Disclaimer – I don't own Pokemon, some rather conceited (not that I can talk) guy named Satoshi who named the main character after himself (not Pikachu) does.
Sorry to take so long but I was suffering from torrential writers block again as i always am and just couldn't think of anything to write.
And to Kris and Steff I want you two to try and guess who Melissa is loosely based around in this chapter. There is a very major clue in there.
Reasons of the Heart – Barenaked or Phase two
'Its all I ever think of, its everything that I need to do and it's the only thing that could possibly bring her back to me.'
This single thought sent shivers up and down his spine and made him very nervous. The dance was just under three weeks away now and Ash needed help.
Every time he thought about her, he longed to tell her then and there, but he had to wait. It all had to be perfect, he was going to make sure of that and hope maybe it would all work out this time.
But it was hard. It was hard to see her walking by and not tell her.
He got the feeling that he wasn't going to be able to work this out on his own, but who could he ask? He couldn't get his friends help, they had already tried and failed, you could tell by the frustrated looks they sent him and Misty when they thought he wasn't looking. He also didn't trust them to keep it to themselves and not tell their girlfriends who were sure to tell Misty or to tell somebody else that would, heck Parker was dating one of the biggest gossip in the entire school. Brock was probably dating the other.
So that left him with very few options. He could try Misty's sisters but then as far as he knew that was like going straight to Misty and telling her himself.
It seemed that the best option was just to brave it alone. He didn't want to risk her knowing too soon by bringing others into the plan.
She was the one thing in his life that he would never risk, the one thing that he would never leave to chance. So he never did. He always made sure anything concerning Misty was perfect because to him she deserved nothing less than perfection.
So he tried to be perfect, to excel her expectations. For years he tried to be everything she wanted, at least everything he thought she wanted. But girls were confusing and Misty even more so, it seemed no matter how hard he tried he just kept moving backwards.
He finally just gave up and decided to be his own imperfect self and hope it would suffice and it seemed that that was his best plan yet.
He just hoped he wouldn't have to spend another year watching Misty from a distance just wishing she were his.
Do you ever have that dream
Where you're walking naked down the street
And everyone just stares
Did you ever feel so deep
That you speak your mind
To put others straight to sleep
You wonder if anybody cares
Sometimes I think I'm the only one
Whose day turned out unlike it had begun
And I feel barenaked
And I just can't take it
I'm getting jaded
No I just can't fake it anymore
'Cuz I'm bare naked
And I know life's what you make it
Wish I could float away
To some other day
You ever go down stairs to start your day
But your car's not there
Yeah you know the jokes on you
Did you ever try your luck?
With a pick up line but you just sucked
You tell yourself it wasn't you
And I know it's hard to hold it inside
Its days like these I run and hide
When I feel barenaked
And I just can't take it
I'm getting jaded
No I just can't fake it anymore
'Cuz I'm bare naked
And I know life's what you make it
Wish I could float away
To some other day
It's all a state of mind
But I don't mind trying to find a way
To keep my head above the mess I make
What the world creates
Sometimes it feels so good to let it all fall
As the world fall
I may fall
We all may fall
And then the world comes tumbling
Down down down down down
And I feel barenaked
And I just can't take it
I'm getting jaded
No I just can't fake it anymore
'Cuz I'm bare naked
And I know life's what you make it
Wish I could float away
To some other day
When I feel . . . feel {barenaked} . . . feel
When I feel
Yeah no no no
(Jennifer Love Hewitt 'Barenaked')
Misty sat cross-legged in the middle of her room taking deep breaths in and out.
She wasn't usually one of those new age fools with their herbal cigarettes and inventive yoga but sometimes stress required it of her.
Misty rarely got stressed, she usually just got angry kind of like the whole "it take 49 muscles to frown and only 4 to punch that son of a bitch in the face" thing. There was only one thing that got her this stressed and she wouldn't dare touch a hair on his cute little head.
