"You shouldn't have said that," Tabitha said to her husband. She stared at the wall opposite the chair in the kitchen she sat in, tears welling up in her eyes. Yet her tone was stern.
"He needs to know. We had to postpone when he left, so it was now or never." Matthew massaged his temples as he leaned over the countertop.
"Why do we have to have to send him, anyway? We don't have the money and he clearly doesn't want to go…" She glared at her husband. It was his fault for talking her into this.
"We discussed weeks ago that he needed to go out into the real world again."
"And look what he did in return! He ran away from home! And I'm willing to bet that he would have done it had we told him he was going to boarding school!" Tibby's tears came dripping down her cheeks now as she tried her hardest to sound serious.
"It's the best we can do for him right now! I want him in a protected environment—not with that group he came home with!" Matt argued. "That red-headed one with the weird cloak looked like he was in his twenties! I don't want our son running around with some man!"
Tibby dropped her head over the table, her dirty blond hair hiding her face. Her husband stood up to console her, patting her gently on the back.
"I don't want him to go away. But if this is for the best…" Tabitha sniffled.
"I know, honey. I know."
Abby didn't know what to think when Nat kissed her. Her brain stopped working. Blank. Nothing at all.
What am I doing? she asked herself. I don't like him like that. She wanted to slap him back into his senses, ask him what the hell what was going on. But something stopped her.
The fact that she might have been enjoying his kiss disgusted her, so she told herself.
A second rolled by. Nat released her, staring at her with fear in his eyes. Abby snapped back into reality, her eyes asking what was wrong.
Nathanial took her wrist and pulled her to the other side of the contest hall, out of earshot of the other three bewildered trainers. As soon as they rounded the corner, however, Abby slapped him.
"Ow! What was that for?" he rubbed his cheek where the blood began to race towards.
"Oh, I don't know. Because of the fact that you just kissed me?" Abby's face was flushed pink, her face trying to be as serious and angry as possible.
Nat's eyes looked more hurt than his stinging face. "You mean… you didn't like it?"
His friend looked even pinker than before, embarrassment rolling over her expression. "I uh… that, that's not the point! Why did you assault my face?"
Nat laughed—something that made Abby even more furious. She stomped on his foot, causing him to flinch backwards. He let out another "ouch!" "Stop hurting me and I'll tell you!"
Abby folded her arms, impatiently tapping her foot.
"I'm uh…" Suddenly, it was hard to speak. He'd think that getting the courage to finally kiss the girl he liked would be easier than telling her he was going away again. Life was full of surprises. "I'm…"
"Well? Out with it! We have friends waiting on us!"
"I'm leaving again for boarding school." He took a breath after saying it, feeling a sense of weight being lifted off his shoulders. But he wasn't out of the water yet—now for the reaction.
Abby stared at her friend, dumbfound at the statement. "You're… what?"
"I'm leaving for—"
"I heard you!" She huffed. "But… why?"
"Apparently, they wanted me to get out into the real world. You know, before I went off by myself. And they already enrolled me, sent the deposit…" He shrugged, looking away.
"That still doesn't explain why you…"
"Because!" He yelled as his calm crumbled, "I like you! You told me you were moving next year, and we both know school is starting soon! I didn't want to regret anything. Anything." He glared at his crush, wondering why she couldn't grasp the logic behind this.
Abby couldn't speak. She mentally panicked when her body moved toward him, wrapped her arms around his torso, and placed her head on his chest. She felt shock run through his body for a moment as he computed what was happening, and then, she felt his arms return the embrace.
They stood there for a moment, enjoying each other's company, when the two trainers heard some shuffling behind them. Nat glanced from over Abby's shoulder and was rewarded with a flash of red.
"We're being watched," Nat chuckled. Abby unwrapped herself from Nat and turned around, a face of amusement apparent on her feminine features.
"We should get back."
Of course they spied on them. They were too curious not to. Lolly pulled Silver back at the last second, praying they hadn't seen them.
"They almost saw us!" Lyra hissed. Silver shrugged as a response, but then his eyes widened as he watched Nat and Abby turn the corner. Lyra whipped around quickly, face turning a rosy red.
"We did see you," Abby sighed matter-of-factly. But she was smiling. "We've talked it out, and we think it's best if we went back to the house. All of us. Where is the rest of your group?"
Lolly, who had been quiet at the back of the faction, spoke up. "Stefon and Lance were supposed to be getting us rooms at the Pokemon Center."
Nat nodded. "Alright. Let's go get them and meet at my house."
