Maybe She Will

The bus pulled up on Rosalyn ST like Natalie said it would. Jet got in line to file off the bus. He could see Natalie smoking a cigarette through the window while waiting for the bus.

When the vehicle stopped, Natalie put out her cigarette and gestured for Jet to stay on. Jet sat back down and was shortly joined by Natalie. She smiled at Jet and said, "We're going to a Chinese spot down town."

A half hour later, they were both at a Chinese buffet with both of their plates loaded with food. Jet had everything in front of him from vegetable lo mein with broccoli, down to barbeque spare rib tips. What surprised Jet, however, was that Natalie had just as much on her plate.

"So how was your little trip to the trainer's school?"

Jet shrugged, "I won a TM." He took another bite of his General Tso's chicken and said, "This kid I was battling though, he almost let his Pokémon die so he wouldn't lose the match."

Natalie lowered her fork, "Are you fucking serious? What happened?"

Jet told her the story and she said, "Well I'm glad you had your Charmander stop. It's fucked up that people take battles that far. People like that should go to prison and learn how to toss salads."

Almost choked on his Pepsi, "I'm eating!"

Natalie giggled, "You're such a prude, Jethro. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're a virgin."

Jet, choosing another spare rib tip, chose not to answer. Natalie raised her eyebrows and said with a full mouth, "No way. You are? How old are you?"

Jet blushed and said, "Is this really important?"

Natalie giggled and said, "Yes! How come you never-"

"What had sex?"

Natalie giggled and nodded, "Yeah, why not?"

Jet sighed. This was not how he imagined this date going. "I don't know. I never actually dated anyone before."

Natalie looked genuinely shocked, "What? Are you gay or something?"

Jet shook his head. "In middle school it just kind of seemed like everyone was unavailable. And in high school I had a job so I really had no time for a social life."

Natalie shook her head, "When's the last time you kissed a girl. And if you say 'never' I'll fucking slap you."

Jet laughed, "Last week, just before I left town."

Natalie rested her head on her hand and said, "Jeez kid, this explains why you're so timid."

"I'm not timid," Jet said defensively.

Natalie smiled, "Whatever. All I know is that you probably wouldn't have put so much overtime at your job if you were getting some."

Jet didn't answer, but absentmindedly stabbed at his food. Natalie took a bite of her pepper steak and said, "I'm gonna get you laid. I actually know this one gir- why are you looking at me like that?"

Jet shook his head and said, "It's nothing."

Natalie grinned, "Am I annoying you?"

Jet smiled and said, "I never met a girl like you before."

Natalie rolled her eyes, still grinning all the while, "That's the virgin in you talking."

Jet shook his head, "I never met a girl who could annoy the shit out of me like you do."

Natalie started laughing, Jet continued, "But for some reason, no matter how much you get on my nerves, there is something about you I just… like, you know?"

Natalie stopped laughing. "And it isn't just that you're attractive either," said Jet, "It's something weird, and something I can't really put into words. Probably because I don't really know what it is? I don't know."

"Aww," said Natalie mockingly, "that's so insulting, and yet so sweet! Are you trying to get into my pants, Jethro?"

Jet rolled his eyes and said, "I'm being serious."

Natalie smiled and said, "Well, being serious, I like getting on your nerves. You look so cute when you're irritated."

Jet smiled sheepishly and said, "Let's put you on the stand. How many people have you slept with?"

"Three," Natalie said shamelessly, "The first one had like a really small dick. I didn't really enjoy having sex with him, which is probably why we only did it twice. My second boyfriend was black. Let me tell you, it's true what they say about those black guys.

"He was enormous, too big in fact. I only had sex with him once, which is probably why he broke up with me. The third guy-"

"Let me guess," Jet smirked, "He was just right? I think I've read one version of this story when I was three."

"The third guy," Natalie continued as if there had been no interruption, "was perfect. We would mess around all the time. He was about five years older than me. I was honestly never more in love."

Jet felt a bit insecure by this tale, even as he asked, "What happened to prince charming?"

