The next day, Gardenia lazily sat around her house in the morning, one hour before she was to head to the gym. She wasn't in the mood to be doing so many battles lately, mainly because she was always thinking about Roark. Even though she was cool with Hazelle now, it was as if the simple fact that Roark was taken made it seems as if it was impossible for them to become a couple. He didn't ignore her for his girlfriend like he did when Valerie was around and that made her content about Roark and Hazelle's relationship. But she'd still rather have him holding her hand. And she still cringed whenever they kissed or showed any signs of affection.

The doorbell rang and Gardenia let out a loud groan. She reluctantly got off the couch and proceeded to answering the door. Surprisingly, the person behind the door was none other than her rock-head best friend.

"Roark," Gardenia moaned, rubbing her eyes sleepily, "What are you doing here? I have to be at the gym in an hour."

A smirk spread across her best friend's face, a smirk she knew all too well. It was the smirk he wore on his face whenever he, Gardenia, and/or their friends would screw some shit up.

"Not anymore. I've already talked to your workers, Eterna City gym is closed for today. We have more… ah, exciting matters to deal with now." Roark said, waggling his eyebrows.

"What the hell, dude?!" Gardenia shrieked, punching him in the shoulder not-so playfully, "I never asked for this. I'm damn tired today, so you best leave me alone."

"Whatever, you're coming with me. Go get dressed in something not pink and fluffy." Roark told her, making a face at Gardenia's embarrassingly pink, fluffy robe and bunny slippers.

Gardenia's face turned red when she realized she was still wearing her pajamas in front of Roark. The brunette grass-trainer rushed upstairs to freshen up and change. After taming her bedhead and ridding her mouth of bad breath, she pulled on a pair of skinny jeans and surprisingly, a lime green three-quarter sleeve chiffon blouse. When checking her reflection in the mirror, Gardenia acknowledged that she looked awfully like Hazelle, without the blonde hair, of course.

"Whatever, I have to stop wearing shorts in forty-degree weather anyway…" She muttered to herself and rushed back down the stairs again.

Roark was quickly reading over his texts from Hazelle when he was snapped out of his lovey-dovey trance by Gardenia's boisterous footsteps thunder down the staircase. He stared at her as she descended down, shocked by her outfit choice. It was not usual for her to dress so… well, dressy. She looked almost like Hazelle, minus the blonde hair. The rock-trainer shook his head to release the thoughts of how pretty his best friend looked instead of just gawking at her like an idiot.

"I-I-I like- I mean, what are you wearing, Gards?" Roark sputtered out, his tone suddenly meek. Gardenia rolled her eyes at her best friend's awkwardness.

"Oh, well, I'm starting to get extremely dry skin from the winter weather. And I guess I just thought I needed to vary my clothing choices more." Gardenia replied, tapping her chin in thought, "Maybe I should pick up a curling iron and moisturizer, too…" She trailed off, leaving Roark perplexed at his best friend's abrupt girly behavior.

"Uh, alright then. Since when have you cared about moisturizing?" Gardenia was about to respond before Roark dismissed her comment with his hand, "Whatever. Let's go fuck some shit up."

"Okay, fine with me!" Gardenia grinned mischievously, and began strapping on her brown combat boots, which surprisingly paired well with her outfit.

The two left Gardenia's house laughing about their various inside jokes. The best friends were happy that their friendship wasn't sailing on rocky waters anymore. Well, mostly Roark was. He didn't know the real reason why Gardenia had been so distant to them.

"What the hell is this shit you've been listening too?" Gardenia remarked at the rap radio station playing in Roark's car. Roark stuck his tongue out at her jokingly and switched it to the pop music Gardenia preferred.

"Ooh, I love this song!" Gardenia squealed and proceeded to sing along, "If I was Jay-Z, you'd be my Beyoncé. We could rock the nation like they do! If I was Da Vinci, you'd be Mona Lisa, paint a smile perfectly on you-"

"Godammit, Gards, your singing voice is terrible!" Roark grumbled as he started the car.

