Guys! I got my first piece of criticism the other day :) I must be making something of myself if I'm getting that! All the greatest people in the world couldn't get where they are today without some people hating their work, don't worry I am in no way comparing myself to great people :p also this does not mean I now want you all to give me shit loads of criticism, I still like nice reviews, and the chances are I shall ignore it ;) I'm well aware that I'm not the best writer hence why I'm on here rather than being a published writer. Still a little proud of myself, I have haters lol ;p
Hope you all like it :)
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A large grin soon began to fill Ash's face as he continued to stare, Misty only able to offer a small smile in return.
Taking this as encouragement Ash began making his way through the crowd in her direction. Misty's eyes frantically scanned the room, looking for someone, anyone, who could save her from having to talk to Ash.
"Misty!" He called out as he got closer, it was too late now she had to face him.
Misty sighed to herself, she hadn't even had a drink yet. She glanced to her right slightly, seeing a couple stood next to her their two full glasses on the table unattended, could she take one without them noticing. Before she had a chance to act she felt herself being wrapped up in Ash's arm, breathing in his familiar scent.
"Hi Ash." Misty said, wrapping her arms around him.
"Hey." He muttered, pulling her closer. Neither one said another word, just content in holding each other.
How long could you hug someone before it became weird, Misty wondered. When they reached the 20 second mark she forced herself to pull back. The pair looked down at their feet, avoiding eye contact, Ash nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
"So, how've you been?" Ash finally asked.
"Great, thanks. You?" She forced a smile, forgetting Ash would be able to tell it was fake.
"Yeah, I've been okay."
"What've you been doing with yourself? It's been so long since I last saw you." Misty laughed, hoping to ease the tension.
"Two years and three months." Ash nodded, no hint of a smile on his face. "What happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"To us, we always said no matter what happened we'd stay friends."
"Yeah, well when you've been dumped it's kind of hard to stick to those things." Misty crossed her arms.
"I didn't dump you." Ash said, looking into her eyes.
"Well I sure as hell didn't end things with us."
"It's not that simple Mist." She inwardly cringed at the old nickname.
"I can't do this right now Ash, I'm here for Brock's wedding not to dissect everything that went wrong in our relationship." Ash sighed, typical Misty avoiding talking whenever it came to her feelings.
"Misty, I…" Ash stopped talking when he felt an arm snake around his waist.
"There you are!" A bubbly voice cried, Misty raised an eyebrow as the bluenette lifted up onto her tiptoes before placing a kiss on Ash's cheek.
"Dawn?" Misty asked.
"Misty! Oh my god." She released Ash and soon wrapped her arms around Misty. "I didn't expect you to be here." She took a step and returned to her place next to Ash.
"Yeah, me being at my best friend's wedding is quite the shocker." Misty said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Well putting it like that I do feel a bit stupid." Dawn laughed. "I thought Ash would have at least mentioned you were coming." She looked up at him.
"I didn't know she would be." Ash said, eyes never leaving Misty.
"So you two…?" Misty gestured between the two of them.
"Yeah." Dawn smiled widely.
"That's great, wonderful, amazing, perfect." Misty smiled, but Ash noted that it didn't reach her eyes.
"I certainly think so." Dawn said, unaware of the tension.
"I'm so happy for you. May you succeed where I spectacularly failed."
"Right." Dawn said uneasily.
"Misty…" Ash started but Misty wouldn't let him finish.
"I'm really happy for you guys, I hope you have a wonderful life together."
"What about you Misty?" Dawn asked, tilting her head to one side. "Here alone?" She gave the girl a sympathetic smile, causing Misty to scowl.
"No, I'm here with my boyfriend." As soon as she said it she regretted it.
"Really?" Ash asked. "Who is he?"
"Where is he?" Dawn asked, excited.
"Who is he?" Ash repeated.
"He's just at the bar getting us some drinks." Misty lied, this was not going to work out for her in the long run, she couldn't keep pretending her imaginary boyfriend was off doing errands. She could always say he got ill and went home, it was an option.
"Which one?" Dawn asked, scanning the bar.
"I'm not sure." Misty said, glancing over her shoulder. "I mean, I can't see him, he might have gone back to the room, he wasn't feeling great." She turned back to the couple.
"Oh, that's a shame." Dawn smiled sadly. "Hope he feels better soon."
"Yeah, I probably should go look for him." Misty said, giving her excuses and looking around again when her eyes froze on a particular man.
Gary, fuck. He'd come over here with drinks and Dawn would pounce on him, questioning how long he'd been with Misty, how they got together, when they got together, she needed to escape now.
