Partially inspired by The Less I Know The Better by Tame Impala
"You know they're together, right?"
Those words sloshing around in her head, Lana had took off running after the League meeting ended, but as she exited the Hokulani Observatory, she turned right instead. She slumped against a metal guardrail, eyes drained of tears never shed, gazing vacantly at the romcom scene playing out before her eyes.
Mallow and Kiawe, hands intertwined and leaning into each other, sauntered past the parking lot, minds free of everything except young love and each other. This was made even more evident when Kiawe pulled his sweetheart into an embrace, before picking her up bridal-style. Momentarily flustered, Mallow blushed, before giggling and pulling him into a deep kiss, bathed in the warm glow of the Pokémon Center. She then slid off him and broke into a brisk jog, turning around for a split second to give him a coy pose. Kiawe gave chase, grabbed her hand, and ran down the mountain road.
Her back to the remnants of the daylight, Lana tried to let her thoughts drift away, but they stayed anchored to that one image. She looked up at the pathetic excuse for an early evening. An ugly, adolescent sky; not unlike her, she bitterly noted. She was a fisherwoman, not a hunter. For her, initiative meant getting up early. The very tranquility that made Lana a skilled fisherwoman had turned into passiveness.
You can't fish for love, but you can condemn it, watching it sink to the deep.
"So, they're a couple now."
Nanu spoke to her in his usual gruff, disinterested manner, leaning against a streetlamp right across from the railing where Lana had slumped down. The only new addition to his ensemble was a cigarette casually hanging out of his mouth, like he kept it there to please it, feeling nothing himself. His presence shook Lana out of her despairing thoughts for a moment.
"Yeah," Lana replied sulkily, her bad thoughts flooding back, "So?"
The kahuna sighed at her teenage angst. "Aren't they your best friends or something?" She nodded. Well, Nanu mused, she's fucked. No, whole group fucked. Shifting slightly to look straight at her, he decided to try to impart some wisdom, or whatever it is old Alolan men are supposed to dispense.
"Lemme guess, you liked him, then-"
"They have the right to do as they please." She was struggling to keep the torrent of emotions inside from drowning her mind.
"Look, take it from an old man. Get up." Nanu was standing straight, and turned to properly face Lana. His tone of voice now carried the slightest hint of interest. "Go cry it out or something."
"I didn't show any initiative," Lana blurted out," So no one can be blamed but me." She felt more disassociated from herself the worse she felt, strangely enough.
"Stop wallowing in self-pity and-"
Nanu was cut off by Lana snatching the cigarette out of his hand in one fluid motion and taking a deep drag, letting the smoke warm her body. Nanu fumed, but made no motion to stop her. For a fleeting moment, he had seen emotion return to that girl's eyes.
Right now, they were as starless as the evening sky.
The not-quite red glow of the cigarette pointed up at the heavens, and felt like a warning light to Cupid and his cronies. Lana coughed, but held the cigarette tightly.
"…I thought the poison here would cancel out the bad thoughts," Lana muttered, spaced out. "Guess I was wrong."
A streetlight flickered to life, showering both of them in a false moonlight. The tip of the cigarette broke off, and ashes fell softly onto the ground.