Standard disclaimers and cuteness warnings still
apply.
Ash and Misty's Love
Chapter Two—All You Need Is Love
Ash
hadn't realized how hard he would have to work to earn his money. In fact, he would be tempted to say he was
underpaid. Maybe he should ask for a
raise.
It
wasn't the shopping list that made it hard.
It wasn't the prices, and it wasn't the stores. It wasn't even the towering bags of
groceries that practically obscured his vision as he lugged them home.
It
was Misty.
"Come
on, Misty, Pallet town isn't exactly the shopping capital of the world," Ash
complained, juggling the groceries in his arms as she stopped them to look in
yet another store. "We don't even have
a mall."
"Isn't
this cute?" she said, completely ignoring him as she pointed to the window
display of stuffed pokémon toys. Ash
attempted to follow her finger and his eyes settled on a plush oddish. He would have noted it as a potential gift,
but after about the fiftieth item that Misty had squealed over, he had given up. He was just as close to knowing what she
really wanted for her birthday as he was before the shopping trip.
"Adorable,"
Ash said flatly. "Can we go now?"
"Your
mom said I could shop," Misty said, sticking her nose in the air
impertinently. Ash was sure the only
reason she stayed and idled by the window, goggling over the toys in an
exaggerated manner, was to annoy him.
He sighed.
"Yes,
but I think she was expecting the groceries to be back by the time she started
to cook supper," he said sarcastically.
Thank goodness they had no cold stuff in the bags. Though he did kind of wish that they had ice
cream...
"Fine,
if you're going to be that way," Misty said in a huff, and promptly stalked off
ahead of him. Ash rolled his eyes at
Brock, but Brock didn't see him, as he was just as laden with groceries as Ash
was. At least Brock didn't have the
disadvantage of having a fuzzy yellow electric pokémon riding on his shoulder
at the same time.
"Pikachu,
could you do me a favor..." Ash started to ask him to jump down.
"Pi?" As if he knew what Ash was thinking, Pikachu
nuzzled his ear affectionately, patted his trainer on the head, and turned big,
innocent eyes upon him.
"Err...move
your tail off my neck. It tickles," Ash
amended. Pikachu willingly complied and
giggled. Ash wasn't sure if it was
because his pokémon was happy or because it had just tricked him. Probably both.
Sometimes, I wonder which of us is the real trainer.
"Oh,
look at that!" Misty said, her annoyance replaced with rapture as she stared in
the store window. Her emotion sounded
genuine this time. Just great—they'd
already been in town for over two hours.
Now Misty was obviously working on three. Ash glanced at the name on the shingle in front of the store and
blinked in confusion. What the heck
could Misty want in a drugstore?
"What
is it this time?" he groaned.
Misty
paused to sniff the air reverently before answering, a look of pure happiness
on her face. "This smells delicious,"
she murmured. "I wonder which one would
smell best on me..."
"Oh
no..."
That
could only mean one thing. Ash looked
through the window more carefully and spotted the dreaded sign. Special
promotional offer: 50% off all the Emotions
line of toiletries. Through Thursday
only.
Not
perfume again. Ash would have hit
himself had he not had his arms full.
As it was he still winced. He'd
gotten into enough trouble over perfume in Celadon City. If he never saw it again it would be too
soon—it should be illegal for that stinky stuff to be in his own hometown.
"I'm
going in," Misty announced as she walked through the door, not bothering to
wait on them. Ash heard the little bell
jingling as the door shut behind her.
"I
never would have guessed." Ash shifted
the bags in his arms, then spotted a bench next to the store front. He set his packages down and made a
decision. "Hey Brock, wait here for a
minute. I'm going to make sure she
doesn't take too long."
Not to mention make a last-ditch effort in
finding a birthday gift while Misty's preoccupied with the perfume. But he kept this thought from Brock. As far as he was aware, his mom was the only
one right now who knew what his plans were, and Ash was perfectly content to
keep it that way. Besides, the chances
of him finding anything in a drugstore were slim to none.
"I
don't know Ash, you know what happened last time..."
"You're
not trying to keep me out of trouble.
You're just trying to flirt with the shopkeeper," Ash said.