"Oh there he is!" Misty called out. "I'll just go help him with the drinks."
"He's a big boy, I'm sure he can handle two drinks." Dawn laughed.
"Yeah, but I really should…" She turned to leave but Dawn took hold of her wrist.
"Just stay." She smiled.
"Yeah, we'd love to meet him." Ash practically growled.
"And you will, just let me get him first then…"
"Here you go Red." Gary had arrived at the group and handed Misty her drink, shit it was too late.
She glanced over to the couple, Dawn's face beaming with a smug smile, Ash's eyes wide with surprise.
"Hi." Gary said awkwardly when he realised he was being stared down.
"Gary?" Ash shouted. "You're dating Gary?"
"Huh?" Gary turned to look at Misty in confusion, she mouthed a quick apology and offered him a small smile.
"Ash, sweetie, don't shout." Dawn scolded before turning to the supposed couple. "So how long has this been going on?"
Misty sighed, ready to come clean and admit she was lying when Gary got in there first.
"It's a new thing. A very new thing." He smirked in Misty's direction. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, what was he doing?
"Exactly how new?" Ash asked in a cold voice.
"Three months." Misty said, if Gary was playing along no harm in her doing so as well.
"Three months? Great, how exciting." Ash scowled.
"What's up your ass Ashy-boy?" Gary asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy.
"Nothing." He crossed his arms.
"I knew it!" Dawn cried, stopping the two men from their glaring contest.
"Knew what?" Misty asked, tearing her eyes away from Ash and Gary.
"That you two liked each other, of course. I always thought there was so much sexual chemistry between you, I mentioned it once to Ash back when we were about 18, he just scoffed at the time but looks like I was right." Her smug smile returned after her story.
"Always knew you liked me Red." Gary laughed, wrapping his arm around her.
"How could I not?" Misty muttered, resisting the urge to push him off.
"So how did you get together?" Dawn asked.
"Funny story actually." Gary smiled, Misty bit her lip nervously, where was he going with this? "Misty was helping out with some research I was doing about water Pokémon, so we're driving to some lake and we get a flat and I'd forgotten a spare tire." He laughed. "In typical Misty style she's blaming me, screaming that she's going to end up dying here, don't get me wrong I'm giving as good as I got, properly going at it at the side of the road. Then next thing I know she's on me and I'm ravishing her in the back of my car." Misty buried her head in embarrassment into Gary's shoulder, why did she let him tell the 'story' of how they got together. "Haven't been able to stay away since." He winked when Misty finally looked up at him.
"Wonderful." Ash muttered, mental images that he really didn't want flashing through his mind.
"Don't think I would have expected any less from you two." Dawn laughed. "So who asked who?"
"Dawn, let's stop questioning them." Ash fake laughed.
"What about you two? How long have you been together?" Misty asked, trying to take the focus off her.
"A year."
"We met up for catch up drinks, and just clicked." Dawn smiled.
"That's sweet." Misty took a big swig of her drink.
"I think I'll get a drink." Dawn said, watching Misty. "Want anything honey?"
"A beer." He smiled as Dawn walked away, leaving just the three of them stood there.
Without Dawn nobody could bring themselves to speak, too much tension hung in the air.
"Well, this is a surprise." Ash finally said.
"That's exactly what I said when she went down on me behind the car." Gary smirked.
"Gary!" Misty called out, even after all these years he clearly loved nothing more than to wind Ash up.
"Where's Dawn with my drink?" Ash smiled awkwardly, looking for her, more mental images assaulting his mind.
Gary pulled Misty closer to him and buried his head in her hair.
"We need to talk." He whispered, his breath in her ear causing shivers down her spine.
"Later, I promise." Misty said, stepping back.
"Maybe I'll go find her." Ash mumbled, trying to get away so he didn't have to stand here and wonder what Misty promised Gary would happen later, his mind already assuming the worst.
"I'm going to go find May, give you guys a chance to catch up, if I see Dawn I'll hurry her up." Misty smiled before turning to leave.
"Catch you later gorgeous." Gary said, giving Misty's ass a squeeze as she went, he was enjoying this.
Misty closed her eyes and took a deep breath before carrying on, she instantly regretting not coming clean.
"She's not just one of your sluts." Ash crossed his arms.
"I never said she was." Gary shrugged.
"I mean it, she deserves the best."
"And I plan to provide her with that, because we all know you clearly couldn't."
The comment hit a nerve with Ash but he refused to rise to the bait, despite the fact his hands had balled into fists at his side.
