Monday; November 8th; Leaf's Residence; 4:23 p.m.
Leaf sighed dejectedly towards herself as she threw her backpack on the couch recklessly and ran her hand through her brunette hair. She sat down on the couch, her legs shaking as she constantly recalled the argument she had with Gary. Guilt penetrated her mind, but she just couldn't find herself confronting him. As soon as he had left from her sight, she didn't bother chasing after him, assuming that everything had been too messed up to fix things.
Interrupting her thoughts, the sound of the door unlocking was heard and soon Leaf's dad was seen entering. He smiled at her before closing the door behind him and greeted her. "Hey pumpkin! How was your day? Did you kick ass today?"
Leaf grinned in response, suddenly forgetting about the argument. "No, we lost, but on the bright side, we only trailed behind by one point, so it's still a good loss in my opinion."
He looked at her in slight but yet a mocking shock. "What?!" He yelled dramatically as Leaf let out a sheepish laugh. "You're saying the guys beat you, the pro? What a shame. You worked so hard as well," he said.
She was rendered speechless at his words now, recalling the argument once again, specifically the moment where Gary had confessed he had cheated. Anger infiltrated her veins once again. She felt as if all her hard work and late-night studying had gone to utter waste.
Her dad noticed her quiet demeanour and sat next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong? You look a little down," he said.
She sighed. Maybe keeping this bottled to herself wasn't such a good idea. "Yeah. Gary and I—"
"Broke up?" He finished for her in an eager manner. Leaf shot him a daggered look. "I'm just joking, Leaf," he admitted, escaping a slight chuckle.
After she rolled her eyes, she started to explain, "No, we had a fight. The boys' team won the competition and even though I was slightly disappointed, I was really happy for Gary. But then he told me that right on the last question, he cheated. And that made me angry."
Her dad seemed more confused rather than angry. "Why would he cheat? He's the grandson of a well-known scientist, isn't he?"
She shrugged in response. "He told me that he didn't want to cheat, one of his teammates showed him the answer on his phone and he went for it." He nodded, waiting for her to continue. "But he apologized too," she admitted, recalling his several attempts of apologies.
He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Well if he apologized, then what's the problem?"
She sighed again. "I may have said some things that I didn't mean to say and hurt his feelings," she confessed, her voice small and laced with a guilty expression.
He seemed curious now. "What did you say?"
"I called him a cheater, as in like a sleezeball cheater, but I didn't mean it! It just slipped out!" She exclaimed in distress. "And he just…turned around and walked away from me. I've never seen him like that," she said, her voice small.
Her dad looked at her as if the answer was obvious. "Then why don't you just apologize and get it over with?" Leaf didn't respond, unable to find an answer after scouring her mind to find a legitimate reason. Her silence was enough for him to understand. "Leaf, look, when you're in a relationship, it's a two-way street. You have to meet them halfway. Yes, what Gary did was wrong, but he already apologized. Now you need to do the same and maybe stop being a little stubborn."
Leaf frowned. "But…what if he doesn't forgive me? What if I messed things up too much?"
He gave her a small smile. "Don't you think you're thinking about this too much? And besides, if you don't try, you'll never know. Don't just assume things."
She straightened her lips into a thin line, as she let his words sink in. She definitely didn't want this pointless argument to go on for too long. "You're right, dad." She smiled and reached out to hug him. "Thank you, it means a lot." He returned the hug, glad to have realized his advice worked out in a positive manner.
Leaf removed herself from his embrace. "Wait," she said, raising an eyebrow accusingly towards him. "Why are you helping me, dad? I thought you were wanting to protect me from Gary and whatnot," she said.
He chuckled in response. "I'm your father, Leaf. It's my job to protect you, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sacrifice your happiness for that. Plus, Gary's a good guy from what I've noticed. If he makes you happy, then that's all that matters." His words made her smile widen. This was exactly why she loved her dad; he was always so selfless and caring. "I only wish your mother was here to see this," he said.