"Shut up, rock-head! And If I was James Dean, you could be my Audrey, breakfast at Tiffany's for two…" Gardenia carried along singing out-of-tune joyfully. Roark shook his head, trying to keep his eardrums alive.

"Ah, screw it…" Roark said as the car pulled out of the driveway. He joined in the singing, completely aware that his voice wasn't all that amazing either, "So throw me away, 'cause if I were a boomerang, I'd turn around and come back to you. Back, back to you-u-u-u."

"I knew you'd join in eventually." Gardenia chuckled. Roark pouted at her for a moment, but they maintained belting out the lyrics.

"Hey, I know what we can do to annoy people!" Roark suddenly declared a mischievous, smug look upon his face. He pressed a button on the handle of his car door and both windows rolled down. Gardenia replied with an even louder discordant singing.

Many of the other cars on Eterna City's roads rolled down their windows to check where that awful noise was coming from. Some even considered calling the cops, but backed down when they realized it was two gym leaders. In the middle of their performance, Gardenia and Roark smiled at each other. Their smiles were cheerful and jubilant, the smiles they always wore on their face around each other. They were both crazy and reckless, which was what made them inseparable.

"I missed this." Gardenia said quietly, out of the blue, to rest her vocal chords.

"Me too. Sorry I've been hanging with Hazelle, it's just-"

"I get it. You're paranoid that she might be another Valerie. I get it, Roark I've had a boyfriend before. But I think Hazelle…" Gardenia choked on her words. She didn't want to say what she was about to say.

'Screw it. Get over him, Gards, you're just friends, and you should be fine with that, shouldn't you?' A tiny yet scary voice in her mind cackled.

"B-But I think Hazelle…" Gardenia repeated, "May be the one for you."

"Gards, you don't know that. You know what, I like Hazelle, a lot, but we shouldn't talk about her right now. I don't want to make you to feel lonely anymore." Roark stated. The brunette grass-trainer beamed, her cheeks turning a vibrant shade of crimson.

"Thanks, I guess. Hey, I never asked you, what exactly are we screwing up today?" Gardenia asked. That infamous smirk appeared once again on Roark's face.

"Eterna supermarket." He replied. Gardenia widened her eyes, what were they going to do there? Shop for veggies and fruits? Or look at the various soup choices?

"You'll see later." Roark said, acknowledging his best friend's confused face, snickering to himself. Gardenia cast him another incredulous look before just looking out the window.

The car turned into Eterna supermarket, a gigantic two-story complex. The first floor being the regular supermarket and the upper floor some weird, hippie-style organic café, serving vegetarian sandwiches and wheatgrass milkshakes. Yuck, thought Roark, cringing at the thought of a sandwich absent of ham, cheese, or anything delicious. He stopped his car in the first empty parking space and got out of the car with Gardenia at his side.

"Alright, so what we're going to do is have a food fight in the café." Roark said calmly. Gardenia's jaw dropped excitedly and she began jumping up and down while clapping her hands.

"I love food fights! Roark, you are a freaking genius! How come we never thought of this before?!" Gardenia shouted, causing some people in the parking a lot to stare. Nevertheless, the grass-trainer threw her arms around her best friend.

Roark wrapped his arms around Gardenia's slender form, closing his eyes and savoring the sparks going off in his heart for a while.

Wait, sparks?

Roark snapped back to reality and gently pushed Gardenia back. For a moment, he felt terrible when he noticed a flash of hurt in her eyes.

"Sorry, uh, I was just kind of, uh, excited to do the food fight." Roark stammered. Unexpectedly, Gardenia flashed a bright smile across her face, as if the memories of the awkward moment vanished.

"Yeah, me too! Now come on, charcoal arms!" Gardenia galloped off into the supermarket, Roark followed, jogging.

The automatic doors welcomed the pair into the bustling, noisy supermarket. Gardenia and Roark grinned at each other, both super excited to be having extravagant misadventures together again. Just as they were about to rush up the stairs to the café, a familiar voice rang out.

"Gardenia, Roark! Hey!" The voice of Hazelle James called. Roark whipped his head around stopping abruptly on the fourth step.

