Chapter 14.
Everyone.
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"I wonder if Drew found May…" Ash put his finger on his chin in a wondering manner.
"Probably… May wouldn't have gone very far." She just shrugged, as they wandered around outside the little friendly café. It was nearing night as the Sun made its way down.
Ash took a big whiff, causing his stomach to growl. "Misty, can we go inside now?"
"Nope." She said simply, causing Ash to whine more. Misty just rolled her eyes, before letting them rest on a certain couple making their way over to them.
"Look who it is." Misty laughed, nudging Ash and pointing to Drew and May.
Drew and May were hand in hand, walking over with big smiles. This made Misty laugh in happiness as she went up to hug May.
"Misty!" May shouted, hugging her best friend tight after releasing Drew's hand, as much as that disappointed him.
"May! I missed you so much! Where were you?" Misty shouted back, hugging tighter.
May's eyes went over to Ash, causing them to widen.
"ASH! OH MY GOD, YOU'RE AWAKE!" She grinned and went over to attack him with hugs, after pushing Misty away to get to him.
"Haha, hey May!" He hugged back.
"Careful, Ketchum, she's mine now." Drew smirked, making his way over to them and patting Ash's back.
"Eh?" Ash tilted his head in confusion. His eyebrows drew together in the cutest way.
'Wow, he is the densest person to ever lay foot on this earth.' Misty thought, rolling her eyes. She patted Ash's back too.
"They're going out, you bum." She grinned. Saying it straightforwardly should work...
"Where to? I wanna come! CAN I, DREW?" He began begging. Drew rubbed his temples, unable to comprehend his friend's density.
To relieve Drew, Misty gave Ash a big whack on the head, making him cry out in pain.
"…Forget it. You and I need to talk about the birds and the bees." She sighed heavily, clearly annoyed.
Misty made her way over to Drew, nudging his arm with her elbow while May went back to hugging Ash, screaming out "I missed you!" Drew and Misty laughed and rolled their eyes. Misty looked at Drew and began to interrogate him, as any best friend would.
"How's life being a boyfriend to May?" Misty smiled, winking.
"Nothing new, she's still thick as ever." He mumbled, looking at May with a smirk.
"You finally broke loose though, that's great." Drew opened his mouth to speak, but Misty interrupted "And you'd better be good to her, or your face will meet my mallet." Misty threatened. Drew laughed nervously, and Misty whacked his back good-naturedly.
"Ow! Thanks? And you don't have to worry about that." He smiled and watched as May messed with Ash, making sure he had completely recovered from the accident. He then raised an eyebrow at Misty, wondering if something had happened between her and Ash while he was looking for May. "What about you and Ash?"
"W-W-What do you mean by that?" She balled her fists and glared at him, daring him to say something. There was also a distinguishable blush on her face, but Drew knew better than to point that out.
"You know perfectly well what I mean by that." He smirked, leaving Misty curious as he walked towards the hugging duo, separating them. "Enough you two, it's been a while but doesn't mean you have to hug it out till you two are stuck together."
Misty stared with furrowed eyebrows at Drew before turning her gaze to Ash who was laughing. They ended up both hugging Drew.
"H-HEY!" He yelped, trying to push them off. He clearly wasn't enjoying this. "M-MISTY! HELP!"
Misty just laughed and got out her phone. "Hey, you guys, we haven't seen Paul and Dawn in a while, let's give them a call." She waved her phone at them as May and Ash rushed to gather around, leaving Drew to dust himself off before joining up later.
Misty put the call on speaker as the group neared their ears to it.
Beep, beep. Beep, beep. Beep, bee-
"Hello?"
"HI DAWN!" May and Ash said in unison.
"ASH? MAY? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Dawn shouted through the phone in shock.
"Ash woke up recently and Drew found May! Isn't that great? Speaking of which, Drew and May are going out now!" Misty said while Ash whined about 'going with them' in the background.
