Misty yawned as she unlocked her apartment door, pulling her chlorine soaked hair out of its ponytail. She had an early shift at the gym this morning and had to lifeguard and teach a class. It really did suck, but life guarding paid like she was a stripper.

At least now she was free to whatever the hell she wanted. Currently that consisted of a shower and ten hour nap on her beautiful couch. It was only about seven and everyone else would be sleeping for a good few hours more.

Then she saw the foreign shoes.

Her plans apparently were not to be as Dawn had company.

Usually that meant sex.

Joy.

The male sized, unfamiliar shoes at the foot of the door were taunting her. Mocking her about a multitude of shit. Mostly the fact that Misty had no sex life and on top of that she wouldn't be able to crash on her couch without listening to moans and disgusting noises like that. She would be a sleepless, loveless, redhead with crunchy pool hair. It was really depressing.

Damn Dawn and her beautiful hair, beautiful boy toys, and bubbly personality. It wasn't fair. God had a really mean sense of humor.

She dropped her gym bag at the front door; not giving a crap that she would get a lecture from Serena or Dawn, the clean police, about it later. And stumbled to her couch and sighed happily pulling off her sports bra feeling the cool air on her skin and slipping into a pair of incredibly comfortable pajama pants.

It felt really good. Maybe Misty would get lucky and Dawn was finished her fun for the night. It was wishful thinking in all honesty, that girl had stamina. It was sort of scary.

Just as she shut her eyes, ready for sleep to take her, the door to Dawn's room opened. Misty cracked an eye open, ready to shut it quickly if need be, meaning in case there was nakedness. Turns out she had nothing to fear. Out came a fully clothed, and fully pissed off Paul. Or maybe he was in a good mood, it was hard to tell with him.

"Hey Purple," She muttered tiredly, "Finished already?"

Paul grunted in response, skulking over to the coffee maker in the kitchen.

Misty still did not understand this guy, he hardly spoke and when he did he was a dick face. A thought came to her head. He was alone and she could corner him and get him to say… well anything would be cool. He was begging to be harassed.

Challenge fucking accepted.

Getting up from the couch she approached Paul and sat at the table.

Paul turned his head towards her, raised an eyebrow, but then went back to making coffee. She noticed he had taken out two cups.

What a fucking softie, he was making Dawn coffee. Misty held back a giggle and settled for a grin.

"Were you two working last night?" Misty asked casually.

Paul hummed in confirmation.

"You know, you should talk more cause I have no idea what the fuck you are or what the fuck you want. It's kind of unnerving actually."

Paul turned around leaning against the counter, he stared at her with his two black eyes and… wait why the hell did he have two black eyes.

"Sweet father Christmas!" Misty gasped, "Maybe you two need to calm down and be a little more gentle in bed. Dawn better not look anything like you do or I'll have to beat you up."

"It's not from… that." He said uncomfortably.

A full sentence. Misty was getting through to him. Definitely. On the road to being best friends basically.

"Well I hope this is one of those, 'you should see the other guy' situations, otherwise you really are pathetic. I'd feel sorry for you."

"I won," He said simply.

Misty grinned, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs up.

"How'd it happen?"

"…Bar fight… of sorts."

That was vague.

"Ah, I've had my fair share. So fucking fun," Misty sighed, reminiscing back to a few moments when she put some idiots in their place, drunk of course. Her fit physique meant she could throw around wasted, stiletto-clad twigs pretty easily. The added strength that alcohol gave her allowed her to beat up full grown men as well.

Maybe this was why she never made friends at parties.

Naw. People were just assholes.

Just as she was contemplating this the door opened to reveal a quite disheveled and tired Iris.

"Working late?" Misty asked.

"What the fuck Mist, put a shirt on!" Iris groaned in annoyance as she covered her face.

She looked down and sure enough she had forgotten she had removed her bra not ten minutes ago.

