Hi guys. This is my last one-shot before school reopens a day after tomorrow. And this is waaayyy different, because even though there is Contestshipping in it, it's more of a family story. And it's dedicated to my family and my bestest friends in the whole world, E.M.H.A.A.L.S. Hopefully this year will be a way better year than last.
-3-
Caroline sighed as she laid down on her bed, facing her beautiful little baby girl, who was fast asleep. May, as she had been named after the month she was born in, was the most adorable baby she had ever seen. Sometimes she wondered how such a beauty could have come out of her.
Little May woke up and looked straight at her mother with big blue eyes. Then she broke into a toothless smile, and Caroline rolled onto her tummy so she could play with her daughter. May babbled and grabbed onto her mother's ring finger. She stared at it quizzically, before sucking it.
Caroline giggled as any new mother would at her child's antics. May smiled and laughed with her, still holding on tightly to Caroline's finger. As the young lady ran a hand through the brown hair already on her kid's head, she knew right then and there that she would have given anything so that they could stay the same.
As May fell asleep once again, losing her grip on Caroline's finger, the lady kissed her lightly on the forehead, and turned off the room light. As May squirmed in her sleep, the darkness obviously turning her sweet dreams into nightmares, Caroline switched on the night light sitting on the desk right next to where May was sleeping.
As May visibly relaxed at this, and her frowning face smoothed to the perfect porcelain skin that she had inherited from her mother, Caroline smiled to herself and tucked in her precious baby girl.
The next morning, Norman, her husband, helped her in bathing their daughter, something he had avoided when she was a newborn, since he was sure May was too fragile for him to handle.
They both laughed, squirting water at each other over May's makeshift bathtub. Said baby started laughing giddily as she watched her parents get drenched and her laughter doubled as a bubbled landed right on the tip of her little button nose.
Norman and Caroline saw this, and they started laughing too. Norman leaned over and burst the bubble, and May gasped before clapping her chubby little hands. Both adults had the same thought running through their mind, "If only she'd never grow up, things could stay this simple."
-3-
May rushed to the door, jumping excitedly. At fourteen, the ambitious and beautiful young teenager was finally allowed to go out with her friends. Of course, her father had insisted her mother drop her off at the cinema, and would have done so himself if he wasn't working the graveyard shift.
"Hurry up Mom!" She squealed and her younger brother's, Max, head popped out of his room.
"You going somewhere sis?" He asked her, and May skipped over to him.
"Well, if you actually stop listening to those metal songs you always listen to, you'd know that I'm going out with my friends today, and our dearest mother is taking a very long time to put on some jeans." She ruffled his hair, knowing he hated that.
Max swatted her hand away and scowled at her under those spectacles of his. "Just be careful later okay?"
"Sure sure…" She assured him, knowing that being someone who easily worried was part of his nature.
"May, I'm ready." Caroline said, patting Max's head as she walked past them. "You'll be okay by yourself darling? I'll try to be back in ten minutes, I promise."
"Sure sure..." Max imitated May, and she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Let's go Mom." May said, grabbing her mother's hand and dragging out of the house into the car. Max locked the front door, and then shut himself in his room, ready to drown himself in all the metal songs May hated so much.
"So remember May, no talking to strangers. And if anything happens, call me and I'll pick you up right away." Caroline reminded her daughter, who was jumping in her passenger seat, for the umpteenth time.
May smiled at her mother reassuringly. "Yes mother, I know."
"Who's going to be there anyway?"
"Oh, just the group of us, Misty, Ash, Paul, Brendan, Gary, Leaf, Dawn… and Drew." May muttered the last name, in hopes that her mother wouldn't hear it, but of course, luck was never on her side.
"Drew? That boy you have a crush on?" Caroline questioned, raising her eyebrows suggestively.
"Mooooommmm!" May broke into a blush, raising her hands up in mock surrender. "It's not like that. He just thinks of me as a friend, if he thinks of me at all, which isn't likely, because he doesn't like me…"
Caroline laughed heartily, "Oh dearie, you're rambling again. And if that Drew boy hasn't noticed you before, he will today. You're gorgeous honey."