Dawn was smiling, holding her phone near to her ear. "That's great!"
"Where are you and Paul?"
Dawn put the phone in front of Paul's face. Paul was walking next to her through the open path, in front of old buildings. It was a bit like walking in front of the Louvre, but without the giant pyramid in the way and more trees towering over them beautifully. It was calm and peaceful but there were pigeons everywhere.
"Say 'hi', Paul!" She giggled, shoving the phone in front of his face.
"No." He simply said, pushing the phone away.
"Hmph, spoilsport." She pouted, bringing the phone back to her ear.
"Hahaha, that's so like Paul. Don't worry, we heard him. Drew is booking out the café for the rest of the day just for the gang, come over! It's been a while since we all were together!" May laughed in the phone before hanging up with a 'goodbye'.
Dawn stared at the phone for a minute and stopped in her tracks. Paul turned to see what the big fuss was about. She pointed the phone to Paul.
"Come on let's go to the cafe!" She giggled.
"No way." He said, narrowing his eyes.
"Why not?" The smile turned to a pout. A very cute pout. Paul tried to ignore it, and failed.
"What if they send me back to the hospital?" He asked, turning his head away.
"They don't even know you have cancer…" Dawn sighed, taking his hand before he could go any further. "Let's go!" Paul refused to be moved. Dawn's eyes narrowed.
"Well I'm going. You can stay behind, see if I care." Dawn began to walk away, and Paul, who knew that if he didn't go he would get shit for it later, followed her with barely a grumble.
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They walked their way to the café while the sun was slowly setting in the background. It was really a picturesque scene. Dawn busted in through the door of the cafe, shouting in happiness while Paul just sat in the corner to watch it all unravel. The streamers tangled themselves around the dimly lit room messily, balloons blown up all over the floor, bouncing about. There weren't many balloons, considering it only took them 20 minutes to reach here meaning it would've taken 20 minutes to do all this deco so it was really messy.
Dawn quickly ran to the group and hugged them, all of them laughing. Paul stared, sighing in annoyance. He wasn't really enjoying any of this 'hassle', considering he never liked being around so many people. He didn't like it purely because no one ever understood how he felt or took into consideration what he was feeling. He never shows what he feels but he'd like it if one day, someone would come up to him and ask him why he was sad or happy, even if he wasn't showing it. That's why he likes Dawn, she can see right through him, she can tell what he's feeling, and that's why he never wants to leave her side.
"Here you go, Paul." Speak of the devil; she came rushing towards Paul with a plastic cup filled up to the brim with champagne.
"I didn't know this café served alcohol." He stared at the cup, taking it after some thought.
"They don't, this is from the gang, and they got it while we were coming here." She smiled, sitting next to him with her cup of champagne.
He stared into the pale shade of gold tinted liquid, stirring it around the cup.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Dawn peeked under, staring up into his face as he held his breath.
This is what he had meant earlier.
"Nothing." He sighed, putting the cup on the table. "Maybe going to the hospital would be a good idea."
Dawn was taken aback by the sudden decision. She stared at him for a while before speaking up.
"Why?" She thought it'd be a silly thing to ask, hoping she didn't make him change his mind.
"There are some things worth living for." He muttered, looking over to Dawn who blushed.
Dawn looked down to her cup of champagne, thinking about what he said. He couldn't have possibly meant- no he couldn't have. She managed to look at him silently from the corner of her eye, seeing that he was drinking his cup of champagne, looking towards the group who were about to propose a toast.
"AHEM." Ash cleared his throat, stomping up the chairs and onto a table as if he were king.
"Careful you don't trip. Don't want another accident like last time." Drew called out, causing an array of laughter to fill the room.
"Shut it, Drew." He pouted, holding up his plastic cup of champagne which is actually apple juice, according to Misty who had switched it earlier.
"I WOULD LIKE TO PROPOSE A TOAST."
"With apple juice in a plastic cup." Misty stifled her laughter, covering her mouth.
