Serena always imagined her 18th birthday to be something spectacular. From a trip to the Unova region to a day touring Kalos' famous Lumiose City, Serena imagined it all.
What she didn't imagine was crying alone on a beach in some foreign region.
After she'd thoroughly explored the Hoenn region, her new friend May suggested she take a trip with her to Sinnoh and train with Dawn—a rising star in Sinnoh contests. While she didn't share their dream of becoming top coordinators, she figured it would still be beneficial to her own goal if she participated in a few contests.
And so she found herself away from home for 2 years, occasionally coming back to visit her mom and spend some much needed time with Clemont and Bonnie.
Her original plan was to celebrate her special day back at her hometown, but with their next contest fast approaching she decided to stay in Sinnoh.
Today was supposed to be a happy day—and it was for the most part, Serena enjoyed the time she got to spend with her friends, but it wasn't without heartache.
She couldn't blame her friends. They didn't know about her long term crush on their mutual friend, she was always too shy to admit it after learning the two girls were Ash's old friends.
The plan was to spend the day shopping at Sunyshore City before ending the night with Serena's first taste of alcohol. If Serena wasn't too tipsy from the drinks she planned on calling Clemont and Bonnie on her Rotom Phone—a gift Clemont gave her the last time she visited.
"I took part in programming it." He had told her the day she received it. "Don't worry, we've tested it enough to know it won't blow up."
And so the small device allowed her to keep in touch with her friends on a more consistent basis, ranging from video calls to sharing pictures of all the interesting places she got to visit.
She'd actually planned on recording her birthday hang out with as many pictures as she could take. It wasn't only for her but also for her friends and family back in Kalos to experience a part of the adventure.
What she didn't plan for was seeing Ash at the very shopping center she and her friends agreed to meet in.
"Ash?!" She remembered exclaiming when she saw him and Pikachu lounging by the front entrance.
"Serena! Long time no see!" He greeted her with the smile that always left her head spinning and heart racing. Even now it was just as intoxicating.
He was taller than the last time she saw him, and his voice was deeper than she remembered in their video calls. But the innocent, optimistic spark in his eyes remained the same.
"A-Ash, what are you doing here?" She instinctively straightened her bobbed hair. Even after all these years she decided to keep the same hairstyle as a reminder of what she's working towards.
If she'd known he was here she would've done something different with it.
"To surprise you of course!" She heard May exclaim behind her.
Turning around she noticed her two friends grinning triumphantly at her discovery.
"You guys got him to visit just for m-me?"
"Of course, we know how hard it is to get a hold of Ash!" May sent an accusing glare at the guy in question. "There's no way we're letting him skip out on your birthday."
"My bad, I tend to get carried away with travelling." Ash and Pikachu both scratched their heads sheepishly.
"Sorry we couldn't get your other travel companions to come." Dawn added. "We didn't have their contact info."
"It's fine, I'm just so happy to be able to celebrate with my friends!" She glanced over at Ash. "I hope you don't mind shopping for the day. We sort of have everything planned out already."
"Don't worry about us, today is supposed to be your special day." Ash playfully bumped her shoulder. Her cheeks warmed almost instantly at his touch.
Was he always this physically affectionate or was she just overthinking it?
"Well, since you're being so nice, maybe I'll make us all some tasty macarons when we get back to the center." She felt her heart flutter when his eyes lit up at the mere mention of her cooking.
"Really?! Aw man I can't wait!"
"Pika! Pika!"
"Seriously, Ash? Shouldn't you be the one treating her to dessert?" May crossed her arms with a frown.
"I would but I totally suck at baking. And I don't think Nurse Joy would be too happy if we burned her kitchen down."
"At the very least you should help Serena bake." Dawn suggested. "With her helping you there's no need to worry!"
"Fine, but don't blame me if we all get food poisoning." They all shared a laugh at Ash's expense.
"Alright, alright, enough talk! Let's go shopping already!" Serena exclaimed. She linked arms with Ash and practically dragged him into the shopping mall, she couldn't stop smiling when he didn't make a move to pull away.
