Wooooow a lot happens in this chapter so...read please :)

Perhaps for the first time, fear was building up in the pit of Paul's stomach. The fact that this foreign feeling of fear was stemming from developing a liking towards the annoying but goddamn irresistible blunette was even more traumatizing for him. And now that it had come to his senses, he was at a roadblock; what was he to do now?

He never realized just how much Dawn had an impact on him. Having this amount of intense feelings for someone aside from his own flesh and blood was alien to him. Sure, he'd recognize when the opposite sex deemed to be 'pretty' but his feelings for Dawn went way beyond just attractiveness; so much that he was probably attached to her.

"Fuck," he cursed to himself, as he found himself parked in his driveway.

Maybe he just needed to push his thoughts away for a while. If he dwelled on this for any longer, he'd for surely likely develop a migraine.

He opened the door of his humble abode and set aside his belongings before noticing there was no sign of his brother around, who would usually anxiously wait for his arrival. Just as Paul was about to call him and ask him about his whereabouts, a harsh pounding on the door was heard.

He opened the door and as suspected, Reggie was standing there on the doorstep, only this time, a pink-haired woman was standing next to him, greeting him with a warm smile. "Hey Paul!" Reggie exclaimed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Glad you're home already. You remember Maylene don't you?"

Paul hadn't seen her in probably over two years ago, back when Reggie was in his prime days at college. They had once video-chatted over the summer and he vaguely remembered Reggie introducing her in the camera, but other than that, his memory was a little hazy. Plus, there were times when Reggie would gush about her, but not to an annoying extent. Nonetheless, he nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"Hi," Maylene said, "It's so nice meeting you after all these years, Paul. Reggie's been insisting that I meet you one day and well, it…finally happened, hehe." She laughed sheepishly. Paul almost snorted at the irony. Reggie was gushing about him to his ex?

"I didn't realize I was that fascinating," he said, letting out a dry chuckle before the two stepped in. He looked at Reggie, who simply grinned in the process before closing the door and locking it. "Where exactly have you been?"

Reggie allowed Maylene to sit on the couch before looking at Paul. "Well, after I picked her up at the airport, we just decided to tour around the city for a while and catch up and take a walk down memory lane," he said, obviously hinting towards their dating phase.

Paul raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. "For the entire day?"

Maylene blushed, a crimson red brushing her cheeks and she cleared her throat. "Well, it has been a while," she said softly, her voice barely audible. Paul could hardly decipher that this woman with a frail and soft voice had her own karate dojo.

"Yeah, Paul." Reggie added. "Lay off," he said, as Paul rolled his eyes in response. "Anyways, who's up for pizza?" He asked, bringing out his phone from his pocket.

Maylene's pink eyes twinkled with excitement. "Oh, I'd love pizza! But I don't want any–"

"Pepperoni or any other meat toppings on your pizza?" He finished for her in a questioning manner and both Paul and Maylene were a bit surprised. "Hey, don't think I still don't remember that you're vegetarian."

Dear Arceus, Paul thought. Reggie was a clear example of just how caring he was and how he remembered almost every little detail about Maylene, despite the two drifting apart. He suddenly envisioned himself in Reggie's shoes. Would he be able to remember specific details like that for Dawn?

He wasn't even sure himself. In fact, he'd probably be a terrible boyfriend. Again, Paul felt fear build up just thinking of the word 'boyfriend'.

"Yeah," Maylene said. "I almost had this dish that had meat the other day in Veilstone. I would have hated myself for eternity if I hadn't realized it and asked for a vegetarian option."

Reggie chuckled, fumbling with his phone for a couple of seconds. "You won't need to worry about that for now," he said, giving her a smile before looking at Paul. "Paul, can we talk for a second? It's important. You don't mind, do you Maylene?"

"Not at all, go ahead."

Reggie gestured for the younger brother to follow him to his room and despite Paul's utter confusion, he decided to walk behind him. Once they approached Reggie's room, the door closed behind them and Paul then noticed an unfamiliar look of nervousness in his eyes. "What's wrong?" Paul's voice was laced with concern.

Reggie let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm…I'm not sure what to do, Paul." Paul watched him as he ran a hand over his purple locks. "I still," he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I still have feelings for her. And this is bad, because she's only here in Lumoise for a couple of days before she goes back to Veilstone."

Paul would have never suspected his wise and though provoking brother would be in a vulnerable position like this. In fact, Paul would probably guess that he himself was more vulnerable now with his new-found feelings for Dawn. "I'm not exactly sure what to tell you," he confessed honestly. How Reggie was expecting Paul to pass on relationship advice when he could barely understand his own was beyond him. "Especially when I don't know what to do with mine," he blurted.

Reggie's nervous demeanour disappeared and instead a curious look was now seen on his features. A teasing and mischievous glint was now present in his eyes, which made Paul almost regret blurting his confession. "Care to elaborate on that?"

Paul heavily sighed, his eyes closing briefly before he opened them again. "I…I think I have feelings for Dawn."

