Chapter Five
'A Man to Man Talk'
Ash couldn't help feeling sorry for the 10 year old boy who recalled his second Pokémon. Ash's first Pokémon out, Donphan had beaten a Venonat and a Lickitung and still had full HP.
"I'm gonna win this!" he winked to Misty, who was standing a little way behind him. The other were up in the bleachers.
"Don't get too cocky," Misty warned. "Didn't you learn anything from your Grass Field battle with Jeanette Fisher last time?" Ash sobered immediately.
"Goooooooo Mankey!" called the boy.
"Man - kee!" the Fighting Pokémon screeched in a high pitched voice
Bad move thought Misty. A Rock Throw and a half hearted Tackle later and it was all over. Ash was through to his second field.
"Well, that wasn't too hard!" laughed Ash, as he and Misty walked down the road towards the Pokémon Centre.
"It was your first field and it was only a little kid Mr Pokémon Master!" Misty said, pushing him slightly. "Don't get a big head!" Ash lightly shoved her back, knowing full well she was right, but only joking. After this playful teasing, they both fell into an uneasy silence.
Ash sneaked a look at Misty out of the corner of his eye. She was looking dead ahead at the road, and her eyes were fixated on the path. Ash allowed himself a longer look.
"Misty's not so bad to be with when we're not fighting." Ash noted. Ash continued watching her as she raised a hand and flicked an annoying lock of hair from her eyes with an exasperated sound. As it fell in her vision once again, she grunted in annoyance and tried to pry it back into her ponytail. In the end, she gave up and deftly yanked out the purple hair-band.
Ash inhaled sharply when the orange bangs fell softly around Misty's face - like it was framing a picture. Ash rarely got to see Misty with her hair down - unless he stayed up until she fell asleep, then walked over to her sleeping bag to watch her sleep - "not that I do that all the time or anything!" he quickly added to his thoughts. "Just once or twice…a week…"
"What are you staring at Ash?!" Misty's words interrupted Ash's thoughts, and he blinked.
"Waaaaa?"
"Uggh. Never mind." They passed the café from that morning. Ash took his chance.
"Hey Myst, er, wanna get some ice-cream? My treat!" Misty looked up at him in mock horror.
"Ice-cream? That's all I'm worth to you? A lousy ice-cream???" she laughed playfully. "Fine Mr Ketchum, but I'm ordering a double scoop!" She began to walk into the café, but Ash grabbed her arm. He tried to ignore the tingling feeling that was coursing its way up his arm while Misty looked at him questioningly.
No, er, I-I mean you're right" stammered Ash, still not letting go of Misty's arm, although the tingly feeling had spread all over his body and he now had to ignore a thumping pain in his chest. He shook it off - "Misty's…Misty's my…best friend," he thought to himself. "I shouldn't be reacting like this…just…just to her - touch."
"Ash?" Misty's questioned.
"You are worth m-more to me than an ice-cream Mis-ty." Misty blushed suddenly, and tittered awkwardly. Ash hurriedly let go of her arm. "I mean, er…I'm gonna take you out for dinner tonight - yeah - at that fancy French restaurant!
Misty grabbed his hands, and even through his gloves he could feel the warmth from her palms. The tingling started again, but Ash couldn't bring himself to pull his hands away - he didn't want to.
"I was only joking idiot; you don't have to do…something like that!"
"But I-I want to."
"Are you crazier than usual Ash? We can't just walk into the poshest restaurant around!"
"Sure we can!" They were almost at the Pokémon Centre. Misty was about to grab Ash's hand - when she realised that she was already holding his hand. She dropped it quickly.
"Okay," she laughed. "It's a da - deal!" She caught herself just in time. "I really want to go to that resta…" Her voice trailed off as they looked through the windows of the Pokémon Centre and saw Linda, Brock, Tracey and Jo. Their faces fell.
"We're never gonna get to that restaurant alive." Ash murmured. Already, Brock, Tracey and Linda were making kissy faces through the window at them. If this was how their friends reacted when they were just walking together - what would they do if they heard they were going to a restaurant together? "On a purely platonic date of course" Ash reassured his conflicting emotions.
So it was all set. Ash made reservations for 9 - that way they could eat with their friends in the evening and still be hungry for the restaurant. Getting out without Brock or their Pokémon noticing they were gone would be the hard part…
Later that day, Ash, Brock and Tracey were in the sitting room of Ash-tachi's cottage. Misty had taken Linda, Jo and Pikachu off somewhere.
"Probably shopping!" the ever masculine Brock had joked. Tracey had been doing most of the talking - and Brock had been doing most of the listening. It didn't take long for the older teens to notice that Ash wasn't listening at all. He was staring out the window and fiddling with his own fingers.
After they had said 'Ash?' about 7 times, they decided to take psychical action and belted him out of his dreamy trance with cushions.
"Oh yeah - that's very mature!" Ash yelled as he tried to see how far the cushion would fit down Tracey's throat.
