May Maple needed a vacation. No, this wasn't a simple observation or a randomly spotted thought because times were tough. She needed a vacation like she needed air, like she needed to eat, like she needed to train for contests. The last one was contradictory, but no one was perfect.
May laid in bed, tapping at her cell phone and trying to figure out when she opened up the latest travel site. She'd just gotten home from nearly winning the Johto Grand Festival, and celebrations for being the runner-up went on below. Music and family chatter filtered up through the floorboards. Without her. She should have been down there, not flipping through colorful advertisements for another attempt to escape.
Ignoring the odd feeling in her stomach, May landed upon an advertisement for the balmy Alola. A special kind of luck followed. A deal for a flight for two with reduced airfare and hotel stay. May sat upright, squeezing the phone to her chest. Too good to be true. Not only did she get a vacation, she also got to bring someone along. Now to pick her victim.
May sunk back into her pillows and mess. It took her two hours to find the red pleated skirt and frilly white shirt, but no one was seeing it. There were more important things to think about, like who to carry along with her on this journey to a land unknown. An impulse thought flashed in the back of her mind, but she shoved it aside for its ridiculousness.
Her first sensible thought was Ash Ketchum, the spunky boy who lived for adventure. It also dawned upon her that he'd never been there, and would use the trip to further his ends as a Pokémon master, not sit poolside with a Margarita. There was Max, but bringing a little brother when you wanted nothing more but to breathe a bit was also not an option. She needed someone hip to the jive of relaxing, someone who understood the meaning of letting your hair down, and possibly the stress of the contest circuit.
Drew Hayden. May thought of him a moment before Ash, but she'd dismissed it as predictable, childish, and self-sacrificing. Nothing could puff up his ego more than asking him to spend two weeks alone. Together. The only thing that came close was winning a Grand Festival, which he'd pried from her hands by a scant five points.
She wasn't bitter about that. She'd loved that someone she cared about managed to beat her, instead of some coordinator she didn't know. Selfish, but real. It had been a close battle, and the only upside to losing was that Drew took her out to dinner afterward. Well, they'd ordered Chinese food after he finished with the sea of reporters. Their little dinner date composed of sitting around his Pokémon Center room while munching chow mein. It was his attempted apology and a good one for the time. The better apology was taking the ride back to Hoenn with her instead of leaving her alone.
All the bags of cheap snacks and sugary drinks. All the bad jokes, talk about Pokémon, and aimless conversations about where they were going in their lives. The lingering goodbyes at the end of the night before they drifted to their little rooms on the boat home.
"May, dear."
May's eyes fluttered opened, her whole body flushed with memories.
Caroline chirped at the door, her merry tone backed by music. She pushed it open, her smile brightening the whole room.
"Oh hey, mom, what's up?"
May shifted forward, phone in hand. She shoved the phone underneath herself like her mother could pick up on her princess leaving the castle.
"The life of the party isn't downstairs, that's what's up." Caroline leaned against the doorframe, arms folded across her chest in mom fashion.
"Oh, right. I'll be down in a second."
"Is something on your mind, dear?"
"I'm fine, mom. Promise."
"May, I am your mother," Caroline stepped into the room, her bright pink dress swooping behind her like a mighty gale. May braced herself for an aggressive amount of motherly prodding. Caroline plopped down next to her, legs crossed and projecting years of dealing with May in one moment.
"I've known you for too long, May Maple. You shouldn't like to your mother."
"I'm not lying!" May folded her arms across her chest to pout back. Caroline said nothing, but the corner of her lip quirked into an all too knowing smile. Quickly damning all mothers and their ability to pry out answers, May gave in.
"I want to go on a vacation. I think I've been working too hard."
"If that's the case, you should go have a great time, free your mind. I'll take care of your father for you." Caroline leaned forward, eyes narrowed. "But that can't be all there is, my dear."
Caroline's smile made May shift back. Her phone cluttered to the floor. Caroline picked it up, holding the warm hunk of plastic in hand.
"You're going alone?"
"I was thinking about it."
"May."
"Maybe ask Drew to come with me?" Caroline's eyes went wide, the maddening mother look of a child growing a little older flashing like wild. Granted, May was twenty-three, but a child was always a child or a mother. Especially a mother who wanted the two together since May was sixteen and fussing over pimples and Pokémon. I Annoyed, May tried to get her phone back. Caroline danced away, her playful laugh irritating May further. "I said maybe."
"You should take him with you. I wholeheartedly approve. When are you going to go?" Caroline raised her eyebrows, her widening grin almost too much. "Will you be sharing a room?"
"Mom!" May lunged forward, grabbing her phone. Her whole body ran warm. "Shouldn't you be at the party?"
Caroline rose from the bed, her sun dress sweeping around her in a grand fashion. A villain looking over her newest victory, a red-faced, sputtering daughter that only wanted her to leave.