"You think?" Reggie pressed.

Paul glanced at him with a scowl. He hated how Reggie could pick up whenever he was lying. "Fine," he muttered. "I like Dawn."

Reggie probably has the biggest grin sported on his face now, remembering the conversation he had with Dawn a few weeks ago. "Well, then, it's about time." Paul's confused face allowed him to continue, "Oh come on, if there was anybody out there that you were going to have feelings for, it would be Dawn. I would be very surprised if you ended up liking someone else."

At this moment, Paul just wished the ground below him would open and swallow him just to avoid this embarrassment.

"So are you going to tell her?" he asked.

In hindsight, that should have been his first instinct the moment he realized his feelings. But the thought of confessing to her just mortified him. Talking about his feelings was something that he wasn't very good at; he'd just feel very uncomfortable. There were multiple times when Paul would just avoid his feelings entirely. Plus, what were the odd chances of her actually reciprocating his feelings, especially when he'd done nothing but hurt her multiple times? He didn't deserve someone as nice, selfless and kind as Dawn.

"Not a chance," Paul replied.

"Why not?"

Paul sighed heavily. "I just don't think I'm a good guy for her. She deserves someone better," he confessed, his voice soft. "Besides I'm positive she doesn't feel the same way."

At this point, Reggie wanted to scream in frustration. "Paul, you're literally an idiot," he blurted. Paul didn't feel affected by his words but let him continue. "You don't think that Dawn, the girl who's probably babbled about you before, the girl who's come to you for advice, and the girl who's probably wanted to get close to you for months doesn't like you back?"

Paul didn't know why, but he had a wary feeling that Reggie knew something he didn't. "What are you trying to say?"

He sighed in response. "Look, Paul. I know that confessing and even talking about your feelings is hard for you. But you can't ignore it forever. You have to be able to talk about it to Dawn. And trust me, she'll understand. When I wanted to confess to Maylene about my feelings for the first time, I was a nervous wreck too. But, I told myself to man up and just go for it before I ended up losing her."

Paul hesitated to say anything, but he sure as hell knew that his fear was beginning to get the best of him. The more Reggie was encouraging him to open up, the more he was willing to hide his emotions inside.

Instead, he decided to smartly change topics. "What are you going to do about Maylene?"

He narrowed his eyes in response at his smart way of avoiding his advice. But he thought about his question. "Hm…well, I guess I'll do the same thing with what I did the first time; I'll just go for it."

The trio were currently seated on the couch with two boxes of pizza in front of them and the television screen playing in the background. The two would chat every now and then, bringing up the lovely memories of their past, even though it was a bit difficult for Reggie since his memory was still a bit foggy.

What he didn't expect was for her to bring up the accident. "Are you aware of who crashed into you that night?"

Paul averted his gaze from the slice of pizza and looked at her. Reggie had a similar expression on his face. "No, but we've been trying to find out for maybe a month now. I can't remember anything other than those dreams I had."

"Dreams?" Maylene repeated, a curious tone evident in her voice. "What kind of dreams?"

"Well, they were about memories of the accident. In one of them, I saw myself going into my car and crash into someone, but I saw a glimpse of blue hair on the driver. And in my other dream, I had this call with a female just before the accident, I think. I just don't know who it is."

Maylene seemed deep in thought as she pressed a finger against her chin. "Blue hair…do you guys know anyone with that hair color?" she asked.

Reggie glanced at Paul, who cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, this girl I know happens to have that color, but I'm sure that she didn't crash into Reggie that night." Reggie smiled to himself. Paul had never explicitly stated what he had thought about that topic ever since they talked about it, but he was glad to see that he was assured it wasn't Dawn.

Maylene nodded in understanding and then snapped her finger for emphasis. "Reggie, didn't you introduce me to someone when we were dating?"

"Maylene, I can barely remember the night of the accident," Reggie pointed out dryly.

Paul narrowed his eyes. Just what exactly was she trying to insinuate? "Do you know who it is?" he asked.

"I'm not exactly sure…" Maylene confessed. "But, I can remember that Reggie introduced me to a slightly middle-aged woman when we were dating one time. But I don't think I've ever seen her since."

Reggie was perplexed. He had little to no memory of that, probably because of the coma. "Well…are you saying that it might be one of our family members?"

Maylene seemed embarrassed as she started to shake her head repetitively. "Uh, I didn't mean to put a blame on any of your family…I, uh, just thought of her because she had blue hair and uh–"

Reggie grabbed her hand and started to chuckle, effectively getting her to stop rambling. "Relax, you're okay. No worries."

Meanwhile, Paul was attempting to process all the information he had just received. If Reggie had introduced a family member that coincidentally had blue hair, then that narrowed the clue down even more. He started to question himself. Who was there in their immediate family, other than his deceased parents and Reggie that–

"I know who it is," he said vaguely. Both Reggie and Maylene had curious looks on their faces. "I think I know who crashed into you that night, Reggie. It makes perfect sense."

"Who?"

