Olivine City was more of a town than a city, but it sure had its charm. There was a large beach. If you followed it, you could get a tan, bathe, ride a boat and finally climb on top of a charming lighthouse. Naturally, the beach was full of bars and restaurants, because the businessmen were not stupid, they knew that people would certainly be willing to pay twice the price if they could sink their bare feet into the white sand and watch the sea. One of the cozy tables in one of the cozy bars was occupied by three ladies and a Mawile, which makes it pretty easy to guess at least two of them. The third was the finger-licking beautiful Jasmine, the local gym leader. May would normally have shown some surprise upon hearing that she and Catharina were related, but in the state she currently was in, she often drifted off to a lethargy so sweet it would give everyone a toothache if described more into details. The rose safe in her diary, she again saw Drew in every by-passer… That girlfriend must have been a fake.
"…May! Hello? May! You here with us? Jasmine was asking you how many ribbons you had."
"Ummmm… W-what?"
"Oh well, never mind."
"No, no. May, I was wondering how many ribbons you won since you arrived in Johto?"
"Three. I-I'm planning to enter the Festival."
"Wow, but then you know you have to win both this contest here and the one in Goldenrod city? The Grand Festival will be in the National park in just three weeks, but there are only two contests left till then…"
"Oh, don't worry, Jasmine, I have it under control."
"You sure are brave and confident, May."
"Well, she has a right to be, she won three out of three contests that she entered here so far, right May?"
"Yes…but it was more of a coincidence."
"That doesn't really matter in the end," Catharina laughed and ordered more drinks. "Come, May, we're getting you drunk tonight, I don't wanna hear Drew's name for at least twenty four hours, please! Am I right, Mawile?"
"Ma-wile!"
"Cathy, go easy on May!"
"No worries, sis! I got a broad schooling on parties in Kalos…"
Catharina's partying experience really paid off – or well, it depends on which point of view you assume. May was having such a hangover that even two days after, upon entering the contest, she had to be on Tylenol in order not to use spit up on her Beautifly.
"Ugh…Beautifly, use psychic!" Lately Beautifly begun using this attack instead of string shot. It was cool to make the Frisbees levitate for once.
"Beauuuu-tifly!" The lovely insect performed its move and threw a worried glance at its trainer, whose face now had the color of Drew's hair, or maybe a tone or two more grayish.
In the final round May and Beautifly were facing off against a large Stoutland. May could barely stand, gaining some support only from pushing her knees together, stopping them from shaking. She never wanted to see her bed as much as that day. To win a contest in such a condition is not a small thing. And of course, May did it, because that's what this story requires.
Catharina was not there to accompany her, and May thought it better, because she wouldn't laugh at her right then and there, but only after seeing her on the photos. And so May pinned yet another ribbon into her ribbon case and throwing a brief, but satisfied look at the fruit of her efforts, she changed.
She hopefully scanned the bench by her locker with her eyes, but looks like once again she had gained too much confidence. Her heart sunk painfully, when she saw no rose waiting for her.
And so, feeling sick AND having been let down by the love of her life, she angrily made her way out of the contest hall. She was so annoyed she didn't even look under her feet and suddenly, even if in one thousand other cases no such thing would happen, her foot slipped. May yelled, for a few brief seconds she felt like flying and then she came face to face with the reality. Quite painfully, that is.
As she was rubbing her injured parts and cursing, she slowly opened her eyes and saw light pink rose petals scattered on the floor. She almost got a heart attack, but managed to get up and figure out that there was a narrow path formed of the petals. And if they made themselves known to her so brutally, who else could they be for?
Biting hard on her fist and barely breathing, May followed the petals. They led her right into a room festooned entirely with roses. It smelled really nice in there. Everything was pink and perfect and then someone tapped her eyes from behind and gently, tenderly kissed her in the hair. "I've been waiting for you, May," Drew whispered. "Heeeee!" May squealed and threw herself into his arms happily, never to let him go again…
…I'm kidding. May was just having a really bad hangover. There was no room with rose petals and rosy aroma, because no one in my stories would have such a bad taste. She actually threw herself into the arms of a large, creepy Cacturne and when she was about to open her lips and really injure herself, a highly feminine voice shrieked: "Hey, that's my Cacturne, missy!"
"Harley?! What are you doing here?!" May wrinkled her nose and pushed Cacturne away, beginning to pull out the spikes of her skin and clothes. That sure was a cruel joke, but it woke May up better than winning a contest and eating up an entire box of Tylanol.
"Why, lining your path with roses, of course."
"That's…that's your doing, all this?!"
"Who did you think did it?"
