Chapter 21

"We need some help, Ms. Waterflower!" a woman rushes into the athletics office.

Misty gives her a smile. "Hello, Prof. Jasmine. How can I help you?"

Prof. Jasmine sits down as she tiredly leans on the desk. "We need someone to help chaperone the trip to Poke' Enterprises." She then gives the redhead a pleading look. "We're short staffed here, and many people have families. Can you please do it? You'll be going with Mr. Bugsy."

Misty just continues sweetly smiling at her. "Of course! I'm not doing anything most days."

Prof. Jasmine grins happily as she hugs the athletic trainer. "Thank you so much, Ms. Waterflower!"

1 Week Later

"Wow! It's huge!" Mr. Bugsy exclaims while taking pictures of the lobby. He and Misty are chaperoning a group of 20 students as they get a tour of the building. Eventually, the group becomes split, so Misty walks with 10. Once the tour finishes, her group is waiting for Bugsy's in the lobby.

"Misty?" a familiar voice breaks her from her thoughts as she turns to it and sees a tall brunette.

"Rudy?" she manages out. She hasn't seen her ex since the championship game all those years ago. However, all that bad blood was years ago, and Rudy has always been nice to her. The exes give each other an awkward hug. "What are you doing here?" She asks him.

"Oh. I play professional basketball and I was here for a sponsorship meeting." he tells her.

At the sound of this, one of her students eagerly approaches him. "Oh my gosh! Rudy Ziggy! I'm a huge fan!" the young man exclaims. He then looks at Misty. "I didn't know you know him, Ms. W!'

Misty sheepishly smiles. "Uh, yeah…"

"We used to go to highschool together." Rudy interrupts, which she is thankful for. "I can sign something if you want." he offers the boy who quickly takes off his hat to give to Rudy. As Rudy signs and hands back the hat, he faces Misty again to nervously rub the back of his neck. "Uh. Did you want to grab dinner?"

Of course, Misty's students look on in amazement because their chaperone is being asked out by a famous basketball player. Before she can respond, though, someone's hand is on her shoulders and she looks up in shock at the person before her. With his spiky auburn hair, he's glaring daggers at Rudy.

"We're not in high school anymore, dude. Back off." he hisses to Rudy.

Rudy raises a questioning eyebrow. "I didn't know you were dating." He apologizes to Misty who quickly removes herself from the angry man's side as she grabs Rudy's arm.

"I'm not, Rudy. But yes, I'd love to have dinner with you." Misty tells the sweet man.

"What? You break up with Ash for your ex?" exclaims the auburn haired man. By now, Bugsy's group has awkwardly found them.

A man with red hair puts his hand on the angry Gary. "Mr. Oak, we're trying to sponsor Mr. Ziggy." He whispers.

With her students around, Misty really doesn't want to say anything. She just hands Rudy her phone for him to input his number. Gary continues glaring. "Figures. You weren't a real friend anyways." He angrily says as he walks away.

This irks her. How dare he, Gary Oak, call her a bad friend when he was the one who left first and caused this whole mess! Leaving her phone in Rudy's hands, she storms over to Gary and slaps him once he turns back at the sound of her steps. "You left first." is all she says as she walks back to Rudy.

Fortunately, the man with long red hair manages to drag Gary away before he can make the situation worse or lose their deal with Rudy. As Rudy hands Misty back her phone, he says, "If it's too uncomfortable-"

She shakes her head. "No, Rudy. I'll see you for dinner." He smiles and hugs her before she leaves for the bus with her students and Mr. Bugsy.

As Bugsy and her ride back to campus on the bus, the students are obviously talking about the whole encounter. Misty mentally groans while she thinks about both men from her past. Why is Gary here? Last she heard, he was in Sinnoh, but that was just college. And she had no idea Rudy was a pro basketball player. She quit following the sport after...Ash.

"You know you slapped a department head of Poke' Enterprises, right?" Bugsy's question breaks her from her thoughts as she raises an eyebrow at him. "He's also from the famous Oak family." the man nervously tells her.

"He deserved it." Misty nonchalantly tells him.

"Is a department head and a pro basketball player fighting for your love, Ms. W?" A student in the back yells, which makes Misty groan. She is never going on another field trip again.

Hours Later

Misty receives a text on her phone from...Rudy? She never gave him her number. How does he have hers? As she opens the message, she sees Rudy had texted himself with her phone earlier. It was probably when she slapped Gary. Misty groans as she remembers the conversation she had with the President of the school about her actions. Fortunately, Johto Enterprises isn't going to pursue legal matters.

Focusing back on the text, it reads: I reserved us a spot at the Burger Queen on Main St. The redhead smiles at the text. That was their favorite spot to date when they were younger, as well as her favorite restaurant. Despite possibly being filthy rich and famous, Rudy doesn't seem like he's let it get to his head. She texts him back with the time she'll be off work, and he says he will pick her up. Of course, this worries her since he's famous, but she'll trust Rudy knows what he's doing.

When Misty gets off work, she finds Rudy's black SUV outside with the back windows heavily tinted. He's in the backseat, so she joins him there as the driver takes them to Burger Queen.

"Thanks for the ride." the redhead says.

Blushing, Rudy responds, "Thanks for joining me for dinner."

"Aren't you supposed to be eating healthy?"

He chuckles. "I can indulge every now and then."

"But won't people recognize you there?"

"I reserved the whole restaurant."

Misty nods as she realizes he must be that rich. Fortunately, she doesn't have a car as she takes public transportation, so Rudy can just take her home after. Once they get to the empty restaurant, he opens the car door for her and then the restaurant door. They order before they sit down at a booth where Misty can't help but giggle.