The day played out exactly as she planned. They hit all the hottest clothing stores in the city and visited as many bakeries as they could to load up on fuel—Ash and Pikachu were usually more lively when they decided to go for a snack break.
"I swear he has a bottomless pit for a stomach." May had commented when they bought their third helping of dessert. Everyone had significantly decreased their portion sizes except for Ash.
"It's not my fault you can't enjoy as much food as I can!" He shot back.
"To be fair, the only other person who can out-eat May is Ash." Dawn and Piplup quickly hid behind Serena when May shot them both a death glare.
"Excuse me, but I actually eat with moderation! Unlike someone who can empty a whole buffet." May huffed.
"I doubt he can do something like that." Serena came to his defence.
"You should've seen him during our team reunion last year. My brother was sure we'd need to get a barf bucket for him afterwards."
"Yeah, yeah, are you going to finish that?" Before she could reply, Ash plucked the crepe out of her hand.
"Wha—h-hey! Give it back!"
The rest of them laughed as May struggled to reach her for dessert, with Ash being significantly taller than her it wasn't too hard of a feat to keep her from stealing it back. In the end the two agreed to split their desserts evenly with each other as compensation.
Serena didn't give their friendly banter a second thought.
For the most part Ash and Pikachu kept to themselves during the bulk of their shopping spree, but he was always happy to ask her about what she bought or what she was interested in.
She felt like it was a dream. She couldn't count how many times she'd dreamed of going shopping with him again, to spend just another day with him without the pressures of battling. And now the moment she'd been daydreaming of was finally upon her.
A part of Serena selfishly wished May and Dawn weren't accompanying them the entire time. She wanted to ask about his journey so far, how many new Pokémon he's caught, and what he remembered from his time at Sinnoh—she also wanted to gauge how interested he was in dating now that 2 years had passed.
Speaking with him through the call was fine, but nothing beats hanging out with him one-on-one.
In retrospect she should've seen it coming, but she was too caught up in being with him again to truly notice the signs.
Serena should've seen the way his eyes would drift towards one of her friends, or the way he seemed so much more willing to give her an affectionate pat or punch on the shoulder—the way he'd seem to drift to her side, fingers barely grazing against each other, when they were walking.
Serena was so focused on how he interacted with herself that she failed to notice she'd already lost the race.
Serena only began noticing the signs when she was back at the Pokémon Center. May and Dawn had both left to buy dinner while Serena and Ash stayed behind to make dessert. Pikachu tagged along with the girls with the promise of getting first pick in the new poffin bakery.
It was the first time since they were alone, so to say she was a little nervous would be an understatement. She was an absolute wreck trying to get all her ingredients together, mentally cursing herself whenever she spilled some of the food, but Ash was none the wiser. He eagerly listened to Serena's instructions and awed at her handiwork when she took care of the more complicated bits.
Serena relished at how domestic their cooperative baking project felt. Even back when they were still travelling together she'd never had this sort of interaction with him before.
"Man, I never knew baking took so much work." He leaned against one of the countertops to rest. The bulk of their work was now done, all that was left was to wait for their sweets to bake in the oven.
"But isn't it fun to make something with your hands?" She asked. That was always her favorite part of baking, to create something completely delightful with her own two hands.
"It is, but I'm too impatient to do this all the time." He laughed guiltily. "Good thing all my friends are amazing cooks."
She couldn't help but wonder if Dawn and May ever treated Ash to their homemade dessert—if their food rivalled her own.
She quickly cleared her head of those jealous thoughts. "What's it like being back in Sinnoh again? I heard from Dawn you travelled here a couple years back." She decided to ask instead.
"It's a lot colder than what I'm used to, but I guess we're lucky you guys weren't celebrating in Snowpoint City. Oh hey, did you know the gym leader here specializes in electric types?"
"Really? I didn't know that!" She couldn't help but think of Clemont back at Kalos. She wondered if he'd added any new Pokémon to his gym roster.
"Too bad we couldn't invite Clemont and Bonnie. I think Clemont would've gotten along with Volkner. He's also interested in inventing sciency things."