A frown developed on her features. When Leaf was around a toddler, her mother had died of cancer. She basically had little to no memory of her mom, but she knew her father had loved her immensely. In fact, ever since she had passed away, her father hadn't moved on from her memories. "You still have me," she tried to assure him weakly, but regardless, he still smiled. "And I still have you."
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, quit being sappy with me and go make up with your boyfriend," he said, resulting in her to laugh.
Tuesday; November 9th; Math; 12:55 p.m
Dawn watched as Mr. Johnson turned around to face the students, holding a stack of papers in his hand. "Okay class, I have your test results here," he announced and then proceeded to call out each student's name and give them their respective papers. When he called out Dawn's name, she was nervous to see her results, mostly because she wasn't looking forward to it.
When she glanced at her grade, she sighed disappointingly, but wasn't surprised in the slightest. Granted, Conway was an exceptional tutor, but she still wasn't accustomed to his style of tutoring as yet.
"Hey, what grade did you get?" May asked from beside her.
She held up her paper for her to see. "I got a C," she confessed with a small sigh. "I need to step up my game; there's just one more test before the final in a month!" She exclaimed.
May raised an eyebrow. "Well I guess that Conway guy's not doing a good job," she reasoned.
Dawn shook her head. "No, he is. I'm just not used to him yet," she said and admittedly, was missing Paul's style of tutoring him. And of course, she was missing him. But she couldn't just blurt that out to her best friend. May would just think she was being ridiculous.
The brunette nodded in understanding before the bell rang, signalling the end of the period. The students started packing their belongings before May and Dawn did the same. They both exited out of the classroom and one of them was about to speak when Dawn's phone started to ring.
She looked at the screen, not recognizing the number before she slid the 'answer' button. "Hello?"
"Hello, Dawn Berlitz?" Dawn recognized the voice; it was Mr. Rowan, the owner of Chancey Fancy. The fact that he was calling her put an eager smile on her face.
"Yes?" Her voice was laced with curiosity and anticipation. Even May looked anxious for her.
She could hear him clearing his throat a bit obnoxiously. "Well, I'm following up on the interview you had with us last week. I'm pleased to inform you that we would love for you to work with us." Dawn grinned happily and looked towards May, who was eager to know what the hell was going on. In response, she mouthed the words, 'I got the job' and the brunette silently squealed.
Dawn realized she was still on the phone with him and cleared her throat. "Thanks so much, Mr. Rowan. When do I start?"
"Well, since you're still a high school student, it'd be preferable if you'd let me know about your schedule so that work doesn't get too much in the way," he explained.
"Oh," she said in understanding, "Um. Well, I have classes around everyday and I end at around four every day."
"Hmm…" he said. Dawn assumed he was thinking before he continued, "Well, does Friday from 5 to 9 and a full shift on Saturday work out for you?"
Dawn nodded, figuring she could work around those timings. "That sounds perfect. I'll be at the restaurant on Friday at five, Mr. Rowan," she said.
"We look forward to it," he said.
The call ended before the girls squealed in delight and hugged each other. "Oh my gosh, congrats!" May exclaimed, extremely ecstatic for her friend.
Dawn laughed. "Thanks!" Even though she was looking forward to the job, she wasn't exactly too ecstatic of sacrificing her freedom. "I guess that means I won't be around much on the weekends," she said.
"Hey," May said, waving her a hand. "Not a big deal, especially when you're making the moolah!" She grinned and the blunette couldn't help but to let out a grin of her own. "Well, anyways, I'm going to meet Drew in a while and tell him something important."
Her eyebrow raised curiously. "And what's that?"
She smiled. "About my past…about Brendan," she confessed. Dawn's eyes widened as a shocked expression replaced her curious one. "I figured it's time he knew, right?"
Dawn nodded, briefly remembering all those incidents where she refused to discuss about her past with anyone other than Leaf and herself. But she was willing to share it with Drew now and that in itself was an achievement. "Yeah, of course. He's your boyfriend now, he deserves to know."
May nodded but sighed. "You don't think he's gonna change my opinion about me, right?"
