Chapter 25
"Hey, Silver?" Leaf is standing in the doorway of her cousin's room as he packs a small suitcase for his business trip this weekend.
"Yeah?" he asks while keeping his attention on the task.
Leaf takes a deep breath. Although Silver has never asked about Ava's father or Leaf's life in Pallet Town, she knows he has his suspicions. "Do you know…"
When she doesn't say anything else, Silver asks, "Know what?"
"Nothing." Leaf smiles weakly as she stands away from the doorframe; however, Silver stops packing to walk over to her.
"What's up, Leaf?" He asks her. Gosh, Leaf loves her cousin so much. He's always so caring.
"Do you know to use protection?" She snickers playfully at him.
He gives her a confused look until his brows furrow annoyedly while a deep blush flushes his face. "You're disgusting."
As he walks back to continue packing, Leaf bursts out laughing. "I'm just saying. You're going to be all alone with Whitney in Hoenn. Make sure to be smart...unless you want to give Ava a cousin."
"I'm getting a cousin?" exclaims the little girl as she comes running into the room now. She looks up at her uncle with her large puppy eyes. "Are you and Auntie Whitney having a baby?"
Silver groans as he shoots the giggling Leaf a glare. "No, Ava."
Ava's gaze sadly looks down while she says, "But Ethan has a baby sister. I want a baby too!" She continues to pout as tears come out her eyes. "Ethan also has a daddy! I want one too!"
Her uncle sighs while he hugs her. The unpacked luggage is forgotten, and Leaf joins them. "I'm sorry, baby." she tells the sniffling girl.
"You have an uncle, Ava." Silver softly says. "And I'll never leave you." Crying into her uncle's arms, the little girl doesn't say anything. Soon, she cries herself to sleep, so Silver tucks her in her bed. When he goes back to his room to resume packing, he notices Leaf is still sitting on his bed in deep thought. Sighing, the man puts a hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault."
Leaf chuckles as her eyes gloss over. "You don't even know what I'm thinking about."
He shrugs with a small smile on his face. "I know you must be blaming yourself for something. That's the look you had when you first moved here."
She rests her head on his shoulder as he sits next to her. "Thanks, Silver."
"We're family."
"I know, but my parents turned their backs on me, and they're closer family." she sadly laughs at the thought. "I arrived on your doorstep 6 years ago pregnant and not speaking." a tear falls down her cheek as she takes a shaky breath. "But, Silver, it was all my fault."
Hearing her voice crack, Silver pulls her into a hug. Gosh, he's had to deal with two crying girls in the span of 20 minutes, but he always has a soft spot for his family. "I won't go on the trip."
She shakes her head furiously and says, "Go, Silver. You need a vacation. You already do so much here." Her tear-filled green eyes look into his silver ones. "Go."
He runs a hand through his hair while sighing. "Are you sure you'll be okay here?"
Her weak grin tells him otherwise, but she says, "We'll be fine. The Kentas are down the hall too. Go have fun, Silver." The man reluctantly gives in. He's already taken Gary's money and doesn't want to pay back the arrogant prick or hear him complain about Silver backing out.
Misty's Apartment
"That's weird." Rudy mutters while checking his phone messages.
"What?" Misty asks as she eats cereal for lunch. She sits down next to him on the sofa where he lays his legs on her lap, much to her annoyance.
"That guy never contacted me for compensation."
Misty's arm stops moving since she was bringing the spoon to her mouth. That guy. She knows who Rudy is talking about. He had given Ash his business card after the near-accident a month ago. Fortunately, Rudy didn't pry about the incident, but it seems like Rudy doesn't recognize Ash. Ash must've recognized the name on the card, though, so Misty is sure that's why Rudy hasn't heard from her ex. "Just forget about him." She tells her boyfriend.
He smirks at her. "Or you can forget about that cereal?" The suggestive raise of his eyebrow makes her know what he's thinking, but Misty continues eating her cereal.
"I'm hungry."
Of course Rudy sighs while he resumes looking at his phone. Ever since the near-accident, Misty hasn't had much of a desire to have sex. Rudy is a professional athlete, so his body isn't bad. He also loves her, but MIsty just hasn't been feeling very loving towards him lately. She inwardly groans as she realizes she's being unfair towards Rudy.
