Hey guys! MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you guys are having a good one so far. I can't wait for you to read this chapter. But I'm also afraid of your guys' reaction...you'll see why. Hehe. I hope you guys enjoy it though, this chapter is over 8,000 words. So read everything please!
Tuesday; October 26th; Chemistry; 9:45 a.m.
"Good morning class," Ms Amy greeted with an enthusiastic expression on her face. "Now, before I get started on today's lesson, I have an announcement to make. This year, we have a chemistry bowl coming up and it's going to happening right before Thanksgiving. I'm going to pick our two top students from this class and if you're interested, you can sign up," she said, placing the sign up sheet on the bulletin board. There were some murmurs and whispering from among the students.
Leaf regarded chemistry as one of her favorite subjects in school and she was very interested in participating. She looked at Dawn, who was seated beside her. "I hope I'm one of the top students, I really wanna enter," she whispered to the blunette.
Dawn grinned. "Well of course you are, no need to worry!"
"I second that," May added, sitting behind Leaf.
Ms Ana scanned some sheets with her eyes and seemed to be going through the gradebook currently. "Ah, Gary Oak," she said, glancing at the spiky haired male. Gary rasied an eyebrow expectantly. "Are you interested in entering the chemistry bowl?" she asked.
Gary considered himself a prodigy in this class. Coming from a grandpa who was a scientist, he obviously had all the knowledge that was there to obtain. Plus, he had aced all the tests so far. "Yeah I am," he said proudly. Ms Ana smiled in response and handed him the sign up sheet.
Leaf frowned. She was glad that her boyfriend was at the top of his game, but if she didn't place in the top two, that meant she couldn't participate.
"And our second top student is...Leaf Green," Ms Ana stated, allowing the brunette to grin widely. "Are you interested, Leaf?"
Leaf nodded. "Yes!" she said excitedly before she was handed the sign up sheet.
"Let me further explain about the competition," Ms Ana said once Leaf was finished, "This year, it's a competition between boys and girls," she explained. Both Leaf and Gary frowned. Leaf realized now that she would be competing against her boyfriend. "There will be a total of five girls and five boys. The winning team usually gets all sorts of prizes, including school supplies, a laptop or an i-pad, along with some other things."
"You're going to compete against Gary," May whispered to Leaf from behind her, who just nodded in response.
Gary glanced at her and just gave her one of his heartwarming smiles and Leaf couldn't help but smile back in response. A little competion would be healthy for them and wouldn't necessarily dampen their relationship. Besides, it was just a harmless competition. There was really nothing too grand at stake.
"And don't worry, I can provide you with extra assistance for the both of you," Ms Ana said, eyeing the two of them. Both nodded in response. "Now, we can start our lesson..."
10:32 a.m.
The three girls had just exited out of chemistry class when Gary stopped Leaf. "Hey, Leaf?" The brunette stopped walking with her friends before she turned around, facing him from a small distance. "Can we talk?"
Both Dawn and May had on teasing grins plastered onto their features as Leaf rolled her eyes before walking up to him. "What's up?" she asked.
Gary scratched his hair sheepishly. "Well...I know we're competing against each other now, but I just want you to know that it won't get in the way between us," he said, as Leaf let a grin break loose.
"I know." Leaf smiled. "Plus, we're much more mature than that. How can we let a silly, harmless competition get in the way?" she said rhetorically.
Gary nodded. "Yeah exactly. We have way too much chemistry to let a chemistry competition get between us," he said, letting a small smirk show due to the flirtatious pun he made on the dot.
Leaf rolled her eyes but still managed to let out a few giggles. "Those lines don't work with me," she protested, but the moment she uttered that, she knew it was a lie. She was the type of person that would laugh at all corny and flirty lines, even if they didn't make sense.
"Yeah right," Gary said, with sarcasm oozing from his tone.
"Ahem," May coughed from behind the couple. Leaf turned around and once she realized her best friends were eavesdropping on them, she blushed a crimson red. "Excuse me, but if you're done flirting, then we have to get to our next class," May said, with a knowing smirk.
Gary chuckled, placing one of his hands in his pockets as he walked smoothly over to Leaf. "No, I'm not quite done yet," he said before placing a quick, heart-skipping kiss on Leaf's cheek, which resulted in Leaf burning in embarassment and the two girls 'aww' ing in unison. Leaf turned around, placing a hand on the skin where his lips were, glaring at him, but all he did was wink and walk away.
"Gary is such a keeper!" Dawn gushed, placing a hand over where her heart was. She only wished a guy like him existed for her. She had never had a boyfriend before, much to the girls' surprise. In her defense though, it was never really a priority in her life. She figured it would happen soon enough. "You're really lucky, Leaf."
"Yeah," May added, "We're happy for you."
"Thanks guys." Leaf smiled, her blush fading away.
Saturday; October 30th; May's Residence; 9:24 a.m.