She shook her head. "Why would he?" she questioned rhetorically. "Trust me, he's practically heads over heels for you. And if decides to judge you then you can dump him and then we can rant about him together," she said jokingly, but she doubed he would do that.
May giggled in response. "Thanks, Dawn. I'll see you later," she said before Dawn nodded in response.
1:25 p.m.
The chartreuse headed male spotted Gary in the Chemistry lab and walked towards him. Gary was currently writing some papers on his desk and didn't see when Drew had come in until he spoke, "Hey man," he said, sitting beside him. "Congrats on the win yesterday. I heard you got a dope laptop. Mind if I see?"
Gary simply shrugged and took it out from his backpack before handing it to him, allowing him to inspect it. "Sweet," Drew commented and then he noticed he was silent…perhaps a bit too silent. Gary resumed to write. "Something bothering you, man?"
"It's nothing," he replied. "But I should be taking that laptop and returning it soon," he said.
Drew seemed confused at his words. "What do you mean?" he asked.
He was silent before he said, "…I didn't exactly win. I cheated at the last question," he explained. Drew was surprised, to say the least. He figured since Gary was practically a prodigy at this subject, there wasn't really a viable reason to cheat his way out. "I didn't want to, but then Tracey showed me the answer on his phone and I just took advantage of the opportunity. So, Leaf's upset with me."
"Ah," he nodded in understanding.
"I apologized but then she called me a cheater, as in a player. Isn't that a bit ridiculous?"
Drew didn't exactly know what to say, considering he had never been in the situation himself. He couldn't imagine if he and May were to ever get into an argument such as that one. "Well, come on man, I'm sure she didn't mean it. You know girls and how they blurt out stuff they don't mean," he said, recalling all those times his mom had yelled out profanities towards him whenever he did something wrong and upset her.
"I guess," he chuckled in response. Then, he let Drew's words sink in. Maybe he had just taken her words with a grain of salt. "Yeah maybe I'm just being ridiculous about this, she was kind of angry." He reasoned.
Drew nodded. "Yeah by the way since I'm with May now, could you give me pointers on how not to get into pointless arguments? Or is that just guaranteed?" He questioned a bit jokingly as the spiky-haired male rolled his eyes in response.
Before Gary could respond, a knock was heard and the two turned to see May at the door. She stood there a bit sheepishly and awkwardly coughed. "Can I talk to you for a few?" She looked towards Drew. By the expression on her face, Drew could insinuate that this was going to be a serious conversation.
"Oh no," he groaned. "Did I do something wrong already? Whatever it is, I'm sorry!" He quickly exclaimed, resulting in Gary snorting to himself and the brunette to raise her eyebrow in confusion. Man, he sure is whipped, Gary thought.
May shook her head. "No, you did nothing wrong…yet," she added with a small smirk. Drew's eyes slightly widened but then she laughed. "I'm just kidding, Drew."
He sighed a breath of relief before standing up from his seat. "Okay, well let's talk somewhere else. Then maybe you can punish me accordingly." He winked, allowing May's jaw to drop as a deep blush was seen across her cheeks. Drew grinned in response and then she grabbed his arm before the two walked outside to gain some privacy.
They kept walking until they stopped in an empty classroom. She closed the door behind her and watched as Drew took a seat, waiting in anticipation. She stood still, biting her lip.
Talking about her past with a person other than her family and closest friends was harder than she thought. But she figured since she was in a relationship with Drew, he'd need to know about her past and all her insecurities. She liked Drew a lot and began to trust him, which was also why he deserved to know.
"Okay, I'm kinda nervous right now," he confessed after witnessing her painful silence.
May smiled and then took a seat next to him. "Me too," she admitted. "But you deserve to know now," she said. Drew was extremely confused at her vagueness and was waiting for her to explain. She took a deep breath before saying, "Well, do you remember all those times when I was constantly flinching around you and trying to avoid you?"
Of course he remembered. That was the time during when he decided to friendzone himself because of how she acted around him. "Yeah why?"