As you can guess, she had a meeting in half an hour with none other Ash. So she was stressed to the max. She didn't know what to wear, what to say and it didn't help that she hadn't seen him in three days and that was all she wanted to do right now.
To see his smiling face, to hear his voice, to feel his lips against . . .
'Stop,' her mind cried out before she could finish that thought. 'Don not go there Misty if you want to keep what's left of your sanity for another year.'
She closed her eyes trying to stop herself from picturing the dead vase of flowers sitting in the corner. She hadn't gone near them, she hadn't moved them to the sunlight, changed the water, and she'd even gone so far as to thrown a towel over them so she wouldn't have to look at them when they first started to die.
She didn't even know what she was getting so upset about; it was just a vase of flowers. They weren't even Venus fly traps, they couldn't even harm a fly if they wanted to, so why was she going to so much trouble to stay as far away from them as possible?
God, she wished that Ash wasn't so damn perfect and gentlemen like. He never made this any easier.
He always made it harder to hate him, not that she did she'd given up on that just too long ago to even bother recalling. It was no wonder that she had tried so hard to deny it, especially when he did things like this, sending her a gorgeous bouquet of flowers when she was sick, and threatening to come over and make her soup, even though he had only really just gotten over the flu himself.
"Breathe in, breathe out," she said quietly as she tried to remember Melody's meditation exercise she raved on about.
"Like talking to yourself is going to make it any easier to forget him," she muttered to herself.
She tried to clear her mind but all that did was make more room for Ash in it. She even tried focusing on something but her mind always strayed. Her mind only wanted to focus on one thing and it just so happened that he would be coming over in somewhere between twenty-five and twenty nine minutes.
"Lucky me," she muttered.
She closed her eyes and tried the meditation thing again.
'Deep breaths. In and out. In and out.'
It was strange. As long as she kept repeating those words to herself she could focus elsewhere and she was actually starting to feel calmer. Her deep breaths didn't seem quite so forced now as they did before.
'Maybe this new age crap actually works,' she mused to herself as she calmly took another breath in and out. 'A few more minutes of this and I might just be able to figure out what to wear.'
Misty took four more deep breaths in and out. 'Maybe I'll wear my new jeans,' she pondered to herself feeling more excited about the meeting than she was anxious. 'No wait, I lent them to Melody who knows what they look like now. How about those cute black pinstripe pants that make me look about ten pounds lighter? I'm sure Ash would love them.'
'No don't you dare go there,' she practically screamed at herself. 'Don't you dare start considering what Ash might think and start dressing to his preferences. You've already been warned about your sanity and that's something you want to cling to at all costs.'
'Fine, I'll wear those cute black pinstripe pants because I love them, happy now? Now leave me alone so I can figure out what top to wear. Maybe the nice violet one . . .'
She was jarred from her thoughts by the phone ringing.
'Oh god, what if it's Ash? What if he's not coming?' she worried.
"Hello, Misty Waterflower speaking," she said overly perkily as she picked up the phone.
"Look out the window," said a voice that appeared to be male.
"Who is this?" Misty asked as she walked to the window.
The voice sounded vaguely familiar though no matter how she tried she couldn't place her finger on it. Maybe it was because she had mentally blocked it with the hope that she would never have to hear it again, or maybe she just forgot.
She smiled as she noticed Ash walking towards her sorority house suddenly presuming that this was some sort of sweet romantic trick he was playing with her.
'OH MY GOSH,' she suddenly realized. 'Ash is almost here and I'm still in my pyjamas.'
She was about to go stress out and rush to get changed when she noticed something. There was a girl chasing after Ash who looked a lot more familiar than the voice.
Clad in go-go boots and a whorish fake-leather and lace outfit was none other than Melissa Simmons, the only girl on campus trashy and classless enough to be seen in such an outfit.
Melissa ran around so she was standing in front of Ash and struck a pose.
Ash rolled his eyes and dodge past her trying his best to ignore her.