As Paul revealed the name, their curious expressions had instantly altered to looks of shock. There was an uncomfortable silence that surfaced around the room. The tension was so thick it could probably be cut with a knife.

"Are you sure, Paul?" Reggie asked.

Paul nodded. "Nobody else could have done it."

Tuesday; November 16th; Lumoise High; 9:03 a.m.

Dawn was currently walking out of her math class, with another disappointed look on her face. She had a test coming up soon and considering she barely understood anything what Mr. Johnson had explained literally a few minutes ago, she knew she was likely going to fail this test; which meant that her best bet was acing the final in a month.

Speaking of which, if she wanted to change her grade, then she'd have to change her tutor, or at least try harder studying for the next test. Conway, despite being extremely intelligent, just didn't match with her personality and no matter how many times he tried to explain a topic, she just wouldn't get it.

Things were so much easier when Paul was her tutor.

She walked to her English class, suspecting that Conway would be sitting at his usual desk about fifteen minutes early, just as he did almost every day. She closed the door behind her when she saw him buried in a book. "Conway?" He removed his head from the book as he settled his eyes on her. "Can we talk for a minute?"

Without any hesitation, he closed his book and set it aside. "But, of course. Anything for you, Dawn."

She sat in one of the seats, placing her backpack on the floor beside her. "Well, like I said before many times, you're a great tutor. I just don't think I'm a good…student?" she said, not sure how to finish her thought. "Your amazing intelligence just isn't a good match with my personality. So I think you should…"

"Stop being your tutor?" He finished for her hesitantly. Dawn sighed and after a few seconds, she nodded. She knew that he was disappointed hearing this, but she was slightly shocked when he just shrugged. "Well, I can't say that I'm surprised. Actually, to be more precise, I was expecting this."

Dawn was taken aback. "Really?"

Conway nodded in response and rested his hands behind his head. "Yep. Also, I suspect there's another reason for wanting me to stop tutoring you. Yes, you feel as though my superior intelligence doesn't cooperate with your personality, but you also miss an important someone; that someone being Paul, who you never shut up about during our tutoring sessions."

Dawn blushed deeply, her head dropping down, as she tried to hide her face with a few strands of her hair. Conway chuckled in response. Her blush faded away when she recalled just yesterday how Paul was jealous of him. "So…you don't mind?" she asked.

His lips lifted into a small smile. "Of course not."

Dawn cleared her throat. "But you like me, don't you?"

He laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. He felt his neck heat up embarrassingly. "Well, yes. But, I don't see the point in attempting to be in a relationship…especially where it's only a one-way street. And plus, anyone with clear twenty-twenty vision could tell you have the hots for Paul." He smirked.

Dawn gasped. "I-I do not have the hots for Paul!" She defended, but she didn't sound very convincing. Conway's smirk didn't falter and all he did was raise an eyebrow. "Quit looking at me like that," she said, narrowing her eyes at him and he laughed in response. She groaned to herself. Now that she thought about it, everyone was aware of her crush on Paul. "I can't believe it's that obvious, but yet Paul doesn't notice. Everyone knows except Paul himself."

Conway remembered the last conversation he had with Paul. "Well, maybe he doesn't notice but when I had a chat with him, I told him I was going to ask you out just to see his reaction. He grew irritated as soon as I mentioned that."

Dawn parted her lips in realization. "Ohh…so that's why Paul was asking how you were doing yesterday. It all makes sense! He was jealous!" She exclaimed in happiness and grinned.

Conway returned the grin. "Yeah, hopefully he can come to his senses and see what a wonderful girl you are."

Dawn smiled. "Thanks. And thanks for trying to speak to Paul so he could come to his senses. It means a lot. It must be really hard for you to do that."

Conway shrugged. "Well, I analysed the option. Me asking you out equals an unhappy Dawn and an unhappy Dawn equals unhappy Conway." Dawn laughed in response before he added. "On the other hand, Dawn and Paul together equals happy Dawn, but unhappy Conway, but also happy Conway because of happy Dawn."

Dawn tilted her head in confusion. "Why do you make everything so complicated?" she asked in exasperation.

Conway grinned. "It's just better seeing you happy, that's all."

"Thanks, Conway." Dawn returned the smile, grateful that he was so unbelievably understanding.

4:01 p.m.

Misty was waiting for Ash at one of the tables situated inside a local pizza place called Dominos. She smirked to herself, recalling the basketball match they had yesterday and was overjoyed at the thought of a free pizza.

She looked towards the door of the restaurant when it opened, but instead of seeing Ash, her cerulean green eyes caught sight of May and Drew. They were laughing about something before they looked around for a table to sit on. When the couple noticed the familiar carrot top sitting by herself, they walked up to her.

Drew offered her a smile. "Misty right? I was at Daisy's birthday party. We both were," he said, referring to him and May.

Misty nodded. "Yeah I remember you. You and Gary practically formed a crowd because of your awful dancing," she pointed out dryly.

May laughed while Drew glared at her, narrowing his eyes, not exactly fond of the memory. "Very funny."

