As they made their way to the cooking area neatly set up for them, May whispered to Drew, "Drew….do you really have to wear sunglasses inside?"
He lowered his sunglasses, whispering back, "It's called a disguise, Maple."
She raised her eyebrows, staring at his chartreuse hair before deciding not to retort.
The chef turned around, "Here, let's get you situated, m'kay? My name is Edna. As you know, we will be teaching you how to cook proper Galarian curry. Just curious, and no judgement whatsoever, but do you two have any experience with cooking?"
May smiled brightly, "Well...I don't cook very often...but I am known to make a great pokeblock! I call it 'May's Purple Surprise.' My Munchlax loves it."
Drew muttered under his breath, "it was a surprise for sure." May shot him a glare. He smiled confidently, ignoring his annoyed companion, "I have some experience cooking, but I'm definitely very far from where I'd like to be."
The chef smiled at the small, unspoken exchange, "Well, that's perfect. Don't worry. I can guarantee that no matter how much or how little experience you have, this curry will turn out wonderfully. The only thing you should decide is what kind of curry you would like to make."
She walked back to the front of the room, and gestured for everyone to look at the laminated sheet on each of their cooking setups.
"The flavor of the curry you will be making is up to you. The beauty of Galarian curry is that the flavor is completely dependent on the berries you put in. I recommend up to 10 - too much is not necessarily a good thing. I'd like everyone to choose up to ten berries right now and place it into the pots in front of you. Then turn on the heat."
Drew turned to look at May, who nodded. In went the Liechi berries.
"I also think we should put Petaya berries. Spicy and bitter, you know?"
For once the two were in complete agreement. In went the Petaya berries, and next the Apicot berries.
May stared at the black berry with white streaks running across it. It looked like the night sky, reminiscent of the starry nights of Blackthorn. Drew noticed her steady glance on the berry, and smiled.
"Enigma? Pretty cool name. Let's add that one in too?"
She nodded. Calmly, the two coordinators quickly found eight berries to put into the pot and sat contently waiting. The atmosphere in the room around them was rather tense.
Their tablemates to the right were extraordinarily tense. The woman shouted at the man, "Why would you put in Aspear berries? You know I hate sour foods." Her boyfriend shouted right back, "I let you put in Cheri berries. Do you know how much of a strain spicy foods put on my stomach? Why does everything have to go your way?! I'm sick of it, Cherry."
All around the room, chaos ensued. The once romantic, sweet atmosphere of the class was no more. The Galarian cafe had now become a battleground. May hummed silently, feeling relieved that their berry choosing had gone rather smoothly. She squeezed Drew's hand. He looked at her, relief in his smile. Suddenly, crash!
"Cherry! I'm leaving." The man to the right had shoved the pot with the berries off the table.
The woman yelled, "Fine! Just leave… you're the worst!" she was sobbing uncontrollably, before she too took off, slammed the door, and took off in the opposite direction.
The chef, nonplussed, continued the lesson. "Next up is the stirring. I'll come round and help all of you, but essentially we want to see moderation! Don't stir too quickly or too slowly!"
Drew smiled, "Wanna stir fir- what are you doing, May?"
She looked at him, oran berries in hand. She faux pouted, "Snacking. Want one?"
Drew was frankly starving, as they had forfeited lunch in the hopes of making this Galarian curry. He shrugged, "Why not?" and muttered a quick "thanks," as she heaped a handful of Oran berries into his hand. Soon enough, the oran berries ran out. Drew stared at the selection, before motioning, "here, let's have some pecha berries next." He handed her the basket, and she placed it in between them.
Suddenly, the two coordinators felt burning rage and a shiver went down their spine simultaneously. All of a sudden, the kind Chef Edna had disappeared. The woman radiated anger as she yelled, "NO, and I repeat, NO EATING BERRIES. Do you know the amount of effort it takes to grow the berries and harvest them?! You're disgusting, the both of you."
May opened her mouth to speak and shift the blame onto herself but before then, she noticed Drew glaring right back, "It may have been wrong of us to eat it, and we're sorry about that. But you don't have the right to speak to us this way. Apologize."
Edna heard this and smoke seemingly came out of her ear. May looked around, seeing all eyes on them. A younger May would have been furious, but older May - present May - thought to herself, if we stay here and continue this argument, we won't be having lunch for a long time. Plus, Drew is angry. He's almost never angry. This is not good, before pulling Drew's arm and yelling "We're leaving! Have a good day." As they ran into the street, with the chef yelling at them, "You come right back here youngsters!" Drew frowned at May.
"Why'd you do that?"