A wide smile spread across his face as the rock-trainer's blonde girlfriend ran over to them, clad in a pair of pink sneakers, yoga pants, and a baggy, burgundy sweatshirt. Hazelle's glossy blonde hair was sloppily tied into a high ponytail, with a hot pink headband holding loose strands back. Somehow, to Roark, Hazelle's casual and just-rolled-out-of-bed appearance made her seem even more stunning.

"Goddammit, does she have to be everywhere?" Gardenia muttered. Nowadays, she was usually fine with Hazelle tagging along, but now she just kind of ruined the best-friends-of-three-years-having-crazy-misadvent ures mood.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Hazelle. I missed you!" Roark said as he descended down the staircase to lightly kiss his girlfriend on the forehead.

"You saw her yesterday, didn't you?" Gardenia laughed, her tone cold, finished off with an icing of fake sweetness, "Why are you here in Eterna, anyways, Hazelle?"

"Oh, I was just stopping by to pick up this exotic facial cleanser that's supposed to do wonders for your skin!" Hazelle replied obliviously, holding a lime green tube of cleanser up, "It smells amazing, too!"

"Oh, wow. Well, Roark and I should get going we have to-"

"Hazelle, why don't you help us with the food fight? It'll be fun, my two favorite people by my side!" Roark suggested, cutting an internally screaming Gardenia off.

"Sure! That's sounds super cool, although I've never been in a food fight. I don't particularly like getting messy." Hazelle giggled flirtatiously at Roark as if it was some inside joke, "But since I'm not really wearing anything nice, I guess it would be okay!"

"You're so cute." Roark commented, throwing his arm Hazelle's shoulder.

'Ugh, a couple's early stages. Are all of them always like this?' Gardenia thought and rolling her eyes and shaking her head in sync.

"Alright then," She said, containing her indignation, "Follow me then, lovebirds."

The group ascended up the staircase, which led them to the cafeteria. It was already 11:30, so people were making beelines to the food. Hazelle and Roark chatted away, while Gardenia silently led them to the long line of people waiting for food.

"So, Roark, I never asked, but how long have you and Gardenia been friends?" Hazelle suddenly asked.

"For three years. Been my best friend ever since. I guess we just clicked after we watched that Super Machamp movie." Roark replied. Gardenia's heart warmed at the mention of the first movie she and Roark watched together (as new friends, of course).

"Sounds nice, it's just like our first date, isn't it?" Hazelle said, her chin resting on one of Roark's broad shoulder. Her boyfriend grinned at her and leaned his head against the top of hers.

'Arceus, you two just got together and you're already recalling your first date. Talk about mushy!' Gardenia mentally spat. Hazelle and Roark's romantic behavior was becoming more annoying by the minute. But she slapped on a sweet smile, and once again contained the volcano about to explode inside her.

"Hazelle, I never asked you, but is Roark your first boyfriend?" Gardenia questioned. She tried to tell herself that she was just wondering, but she knew in her heart that she simply wanted dirt on Hazelle. Hazelle's pleasant demeanor changed and her face grew stiff and sullen.

"N-No, I-I-I…" Hazelle stuttered, her confidence slowly decreasing, "dated some other people, of course. I guess Roark is… one of the rare ones I actually really liked."

"Oh, so you only dated them for fun?" Gardenia concluded, her sugary tone long gone, replaced by such a bland and assuming tone that it was a little spiteful.

Hazelle fell silent, her cheerful smile replaced with a tight line in her lips. Roark removed his head from hers, now facing his girlfriend with an extremely concerned expression. Gardenia suddenly felt guilty for letting her short-temperedness, jealousy, and annoyance take over her words. Her small friendship with Hazelle was probably thrown out the window now. Roark was also most likely angry with her, which made the guilt even worse.

"I'm sorry, Hazelle." Gardenia croaked, surprising even her, "I was a little nosy and curious. I'm really sorry about that. Seriously, I didn't mean to make you sad."

"It's alright!" Hazelle surprisingly exclaimed, her face lively and jubilant once again, "Anyways, I think you two definitely deserve to know the truth, especially you Roark."