May looked at the floor. "Well, it wasn't only because of you. I acted that way around guys in general," she said, looking up to face him. He still looked confused, so she continued, "I always stayed away from guys because I was afraid they'd hurt me…like my ex Brendan did," she said, releasing a breath she didn't even realize she was holding.
Drew's eyes wavered for a bit, not expecting that from her. He already had a slight idea of how he hurt her, but he wanted to make sure he wasn't making false assumptions. "You mean he…" He trailed off, waiting for her to finish, waiting for her to confirm what he was thinking. But he had a slight hope that maybe what he was thinking wasn't the case.
But then she nodded. "Yeah," she said, her voice small. Memories of the incident came flashing back. "He…he tried to r—"
He didn't let her finish and pulled her towards him as she landed in his lap as he hugged her tightly. He held onto her as if he was trying to prevent her from crumbling and reminiscing those awful memories. Slightly shocked, she smiled and returned the hug with an equal amount of affection. "Thank you," she said, as if she knew what he was doing.
He pulled back and brushed a few strands of her hair back. "I'm sorry that you had to deal with that. No one should have to deal with that," he said, looking into her eyes. May could only smile in response, not finding the words to respond to his genuine kindness. "I promise that I will never do that to you. I'll never hurt you the way he did."
May stared at him in awe. She never imagined that this cabbage head of her boyfriend here could be so caring and sweet. It was overwhelming to the point where she felt like she could melt into a pile of goo. She caressed his cheek with her right palm, as his eyes never faltered from hers.
She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead, his eyes closing in the process. Then she pressed her lips against his closed eyes and watched carefully as he exhaled slowly. His hand tightened around her waist as she kissed his right cheek and then the corner of her lips.
He felt his face burn as her lips touched his skin and he groaned before he closed his mouth on hers. Both of their hearts were beating wildly out of their chests as he deepened the kiss. He broke the kiss and muttered, "Arceus, you're going to be the death of me," he said, kissing her forehead.
May grinned, satisfied to know he felt the same way. "You too."
Drew cleared his throat. "How long were you guys dating if you don't mind me asking?"
She shrugged nonchalantly. "About six months, give or take a few."
He blew a breath. "Six months with a douche like him? Geez," he said, resulting in her escaping a slight laugh. "Well, I'm glad everything's okay now." He smiled.
She returned the smile. "Me too."
Gary packed his belongings and placed his backpack around his shoulders. He had made the decision to talk to Leaf, since he had been ignoring her calls. He walked outside of the chemistry lab, as he took out his phone and was about to type a message when he heard a familiar voice call out his name. "Gary?"
He looked up from his phone screen with a pleasant smile on his face. Leaf was standing a few inches away from him with a basket in her right hand. He was about to question about the basket, but then she spoke, interrupting his thoughts. "Hey," she said, returning the smile and then sighed soon after. "Look, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have overreacted about you cheating."
Gary shook his head. "No, you had every right to. I guess I just wasn't thinking straight, but believe me, I didn't have the intention to do it all."
She smiled. "I know. You don't need to explain yourself, and besides, you already apolgized. But I haven't really done the same," she said. "I didn't mean to imply that you constantly mess around with girls. I know you're not that type of guy. It just slipped out, I swear. And I'm really sorry," she finished, exhaling in the process. She watched as Gary's smile slowly widened and formed into a grin. "Why are you smiling?"
Gary shook his head in slight amusement. "I don't know, really. You're just cute," he said, taking small steps towards her and then he closed the distance between them as he reached out to hug her. Leaf let out a grin of her own and hugged him with her free hand. "So we're good right?" he mumbled against her shoulder.
She pulled back and sneakily smiled. "Depends. Do you guys still have that trophy?" she asked.
Gary wasn't sure what she was insinuating. "Yeah, why? Do you want it?"
Leaf nodded and then handed him the basket. "Only if you take this," she said vageuly. He raised an eyebrow in curiousity as he grabbed the handle and then removed the cover, only to reveal chocolate cupcakes. He laughed when he realized she remembered that his favorite dessert was in fact, chocolate cupcakes (or anything with chocolate, really).