She stared at him, a bit out of breath - as they made their way into a convenience store. "You know… I remember you told me in Johto after Goldenrod to 'pick your battles carefully.' That's what I'm doing for us. We don't have to waste our time fighting a battle that just keeps us further from lunch and doesn't help us in any way. And...I'm sorry. I was the one who started eating the berries, and dragged you into this."
Drew raised an eyebrow, "You mean these?" He held a fistful of pecha berries in his hand, after he decided to grab them last minute as May grabbed his hand and ran towards the exit. He had smirked at the chef, gesturing at the berries he had managed to take with him. He handed the berries to the girl as her stomach rumbled a song of gratitude.
She smiled, playfully punching his shoulder, "I love you," before pausing. She blushed beet red as she realized the words that were coming out of her mouth were not retractable.
Drew's ears tinged pink as he squeezed her hand, "I love you too, May. And it's definitely not your fault. I mean, there was no sign that said, 'don't eat the berries,' you know? I probably shouldn't have gotten so annoyed, but she was way out of line."
The two teenagers felt the air had gone tense. Drew's chest felt heavy and light at the same time as he lined up to pay for the moomoo milk and sandwich he had gotten from the deli section of the store.
As the two of them walked back to their housing, the resort sky had gotten quite dark already. They were rather silent, unsure of what exactly to say, but rather content in the other's company anyway. After a slightly awkward, "I'll see you soon," the two parted ways to unpack before dinner. They lived close to each other, two cottages facing the sea side by side.
May flung open the cottage door and sprung onto the bed, exhausted. She decided to make the call she had promised her friend she would make the second she landed.
"Hey... Dawn?"
"May! Why are you calling so late? Did you just arrive?"
"Sorry! I got so caught up in getting to the resort quickly and I totally forgot...forgive me?"
Dawn giggled, "Of course, girl...I was just worried about you is all… no need to worry! So..how is everything with Drew?"
May regretted buying the newest pokenav with high-definition video-calling features as she saw Dawn's suggestive grin, as her Sinnoh friend observed the girl's cheeks flush at hearing his name.
"You know," May groaned, "...I told him I loved him today."
Dawn's jaw dropped, as she began to cry. May froze in shock, unsure if Dawn was mock-crying or genuinely bawling. It turned out to be the latter as Dawn cried out, in between gasps of breath, "I - I'm just so happy for you two! I've always been rooting for it. You know, ever since I bumped into him in Unova I knew he had feelings for you...I mentioned your name and he did the same thing you did just now - the 'super-effective name drop method to make my friends blush.' Anyway ~ I want to hear everything!"
Smiling at the sincerity of her best friend, May retold the whole story as the navy-haired girl listened attentively.
"Hmm, you know," began Dawn, "I'm gonna have to agree with Drew on the chef Edna thing. I would get mad too...I'm surprised you stayed so calm. My best friend has become so mature," she said affectionately.
May winked, "you know me...the M in 'May' stands for mature."
Dawn rolled her eyes, before her expression became thoughtful.
"I'm glad he said 'I love you' back, but I'm still confused. Are you dating or not?"
"I'm...not sure," realized May. Her voice grew quiet as she whispered, "I want to though,"
"DTR! You've got to define the relationship. If Drew isn't going to, you have to. Honestly," Dawn said, "he takes you to a couple's cooking class, you both have said 'I love you' to each other, I don't understand what's so hard about this. Clearly, he likes you back. You could honestly have been dating since Ecruteak. But you have to be on the same page or I'm going to lose my mind hearing about all these cute moments but not having a single clue what exactly you two are. Clearly, you're not just rivals and you're not just friends."
After this impassioned monologue, Dawn took a breath, held her hand up and took a gulp of water before saying, "You can do it, May! I believe in you."
May had sat silently, thinking deeply. "You're right.." she slowly said in response. "I think...I think I'll tell him how I feel."
Dawn smiled, "Tonight?"
"Tonight. Thanks, Dawn."
The girl smiled, "All in a day's work. But seriously….even Ash thinks he has feelings for you."
May frowned, "Ash?"
"Ash. We were talking yesterday about rivals and you and Drew came up and Ash goes and says, 'you know? I kind of got the feeling that Drew likes May.' Even Ash, talented, but crazy dense Ash knows it. Now please, go get your man and call me after to let me know how everything goes."
May smiled, "Will do, ma'am."
With promises to meet up for coffee and plan out the schedule for the Young Trainers and Coordinators Summer Camp they were co-teaching a class for, they hung up in good spirits.
May took a deep breath, beautiflies fluttering and making her heart beat unhealthily fast but a steadfast iron resolve to say the words she had been longing to.
A/N: If you've read up till here, thank you so much!