually really enjoying doing this confession thing. I'll probably pretend to be angry at Melody later but you know I feel alive doing this! As nervous as I should feel I actually feel so relieved that this weight is about to lifted from my shoulders. For my next secret I'm going to copy Misty a bit here and will probably get a similar reaction from Brock. I had a crush on Ash as well for a while. Well maybe more like a week, then I realised he was a little too old and obsessed with gym battles. Although there is one guy who is obsessed with gym battles that is quite nice," Dawn giggled again and this time when she caught Paul's gaze she winked at him.
"That leads on to my final confession, where I announce my crush," Dawn heard a few disappointed voices speak out in the crowd and laughed. "I'm sorry to disappoint but I currently have my eye on one guy and that guy is Paul Shinji!" Unlike Misty, Dawn looked straight at Paul and promptly burst into laughter when she how surprised he looked. She handed the microphone to the DJ and walked with her head held high back to the table, her grin never leaving her face.
"May you're up," Melody whispered and nudged her slightly, causing May to jump before wondering up to the stage. May briefly caught the words of encouragement from Misty and Dawn but was so nervous they came in through one ear and out of the other. All she could think about was how the crowd already knew roughly what secrets she was about to confess and that made her nearly freeze to the spot.
After what seemed like an excruciatingly long walk she got the microphone and faced the crowd. She wouldn't even look at Drew throughout this whole thing and after a few deep breaths she decided to treat the matter like ripping of a band aid: a really embarrassing band aid.
"Hi, I'm May, uh May Maple. First up I'd like to confess that I'm absolutely terrified right now. I know a lot is at stake here but hopefully I will feel free like Dawn. For my second secret I guess I should follow the pattern and confess I too once had a crush on Ash but I soon got a bit distracted by someone else who constantly argued with me, someone who got on my nerves so much I wanted my Mamoswine to use take down on him. Of course I didn't and I'm glad I didn't," May took a deep breath before steeling herself. "My final secret is that I like the boy who argues with me, the boy who has the annoying habit of occasionally beating me in contests but most importantly, the one who gives me a rose every time I see him. Guess it's a shame I only figured out now that you did that because you used to like me Drew.
That's all then I guess. Thanks for listening," May said quickly. She then quickly returned the microphone and raced back to the table.
By the time May got back the music had already started again and people were already drifting away from the strange confessions from the three girls. The girls weren't entirely aware of everyone else's disinterest so all three leaned forward in their chairs to talk as privately as possible to each other.
"I can't believe we just did that!" Dawn said excitedly, her eyes darting back and forth to see if the other two were as happy as she was.
"I have to admit I feel like a weigh has been lifted," Misty agreed.
"I'm glad you two feel that way, I feel a mess. I wonder what the boys even thought," May mumbled as massaged her forehead.
"Well girls, seems like you'll find out the answer to that soon," Melody whispered as she leaned towards the three girls before standing up straight and wondering off.
The three girls froze, neither of them daring to move until Dawn flickered her eyes to the side to see that the three guys were in fact making their way over.
"Shit," Dawn swore as she drew her gaze away from them.
"Misty, please tell me you still carry your mallet around!" May urgently whispered.
"No, I left it at home!"
"Why is a mallet even necessary?" Dawn asked, confused as to why that was important.
"So we can knock them out and run! I just confessed my feelings and I am not ready for Drew to mock me about it!" May almost shouted.
"I get that you're nervous right now May, but maybe we should talk to them?" Dawn questioned. She glanced at Misty and hoped she would agree. May followed her line of sight and waited for what Misty had to say.
"I agree with Dawn," Misty said after a few moments and before May could interrupt her she held up her hand. "Look I'm fed up of hiding feelings from people. Frankly it's annoying. I say we stand proud, even if they do reject us. We are not pathetic! We are strong women who can handle a rejection every now and again!"
"Cheers to that!" Dawn shouted happily as she picked up her glass to drink.