Misty chuckled a bit, then noticed the couple hand in hand. "So, you guys are an item now?" she asked.

May nodded in response and started to explain, "Yeah. We've been dating for about two weeks now."

"And I've been in the friend zone for about two or three months before that," Drew added bitterly as the two girls laughed. He rolled his eyes, but a small smile formed on his lips as he rested his arm on his girlfriend's shoulder. "Hey but like I said, it was all worth it." He winked flirtatiously at her.

Misty nodded. "I bet. No wonder you guys killed it last night with the whole Romeo and Juliet thing. All those kiss scenes weren't just acting, after all," she teased, a smirk forming on her lips.

A scarlet red tinge brushed upon May's cheeks while Drew just chuckled. "Mind if we sit with you?"

Misty hesitated for a moment. She honestly didn't mind them sitting together and making conversation, but she was also hoping to spend some time with Ash alone. "Well, I would, but I'm waiting for Ash."

Drew raised his eyebrow in curiosity. "I didn't know you were dating Ash. In fact, I'm surprised he broke out of his dense phase."

Misty flinched in response as she felt heat rise to her neck. "We're not dating, we're just friends!" She defended lamely.

"Are you guys going to be alone?" May questioned.

"Yeah."

"Is he paying for your meal?"

"Yeah."

Drew grinned. "Two people alone and the guy spending his pocket money for a girl practically spells date." Misty tried to retort again but he intervened. "Okay, well if it's not a date and you don't want to be alone with us, then let us join you." He added, with a smirk on his lips.

Misty put her hands on her hips. "First of all, the only reason Ash is paying is because he lost a bet! There's really nothing going on between us!"

"Between who?" A familiar voice spoke, interrupting the group. They looked behind them and just as expected, it was Ash, who had a confused look on his face. "Sorry I'm late, I had to do something for my mom."

Drew looked back and forth between Ash and Misty. "Well we'll just leave you lovebirds by yourself," he said, grabbing May's hand.

May walked along with Drew, but not before she said, "Have fun guys. But not too much fun!" She teased, a menacing look in her eye. The couple then chuckled before walking to a different table.

Misty was practically mortified now and silently wished that Ash hadn't heard that. He came up to her. "Forget about them, they're just teasing. Anyway, I'll go order for us. What kind of toppings do you like?"

She smiled, grateful that he could brush away this topic so easily. Then again, maybe he was just being a little dense. Putting that thought aside, she quickly gave him the order and he walked away to the counter.

May and Drew sat next to each other in a booth at one of the far corners of the restaurant. They both looked at the menu, but Drew escaped a laugh, thinking about the earlier conversation they had with Misty.

"Why are you laughing?" May asked.

Drew shrugged. "I'm just thinking about how much Misty was in denial about her date with Ash."

May placed the menu down. "Well maybe she really thinks she and Ash are friends. Girls can be dense too 'ya know," she said matter-of-factly.

A small smile tugged at his lips while his eyes twinkled in amusement. "Oh, you mean like you?" May rolled her eyes. "Seriously, May you think I messed up your name and constantly teased you for no reason?"

The brunette sighed deeply. "You don't have to remind me," she said, as a pang of guilt seeped through her body. He only laughed in response and kissed her sweetly for a short while before she said, "I'll go order." Drew placed a hand on hers, effectively stopping her from leaving the booth. "What are you doing?"

"Why would I let you pay?" He asked incredulously.

May rolled her eyes. "Because I want to." She noticed his hand grip on hers tighter and a grin forming on his lips. "Come on, just let me pay for you, you're my boyfriend!" He laughed when she tried to pry his hand off. "Drew! This isn't funny! How am I going to show you that I'm a nice girlfriend if you're just holding me back like a jerk?"

"Ah, but girlfriends don't call their boyfriends a jerk."

"Drew!"

He laughed again. "Okay fine," he said, loosening his hand from hers. "But on one condition: I'm buying dessert."

May sighed, but then realized what he said and winked at him. "You won't need to because you'll get some free dessert after," she said.

Drew's jaw dropped, unable to believe his ears. "You did not just say that." She only winked again before she walked away as he chuckled in amusement.

May stood in line, lost in thought as she laughed at the playful banter they just had. She considered herself lucky to have a guy like him in her life. There was never a moment where he ever hurt her and even if he would, she'd guarantee that he'd regret it immediately afterwards.

The line was taking extremely long and she had been standing there for about ten minutes now. She sighed to herself and looked around, when her eyes caught onto someone sitting at the booth. At first, she assumed she was seeing things, or that she was dreaming, but her eyes weren't deceiving her. She stood there in shock unable to decipher the fact that he was here.

She flinched when he caught her staring and almost immediately, she turned away from him, silently hoping that he wouldn't approach her. Unfortunately, she then felt someone touch her shoulder. Feeling rage grow at the pit of her stomach, she pried his hand off and turned towards him.

"What do you want, Brendan?" She scowled.

Brendan placed his hand where his heart was and dramatically whined. "Oof. You wound me, May. And I told you I was in the city, remember? Didn't you get my text?"