"Hey..."
Brock looked hurt.
"Besides,
it's a guy."
"A
guy? How can a guy sell perfume
successfully?" Brock said indignantly, then grudgingly settled himself down on
the bench with the groceries. "Alright
then, I guess I can watch the groceries.
Try not to make the man too mad, your mom still has to live here, you
know."
"Yeah,
yeah...come on, Pikachu."
Both
Misty and the employee she must have roped in to help her looked up at the
sound of bell when Ash walked in. He
stood there self-consciously as Misty proceeded to ignore him while the
employee said, "Can I help you, sir?"
Pretending
he didn't hear Misty's snort at the word 'sir,' Ash said, "I'm with her."
"He
just likes to follow me around," Misty said, casting him a condescending look.
"Excuse
me? Who follows who around?" Ash began angrily, then noticed the
employee's startled expression. His
nametag said Ben.
"I
mean...uh...anyway, sorry to interrupt," he said hastily, hoping Ben was an
easygoing character. He was just an
associate, not a manager, right? They
had to be nice to all the customers. He
hoped. He hadn't even insulted the
perfume yet. It would be crazy to get
kicked out of the store for being obnoxious when he wasn't even trying to
be.
Ash
walked over to a display and tried to pretend that he was actually interested
in strawberry smelling shampoo—he could always say it was for Pikachu. He brushed off the strange look Misty gave
him at this action.
Although Pikachu appears to like orange
better... Ash grinned at his
pokémon. Pikachu was curiously trying
to examine some citrus-smelling air freshener, but shuddered when he
accidentally managed to release some. Or not.
"The
girl was just looking at our latest perfume."
Ben startled Ash by directing this information towards him. The employee's voice was pleasant, so Ash
decided he couldn't be mad—though he had no idea why Ben was making an effort
to include Ash in conversation.
"Right,"
Ash said, as that was the safest thing for him to say.
"Oh,
I wouldn't bother explaining it to him," Misty advised. "He wouldn't be able to tell the difference
scented water and perfume." Ash, though
irritated, had an honest look of confusion at that remark.
"But
isn't that what perfume is..." He stopped at the glares that Misty and Ben were
giving him and hastily backpedaled.
"Uh, I mean, what kind of perfume is it?"
"It's
called Love," Ben said.
In
spite of his resolution, it took all of Ash's efforts not to snicker out
loud. He struggled to keep a straight
face. Like some scented water called Love was really going to help a girl get
a boyfriend, which is what he was sure they all believed. Especially a girl like Misty who, in his
opinion, was too much of a tomboy to ever get a boyfriend. Even if it did make her a lot of fun to hang
around—when she wasn't insulting him at least.
Wait, he couldn't mention any of this while he was still in the store.
"That's
nice," he said. For once he decided
that the less he said, the better. He
had made that promise to Brock, after all.
His comment still had the
unexpected yet satisfactory result of having Misty almost fall out of her chair
in shock.
"What? No snide remarks, no rude comments about how
I'm spending my money, no idiotic statements about things you know nothing
about?" she asked in astonishment.
Ash
shrugged. Explaining Brock's admonition
would clarify everything, but that was way too easy. It was more fun to see her surprised reaction.
"You're
free to like what you like," was all he said.
Misty blinked, bewildered.
"Well,
I do like this," she said defensively, then turned her attention back to the
employee, still looking slightly dazed at this turn of events.
Ash
continued browsing, or so it seemed. He
seemed to have won that round, but he still didn't understand girls and their
obsessions with perfume. He hadn't
changed his opinion of it—it was too expensive and only boys like Brock
actually cared whether a girl wore it or not.
But he had learned his lesson well the last time. For all his jabs, as long as Misty liked it,
it didn't really matter to him...he stopped in his tracks, struck with a sudden
realization.
"I suggest that you get her...something that
she likes."
His mom's voice echoing in his head, Ash groaned to himself. Pikachu looked at him curiously. Ash spoke in low enough tones that only he
and his pokémon could hear him.
"Aw,
shoot!"