May stirred in her sleep, her blue eyes opening slightly as she looked across the room. She looked towards the right, where Dawn was still sound asleep. She smiled slightly, letting a yawn escape, before there was a knock on the door. She groaned a bit, her laziness taking over, as she hid back under the blankets. However, the knocking pounded against the door harder and she grumbled to herself incoherently before she reluctantly removed herself from the blanket.
She heard knocking again before she rolled her eyes. "Coming, coming," she said before opening the door. "Max? Why are you up so early?" she asked, before rubbing her eyes.
"I need a ride somewhere. Can you drive me?" he whispered, careful not to wake Dawn up. "I have this project due with a friend from school."
May nodded. "Alright, let's just eat breakfast and we can go," she said before the two walked downstairs.
After about an hour, both May and Max were ready to leave, when they noticed Dawn trudging downstairs. "Morning you two!" she greeted and the two gave her friendly smiles. Dawn noticed May grabbing her purse. "Are you guys going somewhere?" she asked.
May nodded. "Yeah, I'm about to drop Max over to a friend's place."
"Oh, cool! Wait, let me join. I wanna go to the mall today," Dawn explained before she saw May raise an eyebrow in confusion. Dawn hadn't seen Paul all week at school. She never showed up to the library for tutoring sessions since her math grades had risen recently, but it felt abnormal not being teased or made fun of. She knew Paul worked some shifts in the mall, so she hoped she could just...spend some time with him.
"Why?" May asked.
Dawn was about to reply when Max cut in, "Oh just hurry up and get ready," he said.
City Mall; 9:51 a.m.
Today was an extremely excruciating, long and boring day for Paul. There were minimal movies that people wanted to purchase tickets for and to add to that, the mall wasn't even that crowded as most weekends were, much to his surprise. In fact, this was probably, the least busy he had been on the weekend. It was safe to say he had been bored pretty much all week, aside from spending time with Reggie.
Dawn hadn't shown up for any tutoring sessions this week and as a result, he hadn't seen her the entire week. He'd probably feel relieved or the very least, content, that she wasn't around, but he felt odd not seeing her and her bright smile. He did contemplate calling her sometime this week, but he was never the type of guy to initiate a conversation, even via the phone.
He was becoming close to her, and even Reggie noticed it. He'd constantly tease him to no end and ask about her, much to Paul's embarrassment.
"Hey Paul," Drew's voice was heard across from the glass booth. "What's up?"
Paul shrugged. "Not much."
Drew grinned. "Yeah, it's kinda slow today, huh?" he asked before looking at his wrist watch. "Well, I was thinking I could take over for you for a while in case you wanted to do something." Drew offered.
Paul approved of the idea. Being confined to a little glass booth wasn't fun all the time. But, he didn't know where to go or what to do. And he was pretty sure he despised shopping, so that was out of the question.
His stomach grumbled. Maybe he could grab something to eat.
"Thanks," he said, before exiting out of the booth.
"No prob. Hey maybe we could something together later, yeah?" Drew asked, with a hopeful glint in his eye.
Paul looked at him. He realized they hadn't done something together in quite a while. In fact, he didn't remember the last time they did. "Sure," he said, with a ghost of a smile appearing on his features before he walked away.
10:12 a.m.
The plum haired male sat down with a cup of black coffee and a bagel in his hands. This morning had been pretty hectic and he had skipped breakfast, much to his disliking. He bit into his bagel and then sipped his coffee satisfactorily before he glanced around.
Most of the seats around the food court were pretty empty; even the food court employees seemed to be pretty bored and dull, as if they were waiting for something exciting to happen. And so was Paul, admittedly.
His onix eyes wavered before he caught a familiar head of hair and he glanced up again, thinking what or whom he saw was just a figment of his imagination. But he wasn't wrong.
Dawn was currently walking with May and the two were laughing at something, but all Paul could notice was that bright smile she had on her face. He also noticed the way her sapphire blue eyes sparkled whenever she did laugh. After a whole week of not witnessing her smile, seeing it right now at this very moment gave him an odd satisfaction in his heart.
Suddenly, Dawn looked around before she caught him and he stiffened in response. He realized he had been caught staring, but apparently, Dawn couldn't care less as she practically ran towards him in excitement. He stood up when she approached him. "Hi! I haven't seen you in school this week. How've you been?"
He almost snorted. Those were the questions he wanted to as her. Still, he shrugged in response. "The same," he replied, just before May approached the two of them.
May looked at the two and almost smirked. "Oh, I see, you wanted to see Paul," she said smugly. Dawn's cheeks burned red in embarrassment while Paul just ignored her words.
Dawn ignored her best friend and looked at Paul. "Are you not working today?" she asked.
Paul placed his hands in his pockets, sighing. "There's not much going on today, to be honest. Drew's taking over for me right now," he explained.
May's eyes widened. "Drew's here? And why is he taking over for you?"