"What, you can't be serious? I can't do this, guys, guys! Listen to me!" May's voice started to get shrill when she realised both her friends were now occupying relaxed positions and didn't look like they had a care in the world. Well I guess that's what I'm going to have to do.
The seconds ticked by as they waited. Dawn sat up straight as she drank from her glass, Misty leaned back in her chair as she stared into her glass while May continued to slouch over the table until she eventually leaned back but only to sink into her chair. When three figures came and stopped by their table, nobody spoke a word and the silence started to become unbearable.
"Hey Red, mind if we talk somewhere quieter?" Gary finally asked as he tried to get Misty to catch his eye. When he did he was slightly shocked to see how blank her face looked but quickly covered up for that.
"Sure, why not?" Misty said as she got up from her chair to follow Gary to a quieter place.
That left four of them and the silence was again descended upon the group. This time Dawn got fed up with the silence and stood up suddenly. "Paul we need to talk, privately," She announced. He looked briefly at her then back at the wall as if that was more interesting.
"Fine," He mumbled anyway but as she soon as she took his arm to lead her he yanked his arm away. "Don't touch me."
"Fine grumpy pants, just follow then," Dawn rolled her eyes and decided to let his rudeness slide since she really wasn't in the mood. It was an accomplishment enough that she got him to agree to talk to her and she didn't plan on pressing her luck.
That left May and Drew. May wasn't focused on him at all really. The only thoughts that occupied her thoughts were curses aimed at her so called friends. When Drew finally spoke up, she jumped and responded with "huh?"
"You need to get your ears checked June," Drew teased as he watched her face light up in embarrassment.
"My names May! Not June, not April and not December!" May shouted, falling for the bait immediately.
"Ok, no need to explode, March," Drew's grin widened when May's face got even redder but even he could predict her next response.
"Look if you're not going to say anything nice, can you please leave? I really don't need you to tease me, reject me and then laugh about it, all in one day," May sighed as she leaned back on the table.
Drew went quiet for a few moments and May nearly forget he was there. "What made you think I was going to reject you?"
May looked up startled, the blush returning as her eyes widened. "I just thought, well I assumed, that since you tease me and make fun of me, well, you, maybe didn't want to date me."
"You really shouldn't assume things May," Drew sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I was planning on asking you out already today. Since it was a perfect opportunity but I guess I don't need to ask you since you just confessed your feelings anyway."
May eyed Drew for a few seconds, believing him slightly before actually considering what he said. "No."
"No?" Drew asked, totally confused.
"No, I won't go out with you," May said simply.
"What, but what about...?" Drew trailed off when May started smirking at him. "What?"
"Ask me out properly and I might say yes."
"You're kidding?"
"Nope"
"I still need to ask you out?"
"Yep"
"Fine," Drew grumbled and sat down on one of the vacated chairs. He opened his jacket and produced a rose and handed it to her. "May, will you go out on a date with me?"
"Of course!" May squealed as she threw her arms around him and gave him a massive hug. Eventually she pulled back and stared at the rose. "I can't believe this day went so well," She mused out loud as she twirled the rose.
"We aren't the only lucky ones," Drew said as he slipped one of his arms on the back of Mays chair and gestured with his other to the other two pairs.
May looked around for the other two and her grin widened at seeing her friends. Misty and Gary were walking back to the table with Gary's arm around Misty. Both had smiles plastered to their face but May could see Misty rolling her eyes at something Gary said to her which resulted in both of them laughing. Her gaze then travelled over to Dawn and Paul who were also heading back to the table. Dawn was grinning and had her arm around Pauls and although Paul wasn't smiling, his demeanour seemed happier than earlier.
At the back of the room Melody stood watching as the three pairs reunited with a triumphant smirk on her face. She'd finally managed to get them together and it hadn't been easy. It was a shame she'd let the boys in on her plan earlier but she hoped the little stage thing surprised them as much as it did to her. It all worked just as well though and with a merry cheer, Melody toasted herself and had a well deserved drink.