Paul pushed his motorcycle along the sidewalk. His older brother, Reggie, chattered aimlessly about college life on the other side. The younger of the Shinji brothers rolled his eyes but laughed as Reggie continued to make exaggerated anecdotes.
"So, like, I'm old now, right? And I'm experiencing this new phenomenon where late at night, on the streets, women will see me as a threat." Paul snorted. Reggie? Threatening? Those two words don't belong in the same sentence.
"It's weird, too, because, like, I'm still afraid of being kidnapped." Paul barked a laughed at that. Reggie was 24, on his final year of becoming a certified breeder. He attends Veilstone University. Sadly, he lost his Battling Scholarship when he lost against Pyramid King Brandon, which was his final test to see if he was qualified.
"So, anyways, I'm in the subway station at 2 o'clock in the morning, just trying to get home from some late-night cramming at the college library. And I'm changing between trains—it's 2 o'clock in the morning—and this subway station, you have to, like, walk down this long hallway in order to change trains," Reggie turned to make sure Paul was listening. He was.
"So, it's 2 o'clock in the morning and it's just me and this woman. And we're walking down the hallway. She's walking a few yards ahead of me, but she keeps giving me, like, the over-the-shoulder," Reggie demonstrated by dramatically turning his head over to Paul, "Like that, y'know?" Paul nodded.
"She starts to pick up the pace and she starts to walk a lot faster. So, I think, Oh! She must hear the train coming!" Paul laughed. Reggie smiled upon seeing his reaction. "Or maybe she feels it in her feet like a Native American in a movie." Paul could only brace himself and his stomach for the next thing his brother did.
"So, I start to sprint down the hallway at her and she looks back and she's like 'Ah!'. And then she gives chase so now we're booking it down the corridor, at 2 o'clock in the morning! And I'm gaining on her." Paul was absolutely howling with laughter at this point.
"I'm gaining on her and we're getting to the end of the hallway, so she starts to go into that dead-end shuffle, y'know, that women do when you chase them." Paul barked another laugh.
"And I'm almost at her and then it dawns on me, Oh, she's running from me…because in her eyes, I'm an adult. And adults rape each other, kind of a lot." Paul laughed in spite of Reggie's exaggeration.
"So, I wanted to go up to her and be like, Hey! No. Nah. I'm not like 'urrrhhh', I'm not like 'arghhhh'. I'm not a man. I'm just some stupid punk, you know? But I think that would be equally creepy." Paul nodded in agreement.
"As if you were in a subway station, at 2 in the morning, and I chased you down, grabbed you, and said 'I'm not gonna rape you. I'm a little boy.'" Both Paul and Reggie were too busy cracking up at Reggie's story to even notice that they finally arrived at their small house.
Paul fished the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the front door. He pushed through the door and as he took off his shoes by the door, Reggie pushed through into their small kitchen. Immediately, the older Shinji brother was surprised by the woman that stood by and washed the dishes.
"Mom!" Reggie called out, encasing her in a big hug. Paul peeked his head in and saw his brother hugging their mom.
She was a short woman, leading people to believe that Paul and Reggie's towering height came from other genetics. Although, their lavender hair was a trait directly passed down from her. Regina Shinji, it was on her name tag from the waitress uniform she had yet to change out of.
"What are you doing home?" Paul asked from the doorway.
"Well, the place was dead, so Lou gave me the afternoon off," Regina answered, tossing a dish towel over her shoulder. She hit Reggie's hip with her own. "I actually get to see my kids!"
Reggie wrapped an arm around her short frame. "Cool!"
Paul glanced down and allowed a small smile to form on his face. It was small, and it was broken, but it was still his family. And he wouldn't trade it for the world.
Regina pursed her lips to the door behind Paul, a quirk she had for pointing at something. "You see what came in the mail?"
Paul turned to find a black toga with a black graduation cap and a golden 2011 tassel hung up on the door by a coat hanger.
"Wanna try it on?" Regina suggested.
Paul shook his head and began walking towards his room down the hallway. "Nah. Since you're here, I'll call work. See if I can pick up some extra hours."
Regina was quick to protest. "Oh, c'mon sweetie, let's all take the tonight off."
"Who keeps opening this door?" Paul shouted from the hallway, anger lacing his tone.
Regina and Reggie didn't have to ask which door it was. They looked at each other with apprehension.
Paul's voice was heard again. "There's nothing but garbage down there." A slam followed the sentence.
Regina let out a sigh as Reggie placed a hand on her shoulder, a sign of comfort. Regina gave him a weak smile before the two of them got to working on dinner together.
X.X.X
"Mom, if Barry's mom got the hang of this, then you can, too!" Dawn joked as she set up the webcam on the family computer downstairs.
