Amv: Helloooooo!!

Drew: Meh.

Scorp1029: I see you're perky and lively.

Drew: Meh.

Purpleduckies9: Yeah, that's great. Anyway... amv doesn't own Pokemon.

Amv: Dern it! Enjoy!

Chapter Four:

Missing Her

The early morning sunlight streaming through Drew's window seemed to be mocking him as the boy sat up the next day. As he stretched his arms out, he saw that the digital clock on the bedside table read 9:45am. For a moment he wondered why he was feeling so miserable deep down on the inside, but then the disastrous events from yesterday came back to him with a piercing clarity. For a moment, Drew buried his face in his hands and groaned, but then he remembered the intense conversation from last night. Drew knew one thing: he had promised Max that he would look out for his sister, find out Joey's so-called plan. And Drew knew that he would have to follow through with it. He couldn't lose May.

Drew rolled out of bed and quickly showered and dressed, deciding on something new. He put on a pair of long, dark blue jeans and a dark green button up t-shirt. Over that he added a black and navy striped zip-up jacket. (A/N-I saw this at Target, it is the hottest guy jacket I have ever seen. Drew: SHUT UP! Scorp1029: Finally talking, huh?) He ran his fingers through his green hair, double checked to make sure he had his room key, and left the Pokemon center.

The pokemon center opened right up onto the boardwalk of the beach, facing the ocean. Instead of the choppy gray waves of yesterday, the water was a clear, deep blue, almost as blue as May's eyes. That analogy helped, Drew thought, as he sighed sadly. How funny, it seemed like, in the course of having a broken heart, it made one notice other couples more. If Drew saw one group of people holding hands and giggling together as they walked, he had seen a dozen more.

Finally, Drew decided to get some breakfast at a small, quaint looking corner shop. Drew let himself smile slightly as he walked inside. It quickly fell away as he noticed that nearly every table was occupied by a couple, happily sharing a late breakfast.

"A table for one?" Drew asked the hostess. She appeared to be about his age, with long, gold-brown hair tied into two tight braids. Her eyes were a clear, bright blue behind a pair of blue glasses. She was wearing a long sleeved, white button shirt that she'd pushed up the sleeves of, and long black pants. She chuckled.

"Thought so." She took a menu out of a small basket on a table next to her and told him, "Well, if you'll follow me..." She lead Drew to a table located next to a window that looked out on the boardwalk. "Alright, my name's Bethany and I'll be your server for today. If you need anything and I'm not around, I'm working with Jack today, so you can ask him. He's the blond guy who can't carry a serving tray."

"Yes I can, stop lying."a boy said as he came to the table. He had medium long blond hair with the bangs coming halfway down his forehead and hazel eyes, though they were a little on the green side. He was wearing the same uniform as the girl named Bethany, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up to his elbows. He was also a few inches taller than her. To Drew, he said, "Well, I'm Jack and I'll also be your server today."

Drew, who was feeling slightly overwhelmed, said, "Nice to meet you...?"

They both laughed. Bethany looked over at the entrance, where a small line had formed. "Looks like the late morning rush. I'll see you later." She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed Jack lightly on the cheek and rushed off. Jack looked after her, his face flushed slightly as he smiled and raised a hand to his face.

"So, you're together?" Drew guessed. This is so unfair...

Jack grinned. "Yeah. We've been best friends for years, but we decided to try out being boyfriend and girlfriend last night. Bethany's getting ready for the Grand Festival. You know, she's also going on that game show, Singing Stars. We decided to get jobs here so it wouldn't be so boring. Anyway... what can I get you?"

"Huh? Oh! Uh..." -he quickly scanned the menu- "Some coffee and a bagel with peanut butter." he had momentarily forgotten that he was in a restaurant.

"Good, I'm not the only person in the world who puts P.B. on bagels." Jack muttered as he scribbled the order down on his pad. "I'll be back in a bit."

Drew shook his head at his goofy new friend as Jack walked away. He looked around at the people at nearby tables, all of whom were occupied by laughing groups of people. At a table nearby, Drew saw a group of people that make his insides shake: May and Joey.

Drew's mouth nearly fell open. May was wearing long black jeans and a dark red, spaghetti strap tank top with a white half jacket over it. A small line of pale pink hovered over her eyes, and she was wearing sparkling pink lip gloss.

Oh...My... God... Drew thought. It was good May wasn't looking over at him, because Drew knew he wouldn't have been able to tear his eyes away from her even if he tried. She was trying to engage Joey in conversation, but he was fiddling with his phone and was only muttering, "Right" and "Great" every few minutes.