He grabbed a cupcake from the basket. "Deal. What about the laptop?"
She shrugged. "It doesn't matter. You keep it." He was about to protest when she cut him off, "No arguments, mister. You're keeping it whether you like it or not." She ordered, crossing her arms in the process.
He rolled his eyes, but a hint of a smile was seen on his lips. "Fine, but only because I like you." He bit into the cupcake and sighed in satisfaction when the chocolate frosting melted onto his tongue. "This is amazing, wow."
"Hey! Haven't you ever heard of sharing?" Leaf pouted, putting her hands on her hips expectedly.
He smirked, motioning the cupcake over to her mouth so she could bite into it, but before she could, he instantly retracted the delicious treat and took another bite out of it, while she dropped her jaw in shock. But when she saw some choclate frosting left on the corner of his lip, she smirked to herself as she leaned in and cupped his face, catching him off guard a bit. She kissed the corner and licked the frosting off. "Yeah this is pretty good," she said, satisfied with herself seeing Gary in a somewhat daze.
His eyes narrowed accusingly at her. "Tease."
She stifled a laugh before he pulled her back for a real kiss.
Friday; November 12th; Chancey Fancy; 4:55 p.m.
Dawn entered the restaurant, letting a nervous breath out as she tried to calm herself. She glanced around looking for Mr. Rowan, but when she couldn't locate him, she decided to walk up to one of the other waitresses.
One of them was currently at a table and she seemed to be with a customer, writing down an order in a tiny notebook. Her honey-blonde hair was tied into a high ponytail and she was currently wearing a white formal top with a black skirt.
Dawn walked up to her after she was done with the customer. "Hi, I'm Dawn, and I got hired here recently. Do you know where Mr. Rowan is?" she asked, briefly looked at the nametag on her chest: Serena.
Serena returned the smile. "Oh, hi! I'm Serena, it's so nice to meet you," she said, holding out her hand and Dawn accepted it before their hands quickly slipped out after. "And yes, but Mr. Rowan isn't currently in right now. He had to leave for personal reasons, but he told me about you." Dawn nodded in understanding. "He told me to train you today," she said.
Dawn nodded as Serena started to explain, "Okay so basically, you just greet the customer with proper etiquette. You know like, 'Good day, sir, what can I get you?' and all that jazz," she said, and Dawn smiled at her attempt to make the training process more light-hearted. "And write down their order so you don't forget, even if it's just one item or a glass of water. It's easy to forget," she said wisely before Dawn nodded in response.
"Oh," Serena said in realization before she walked over to an empty table and grabbed a menu, then approached Dawn again, "I suggest you look over the menu—"
"No need to worry, this is my favourite restaurant, I practically know the menu blindfolded," she assured her with a small giggle.
She grinned. "Working at your favourite restaurant…that must be exciting," she reasoned.
Dawn shrugged. "I'm actually a bit nervous," she admitted.
"You'll be fine," Serena said, "It happens to everyone." She assured her. "Why don't you talk to a customer now and try to get their order?" She suggested.
Dawn turned around to see a few unfamiliar people enter the restaurant and they all gathered around a table before taking their seats. She reluctantly nodded before Serena handed her a palm-held notebook and a pen. Exhaling, she walked over to where the group was currently sitting.
"Good evening, I'm Dawn, and I'll be your server today. Can I get you anything?"
Paul was currently checking out library books for students while Gretchen was currently helping a student. Speaking of Gretchen, she'd always question about the current lack of relationship between him and Dawn, much to his annoyance. Almost everyone was questioning him about Dawn and it didn't exactly help in attempting to forget about her; it was becoming aggravating, to say the least.
Every time someone did bring up her name, however, a weird feeling would rise towards the pit of his stomach and he'd feel goose-bumps tickle his skin. He'd envision her wide smile and how her sapphire eyes sparkled almost every time that she did smile. He'd hear her quirky yet contagious little laugh that would make his heart do a little somersault.
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Conway approach him with a book in his hand. His body stiffened and for some reason, he didn't want to engage in small talk, even if it was only meant for the sole purpose of checking out the book.