***
"But
mom, she's the only one who cares about that stuff," Ash complained to his mom
later that day. He had managed to get
her alone under the pretext of helping her clean the bathroom. Though it turned out his excuse had worked
too well; he was the one stuck cleaning the toilet while his mom neatly
arranged her own perfume bottles on the vanity tray.
"Which
is all the more reason to get it for her, Ash," his mom said pleasantly. Ash thought darkly that his mom was acting
way too understanding about this—which made him think that she didn't
understand a thing at all. For the
umpteenth time he wondered if a girl, even if she was only a friend, was worth
it. Maybe it was time to rethink that
ice cream cone.
Delia
was still talking. "Giving somebody
something that you know they like, even if you don't like it yourself, is one
of the nicest things you can do for someone.
It shows them that you respect their choices, even if you don't agree
with them."
"But
perfume?" Ash whined.
"Yes,
perfume too," his mom said. Ash sighed.
"Alright
then. But...it's really expensive," he
hedged.
"How
much is it?"
"Twenty-five
dollars."
"Oh,
is that all?" his mom asked. Ash gave
her a look that was a combination of shock and horror as she continued saying,
"That's about normal for a bottle of perfume...actually, it's a bit cheap, I'd
say."
"It's
on sale," Ash said, trying to imagine what in the world could make a bottle of
scented water worth the cost. He could
eat out everyday for a week for that kind of money. Heck, at the kind of places they ate, he could eat out for two weeks.
"Oh,
so that explains it," Delia said mildly.
"But
even so, how can I make that money by Thursday? That's when the sale ends, and it's only two days from now. I've haven't even made half of that
yet." Ash's shoulders drooped just
thinking of it.
"Well..." His mom inspected Ash's work
critically. "Tell you what. Finish cleaning the bathtub, and I'll give
you five more dollars for doing such a good job."
"Really?" Ash perked up. "Well, okay, that helps...but it's still only about half of what I need."
"I'll
call Professor Oak sometime tonight and see if he needs any hired help
tomorrow," his mom said, winking at him.
"Don't worry. I'm sure that one
way or the other you'll be able to find the money by her birthday." Ash guessed by her tone that he was supposed
to read something into that statement, but he couldn't tell what it was, and
that slightly worried him.
"Thursday,"
Ash corrected. "I have to buy it that
afternoon at the latest. Because if
not, I'm sure I can't earn fifty dollars by Friday!"
Not to mention that I wouldn't even bother
buying it by that point. Twenty-five
dollars is enough money to waste as it is.
"If
you say so." His mom nodded. There was that tone again. He supposed he was just going to have to
trust her on this one. He smiled.
"Thanks,
mom," Ash said gratefully. Impulsively
he stopped what he was doing and turned to give her a great big bear hug. His mom was surprised yet pleased, hugging
him right back. Ash smelled the soft
scent of rose petals, his mom's own favorite perfume, as he held on to
her. He suddenly realized that on all
his journeys and probably for the rest of his life, whenever he smelled that
particular smell he would instantly remember tender, loving memories of his
mom.
Maybe perfume is good for something after
all. He closed his eyes in
contentment, then sighed, the warmth he felt at this thought fading as he was
reminded of one minor detail.
But why, oh why did it have to be called LOVE?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMING UP IN CHAPTER THREE: What do cake, the
Beatles, and Sinatra on steroids have to do with each other? It's all about love...
Poké-pun of the day: What do you get when you cross a Jigglypuff and a Snorlax? A pokémon that sings itself to sleep!
(Oh boy, that was bad...admit it, you smiled....)
The title makes a bit more sense now, doesn't
it? Btw, I'm sure there are plenty of
perfumes out there called Love, but my inspiration happened to be the
new Imagine line that Bath and Body Works has.
Thanks so much for everyone who has reviewed so
far. Ya'll are sweethearts! Yes, I'm from the South, and 'ya'll' is
a word. Check the dictionary! ^_~
I also wanted to thank Spruceton Spook again, as
I remembered that last time I plugged her fics (and the recommendation still
holds) but forgot to thank her for explaining to me—twice—how to submit this
story in the first place. We have a
very patient Spook, and I'm grateful.
^_^
Cross your fingers that I don't have to work too
much this week, and I'll see you soon!
