The sound of loud, booming thumping echoed constantly inside the ears of the trembling brunette coordinator. Hearing three thunderous thuds every second or so, poor May clutched her shirt tightly. The deafening pounding of her heart was almost unbearable. The number of beats her heart was making per a second was frighteningly high. May's breaths were coming out choppy, jagged, and extremely fast. It felt as if her wind pipe had clogged up. It looked like she was barely capable of breathing. Each inhale of oxygen that May had made was quickly used up, and needed to be replaced by another.
May's face was once again the dough colored complexion, as it was before the battle between Paul and herself had begun. The shock that May was feeling was quite obvious; if it wasn't her saucer-sized sapphire blue eyes, then her gaping jaw had definitely given it away. However, her jaw wasn't the only thing that seemed to sag. It looked as if her whole body would collapse onto the floor.
"May, May, May, close your mouth. Don't you know that it's impolite to stare?"
Hearing Drew Hayden's arrogant comment and seeing a smug smirk upon his lips (after what had seemed like forever) made May finally cave in. She wasn't able to hold in all of her sad, depressed feelings anymore. All of the emotions that she had kept bottled up inside of herself suddenly burst out. A torrent of giant tears spilled out of May's eyes and rushed down her cheeks. The brunette's entire body began to tremble violently and her heart began pounding even fiercer than before.
With all the strength that she could possibly muster up, May forced her shaking legs forward. At first, it took an eternity for May to just walk three tiny steps. However, the distance between the crying girl and her destination soon grew smaller and smaller as her speed increased. Eventually, May found herself running at top speed towards Drew. Grabbing two fistfuls of his familiar black shirt that she had known all too well, she buried her face into it. Sobbing quietly, May deeply inhaled his scent- a mixture of roses and cologne. The last time she had smelled this scent was all the way back in the Kanto region. The past two years, May had spent traveling in the Johto region independently. Those years, those two long years, had been so lonely. She had felt so forlorn and alone. Throughout her entire journey in Johto, May had held onto the last rose that Drew had ever given her. She secretly kept it nice and pressed, hidden away in her new bag, yearning for the day she would get another.
A bit embarrassed, May slowly began to release her iron grip on Drew's shirt. She had left a large wet spot in the middle of his shirt on the area that she had been crying on. However, at the moment, neither of them cared. May found herself getting lost in the deep, emerald eyes of Drew Hayden. And, (though it may have been her imagination) from the looks of it, so was he. A bit reluctant to let go, May softly clutched both of Drew's arms, scared of loosing the arrogant, green haired boy again. With a bit of difficulty, she swallowed the lump that had grown in her throat. It had been such a long time since the two top coordinators had seen each other. It had been much too long.
"Drew, you jerk!"
May's sudden statement rang clearly in the ears of the other three teenagers. She squeezed her eyes shut as tears began to form in her eyes once again. Her voice was hoarse and cracked, but it still had the same forcefulness as it did when she had first met Drew. Though she had just been crying, she still had a bit of her perky "spark" left in her. She was still May Maple.
Her watery sapphire eyes met Drew's mildly-surprised emerald ones for about half a second. Then, she hugged him as tightly as she possibly could, not noticing the blush that had appeared on the green haired boy's face. Finally letting go of him, May sniffled and attempted to glare at Drew icily through her blurry, tear-filled eyes.
"Why the hell didn't you call?"
Drew's POV
Holy shit.
My face was on fire.
Her thin, slender arms were wrapped tightly around my torso, actually hugging me for the first time. Her face was buried into my chest. She had practically dehydrated herself by crying on my shirt. Her sapphire colored eyes were all swollen and puffy. She could barely speak one sentence without her voice cracking. Her hair was all messed up. It looked like she just got out of bed.
Yet, I was the one who was blushing?
...
No shit Sherlock.
I closed my eyes, secretly praying that this moment wouldn't end. Oh god, I've missed her. I've missed her so much. I needed to see her big sapphire eyes. I longed to hear her loud and perky voice. I yearned to smell her sweet, strawberry scented hair. I missed the way her chestnut brown curls silkily flowed down her back. Opening my eyes again, I sighed. Damn... I've missed May Maple.
"...rew... Drew!... DREW!"
It took a couple of seconds for me to register the fact that someone was calling my name. Focusing my eyes, (I had been staring off into space while I was thinking to myself) I saw a pair of bright blue eyes staring straight at me. Finally getting my attention, May huffed, rolling her eyes. I raised an eyebrow, silently asking what was wrong, causing May's face to turn bright red.
"WHY. DIDN'T. YOU. CALL?" Huffing once again, May turned around. Apparently, she was no longer in that sad, crying state that she was in a few minutes ago. All riled up, May snorted. "God, are you deaf? How many times do I have to repeat myself?"
I smirked. Thank god. Yeah, it was fun, having May cry all over me. It was nice to be comforting her, to be able to soothe her. It felt good to be her source of comfort. All of that was fun while it lasted. However, as I reached up to flick my hair back, I realized something. If May and I weren't always arguing about something, it'll be no fun around here.
"My god, May," I began, giving her a smug look. "Did you really miss me that much?"
Before the petite brunette was able to screech or begin to pound my chest, I held up a perfect, thornless, red rose. The petals were all elegantly curved. The flower had fully bloomed. The color was just right. Tilting it slightly towards her face, I offered it to her. May's face turned a pink hue as her mouth slowly closed. For a second, it looked like she would burst into tears again. I smiled gently in her direction, much unlike my usual self. Leaning in towards her ear, I whispered, "Don't worry Maple. I've been thinking about you, too."
I slowly leaned away from her, straightening my back. Glancing in May's direction discreetly, I almost laughed. She looked so flustered! Her face was all red, with a few strands of hair stuck to her forehead. Her mouth was constantly in motion; it was opening and closing, and opening and closing, but not a sound came out of her mouth. May's eyes flickered towards me, meeting mine for a brief moment, and then darted away. A few seconds later, she did the same thing. A smirk found its way onto my lips as I watched her actions. It was... adorable, for a lack of better words.
A cold, emotionless voice broke the peaceful silence that had settled between us. Glaring at me frostily, Paul Shinji growled.
"Enough of this love fest." Looking directly at me, Paul reached into his blue jacket, withdrawing a pokeball. "Now," Paul enlarged his pokeball, glancing at May. "Hayden and I have some complicated business to finish." Slowly dragging his eyes away from her, he focused on me.
"Don't we?"
I snickered loudly, earning myself another growl from the plumhead over there, much to my amusement. With my trademark smirk on my face, I flicked my hair back. Shoving my hands into my pockets, I shrugged cockily. Emerald eyes then met onyx ones.
"Absol! Come on out!"
My Pokemon materialized onto the field, his fur shining brightly in the sun. He shook his head back, giving his white coat a glowing appearance. Growling softly, not much unlike the way Paul had, Absol's red eyes locked with mine, waiting for a command.
"Trust me Shinji," I said mockingly, using his last name. "If you're talking about a battle between the two of us..."
"There is no complication." I abruptly turned towards him, suddenly glaring intensely. "I will win."