"I'd like to check out this book," he started before he realized who he was talking to. "Wait a minute…" he said, rubbing his chin in thought. "Paul Shinji, correct?"
Paul mentally sighed to himself before he reluctantly nodded. "Yes," he responded with little to no emotion.
"Ah, of course. Math prodigy and Dawn's…'friend'," he said, emphasizing on the word 'friend'. Paul raised an eyebrow in confusion, not understanding what he was trying to insinuate.
Still, he responded, "We're not friends," he told him before he received the book from him and started to type something out on the computer screen in front of him. He handed the book back to Conway.
Conway recalled the way Dawn had confessed that very same statement a few days ago this week. But even still, he could tell how much she liked him. She would constantly talk about him during their tutoring sessions, much to his disappointment. "Really?" He feigned shock. "That's preposterous!" He exclaimed as dramatically as possible.
Paul didn't exactly know how to respond to that. "…What do you mean?"
"She constantly talks about you whenever I'm trying to tutor you. Rambles on and on about you, to be honest," he admitted, watching Paul's expression very carefully.
Just when he thought his demeanour had changed, Paul's nonchalant expression quickly returned. "So?" He feigned lack of interest.
He gave him a knowing look. "The fact is that you both miss each other, regardless of how much you try to deny it." Paul was about to mutter something before he quickly intervened, "And if you keep denying it, then I might just make a move," he said, shrugging.
Paul's body stiffened again, and he swore his heart stopped for a split second. "What?" he spat, and he was surprised his voice came out harsher than he intended.
He grinned, his predictions turning out to be true. "Ah, but of course, even you can notice that I happen to have feelings for Dawn. And how can I not?" While it was true that he liked Dawn, he was painfully aware that these two had strong feelings for each other, aside from Paul himself. Conway watched as Paul gritted his teeth in anger.
"Go ahead. I really couldn't care less," he said, but his tone sounded irritated yet again.
He adjusted his glasses as he realized that Paul was a hard nut to crack. "I'd do it tonight, but she's working right now. Wouldn't be the appropriate time." He explained, and Paul was internally wishing he'd divert the topic or at the very best, leave from sight. "Well, anyway, good talk."
Paul sighed a breath of relief before he unintentionally granted his wish and left from the library, but instead of him being aggravated, he felt himself burning on the inside. The thought of Conway having feelings for the blunette just irked him even more than usual.
He mentally groaned to himself, absolutely confused with himself.
5:56 p.m.
Dawn carried platters of food to the group before they all muttered a small thanks. She smiled, satisfied with herself and walked back to where Serena was. "Wow, that was a lot easier than I thought it'd be," she said.
Serena nodded. "Yup, but don't get too comfortable. It can get busy during rush hour," she said, matter-of-factly.
Dawn made a mental note of that piece of information before she looked around, curiously. "So, is it just the two of us?" she asked, noticing the lack of employees.
Serena shook her head in response. "No, the other co-worker should be here in a few minutes. She's a little shy and all, but she's really nice. And of course, there's the cook, Brock. You should meet him later, he's really awesome," she said, before Dawn nodded in response.
They both turned their attention towards the door when it opened, revealing Mr. Rowan. He was wearing a large thick white overcoat and black shoes. His stern expression didn't falter as he looked towards the girls. "I'm very sorry about having to leave," he said and then looked at Dawn. "How are you holding up on the job, Dawn?"
Dawn realized he seemed a lot less intimidating in person than on the phone. She smiled. "Oh, I think I'm getting the hang of it." She informed him before he nodded in response.
"Good," he responded, his stern voice taking over, "If you need me, I'll be in the back room." Both girls nodded before he walked away.
Just then, the door opened again, revealing a young teen girl, and Dawn realized it was the other co-worker. She had blonde hair as well, only it was much lighter than Serena's, and emerald green eyes. She looked about the same age as Dawn and Serena.
Serena walked over to the girl and they both approached Dawn. "Dawn, this is Lillie and Lillie, this is our new co-worker, Dawn."