"We could always arrange a short vacation to Sunyshore City! While he's busy with his science stuff we could kill time with the cool attractions." She suggested. "If there's time we could even travel around for a bit."
"That sounds great! It's been years since we've all travelled together!"
"Speaking of, Bonnie's going to be able to start her journey next year!" Serena announced with an excited clap. "I'm planning on going back to Kalos to celebrate her tenth birthday!"
"Oh yeah, I totally forgot she was the same age as Max! Man, I'm starting to feel old."
"Max? Are you talking about May's brother?"
"Yeah, he's been calling me lately to ask for battling tips. Honestly, I don't really know what to tell him since I always just go with my gut instinct."
Serena was happy to see even after all this time his approach to Pokémon was still the same. It was hard to find trainers as pure as he was.
It was even harder to find a guy as amazing as he was.
"Hey, what if we celebrate Bonnie's birthday by inviting Max along? I think it'll help them both out if they have someone to travel with!" Ash suggested.
"That's not a bad idea. I know Clemont would feel a lot more relieved if someone was there to keep Bonnie company." She recalled hearing him wanting to travel with Bonnie despite her insisting it was going to be a brother-free journey.
"In that case we should also invite May along. It'd be a good excuse for her to finally visit Kalos."
Serena took keen interest in the last half of his statement. She casually checked her nails for flour and asked," what do you mean?"
"May's been wanting to travel the Kalos region for years now, but her dad's totally against her travelling alone. At least in Sinnoh she has a ton of coordinator friends to keep her company."
'And in Kalos she would have Ash.' The thought made her stomach churn uncomfortably.
'He wouldn't travel the region again for her, right?'
"Man, you should've seen how May reacted when I told her I was in Kalos!" He continued without skipping a beat. "She made me promise left and right to keep her updated with all the cool places I visited."
Her nausea only seemed to intensify from his words. She swallowed and forced herself to smile," so you were in contact with her throughout our journey?"
She wasn't sure why she asked. She knew he kept in touch with many people from his past adventures, so keeping in contact with May shouldn't be all that different.
"Yeah! I sent her some really cool desserts and souvenirs whenever I had the chance. Her favorite gifts were the edible stuff so that made shopping so much easier!"
'He went out of his way to shop for her.' She instinctively clutched the blue ribbon she'd kept through the past 2 years. 'He bought things for her multiple times…'
Even when she showed interest in the new regions he'd visited, he'd never offered to bring her back something. If she asked, would he respond like he did with May?
'Maybe it was just Kalos.' She tried to reason with herself. 'Maybe he was just being a good friend when he saw how much she loved the region.'
Yeah. That had to be it. There was no way Ash, who barely knew anything outside of Pokémon, was harbouring a crush for so long.
Then again she hasn't been able to get over hers despite the amount of time that's passed.
She nearly doubled over when the oven beeped. Ash, completely unaware of her discomfort, ran over to the finished macarons like an eager Lillipup.
"Wow they're done already?! Can we eat them now?"
"H-hold on! They need to cool down first!"
The topic of visiting Kalos with May didn't come up again that night, but she couldn't get that thought out of her head. And she certainly couldn't help but notice just how close Ash was to May herself.
Serena had long accepted that Ash could be dense as a rock. While he had an absolute heart of gold, he wouldn't know anything about romance unless it had to do with Pokémon. For a long time she thought he was just too occupied with his goals to truly care about his love life, but after closer inspection she knew that was wrong.
It was a subtle thing to spot. If Serena hadn't been actively looking for signs she would've never noticed it.
It was the way he would often bump shoulders with May, steal glances at her when she wasn't looking, make the occasional reference only she could understand—the way he seemed to light up whenever she talked about a story from her recent journey. Serena also noted he was always the first one to ask her to elaborate further.
Even May, the strong-willed, tomboy member of their Sinnoh group, was visibly more soft spoken around him. Even when he jokingly stole food off her plate she never hit him hard enough to stop.
They both shared a similar sense of humour and could easily bounce jokes off each other without a moment of hesitation. Even without the added alcohol they were both the life of the party. Serena could hardly believe they hadn't been travelling together for years now.
