The girls are all grouped up in suite #192 when the next morning arrives. Drew was waiting outside the door for his scheduled evening lunch with Dawn, under conditions from Ursula that the two would not be meeting alone. Though Drew made it blatantly clear that what they had between them was completely platonic, Dawn wanted to invite May and Misty with them to accommodate for Ursula's insecurities. Which didn't exactly bode too well for Misty.
"Let me get this straight—you want me to joinyou and grass-head for lunch because Ursula's insecure, and that she's not coming because you two can't be in a room together without a fight breaking out?" Misty questioned.
Dawn sighed, "Look, this is the first time we're actually hanging out in real life and May's totally on board with joining us. And she doesn't even have any hard feelings! I just don't want her to be a third wheel around her ex."
Which was true. May didn't seem to display a negative attitude towards him, but she mostly agreed to this because she knew she'd be able to have a conversation with Drew without Ursula's toxic behavior being the subject of what's supposed to be a nice lunch. Plus… Dawn promised to pay, it was free lunch. May never turned down free food.
Misty rolled her eyes, "She doesn't have any hard feelings because she knows you're gonna feed her! Why else would she ever be in the same vicinity as that fuckboy of an ex?"
It didn't take long for Dawn to find out that fuckboy was the term Misty constantly used to refer to Drew, because she absolutely refused to use his name. And if it wasn't fuckboy, it was grass-head. Dawn had no idea where she came up with these things.
"Do you want me to treat you as well?" Dawn asked with an innocent smile.
"That's not the point!" Misty yelled, "What makes you think he and I would get along any better than you and Ursula? I'm not trying to get kicked out of The Seven Star Restaurant just because you wanted to dine with the devil!" she turned away, crossing her arms.
"I-I wouldn't say he's the devil…" May interjected.
"Oh, wake up already, May!" Misty threw her arms up, "We're barely two days into the best trip ever and you've already gotten feelings for him again, haven't you?"
"I didn't even get a chance to talk to him properly!" May shouted back, "Look, Dawn's not the only one here that wants to catch up with a friend face to face, okay? You guys promised to be civil."
"Me staying behind would be much more civil." Misty retorted.
"Well, if that's how you feel. I guess I can't force you to come with us," May sighs, and whips out her phone to shoot a text, "I wonder of Ash is free right now…"
Misty's eyes perked up at the sound of his name right away, "He'll probably decline. I'm sure somewhere in that thick skull of his, he'd have enough common sense to deny bad company."
May's phone makes a ping sound. It was a reply from Ash.
"Oh look, Dawnie!" May passes her phone to Dawn, "He happily accepted the invitation, do you mind if he comes?"
"Nope, not at all," Dawn shook her head and beamed at her, "I guess we can get going, then!"
"W-What?!" Misty exclaims out of surprise, "Ketchum can't possibly be that stupid!"
"Misty, if you're not joining us, then you don't have anything to worry about." Dawn shrugged.
Misty huffed, scrambling her mind for an excuse, "You know what? I'm going, too! Can't have grass-head spreading his fuckboyatry onto Ash. I've gotta be there to prevent that!"
May and Dawn shook their heads in unison. They would've saved so much time if they'd just mention Ash in the first place.
The three of them were met by Ash and Drew as soon as they opened the door. May locked down their suite, while Dawn explained to Drew that the lunch arrangements have been adjusted due to the addition of Ash and Misty.
"Huh?" Ash tilted his head, confused, "May told me that Misty didn't even wanna come, so that's why I got invited."
Misty quickly whirled around, "T-The more the merrier, you know?" she started laughing nervously.
"Uh… okay, I guess." Ash scratched the back of his head, the puzzled expression on his face doesn't seem to falter. Even Pikachu couldn't seem to figure it out.
The group headed over to their table of six, claiming their seats.
"Wow!" May's eyes started to gleam at the menu, "They've made so many additions since the Wallace Cup. I don't know what should I eat first!"
Drew sat across May, chuckling at the look on her face as he went over the selections on the menu. It seems like some things don't change, he mused.
Misty settled herself next to May, at the very end of the table and faced Ash, "Well, this is my first time here. So, what would you recommend, Ash?"
"Oh man," Ash replied, "Where do I start?" he shared his menu with her, enthusiastically pointing at all of the items. His Pikachu joined in on their sparked-up conversation.
Dawn was placed on the other end of the table, with an empty seat in front of her. It'd hit her just now that she became the fifth wheel, but didn't necessarily bother her. She started flipping through the pages on her menu, listening in on the others interacting with each other.
The five of them lifted their heads up in shock at the sight of their waiter.
"So, what can I get for you?" The waiter pulls out a small note pad and flashes a smile.
"Gary?!" Ash blurted out, "What are you doing here?"