"What's that?" He looked down at Misty, spilling a little 'champagne' on himself in the process because he's so gosh darn clumsy.
"Nothing~" She chuckled, waving her hand at him, gesturing him to go on.
He looked at her, unsure whether she meant that but shook it off, deciding to carry on with his oh-so-amazing toast.
"To all of you! You have been amazing friends, we all stuck together through thick and thin!" He shouted, punching his fist up in the air, his juice in the other hand before pointing the juice to May.
"May, you're always happy; you're like a female me! I can always count on you to give us a laugh!" He grinned at her.
"Thanks bro." She giggled, giving him a peace sign.
He pointed to Drew. "The man who found May! I hope all the best comes to your career as a photographer! Also, dye your hair a natural color." He laughed, making Drew twitch.
"It's NATURAL." He crossed his arms, looking away. "Ergh, annoying."
Next was Dawn. "You always look on the brighter side of everything. We can always count on you to make us think positive!"
Dawn just smiled, waving her hand at him, acknowledging his presence.
"Paul, you saved Dawn from drowning in the pool. Sure any of us could've done that, but you had the balls to do it first. Don't give up on life or else she might as well." He looked at Paul, with an honest smile. Paul just shrugged him off, looking towards the now blushing Dawn.
He glanced over to Misty, who smiled at him. He smiled softly, pointing the cup in the air towards her.
"If I had a hat, miss, I'd tip it to your direction. Never leave me, promise me that, Mists, and I'll forever be happy."
Misty grinned happily. "You got it, bud!"
"TO ALL OF YOU! May this friendship last!" He shouted, throwing his hand into the air before taking a big gulp of his juice. "This… doesn't taste like champagne." He mumbled, looking uneasily towards the cup.
"Can't believe he gave a decent toast… And with juice of all things." Drew laughed as the whole room cheered Ash on.
Ash made his way steadily down the table and onto the ground. Careful not to jump on any wandering balloons, he jumped down. He noticed Dawn talking to Paul and smiled. Out of the blue, Paul got up and took her hand, walking her out the door.
"Hey, Misty, where are they going? I want to go to." He nudged Misty who turned around the see them just barely go through the door. She got annoyed at Ash's dense head and gave it a nice big whack.
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"Paul, just so you know… I'm really glad you're going to the hospital." Dawn looked down on the pavement as Paul leaned against the street wall.
They stood underneath a dimly lit streetlamp, everything else seeming to disappear into darkness around them. Paul reached into his pocket and found that he had not bought a packet of cigarettes earlier. In the end, he had found it best to just stop for now as much as that annoyed him in the current situation.
"Meh." He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets anyway. He looked up to the streetlamp, avoiding eye contact with Dawn while her eyes rested on her feet, fiddling around with her thumbs behind her back.
"I- I don't know what I'd do…" She whispered as Paul looked down to stare at her, as if he was urging for her to go on. "I don't know what I'd do if you… If you left." She looked him dead straight in the eyes.
He stared back, but it wasn't his usual dark glare or sinister frown. No, it was something else… It was gentle. His eyes softened on her, he smiled only barely and opened his arms, welcoming Dawn into them. She stared as if she had died and gone to heaven and ran into his arms, hugging tight.
"Dawn… Why do you care so much?" He sighed, raking his fingers through her hair.
She took a deep breath. "You know why… I love you, I already told you." She smiled in his arms, happy.
"Mm." He didn't confess what he felt about her, thinking now wouldn't be the right time. But he was so wrong, it was just so perfect, but he's too stubborn to believe it. He just isn't ready yet.
Luckily enough, she didn't mind, she felt amazing just letting it out in his arms right here, right now. She could die right now and be happy because things started to really feel like…
... Heaven.
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Fin.
P.S: Most of this chapter was beta-read by the amazing Charmy (TheFifthCharmedOne)
P.S.S: There will be a sequel if that isn't obvious enough, don't worry xD Keep a look out.