And when their group finally opened the fruity alcoholic drinks, Ash and May's quiet dynamic came to the forefront. He was always looking for an excuse to have his arm around her, and May was constantly teasing and complimenting his looks. Even Dawn was blatantly aware of how close they were.
"Seriously, sometimes I feel like an absolute third wheel when they're together." Dawn had said when the duo in question competed in yet another arm wrestling match.
Serena couldn't agree more.
It was all so clear to Serena at that moment. Ash's heart was never her's to win. She was always running a losing race.
That's why she found herself alone on the beachside, bawling her eyes out under the dim golden light of the distant Pokémon Center. She was grateful that the fruity alcoholic beverages her friends bought forced them all to retire early to bed. By the time Serena snuck out from beneath her covers, her two roommates were completely knocked out.
She'd run out of her beloved Roserade Tea a month ago so she settled for the strawberry flavoured drink to soothe her pain. Her head was starting to pound from the earlier drinks, and her throat burned from her new sugary beverage, but nothing compared to the wrenching pain she felt deep in her chest.
She wondered if she could've avoided this heartache if she'd just let herself move on from Ash. Or maybe if she'd told him earlier there still might have been a chance to be with him—she doubted it.
'There was no way I could've competed with May.' She berated herself mentally. 'Why would he want to be with me when he has someone as strong and beautiful as her?'
She could never be enough.
Her heart skipped a beat when she picked up the faint smell of roses mixed in with salty air. She perked her head up and frantically searched the dark beach.
Instead of finding Clemont with a sweet smelling cup in his hand, she found Sylveon and her newly evolved Roserade approaching her hiding spot.
She wasn't surprised Sylveon snuck out of the pokeball to be with her, but she was surprised to see Roserade tagging along. She wondered if Sylveon purposefully dragged Roserade to be with her tonight.
"Syl. Sylveon." Sylveon curled up on her right, wrapping her arms with her ribbon-like feelers. Roserade took a seat to her left.
"S-Sorry you have to see me like this, guys." She sniffled. Her Pokémon simply responded by leaning closer to her. "I-I'm just not having a really good day…"
"Syl, Sylveon!." Sylveon addressed Roserade urgently.
"Rose?" Roserade sounded hesitant.
"Syl!"
Before Serena had the chance to ask what was up with her Pokémon, Roserade raised his arms in the air and released a sparkling pink powder around them, making the air smell like fresh, blooming roses—like secret meetings under the moonlight.
Serena even felt more tears blur her vision.
"T-thank you."
She closed her burning eyes and focused on the roses' alluring scent—to the distant memories of sharing a rose scented cup with a brilliant engineer.
She tried, oh she tried, to transport herself back to those simpler days, but she couldn't fully escape her painful reality. Not when he was part of so many of her memories back in Kalos.
She took another big sip from her drink and glared at the horizon line. Of all the times she had to run out of tea of course it had to be now.
As if sensing her dilemma, her Rotom Phone began to vibrate. She felt the knot in her stomach tighten when she saw his name flash on screen requesting a video call.
She contemplated for a moment before turning down the option to activate her camera. She'd turned off that option before to avoid him catching her with a bed head, surely he wouldn't mind this time either.
"Happy birthday!" Clemont greeted her on the other side of the screen.
He was in his gym, she could tell from the array of tools and blueprints posted on the wall behind him.
"Sorry if I woke you up in the middle of the night, but I did promise to help you relive those late night meetings as a gift." He winked, holding up a steaming cup to the camera.
She found herself smiling at his antics. She'd completely forgot about the stupid joke she made in their last call.
"I want you to have a late night birthday talk with me!" She had exclaimed to him. "Roserade Tea and all! I want the full package!"
It was her cheeky response to him failing to buy the last box of tea at the market. He wouldn't be able to send her a new box for at least another month.
"I can't believe you actually remembered that." She sniffled, wiping her tears dry with her sleeves. Internally, she cringed at how distraught she sounded.
"Have a little more faith in me. I'm always happy to disturb my friend's sleeping schedule." He replied, seemingly unaware of her mood.