"I used to wait tables here before I became a big name in Pokemon Research," Gary shrugged, "so naturally, they called for me when their restaurant was low on staff."
"Huh, so my roommate is the waiter," Drew nodded, "that explains why you woke up so early."
May gasped, "Gary Oak is your roommate?"
Misty grumbled to herself, "Of all the restaurants in Sinnoh…"
"What will the lady be having today?" Gary winked at May. He took notice of Dawn's head buried in the menu, feeling almost ecstatic to know she was here.
May opened her mouth to explain that she wasn't ready to order yet, only to be stopped by Drew.
"Don't worry, May. I'll order for you," Drew passed a piece of paper to the waiter, "The lady will have that."
"Uh, okay-" May looked over at Misty in confusion.
Misty murmured, rolling her eyes, "He's just buttering you up."
"Well, I think it's sweet!" Dawn chimed in, handing their menus back to Gary as soon as all of their orders were taken, "And I'll make sure you get a very nice tip." She said to him quietly.
"Nice try, Dawn," Gary laughed, "but I won rock, paper, scissors yesterday. You can't tip your way out this."
"No need to worry," Dawn said, "I promise I'll make time to tell you about all my adventures! But you need to do your job right now."
"I'll hold you to that." Gary pointed to her as he headed backwards into the kitchen.
Ash leaned in towards Drew and whispered, "Hey, why's Misty looking at you all scary like that? Did you do manage to do something to piss her off, or what?"
Drew twitched for a mere second, "I think she could explain that better. Could you, Misty?"
Misty smiled at him, "I don't know what Ash is talking about. I'm being completely civil here, just like I promised May. Even though you hurt her real-"
"So, Drew!" May exclaimed in an attempt to drown out Misty's jab at him, "How have you been ever since you became a Top Coordinator? You must have more fans than ever. I mean, you had a lot of fans before, I can't imagine the amount you must have now. We should share our coordinating experiences together!"
Ash placed his palm on his head, trying to make sense of all of this, "But why would Drew hurt May? Doesn't he really love h-"
"Ash!" Dawn shouted, "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt? You should be holding a nice conversation with Misty, instead! I'm sure she'd really appreciate that."
"But Dawn," Ash frowned, "Didn't you interrupt me just now?"
"She's right," Misty sighed loudly and faced him again, she had no choice but to play along, "You know, I've been thinking about you a lot lately." She started off, almost regretting her words.
"Huh? Really?" Ash smiled, "That makes me so happy to hear!"
Dawn let out a relaxed sigh and slid her back into her chair as the two pairs managed to get lost in their own conversations. This was why she wished she was traveling with Brock again, because he always knew how to settle them down. Just as the thought ran through her head, she recognized the soft flash of purple matched with a poker face walking by their table. Paul.
She hadn't seen him in years. Last Dawn heard, he'd become the Sinnoh League Champion right around the same time both her and May became Top Coordinators. Paul was in a couple of interviews at the time, appearing to have somewhat changed in behavior overtime.
He looked at her with what seemed like indifference, and kept walking.
"Um," Dawn uttered nervously, knowing this could only end badly, but choose to not care anyways, "Hey, Paul. There's an empty seat left, would you like to sit with us?"
The whole group stopped talking as soon as they heard his name. Everyone knew the infamous Champion Paul. May and Misty had the full scoop of how horrible he used to be towards Pokemon from Dawn, Ash, and Brock.
"Dawn, what do you think you're doing?" Misty said in a hushed tone.
"Isn't that the really rude trainer whose awful towards people and Pokemon?" May asked rather loudly, her words had no tact.
"C'mon, guys. Relax," Ash reassured them, "It's okay."
Paul stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. He appeared surprised at her invitation.
"I could share my food with you, if you want." She offered.
He ushered over to the group, not responding to a single thing she just said, before finally sitting down and facing her. "I won't eat off your plate, but I don't mind joining you for a bit before training again. It's Dawn, right?"
"Wow, you actually remembered my name!" Dawn beamed widely at him, and turned to Ash, "Thank you."
"No problem!" Ash grinned, giving her some thumbs up, "And congrats on becoming the Sinnoh Champion, Paul!"
"Thanks," Paul managed to say, "Congrats to you on the Kanto League."
Gary returns back with Drew and May's food being the first to arrive, and eyes at the new company that joined them. The plum haired boy sitting in front of Dawn extremely hard to miss.
When May lifts up the silver plate cover off of her dish, she immediately recognized its contents. Red pokeblocks chopped up on the side of yakitori and omelet rice, drenched with cheri berry sauce.
"You remembered?" she glanced over at Drew, who was already slicing his steak with a knife.
He offered her a smile, "How could I forget? It was your favorite dish back in Johto."
May almost flushes, her lips curved back at him.
Misty eyed May's food rather strangely, "Wow, May. That's an awfully… red dish, you should get straight to eating it before Pikachu does." she smirked at Ash, his Pikachu scratched its head in embarrassment.