"His uncle owns the mall," was his reply.
"Oh," May nodded in understanding. For some reason, she wanted to see what he was up to. The last time they had hung out was last week and she hadn't seen him since. "Hey, why don't we meet up later, Dawn?"
Dawn looked back at her with a warm smile. "Sure, no need to worry!" she beamed.
May rolled her eyes. "That's when I worry the most."
"Oh shut up," Dawn said, fighting back a laugh while May giggled.
Once May was out of sight, Dawn turned back to Paul, who seemed to be slightly amused. "What?"
He shrugged. "Just noticed that you do say that a lot," he said.
"And?"
Paul rolled his eyes. "Nothing."
Dawn grinned cheekily and then asked him, "So...wanna do something? We could watch a movie, if you want," she suggested. Once he hesitated to reply, she added, "You do like movies, right?"
Paul nodded. The only reason he was hesitating was because he had never seen a movie with a girl before. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he didn't watch a movie with Reggie. However, he wasn't against the idea. "Yeah." Dawn smiled. "But I'm picking the movie," he added.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Fine."
Dawn cringed when she saw the tickets in her hand. "A horror movie?" she asked in disbelief to Paul, who was currently buying popcorn. He turned around, raising an eyebrow at her tone. "I hate horror movies," she said. "They creep me out. The last horror movie I saw, I ended up staying in my room for a whole week," she said, shuddering at the memory.
Paul loved horror movies. He wasn't the type of guy for any of those chick flic movies; they were way too cheesy and unrealistic. At least horror provided some sort of entertainment. "Well too bad," he said, handing her the bucket of popcorn. "I already bought the tickets," he said.
Dawn grumbled to herself, taking the bucket, before she realized something. "Hey, since you work here, shouldn't you get free tickets?"
He shook his head. "Only an employee discount," he replied before grabbing the other popcorn bucket that was placed above the counter.
They were about to enter the theater when Dawn was craving something to drink. "Oh, I'll get soda!" she exclaimed, not seeing someone behind her as she abruply turned around, only to bump into the person, which resulted in the entire popcorn to spill from the bucket. Paul simply rolled his eyes at the situation.
A huge lump formed in Dawn's throat and she internally groaned to herself at her own clumsy act. She looked at the guy she had accidentally bumped into. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going."
The guy looked unfazed as he simply readjusted his glasses. He waved her a hand of dismissal. "It's cool," he said before he got a closer look at the blunette. "My, my, well, what do you know? Dawn Berlitz bumping into me."
Paul watched from behind, not entirely sure what his tone meant. Dawn was bewildered. "You know me?"
He grinned, his glasses suddenly sparkling. "Of course. You happen to be in my English class," he said. "I'm Conway."
Dawn didn't seem familiar with the name. Then again, it was safe to say she only had two friends. Well three, now counting Paul. "Sorry, I never really noticed you in class," she said sheepishly.
Conway smiled. "Yeah, I usually sit at the back. It's much less distracting so I can properly analyse notes," he explained. Dawn nodded in understanding. Conway looked at Paul, who had a nonchalant expression plastered on his face. "Is he your boyfriend?" he blurted.
Paul looked to the other direction, as heat crawled up his neck while Dawn's eyes widened. "No!" she immeditaly retorted. "He's just a friend," she said. And now there was a small blush apparent on her cheek. Sure, her friends would tease her about becoming closer towards Paul and they might have insinuated that they'd grow even closer, but no one had made an assumption like that.
Conway inspected the movie tickets in her hands and the popcorn bucket that Paul was holding. "Well, if I'm predicting correct, you two are going to watch a movie together. Now I'm no romantic expert, but this is usually what a couple on a date does."
Dawn flinched. She hadn't even thought of it like that. "It's not a date; we're just hanging out," she continued to protest.
Paul noticed Conway's lips curve, as if he was happy that Dawn wasn't on a date. "Well alright then, you two enjoy yourselves," Conway said and then waved to the blunette. "Bye, Dawn," he said, with a lopsided smile on his face. Dawn sheepishly waved him goodbye before he walked away.
Dawn let out a breath of relief and turned towards Paul. "I'm glad that's over with. Now, let's just hurry up and get this movie over with," she grumbled.
Paul looked at the mess on the floor. "What about the other popcorn that you spilled, being the klutz that you are?"
Dawn gasped. "I am not a klutz!"
Paul snorted. "Says the person who spilled soda on my shirt," he pointed out dryly, still not forgetting about the shirt incident a few weeks ago.
Dawn sputtered a response, "T-that happened one time!" She said, crossing her arms.
Paul looked at her in disbelief. "Not to mention you made the shirt pink," he added. Dawn was about to retort again when he cut in, "We could stand here all day and argue about how clumsy you are, or we could just buy another popcorn," he suggested.