She narrowed her eyes, questioning what she ever saw in him while they were dating. "Yes and didn't you get the message that by blocking you that I want nothing to do with you? Now get the hell away from me."

"Come on May, that whole night was an accident–"

"Accident?" she repeated in astonishment, being careful not to cause a scene. "You tried to rape me. That's not an accident; that's a choice. And you scarred me for life. I couldn't even think straight for a couple of months because of you and you have the audacity to claim that it was an accident?"

"No, May, you have it all wrong. I never meant to! I was drunk, I wasn't thinking straight. I would never hurt you, not in a million years." His eyes bored into hers and he added, "I'm sorry."

All she could remember was that night and his menacing look that had caused shivers to travel up to her spine. She absolutely despised him, and it didn't take a genius for her to recognize that he was probably lying. And even if he wasn't, that reason didn't excuse his behaviour. "Okay, you apologized. Now get lost!"

Brendan got a hold of her hand. "No, please, just give me a chance, May. I know you still have feelings for me and I still feel the same way about you."

May pried her hand off. "Oh please. That's the most ridiculous bullshit I've ever heard of. If you still had feelings for me, you would have apologized the other day, but you didn't."

"That's because you tried to press charges against me!"

"Umm, excuse me, you're holding up the line…" A teen girl said from behind the brunette. The brunette muttered a quick apology before exiting the line and ignoring him.

"Where are you going?"

May looked back at him and pointed towards him. "Stay away from me, you asshole."

He stood still, unfazed. "Don't you think you're being a bit unreasonable? I apologized for my behaviour and yet you still deny what you really want."

She was beyond irritated now. She felt her entire body burn up in heat because of how angry she was. She walked towards him, glaring daggers at him. "Get this in your head because I'm only going to say this once. I want nothing to do with you. Maybe I liked you before but that was in the past and before you changed into an ass. Now get the hell away from me before–" She was interrupted when lips forcefully met hers.

She cringed immediately as the awful memories haunted her once more and she tried to push away, but his iron grip held her tighter. She felt nothing but disgust and hate before she finally managed to push himself off of her. "What the hell–"

"May?"

She stopped herself short, her heart pounding at the sound of Drew's voice. She hesitated before turning around to see a look of shock and disappointment apparent on his face. "Drew, before you come to conclusions, I swear–"

"Let me guess. It isn't what it looks like?" He finished for her lamely. May was about to protest when he intervened. "Well, I hope you enjoy your pizza alone. Or with this guy. I don't care," he spat angrily before he walked past them.

May glared at Brendan, who was casually standing there with a nonchalant expression, obviously thinking he had been innocent this whole time. She walked up to him and when he was about to say something, she slapped him across his face. The sound of it was so petrifyingly loud that everyone had gone quiet like a mouse and stared at the two.

Not caring in the slightest that she had drawn attention to herself, she ran outside after Drew. Luckily, she spotted him just as he was about to get into his car. "Drew, wait!" She called after him, but he chose to ignore her, opening the car door.

She managed to close the car door before he could get in and was attempting to catch her breath. "Drew, please! Just listen to me."

Drew crossed his arms, sighing in the process. He didn't want to hear an explanation. No kind of explanation would excuse cheating, in his opinion. He couldn't even believe he'd witness her cheating in the first place. He absolutely despised cheaters. But he decided to let her have a chance. "Fine," he muttered.

She sighed a breath of relief. "This is really cliché, but it's the truth. What you saw was a misunderstanding! I didn't kiss Brendan; he kissed me! And I absolutely hated it and felt nothing but–"

"That was Brendan?" he asked, surprised.

May nodded. "He tried to apologize but he lied saying that he was drunk that night. And then he was trying to win me back and when I refused, he just kissed me out of nowhere." Drew stayed silent, trying to process the information. "Do you really think that I would cheat on you with my ex? Brendan's a dick! If I would cheat on you, I'd probably make out with a pizza or–"

"Can you please stop being cute and funny? It's kinda hard when I'm trying to be mad at you." He rolled his eyes.

She caressed his right cheek with her palm. "Please don't be. I know that you hate cheaters and all, but I'm not one of those people, I swear." When he said nothing in response but smiled, she knew that he trusted her. She grinned before leaning in and kissed him, feeling anything but disgust but instead euphoria as always. Drew eagerly returned the kiss with equal passion, holding her against her waist, as she groaned a little.

"I'm sorry," he said, after they broke the kiss.

May looked at him in confusion. "For what?"

Drew shrugged. "I should have trusted you. But I just bolted out of there without even listening to what you had to say."

May shook her head. "Anybody would react the way you did. I don't really blame you."

He sighed a breath of relief. "Thank Arceus, now…can I get more of that 'dessert'?" He asked, his voice a bit huskier than usual. May laughed before their lips met again.

Ash walked over to where Misty was sitting with a large box of pizza and two cans of sodas. He sat on the opposite side and opened the box, the aroma immediately infiltrating the air. "Wow, that smells really good," he heard Misty say. "This is definitely worth the win yesterday," she said, taking a slice and biting into it.