"Aw shit, that's awkward," Misty sighed, "Props to you Paul, you didn't look down once. Still, you could have said something."

He hummed in reply, not really paying attention.

Iris made her way to her room, keeping her face suspiciously turned from Misty as if she didn't want it seen.

That only made Misty want to see her face even more. Bad move Iris.

She waited for her opportunity and then mustered up whatever energy she had left and sprinted towards Iris, snatching her shoulders and turning her around.

"Holy Mother Mary," Misty breathed, "How did that happen?"

Iris had a huge bruise on her left cheek, it was actually disgusting, purple and yellow, puffy and all around not cute.

"Uh…" Iris said stupidly, looking everywhere but in Misty's eyes.

"Spill before I wake up fucking Serena."

Iris's brown eyes widened. Serena and her natural ability to worry and generally mother everyone was obviously not something Iris wanted right now. Misty was pretty proud of herself for coming up with such a dangerous threat.

"Fine! Get your boobs covered and I'll talk."

Misty threw a sweatshirt on and glared as intimidatingly as she could, in her peripheral vision she saw Paul attempting to re-enter Dawn's bedroom.

"Ah, ah, ah, Purple," Misty warned, "We've got to talk too."

Paul rolled his eyes but stopped.

"What is going on, Iris you were supposed to be at a diner and you come back looking like… seriously this is so weird it can't be coincidence."

Iris pursed her lips and looked down,

"It was an accident at work and—"

"She was at the same bar as me and got caught in the fight. It's not a big deal." Paul interjected.

Misty narrowed her eyes,

"I'm not buying it one bit but if you promise to shut up and stay quiet for the next four hours so I can get some damn sleep I'll drop it for now."

"Deal." The both said, so quickly it was obvious they had been lying earlier.

But Misty was too tired to argue right now, so they were off the hook.

For now.

It was already part way through August and she'd been living with this bunch of crazies for… oh Lord almost a month now. How any of them had survived was a mystery on par with Jack the Ripper. Maybe even more.

If Misty was being honest she really didn't know them all that well, sure she'd picked up on weird quirks each of them had. Like how Dawn was really OCD about the organization of coffee in the kitchen, or how May never wore matching socks and sometimes only wore one, or how Iris seemed to be able to sleep anywhere (seriously Misty found her sleeping in the dryer once), or how Serena sometimes unintentionally switched between English and French when she spoke.

Other than that, she was still at a loss about most of them. None of them talked about their families or theirs pasts, neither did Misty if she was being honest, so she couldn't exactly fault them for that. That didn't stop her from being curious and just generally a very nosy person.

As she pondered this her phone began buzzing in her pocket, checking the caller ID she saw that it was Ash.

They'd kept in touch since they'd met, he was a weirdo and she was too so they got on… y'know when they weren't at each other's throats.

"Fred's Crematorium, you ghost 'em, we'll roast 'em," She answered in as professional a voice she could force.

"Is that a threat?" Ash asked through his laughter.

"Only if it needs to be," Misty said ominously, "Why are you calling?"

"Just making sure we're still going to that movie next Tuesday."

Misty had completely forgotten she had promised him to go to this old film showing, normally she'd laugh and ask if he was desperate for her company, but he had reminded her and it was kind of embarrassing how quickly it had slipped her mind.

"Sure, sure," She replied casually, playing it off as if he was the weird one and she'd remembered everything, "I'm always down for throwing popcorn at old bags."

"Sweet! Do you mind if my step-brother comes along, he's staying with me this year, starting college and all. He's awesome, but I need to introduce him to some people."

"No problem, just make sure he knows I will most likely rip into him. I'm an asshole like that. Prepare the poor boy. Make sure he knows that I'm actually a nice person who would never actually mean what I say."

"But you're not, and you do."

"You know me so well."

Then an idea popped into her head. She was still bothered by Iris's caginess this morning and was dying to get answers. Ash knew Iris. Iris knew Ash. Therefor she could get answers from a third party. It was just simple logic. She was brilliant.