"Oh, gee, let's not cause any more trouble. I'll obviously drop it again," Dawn said, sarcasm being hinted at her tone.
A small smile tugged at Paul's lips. "You said it, not me," he said and Dawn just rolled her eyes before the two finally walked into the respective theater.
The theater was only filled with a couple of people. Currently, the big screen above their heads were portraying trailers for other movies, along with some other advertisements.
The two sat down in their respective seats together as dictated by the tickets. Dawn wasn't fond of the idea of watching a horror movie, but she was the one who had invited Paul to hang out. She figured she could do this much for him, even if it meant doing something she didn't necessarily like.
Paul glanced at her and noticed her finegrs fumbling. "It's really not that much of a scary movie," he said, attempting to assure her. Dawn just scoffed to herself while he rolled his eyes. Then, as if a light bulb grew above his head imaginarily, he thought of something as his eyes wavered a bit. "But," he added, causing her to look at him, "I hear there's a graphic scene with a lot of blood."
He noticed her eyes widening in fear and he was trying so hard not to let his amusement show. "Blood?" she repeated. "Oh Arceus," she cried as she looked towards the big screen. Paul smirked. Just how gullible was she?
After a few minutes, the movie finally started. Throughout the movie, Dawn closed her eyes at almost every jump scare and felt her heart tremble at the eerie and spooky music being echoed. Meanwhile, Paul just sat there, not taking his eyes off the screen and appearing unfazed. He wouldn't even flinch.
Dawn reached into the bucket of popcorn when she felt a hand make contact with hers. She looked at it and instantly realized it was Paul's, resulting in her pulling back her hand instantaneously. He averted his eyes from her and resumed watching the screen. A loud, shrilling and piercing scream was heard and the blunette buried her head into Paul's chest.
That was when his nonchalant demeanor changed. Her hands were placed gently on his torso and he felt her breathing shakily against his neck. His entire body stiffened at the warm contact, but he found his heart slowly beating and goosebumps rise to his skin at the mere contact. He couldn't believe this movie wouldn't scare him at all, while just a simple feeling of this changed his demeanor entirely.
After realizing what she was doing, she opened her eyes after she had been clenching it shut for some time, and slowly raised her head up, the smell of his cologne fresh in her mind. She brushed a few strands of her hair back shyly and locked eyes with Paul's, his onix eyes boring into her sapphire ones.
For a few seconds, the movie faded into the background as the two paid no attention it other than themselves. Paul noticed her hair had grown back slightly after she had cut it and he also noticed her eyebrows to be a deep, dark blue. Her breathing was becoming a bit shallow due to how close she was to him. Her eyes drifted towards his lips accidentally and she averted her eyes, looking back to his eyes again.
Another scream was heard and both of them returned their attention towards the big screen again. But even still, Dawn couldn't concentrate on the movie anymore. She still had shaky breaths and was constantly replaying what had just happened repeatedly in her mind. She took a daring glance at Paul again to find that he was just staring at the screen above them again.
11:18 a.m.
The two exited out of the theater an hour later and the two were still quiet and hesitant to speak to each other. But Dawn didn't want things to be awkward between the two of them. Surely, this sort of stuff happened once in a while, right? There was nothing to be embarrassed about. "Well, it's time for me to stay in my room and lock myself up for a month," she said, desperately attempting to start a conversation.
That seemed to have got a reaction from him. "I thought you would have bolted from the theater, to be honest, especially after I told you about the blood scene."
Now that he brought that up, she didn't remember seeing something like that. "I don't remember any..." she trailed off before she saw the infamous smirk on his lips. She connected the pieces together. "You were just trying to scare me!" she yelled.
"Ah," he said, his eyes filled with amusement yet again, "So you are smart."
Dawn glared at him. "Jerk."
He rolled his eyes. "Klutz."
"Whatever," she mumbled in annoyance before she brought out her phone from her pocket, looking at the time. "When do you have to go back to work?" she asked.
"I still have about two hours left," he replied. He saw her nod as she began to think. Was she trying to think of other things they could do together?
Dawn's eyes sparkled and she snapped her fingers. "I know! Let's go shopping!" she exclaimed in excitement.
Paul looked at her with a flat expression. "Hell no," he mused. "There's no way I'm wasting my time looking at clothes," he said. He breifly remembered those times when Reggie used to drag him towards a store to shop for clothes. It was such a tedious and boring hobby that Reggie had. And then there was the fact that Paul knew little to nothing about fashion or clothes.
Dawn pouted. "Oh come on! I spent some time with you watching a horror movie," she protested and before Paul could utter something, she added, "Plus, you owe me for trying to scare me back there."
She was waiting for a response as she saw him close his eyes in frustration. He was probably internally groaning and Dawn grinned victoriously. He opened his eyes and reluctantly responded, "Fine."