"Alright, here's you're coffee... Drew?" Jack asked, waving a hand in front of the green haired boy's face.

"Wha-?" Drew asked, falling back to earth to see Jack eyeing him curiously.

"Hi, now that you've taken a residence on earth, may I ask what you're staring so intently at?"

Drew felt his face heat up. "N-nothing."

Jack snorted, and turned to follow Drew's gaze. When he located May, he laughed. "No wonder you're alone. She shot you down, didn't you?"

Drew glared at him. "I don't care if I hardly know you, Jack. I will strangle you with my stirring spoon."

The blond boy chuckled. "Don't worry, dude. I'm serving that table. The silver haired guy has got to be the rudest little pimple I've ever met. For real, who texts nonstop during a date? And then he got all mad at me when I needed him to repeat what he wanted to eat, because he just mumbled it to the screen."

"Can you do me a favor?" Drew asked. Without waiting for an answer, he said, "Can you dump a coffee pot over his head?"

Jack laughed again, "If I wouldn't get fired for it, I would have already. He was snappy with Bethany when she seated them. But the girl... I think it was May... well, she seemed pretty cool. Kept looking over here for some reason." he winked as he went off to the kitchen to get some more orders as Drew blushed faintly. He sighed as he looked back over at the couple. May, he saw with a surge of pity, had given up on conversation and was staring at her cup of yogurt, stirring her spoon around without interest.

Drew sighed again. If it was himsitting in Joey's place, May wouldn't have to resort to her food for something to do. He saw it playing out in his mind like a mushy soap opera, or like he had secretly always imagined...

"So, May, what do you want to do today?" he would ask, smiling at her as she thought for a moment.

"Hmm... Well, the Grand Festival's coming, and fast. Do you think we should train?" May would reply, taking another spoonful of her vanilla yogurt.

"Train? May, we've got a whole month! Let's go walking on the boardwalk. I've heard that there were some cool shops around." He'd say, then taking a sip of coffee.

"Drew, are you actually trying to get me not to train?" She would coyly ask, reaching over and poking him on the nose.

Drew would wave her away. "Hey! My nose is very sensitive! And anyway, you're a great coordinator, you'll probably get to the finals! Battling against me, of course."

And then she would laugh, her beautiful blue eyes sparkling the way they always did...

"DREW!"

"Argh! What?" Drew cried, jumping about a foot in the air as he returned forcefully to reality, to find a boy and a girl. The girl had long, sweeping coral-colored hair and pale blue eyes. She was wearing light blue jean shorts and a tan tank top. The boy was extremely tall, with wavy, shoulder-length purple hair and silvery blue eyes. He was wearing long beige jeans and a yellow shirt.

"Hi, Soledad. Who's your friend?" Drew couldn't quite decide if that was a boy or a girl.

"You know me!" He replied. "I'm the weird, crazy guy who dressed up like a Cacturn."

"Harley?" Drew gasped. "What are you doing now?"

"He's not up to anything, Drew!" Soledad cried.

"I'm a changed man, Drew." Harley told him, wrapping his arm around Soledad's shoulders and pulling her in close with a wink.

Drew stared for a second, and then buried his head into his hands. "You have got to be kidding me. Is everyone getting together? Harley and Soledad, Ash and Misty, Bethany and Jack, May and-" Drew couldn't finish his sentence.

"Whoa, slow down. May and who? I thought she liked you!" Soledad said, her eyes growing wide. She was originally the one who had told May that Drew had gotten feelings for her at the Kanto Grand Festival.

"Turn around." was all Drew told them. Harley and Sloedad turned around and immeidately saw May and Joey, still sitting together in silence.

"Who is that?" Harley asked, raising an eyebrow. "He looks emo."

Drew cracked a smile. "His name's Joey Graystone."

"What kind of a name is Graystone?" Soledad muttered. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Drew..."

Drew waved a hand airily. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, and Gyrados isn't a water type." Harley said sarcastically. "Drew, I think the only person in the country who doesn't know that you're in love with May is May herself."

"Figures." Drew murmured to his coffee.

Soledad rested a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're alright, Drew?"

Drew forced a very painful smile on his face. "Y-yeah. Of course I'm fine."

"Well... If you say so..." Soledad said softly, taking Harley's hand and exiting the cafe.

"Hey, I'm back," Jack said as he came to the table, holding a plate with a bagel on it.