"Hey Ash," Melissa said flirtatiously her voice sounding sugary sweet and definitely fake. "I've been looking for you every." She giggled as if she had just cracked a joke and stood there expecting him to laugh with her.
Ash was beginning to get aggravated and walked faster to get away. He had a feeling that her outfit hadn't been chosen because of its aerodynamic properties.
She giggled again and tried to catch up to him. He hated that laugh, it was disgusting and air headed sounding more like a chimpanzee than anything human. It was ugly, not like Misty's laugh. Misty's laugh was beautiful, it was like music silky and smooth just the thought tugging a smile to his lips.
"I see I've gotten to you," she said seeing the smile on his lips.
He suddenly remembered what the hurry was as he suddenly remembered that Melissa was still there and the smile faded from his face.
"Please go away," Ash asked her nonchalantly.
"Oh you don't mean that sweetie," she said. "I saw that smile."
'She should really lease all that space out,' he thought to himself thinking about what Misty would say if he told her that.
"I'd appreciate if you didn't call me 'sweetie'," Ash told her quite distastefully. "And if you wouldn't mind I have an important meeting to get to so I'd be quite grateful if you just left me alone."
"Oh Ash," she teased giggling again. It occurred to Ash just how much she sounded like a horse even when she wasn't talking. "You're so cute."
Ash sighed. "What do you want?" he asked aggravated giving up his escape and stopping with his back towards her.
"This," she said as she grabbed Ash's arm pulling him towards her and forcing her lips onto his.
Ash pushed her off straight away not even letting her lips touch his for more than a second. He immediately felt dirty and like he was going to be sick. He felt the need to wash all over and burn his clothes to remove all traces of Melissa Simmons.
"Just get away from me Melissa," Ash said. "Are you trying to get your boyfriend beaten up?"
"What do you mean?" she asked.
Chances are she wasn't playing dumb, that she actually was as stupid as she looked and sounded.
"Forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I put it in lame-men's terms, too many big words for your liking," Ash sighed as he started to walk away. "Just stay out of my way and tell your boyfriend the same."
Misty ducked down as she saw Ash turning in her direction. He looked angry, like he was about to kill someone.
As she watched him get closer she suddenly realized that he was going to be there in about a minute and that she had to change or somebody else would get the door.
She pulled through her draws looking for the perfect outfit she had planed out in her head, something classy and sophisticated that would be the complete opposite of Melissa.
She raced down the stairs as she heard a knock on the door pushing people out the way as she ran to the door.
She took a deep breath to compose herself and a glimpse in the mirror to make sure she looked presentable, before calmly opening the door.
"Hey Ash," she said semi-nonchalantly. "I didn't expect you here for another ten minutes."
"Yeah well I wanted to make sure everything was sorted before we gave out the tasks."
"Do you want me to take your jacket?" Misty asked, "It's pretty warm inside."
"I wouldn't touch it, I think I've been contaminated for life," he replied taking his jacket off himself touching it gingerly like he didn't want to touch it for more than a second.
"Why?" she asked. She had a pretty fair idea of what he was talking about but she knew it was best to let him explain.
"Melissa Simmons just kissed me," Ash said.
Misty bit her lip nervously. She knew that she should tell Ash but she wasn't sure how to bring it up.
"Well I think it might have been a setup," Misty said. "I got a phone call just before she did telling me to look out the window."
"Oh I . . ." Ash started to say suddenly feeling extremely guilty and that he had to explain himself. Sure he felt a little guilty but he shoed it away trying to convince himself there was no need to feel guilty, it's not like him and Misty were a couple or anything but now all logic went out the window.
But then Misty didn't look angry or upset, she actually looked strangely amused.
"That's round three to us," she said victoriously.
"I guess it is," Ash said quite relieved to find that there wasn't even the tiniest hint of anger in her voice.
"He's not doing a very good job living up to the war threat, is he?" Misty smiled. "You know I was actually kind of worried about that but now. Will's nothing more than a cheap prankster with nothing better to do then seek out his 'vengence'."