"Where's Bonnie?" She kept her voice as light and steady as she could.
"She's out gift shopping for you. I told her to come back early to join us but she insisted I call alone." He frowned disapprovingly. "Don't worry, I made her swear to call you first thing tomorrow. If not, I'm not going to let her referee my gym battles for a week."
Seren wanted to laugh but all that came out was an awkward sob. She didn't understand why she needed to lose her composure now. She was genuinely happy to see him, but it also seemed to make the lump at the back of her throat grow bigger.
"Alright, enough with the act." His expression dropped to a more serious look. "What's going on?"
"w-what do you mean?" She tried to smile but her lips kept quivering down to a frown.
"I can tell you're crying even without seeing your face." He told her bluntly. "And I know this isn't because you're stuck talking to me instead of Bonnie."
That got a genuine chuckle out of her. His expression softened at her response before switching back to something more serious.
"Did something happen today?"
"No. Everything went according to plan." She felt the can in her hand crumple slightly from her grasp.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Technically no, but I think my headache is going to get worse in a couple hours." She glared at the semi-crush cam before finishing off the rest of the beverage.
"A-are you drunk?!"
"Maybe a little but not hammered." She giggled at his look of horror. He could be so dramatic sometimes.
"Serena, please tell me you have someone there to look after you!"
"Don't worry, my friends are all here with me." She waved him off dismissively. Technically her human friends were all knocked out but she didn't need to tell him that.
"Can I speak to one of them?"
"They're umm...busy at the moment." She couldn't help but snort at her lie. Maybe she did go a little overboard with the drinks
"Serena, can you at least turn on your camera?"
"I look like a mess."
"Come on, you know I won't judge." His gentle smile cushioned the pain in her chest. "I'm just worried about you."
"Fine. But if you laugh I'm going to be mad at you forever."
Her finger missed the little camera icon at the corner of her screen several times before she could successfully turn on her front camera. She scrunched her face in disgust when she saw her puffy face pop up at the top right corner.
"Syl, Sylveon!"
"Rose!"
Her two Pokémon squeezed into frame to greet him. Clemont relaxed at their appearance," it's good to see you have your Pokémon there to protect you, but mind telling where you are exactly?"
"On the beach behind the Pokémon Center." She said, idly running her fingers through the fine grains of sand. "Did you know the sand stays warm even when it's dark out? It's weeeird."
"How many drinks have you had?" He asked, ignoring her comment.
"Just a couple cans from earlier and…" she squinted her eyes at the crushed can laying in front of her. "One more to help me sulk!"
"Sylveon, Roserade, please make sure she doesn't get any more drinks. I think she's had enough for one night."
Her two Pokémon eagerly agreed—Roserade went as far as confiscating her empty can.
"Hmph! I'm not a child." She tore her eyes off the screen and observed two distant figures walking hand-in-hand by the beach water.
The weight on her chest seemed to grow heavier as she pictured May and Ash in a similar situation.
She wondered if the couple could see her. If they did she wondered what they thought of her—sitting alone on a beach in the middle of the night.
"What are you looking at?" His voice pulled her out of her daydream.
"There's someone walking on the beach." She muttered grumpily. "They probably think I'm crazy."
"Don't worry about them. Just keep your eyes on me."
"Hmm, where have I heard that before?" She focused her attention back on her phone.
"I heard it from a rather beautiful lady. I don't know about you."
"Beautiful? Are you sure you're not looking at the wrong thing?" She gestured to her messy hair and puffy eyes. If anything she looked like a monster.
He squinted his eyes and studied her intently," Hmm you're right. My mistake, I actually heard it from a rather cute lady."
If she was thinking straight she would've easily teased him right back, but tonight his words left her stomach doing flips.
"You're lucky I don't have a good comeback tonight." She pretended to glare at him.
He laughed," hey, I can't let you win all the time."
"I still can't believe Bonnie's worried you'll have trouble finding a wife. You can be really charming, you know?" The words left her mouth faster than she could process. She silently prayed to Arceus that the ground would just swallow her up whole.