Putting her half full bowl down on the coffee table, she removes herself from under Rudy's legs so that she can sit on him. He moves his phone to the side and raises a questioning eyebrow at her, but as soon as her lips meet his, the phone is forgotten.
Flower Shop
Gary groans as he walks down the block from his parked car. He's been trying to get this cheerleader on the Goldenrod City Miltanks in his bed, but she's being very high maintenance. She wants a 5-star restaurant with the freshest roses from the best flower shop in Johto, which happens to be in Goldenrod City. Normally, Gary wouldn't submit to these needs, but he's bored. He also hasn't slept with her yet, so he wants to add that to his endless list of women.
Fortunately, the flower shop is in Goldenrod City, which prevents him from having to travel far. As he walks inside, a middle-aged woman quickly approaches him. "You are so handsome, sir! Buying flowers for your lucky lady."
Of course Gary Oak has to turn on the charm. He grins brightly at her and says, "Yes, I am. I'm looking for your freshest red roses."
"Oh! Right over here, sir!" The woman leads Gary to a display near the front window; however, when she sees someone come inside the shop, she quickly excuses herself. "I'm sorry. I'll have someone come help you right away, but I need to help the woman who just walked in. She placed a big order."
Gary smiles warmly at her. "Thank you, ma'am. I'll just look around here then." As Gary walks behind one of the tall displays, the new worker who comes out to help him doesn't see him. When she is about to go back to the counter, she notices a pair of feet below the display and figures that's where the customer must be. The woman puts on her brightest smile before walking to the other side of the display, but her face falls at the sight of the man.
He seems to notice her presence as well since his smile falls when he sees those deep green eyes. Before she can run away, Gary doesn't know why, but he grabs her wrist. This makes the display fall over since they bump into it; however, his grip doesn't let up.
"Let me go!" She exclaims angrily. This has everyone in the shop looking at them, and soon, the middle-aged woman is on them.
"Please, sir. Don't touch our workers like this."
Gary doesn't seem to notice anyone or anything but the brunette in front of him. First Misty, then Ash, and now her! Why is everyone here? Why is she here? "Leaf." he gruffly says and feels his heart ache. He hasn't said or thought about that name in years.
Hearing her name, she gives one more tug, but Gary lets go. It's like he finally realizes where he is and all the eyes on him. Without saying anything else, he quickly walks past them and out of the shop.
"Are you okay?" Elena asks the shaking Leaf. Although the young woman gives her a smile, Elena can clearly see Leaf is not okay. "Go take a break in the back, Leaf. We'll clean this up and call the police to report him."
Leaf shakes her head. "No. Don't call the police...It's fine." She says and then walks behind the counter where she collapses on a chair. Yeah, she knew he was here in the city after running into Misty a few months ago, but she never thought she'd see him. Gary doesn't care for cliche things like flowers! Why was he here? She needs to move again, but she doesn't have the money to do that and she doesn't want to rely on Silver again.
Angry with herself, Leaf puts her head in her clenched hands as she takes some deep breaths. She's strong. So what if her ex-friends are in the city? So what if Gary's in the city? She's already ran away from them once, but she won't do it again. Leaf Green is not weak. And now that those 3 know where she works and lives, they'll stay away from her. She won't ever run into them again until she earns enough money to move.
Gary's Car
He's been sitting in his car for 20 minutes now as the parking meter has since run out, but Gary doesn't care. How can he care when he just ran into her? Why are all of his ex-friends here in this city? What did he do to deserve this? They were all supposed to go their separate ways, and the world is huge, but how come they're all here now?
Leaf. His chest aches immensely just thinking about her name. The last time he talked to her, she was naked in his bed. Gary groans at the thought. Why did they have to sleep together? Why didn't she just run away from drunk him? Why did drunk him even do it? Did he know what he was doing or did he think she was someone else?
Gary snickers. He knew what he was doing, but when she had kissed him back, all reason was out as he gave into his desires. The only woman he could never get, the only person who made sure he was never alone, the only person he's ever had feelings for: Leaf Green.
"Fuck!" Gary yells out as he raises his head from his steering wheel. Why is he even thinking about these things? In a few years, he'll be promoted out of here. Pallet Town is the past, and he shouldn't be dwelling on the past.