"What?" He raises a confused eyebrow at her.

"It's just funny how we have this whole restaurant reserved for us."

He smiles at her and reaches out a hand to hold one of hers. "You're worth it, Misty."

This makes her blush as she avoids his gaze. "Back in high school-"

"High school was a long time ago, Misty! I've changed and grown! I'm not a stupid kid anymore." he interrupts her as he runs a hand through his brown hair. "Melanie was a mistake, and I should've never let her get you kicked out of school, but I didn't know how to face you after...that night."

He's right. High school was a long time ago, but the betrayal still hurts. She takes a deep breath as she says, "You never told me what happened that night."

Their tray of food coming disrupts the uncomfortable mood as they thank the server and dig in. The previous topic is pushed out of the way while they catch up on the past couple of years. The two find themselves talking for a long time, and before they know it, it's been 3 hours.

While Rudy did cheat on her, that's the worst thing he's ever done to her. Add in her many years of loneliness and so when he asks, "Can I see you again?" Of course, she agreed.

Silver's Apartment

After Leaf gets home from work, she picks up Ava from the Kenta's and starts making dinner for her family. Ava is happily watching TV when Silver comes home, so she tackles him in a hug. "Uncle Silver!"

The tired man hugs her back. Today was a long day, especially since he had to help clean up a colleague's mess. As they eat dinner, Leaf says, "You look exhausted."

Silver weakly chuckles. "Some dumba-" he remembers his niece is there as he pauses. "Some new guy almost cost us a sponsorship deal, and I had to help clean up the mess."

Leaf gives him a sympathetic look. "Well, if it makes you feel better, I had to break up a friendship today."

"Wow. So I guess we both had bad days." the man mutters.

"Not me! I had a lot of fun!" Ava chimes in, which makes the adults smile.

"As long as you're happy, I'm happy!" Leaf tells her.

She grins at her mom. "I always want mommy to be happy, so I'll always be happy!"

"Good girl." Silver smiles as he ruffles his niece's hair, which makes her pout.

Once everyone finishes their meal and enjoys the rest of the evening, they head off to bed. Being a department head at Johto Enterprises allows Silver to have a 3 bedroom apartment, so each person has their own room. As Leaf tucks in Ava, the little girl says, "Who's my dad?"

The woman sighs because Ava has asked this question a lot growing up, especially now that she is in school with many kids who have fathers. "Sweetie, we've talked about this. Remember?"

"But everyone has a dad except me!" she pouts.

"But you have a mommy and an uncle who love you so much."

"I don't have a nana or poppop too."

Leaf swallows the lump in her throat as she kisses Ava's forehead. "You don't have any of those because mommy messed up." Rather than letting Ava think those people didn't want her, Leaf will let her daughter think it is Leaf's fault.

"How?"

"Mommy didn't want to be around nana and poppop, so she left. She also left your dad."

"Why?"

Leaf inwardly groans. These questions from her daughter are not only painful but get harder to dodge as the little girl ages. "I was sad, so I came to live with Uncle Silver. Now, I'm happy. That's why I don't want to go back."

"What if I want to go see nana and poppop and daddy?" her dark viridian eyes plead with Leaf, but this is one battle her daughter definitely will not win.

"I don't know where they are now. They might not even be there anymore."

Ava looks down at her blanket. "Okay, mommy."

Leaf gives her a soft smile. "I love you, baby."

"Love you too, mommy."

Once Leaf leaves the room and enters her own, she falls onto the bed exhausted. Not only did she have to see Ash today and officially break up their friendship, but now she has her daughter asking more questions that she doesn't want to answer. Leaf won't cry though. She cried enough 5 years ago, and she needs to remain strong for Ava.

Flashback

"You're annoying, Gary!" exclaims an angry 12 year old Leaf.

"I don't want to be your friend anymore!" Gary yells back.

"Good! Bye forever!" she huffs and turns to leave, but the raven haired boy grabs both of them.

"Guys, stop. This is stupid." Ash says.

"He's stupid." Leaf points to the auburn haired boy.

"She always has to be right!" Gary fires back.

"It's just a tip in basketball. We can replay the point." suggests Ash.

"No! Because that basically means the point doesn't count!" the girl crosses her arms angrily.

"Good, because it doesn't! Your feet were on the ground for the tip." Gary replies while crossing his arms too.

"We're friends, guys." Ash sheepishly tells them. "Friends fight, but they also forgive each other."

"Why should I forgive him for cheating?" Leaf asks.

Gary gasps sarcastically. "I'm pretty sure you're the one who cheated."

"Guys!" exclaims the annoyed mediator. "Are you really going to end your friendship over a basketball point?" When his friends don't speak, Ash says, "You guys are my best friends. I never want to lose you to something stupid like this."

After a few minutes of silence, Leaf says, "We can replay the point."

Rather than smiling victoriously or saying, I told you so!, Gary just nods. "Sounds good." Ash lets out a relieved breath as they resume play.

Flashback End

The woman feels her eyes water up at the memory. Ash has always been there for her and Gary. The brunettes were constantly being the dramatic ones while Ash was the carefree mediator. Yeah, he and Gary had a rivalry, but it was a friendly one where they helped motivate each other. Leaf and Gary would always have destructive arguments, but with Ash there, everything would always end up okay.

Leaf sighs as she thinks about how it's true that she and Gary ruined their friend group. Once Gary left, Leaf thought she could bring him back; however, all she did was make things worse. They really broke up the friend group, and poor innocent Ash has to suffer because of it. "Sorry, Ash." she whispers before falling asleep.