"T-thanks? I-I guess?"
If she wasn't so embarrassed with her slip up she would've relished at how equally flustered he was.
"T-to be fair she sort of stopped doing that for a long time now." He explained, taking a keen interest in something off screen. "She's now asking girls to 'help me learn how to date', and I honestly don't know what's worse."
"Who knows, maybe it'll actually help you one day."
"Please don't encourage her. It's already hard enough to meet new people without her embarrassing me." He returned his gaze back to her. "But enough about me. What happened to you anyway?"
The lump in her throat seemed to grow bigger. More tears blurred her vision, but she kept her eyes wide open in an attempt to keep them from falling.
"Look, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I do want you to know that I'm here for you. No matter what."
She bit her lip as the tears began raining down. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop them from falling.
"It's okay. Just let it all out." She heard his voice whisper to her. "I'm here for you."
She wished she could've pulled him out the screen to hug him. Her Pokémon, as if reading her mind, both moved in to embrace her the best they could. That was enough for her to lose the last of her composure.
"I'm so stupid." She'd managed to whimper at one point in her breakdown. "I'm the most stupid girl in the whole damned world."
"Why do you say that?" He asked softly.
"He was never mine to win over! Never!"
There was a brief pause.
"Are you referring to Ash?" He spoke with hesitancy.
She nodded. "It's stupid, I know. After 2 years you'd think I'd be over this dumb crush, but no. T-this entire time I've just been hoping to be with him one day. I-I was so sure he was the one."
"I don't think it's stupid. It's not like we can control who we fall for."
"I wish we could. It would've saved me so much heartache." She clutched her chest. No matter what she did the wrenching pain in her heart remained the same. "I wish I could just be an emotionless robot. It'd make life so much easier."
"But then that wouldn't be you."
'Wouldn't be me?'
She glanced up at her phone curiously. The bright light emitting from her screen made her already burning eyes hurt even more, but she didn't want to look away from him.
She was expecting him to be annoyed, maybe even frustrated with her long term crush. Someone as logical as him would probably see how obsessive and stupid her crush was, but he looked back at her with nothing but kindness and empathy in his eyes.
It made her wonder if he went through a similar heartbreak.
"The Serena I know is loving and kind to her friends and especially her Pokémon. Of course that kind of personality has its drawbacks, but it's also what I admire so much about you."
'He admires me?'
Her foggy brain was barely processing his words.
"I admire how willing you are to shower your loved ones with affection and kindness. It's why I was willing to entrust Bonnie with you that one time because I knew you'd be able to care for her as much as I did."
She flushed at his praise. Serena always wondered why Clemont asked her in particular to look after his sister. Ash was the strongest between the two of them, he would've been able to protect Bonnie from anything, yet the responsibility was given to her.
"If you were just an emotionless robot it just wouldn't be you. Trust me, I'm around robots all the time now." He vaguely gestured to the blueprints hanging behind him. "It's going to suck for a while, but I know you'll get through this. You're an incredibly strong person and I know this won't drag you down."
"But I can't imagine being with anyone else. I-I can't even imagine anyone wanting to be with me except him!"
"That's because you still have feelings for him. It's just messing with your judgement." He paused for a moment before continuing. "A-Any guy would be lucky to have you as a girlfriend. You're one of the strongest and prettiest girls I know."
Her cheeks felt like they were burning again, but this time it wasn't because of her tears.
"I-is this really the time to be joking around?"
"I'm being honest." He assured her. "Have a little more confidence in yourself. You're amazing."
The warmth in her chest overshadowed the wrenching pain from her recent heartbreak. Maybe it was the alcohol talking, or maybe it was the effects of his words, but the night didn't feel all that cool anymore.
"Since when did you get so good at cheering people up?" She wiped her face for the nth time. While the pain in her chest hadn't gone away, she did notice its presence was noticeably less intense.
"I picked up a few things from you."
"Glad to know I've been such a good influence on you."
She raked her fingers through her messy bed head. It was pointless trying to fix up her image after her breakdown, but she didn't want to spend the rest of the call looking like an absolute train wreck. It was still her birthday celebration afterall, she should at least look nice for some of it.