Her grin widened, if that was even possible, as she grabbed his wrist and practically made him walk to one of the stores against his will. She let go once she saw a blue dress on display upon the mannequin and gasped. "Oh my gosh! This is so cute! What do you think, Paul?" she gushed before looking back at Paul, who was grumbling to himself in annoyance.
"I think I'd rather have my eyes cut out than go through with this," he muttered, not sparing a glance at her as he sat down in one of the plastic chairs placed for customers to sit on. Dawn snickered to herself. If he really had a problem, he'd leave the store, but he was just sitting there. He was bearing the suffering, just as she did for him. She smiled at the thought.
"Excuse me, do you have this in my size?" Dawn asked a sales clerk, who simply responded by nodding her head.
Paul kept looking at his wrist watch in torture. He supposed he deserved this after putting her through two hours of that scary movie. He watched as the sales clerk gave her the blue dress and Dawn walked into the trial room, probably to change. He sighed to himself. If she was going to purchase that, it had better be from her own pocket money; he wasn't going to waste nearly a hundred bucks on it.
Not that he would anyway.
The trial room door opened and Dawn stepped out, attempting to fix the skirt of her dress. Paul looked up and felt his breath hitch when he glanced at her. She was wearing a dark royal blue sleeveless dress that ended elegantly upon her ankles. In the middle of the dress and around her waist was a thin gold belt. He found himself not taking his eyes off of her.
Dawn looked at the mirror, smiling at her reflection, when she noticed Paul in the mirror, who was now standing up. Her smile faded and her eyes widened when she saw him walking towards her.
She turned around slowly to face him, wondering briefly if he was going to say anything. "How..." she cleared her throat. "How does it look?" she asked, her voice small.
Paul never really knew how to compliment someone, let alone a girl. He didn't even know what to say, but he sure as hell knew that this dress suited Dawn a lot. He liked how elegant it was. "It's nice," he said simply, placing his hands into his pockets.
Dawn smiled in response before the sales clerk came up towards them. "So, should I ring you up?"
She shook her head. "No, that's okay. I was just looking around," she said. "I'm definitely getting this dress the next time I visit, though!" she added. The sales clerk simply nodded with understanding and walked away.
Paul looked at her with bewilderment and utter shock. Why the hell would she try on a dress if she wasn't going to purchase it? "I thought you were going to buy that dress," he spat irritatingly.
Dawn nodded. "Yeah, but I don't really need it right now. Plus, this dress is kinda suited for something like prom next year. And there's still plenty of time for that," she said.
"So why didn't you just shop for a prom dress that time then?" he challenged and Dawn just shrugged innocently. He sighed in disapproval as if he couldn't fathom the idea of girls' logic.
Dawn noticed he was extremely frustrated and decided to give him the time of the day. "I'll go change and we can finally get out of here," she told him.
"Finally," he muttered.
12:04 p.m.
"Thank you, enjoy your movie," Drew said, with a grin etched onto his features as he slid the tickets across the booth. The two girls gave their thanks as Drew accepted the payments.
Seeing as it was well past lunch time and that his stomach was now grumbling, he decided to close up and exit the booth. He took out his cell phone, about to call Paul and tell him that his shift was over, when he saw May from the corner of his eye. Forgetting about Paul now, he slipped his phone back into his pocket and watched interestingly as she walked up to him.
"Hey," she chimed. "What's up?"
The last time they had hung out was when Drew took her over to a coffee place. And it was there he was told that she actually didn't like coffee, much to his ignorance. But, to his surprise, she still stayed for the hangout and the two had talked. Drew was just itching to let her know how he truly felt about her, but he knew he still had to wait patiently for that. Still, he was glad that she was giving him a chance.
Drew smiled. "Not much. What about you?" he asked.
"Well, Dawn's hanging out with Paul right now, so I'm pretty bored," she drawled. "So, I saw you coming out of work and I suppose I have no choice but to let you provide some sort of entertainment for me," she teased, a playful glint in her eye.
He smirked in response. "No choice huh, February?"
May rolled her eyes at his common misplacing of her actual name. "Wow, good one," she muttered with a flat tone in her voice. Drew laughed. "Anyway, do you want to-"
His cell phone rang, cutting the brunette off. He gave her an apologetic smile as he proceeded to answer it. She decided to be respectful and give him his privacy as she walked a bit further away so she was out of hearing distance.
She noticed his smile slowly falter and his expression altered to anger as he furrowed his eyebrows together and started to slightly yell over the phone, allowing her to slightly flinch. She had never seen Drew angry before; it seemed so alien to her, and she was suddenly curious to know why he was reacting the way he did. She saw him blowing an angry breath after he hung up.
After waiting for him to calm down a bit, she walked up to him, with concern in his eye. "Uh. Everything okay?" she asked. He didn't respond, much to the brunette's slight shock. She continued to protest. "Did you have an argument with someone?"