Ash had to bite back a grin. Little did she know that he actually let her win. He recalled yesterday when he had intentionally shot the ball, so it could hit the rim of the basket, which allowed her to grab a hold of it and shoot it back in. Most people would find it humiliating to be beat by a girl, but he wasn't that type of guy. Plus, he was much too nice to actually allow to pay for his food.

"I bet," he said, taking a bite of his own slice. "So anyway, are you planning to do anything over Christmas?"

Misty shrugged. "I don't know, my sisters are probably going to be home…so that's entertaining, I guess."

"You don't like them, do you?"

Misty laughed sheepishly. "Well, it's not that, I love them and everything, but they can be annoying sometimes. Especially Violet. Daisy's the more understanding one and I get along with her the most."

Ash nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I think I get it. My mom can be annoying too, but not in the same way as your sisters. She goes out of her way to embarrass me. In kindergarten, I once shit my pants and when my mom found out, she used to drop me to kindergarten every day and ask me very loudly if I had extra underwear. The other kids would start laughing. And even now as a joke she still asks that question!"

Misty couldn't help herself and burst out laughing while Ash rolled his eyes. She covered her mouth with her palm to hide her smile, but she soon laughed again. "Yeah, yeah, very funny, laugh it up." His sarcastic voice was evident.

"Sorry." She stifled a laugh unapologetically. "I didn't mean to laugh."

He started chuckling. "It's okay. I probably would have laughed if it wasn't so embarrassing."

"She sounds pretty cool, though. What about your dad?"

Ash stiffened in response and hesitated for a short while. He scratched his raven black hair sheepishly. "I don't know too much about him to be honest. He walked out of our lives when I was a baby. I don't even know who he is."

Misty was a little surprised. "Really? You've never seen him in pictures at least?"

He shook his head in reply. "No, my mom burnt them all. She pretty much wanted nothing to do with him ever since he left us. No point in bringing back awful memories, right?"

"I guess you have a point." Misty said, a small smile tugging at her lips.

The two chatted for about ten to fifteen minutes, switching to different topics every few minutes. Soon enough, the pizza box was empty, only one slice apparent. The two eyed each other and narrowed their eyes at each other, as if they were debating who'd have the last slice.

"Rock paper scissors for the last slice?" Ash suggested.

Misty snorted, rolling her eyes. "Fine," she said as she extended her arm to form a fist, as did Ash. "Ready?" He nodded in response. "Rock, papers, scissors, shoot!" Her fingers were still closed into a fist while Ash had a palm out. Misty let out a disappointed frown at her loss.

Ash grinned in response. "Victory!" He exclaimed before taking the last slice, but not before he saw the frown on her face. He chuckled and then instead of taking a bite, he ripped the slice in half and offered it to her. "Here."

Misty looked at it in confusion. "I didn't win–"

"So what? Here, take half."

Misty could only smile at how genuine he was. She took the delectable slice from his hand and grinned before biting into it. Then, she suddenly recalled the conversation she had earlier with Drew and May and slightly blushed at the thought of this meeting with Ash was actually a date.

"Why is your face red?"

Misty reddened even more and started coughing obnoxiously. Ash's eyes widened while she took a sip of her soda. "N-Nothing, it's nothing."

Ash was still a bit apprehensive. "Are you sick or something?"

Wow, Drew wasn't kidding when he said Ash was dense, Misty thought. "No, uh, it's just…hot around here," she said lamely.

"Huh," he commented. "The AC is on full blast here. And you're still hot. That's weird."

She wasn't sure if he was being dense when he said that or not. To her surprise, a teasing smile was now seen on his lips, allowing her to widen her eyes as big as dinner plates. "What?"

"You're clearly trying to hide something," was Ash's response.

"Well I'm not!" She retorted. "Can we just…can we just leave?" She asked, clearing her throat a bit awkwardly before she stood up from her seat.

Ash stood up as well, the smile not leaving his lips. The two walked out of the restaurant side by side, but contrary to the many conversations they had before, it was extremely quiet as the two said nothing to each other.

He decided to break the spell. "Want me to drop you home?"

Misty looked up at him, pressing her lips into a thin line. "Yeah. Thanks," she mumbled shyly.

Ash was confused on the sudden change of demeanour. "Okay, I'm confused. You're acting a bit weird." Misty raised an eyebrow. "I mean, you were so lively back in the restaurant and now you're acting all quiet and stuff. What's up with that?" Misty still remained silent, choosing not to say anything. "Come on, Mist, what's up?"

Misty looked up at him, remembering all the times he had been a good friend to her. He had always been selfless and kind, even going out of his way to make sure she'd feel appreciated. "Ash, what do you think of me?" she asked, deliberately avoiding his question.

He was taken aback at the sudden question. "I think you're awesome, why?"

"Just awesome?"

Ash wasn't sure what she was trying to insinuate. "Uh…you're really awesome?"