Natalie sighed, "A girl can only get cheated on so many times before she say's enough."

Jet looked down and said, "Sorry to hear that."

Natalie smiled again, "No you're not. You're glad, because you think you have a shot now."

Jet asked, "What are you, psychic?"

At this point, Natalie burst out laughing. She didn't stop for what felt like two full minutes, at which point she said, wiping tears from her eyes as she did, "You're alright kid."

After their date, Natalie decided to head with Jet to the Trainer's school to meet with Brian. She said she might as well battle with Eevee, because she had nothing better to do until around eight. They met Brian at a table at the school's cafeteria.

"Hey guys, how was the date?"

Natalie said, "Enlightening."

Jet merely grunted as he sat down.

Brian pulled out a map of the Kanto and said, "Ok Jet, I've been thinking about where I want to head after we leave here. What say you to heading east, to Chestnut, and cutting through Chestnut Fields along the way?"

Jet shook his head, "Nah, I was thinking North, to Pewter City. I wanted to stop by the Viridian Forest."

Brian sighed, "We can't go through there, people get lost in that forest for weeks, and there is nothing but weak bug Pokémon in there."

Jet shrugged and said, "I always wanted to see it. Besides, if we go to Pewter, we can head east to Mt. Moon from there and straight to Cerulean after that."

But Brian protested, "We'd get to Cerulean quicker if we just go through Chestnut."

Natalie interjected, "Why don't you head to Chestnut, and you head to Pewter, and you both can meet up at Cerulean."

Everyone was silent for a moment, and then Brian said, "That could work."

Jet smiled, "Alright it's settled then. We will meet up at Cerulean City."

Natalie sighed, "Must be nice to go wherever the hell you want just like that. Pick a place and go. I wish I can go hiking at Mt. Moon."

Brian laughed and said, "Why don't you?"

Natalie shrugged, "I don't have the money to."

Jet said, "You can use your Eevee to catch wild Pokémon and then sell them to fund your trip. I haven't heard of a Pokémon who hasn't gone for more than a grand."

Natalie laughed, "Yeah, but I don't have pokeballs. And they aren't exactly cheap, you know."

Brian said, "She's got you there."

Jet however, said, "Easily remedied." He went into his bag and pulled out five unused pokeballs and handed them to Natalie, "Consider this your starter kit."

Natalie didn't smile. She didn't crack a joke. She just looked at Jet with a stunned expression on her face and said, "I can't take these. This is a thousand dollars worth of pokeballs!"

Jet held his hands up, "I'm not taking them back. I have more, I really don't need those."

Natalie continued to look stunned, "Why?"

Jet shrugged, "I don't know. I like you."

Natalie gave a sarcastic laugh, "You like me. Funny." She put the pokeballs in her purse and said, "This isn't going to get you in my pants, you know."

Jet smiled and said, "They weren't meant to."

Before he knew it, Natalie damn near tackled him off his chair as she gave him a crushing hug. Brian laughed and said, "What kind of license do you have?"

Natalie let go of Jet and said, "A class C, why?"

Jet answered, "You will make more money off class B Pokémon. You should register for one while you're here."

Brian nodded and said, "Yeah, we'll stay in Viridian while you do your tests, and then you and Jet can leave together."

Jet, however, said, "Wait, what? When did we establish this?"

Brian shrugged, "I figured since you were both headed to Mt Moon. And plus, it would be cheaper on food and stuff if you two stick together. Besides, you two are cute together."

Both Jet and Natalie looked at each other. Natalie said, "Well, if I do leave I could definitely use some company."

Jet didn't know what to say. It was a bit of a frightening prospect, traveling with this gorgeous girl. Who knows where it could lead?

"Umm, y-yeah. We could go together. I mean, only if you want to."

Natalie giggled, "You are such a nerd."

Over the next week, Jet and Brian helped Natalie study for her tests. Natalie was surprised by just how much knowledge both trainers had on the subject of Pokémon. "I swear you two are the biggest Pokémon geeks I ever met!"