Drew hesitated to reply for a few seconds until he said, "Do you know what I hate more than anything else in the world, May?" he asked vaguely. May raised an eyebrow at the random question thrown at her and she couldn't help but notice that he didn't misplace her name. "Cheaters," he replied for her, looking directly at her. "I fucking hate cheaters," he spat. "They should rot in hell and be burned into flames."
May had never seen this side of Drew before. She was speechless, even though she had no idea why he was telling her this. "That was my mom on the phone," he explained, as if he knew she was confused and needed a more concise explanation. "Her boyfriend cheated on her. She found out he was sleeping with someone else. What a fucking asshole," he cursed.
"I'm so sorry," she offered.
Drew smiled sadly. "Why are you apologizing?"
She shrugged in response.
Drew sighed, scratching his chartreuse green hair sheepishly. "Sorry for overwhelming you with this sudden information. I didn't mean to."
"Well, I was the one to ask," she reminded him.
He pursed his lips. "Yeah, but, I don't like when people see this side of me. It's not exactly pretty and doesn't go with my charming personality," he boasted egoistically.
"As if you have any charm," she retorted, allowing Drew to grin widely. She smiled. Truth be told, she was actually grateful to see this side of Drew. It gave him more of an edge to his cocky character. It showed him that he was an individual and that he had feelings too. "Is your mom okay?" she asked.
He frowned. "Actually no. She's pretty heartbroken," he confessed.
"You should spend time with her," she suggested. Drew was about to protest but she continued, cutting him off. "She needs you right now," she added. "We can always hang out another day," she said, with a small smile on her face.
Drew couldn't help but smile. "Alright."
May's Residence; 7:05 p.m.
Dawn laid on her bed with an unconscious grin on her face, her thoughts circling around a certain plum haired male. She had no idea why he was constantly in her head now, especially after today. Maybe it was because they had finally spent some time outside of school. But she also couldn't deny what had happened in the movie theater, despite wanting to ignore it. She also couldn't ignore that when he had looked at her the way he did at that time, she had felt her heart beating. Plus, all the constant teasing he had thrown at her just made her grin widen even more.
"Dawn, have you seen my brush?" May asked, opening their room door and closing it behind her, as she began to search through various drawers. She looked back at the blunette, wondering if she had heard her. "Dawn?"
"Hn," she said unconsciously, and when she did, she widened her eyes in the process and sat up against the bed. She couldn't believe she had just said that.
May gaped at her unbelievably. "Did you just...?"
Dawn looked at her with a similar expression. "I did," she confirmed.
"But why? You've never said that before," May said. "You've been hanging out with Paul way too much, missy," she said, a slight smirk playing on her lips.
Dawn's eyes wavered and instead of being embarrassed, she let herself drift into thoughts of Paul once again. She thought about the time they had met in the elevator. She thought about all those times he had teased her. She thought about that time he had saved her life from a near car accident. Most importantly, she thought about those times when Paul was there for her when her mother had died. She closed her eyes, feeling her heart race again.
"When we're out of here, that's it. I go back to my life and you go back to yours. It's not likely we'll meet again."
"I would think you'd at least make some improvement, but no, this is just proving that you're pathetic."
"I'm not that big of a jerk. Plus, I've run out of insults."
"You're not worthless. I was simply trying to show you that we relate to each other."
"I don't think I ever hated you."
Dawn opened her eyes. She knew exactly why she was feeling this way. It was all clear to her now. "May..." she started, trailing off.
"What?"
"I..." she started, not sure how to finish. "I think I like Paul."
"What?"
Dawn knew she heard her. She knew was shocked. Still, she repeated, "I like Paul," she confessed, now a little curious as to how May would react.
To her surprise, the brunette actually squealed, resulting in Dawn covering her ears and slightly cringing. "No way! That's amazing!" she gushed, running over to her and sitting on her bed, engulfing her with a tight hug.
Dawn pulled back with a short laugh. She was actually a bit surprised at her reaction. "I thought you didn't like Paul?"
May looked at her cryptically. Sure, she wasn't fond of the guy, but that didn't mean she wasn't happy for her best friend. Besides, she knew that she was getting closer and closer towards him. "What does that have to do with anything? Besides, if you like him, that must mean Paul's really something, huh? You haven't really liked someone in a while. So, I'm happy for you."
Dawn smiled. She was glad her best friend was being so supportive. "Thanks, May."
May suddenly clapped her hands. "And now, you're gonna tell him, right?"
Dawn's eyes widened. "What?! No!"
"What do you mean 'no'?!"
"I can't confess."
"Why not?"
"Because!"
"Because what?" May protested.
Dawn sighed. She bit her lip and then responded, "Because Paul doesn't have the same feelings as I do," she realized.
May gaped at her unbelievably. "Are you nuts?" she asked. Dawn looked at her expectedly. "Dawn, why wouldn't he like you back?"