Ash smiled and finally got a good look at Misty now that all the drama and stress was over. She wore a short black strapless dress over a white off shoulder falred sleeve top and black pinstripe bootlegs.
She was like a breath of fresh air after having Melissa trying to get up close and personal.
"You look great Myst," Ash said trying not to sound so much in awe and amazement. He always thought Misty looked great but when he had the chance to tell her that he always sounded like he was surprised.
'I told you he'd love it,' she thought to herself.
"Thanks Ash," she replied. "You don't look half bad yourself."
Ash blushed and placed his hand behind his head nervously, a habbit he still held onto from his childhood days. He wasn't use to Misty paying him compliments even if it was in her own subtle way, heck he was barely use to hearing Misty talk to him civilly yet.
"So why don't we check out those lists?" Ash suggested in an effort to change the subject.
Misty suppressed a laugh at his embarrassment. "I'll just go grab them from my room," she told him. "Just head to the lounge, you know where it is."
Ash chuckled and walked to the surprisingly empty lounge.
Suddenly, without Misty by him, the whole place seemed eerily quiet except for the quiet whispers and the smothered giggles from somewhere he didn't know. Now and then he was positive he could hear his own name being hissed in hidden whispers along with Misty's followed by a giggle.
Ash tried to shake off the feeling crawling up and down his spine and waited patiently for Misty to return.
"Found it," Misty said as she entered the room holding up the sheets of paper.
Ash smiled as he was again struck by how beautiful she looked. Again he heard the giggles around him.
Misty scowled at the sound. "I'll be back in a tick," she said as she disappeared again.
The giggles started the moment she left as they had been cut short by Misty's scowl.
Then suddenly it all stopped, the giggles, the whispers, all of it. And suddenly it was completely silent making Ash more aware of the fact that he was all alone in the lounge of a hundred year old house which probably had more than its fair share of ghost stories to tell.
"Right," Misty said coming back in dusting her hands.
"So what's figured out thus far?" Ash asked.
"Well I was thinking about putting Jessica and Melody in charge of decoration," Misty said. "I know Melody's ideas can be a bit outrageous at times . . ." Misty trailed off.
"You haven't seen my costume yet," Ash sighed.
"Why?" she asked.
"I have wings and these weird things that Tracey said were knickerbockers or breechers and stoakings," he told her.
Misty giggled. Ash was relieved to hear the gentle sound of Misty's laugh erasing all memories of Melissa's. "What are you?" Misty asked.
"A fairy prince," Ash scoffed.
She laughed again. "What kind of person would go to the dance with a fairy prince?" Misty said. Ash laughed with her.
'I don't know. You, I mean, Thumbilina maybe?' her mind said almost maliciously.
Misty's laughter stopped abruptly as she realized just what kind of person would go to the dance with a fairy prince and that Melody was yet again trying to set her up. 'She is so dead this time,' Misty thought angrily.
"Are you sure you're a fairy prince?" Misty asked hopefully. She wasn't even sure what she was hoping for, whether it was to find that Ash wasn't a fairy prince or to find that he was.
Ash nodded. "Have the proof right here," he said pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. He read off the piece of paper. "Ash, here's your costume. you are the fairy prince. Signed Melody. P. S. Don't tell Mist . . . opps."
Misty smiled despite herself and bit her lip. "I won't tell if you won't," she told him.
"Deal," he said with a sigh of relief. "So Myst, what are you going as?"
~ to be continued ~
I know this was a bit of a half assed chapter and that the last bit is just me being too lazy to think of anything more to write. Please review it anyway, just because I'm lazy doesn't give you an excuse so just scroll down that little bit more and press the little go button down the bottom and with a little help it may help regain the last of my sanity.
Also while you're all sitting there listening to me rant on about nothing could you please all read my other Pokemon fic. I know it isn't nearly as good but it's worth a glance over.
Ok, now that I'm done read the bit before again and do exactly what it says before I have to resort to reverse psychology.