I think I'm getting a little better at updating, but you lot might disagree with me :p
Hope you like it :)
…
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty!" May cried, letting herself into Misty's room and throwing open the curtains.
"No." She moaned, burying herself further under the covers to block out the harsh light.
She's been able to get very little sleep last night, her wind whirling until the very early hours of the morning, going over every painstaking detail of her personal life since that day Ash had first kissed her up until the moment she decided it would be a good idea to sleep with Gary.
"Yes." May replied, jumping on top of Misty and shaking her viciously. "We're due in Suzy's room in twenty minutes."
"Oh yeah, today's the big day." She said.
She'd been so wrapped up in her own problems she's almost forgotten the main reason she was here, to celebrate the love between her best friend and his soon to be wife.
With a deep sigh Misty climbed out of bed, stretching until she heard her back click into place, a content smile on her face.
"Sleep well?" May asked, tilting her head slightly to the side as her eyes raked over her friend.
"What do you think?" Misty yawned.
"No offence, but those bags are going to murder to cover up." She told her, gesturing towards her eyes.
"Good job I've got the best helping me." She smiled.
"I don't know, you're a bit of a mess." She joked, Misty giving her a playful nudge.
Heading over to her cupboard Misty grabbed her bridesmaid's dress, an emerald, chiffon, off the shoulder number that had a slit down one side that was only visible when she walked. Not one to be big headed Misty knew she looked good in the dress, the green contrasted her pale skin perfectly, highlighting her hair and making her eyes pop. When she'd first tried it on she'd been glad to be waltzing around in front of Ash in such a show stopping dress yet now she couldn't care less about his opinion, far more concerned what a certain Gary Oak thought.
"Let's head over." May announced, grabbing her makeup bag and heading towards the door.
"Oh right, sure." She smiled, following May towards the bridal suite.
…
"Gary! Open up!" Ash's annoying cry woke the man from his sleep, shivering slightly at the chill in the room.
Gary rubbed his eyes and glanced around his room, remembering his temper tantrum over something so stupid. He'd long given up with women, refusing to let them get under his skin, but yet somehow the scrappy little red head had done it, got so far deep she'd reached all the way to his heart.
"Coming!" Gary called, pushing himself off the bare bed towards the door.
"What the hell happened in here?" Ash asked, glancing around whirlwind of destruction within the four walls.
"Got into a little disagreement with Misty, no big deal." He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Doesn't look like it." He said. "I've never known Misty to trash a room when she's angry."
"It's not important." Gary snapped, not wanting to admit that he was entirely responsible for the current state of the room. "Now why are you here?"
"Oh right, Brock wants us all to go for breakfast before the wedding as he's already been kicked out his room by the girls." He explained.
"Sure, just let me get dressed and I'll meet you guys there." He said, practically pushing Ash out of his hotel room.
"Okay, see you in a bit." He smiled, somewhat smugly, before he walked out the room.
Closing the door Gary leant his head against the wood with a sigh, today was the wedding therefore effectively ruining his plans to spend the day locked in his bedroom and avoiding Misty. The only silver lining he could find was that this time tomorrow it would be all over, Misty would be completely gone from his life along with all the drama.
But he couldn't help but notice how much that idea upset him.
…
"Suzy! Sit still!" May complained, struggling to wrap her teal hair around the curling iron.
"I'm sorry!" Suzy apologised, making no attempts to still her movements. "I'm just so excited, can you believe in a couple of hours I'm going to be Mrs Suzy Harrison."
"You're going to take his name?" Dawn asked, freezing in her action of applying eyeliner to Misty.
"Of course, why wouldn't I?" She replied, turning towards the girl, causing May to groan loudly as another curl was ruined.
"I don't know." She shrugged.
"Are you not taking Ash's name?" May asked, although she'd been hesitant at first she'd changed her surname to Hayden and she couldn't be happier. When she saw letters addressed to Mr and Mrs D Hayden her heart would always flutter, they were a proper little family.
"I'm not sure, I love Berlitz." Dawn said.
"Doesn't help that Ketchum doesn't go with anything." Misty spoke up for the first time since arriving in Suzy's room.
