Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon!

Call Off the Wedding

Contestshipping

Drew found May the night before his wedding, completely without warning and entirely by accident. He supposed, had the encounter not occurred, he would be contently married by now, and not wholly displeased with his life. It was the resolution of never seeing her again, after all, that had cleared up any unsettlement about settling.

It was May who'd left, in the end, and so Drew couldn't simply halt the forward progression of his life ... even if he'd wanted to. Which, for a very long time, he'd wanted to. And for a longer time, he'd attempted to.

Melody had come at him like an annoying beedrill, persistent and insistent upon one date, which she'd eventually received, and she had been around ever since. Drew liked her a lot, too. Enough to marry her. She was the kind of girl men dreamed about, chatty and pleasant and not overly clingy. She had perfectly straight teeth and a pleasant voice and her family were a well-to-do group of people from LaRousse, not unlike Drew's. She had good connections and Drew could have been good friends with her easily if she hadn't wanted to be more. Melody would be the perfect wife, the kind who never wanted conflict and followed his every wish, and ultimately, Drew knew, he never wanted that kind of relationship. With May things were always fiery, a conflict brimmed in every conversation to be smothered by gazes and mutual agreements. Fights with May were always about something more than the thing which was the subject of the argument – they were about her safety or his arrogance or their next move. They promised protection and security, and sometimes they were there simply for the passion of the moment and they were fun ... and with May, they were sexy. In his heart, Drew knew that if May ever surfaced again, he'd break it off with Melody immediately, even just for a shot at a repaired and shoddy relationship with May.

And so he had.

The night before his wedding, as Drew walked through the streets of Goldenrod City, just passed the Grand Hotel which was to be his place of matrimony, he saw May and her Blaziken, arms occupied by shopping bags, walking down the opposite street. She was just as he'd remembered her, if not a little older, a little more beautiful. It was such a perfect escape route for her, to the Johto region. He hadn't been back here since he'd stopped looking for her almost five years ago, but then, she'd loved Johto so much when they'd traveled here together, so of course she would come back eventually.

He followed her down the street, until she stopped at another department store – a big skyscraper, brimming with festive fairy lights. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to say or how he was going to say it, but he walked up to her in a daze and with a flustered confidence he'd stopped feeling since pokemon contests. Blaziken noticed him first, and when May turned around from her examination of the department floor plan Drew's breath caught in his throat and he swore this was as happy as he'd ever been in his life.

"May," He said, by way of greeting, smirking. She looked shocked, startled and flustered, her cheeks red from the cold wind and from embarrassment and because they'd always seemed to hold a certain red tint to them, even when they were kids, and then the most gorgeous grin broke across her face and she looked as though she might hug him if she weren't holding shopping bags. "How have you been?" He asked. A minute passed in silence as the saw each other – almost for the first time. It had been so long. Finally:

"Good," May said, looking around. Her smile softened and she walked forward, something in her gait told him she meant for him to walk along side her, so he took a bag from her hand and put his other in his pant pocket as they began to wander the snowy streets, "I've been … really good," she said, and when he couldn't think of anything to say she grinned at him and added, "I just finished up a contest the other day, and my next one isn't until the Grand Festival, so I've decided to take a vacation."

"Then you're still in the contest game?" Drew smirked, giving her a sidelong glance, she looked confident with her shoulder back and her rosy nose lifted skyward. Determination he realized. Determination and pride, so very much like May. She nodded, a smile on her lips.

"I just couldn't give it up. After you quit," she looked at him then, that was the reason after all. The reason they'd broken up and the reason they'd lost contact. Drew had wanted to settle down, find a permanent place and May couldn't do it. Wouldn't do it, and she'd left. It had been the absolute worst day of his life, "after you quit, I tried to give it up, to see if I could do it, but contests were all I knew, and my break only lasted until the end of that season..." They arrived at a small bar, bustling with the holiday crowd and cheer, and found a table on the patio for sit-down customers, where May looked Drew squarely in the eyes and then said, "but I've grown past that now." And she grinned.

"Past what?"

"Being afraid to quit. I love contests, but I've accomplished everything I wanted to, so this is my last Grand Festival. I think I'm going to buy a place here in Goldenrod. That's kind of why I'm here, a friend of Ash's said she'd be happy to help me look for a little house on the outskirts." She grinned big and goofy and her eyes were on fire. Drew starred in awe and he could see the future, settled with her, here, and he could see their pokemon ... and maybe their children. It was everything he'd always wanted, there in that picture. And in an instant it had shattered completely, because as she looked down to hide her growing blush, she stole a glance at his hands, folded on top of the table, and the silver band around his finger glistened in a taunting way. May looked mortified, and covered her mouth with her hands.

"I'm so sorry-" she gasped, her eyes wide. "Er, no- I mean, congratulations Drew! I just ... I didn't know, that's ... great ..." Her words trailed off and she stood up. Blaziken, who'd been sitting up against the wall stood as well, grabbing the bags around her feet. "I should go," she laughed nervously "I promise I wasn't ... flirting or anything. I just kind of ... assumed you were still ..."

"Wait May-" Drew stood, too, holding his hand out as if to grasp her, but she was already halfway down the road, her boots clicking on the cobblestone as the sound drifted out of ear shot. Drew fell heavily into his chair, groaning, as the future and his fantasy chased May deeper into the city.

How long has it been since I've written contestshipping?

I'm putting their ages at about 26-29, I'm hoping that explains the out of character-ness, but I'm also hoping I'll be able to make it more in-character as the story progresses. :P This'll have two more chapters, so keep an eye out, and if you're liking it so far, don't hesitate to leave a review (I love those darned things!)