"Well, Brock warned us," she muttered, kicking at a pinecone. "Go too far with the insults and one of you will end up in tears." Misty had always pictured that scenario, Ash's remarks hitting a bit too close to home, her running into the woods sobbing...then Ash, instantly feeling guilty and realizing what a fool he'd been, rushing to find her. Wiping away her tears, begging her forgiveness, them confessing their love and sharing their first kiss.
Instead, Ash had been the one to storm of into the woods after one of her comments hit a nerve. Funny how a girl's romantic daydreams don't translate too well into real life.
The truth was Misty didn't feel like admitting she was wrong, Ash was a hotheaded idiot who would never get anywhere in life, all he ever did was leap before he looked. Right? He wasn't a bad person or completely brain-dead, just stubborn and impulsive.
Then again, so was she. Or so she'd been told.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," she mumbled. Of course she could only say what she meant now that they weren't at each other's throats.
She couldn't take back what she'd said, she couldn't pretend she'd been wrong. And love confessions? Come on, Misty, would you really accept that from someone you'd just been fighting with? Ash wouldn't either.
So she found him, sitting against a hollow log, nursing his bruised ego. She sat down and put an arm around his shoulders.
"I'm sorry, Ash. I didn't mean to hurt you," she said softly. "I just...really care about you, and I get worried when you act without thinking. That's all."
He looked up at her, she could tell he'd been crying.
"Then I'm sorry I make you worry," he said. "Would you feel better if I promised to be careful from now on?"
"At least try," she said, and he hugged her tightly.
Maybe the love confessions and first kiss would be better saved for when they were getting along.