The testing for her class B took about ten days, so Jet took advantage of this time and started training his Pokémon every day, bright and early. He would have them lift weights and practice their attacks. He tried to work on Pugsly's defense, but he always became overzealous.

"You're problem," Jet told Pugsly, "is that you have no sense of rhythm when you fight. You're just all over the place. So today we are going to do some rhythm training like I used to do with Thorn."

And with that, Jet played Kanye West's Stronger and showed Pugsly the two-step. "You want to make sure you're constantly moving when you're fighting. A fighter who moves to the beat of his own drum is a dangerous one."

Jet and Thorn demonstrated how to take a stance and shadow box to the beat. They started off slow at first, just to give a demonstration for Sora and Pugsly. Jet then demonstrated how using rhythm could be used at a full speed attack by shadowboxing to the beat.

He punched, dipped, rocked, jabbed, and ducked all in a seamless flow of erythematic movement that looked flawless. Pugsly seemed impressed, and eager to try it out. "Remember, go slow. Start with a two-step to get the beat down, and then move on to form one."

When Jet wasn't helping Natalie study, he was training his Pokémon. He would dominate the battle room at the trainer's school. The bets were so small though, that it was only enough to cover his rent at the Pokémon center.

If his Pokémon weren't battling, they were practicing or doing strength and resistance training. What little free time Jet did have was spent devising battle strategies. He had no idea what was waiting for him in the Viridian Forest, but he wanted to be ready for anything.

When Natalie finally got her license, she said, "Tonight I'm taking you two to a party at my friend's house. And don't you dare bring those backpacks there."

And so plans were set in motion. The three of them were going to leave Viridian City tomorrow, but tonight was a night to get fucked up.

XXX

Jethro Brown did not like jello shots. He was unaware of this fact up until recently, now that he was stumbling in the kitchen while his head was spinning. Natalie had introduced him and Brian to her friends. And what generous friends they were, giving both boys jello shot after jello shot as if they were attempting to get rid of a surplus.

At first Jet liked the Jello shots, and was thoroughly convinced that they were not very strong. He danced with three girls, played spades with a few jock types, and danced some more.

It wasn't until one girl was breathing into his ear about how cool it was that he was a trainer did the shots really hit him, and hit him hard. Jet was now in the small kitchen with his head against the wall, praying to deities both known and unknown that his head would stop swimming. I'm never drinking again! He promised himself, knowing this oath to be a lie even as he thought it.

Jet felt his pocket vibrate and pulled out his phone. The caller ID announced that Amy Oak was attempting to reach him. "Hey, beautiful!"

"Jet? Are you drunk?"

Jet tilted his head back and asked, "Is it that obvious?"

Amy laughed on the other end and said, "Well, yeah. You're kind of slurring."

Jet laughed too and said, "My bad, what's up?"

"You act like you can't call me anymore. I mean, it's been two weeks now and I haven't heard from you at all."

Jet suddenly felt guilty; he hasn't called Amy since he met Natalie. "Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I've just been busy."

"Busy with Natalie?"

Jet felt even guiltier, She knows! "How did you-"

"Brian says you two make the cutest couple."

Jet thumped his head against the wall, "It's not how it sounds." But that was a lie. He wanted Natalie and he knew it. He just didn't want to upset Amy.

"Is she cute?"

"I- well, yeah she-" This was clearly a trap. Jet watched as Natalie whipped her hair with a bottle of Jose in her hand. She did this to Buck Cherry's Crazy Bitch.

"I'm not going to lie to you Amy; she scares me a little bit."

Amy giggled and said, "It's ok, Jet. I'm not expecting you to stay away from other girls or anything. I'm certainly not staying away from other boys."

Jet didn't really know what to say to this, so he simply remained silent. Amy then said, "Don't stop calling over some bitch you just met, though. I thought I at least meant more to you than that."

Jet now felt like the biggest asshole this side of the Kanto region, "I'm sorry Amy. I'm so sorry, I'm a dick."

Amy said, "Yeah, you can say that again."