Johanna shook her head as Dawn typed down specific keys on the keyboard.
Dawn ushered her to pay attention. "Here, watch. Just click this, and…" their images popped up on the screen. "There we are!"
Johanna was instantly transfixed on her reflection on the screen. She smiled in spite of herself.
Dawn peered closer to the screen. "Hold on," she said, grabbing a tissue from a nearby tissue box. The younger bluenette dabbed a stray streak of Pecha berry jam on her mother's cheek. "You just have a little food." She threw away the tissue into a nearby trashcan. "See? It's paying off already."
Johanna looked nervous at the piece of technology before her. "Dawn, I don't know about this."
"It's super easy!" Dawn grabbed the mouse and dragged it along the mousepad.
"Make sure I'm online."
"Mhm."
"And then choose me from the contacts menu."
"Okay."
Dawn softly grabbed her mother's hands. "And next fall, we can talk whenever you want." She said, giving a warm smile.
Johanna returned it before a coy one replaced it. "Okay, how about midnight? Every night of the week."
Dawn gave out a giggle. "I don't know about that, mom."
A beat of comfortable silence filled the room. Finally, Johanna spoke up.
"University of Unova, huh? In Nimbasa City. You're also under the Elesa Scholarship and will be interning under her." Johanna said, pride pricking her eyes with tears. "You're heading off to achieve great things."
Dawn turned to face her mother. The tears were almost threatening to spill at this point. "It's the heading off part. I'm just…having a little trouble with…that's all." Johanna let one tear slip and Dawn was hugging her mother immediately.
Johanna's Glameow and Dawn's Empoleon smiled at the mother-daughter bond happening before them.
X.X.X
*Be Mine by Alice Boman
It was a Thursday night when Red managed to sneak him and Yellow onto school grounds and unlock the shed that held the prom decorations. He held Yellow's hand as they approached the shed. His Charmander was toddling along beside them.
"You deserve an awesome prom, so why wait?" Red said. He released Yellow's hand and opened the double doors of the shed. It was pitch black.
Yellow turned to Red and before she could say anything, he held up a finger.
"Charmander, use Ember."
"Char!"
One by one, little candles began to illuminate the inside of the shed. The prom decorations were stylishly placed to the side in order to make room for the picnic blanket in the middle of the floor, complete with actual food.
Red cracked a smile at the look of disbelief on Yellow's face. He softly grabbed her hand to lead her inside the shed.
"Red, this is beautiful."
"I had plans, remember? And what's prom without a romantic dinner?"
Yellow was absolutely shocked. That was more words Red had uttered just now than the entire week.
She sat down on the plush picnic blanket with Red following in suit. Charmander sat by their feet and curled up. She opened the picnic basket and let out a laugh.
"You got Taco King!" She stated, lifting out the warmly wrapped burrito.
"Vegetarian with extra guac," Red replied as if he had rehearsed it.
Yellow gave him a sincere smile. Red took the wrapped burrito from her hands and held them in his own, feeling the warmth that came from the food.
"So," he began, "Will you go with me?"
"Yes." Yellow didn't even hesitate to answer.
Red smiled and leaned in to kiss her. Yellow reciprocated with gusto.
And amongst the warm glow of the candlelight and prom decorations, they ate their burritos and tacos in happiness.
X.X.X
In her room, Dawn was pulling out different types of textbooks and notebooks from her backpack. She tossed her planner unceremoniously onto her desk, almost knocking her laptop off. Her hand reached into the outer pocket and she pulled out Lucas' prom ticket. She stared at the laminated piece of paper that wobbled in the air. Biting her lip, she placed the ticket on her laptop. Dawn then turned around to close the door to her room.
Empoleon, Lopunny, and her mother's Umbreon watched with curiosity at what the young bluenette was going to do.
Dawn, calm as ever, stood at the foot of her clean bed. Then, as graceful as a swan, she faceplanted into the fluff of the pillows and let out an almighty scream.
The Pokémon dashed to her aid until Dawn held up a hand to stop them from moving. They receded back to their resting position on Dawn's window sill.
The young coordinator slowly got up. She took her time fixing her hair and her shirt. Then, she pulled down on the sheets, smoothing them from any creases. As if nothing had happened, Dawn turned and sat on her desk, ready to tackle on the next set of preparations.
She flipped through her planner and sweat-dropped.
Homework too…
X.X.X
Yellow stood behind Red as he closed up the shed of prom decorations again. Charmander stood behind Red's ankle, watching the pitch darkness of the shed disappear.
However, all three of them failed to notice the dim flame of the lone candle sitting next to the paper maché moon.