"Ash…" Misty began.

"What?"

"Can I ask you a couple questions about Dawn and Iris?"

"Uh… maybe you should just ask them."

"Why is everyone so damn secretive!?"

"Have you shared anything with them?"

"No, that doesn't count though," Misty protested, Ash's silence on the other end of the phone was extremely telling, it definitely counted, "Fine, don't talk. I have to go now. I have a ton of stuff to do because I'm a busy working woman who definitely doesn't need a man's company to thrive. I have so much to do!"

She canceled the call.

She had absolutely nothing to do.

Everyone else was out and Misty had severed her only source of conversation because she got a little annoyed. Nice fucking job.

Serena was at the orchard she worked at, Dawn was throwing a house warming party for Candice and Zoey (seriously it was so weird), May was interviewing for a job, what that job was Misty did not know nor care just so long as she paid the fucking rent at the end of the month. Iris was… on a date? Probably?

Never had Iris set eyes on 'the boyfriend'. All she knew was his name was Cilan and Serena worked for one of his brothers. Judging by Iris's personality the image of Cilan in Misty's head was quite clear. Long messy hair, probably wore a lot of flannel, climbed trees for fun, and was basically an animal. The female version of Iris actually.

Everyone was so secretive.

Then Misty remembered that there was a beautiful tool. God created the internet and gave it to the cavemen for a reason. That reason was to stalk people on facebook and other social media.

Dawn would be first. A girl like that definitely tweeted her life story and Instagramed her face. Girls like that just did that shit. It was science.

"Let's see… Dawn Berlitz…" Misty muttered to herself as she sat at her laptop and typed the name into the search bar.

Just as the page loaded the door opened and Serena emerged.

"Welcome home!" Misty called from the living room.

"Hey Misty, what are you up to?"

"Stalking Dawn's Instagram!"

"Ooo! Let me in on this," She giggled running up to the couch and plopping down close to Misty and staring intently at the screen.

Misty grinned proudly as if Serena was her child, this girl was perfect.

The two were not at all surprised by the content. Dawn posted selfies with friends (she kissed an alarming amount of her friends, Zoey, Candice, Kenny, and Barry included, maybe that was her weird way of showing affection), she had pictures of the skyline, beach, lame ass quotes. Basic as hell.

It was sadly lacking in any real personal information. She didn't have any pictures of people she worked with, Paul included. None of Ash, or Iris now that she thought about it. There were photos of Misty, Serena, and May, but no Iris. It was odd considering Dawn and Iris had been friends much longer compared to the others.

"That was sadly predictable," Serena deadpanned.

Misty had taught her the art of dryness so well. It almost brought a tear to her eye.

"What about May?" She replied, "She'd be interesting to see."

Turns out May had a twitter that she never used, not remotely incriminating. Nothing for Misty to sink her teeth into.

Her Instagram was filled with pictures of her food, places she wanted to travel, and about a million intentionally ugly selfies.

"Remind me to make that her contact photo," Misty said regarding a certain picture where May had about eight chins and buck teeth.

"I'm kind of bummed her Richard Gere isn't on here anywhere."

"I'll say, the only dude she's posted on here is with Shorty-Pants-Four-Eyes here. It's tagged #siblinglove so I'm assuming she didn't jilt him at the altar."

"Let's try Iris," Serena decided, "She'd be interesting."

They tried but to no avail. Iris had a twitter that she'd never posted on. Misty was almost 100% sure that Dawn had set it up for her.

"What about you Misty? Are you on social media?" Serena asked as she typed the words, 'Misty Williams' into the Google search bar.

Misty shook her head,

"I think I had a MySpace when I was like thirteen but it's long gone. Praise the heavens. What about you? OH! Do you have any pictures of Paulie Bleaker?"

"Who?"