"Wait, what? Is this is some sort of dark secret?" Roark asked, his eyes blazing with curiosity.

"No, no, it's just something I did when I was younger that I totally regret. I was a rebel when I was younger, all punk rock wannabe and all. I went to parties, got drunk, disobeyed my parents, went out with guys I barely knew, and repeated the cycle." Hazelle paused for a moment to study her boyfriend and his best friend's utter shock, "One day, my parents finally got sick of me and sent me to peaceful Pastoria to live by myself. I continued my party girl attitude for a while until I realized everyone was sick of my attitude. It- It hurt to know that no one was sticking by my side. That's when I turned my life around and became a Pokémon trainer. I cleaned myself up, lost the 'I-don't-give-a-fuck' attitude, and I became a regular girl. But my parents still haven't contacted me after a year."

"Wow, Hazelle, I-I-I had no idea." Gardenia responded sincerely. She really did feel bad for Hazelle, and was mentally beating herself up for being so cruel. But she couldn't help but still be a bit envious.

"Hey, it's alright. You're you now, aren't you? You're beautiful, amazing, smart, and well, look I had a crush on you since I met you. The point is, damn, I'm really bad with words; this is you now, Hazelle. Be proud of it." Roark said, patting Hazelle's shoulder affectionately. The sulking blonde pressed her lips to Roark's, and for once, Gardenia didn't mind… slightly.

She still wanted Roark to herself, no matter how selfish it sounded.

"Hey, can you two cut it, er- out?" Gardenia asked awkwardly as she realized one of the food servers glared at her friends, "We're at the front of the line already."

"Oh, sorry, um… Roark, what are we getting?" Hazelle asked, her face bright red and flustered. Roark rubbed her shoulder as if to say, "Relax, babe"

"We'll take ten tomato and basil panninis, six vegetable sandwiches, three potato pancakes, five bowls of brown rice, four garden salads, seven sugar-free cherry pies, and… one of each of all your juice selections, oh, and also the sandwich with the most meat in it." Roark ordered shamelessly.

"That is going to be one huge shit." Gardenia muttered to Hazelle, sending the blonde into hysterical giggles, "What's the organic meat lovers sandwich for?"

"Uh, for me, Gards." Roark replied in a "duh" tone, a smirk etched upon his face.

The food server glared at the trio, but reluctantly repeated the order to his cooks. Once the food arrived, which took roughly half an hour, it took three trips to transfer the food to one table.

"Okay, who's going first? If you girls aren't brave enough, I'll happily start." Roark said, triumphantly gazing at the piles and piles of "ammo".

"Fine, go ahead- Ah!" Gardenia shrieked as Roark fired a mushy potato pancake directly at her face. After Gardenia rid the gooey pancake off her face, which left a layer of oil on her cheeks (despite the healthy vibe of the café) she threw a slice of cherry pie at Roark's face.

"Oh, let's do this, tree trunk legs!" Roark shouted, starting a reckless food fight between him and Gardenia.

Hazelle eventually joined in, throwing all her concerns of getting messy out the window. Eventually, someone misfired (aka Roark) and hit a spectator in the face. The spectator stood up furiously and wildly chucked some of his mashed potatoes at Roark.

"Food fight!" A random kid yelled. He joined in, throwing some of his meal at his own brother

The food fight was amazing, and even that was an understatement. It was the first time Gardenia had so much fun in quite a while, bar the drunken, crazed trip to Veilstone. She recalled how fun it was to have a genuine good time with friends. By the time, the kitchen staff (who had also joined in on the fight) ran out of food, everyone was caked and covered in various organic meals, respectively.

The things that happen In Eterna City…

Fuck this was a failed chapter (mostly the ending) but I think Gardenia deserved some happiness. Also, did you see Hazelle's secret coming? Well, anyways, I'm planning on making this story less than 18 chapters, at the most 20. School is starting soon for me, and I don't think I'll have so much time to write anymore. But I can try, ya know. So to finish up, review, follow, favorite, all that shit is good with me.

P.S. Give me suggestions.

~Mia