"A-actually, I've kind of lost my appetite." Drew admitted.

"You have? So do you just want the check?" Jack asked, "And can I have the bagel?"

"Real sensitive, eh?" Bethany said as she went by with a coffee pot, nudging Jack playfully with her elbow.

Jack sighed as he watched her walk away. "That girl..."

You seriously have got to be kidding me...Drew thought. "Yeah, whatever." He handed Jack a twenty dollar bill and bid him goodbye. Drew left the little restaurant and went back down the boardwalk, heading for the park. When he finally arrived, he sat next to the same tree he had cried under the night before. There were a few people practicing with their Pokemon; Drew figured they were coordinators training for the Grand Festival. As he watched a girl with long, dark, curly hair practice with her Espeon, Drew sensed someone come and sit beside him.

"Hi, Drew." She said softly.

"Hey." Drew replied, his heart pounding loudly as he turned to see May. Lovely. She looks even more beautiful close up.

"Um, Drew... I kinda wanted to ask you something," May told him.

"Sure. What?" Drew immediately regretted saying this. Was she about to go into a long story about how she and Joey were madly in love or something? He didn't think his heart would be able to take that.

May didn't say that she loved Joey, but her question did involve him. "Well, I met Max, Brock, Ash, and Ash's girlfriend, Misty, in Goldenrod a few days ago. They didn't think that Joey had made a very good impression. Um, what do you think?"

"Uh... well, I haven't known him for very long, so I can't really judge him," Drew decided to sidestep the awkward minefield. If he told May how he really felt towards Joey, she would be both curious and disappointed.

"I guess you're right." May sighed. "He's a good guy inside."

Oh, sure. Him and his sweet little plan to hurt the two of us. Drew thought with a sigh.

"And, um, one more thing," May said, turning to look straight into his eyes. Drew prayed that she wouldn't see that he was blushing. "About yesterday. Whatever you want to say, you can tell me."

Trust me, no I can't, Drew thought, I mean, I can't exactly tell you that your little brother eavesdropped on your sweet little boyfriend's conversation with this other girl and heard that he's working on something that's going to try and hurt the two of us. And it's not like I can tell you that Joey's nothing but a rotten scumbag and that I could be so much nicer to you than he is. And I can't tell you that I'm totally in love with you, can I?

"Don't worry about it." Drew finally said.

"Well, at least we're still friends." May said quietly. "I'll see you around."

Drew watched her as she walked away, her long brown hair waving gently behind her in the gentle ocean breeze.

"But I want to be more than friends, May," he whispered. "I want to be so much more than friends..." An image suddenly came to his mind, burning into it with a piercing clarity: Himself and May, entwined tightly together in a passionate kiss, the sunset blazing behind them. Of course, though Drew had imagined him kissing May for at least six months, his hopes that it would become a reality had never been lower. How Drew longed for that single, breathtaking moment...

"Hey, lad!" came Scott's Irish voice, "How's it going?"

"Same as yesterday, but I heard some interesting things." Drew told him the long story of how he had received a late-night call from May's little brother, meeting Jack and Bethany, Harley and Soledad, and his short conversation with May. Then he told Scott how he had met May, teased her and given her roses, pulled her down and pushed her back up, and fallen flat on his face for her. The only things he had kept secret were yelling at her at the Kanto Grand Festival and his recent daydreams.

Scott listened without interruption, and when Drew finished, he let out a long,low whistle. "That's strange. This girl, May... she acts the way all girls act around the guy they like, but then she gets a boyfriend. I know that some girls sometimes do that to lead a boy on just to mess with him, but May doesn't seem anything like that." Scott quickly added, seeing Drew's angry glare.

Finally Drew lay his head back against the tree's rough bark. "Well, she seems happy. That's all that really matters to me."

"Seems like you really care about her, Drew." Scott said quietly. Drew nodded.

"I wish I just knew exactly what Joey has that I don't."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

I feel so terrible, May thought as she and Joey wandered down the boardwalk. She had stopped pointing out interesting stores and funny cloud shapes a long time ago. Sometimes she would say something, but Joey would either not respond or would say something sarcastic.

"That's a cute dress." May said to herself thoughtfully as they walked past a shop. In the window, a manikin was wearing a knee-length, dark blue dress with a halter strap, connected to the dress by a small circle encrusted with fake diamonds.