"Seriously, Juno is a popular movie, how am I the only one in this house who's seen it?" Misty groaned, deciding that she needed to head over to Walmart and snag it from the $5 movie bin, "I meant the guy who's watering can watered your flower."

"Oh… no I don't have pictures with him. He's camera shy. I have pictures with his sister, she's a good friend of mine," Serena pulled out her phone and scrolled through her pictures then turned it so Misty could see.

It was a picture of Serena with a younger girl with platinum blonde hair and a bright smile.

"Damn, if Mr. Bleaker looks anything like her you two will have a gorgeous kid with your gene pool," Misty marveled, "She know you're here?"

The younger girl sighed sadly,

"No, she probably hates me now. She set me and her brother up together and I abandoned both of them, without any explanation. We were best friends."

Misty rubbed the distressed girl's back in what she hoped was a comforting manner. She could relate to Serena's situation in a way as sad as it sounded.

"How could they hate the most adorable and loveable person ever? They'd understand. You did what you had to…" Misty trailed off, remembering some things in her own life she'd rather forget, "That's all you can do… don't apologize for that."

"Yeah, I guess so;" Serena mumbled quietly, "Me and Baby will be OK."

"You and Baby will be alright," Misty replied as she bit her lip, hoping to God that it was true.

Her conversation with Serena had bothered her; it just resurfaced too many things that… well she'd pushed down. That was what she did; she pushed things away and covered it with a crass and rude bravado. Now things were coming back and it was really damn depressing. In fact Misty hadn't felt this down in a really long time, this is why feelings sucked. Maybe she should take a pointer or two from May and Dawn because they were always happy. It wasn't fair.

Serena had went to take a nap, apparently carrying a life form in your uterus was exhausting and it made you want to sleep all the time. Understandable. It did however mean that Misty was alone with her thoughts and when there weren't distractions around her, her mind tended to wander and dwell on events and people that were… well let's just say you wouldn't bring them up in polite conversation.

Apparently her mind had wandered so far when her phone buzzed it caused her to jump up and yelp in surprise.

Mumbling a string of curses she checked to see who it was.

Great.

"Hey Brocko. How's it hanging?" Misty greeted trying to force a carefree voice. She was so fake, it was kind of sad.

"Long, loose, and full of juice," A male voice replied seductively causing Misty to gag.

"God, I should have seen that coming. You disgust me; stop getting your responses from Urban Dictionary."

"You're just jealous of my mass appeal and proficiency with the opposite sex," Brock bragged with a snicker.

"You mean your proficiency at being a creepy fuck? Yeah, I give you that," Misty countered.

Brock was a childhood friend of hers; they'd known each other for a few years shy of two decades. He was notorious back home for being the biggest flirt within 100 miles. There was no one in town that had been untouched by his 'charm'. Naturally he was single. That was kind of a given what with that kind of reputation.

"You wound me Mist, here I am making a long distance call from Pewter City, which is costing me precious date money, and you're being a meanie," He whined, she could practically hear the pout on his lips.

"Wait, why are you calling? Get rejected again? Need advice?" She teased, but in reality he had called her for just that many times.

"Not from the girl who tackled her prom date into the pool and tried drowning him."

Oh yeah. That happened. It made her time spent at the damn event worth her while.

"You can't prove that was me."

"There are pictures."

Oh yeah.

"Well he deserved it."

"He said he enjoyed the occasional episode of The Kardashians."

"And?" She really didn't see his point, it justified it if you asked her.

"Never mind, I'm just calling to see how you're doing. Your best friend's been lonely."

"I haven't, I've got roommates," Misty boasted, mostly at the fact that he was lonely. She was such a nice friend.

"Did you learn all their names?" Brock gasped, "After two whole years? That Erika sure was beautiful."

"No they're new roommates sicko, and next time you visit you are forbidden from flirting. They are off limits."

"Why?" Brock protested.

"Because one is barely legal and carrying a child, one would kick your ass and also has a boyfriend, one is too dense to even notice so what the hell it the point. The last one will eat your heart out, but I highly doubt she'd pay you notice."