"Nah, Pikachu knows better than to eat May's food. After all, we have traveled with her before!" Ash chuckled, his eyes starting to shine as soon as Gary places his dish in front of him, "Oh, boy. I can't wait to chow down on this!"
Gary gets to Dawn last.
"Here you go," Gary says, placing the food in front of her, "can I get you anything, sir?" he asks, studying him. Ash, Dawn, and Brock all gave Gary and earful about this one. So why would Dawn even let him into their group?
Paul shook his head, not even looking up to see who the waiter was.
"You sure you don't want anything, Paul?" Dawn offers again, "I don't want you to feel left out."
"I guess I'll have a glass of water," Paul shrugged, "and I'm sure it's not me who feels left out."
"Water. Got it." Gary gave Dawn one last look before heading off to the kitchen again.
Dawn smiles at Gary and waits until he's out of sight, "What do you mean?" she shook her head, not yet lifting the lid off her food.
"You invited me over here because you're the fifth wheel, am I correct?" he states rather bluntly, "Red-head's with Ketchum, your traveling companion is with that other famous coordinator, and you're with no one." His last words were like a pinch on the neck.
"I asked you to come over because I haven't seen you in so long," she replies, "Well, if you count the media, that is. But, really! I genuinely wanted to talk to you. I don't really care about stuff like dates. I just wanna have fun with my friends!"
Paul shrugs again, "It's not like I care. I will admit, though. You do surprise me, troublesome. You'd consider me a friend after how I acted towards you and Ash."
"You ended your last battle with Ash on good terms," Dawn began, lifting the lid off her dish, pushing it closer to Paul, "all is forgiven."
The astonishment on his face is hard to miss, "Thank you…" he mumbles.
Everyone in the group started to share stories and old memories with each other, May started off by telling the story of how Dawn became her traveling companion. Ash caught Misty and the others up to speed on his Kanto championship, while Dawn kept poking fun Drew for the username name he used on pokepen. Paul shared his new battling strategies with Ash, and Drew got Dawn back by making fun of the fact that her username name came from her usual catch phrase.
"No need to worry!" Drew mocked Dawn in a high-pitched tone.
"Aw, man. You should see Dawn do impressions of other people, Drew. They're hilarious!" Ash exclaimed.
"Er hem," Dawn coughed, and lowered her voice octave, "I like Roserades because they have so much more elegance than the average human being. Which makes them the superior Pokémon!"
Drew laughed, "Am I wrong, though?"
Before anyone could retort, their little banter was interrupted by a voice that didn't belong to any of the six at the table.
"Oh, my gosh! Is Dane Berlitz and Paul on a triple date?!" the voice booms through the corner of the room, coming from a brunette wearing a mushroom hat, who was skipping over to their table.
"L-Lyra!" Dawn spat, already reeling from the awful familiarity of Lyra's matchmaking, "Okay, so I gave him a peace offering. We're not even that close!"
"Ugh," Lyra rolled her eyes, "and here I was, rooting for you and Ash the entire time. Tsk tsk tsk, Dane."
Misty stabbed her food with the knife, glaring at the two, "Excuse me, Dawn and Ash?!"
Dawn shook her head rapidly, "It's not like that, I swear! Not once during our journey did I ever think of Ash that way. I don't even care about boys!"
"Gee, Dawn, is there another way you could've put that?" Ash grumbled jokingly.
May cleared her throat to speak up, "Oh, um, we're not on a date."
"Which was what I was trying to tell her." Dawn gave Lyra a disapproving look.
Lyra giggled and whispered to Dawn, "This is the perfect opportunity for me to work my magic."
"Um, Dawn. Who is this girl?" Misty looked at Lyra questionably.
"That's one of the friends we've met during our travels. Johto League Champion, Lyra," Ash spoke up instead, "she has a thing for playing cupid for other people."
"Wait a minute!" May clapped her hands together enthusiastically, "Drew, we've met her before! She has a matchmaking service in Johto."
"The hat is kind of hard to miss." Drew retorts, taking a bite of his food.
"That's right!" Lyra exclaims, "But all cupid business aside," she walks over to May and Drew, "You two had a history, didn't you?"
Dawn huffed out a huge sigh, just now realizing what she meant when she said she'd work her so called magic, which Dawn already tried, "Lyra, that is not your place to pry!"
"Well, yeah," Drew kept his composure anyway, despite his discomfort, "but now I have a girlfriend."
Lyra notices the way May flinches ever so slightly at the word girlfriend and curves her lips into a small smirk, "While it is very unfortunate that such a perfect pair have split apart, at least the two of you have moved on and are now dating other people."
This could not be good, Dawn rubbed her temples.
Misty widened her eyes in anticipation, sharing the same thought as Dawn.