"You wouldn't look good in it." Joey told her, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, no he didn't." A girl said from behind May. She looked over her shoulder to see Bethany, the girl who had been her waitress that morning. She had changed out of her uniform into long, light blue jeans that flared out at her ankles. A light pink jacket was tied around her slim waist, and she was wearing a "Sweet Jigglypuff" t-shirt that read "I'm Cuter Than You. Deal With It." Her boyfriend, Jack, was wearing tan shorts and a dark blue polo shirt.

"Hey, May!" She called, jogging up to the brunette. "You don't believe him, do you?"

"Well, I don't think he'd lie to me," May said slightly defensively.

"Well, let's go see!" Bethany cried, taking May's wrist and running to to shop, with a laughing May in tow.

"Wh-where are you going?" Joey shouted, "What about our walk?"

Jack snorted. "You were staring at the ground and ignoring everything she said. Some walk." Joey shot him a filthy look.

"Shut it, Blondie. You're the one who was flirting with your little girlfriend while you were supposed to be working."

Jack rolled his eyes. "At least I make her feel like she's important to me."

"Oh really?" Joey sneered, stalking off to a bench next to the entrance to the beach.

"Really." Jack muttered under his breath.

Inside The Store...

"See, May? What did I tell you?" Bethany asked proudly as May stepped out of the changing room.

Though May thought that Joey had just been honest with her, he had been wrong about May not looking good in the dress. The dress draped perfectly around her, not so close that it seemed too tight, but not loose enough that May's perfect figure was lost.

"Well, I geuss it's alright," May said as she surveyed herself in the mirror.

"You're being modest, May. That dress is so cute on you! Let's get it a necklace to match." Bethany said, and the two girls went over to a small shelf. Bethany held up a long silvery spiral on a long silver chain. "This would match."

"No, I don't really think so. I kind of wanted something with a flower." May told her.

"Like a rose?" said a voice. May jumped slightly as she turned to see Drew.

"What are you doing here?" Bethany asked.

Drew shrugged. "I was going to get one of those funny shirts that read 'Everything I Need to know about Life I Learned from Family Guy' and I heard you over here. So I just wanted to- whoa."

Drew had just noticed May's dress and his mouth fell open. Drew thought she looked cute before, but now... he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Stop staring at her like an idiot!

"Anyway, I better get going." Drew said, looking away so that May wouldn't see how hard he was blushing. He quickly left.

May felt herself flushing with both embarrassment and... pleasure. What am I thinking? I'm trying to look cute for Joey!

"I think Drew liked it." Bethany said with a little smirk, elbowing her friend.

"Oh, no he didn't. And who cares, anyway?" May said, trying to act nonchalant as she entered the changing room again.

"Apparently you do." Bethany muttered. They purchased the dress and left the shop to find Joey and Jack talking to each other, their faces inches apart. Joey's usually pallid face was flushed red, and Jack had his hands curled tightly into fists.

"Um, what's going on?" May asked when they reached the two boys.

Jack came to himself first. "I-it's nothing. What did you buy?" he eyed the bag as if he was afraid it would bite him.

"I bought the dress" May said happily.

"I told you you would look bad in it." Joey told her with a frown. The smile slid off May's face. As she looked down at her feet, Bethany cracked her knuckles menacingly.

"Let me at him, I don't care who's watching, I'll tear him limb from limb." She growled as Jack held her back, putting an arm tightly around her waist.

"Come on, Bethany, let's get out of here," He said in her ear. Raising his voice, he said, "We'll see you later." He and Bethany walked away, his arm still around her.

"Ugh. Come on!" Joey grumbled. He started walking off without May.

"Hey! Joey, can't you at least wait up for me?" She asked when she reached him.

"No." Joey replied sourly. "It's not my fault you're so slow."

May looked as if she was going to reply, but decided against it. She looked down t her feet again, trying not to cry. She hated arguing with him, so May always let Joey win.

Joey smirked as he watched her bite her lip to stop herself from snuffling. Ah, well, it's her own darn fault! She can't pull that off, no use in even trying. Stupid.

May sighed as suddenly an unbidden image appeared in her mind. Suddenly -she had no idea why- she had remembered Drew's face when he saw her in that dress. In spite of her mentally kicking herself, a tiny smile spread across May's lips.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxo

That was OK.

Amv: That was a fun chapter to write, although I really changed it up a lot.

Drew: Joey doesn't think May looked cute in that? (Thinking: OH MY GOD, I FLIPPING DROOLED.)

Amv: Yeah, we know, Rose Boy.

Drew: -blushes- what?

Amv: Nuthin'. Please review!