A/N: I apologize for the lack of updates but I made this one fluffy and sweet to make up for it. You can go thank Luxray-405 for getting me off my lazy butt and writing this story. x3
I really have no real excuse whatsoever but I honestly have been unable to write for some time. I don't know what happened, but I lost my ability to write for some time. It wasn't writer's block... it's something weird that prevents me from writing. That, and I have no time.
And if you didn't notice, I changed my pen-name... so yeah.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.
~ Best Friends Forever ~
Chapter 9
Dawn woke up to the sound of idiotic boys screaming and laughing in the living room. She honestly did not know why they decided to be annoying in her living room. Although, it was to be expected of them. They probably did it purposely to annoy her.
She groaned and placed a pillow over her ears in hope of shielding the sounds from her ears. Trying to go back to sleep, the said boys made their grand entrance into her room (unknowingly to her) by grabbing her arms and legs and lifting her from her bed, swinging her like a hammock. Lucas took her arms and Kenny and Barry took her foot.
"Mom" Lucas began, swinging her towards the left.
Barry continued, "Wants."
"You," Kenny chimed.
"To."
"Wake."
"Up."
"And."
"Get."
"Ready."
The three idiots decided to alternatively swing her around and simultaneously told her her mom's request. Of course, she yelped when all three of them dropped her when the finished their speech. She opened her eyes and found herself sprawled on the floor of her bedroom. She glared at the boys as they all smiled deviously. "That sounds rehearsed. How many other innocent lives did you take by doing so?"
Kenny smirked mischievously. "How did you find out our secret so quickly?"
At the same time, Barry looked at her with a disappointed look and asked, "Sadly, none because you're still here."
That earned him a slap from both Kenny and Lucas. "Ouch! I know that you two love her to pieces and everything but I don't think it was necessary."
Lucas said nothing and turned to Dawn. "You and Kenny are to help Mom in the kitchen today, 'member?"
She nodded. As he walked out the door, she called out, "What are you and Barry up to today?"
"We're setting up the stages," Barry responded as Lucas went to far to hear his sister's voice. "And picking on helpless lil' girls like you." He then added afterwards before disappearing into the halls (he also ran into the door frame before getting out but Dawn ignored that too). "It'll be a million dollar fine you if you're late!"
Again, she nodded, ignoring the second part to his statement, and pushed Kenny out the door. "I need to change, so scram. Unless-" she smiled at him teasingly.
"S-S-Sorry! I-I uhhh... I-I'll go n-nooow," he stammered in a silent voice running out as fast as he could. She could have sworn his face was redder than the tomato plants that were in her mom's garden. She grinned to herself, blushing a bit as well as she did her hair and changed into clothes that would've suited her for the day. She had a feeling that today was going to be super special. Special clothes for special occasions. She came down in an hour or so after taking a shower and making sure her hair was perfect.
After thinking about the early morning encounter of her best friend, her brother, and her brother's best friend, she realized one thing: Kenny seems different today.
By the time she arrived downstairs, Barry and Lucas had evacuated the house a long time ago and Kenny was busy mixing the batter for something. Her mom was out of sight and so was Kenny's mom, who had also promised to help with desserts and food for the next day. She looked at him as he stirred the batter with a mix of determination and carefulness that made her laugh. It looked as if he was trying to beat the poor thing up into multiple pieces.
She looked at him with careful eyes and could not help but smile during the process. Some time during the 'careful observing' phase did Kenny look up at her with a quick grin and asked her, "Are you going to stare at me all day or help me with this?"
His words interrupted her thoughts and it took her a while to register his words. She flushed in embarrassment and trudged over to him. "I'll start with the fruit tart." She went over to the sink and grabbed the essential materials needed.
She set her materials near Kenny and went to work. She found herself looking sideways at Kenny from time to time. Feeling a bit awkward, she decided to start a conversation with him. "So do you know where Lucas and Barry went?"