"Alright, alright. I'll leave you alone for now. Hurry down soon, your brother wants to eat your celebration cake." And vanished to the party with one final swish.
Party. Have fun with family, not think about how good it would be to have a little vacation with Drew Hayden. To think of waking up next to him, having a dinner with him, dancing around the idea of what could be. Childish, but they were her dreams and she allowed herself to have them. May launched herself out of her bed and stepped downstairs to rejoin the party.
Drew Hayden was in desperate need of a getaway. He returned home to technology and bustle, reporters and questions. In his career of choice, this was normal. But after winning the Grand Festival, the prodding and attention went far beyond normal means, This too, was also expected. He didn't expect to tire of the praise and attention.
Drew's mother, Angelina, fully encouraged her son's departure between haphazard brushstrokes and long sips of iced coffee.
"It will be good for you, Andy. Creative juices, new Pokémon, long walks on the beach and you'll dodge all of those nasty reporters." She waved a red globbed paint brush at him. His father, Dreyfus, sat next to Angelina in a pair of sweatpants and his formal shirt from work. He rested his head against her thigh, looking up with an enviable amount of devotion.
"Go on, Drew. If Angie says it's alright, I can't argue with it."
"You could if I didn't have you wrapped around my finger."
"I don't appreciate that."
"He's so fickle. Andy, go on and plan your vacation."
"You should bring someone with you, son."
"Why?"
"No point in having a vacation if you don't have someone to spend it with." Angelina swatted his nose with paint. Dreyfus rubbed it off on the back of his hand, exasperated. "Or not. Go alone, if this is what you have to work with."
Angelina rose from her seat and wrapped her arms around Dreyfus, pushing her nose against the remaining paint smear. Drew excused himself to his room.
Drew tossed himself onto his pull out couch. Tucked in a corner of her supply room, he looked up at paint cans and canvas among bedroom furniture. The smell of spilled paint came from the living room, and he didn't bother getting up for it. He already heard dress shoes scrambling across the scratched floor.
Colorful travel ads and promotions flashed before his eyes. He flipped through pages upon pages of deal and offers. Hoenn was out of the question. He was running away from Johto. Kanto and Sinnoh were a compelling candidate, but Alola won out. He could hide out in one of the smaller hotels, sit poolside and sip on tropical drinks while Roserade sprawled out in the sunshine.
Not the most productive way to spend the offseason, but the most sanity preserving. He could go by himself, indulge in the wildlife, and resist the urge to get any new Pokémon for his team. The last point was up in the air. His father had a point. He'd get restless by himself.
Who was better at breathers than his lazy rival, May Maple? Granted, she didn't fit the lazy trope anymore, nearly beating him in the Grand Festival. Whenever she'd become a workaholic was the day he almost feared for his title. Almost. The day she really surpassed him would be the day he'd willing approach her with the idea of a vacation. Just the two of them in a cramped hotel room in sweltering heat didn't sit well with him. It sat perfectly.
Drew heralded himself as a mature soul. He knew well that he had feelings for May Maple He didn't stay up at night staring at the ceiling wondering why he wanted to date her. He knew full well that he loved her passion, her dedication, her ability to challenge him both with and without her amazing luck. Despite her forgetfulness, her bullheadedness, her frantic moments of work between demanding a break. He accepted it. All of it. It was the whole point of love and the least he could do without spilling his guts, which didn't suit him at the moment. That need wasn't mature, but it was there. Solidad told him to be honest, but what did she know besides a vast ocean of well-meaning and accurate advice.
Drew knew how he felt and he felt he didn't have to tell her just yet. But he could tell her to come with him on a vacation, a playful apology for soundly defeating her in the Grand Festival. He'd sweep her off her feet, carry her away, and share a too-small bed together like a real couple. The last bit was a flight of fancy, like his mother clearing out his room and giving him a real bed. Reality demanded two separate beds or him sleeping on the floor.
It didn't matter. She'd be by his side, and maybe, under the warmth and sun of a vacation, he'd tell her how he felt. Maybe.
"Sweetie?"
Angelina stood at the door, apron smothered in a fresh layer of new paint and ill-placed handprints. Dreyfus stood beside her, hands still covered in flecks of red paint. Good thing he'd left.
"Are you going to bring that Maple girl with you?" Dreyfus pinched and rolled up his sleeves as he spoke, keeping his severe air intact. Angelina eventually spun around to help him, her trained painter's hands doing the work with little effort.
"She has a name, dear."
"He likes to call her that when he's flustered."
"My, how cliche Andy."
Angelina slipped into the room, sifting through tons of paint and endless brushes.
"Mom, I don't want to talk about it."