"Wait," Drew stopped and looked directly at May, "You're seeing someone?"
May attempted to speak up only to be talked over by Lyra, who exclaimed, "Don't be ashamed to admit it, May! I know you've kept it pretty low for a while but it's about time you finally went public about your new boyfriend, Gary Oak."
Ash spat out his tea, "What?!"
Misty face-palmed, "It's just fuckboy after fuckboy with you. Is it, May?!" she glared at Lyra, "That's the worst boy you could lie-"
"You're… going out with my roommate?" Drew said this slowly, "Gary did say there was a coordinator he hoped to see while he was here… said that she was pretty famous, too. I just didn't know that it was you, May."
"And here's your water, sir." Gary came back with a glass on a tray and set it down, then looked at everyone else that was staring at him, more so Drew, "Uh, can I help you guys with something?"
Paul chugged his water and stood up from his seat, walking away.
"Hey, Paul," Ash whipped his head around, "Where're you going?"
"I'm leaving this circus show," Paul stated harshly, "It's getting a little too crowded for me. Later."
Gary frowned at Dawn, "It was very rude of him to leave like that."
She shook her head and beamed at him, "It's just the way he is. Besides, I'm not too worried about him anyways."
Drew slid his chair from the table and stood up hastily, "I'm gonna head to the restroom."
"If you say so, Dawn," Gary then left the table with the bill as soon as Drew left.
The remainder of the group was briefly silent.
Lyra winked at May and wagged her finger, "Thanks to me, you've one upped Drew by dating Gary. Who's a huge upgrade in comparison to Ursula!"
May took a deep breath and proceeded to speak calmly, "Except for one little thing…" she banged her fist on the table, "I'm not actually dating Gary Oak. I haven't even properly met him!"
Misty turned to Dawn, "So, what are you gonna do about this, Dawn? Lyra is your friend."
"Me?!" Dawn exclaimed, "It's Lyra who lied. I had nothing to do with this!"
Ash and Pikachu looked up to where Lyra stood earlier, only to find that she'd just disappeared.
"Uh, guys…" Ash began, "Lyra's gone."
"Oh, great!" May groaned, "Now when Drew finds out, he's gonna think I made it all up just to make him jealous!"
"I think that was what Lyra was aiming for," Misty pointed out, "she's "cupid" remember?"
"Well, cupid's going to make me look stupid as soon as Drew realizes that Gary barely even knows who I am!" May's voice rose with panic.
Dawn breathed in, "Alright, listen up!"
Everyone turned their attention to her.
"I know exactly who can help fix this," Dawn announced, huddling the group together, "after Drew comes back…"
After Dawn explains the plan, the bill was paid with a generous tip left behind. Drew lingered at the table for a bit, taking a look at the bill book. Inside was two hundred dollars and a note written on a napkin.
This if for you being such a good waiter.
Oh, and I'll make sure I uphold that promise.
Let me know when you're free!
I'll be waiting.
XOXO
(P.S) You look really good in that vest.
Drew felt a presence and stuffed the note back in the book.
"Hey, Drew," Gary beamed, "can I do something for you?"
"Actually, yeah, you could." Drew breathed in, "take care of her, okay? You're a really lucky guy." He turned his back onto Gary and caught up with the rest of the group.
"What was that all about?" Gary stood there dumbstruck, "Ah, well." He shrugged, picking up the bill.
Drew went back inside his suite that night while everyone else grouped up in suite #274 which belonged to Tracey. The adults were usually a couple of stories above the minors, so it took a bit of an elevator trip up. Misty, May, Dawn and Ash were all seated on the living room couch of the room. Adult suites felt much more spacious, since they didn't have to have a roommate. Tracey took the courtesy of filling the empty walls up with paintings.
"Are you guys sure about this?" Ash asked, not feeling too good about the situation, "I just kind of feel like we could fix this problem by being honest."
"Honest?" May snapped, "You clearly don't know Drew at all! He'd tease me endlessly about a failed plan to make him jealous and rub it in my face that he'd been the one to move on before I did! I'd just look desperate if I came clean."
Clearly, it seems that you don't know Drew either.Dawn thought. He seemed like a really nice and understanding guys in those letters and messages. It was hard to imagine him ridiculing her like that. But then again, maybe it was Dawn that didn't know him well. After all, they'd only been friends for over a year through letters and emails. May had a lot more history with him than that.
Tracey put his paint brush back on his easel and moved over to sit on the couch, "So, what's this all about?"
Brock was the last to show up, "Dawn sent me a text saying it was an emergency." he huffed, drained of all the energy it took to run from his room to here.
Ash shrugged nonchalantly and eyed at Dawn.
Misty was ruffling Pikachu's fur.
May shook on the couch in panic.
Dawn took a deep breath, "Lyra told a really big lie and we need your help to fix it."