"Because he's Paul! He would never like someone like me. He's the total opposite of me. We may be friends but that's it," she explained. May was about to retort when she cut in. "Misty has a crush on Paul too," she said, much to May's surprise. She wasn't aware of that. "She confessed to him at Daisy's party."
"Really?" Dawn nodded. "And?"
"Paul let her down," was Dawn's reply. "I know exactly how he's going to react if I confessed, and I just wanna save myself from the embarrassment."
May wasn't going to let her best friend give up that easily. "Do you wanna know why he must have let Misty down?" she asked rhetorically. Dawn didn't respond, waiting. "Because Misty's not the one for him. And because you're the only girl he talks to and spends time with. I mean, think about it, Dawn. Paul is a loner. And yet, he's gotten closer and closer with you. He even saved your life and actually tried to make you feel better when your mom died. I mean, what guy in this century would do that?"
"A friend?" she offered desperately.
May rolled her eyes. "Okay, maybe. But why would Paul do that? To you?" Dawn didn't respond. "I don't know if he realizes or not, but he will eventually. He likes you too, I'm sure of it."
Dawn was still hesitant. "I don't know, May..."
"Okay, then tell me this. Has anything romantic happened between you two?" May asked.
Dawn looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean has anything happened that made you think, 'Oh, I wonder if this is what friends do or what couples do'?"
Dawn laughed. "Um, yeah. A few times, actually."
"Like what?" the brunette asked in curiosity.
Dawn's cheeks burned. "Well, he does tease me a bit," she started.
"Aha!" May exclaimed with excitement. "Guys tease girls when they like them. It's a fact!"
Dawn gave her a flat look. "That's funny coming from you, considering Drew teases you."
May rolled her eyes. "This isn't about me, it's about you! What else?"
She smirked at her denial, but she continued, the smirk faltering. "Well today, we both kinda kept staring at each other and I don't know if he felt it or not, but I felt my heart beat at the way he was staring at me," she confessed.
"That's it! I don't need to hear more to prove that he likes you too," May said.
Whether May was right or wrong didn't matter to Dawn right now. Her realizing that she harboured feelings for him was important. She wondered briefly how she'd face him knowing that fact. "So what should I do now?"
"Have you not been listening? You have to tell him!" May exclaimed. "If you don't, then it might be too late," she said.
"Too late?" Dawn repeated.
May sighed, recalling the time she had confessed to Brendan. Much like Dawn, she was also scared of rejection. "I know it's tough confessing. But if you don't do it soon, then maybe Paul would move on to someone else."
Dawn frowned. "But what if I confess and it changes everything? What if he doesn't want to be friends anymore?"
"Did that happen with Misty?" May countered.
"Not really..." she confessed.
"Then there's no need to worry, Dawn. And think positive! What if Paul does like you back? What if you even agree to be a couple instead of friends? Those are the questions you should be thinking about!"
Dawn's lips curved into a smile. She wondered what it would be like to be in a relationship with Paul. She wondered where he'd take her on a date. She wondered what their first kiss would be like. All of it sounded so riveting and promising to her.
"You're right," Dawn said, climbing off the bed. "I have to stop worrying so much. I have to confess sooner or later," she said.
May grinned, happy to have finally instilled some positivity in her. "Finally!"
8:07 p.m.
Making sure that he locked his vehicle, Paul walked up to his front porch and knocked on the wooden door. It was only minutes after eight and his shift had ended an hour earlier. He had looked around for Drew, keeping his promise, however he was actually surprised when Drew turned him down, claiming he had family problems to deal with. Though he wasn't complaining; it meant he could spend some more time with Reggie.
He heard footsteps across the door and a lock clicking before the door finally opened, revealing his older brother. "Welcome back, Paul," he said, grinning widely, revealing his pearl white teeth.
Paul let a small smile show. It felt good to come home knowing Reggie was going to be there. Sometimes, Reggie would even make dinner while he was working. It was his way of helping out. "How did everything turn out?" the plum haired male asked as he walked in, closing the door behind him.
Reggie was now job searching once he was rest assured that he felt better after his coma days. And now that he was, he wanted to assist his younger brother as well. By doing that, he wouldn't have to suffer anymore. "I applied to some places, though I haven't exactly heard back as yet," he explained. "How was work?"
Paul sat down on the sofa, his eyes closing. "Fine."
"Anything happen in school this week?"
He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at the random questions. "Not really."
"Hmm..." Reggie rubbed his chin with a finger. Paul paused, waiting. "Did you perhaps meet your girlfriend this week?" he teased.
He rolled his eyes, his usual response whenever Reggie teased him. It had become a routine. Almost every night after work, he'd be prepared for those type of comments from Reggie. And they were always hinted towards Dawn. "Hn," he managed to say.
Reggie smirked. Before he could continue, his cell phone rang and he took it out of his pocket, his smirk slowly faltering. He looked at Paul with an unreadable expression and Paul watched him with confusion written on his features. Reggie politely excused himself before walking into his room, closing the door behind him.