Dawn sported a heart-warming smile and stretched out her hand before Lillie bit her lip a bit timidly as she shook her hand. "Nice to meet you," she said, her voice barely audible.
"See, I told you she was shy," Serena said playfully as she bumped hips with Lillie. The lighter blonde widened her green eyes before Dawn giggled.
Lillie glared at the honey blonde. "I'm only shy when meeting people for the first time," she retorted, as she began to pout.
"I'm just messing with you, Lil," Serena responded, laughing in the process.
Dawn smiled to herself. Her co-workers seemed nice and friendly enough to get along with. She was about to say something when she noticed a few customers enter the building.
Dawn approached a table where a familiar blonde student from school was sitting alongside with an older looking figure. "Hello, my name's Dawn and I'll be your server tonight. Can I get you anything?" she asked, as she looked for a blank page in the notebook and clicked her pen.
The blonde boy looked over the menu that was placed on the table. "I'll have the veggie burger with a side of fries, but can you remove the tomato? I hate tomatoes," he admitted with a sheepish smile. Dawn nodded, writing the order down before she looked at the older gentleman, whom she was assuming was the father.
His voice was much deeper and a bit powerful, but not as intimidating as Rowan's. "I'll do a bowl with brown rice, beans, corn, and all the other toppings aside from broccoli. Oh, and a small vanilla milkshake," he said.
After Dawn wrote down the order, she looked over at the two. "Coming right up, it'll only take a few minutes," she said, sending them a friendly smile before she walked away.
When she finished shouting the order to Brock, who could be seen from a small window as he began stirring items into a pan, she noticed another person enter the restaurant, but she stopped herself from walking when she realized it was Paul. She watched as he walked over to an empty booth and picked up the menu. What's he doing here? She thought. Fortunately, Serena had walked over to where Paul was, and Dawn sighed a breath of relief, not ready to face him.
Dawn found herself nervous for some reason and the nervousness was only escalating when she realized it was solely because of his presence here, and the thought of him noticing her.
Arceus, did she like him that much?
A bell rung, signalling that an order was ready, and Dawn looked back to see platters of food out. She carefully grabbed the two platters and started to walk over to the table, but not before glancing at Paul.
That was when Paul located her and locked eyes with hers. Dawn stopped walking, feeling trapped and now a bit self-conscious when she realized she was caught staring. Paul didn't avert his gaze, but Dawn remembered she had a job to do and started to walk again but kept stealing glances towards him.
Not watching where she was going, her foot got caught against the foot of a chair and she stumbled against it, before the platters of food spilled and landed on the customers' clothes. Dawn, who was absolutely mortified, covered her mouth with her free palms, in complete shock at what she had done.
The restaurant turned silent and she felt all eyes on her, only adding to her embarrassment.
"What the hell?!" The blonde stood up from his seat, but the father remained seated, grabbing a napkin and tried to clean his shirt. "I'm going to fine you for this! Now pay up!" He exclaimed, flailing his arms in a highly dramatic fashion.
Dawn didn't know what to say or how to react. "I am so sorry about that—"
"What's going on here?" A stern familiar voice intervened, and Dawn turned around to see it was Mr. Rowan. Oh shit, she thought. I'm going to get fired for sure. He walked past Dawn and towards the disappointed customers.
"Look at us!" He exclaimed, pointing to the large mess on their clothes. "I didn't exactly want our foods to be on our clothes!"
"Barry," the older man said in a warning tone, "Calm down. It was an accident. Now behave yourself and sit down. Stop making a scene!"
"But dad—"
"But nothing! Now sit!"
When Barry seemed calm as he sat down, Mr. Rowan spoke, "I'm very sorry about the mess that my employee caused," he said, as guilt seeped through Dawn's veins. "We will give your meal for free and we'll pay for your dry cleaning."
"Thank you very much," Barry's father said before Mr. Rowan nodded in response.
Meanwhile, Dawn was on the verge of just crapping her pants. On top of being embarrassed, she was also going to get fired. He looked at her and said something she would have least expected. "Go on your break, Dawn," he said. She widened her eyes. "You have a half hour." Her shocked expression didn't falter but she slowly nodded.
