We were told that we were quiet people. Which was true, but what wasn't true was that two quiet people could never become friends, because if it was too quiet, how could any conversation be created? Well, who said friendships had conversations that were only to be spoken? Red and I always had conversations together... on sticky notes. We used to anyway. Until that incident happened between us.
You see, about a decade ago, Red and I met on the playground during Trainer Preschool. One day, it was raining outside, and I was huddled under the slide, as usual. While the teacher gathered up all the other kids and took them inside, I remained under that slide because I didn't mind the rain. Red, however, disliked the rain, and ran to the closest area away from the downpour. Our eyes met, and we stayed under there together until the teacher came back for us and took us both inside. After that day, without exchanging any words, we sat together under the slide until we outgrew it. Well, at least Red did. I remained small, though not as small as a preschooler.
School years passed, and we finally exchanged our first conversation.
"H-hi Leaf." Red mumbled.
"Oh hey, Red. What brings you to my desk on this snowy day?" I asked.
Red stuttered, "I was wondering if later today... during battle class, if I could be your b-b-"
"Battle partner?" I finished.
"Yes." He whispered.
"You don't know how long I've wanted to partner up with you, Red." I giggled.
Since that day, we grew closer, bit by bit. We started speaking more, and stayed apart from each other less. Every school year, we had our seats right next to each other in the far right back. No one ever noticed us, so we played games together on our portable video game consoles during class. We always spent the night at each other's houses to study before a big test, and although it was difficult catching up, together, we passed the tests with perfect scores.
We had terrible study habits, but neither of us complained. Aside from school, we spent time out of school together too. I would invite him to all sorts of places, like the park or the mall. He would always wear a red cap and vest along with his blue jeans. I would always wear my red skirt with my blue top and white hat as well. Sometimes, Red would invite me to more relaxing locations, such as the Lake of Rage and the peak of Mt. Silver. I never minded going with him, despite how much I disliked heights or buying countless mosquito repellants to protect myself. As long as we were together, we were happy.
Key word; were. It wasn't long until we entered our 11th school year that our main form of communication became sticky notes.
Prior to our sticky note exchanges, Red followed me everywhere except the gender-specific areas. He would become protective of me whenever guys tried to flirt with me or defend me when girls were whispering about me behind my back. It was useful at times, but wherever I went, police officers would ask me if Red was bothering me and passerby would stare at us from a distance. After school, I decided to confront the situation.
"Red, I don't want to be harsh on you, but I think you should stop following me so much." I sighed.
"But Leaf... I thought you liked my company?" he asked worriedly.
"I do, but this is wrong. We don't talk very often, so people are mistaking you for a creep. I don't want you to get bullied because of me." I replied with a quivering tone.
"I see... but expect more sticky notes, alright?" he promised.
"Okay. Thanks for understanding, Red." I said.
Red nodded. "Anything for you, Leaf."
He was right about the increase in sticky notes. He drew doodles of me and passed them to my desk frequently. My desk became cluttered very quickly, but I didn't want to throw his doodles away, so I would store them one by one inside of a Chikorita cookie tin, neatly organizing them by date of reception. Red noticed that I kept them somewhere special, so he kept the ones he recieved from me inside of a Squirtle tin. And whenever we had chain messages, we would keep them inside of a Torchic tin.
A few months after our exchange, right before winter break, Red seemed more zoned out. He was always staring off into space whenever we talked in person, like he was purposely ignoring me. I became worried, and wondered if he was recalling the incident in which he followed me. Whenever I asked him what was wrong, he would shrug it off and say, "It's nothing." I decided to investigate for myself.
I wrote on blue sticky note, "Red, do you care about me at all?"
Red scrawled a response on a pink sticky note. The response was shocking; "I don't care".
I was broken-hearted, but I placed the note inside of the Torchic tin with shaking hands and replied with a new note. "I see... It's pretty silly to think that, huh?"
After the school day ended, I hurried off home before Red could even stop me. I treaded through the snow and made it home, my tears half-frozen into my cheeks. I slept in for a week; not going anywhere out of my house. I thought about the notes, and about Red. I was hurt and frustrated, but I didn't exactly know why. I nearly went the second week of winter break Red-free, but he knocked on my door on Thursday. Before I could refuse, my mother, unaware of our situation, let him in. Red thanked her and came into my room.
"I wanted to know what was wrong, Leaf." Red said as he sat on the edge of my bed.
"Why would you want to know?" I hissed, buried under my covers.
He sighed in a hopeless mood."I had a feeling you would say that... you're upset over our last sticky note, right?"
I stuck my lower lip out slightly and sat up. "Hell yeah I am! You said you didn't care about me! And you were always ignoring me whenever we talked!"
Red chuckled. "Awww. Is that so? What if I told you that I was busy thinking about you the whole time?"
"That doesn't justify anything!" I pouted.
"I brought that note with me. I think you better re-check it before I set up an appointment for you with an eyedoctor."
He held the note in his hand, and extended it out to me.
The blue sticky note with my question was there.
"Red, do you care about me at all?" I turned to the next sticky note, and cringed at the answer.
"I don't care." I looked up at Red, puzzled. "Leaf, you're supposed to turn it over." He commanded in a soft voice.
"I don't care"
I flipped the note over.
"...about anyone but you."
"Red... That's so sweet of you." I murmured. "All this time, I thought you really didn't care. I thought you stopped caring about me after I told you to stop following me."
Red blushed. "I, um... wouldn't do that to you. But more importantly... I've been meaning to tell you something, Leaf." he said in a hushed voice.
"What is it?" I replied curiously, leaning in to hear him.
"I want to take care of you, Leaf. To entrust you with everything I have." He breathed. "Ah, that didn't make sense... what I meant to say was that I-"
I interrupted, "Love you too." Red blushed a thousand shades of rouge as the words left my mouth.
"Leaf... can we start off slow?" he requested.
"Slow is how I go. I figured you knew that by now." I teased. "Oh, and I also have a return policy you must follow. I'll give you a kiss, and if you don't like it, you can return it. No exceptions."
Red smiled. "In that case, I would like to make an exchange." He kissed my lips gently, pulling my shoulders close to his body. I leaned further in, and pushed him down below me.
Needless to say, two quiet people can become friends... and if they choose to, they could become a couple as well.