"Treat her right." Ash said before brushing past Gary and finding Dawn.
Gary glanced over his shoulder as he left, no matter what happened when it came to Misty Ash was always the same, overbearing, overprotective and hopelessly dense.
…
"I don't understand how this happened?" Ash asked Dawn, pacing their hotel room.
"I fail to see the issue." Dawn sat on the bed watching him.
"This is Gary we're talking about."
"So? He seems to make Misty happy, why should we question it?" Dawn asked.
"We saw them together for all of five minutes, how can you be sure she's happy?" He asked, finally stopping pacing and turning to look at her.
"I can just tell." Dawn shrugged.
"No, it's not right. After they talked to us they were barely together for the rest of the evening."
"So they're not joined at the hip? Doesn't mean they don't work as a couple."
"But Gary doesn't even do relationships, three months must be some kind of record for him." Ash called out.
"Well if anyone's going to whip him into shape it would be Misty, she's a strong woman, don't think she'd stand for any of his shit." Dawn said in admiration.
"Yeah, that's true." Ash said, sitting down on the bed. "I just don't get why I'm having such a hard time processing this!" He groaned.
"It's always hard to see an ex with someone else." Dawn said in small voice.
"It's not that Dawn, she's just… I'm worried about her." Ash sighed.
"Why?" She asked, crawling to the edge of the bed so she was next to him.
"This just isn't like her." He shook his head.
"Look, I know you care deeply about Misty, she's your best friend, and you're not the biggest fan of Gary…"
"Understatement." Ash scoffed.
"But they're together now and the more you fight it the more they're going to push you away." Dawn rubbed his shoulders.
"I've only just got back on speaking terms with Misty."
"Exactly, even more reason to tread carefully. She's a smart girl, she knows what she's doing."
"I guess." Ash's head dropped so he was staring between his legs at the worn carpet underneath him.
"Now stop worrying about Gary and Misty." She turned his head so he was facing her. "There are more important things." She said, lightly kissing his lips.
"Too true." He smirked, kissing her and pinning her down on the bed. Successfully taking his mind off Misty, for now at least.
…
Misty leant against the wall waiting for the lift, heels in her hand, tired from the long evening.
"Hey, half-pint!" Gary called from the other end of the corridor.
She turned round to see him walking towards her.
"Coming?" She asked once he reached her and stepped into the lift.
He followed in after her and pressed his floor button, Misty sighed slightly when she realised they were on the same floor.
"So, when did I become your boyfriend?" He asked, smug smile on his face.
"You weren't meant to be my boyfriend." Misty crossed her arms.
"Wasn't even first choice? That's heart-breaking." He laughed.
"Nobody was meant to be my boyfriend." Misty exclaimed, walking out the lift when it reached her floor.
"What are you talking about?" Gary asked, catching up to her.
"I just panicked, I couldn't stand the patronising look Dawn was giving me. I could practically hear her mind working." Misty clenched her fists slightly.
"Okay, and what exactly was she thinking?"
"That I was pathetic!" Misty shouted. "With her smug little smile, she's got Ash now and she wanted nothing more than to see me miserable and alone."
"But you kind of are." Gary stated.
Misty whirled round to look at him, her eyes burning with rage.
"Thanks for that Gary, that's really helped the situation."
"Sorry." He half smiled, Misty rolled her eyes and carried on walking.
"You can break up with me tomorrow if you really want, right now I couldn't give a shit." She stopped once she'd reached her door, searching for her key.
"I'm not going to do that." He said towards her back.
"Why not?" She looked up from her bag and turned to face him.
"Because you don't need that right now, and if it means fucking with Ash every now and then I'm more than happy to help." Gary laughed.
"You don't have to." Misty said, leaning against her door.
"Maybe I want to." He took a step closer to her, his body pressed against hers.
"Why?" She looked up, without her heels she felt even smaller against his overwhelming frame.
"Who knows? Maybe because old habits with Ashy-boy die hard or maybe because we're friends and I'd do anything to see a smile on that beautiful little face of yours." He gave Misty a light touch on her chin before detaching himself and walking away down the corridor.
Misty stood in shock, watching him leave, her mind reeling and her heart beating in extra time. Barely able to process Gary's words she opened her hotel room door and threw herself onto the bed. She could barely work out how she felt about seeing Ash again and Gary was just making her more confused.
Pulling a pillow over her head she tried to push all thoughts out of her mind and fall asleep, which was proving to be easier said than done.
…
Please review :) thanks