Now, Paul was perplexed. Who did Reggie receive a call from that made him seem so worried? Curious, he stood up from the sofa and shamelessly walked to Reggie's now closed room door and lightly pressed his ear against it. Now, Paul wasn't much of an eavesdropper, but judging from his expression when he had received the call, Paul had a gut feeling that his older brother was hiding something from him.
"Thank you for calling me back, Dr. Francis," Reggie's voice was heard from across the door. There was a slight pause before he continued. "I wanted to discuss something important with you."
"Uh, well, I think I've been recalling the night of the accident. I have been for this week. Sometimes I have dreams of it and it'll wake me up." Paul scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. Something as big as recalling the night of the accident had occured, and he never bothered to share it with him? "You want me to describe them?" Mumbling was heard across the phone. "Okay, well...I usually just see myself in the driver's seat and I'm playing music on the radio. And then a car just turns towards me with a bright light."
Paul had several questions running through his head. Why didn't he tell me? Did you see the person who crashed into you? "I didn't see anything else, I usually just wake up after that." It was quiet as Reggie heard Dr. Francis talking through the phone and Paul waited patiently for Reggie to answer his unspoken questions somehow. "...I'm not sure who it was. It was hard to make out. I never saw a vivid image of the person."
Paul closed his eyes. "But, I did see a glimpse of hair. It was blue."
He opened his eyes, feeling his heart clench at Reggie's words.
The person who had crashed into Reggie that night...was Dawn?
The person who made Paul feel so alone for those gruesome six months; the person because of whom he had struggled with juggling through jobs to support himself financially and emotionally; the person that made both Reggie's and Paul's life so troublesome, hard, and worthless was Dawn?
His fingers curled into a fist.
"I know you! You're...Paul. Paul Shinji."
"No need to worry...no need to worry."
"Because I have discalculia, okay?! Are you happy now?!"
"We've never liked each other. We always got into arguments for the most petty reasons."
"It feels good to know that you don't hate me and that you actually care."
He opened his eyes, slowly retreating back to the sofa, sitting there with anger and disappointment inflitrating his heart. Never would he have imagined, in a million years, that the person who had grown accustomed to the most; that the person who he had grown fond of these past few months; the one person who he was comfortable being around with, was also the very same person to cause him grief.
8:48 p.m.
Dawn safely parked near Paul's place and sighed to herself, staring at the steering wheel. She pressed her head against it, feeling her nerves wreck and her heart beating out of her chest.
She had never confessed her feelings to anyone and attempting to do it right now just made her absolutely terrified. She had made countless excuses to do it later (or never), but she knew she was lying to herself. If she let her fear hold her back for too long, then true to May's words, it might be too late.
"Ugh, how am I even going to confess to Paul?" she asked herself. She cleared her throat and began to speak, practicing her words. "Uh hey, Paul, you know the first time I met you, you were a douche and I loathed you at first but-" she stopped, cringing at her words. "What the hell, Dawn? Who says that when you're about to confess? Stupid!" She exclaimed, pressing a finger to her forehead. She tried to think of a different way to confess.
She flashbacked to when Misty had confessed. She had used the most simple words to get a reaction from him. Of course! Paul wouldn't want an extravagant confession. He'd probably want things to be simple, she thought. Dawn smiled to herself. All she had to say were three simple words.
It was almost as if she was ripping off a bandage.
With that, Dawn combed through her hair with her fingers a few times before finally exiting out of May's car, closing the door behind her. She slowly walked up to Paul's porch, the door right in front of her. Her mind was teasing her, telling her that she didn't need to confess, that she could just avoid it entirely. But her heart was telling her otherwise and was commanding her to knock on the door.
And so she did.
When she heard footsteps grow louder from the opposite side of the door, her fear was suddenly accelerating. But she couldn't back out now. The door swivelled open and she was met with the familiar plum haired male, though she saw him grow angry at the sight of her. Before she could even utter a word, he harshly spoke, "The fuck are you doing here?!"
Dawn was taken aback. She had never seen him that angry before. "Uh, I have something to tell you-"
"Go away."
Confusion could be read on her face as she said, "...What?"
"I said go away!" he repeated and literally pushed her off the porch, allowing Dawn to gasp harshly before she lost her balance, falling to the floor. A harsh slam was heard soon after and Dawn cringed slightly due to the pain and the impact of the door slamming.
Tears filled the corner of her eyes as she slowly stood up to her feet.
What the hell just happened?
I can understand if you guys are mad with Paul and the way he reacted, but it's part of his character. And he naturally gets angry too. Though I do hope you can reason with him...
This isn't a very nice Christmas gift is it? XD Poor Dawn, I feel really bad for her.
Anyways, once again, let me know your thoughts below. I'll probably update in January, which isn't very far away to be honest. So, see you guys next time :)