Dawn walked out of the restaurant and let out several small breaths, rubbing her arms with her palm in an effort to calm herself. She was on the verge of crying; she had never been that embarrased in her life.
She turned around, only to see Paul close the door behind her. Suddenly, she realized that the whole reason why this happened was because of him and she grew angry at the thought. "Why are you here? Haven't you hurt me enough?!" She found herself yelling, her voice a bit hoarse now.
He was admittedly a bit taken aback at the harshness of her voice, even though he deserved it. But he realized she was insinuating that this was his fault. "What? Don't blame me for your clumsy ass," he said.
"I am not clumsy! You just kept staring at me! Who does that?!" Dawn retorted. "And now because of you, I'm probably going to get fired!" She then realized something. "This was your plan wasn't it? Show up and then somehow make me mess up only to get fired?" Admittedly, it felt a bit odd yelling at him, but in her defense, she was having a rough time.
Paul looked at her as if she had grown two heads. "I don't need to be here for you to mess up. You're perfectly capable of that on your own," he protested, which only made her anger escalate to new heights.
She pushed against his chest and he stumbled back a bit. "You're an insufferable jerk!" Push. "You don't care about anyone other than yourself!" Another push. "Don't you think I have feelings too?!" Push. "You've just been treating me like shit!" She yelled, looking directly at him, not even recognizing the proximity they were currently in.
Somehow, that only made Paul feel angry as well: angry at himself. Everything she was saying was nothing but the truth.
She attempted to push against his chest again, but he grabbed her hands and instead turned her around and pushed her against the front wall of the restaurant. Dawn widened her eyes and her lips parted in surprise, as her heart started to beat unconsciously at the close proximity. His palms were circled tightly around her wrists against the wall, caging her in the process.
His onix eyes bored into her sapphire blue ones and for some reason, his heart was beating as well. "You deserve it," he said. "A person like you deserves it."
Dawn tried to control her shaky breaths and was attempting to maintain her angered expression, which was becoming difficult when she could inhale nothing but his cologne. "I know that's not the truth, Paul. So, stop lying to me and stop lying to yourself," she said.
That seemed to have caught him off guard and his intense gaze faltered as he released her wrists, allowing Dawn to bring her hands to her sides. "I was right," she suddenly said. "You know that I don't deserve this kind of treatment. So why are you doing it?"
His hands curled into fists. How was she able to figure that out in such a short time? "Shut up."
"You don't think I crashed into Reggie at all!" She continued. "You're just—"
"I said, shut up," Paul repeated, looking at her intensely once again.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Arceus, you're such a jerk."
"And you're annoying," he told her.
"Prick."
"Pathetic."
"Asshole."
"Klutz."
Annoyed, she pushed against his chest again. "I'm not a klutz!"
He refrained from rolling his eyes. However, before Paul could say anything, he saw Mr. Rowan close the door behind him and look towards Dawn. "Dawn, your break is over, you can come back inside now," he said. Dawn quickly nodded before she glared at Paul again and soon walked inside, leaving Paul with his thoughts and his beating heart.
He stood there for a while, processing what had just happened. This sort of back and forth argument was new for him. He briefly recalled the time when he had given her an earful just because she had asked to see his painting. But this was different. It wasn't like their usual heavy arguments where he'd usually ignore her for a few days. This was much more riveting and fun, admittedly.
He shook his head in a bit of amusement, before walking away.
We are so close towards the ikarishipping yay! The ship is sailing :D There should only be a couple chapters before Dawn and Paul become official and I can't wait! This is probably my favorite moment between them in the entire story now. I actually discussed this whole banter idea with a friend and he gave me some ideas, so thanks :) You know who you are :P
I sure am glad that Gary and Leaf made up (and I'm the author xD). I guess I don't like it where arguments go on for too long, but I still feel like it should be there because well no one is perfect and everyone is bound to make mistakes.
Thanks for reading as always and see you next timeeeee!