Misty literally wanted to face-palm, but she refrained from doing so. "Okay, Ash, since you won't get it, I'll just have to spit it out: Do you like me? Not as in a friend way but a…" she trailed off, looking for the right word.

"…Girlfriend?" He finished for her. Misty didn't expect for him to understand that quickly, but she nodded. "Oh." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure if he had feelings for her. Though, now that he thought about it, whenever Paul was brought up, he'd get a weird disappointed feeling in his stomach. "Maybe?"

Misty whipped her head towards him, shock evident in her face. "Really?"

He felt heat rise up his neck. "Uh…yeah, I think so. I guess I've just never realized it."

"So…what makes you realize it now?"

"Well, whenever you were going on and on about Paul, I just felt weird. Like when you told me you were going to confess to him at Daisy's party, I felt–"

"You were jealous?" Misty asked, biting back a grin.

Ash chuckled in response. "I guess I was." The two laughed in response at how clueless he was. "Um, I guess I should ask you the same question. Do you like me?"

It was at this moment that the answer was evident, especially with the way he was looking at her right now. All this time, she had been blinded by Paul, to only almost miss an even better opportunity right in front of her. After a heartbeat, she responded, "Yes."

Ash grinned in response, as if relieved and she returned the smile before the two started walking forward again.

Yeah, this was definitely a date, Misty thought.

Chancey Fancy; 7:03 p.m.

Dawn was currently on her hour break from work and was currently in the break room. Her other co-workers were seated on other tables dining on a few snacks while the blunette was buried in her textbook. (Yes, she actually brought her textbook to work).

A hand was placed on her shoulder from behind her. "Hey," Serena's voice was heard from behind her. Dawn looked up from her textbook and looked behind, giving her a smile. "Aren't you hungry?" She questioned before noticing the textbook. "Are you studying?"

Dawn nodded in response. "Yeah, I've got this super important Math test next week and I can't afford to fail this one. I need a decent grade, so I can get at least a B in this class."

"Ah," she nodded in response and then sat next to her. "I would help you, but I'm honestly not the best student in Math right now."

She smiled, satisfied that they had something in common. "That's okay. Do you go to Lumoise High?"

The honey-blonde shook her head. "No, I go to Kalos High. It's basically the–"

"Rival school, right?" Dawn finished for her.

She grinned in response. "Yeah. I don't get it though. There's just this rivalry for no reason, just because of the sports teams. People tend to think they're so much better than each other," she said in disgust. Dawn laughed at the honesty in her statement. "Well, I'm not going to take the entire hour of your break, so I won't keep you."

Dawn nodded, giving her a co-worker another grateful smile. "Thanks," she said, before attempting to do another problem.

An hour passed, and she decided to compare her answers to the answer sheet. When she noticed that over a half of them were incorrect, she grew frustrated and closed the textbook in annoyance. She was debating whether or not to just throw in the towel and accept the unfortunate fate of another demeaning grade.

She tapped rhythmically against the closed textbook, noticing her hand again. Her sapphire eyes caught onto her empty wrist and she groaned to herself when she realized that she had forgotten to look for her bracelet in the school theatre yesterday. Hopefully someone found it and reported it to lost and found, because that bracelet meant a lot to her.

A tall, lean, muscular and tan man walked over to where Dawn was, breaking her out of her thoughts. She recognized him as another one of her fellow co-workers and the cook. His culinary skills were amazing; it was no wonder it was busy almost all the time. "Oh, hey Brock. Is it time to go back to work?"

"Actually, we're not even that busy. Mr. Rowan said it's okay for you to clock off for tonight. Serena said something about an important test and well, me being a college student can understand, so I spoke to Rowan for you."

Dawn bit back a grin, unable to fathom she was going to let out early. "Seriously? Wow thanks so much, Brock!" She exclaimed in excitement before she packed her belongings.

"No problem. See you later." Dawn heard Brock reply before she walked away.

Dawn walked out of the restaurant and immediately felt the icy cold winds pierce her skin. Her hair blew vigorously at the wind as she tried to hug herself for some warmth. She could notice some trees dancing as well, as the wind howled.

She brought out May's car keys from her purse and clicked the vehicle open when she approached it. Just as she was about to get in, she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey."

Dawn yelped and jumped in surprise, resulting in her dropping the contents of her purse. She turned around to see Paul. Not bothering to say anything, she just instead bent down on her knees to pick the items up.

Paul was at her level before she realized it and he reached for the items instead. She slowly stood up again while he did the same before handing them to her. She muttered a small thanks before she finally asked, "What are you doing here? If you're here to insult me, hurry up because I need to go home so I can study."

Paul stiffened in response. An hour ago, Reggie had basically pushed him to confess his feelings, despite his insecurities. The older brother had also mentioned that Paul would feel relieved after confessing, but now that Paul was here in front of her, it was more difficult than he imagined. He didn't even know what to say or how to say it.

She stared at him, waiting for a response.