"Oak works with most names though." Suzy smirked.
"Maybe we should focus on the people who are due to be married rather than me." Misty laughed, but god how badly she wanted to come clean.
She wanted to tell them all she'd faked being with Gary so she hadn't seemed too pathetic but had ended up falling for him anyway. She wanted them to tell her what to do, how she could fix this mess she's made of her life.
Although she appreciated May's advice she felt like she needed more. May was always a realist and to top that she was quite hard-headed, her way was always right and there was no room for negotiations. Whereas Dawn was a romantic and always looked on the positive side of things, and although there was a unspoken rivalry between Misty and her right now she needed some sugar coated advice. Then there was Suzy who was completely unbiased, she'd switch sides of an argument quite frequently offering pros and cons to both sides, she didn't doubt it drove Brock crazy when they got into fights. And Misty was slightly cynical, she would always look for flaws or problems with everything that was suggested for her, but she was sure between the four of them they would be able to come up with a solution.
"You could always double-barrel." May suggested, breaking Misty out her thoughts.
"Berlitz-Ketchum? That's even worse!" Dawn shrieked.
"It's true, it's absolutely terrible." Misty said.
"Hey! Be more supportive." Dawn whined, flicking Misty with a blusher brush.
"Oi!" She laughed, moving away from Dawn's weapon of choice. "I've got to look good, I'm maid of honour remember."
"I'm making sure you don't outshine the bride." Dawn joked.
"Please." May scoffed. "When I'm done with her nobody will stand a chance."
"Really? You don't think I can get my girl looking good?" She challenged.
"I'll wipe the floor with you." She smirked.
With new found determination both girls set to work on their models, both trying to out-do each other with their makeovers. Misty rolled her eyes slightly but allowed herself to be pampered, she wanted to look good today. Although she wasn't ready to admit it she wanted Gary to want her.
…
"So, what was the fight about?" Ash asked, with a mouthful of food.
"Just relationship stuff." Gary groaned, he was surprised Ash had managed to get twenty minutes into breakfast before quizzing him.
"Like what?" He probed.
"Drop it!" He snapped, the whole table falling into an awkward silence at the outburst.
"Sorry I asked." Ash mumbled.
Everyone went back to eating, not wanting to speak up again for fear of saying the wrong thing.
Gary weighed up his options, he could tell the truth, that whatever he and Misty had was now over and had no chances of reconcile. Or he could bluff his way through the rest of the weekend and then let Misty take control over their apparent break up. He chose the first option.
"I think me and Misty broke up." Gary said, effectively shocking everyone for the second time in five minutes.
"How?" Drew asked, the only person at the table who knew every confusing detail of their relationship.
"Just isn't going to work between us in the long run, we're not right for each other." He admitted, hating the words as soon as they left his mouth.
They were right for each other, hell they were practically perfect for each other but they were both too afraid. Too afraid to let themselves love again, too afraid of getting hurt, too afraid to let anyone inside their hearts.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Ash said, sounding the furthest from sincere you could possibly get.
"Surely you can work through it?" Brock asked, not so subtly kicking Ash under the table for his lack of care.
"Just to have the same argument over and over? I don't think so." He shook his head. "You know me boys, I don't really stick around when the going gets tough."
Gary laughed at his statement but even to his ears it sounded hideously fake, all eyes on the table turned sympathetic, all knowing the truth of the situation. He was out of his depth, he was completely lost, Misty had ruined him more than he was willing to admit.
"You're giving up too easily." Drew said, giving him quite a firm look.
"I'm not the only one." He smiled sadly, forcing himself to eat the scrambled egg on his plate, that no longer appealed to him in the slightest.
The conversation soon started up again but Gary didn't get involved, far too concerned with pinpointing where he'd messed up, where he'd hurt Misty. As the food went down his throat he found himself struggling to stop himself from throwing up.
If he'd have known how much trouble the girl was going to cause him he wouldn't have nipped this in the bud at the very beginning.
…
Misty smoothed out her dress as she walked through the entrance of the church, she'd never expected Brock to choose such a grand venue for his wedding – always saying he'd rather elope – but she supposed when you meet the right person you wanted to make a big deal.