"Didn't you ask the same question this morning?" he raised an eyebrow at her, pausing his work for a second or so. She, again, flushed in embarrassment. Good going, she scolded herself.
"O-Oh! Did I?" She laughed nervously. "Because w-what I meant to say was where did my mom go." Smoooooth.
Kenny looked at her strangely before responding, "Oh, she went my moms are going to be cooking the course dishes at my place. Meanwhile, we are to make the dessert."
Dawn watched as he went back to his work, concentrating on the batter.
She placed her bowl down and moved onto the whipped cream for the strawberry short cake Kenny was working on. Unsure on why she was disappointed, she stared at the whipped cream. It took a while for her to realize that her expectations for the day were not lived up to and that things were completely different than she had planned it to be.
She had planned to be cooking with Kenny's mom, Kenny, and her own mom in this kitchen and they (Kenny and her) would be secretly messing around and joking when the other adults weren't looking. She never would've imagined a scenario where it was just Kenny and herself cooking in the kitchen in complete silence and awkwardness. She had no idea why it was so awkward being around Kenny anymore; it was so easy to be around him when they were still little. It was so easy to be around him before their journeys began... but now... it's just plain awkward. She could feel the awkward bugs tingling in the atmosphere.
After four batches of cupcakes, three awkward bugs, two shortcakes, one fruit tart, and a very long afternoon (with very little conversation), Kenny and Dawn placed the finishing results onto the counter. Dawn admired all of them from afar and stared at them. "Wow! They look good enough to eat!"
"Well, they're supposed to look good enough to eat," Kenny pointed out, clearing looking amused.
Dawn waved a hand in the air as if to dismiss his statement. "Yeah, whatever Kenny. Don't ruin my fantasy." She sighed and leaned against the cabinet. "I'm exhausted. I forgot how tiring cooking could be sometimes."
"Dee-Dee, we can't rest yet. We still need the icing on the cakes." Kenny wiped his hands on the nearby towel and placed it onto the counter. "And not to mention, we need to clean up," Dawn groaned at this, "and pay Lucas and Barry a visit to see if they need help."
She didn't pay any attention to her beloved nickname, for she was too tired to notice anything; instead she pouted sticking her bottom lip out. "Do we have to," she wined like a child with a tantrum.
Kenny smiled as if he suddenly remembering something happy. "Now, help me with the icing, 'kay?"
She nodded in agreement. "Mhmm! But I'm decorating!"
"Alright," he complied. For the shortcake, she placed the strawberries around the edge and added a couple sprinkles along the four sides. She stepped back to admire her work. Kenny-who was trying to spread icing on the cupcakes-accidentally brushed her hand. She flinched at the contact and jerked her hand sideways, ramming it into the cake. She took her hand out and stared at it for a while before she realized what had happened.
Kenny looked over her way while she exclaimed loudly, "NO! Kenny, I messed up the cake. Sorry-"
"It's my fault I bumped your hand. It doesn't look bad. If we fill it up with enough icing, nobody will notice it. It wouldn't be as obvious," he said, going back to work.
However, she knew that it was not his fault. Something happened when he brushed her hand against hers. She couldn't explain it, but she could have sworn there were sparks involved. It was not something she experienced before. The thought of his hand brushing hers brought blood rushing to her cheeks at a rapid pace. She had to mentally slap herself to get back to work and fix the cake. She wiped the icing off of her hand and repeated the line, over and over, in her head to regain her composure, 'All he did was touch my hand slightly. It's nothing. Calm down. Calm down. It's not like he kissed you or anything. Now, I need to fix the cake...'
Taking Kenny's suggestion into mind, she grabbed the icing from his hands and yanked it-a bit too hard-and the most remaining icing flew onto Kenny. Dawn gasped and apologized swiftly. Kenny didn't seem to mind it much, he was smiling as if he was entertained at the sight. "It's alright, Dee-Dee. Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit?"
"No, I'm not. I messed up everything. I'm sorry, Kenny," Dawn muttered under her breath.