Jet smiled and said, "I'm a dick. But I'll call you every night, I promise. Right now though, I just really need to go throw up somewhere."

And with that, Jet bade Amy farewell, and ran up the stairs into the bathroom. He shut the door and lifted up the toilet seat. Seeing that someone didn't flush their piss, Jet flushed it for them and prepared to puke. As if by mental command, Jet felt vomit pour from his mouth into the toilet.

He puked three times, and then spit the bile from his mouth. Feeling disgusted with his self, Jet flushed the toilet and went to rinse his mouth out in the sink. He rinsed it out with water first, and then put some toothpaste on his finger and proceeded to thoroughly brush his teeth.

After brushing twice, Jet popped some Listerine and gurgled for about fifteen seconds. He spit the mouth wash out and then popped some more. After swishing for thirty seconds, he spit it out and washed his hands.

When Jet returned to the party downstairs, he was still a little buzzed, but felt a lot better since puking. His breath tasted strongly of Listerine though. Natalie came out of nowhere and pulled Jet toward her to dance.

They were playing Lil Wayne's She Will over the stereo. Natalie began to grind her butt against Jet's front, and moving her hips with the beat. She then grabbed Jet's hands and placed one on her waist and the other on her chest.

Jet couldn't help but get aroused as they grinded on each other. Jet placed his cheek against Natalie's and smelled her perfume. If there was one thing that attracted Jet the most when it came to girls, it was the way they smelled. He could see a cute face any day of the week on TV. However, when he was grinding that close to Natalie and taking in her scent, he found that he lost all his inhibitions.

He placed his hand on her cheek and turned her face so her lips brushed against his. She didn't stop him, but instead grabbed his head and moved him deeper into the kiss. All the while, Jet could here Drake singing:

She just started to pop it for a nigga and looked back and told me baby it's real.

I said I ain't doubt you for a second and I squeeze it and I can tell how it feel.

I wish we could go any fucking where but here baby you know the deal!

And she bad, uh, so maybe she won't,

But shit, then again, maybe she will.

They broke apart from the kiss and Jet grabbed Natalie's hand. He lead her up the steps wordlessly and then into an empty bedroom. As soon as they got inside, Natalie grabbed Jet's shirt and fell onto the bed with him. Jet pressed his lips against Natalie's; hard at first and then softer as they began to make out again.

Natalie slipped her tongue in and out of Jet's mouth regularly. Jet moved one of his hands from Natalie's back to her ass. When she didn't complain, he moved his hand from her ass to the area between her legs. Instead of protesting, she kissed harder.

Jet then moved his hand again and approached from the front, this time rubbing her crotch none too softly. Natalie moaned and Jet continued. He wasn't exactly sure why he was being so forward, but as it was working, Jet attempted to unbutton Natalie's jeans.

At this, Natalie pushed Jet off of her. Jet thought he crossed the line, that is, until Natalie turned over and puked on the bed. Jet went to hold Natalie's hair, but she said, "Go get me a fucking towel! Quick!"

Jet ran to the bathroom and did as he was told. Natalie wiped her face with the towel and then balled it up in the covers. After rolling the covers into a ball, she threw them into a corner and said, "Don't say anything! Laura doesn't need to know I threw up on her parent's bed before I left."

Jet nodded and Natalie left the room, mumbling something about mouthwash. Well, that was anticlimactic. Guessing that Natalie most certainly would not want to finish what they started, Jet headed downstairs. Finding Brian, he told him, "Dude, if Natalie asks, I headed back to the center."

Brian looked worried, "Dude are you sure? Cause if you got rejected, there are plenty of other girls here."

Jet laughed and said, "I'm sure."

When Jet got back to his room, he received a text that read:

So sorry about what happened! Hope your not mad?

Jet wrote back:

Not at all, I just need to get some rest for tomorrow.

She sent another text back saying that she was already home as well and that she'd meet him at his room in the morning. Jet didn't bother taking off his clothes. He instead dropped on his bed and welcomed the sleep as an old friend.

What a night.