Chapter 3: What a Reunion!
"You have one minute to explain why you haven't been returning my calls or Mew, help me, I'll-"
A flash and the sound of a camera cut may off. As she turned around, May realized she had started quite the scene...right in the middle of the Contest Hall. About every person was staring at her in astonishment, as if she were a lunatic. Well, everyone except Drew, who's collar was firmly in her grasp. He just stared at her, his face frozen in the same stare he was wearing when she first saw him.
Then he started to laugh.
"Could you let go of my collar please. You're starting to put the 'May' in maniac."
Letting go of him, May did not know what to say, so she said nothing, simply stood beside him and waited in line until it was her turn. What was only around ten minutes felt like an hour, and she was mentally exhausted by the time she was registered. Of all the things that could have happened, she didn't see this coming. Even after all the times she had had fantasized about their inevitable meeting, and the new one she was going to rip him, she managed to be completely silent, her tongue limp.
She wanted to curse him out, to vent. She wanted answers, so many answers.
Why did you drop off the face of the earth? Where have you been? Why are you just standing there acting like everything's fine?
...Does it have anything to do with Nimbasa?
She wasn't sure if she wanted the last one answered.
"You okay, May?"
Baffled, she glared at him. What kind of stupid question was that? Was he really such a bone head? Surely he had never been so dense? Right? Right? He couldnot really be serious.
The familiar chime of a sing song voice caught her attention. "Oh! Oh! Ohhhh! What do we have he~re?"
Oh, no.
Was that a flash of purple or was it just her imagination? Dread crept through her.
Dear Mew, no.
"Oh, May! It's been just too long, dear! Simply too long!"
Baring herself, May smiled awkwardly up at her fellow competitor, his trade mark Cacturne style get up as chic as ever. "Hello, Harley. I didn't expect to see you here." He was the last person she wanted to see, but she didn't add that.
Harley pulled her into a bear hug, crushing her while he spun, making her dizzy and out of breath. "Well, duh, May! I have to follow my rival or else I'd grow bored. So when Soli told me that you were going to Sinnoh I bought a ticket instantly!" May was relieved when he finally released her from his enthusiastic grasp. "And then guess who I ran into on the boat! None other than Mr. Hayden himself! And guess what?" Suddenly, Drew found himself in one of Harley's uncomfortable huddles. Drew groaned in protest but Harley either didn't care or was too busy talking to notice, "Roommates! And wow, May, I never would have guessed Drew was such a messy man. Tsk tsk, leaving his bed unmade and his boxer shorts laying all about-"
Drew broke away from the prison that was Harley's arms and moaned, more than slightly agitated. "Dammit, could you shut up?"
Harley waved his hand around in nonchalance. "Oh, come now, Drew. Don't be so timid. We all know May knows those living habits of yours better than anyone."
May blushed, her red face doing all it could to not face Drew. Because of that, she did not see his flushed cheeks either.
Harley knows. How does he know?
She swiftly changed the subject. "So you spoke to Solidad? Did she tell you that we won't be traveling together this time around?" May wanted to see Drew's reaction to that. She was glad he was perplexed, glad he was out of the loop.
Harley opened his mouth to reply but Drew didn't give him the chance. "So you'll be traveling alone? That seems dangerous-"
"Actually I'm not, Drew. And you would know that if you had taken some time to maybe, I dunno, talk to me." Her tone was venomous, her eyes cold. She wanted him to know she was mad, in case he hadn't gotten the point earlier when she violently confronted him. (Which he surely had) Their eyes collided, his face coated with faux indifference, but she could tell her words stung. She she dared him to have the nerve to question her further, as if he had the right.
Their little moment of silence was interrupted by catty hissing noises. Harley's. "Whoa, how awwwkward. You two love-birds seem to be plucking each other's feathers!"
The two rival coordinators rolled their eyes, too on edge to be embarrassed by Harley's teasing. May huffed, narrowing her eyes at Drew. "So Sinnoh, huh? A few years back I recall you saying you couldn't stand the place. Have a change of heart?"
Drew opened his mouth but no words came out.
Harley, as usual, decided to pitch in. "More like he had to follow his heart! Soli told me that once she told him you were going to be here, May, he simply couldn't help but come too! Oh ho ho."
A tiny, bitter lump formed in May's throat. "You spoke to Solidad? When?" Hadn't he been shutting everyone out?
Drew shrugged. Why he was putting up such uncaring act was beyond May. Anyone with eyes could tell he was uncomfortable. "Since we left Unova."
A stabbing sensation punctured May's chest. "Huh." She wanted to bite her tongue, to hold back her words.
She didn't.
"Well I'm glad to know you put effort to only ignore me." She spat, adding insincere laughs, if you could even call them that. She severely wanted out of the conversation now. She didn't want either of them to see how hurt she was. She felt pathetic, and May knew by now that she was no good at hiding how she felt. She really needed a way out.
"May-" Drew hesitated, his face baring a strange, almost sad, expression, "May, I-"
A strong Sinnoh accent called out her name and before May knew it, Tate was next to her with his arm draped casually around her shoulders. "Miss May, I hope you're all done here 'cause Karla's gettin' real jittery. She sent me down here to hurry ya up and take ya home. That girl ain't a patient one." His presence had relief pulsing through her.
May nodded up at him, trying to shake away her uneasiness. "Yeah, um, I just finished here."
"What can I say? I got impeccable timin'."