Kenny brought his hand up to his cheek in attempt to remove the icing from his face. He flicked some of it in Dawn's direction, immediately gaining her attention. It landed on her hair and her left shoulder. Dawn yelped as Kenny grinned, leaving the hole-in-the-cake long forgotten.
"KENNY!" she yelled, immediately forgetting about her earlier mistakes. He simply laughed as Dawn attempted to get rid of it.
He smiled and stuck his tongue out, "Pay-back."
"How immature," she responded, grabbing a hold of the bowl of icing and smeared some more on his face.
Laughing at her tactics, he attempted to lick the icing off his face. "Yeah Dee-Dee, real mature."
Dawn looked around the room and groaned. "We have to clean this mess up quickly."
"Right, you are."
"Lucas, help me with this! I think the rug is going to collapse on me!" Barry exclaimed in a worried tone. "I'm going to fine you if it does..."
The said boy rolled his eyes at his best friend, "Stop exaggerating. But if it's too heavy, then let it collapse on you because I'm busy."
"Busy doing what? Talking to your boyfriend?" Barry countered, smirking when he saw Lucas' shocked expression.
Lucas huffed in a dignified manner. "For your information, I'm talking to Professor Rowan, and I would appreciate it if you allowed me to do so... in peace."
"You've been talking to him for an hour already," he complained.
"Don't be ridiculous Barry, I've only talked to him for five minutes." But five minutes was more than Barry can take. He needed entertainment and help. He did not want to be doing everything by himself.
Barry shifted the rug onto his shoulders and carried it backstage with ease. He set it down and looked in Lucas' direction. Lucas was absorbed in the conversation, not paying any attention to him at all. He sighed, trying to get the attention of Lucas, who was, for a full hour already, talking to Professor Rowan about Arceus knows what. Barry didn't like working alone. The other boy who was working with him-Bradley-ditched the job for ice-cream, and right now, he couldn't blame the boy.
"I swear, if you don't come and help me now, I'm going to go over there and hit you with this rolled up rug," Barry stated. He received no response from Lucas. He muttered something under his breath and looked at Lucas again. Absentmindedly, he walked right off the side of the stage and tripped on the bottom step, tumbling into a bunch of boxes. He groaned and muttered, "Well surprise surprise, Lucas still isn't noticing."
He got up to hang up the banner across the stage. "I'll get him back," he promised to himself. The banner was still in his hands when he unrolled it purposely to hit Lucas across the back and sent him tumbling forward. He caught himself before he hit the ground and turned around to glare at Barry. "What the heck was that for?"
Barry shrugged innocently. "Whoops, I'm sorry Lucas. My bad."
However, by now, Lucas already went back to his conversation with Professor Rowan. Barry breathed out heavily and suddenly thought of something that Lucas would care more about than his own life. "Aye Lucas, what do you suspect Dawn and Kenny are doing right now?" he inquired with a suggestive tone. "You don't think that they'd do anything while they're at home by themselves do you?"
In a quick second, he bid Professor Rowan farewell because "something important came up and he had to go" and brought his attention to Barry. Barry smiled smugly, knowing that it would catch Lucas' attention.
"Don't be ridiculous Barry. They wouldn't do anything!" Lucas said, defending his sister. "Besides, there are other adults in the house."
He shrugged, "You never know. They could've left the house long ago and they could be at home alone, doing who know what. Now hang this banner, set up the chairs, and we can go home and find out."
"Alright!" And Barry had never seen Lucas move so fast in his entire life than he had in the next few minutes.
"We're finally done! Thank goodness," Dawn said in a relieved tone.
Kenny nodded in agreement; his attention was quickly diverted to her face. "Dawn, you have something on your nose."
"W-What? Where?"
Dawn promptly lifted her arm and tried to wipe it off but Kenny swiftly grabbed her wrists and set them down. "Here, let me do it," he offered, moving closer to her. He used the corner of his sleeve to dab the side of her nose. When he was done, he was unable to breathe because of the close proximity between himself and Dawn. She seemed to have noticed this too because she glanced upward and looked into his eyes, not making any motion to move backward or away from him.