"In general or with me?" Drew huffed, conceding to his mother's barrage of advice. "I think you should ask her, get that lump of your chest. Your father and I did a good job. You know, I told your dad I had a thing for him first. It went pretty well, us being a cliche. Artist and the beast."
"I am not a beast." Dreyfus stood a full head over the mother of his child, a playful light in his eye as he hid his paint covered hands behind his back. "You do treat love like I do. It might be time for you to do something before it's too late."
"I know she likes me," Drew tossed his hair, sitting back to face his parents. "That's not the problem."
Angelina scoffed, hiding her smile behind a canvas.
"Ah yes, confident, isn't he."
"Then let's look to book you a flight for two." Dreyfus nodded, solidifying his word as law. As usual.
"Wait, I haven't even asked her or anythin-"
"Oh, of course Drey." Angelina put the wanted tube of paint in her apron pocket. She grabbed him by the arm and swept him out the room in one fluid motion. "Let's make sure that he has a good time. Back to work."
"I can pay for my own trip!"
May called Drew up the next day. She paced around her kitchen, Max watching her make circles as he munched on a bit of leftover cake. A swiped the fork from him. Cake was not a breakfast food. He started eating it by hand. May stuck out her tongue and realized Drew had been on the phone for a solid minute.
"Oh, hey Drew, didn't know you were there."
"You called me." The laugh in his voice made May smack her forehead against the fridge.
"That's right, I did." She laughed it off like the awkward teenager she'd become. Maybe she'd never left.
Max licked frosting off his fingers. He raised an eyebrow at May, his distaste for Drew polluting the kitchen.
"Who said you had to be here?" May hissed.
"My right as a free citizen." He punctuated the sentence with a finger lick and a loud pop. May cringed as he went in for more, the smarmy younger brother act in full power.
"Max, get out of here. Don't you have anything better to do."
"Dad's still asleep, so I'm all yours until he wakes up."
"How can he not be awake yet?"
"Drank too much." Max shoved the last bite of cake in his mouth. He immediately went for another one from the fridge. "Mom wanted to celebrate."
"Ugh, I'll go to my room."
May's footsteps echoed throughout the house. She gently closed the door, slumping against it. Drew's laughter rang in her ears. If it wasn't often at her expense, she'd be laughing as well.
"You can stop, Drew."
"Alright May, alright. What's up?"
May leaned her head again the wall, taking a few deep breaths. Steeling herself for the low chance of rejection, she let everything tumble out at once.
"I wanted to know if you were free in the next two weeks. I know you're a popular coordinator now. You don't have time for small timers like me."
"So says Miss Runner-up."
Silence. She cobbled together a response.
"Next time I won't lose to you, Grass head."
"Try it, Bandana."
May fell into the banter head first. This wasn't awkward. This was normal, the need to push and poke at the other. But that was the past. Beating back her teenage years, she continued.
"Losing focus here. Wow, I can't believe I said that. Drew, are you free in the next two weeks?"
"Should be. But I might have plans. Why?"
"Well, you see the thing is," May fumbled over her words, twisting the ends of her hair. "I want to go on a vacation for about two weeks. You can't go on a vacation alone, and I'm not bringing Max, as much as he'd love to go. Trust me, he would. May laughed at her own joke. "So I was wondering if you'd want to come with me to the Alola region? Or corporate coordinating, just to have a trip together?"
"Oh."
"I mean if you're not busy."
"I'm not, trust me. I've been on enough talk shows and photo shoots to last me for a lifetime."
"Ugh, tell me about it. Wait. The great Drew Hayden is tired of the glamor and the fame? What happened? Gone soft after your amazing win against the great May Maple?"
"She wishes. I didn't expect you to want to spend two whole weeks with me."
Of course she did.
"Don't think too much about it, Drew." Though he could if he wanted to. Wasn't hard. "You were the only person free around this time."
"Always Harley or Solidad or the other coordinators you know."
"Shut up, Drew! Just say if you want to go or not!"
Another beat of silence. Shuffling, more silence, a long exhale.
"I'd be honored to go with you."
May fought down the urge to snap at him.
"I'm so flattered, Drew. I can't wait to avoid the paparazzi with you."
"I can pay for my own ticket. Your ticket. I…" Drew went silent, and she felt the nervousness through the line. Like he'd ever been nervous before. "My dad is insisting that he pay for the travel himself."
"Wait, when did you even tell him?"
"Because I… I actually was planning to invite you on a trip myself."
May sank down to the cool floor. Silent laughter escaped her lips.
"Stop laughing."
"I'm not laughing."
"I've known you long enough to know when you're laughing."
May sat upright, puffing up her cheeks.
"What are you, my mom?"
"That would make this weird, wouldn't it. Now are we going to plan this or what?"
"You in a rush?"
"I have all the time in the world for you, May Maple."
She'd never give him the satisfaction of the smile on her face.
"I'll give you two weeks."