"Hey, I can cook. Girls like that."

"I didn't," She pointed out.

"Misty we dated for like three days, literally."

"Worst three days of my life."

"You punched me in the face."

"That part was admittedly good," She grinned.

"So…" Brock began, trailing off in a very telling way. It was the exact voice he used when they were kids and he had something he wanted to tell her but knew she'd be mad when he did.

Her heart sank.

She suddenly knew what this impromptu call was about.

"What… holy shit Brock did Daisy set you up to call me. You little whore, what did she promise you?" Misty demanded, forcing the tears pricking her eyes to go away.

"…It was actually Lily who promised me a date. Daisy's seeing someone."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, Tracey."

"You have to be shitting—wait you aren't getting out of this with juicy gossip from back home. What the hell are you doing?"

"They miss you Misty…"

"You didn't tell them where I am did you?"

"No, but they haven't let up since you left. That's almost five years. Don't you think it's time for you to come home already?"

"I… I can't," She replied, voice quiet and wavering. Brock didn't understand. She just couldn't… it wasn't going to happen. Going back meant…

"Daisy cries herself to sleep at night, y'know," Brock said softly.

Anger bubbled in her gut when she heard that.

"You know what Brock, fuck you. You have no right to make me feel guilty, just back off and worry about your own problems!" Misty burst out.

She was sick of people worrying and people trying to tell her how to live her life. She did not need a guilt trip, she'd been selfless her whole childhood, maybe it was time for her to do something selfish. No one seemed to want to allow her to have this though. Paying attention to herself? Heaven forbid. Worry about the family. It was all so familiar.

"When's the last time you drank?"

Angry tears blurred Misty's eyes,

"Are you kidding me? That is none of your business!"

"You know I mean well."

"Do I?" She shouted.

"You can't run away from reality forever Mist."

"Fucking watch me!"

Misty shut her phone off and slammed it against the table.

"Fucking watch me…"

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Iris growled in frustration as she grabbed a stumbling Misty's arm and lead her into the door way of the flat, "Dawn! Give me a hand here!"

Misty saw through her impaired vision two Dawn's approaching them.

"Jesus what happened to her?" The two Dawns said in unison.

"Drinking," Iris muttered, "Again."

"Hey, hey, hey," Misty slurred, words spilling out faster than her brain could process, "I wahsnt drunking."

"Are you speaking English?"

"Pip pip cheeroe mate!" Misty cried out and before she knew it she was lying down on the couch. How did she get here. Probably magic. Magic sucked. She never got to go to Hogwarts. Just another reason why her life was awful.

"How much did you drink?" Dawn asked in a worried voice.

Oh look, May was here. And Serena.

"Heh, I bet May's neveh had a drunk 'fore. Fuckinn square."

"How much did you drink?" Dawn demanded, more firm this time.

"So pushy…" She mumbled, getting extremely tired all of a sudden, "I lost count ah 11 beers. Had sum shots too."

Iris screamed from frustration,

"You are a mess. What the hell happened?"

"I stoled a kids bikacyle. Crushed it in a ditch somewer, I shit you not. Think I had sex... maybe? Yu tell meh."

"It's bicycle, not bikacyle you embarrassment."

"Iris, shouldn't we get her to throw up all that," Serena asked.

"NOoooooo!" Misty whined, throwing up suuuuuucked, "N—"

Her stomach gurgled and bile rose in her throat.

And she threw up.

"Haha! Guys I just fucking puked on myself!"

When Misty regained slight, fuzzy, consciousness she could barely open her eyes. They were stuck together with some form of eye gunk. When she finally opened her eyes slightly she saw a distorted version of their bathroom. She noticed her significant lack of clothing apart from her bra and knickers and the fact that the tub was running a comfortingly warm temperature of water.