"Um…"
"Tell me, cutiepie!" Harley took her by the shoulders and stared into her eyes. "Yeah, yeah… you've been hiding your love for long enough."
"What do you mean?"
"Drew, of course! What do you think? That a person so sensitive as myself would not see something like that? Well, sweetheart! Come with me now, let me show you my space ship…"
May was already used to Harley's being rare, but this time it felt like even he was crossing the line. "Wait, what space ship? And what about that last rose? Did…did you give it to me as well?"
"'Course, what did you think?!"
"Oh…"
"Don't be sad, my little gingerbread cookie. It was worth it, wasn't it?! A few days of bliss that no one will ever take away from you…"
"Maybe except Harley."
"Mayley, if you please."
Only now did May notice that once again, Harley was dressed up to match her. "Oh, god…"
"…And now voilá!"
They arrived to the car park and stopped in front of the most idiotic vehicle May ever saw in her whole life. It was an old model painted bright pink with a brush, obviously.
"This is your space ship?"
"Well, of course! Isn't it the loveliest you've ever seen? It's what I bought with the first money they ever gave me for an interview!"
"Oh…stunning."
¨Cacturne loves it!"
"I see."
"Wanna take a ride?! Or wait, I'll put it in a different way: you'll take a ride with me right now. We'll go and eat some cute little ice cream by the seashore and I'll tell you something."
"What?"
"I wanted to marry you ever since I first saw you."
"What?!"
"Oh never mind, I finally have your attention, May."
"Great…"
"Now get that pretty butt of yours inside my space ship and let's go reach the stars!"
"But Harley, I'm not sure I want to be inside a car you're driving…"
"It's Mayley, honey!"
"Oh, all right then."
And so she got in. She preferred not to ask for the origin of the enchanting aroma inside Harley's car. She just remembered to hold on to the remaining components in the sharper curves and tried not to focus on Pink yelling "Are we all we aaa-aaare!" all the way from Harley's player that was set on the "repeat" mode as a bonus.
"So you thought that your beloved Drew sent you a rose?" Harley asked with a certain dose of sarcasm, while sweetly licking the cutest little ice cream you can imagine.
"Well, he used to do it some time ago…"
"Yeah, those were the times when you were young and beautiful." Harley laughed at his own joke, because no one else would do it.
"But I saw that he had a girlfriend that night…"
"…And you couldn't sleep since then, am I right, my little pink Luvdisc?"
"Don't call me that!"
"Oh, yes, she sure is very, very much in love with Drew…"
"Hmmm…"
"Just like you."
"No!"
"Her name is Brianna…"
"What?! What did you say?!"
"Brianna…she even stopped calling him Mr. Drew by now! Isn't it wonderful what love can do? Oh, but May! Wait…"
"Huh?"
"Don't cry!"
"I'm not crying…"
"And don't lie, either! You see, Brianna's not exactly Drew's girlfriend…"
"Oh?"
"…Hihihiii…look at those sparkles in your eyes!" Harley took both her hands and considered buying her such a cute ice cream as well. "…Although she'd surely like it, no doubt about that."
"But…but…why was she hugging his Flygon and…and…"
"His Flygon? May, sweetheart, Drew's Flygon gets the atopic eczema the moment it hears Brianna's name. She wanted it to marry her Flygon, that is."
"She has a Flygon too?" May's voice was getting a somewhat brighter tone by now.
"Oh, of course, and a Masquerain too! That girl copies Drew in all she can. She was really drunk the night you saw her. And I wanted to tell you how much you misinterpreted the scene, but you gave me no chance. Actually, she's entering the Grand Festival… You have four ribbons now, haven't you?"
"That's right! And I'm entering and winning!"
"My, my! Looks like Brianna used jealousy and it was super effective and a critical hit too! Now you seem to have snapped out of it…"
"W-where's Drew now?"
"With Solidad in Goldenrod City. That's where the last contest is, sweetie. You make sure you win it, so we can have some fun destroying you at the Grand Festival!"
"Oh, Harley, you wish!"
"Mayley! It's Mayley!"
"Oh, shut up."
"I'll tell you something, if you call me Mayley."
"Grrruh…well, please, Mayley?"
"There's a good girl. Now come, lend me your tiny, tiny little ear."
After a few moments, May went through a stage of keeping a hand in front of her mouth and over into that expression which you gain after having smoked a pound of weed. And Harley, all happy, handed her a purple box: "I made some cookies. Wanna try?"
May knew very well this was a test. "Thank you!"
"So? How-are-they?" Harley leaned so close to her she could feel his peppermint ice cream breath.
"Never better, Mayley."
"You learn faster than I thought!"