May smiled at her mother's compliment. It was true, they both had sweated over what she should wear and had decided on a pair of jeans that complimented her long legs, and a shirt with the 'I'm not spoiled, just well taken care of' written across it.
"So, do I drop you off here?" Caroline asked.
May looked out and noticed they were a block away from the cinema where she was supposed to meet her friends.
"Eh, why Mom? We're a block away." May told her.
Caroline looked at her daughter sheepishly, "I just thought you wouldn't want your friends seeing your Mom sending you."
"But why? If anything, I want them to see how awesome you are." May told her, sapphire eyes, exactly like her mother's, reflecting the childhood innocence she had yet grown out of.
Caroline felt her eyes prick with tears. May had no idea how much that little declaration meant to her mother.
"Will you drop me off at the cinema, mummy?" May asked, and Caroline nearly lost it at her use of the word mummy. She hadn't called her that ever since she was ten.
"Of course, my baby." Caroline said, restarting the car and driving to the next block, where the cinema was located. As she stopped right outside, all of May's friends stopped their chattering and stared at her as she kissed her mother on the cheek before getting out of the car.
As May waved to her mother in farewell, she heard someone, she wasn't sure who, say, "Geez, I'm a year younger than her, and my mother doesn't drop me off. How embarrassing."
May's heart dropped at that sentence. So that was what her mother had been implying back in the car. Sighing, she turned to face her friends. Most of them were smirking before returning to their conversations.
May stood there awkwardly, drawing circles on the pavement with her foot.
"Hey." She looked up to find herself face-to-face with Drew.
"Oh, hi." Unsure of what to do with her hands, she stuffed them into the back pockets of her jeans.
"So, your mom dropped you off?" He asked her. May examined his face, noting how there was no smirk there. In fact, it was void of any emotion.
"Urr, yeah. I don't see what the problem is. She's really cool." May stated defensively.
Drew stared at her a moment longer before breaking out into a smile, which was so rare that she gaped at him.
"I have no doubt about that. Sit next to me during the movie?" He asked.
May's smile exploded on her face. "Sure."
-3-
"May, dinner's ready." Caroline told her daughter. Six short years had passed, and May was now no longer a teenager. The young adult turned and faced her mother.
"I'll be right there Mom, just give me a minute." She told her kindly. Her mother had aged with the grace and beauty that she had been blessed ever since she was younger. But right now, May finally saw how much the late years had taken a toll on her mother.
And it just made her all the more guilty for having to leave her.
"Okay dear. Take your time." Her mother came and kissed her on the forehead. It didn't escape May's attention that her mother, the woman who she had admired her whole life, had to tiptoe to reach her forehead. How could she have not noticed that before? Exactly when had she outgrown her mother?
When her mother left, May sat on her plain, bare bed and looked around her room. Her room, where she had danced in her PJs when she was a little tot, where she had scribbled on the wall when she was learning how to write.
May smiled wistfully as she walked over to the wall and traced the outline of her scribbles which her father hadn't been able to rub off. And right next to it, a little bump in the wall, it caving in, where she had punched it when her father had ordered her to stop seeing Drew. She had been so angry, she hadn't been thinking straight. Of course, her hand hurt like hell afterwards.
This room had been her sanctuary for her whole life, where she cried and laughed and grew up. Now she was leaving it for an apartment in the middle of California, hundreds of miles away from home. She would be living with Drew, who she had continued seeing despite her father's warnings.
That had been the first and only time she had deliberately disobeyed him. The guilt ate her every day, but she couldn't help herself.
Sighing, she looked around her room once more before heading out.
As she walked along the hallway, and past her brother's room, she heard soft classical music drifting slowly out of his room. She immediately barged in.
"Alright, who are you and what have you done with my metal-loving brother?" She accused, and Max jumped out of his chair, where he had been using his computer.