"Sorry man, but you were off in another world," Tracey managed to squeak out after the padding had been extracted.
"Yeah, day-dreaming about Linda!" Brock started to make kissy noises. Ash couldn't help but laugh.
"What???!!!"
"Don't play dumb with me Ashton Ketchum!" stated Brock. "I saw how disappointed you were when Misty said she was taking the girls out somewhere!"
"You got rocks in your head Brock!" laughed Ash. He laid back on the couch again. "Sorry to dis-allure you, but I actually can't stand Linda." His face grew hard. "She's at least a half way decent Pokémon Trainer, but she's not so special. Misty's worth a million of her - I can't believe they're from the same family!"
Tracey and Brock exchanged a knowing look as Ash fell silent.
"Ash?" began Brock, cautiously. "You…you do know that you're in love with Misty - don't you?"
"Waaaaaaaaa?" yelled Ash, immediately paling. "N…n - no. I mean, no I'm not!" Tracey sat on the couch next to Ash.
"My, interesting complexion you've got Ash. One minute you're blushing and the next as pale as a sheet! Something's going on…" Brock sat down on the other side of Ash, making him feel completely trapped and very uncomfortable.
"Ash - look at me." Ash pulled his eyes away from his hands and into Brock's face. "Now look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't fancy Misty." Ash lowered his eyes involuntarily to around Brock's nose.
"I don't fancy…Misty," he spluttered.
"A ha!" yelled Tracey, jumping up. "You weren't looking Brock in the eyes!" he taunted.
"How can you tell?!" shouted Ash, jumping up too. "Brock doesn't have any eyes!"
"Hey…" moaned Brock, sweatdropping. "…cheap shot!"
"Anyway," interrupted Tracey. "Brock's eyes are not on discussion here - your love life is!" Brock and Ash stared at Tracey.
"Trace man, you are such a girl."
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
Brock stood up.
"Ash…" he began.
"I DON'T!"
"It's called denial," remarked Tracey.
"Shut up!"
"Oooh, touchy!"
"Tracey - are you sure you don't have ovaries?"
"What?"
"Never mind."
"Anyway," Brock continued. "Ask yourself one question - can you picture yourself married and living with any other girl but Misty?" As Ash fell silent, the older boys turned the topic back to Tracey's uncle's sweet shop.
That night, Ash and Misty prepared themselves for some serious bluffing to get out of the cottage without Brock catching on. However, Brock decided that he was retiring to read about 8 o' clock - mumbling something about how being the world's most gorgeous guy takes a lot out of you. When Misty tried to sneak in to get her dress at 8:30, he appeared to be sound asleep.
"Huh," she shrugged to Ash, standing behind her in the doorway. "Must be out lucky night." She didn't see Ash immediately turn red because she was too busy trying to hide the fact that she was blushing too by rummaging through her clothes. "That did not come out the way I meant it!" she thought.
20 minutes later, Ash sat on the sofa, picking uncomfortably at his shirt cuffs. He hated wearing suits. He stopped fidgeting as the bathroom door opened quietly and Misty stepped out, looking equally uncomfortable. She was wearing a simple navy dress cut above her knees. She had let down her hair (secretly because she knew Ash liked it down) and for the first time in her life she had applied a tiny smudge of blue eyeshadow.
Misty laughed at Ash's face. He was gazing at her, awestricken. Usually, just the hair down was enough to make his resolve melt away, but as he looked at her now, he felt the last of his wall crumble away for good. She looked beautiful, and for once he didn't care if he thought so.
"What? Does it really look that awful? I did my best with the makeup, but I'm not used to it!" Ash swallowed and stood up from the couch.
"You look…fine Misty. I mean, great - you look great," he stammered. Then he wanted to bang his head against a wall. "Very smooth Casanova!" he reprimanded himself. "Where did you get the makeup from?"
"Jo lent it to me."
"Oh."
Misty studied Ash. The suit looked a little dishevelled, but at least there wasn't a hat in sight! Misty didn't have the heart to offer Ash some hair gel, but his hair was a little too spiky for a posh restaurant. She grabbed his hand, and the tingling feeling surged through Ash again.
"Come here," she said, flopping down on the sofa and pulling Ash with her. "Let me sort out your hat-hair."
"My what!?" began Ash, but was instantly incapable of forming words as Misty began combing his hair with her fingers. "W-w-wouldn't it b-be easier if you g-got a comb?"
"Nah, I don't want to go in there again. Don't wanna risk Brock waking up."
"O-kay…" Ash was just beginning to relax when Misty caught a glimpse of his watch
"Ohmigod, we're gonna be late!" The spell was broken and they ran out the door; Ash practically dragging Misty along in her short spiky heels.
As Brock opened his eyes (oh you know what I mean!) he heard a soft click and a series of little clicks down the path. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and walked into the living room. Brock silently opened the front door a crack and saw two figures, one with familiar red hair, disappear into the night.
He grinned, and quietly shut the door.
What an opportunity…