There were two hands running through her hair soothingly, washing it thoroughly. Who it was? Well Misty wasn't sure, but it felt... so, so, nice.

"Hnn?"

"Are you awake?" A feminine voice asked calmly as she poured water over Misty's body.

"Not really?" Misty croaked, "Mum?"

The voice laughed melodically,

"Afraid not, just relax, you need a good cleaning. You had a rough night."

Misty had meant to reply but the alcohol in her system had other plans. She could already feel herself drifting off again, the gentle hands massaging her scalp putting her towards the edge of consciousness.

When Misty woke up again she was in a bed, wrapped up in a comforter, hair damp, and in a pair of pajamas that weren't hers. She was definitely still buzzed, but the sleep had sobered her up a bit and she was much more aware.

The room she was in was dark and quiet, until she heard a loud, ungraceful snort to her left. Looking in the direction on the floor Misty could make out the shape of May, sprawled out, conked out, and breathing heavily. Misty couldn't help smiling at the scene before her, despite it's universal unappealing nature, it was almost endearing. That was definitely the booze talking.

"Returned to the world?" Another voice spoke up from Misty's other side.

Turning around Misty noticed she had a bedmate. Serena.

"Where am I?"

"Your couch was a little... gross," She explained in a whisper, "So after I cleaned you up, May and I settled you in my room for the night. You don't mind, do you?"

"'Course not, that's actually really nice of you. But why is May on the floor?"

"She insisted she stay to keep an eye on you."

"She's doing an awesome job," Misty muttered sarcastically.

Serena smiled lightly, but a concerned look quickly overtook her face,

"Are... you OK?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You were crying when I was washing your hair. You said some things, things I didn't understand, but you were... devastated."

Misty was at a loss for words, she didn't recall crying, and she didn't have an explanation, not a willing one at least.

"I... I'll be OK, eventually."

"You should talk about it," Serena sighed, "It's not healthy to keep things in."

"Please don't make me, one day maybe, just not today. Just keep being all motherly and shit. You're going to be a great mum."

"One of us has to be in this home," Serena blushed, "You all are completely hopeless."

"Yeah, you just had to bathe me. That's a new low for me."

"Do you... need a hug or something. People tell me I give good hugs."

What an angel.

"If you wouldn't mind."

Serena reached her arms out and wrapped them around Misty, she placed a kiss on her cheek. Misty laughed and planted one on Serena's forehead.

"Are we kissing each other? Is that a thing? Cause I just saw ki~sses!" May asked excitedly, scaring the both of them out of their wits, "That's right, I'm awake now! Gimme kisses! Now! May is starved of love!"

The brunette jumped on the bed, showering kisses on the two of them. The three of them ended up in a fit of giggles, May crushing the both of them with her immense love and less immense body. She pecked the two on the lips lightly and got up.

"Have a good sleepover," She said in a much quieter voice, "Hope you feel better in the morning."

As May was getting up Dawn walked in curiously,

"What's going on? I heard the noise of public displays of affection among this sisterhood."

"Your ears heard right," May sang, regaining her voice's loud volume as she placed three kisses on Dawn's face, the cheek, the eyelid, and the forehead.

"Let's ambush Iris," Dawn grinned wickedly when May had finished.

"Right behind you," May snickered as the two scrambled out the door.

Serena and Misty shared amused glances as they heard a moment of silence and then Iris's protests that were not very convincing because she was laughing historically.

"By the way, you kept repeating 'Fuck Dumbledore' while you were drunk. Why?"

"It's probably best not to think about it."

Friends should kiss more. Why isn't that a thing where I live?

Misty's vision of Cilan is 100% accurate.

This one I am not very happy with. I don't know exactly why, I don't think I was very funny. I haven't been feeling very funny lately, more sad. Maybe that's why this chapter was kind of sad, reasons why soon.

Oh next chapter, that entire first scene will be explained.

Thanks to everyone supporting this story. I'll update again after I update The Games We Play.