She smiled slightly when she saw Ash, he never could quite pull off a suit, the sleek lines always contrasted too much to his unruly hair. He spun on his heel when he noticed the presence of another, a soft smile spreading across his face.
"Wow." He breathed. "You look stunning."
"Thanks." Misty grinned. "You don't look half bad yourself."
"Half bad? Come on, I styled my hair especially for this." He whined.
"You can't tell." She laughed as Ash frowned at her from under his fringe.
"I don't know why I bother." He mumbled.
"Me neither." She agreed, walking over to where he stood and glancing down the aisle.
Brock stood at the top, nervously shifting from foot to foot, looking behind him at every sound, hoping to catch a glimpse of his soon to be wife.
"Brock getting married, who'd have imagined that?" Ash asked with a fond smile.
"Out of the three of us I expected he'd be last." She said.
"Yeah, I always thought we'd be first…" Ash coughed awkwardly at his confession. "I mean to other people."
"I thought the same." She told him, reaching over at giving his hand a slight squeeze.
The pair shared a smile before dropping their hold, turning behind them to see Suzy walking up the stairs, her father by her side with a proud smile on her face. She looked amazing in a simple A-line dress with a decal under her bust and on the lower parts of her skirt and train, eagerly held up by Brock's younger sister.
"You look gorgeous girl." Misty winked, Suzy blushing slightly at the compliment.
"Thanks, so do you." She complimented in return.
"Shall we get this show on the road?" Ash asked, holding his arm out for Misty.
"Yeah, let's go." Suzy smiled, giving her dress one last check.
Misty linked her arm through Ash's arm before making their way down the aisle, leading the progression of bridesmaids and groomsmen. As they walked, Misty glanced at the pews her eyes catching Gary's, the pair stared at each other, the tension thick between them, filled with unanswered questions.
"He told me about the fight." Ash whispered, leaning in close to Misty.
At the sight of Ash being so close to Misty, sharing secrets, Gary forced himself to look away, eyes set dead forward. Who knew how long he'd be able to sit and watch their display before he erupted.
"Who? Gary?" Misty asked, her voice equally hushed.
"Yeah." He nodded. "He seems pretty cut up about and I never thought I'd be saying this but I think you should give him another chance. He means well and he's crazy about you."
Before Misty could respond the pair found themselves at the top of the aisle, forced to separate sides. She offered a quick smile to Brock while Ash slapped him on the back, the man smiling brighter than the pair had ever seen.
Until he turned round to watch his bride walk down the aisle, his mouth spread so wide his cheeks look ready to split, eyes glowing with absolute love and adoration. Misty smiled fondly at the sight, wishing she could find someone to look at her that way.
"You're beautiful." Brock whispered as Suzy arrived at his side, the girl blushing brightly at glancing down at her feet with a shy smile.
"Dearly beloved." The priest boomed. "We are gathered here today to join together Brock Harrison and Suzy Venus in holy matrimony."
Misty glanced back to the pews, staring at Gary who was still stubbornly refusing to reach her eyes. She rolled her eyes fondly at him, the stupid, stubborn man that she'd somehow fallen for, who knows when it had happened but it had. If only she was brave enough to tell him.
But then her mind wandered back to what Ash had said as they'd walked down the aisle, was it possible that Gary returned her feelings. But could she ever really know with Gary? So much of him was an act, a big show he put on for people she could never know what was real and what was fake. Maybe the other morning when he'd said he lied to get her into bed was an act or maybe telling Ash he was upset by their argument was an act.
The question was Misty really ready to put herself out there just to find which one was the real Gary?
"Congratulations, you may kiss the bride." The priest spoke again, breaking Misty out of her thoughts.
She berated herself slightly, wishing she'd paid more attention to the wedding rather than going over every interaction her and Gary had had since they'd met again at that first cocktail party. But as she watched Brock and Suzy kiss, watched the wide smiles that filled their faces once they pulled apart, she realised she'd at least seen the best part.
"It is with great joy and honour that I now present to you Brock and Suzy Harrison."
…
I couldn't remember if I'd already given Suzy a surname so now it's Venus, don't ask why but it came to me for some reason