While she did agree, she couldn't deny the annoying voice in her head that wished she could have heard what Drew was going to say moments ago. Also there was dismissing how much she had missed him. She wanted to talk to him like they used to: about contests, about coordinators, about pokemon, about anything and everything. But she knew they could not do that, not really. He still owed her an explanation.
She looked over at Drew to see if he would finish his sentence, but his earlier expression was gone, like it was never even there. Instead he stared at ceiling, looking bored.
Ugh. What the hell is going on in that stupid green covered head of his?
Harley's voice carried May out of her thoughts. "Oh my. Who's your friend, May? He's quite the cowboy." he cooed, and Tate put on a giant grin, but there was something forced about it. It was not the contagious one he had shown her earlier.
"Aw, shucks! My bad, Miss May. I didn't realize you were in the middle of somethin'!" but May knew by the way he was looking at her that he had definitely realized. He had noticed her in that tense situation and decided to come to her aid. He was kind. It made May happy to know Karla had a friend like him.
"Excuse me for interruptin'. The name's Tate. How do ya do?" He held out a hand getting a cordial handshake from Harley but nothing but a offhand nod from Drew, who's eyes lingered a little too long on the boy's arm around her. He didn't like it, and for some twisted reason, Drew's vexation brought her satisfaction.
"Drew, don't be so rude! This boy is a friend of May's! And any friend of May should be a friend of ours!"
May wanted to vomit at Harley's hollow words of friendship. Sure, things were better than they used to be between them. Arceus, sometimes May even looked up to him, but Harley was still a manipulative man who was never to be taken lightly. He said one thing and meant something else. He could try to butter her up all he wanted, for as long as he wanted, but it changed nothing. He would never be May's friend.
Tate quickly glanced at May, flaunting a mischievous smirk. "Drew." He said Drew's name like he had just solved a crime, and looked back and forth knowingly between the two young coordinators. May wanted to hide her face in her hands. "Ya hostility makes a whole lot more sense now." Tate pulled May closer and she felt him laugh silently. He was getting a kick out of this.
Drew put his hands in his pockets, a habit May recognized by now. It was the kind of thing she saw him do when she made stupid mistakes at contests, or when they got in arguments. It was same gesture he made that night in Nimbasa, before he left. "You two seem close." he voiced, staring at Tate's hand, which was now intentionally playing with May's hair. Tate was totally toying with Drew, and May was just letting him. In fact, she wanted it. She did not care if she was being a brat.
She leaned in closer to him.
Tate smiled. "To think we just met today! Miss May here got herself all lost tryin' to find where she was goin'. Luckily, I was there to help her out. I like to think it was fate."
Harley snickered.
"Well," May was rather abrupt, "Tate and I better get going. It was nice seeing you though." She gave them a wave and a smile, which Harley gladly returned. She waited for something -anything- from Drew. He just kept his hands in his pockets. He didn't even acknowledge her.
Fine, asshole.
May wanted to kick him.
But she also wanted to cry a little.
"Come on, Tate," she muttered, her voice cracking. For some reason Harley was grinning. "A certain person here is being a big jerk." She added loudly.
It got Drew to finally speak, "And you're being immature," he paused, scowling, "buts what's new?" There was so much poison is his voice.
With that, May felt like a tidal wave had hit her. That was a tone he had never used with her, not even when they got into vicious fights. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.
She started crying.
Harley was the one who jumped in. "Wow!" he proclaimed, "What a reunion!" May didn't appreciate the sarcasm.
She turned, turning her back on Drew. "Fuck you."
Those were the last words she said to him before she rushed out of the building. Tate followed behind her.
"Ya alright, May?" he asked, dropping the usual prefix. "I'm real sorry that happened. I shouldn't have done all that stuff to bother ya boyfriend like that. It's my fault. I can go and apologize right now if ya want."
Drew was not her boyfriend, but May did not have the energy or will to correct him, so instead she just shrugged, and sighed. Her eyes were starting to dry, but she did not feel any better. "I enabled you. In the end, I really was just being immature like he said."
She wanted to stuff her face with chocolate and drown her woes in it.
Tate rested his hand on her shoulder. It was a relaxing, comforting gesture, "And he was bein' a big ol' jerk, just like you said. Sometimes people can't help but act some ways. You ain't perfect." While his words made sense, May's self shame was still blocking them from sinking in.
"First Canalave City, and now this? I am just starting this week out great, aren't I?"
The instant she mentioned Canalave, Tate's grip on her shoulder harshly tightened. "Wait- You were in-" he yanked her around forcefully so they were face to face. His face was that of a statue frozen in fear. "Why in the hell were ya in Canalave?! Are ya crazy?!"
May's shoulder stung beneath his fingers. "Ow! Tate!" She tried to flinch away, but his hand didn't let go. He kept shouting.
"Miss May! Canalave is not safe! Haven't ya heard what's been goin' on in that darn city?!"
"Tate-"
"You coulda been taken under by the NOX!" His yelling became screaming, and May was in the middle of another scene. "Do ya even care what coulda happened to ya?!" He was shaking her.
"TATE!"
Her fist collided with his stomach, and he let her go.
But the pain in her shoulder was replaced with something worse: terror. And once again she was crying.
When I was writing this the characters took complete control, especially Drew. Him and May have a bit of a rocky path to cross in the next few chapters.
Please Review! I'd really appreciate it!
Thanks for reading, guys.