Max laughed, adjusting his spectacles. "Don't worry sis. This is just for a school project. Metal will be back on tomorrow." Then his onyx eyes darkened, "Not that you'll be here to hear it."
"Oh thank heavens." May cried, but when Max continued to look solemn, she sighed. "Come on Max, lighten up." She walked over to her brother, noticing how he was taller than her now. How they must have towered over their parents.
She engulfed the younger teen into a hug. "I'll miss you Max, but I'll come back during the holidays, like summer and winter. You can count on that."
"You better." He patted his sister on the head, and just laughed when she stuck out her tongue at him.
Just then the jingle of keys could be heard, and Norman's habitual "I'm back!" could be heard.
"Dad's home." May mumbled. Then her eyes brightened.
"You're planning something." Max said, and May grinned at him.
"Race you to the kitchen? For old times sake." She challenged.
Max scoffed, "You are going down sister." But May had already run out of the room. "Hey! That's cheating!" Max shouted as he chased after his sister.
They both reached the kitchen at the same time, Max's long strides proving May that even though she had a head start, she could never beat him. Panting, they took one look at their parents' surprised faces, and burst out laughing.
Norman and Caroline shared a look, both knowing that the other was thinking about the exact same thing.
"Yay! I finally beat you May!" A younger Max had celebrated. May ran in seconds later, and instead of acting like a sore loser, she accepted her loss with a graciousness her parents had taught her.
"Congratulations little man!" Norman said, carrying Max and swinging him around. Unfortunately, Max's legs were much longer then they had once been and he kicked the pan of soup right out of Caroline's hands. Soon, all of them were drenched in creamy mushroom soup.
They all looked at each other, saw how utterly ridiculous they all looked, and burst out laughing.
Dinner was as noisy as ever, if not noisier. Norman told them about his day at work, Max told them about his classical music project, Caroline talked about the new cook book she had just bought and May shared what she hoped you would be able to gain from college in California.
An awkward silence fell on the table after she said that. But it wasn't like they hadn't been expecting it. May had avoided college for two long years, Drew following suit, but the both them had decided that they had to go by the time they were twenty.
"It's time to grow up." He had told her.
Yes, it was time.
-3-
May sighed, wiping away her tears as Drew unlocked the front door of their apartment. He carried in both their bags, and May stepped in slowly. This would be her home for the next three years and Drew would be her family.
As much as she loved him, she knew he would never be able to take the place of Mom, Dad and Max.
A few hours later, May quietly sobbed into her pillow. She was alone in the apartment, with only her nightlight as company. Drew had gone for a drink with Paul, Ash, Gary and Brendan, who were already in their last year of college.
Unable to stand the loneliness, she grabbed her cell and dialed his number. He picked up on the fifth ring.
"Can you please come back?" She whispered.
"Five minutes tops." Was all he said before cutting the call. No questions, no scolding. That's one of the reasons why loved him.
True to his word, five minutes later she heard the door of her bedroom creak open. She untangled herself from her blanket and flew into Drew's open arms. He hugged her tight as she sobbed into his shoulder.
"Why did we have to grow up, Drew?" She asked him. "It was so much easier when we were younger. I don't want to grow up." She choked out. Unbeknownst to the two of them, May's parents were in exactly the same position.
Norman stroke Caroline's hair as her sobs echoed in their room.
"Why do they have to grow up? Why can't things stay simple? Oh why?" She asked her husband, who could only rub her back in comfort.
-3-
You see kids, as much as you want to believe otherwise, if there is one thing in the world that we can be sure of, it's one thing.
Everyone grows up.
-3-
Hope you guys liked it. It was based off the song 'Never Grow Up' by Taylor Swift. I don't own that and I don't own Pokemon. I think the ending was kinda blah. I didn't know how to wrap it up. Let me know what you guys think in a review! Thank you!
Oh, and if you read It Takes Two, please go to my profile and vote on which gender you think their baby should be. Thanks in advance!