And it was at this moment, when he realized something. Her luscious blue hair was slightly swaying with the wind, some strands getting in her face. Her lip was quivering, probably because of the cold and her blue eyes were enchanting.

She was beautiful, Paul realized. With the moon illuminating its light from above, she almost looked like an enchanting and innocent angel. She was so pure and sweet, everything he wasn't. And he was the devil, always hurting her.

He didn't deserve her.

After what seemed like years, he cleared his throat. "I came to tell you…something."

Dawn tilted her head in curiosity. "Okay, I'm waiting. What is it?"

He internally sighed heavily, allowing the devil inside of him to speak again. "Stay away from me," he spat. As expected, Dawn's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

When she saw him attempt to leave, she grabbed his wrist. "Okay, no, just stop!" She yelled. "You mean you came all the way here just to tell me that? As if I haven't been insulted enough? Was that really important? "He pried her wrist off, as a gasp escaped her lips. He avoided her question and turned around, walking away.

Dawn was fed up with this and walked in front of him, effectively blocking his way. "You're not leaving until I get some answers! What the hell is going on Paul? From the past month you've been treating me like shit for no reason. You blamed me for Reggie's accident and we both know that's not the truth. So why are you doing this?! We used to be okay!"

He really shouldn't have agreed to Reggie's words in the first place. This was becoming excruciating.

"My mom told me to be patient with people, but I really don't know how much patient I can be, Paul."

He despised himself even more for what he was about to say. "Pathetic advice for a pathetic human being." She didn't seem affected by his words though, probably because at this point, she was probably used to it.

"Okay you can call me pathetic, but you don't dare say a word about my mom! You don't know anything about her! And stop avoiding my questions!"

"You know maybe she didn't have an accident. Maybe she tried to commit suicide," Paul said, intentionally pushing her buttons. Goddammit stop talking right now, you piece of shit! You're only making things worse! "For having someone as annoying as you are." Shut the fuck up, Paul.

Dawn scoffed. "My mom loved me, you ass."

"Pathetic."

"Prick."

"Klutz."

Dawn sneered. "Stop calling me that!" She yelled before saying, "You know what? Whatever. It's so pointless to argue with you, since I'm never going to get any answers from you. So just…leave!"

Her words were relieving yet cruel at the same time. What kind of sick and lowly person was he? Still he muttered, "Happy to."

Dawn watched him turn away and leave from sight before she got in the vehicle and started the engine. Mumbling incoherently to herself, she put it in drive before she was on the road, as thoughts of Paul came into her mind.

One minute he was making excuses to be around her and the next minute he insulted her to her face yet again. She was tired of being led on only to be thrown away like a piece of napkin. She wasn't sure if he was worth it anymore.

She was done.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize when a blinding light was heading for her. She widened her eyes, adrenaline pumping in her veins as she steered the car to a harsh right, allowing the car to screech to a stop.

Dawn held her hand to where her heart was, breathing heavily. Her heart was pounding against her chest and sweat was escaping her pores. Her shaky breathing continued to increase. She had never been this scared in her life. I could have been killed, she thought.

What she didn't expect was Paul to be at her car window. Was his car the source of the blinding light? He looked worried when he tapped against the window. Her shaky and fumbling hands somehow managed to unlock the door before it was opened. "What the hell were you doing, driving on the left side of the road? Who does that? Do you know what would have happened if you got into an accident? What if I had…" He trailed off, unable to finish his train of thought.

He didn't want to lose her.

Suddenly, he noticed her hyperventilating and her chest starting to heave. Her hands were shaking and twitching vigorously, and it looked like she was gasping for her life. "Dawn?" Her face reddened and more sweat escaped from her forehead. "Dawn!" He instantaneously touched her shoulders. "It's okay. Just breathe, it's just a panic attack. You'll be fine." He rubbed against her shoulders affectively. "You're okay."

He realized he was comforting her, something he rarely ever did for anyone. Luckily, Dawn's breathing started to normalize after a few seconds and soon enough, she was calm. Paul looked relieved as he sighed with content.

He grabbed her hand allowing her to step out of the vehicle. He couldn't think about anything else other than the fact that he might have lost her, just as he once thought about Reggie. With that thought in mind, he hugged her tightly, his eyes closing at the warm contact. He felt her hands go around his neck after a few seconds.

I'm sorry, he thought.

I'm not sure why but I pictured this last scene to be like a movie or something lol. Well that was really dramatic but hey, I live for the drama. Plus this last scene was needed for Paul to really wake up and realize he should stop pushing her away. So guess what guys? Next chapter is when ikarishipping finally happens! I can't believe it's finally going to happen and I'm so excited and I'll try to write it as soon as possible.

I hope the pokeshipping didn't seem rushed? I wanted it to be believable so I hope I did okay.

Also, Idk why everyone's eating pizza in this chapter xD Maybe it's because I love it.

If you guys don't know yet who crashed into Reggie that night, well this chapter basically gave it away, but if you still haven't figured it out, the name will be revealed in the next chapter.

Anyway, be sure to leave a review telling me what you think and I'll see you guys next time.