"T-thank you, Clemont." Her heart was racing at this point, and she wasn't in the state to question why.
"Don't mention it. I'm sorry things ended up this way on your birthday."
"Hey, at least I got to talk to you, right?"
"I-I'm flattered you think so highly of this call. Sorry I couldn't get the tea in time for you, though." He said with an apologetic smile. "I know you could probably use a cup right now."
"It's fine," she trailed her eyes down to Roserade. While the air didn't smell as strongly of roses anymore, the lingering effects of Sweet Scent still gave her the illusion of having him there with her.
"I'll get you as many packs as you like next time but you have to promise me you'll go to bed early."
"I'm not tired." She protested with a yawn. Her headache wasn't going away anytime soon but her eyes were growing heavier by the second.
"You should get some sleep. It's getting late."
"But it's my birthday." She whined.
"It's technically passed your birthday. We can catch up tomorrow night if your hangover isn't too bad."
"I don't want you to go yet." She muttered as another yawn escaped her lips.
If he left now she'd just be trapped with her thoughts again—she'd be stuck thinking over and over about Ash.
"I-I promise I'll call you tomorrow afternoon."
"Wouldn't you be getting up in the middle of the night?"
"If it'll make you feel better I don't mind."
"Even if I make you stay up all night?" She asked jokingly.
"Only for you." He gave her a particular look. In her current state she couldn't place why it made her belly flip flop. "But first you need to rest. Go drink a glass of water before getting into bed. It might help with tomorrow's symptoms."
"Clemont—"
"Seriously, Serena, drink some water and go to bed. If you don't listen I won't check up on you tomorrow." He was using his 'strict gym leader voice'. She knew there was no winning once he started talking to her like that.
"Fine. But you better call or I'm going to help Bonnie find you a wife."
"Cross my heart." As if to prove his point, he motioned a little x over his chest. "Good night and...s-sweet dreams."
"Night." She waited for a second longer before turning off the call.
The night felt so much more quiet without him talking to her. A part of her wanted to call him again just to break the unbearable silence, but she also didn't want to betray her promise to him and lose the chance to talk to him for the entire afternoon the next day.
If she went to bed now and passed some time she could see him faster tomorrow.
"Sorry, guys, but I might need some help getting back…" She murmured to her Pokémon.
"Rose!"
"Syl!"
Her two beloved Pokémon leapt to their feet, eager to help her. Maybe the drinks were starting to mess with her, but she nearly burst out crying again at their kindness.
The next morning her friends lightly teased her for being a lightweight, though their attention was mainly drawn to Sylveon and Roserade asleep in her bed.
"How did we not notice them sneak out last night?" May scratched her head in confusion.
"Dunno. Don't care. Just wanna sleep." She groaned, burying her head beneath the covers. The sunlight, their voices—everything made her headache worse.
"We can worry about that later." Dawn chimed in, thankfully in a much softer tone. "I'm going to get breakfast ready for everyone, why don't you check up on Ash, May? He also drank quite a bit last night."
Serena buried herself deeper into her covers as a familiar pain returned to her chest. Luckily her friends didn't think too much about her reaction.
"Oh boy, I hope he's fairing better than last time." May groaned. "We'll be back in a few, Serena. Give us a call if you need any help."
"...Kay."
Once she heard their door click shut she turned to her stomach and buried her face into her pillow, desperately trying to fall unconscious against her nauseating headache.
Maybe ignoring Clemont's advice about drinking water before bed wasn't her brightest idea. He'd probably lecture her about it later, but later was going to be a long time if she wasn't able to get extra sleep now.
"Rose?" She felt Roserade shift on her bed.
"Hey, Roserade, are you awake?" She muttered.
"Rose. Roserade."
"Can you please use a leveled down Sweet Scent in the room?"
"Rose!"
The scent of fresh roses seeped through the room like a wave, she relaxed almost instantly at its familiarity—it smelled like home.
She soon found herself drifting off into a deep slumber and dreamt of dancing alone in a secret rose garden somewhere in Lumiose City.