Leisurely, he moved his face, closer to hers, attempting to capture her lips with his. He wanted to give her enough time to turn her head or back away from him if she didn't want him to kiss her, but she seemed to have stayed exactly where she was. Now, he could hear her breathing in and out rapidly and as he came closer, he felt his heart skip a couple of beats. Before his mouth came into contact with hers, he heard the sound of a door slamming. Startled, Dawn slipped in attempt to move backward. She grabbed onto the closest thing to her, which happened to be Kenny, and dragged him down with her.
They both fell onto the floor, unharmed. Kenny landed on top of her but caught himself with his elbows to avoid crushing Dawn with an extra impact.
He mentally cursed at his luck, but blushed, remembering what had happened before. He had no idea what possessed him to do so and mentally slapped himself for being so stupid. Maybe it was one of those 'stuck in the moment' kind of things but he scolded himself for almost kissing her. He was fully aware of his feelings for her but he didn't want to force it upon her yet. Maybe later...
"What the heck?" a masculine voice exclaimed.
At the same time, another voice proclaimed, "I told you they'd be doing something mischievous!"
The voices of Barry and Lucas snapped him out of his reverie and he realized that he was still on top of Dawn. He jumped off of Dawn and helped her up, probably blushing more than he should be. Embarrassed to be caught in such a state in front of Dawn's elder brother (well technically, he wasn't really any older than Dawn was but still...) and his friend, his hand jumped to his hair and started tugging onto it absentmindedly. "Uhh..."
"W-Well y-o-ou see-e," Dawn stuttered, clearly even more distressed and in a worst composure than he was, "w-w-e-eeee were just um-" She twiddled with her fingers, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.
Barry laughed at her attempt at clarification. "I would ask what happened, but you two seem to be too red to say anything that I might understand." Lucas just looked as the scene unraveled itself.
"You and Kenny did a great job on the sweets," Lucas said, eyeing all the desserts that were placed on the counter. "They really look delicious." Barry agreed with a nod, drooling over all the food that was placed on the table.
Kenny finally regained his ability to speak again. "I thought you guys weren't going to get back for another half an hour."
"A kid named Bradley decided to finish everything up for us since he felt bad for ditching us for ice-cream," Lucas answered, since Barry was still occupied with admiring the sweets.
However, he was still able to grunt, "Yeah, and Lucas wanted to rush home right away after he found out that-" Barry was unable to finish his statement because Lucas harshly slapped his hand over his mouth.
"Nothing... nothing at all," he said, trying to make it as casually as possible. His attempt made Dawn chuckle in amusement.
Another voice interrupted their conversation, making some jump in surprise, "Well! You guys certainly did a great job with the desserts!" Johanna exclaimed, walking into the kitchen and setting her purse onto the counter beside the cakes.
"Thanks Mom."
Dawn smacked her brother's arm. "You didn't even do anything!" Lucas just looked at her gave her a cheeky grin. Kenny and Barry just laughed at their childish behavior. Their 'perfect' moment was ruined by a single question from Johanna.
"Uh, Dawn... why is there a huge hole on the side of this one cake?"
Oh gosh. I forgot how much fun writing this story is. It brings a smile to my face writing out the scenes and coming up with ridiculous scenarios. xD I especially like writing about Barry's clumsiness and weirdness because he reminds me of myself. Hehehe. (;
Confession: I do not know how to cook at all (nor have I ever been in a kitchen long enough to learn), so I hope the cooking scenes seem realistic. -shame on me-
Welp, review? :D Oh, does my writing style look different, or is it still the same? My writing feels awkward when it comes to this story... hmm.
Ss this enough fluff do you guise want more? [; There's two more chapters of this story, and I'm going to add a whole bunch of fluff in both of them.
Feeling guilty for the late update,
Lily.