Perfect Rivals
She was nervous. Very nervous. She kept moving back and forth trying to focus on the upcoming battle. She felt her palms grew sweaty as the time passed by. Finally, tired of walking around she sighed as she fell down on a chair nearby and glanced at the clock.
10 minutes left.
"Do not lose your calm, May," she told herself.
She thought about how much time had passed since she started coordinating and yet she was here, getting all nervous over a battle. But, it wasn't a normal battle, now was it? After this battle her journey in Sinnoh would end. She'll end up as a top coordinator or a runner up again.
She shook her head, no, she wasn't losing again. This time the title was hers. She'll give her best. She'll show the world that she is worthy of the title. But..
The final battle won't be easy. Not when the opponent is Drew. Already a top coordinator.
"Calm down, Maple."
She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up only to see him leaning against the wall in front of her.
Talk about timings.
"When did you come?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, her heartbeat getting fast for some unknown reasons.
"Not long ago," he replied lazily.
May hummed in response. Only then she noticed, she was continuously tapping her foot against the floor. She stopped immediately lest Drew notices and tease her about it.
"Why so nervous?" The question made her realize that he had already seen her.
Damn!
"Who said I'm nervous?" She tried to appear confident, sitting up straight.
"If moving back and forth and tapping your foot against the floor means being confident then fine," he shrugged with a smirk.
So he had been watching her longer than she expected. Perfect.
She sighed again, "Okay. I am nervous. I-I know I'm ready for the battle but still. It's final and I want to beat you this time."
"I know that," he nodded.
"How can you be so calm and collected?" She asked bitterly, her brows furrowed.
"Certainly because I take every battle seriously," he shrugged.
May could only roll her eyes. She checked the time; four minutes left.
"I take every battle seriously too. It's just, I don't want to lose this time. Okay I told you this before I know. But-"
"Listen to me," Drew interrupted her as he left the wall and stepped closer to her. "Just focus on the battle. Focus on the strategies you're going to use against me. Stop worrying about all the if's. Just believe in yourself and your Pokemon because that's all you need to do. Besides, it's not like we're battling for the first time."
"Miss Maple and Mr Hayden, you two are expected in two minutes on the stage," the attendant appeared in the doorway.
Mat stood up. "Yes we're coming," she responded.
She then looked at him again as soon as the attendant was gone.
"You know, that's pretty strange for a rival to say these things before the battle to his opponent," she playfully said and laughed. Maybe his words had some effect after all.
"I don't think we're normal rivals, are we?" He said in a low voice with lidded eyes.
May tore her gaze away from him as she played with her fingers, trying to think of a decent reply.
"Well.. all I can say we're rivals in a good way," she conceded with a nervous smile, staring at him fondly.
He smiled softly at her, "I agree with that." Then he checked his wristwatch, "we better get going."
"Oh yeah," she began to move but before she could even take a step, he grabbed her hand.
"What?" May asked.
He didn't reply as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "Good luck," he smirked.
May turned pink and she was surely surprised by the notion.
Oh they weren't normal rivals, remember?
She gave him a shy smile. "Good luck to you too," she returned the kiss on his cheek and walked away.
He watched her going with a smile forming on his face and then followed her.
He was so in love with her rival and he believed that she was too.
This is again something I wrote for Contestshipping Week on tumblr. Hope you like it!
