Chapter 3
"They say never kiss a friend because that friend will be forever lost,' but what if the one person you are looking for is that friend you've never kissed?"
--
Ash watched the movie that illuminated the television as he sat on the couch in Melody's apartment. He looked down at his girlfriend as she cuddled closer to him, taking a handful of potato chips from the bowl on his lap. Melody had suggested the two of them have a 'night in' where they could sit, watch a movie, and then have a deep and meaningful talk about their relationship. Ash had to resist the urge to laugh at loud at the request. There was certainly not much depth to his and Melody's relationship, should he even call it that. She was simply someone he had been using to get his mind off of Misty that he had wound up being with for too long. Ash decided he would wait for her to get bored and break up with him. He didn't have the guts to dump her when he couldn't give her the real reason for why he was doing it.
He stared as the figures of Reese Witherspoon and Luke Perry moved across the screen as the actors that had been cast in Sweet Home Alabama, the film Melody had insisted they rented.
"Nobody meets their soulmate when they're ten years old… I mean where's the fun in that, right?"
Ash felt his chest tighten as that particular line of the movie was spoken. He remembered years ago watching the same film with Misty and making eye contact with her at the same specific part. He hadn't known why she happened to be looking at him when the same line was said, but it was another one of those moments between them that he continued to contemplate.
"Isn't that sweet, honey?" Melody asked, hugging Ash tighter. "We met when we were ten years old."
Ash tried not to roll his eyes at her. "Uh, actually, Mel, we met when we were twelve. I met Misty when I was ten."
Melody's expression darkened. She hated when Ash did this. She hated when she tried to have a romantic moment with him and he ruined it by bringing up Misty. It was not as if she didn't like the redhead. They had become friendly since Melody moved to Cerulean. It was the fact that she was so tight with her boyfriend that angered her so. Melody knew that Misty was taken but she still had her doubts. She remembered those words Misty had spoken to her when they first met, confirming that she did in fact have feelings for Ash. Although things had changed drastically over the years, Melody knew that Misty's feelings would never completely go away. And she was beginning to worry that it was the same thing with Ash.
"Oh," she muttered quietly. "My mistake," she continued, the icy tone in her voice going unnoticed by Ash as they watched the rest of the movie in silence.
--
Misty entered the hallway to the gym tiredly, dropping her keys and bag onto the table as she did so. Her day had been the same as usual, consisting of making various wedding plans. For hours on end she had to meet with strangers discussing money or flowers or food or some other wedding-related thing. The whole process was dreadful, time-consuming, and very annoying to be bluntly honest. Misty was beginning to wonder why she was doing so much to perfect a day she didn't really want to happen.
Misty's musings were interrupted as the sound of thumping came from the stairway. She saw Lily running down the stairs, pink curls flying everywhere, and clad in nothing but a man's button down shirt as she searched for something frantically in a nearby drawer, oblivious to her younger sister's presence. Misty watched her sister with an expression of amusement and disapproval before clearing her throat loudly; making Lily aware she was standing there.
"Oh!" Lily exclaimed in surprise, stopping her search for a moment. "Myst! Hey, uh, how long have you been standing there?" she asked sheepishly while glancing down at her attire in embarrassment.
Misty raised her eyebrows. "Long enough to wonder if this," she said, gesturing toward her lack of clothing. "...was the reason you had so much trouble making my catering decisions last week?"
"No, that was someone else," Lily informed her matter-of-factly before realizing that was not necessarily a good thing.
"Uh huh, and would you mind telling me the name of whoever your man is today, and please, Lily, tell me you know his name," Misty added toward the end getting her sister to look at her with semi-offended expression.
"Of course, I know his name! It's Jeff… or is it Jack…?" Lily furrowed her brow in confusion. "Well, it's something with a J, I know that." She frowned again. "I think…"
Misty shook her head to herself. The gym was now run by Misty and Lily only. Daisy and Violet both had husbands and children in other cities and had moved away long ago. Lily was the only one out of the four who remained single, and frankly, it did not bother her one bit. She had a pretty care-free attitude when it came to dating. A little too care-free in Misty's opinion. Lily saw nothing wrong with having a different guy every week or sleeping with people she had just met. Misty didn't know whether to feel sorry for or be envious of her sister. Lily had never had a real serious relationship and would most likely never been in the situation that her younger sister had wound up in. But still, Misty wasn't sure if that was necessarily a bad thing. After all, Lily seemed a lot happier than she was.
"Um, so I guess I'm gonna go back upstairs and… you know…" Lily spoke up, implying what she was trying to say without actually saying it.
Misty held her hands up. "Please, no details," she begged and Lily flashed an impish smile before heading off in the other direction
She watched as her sister scampered back up the stairs, the small package now in her hand since she had found it in the messy drawer. Misty sighed to herself and glanced as the watch on her hand. She knew what events the night had in store for her. Dinner at Rudy's place, boring conversation between the two of them, sex. It was the same meaningless thing every time they spent the night together, and quite, frankly Misty was sick of it. She had no idea how she was going to survive the same thing for the rest of her life.
The shrill ringing of the phone suddenly pierced the air, startling her.
"Hello?" she answered halfheartedly.
"Hey, it's me," Rudy informed her and Misty frowned at his assumption that he considered himself the only 'me' in her life.
"Hi, I was just about to call you," she responded, deciding it wasn't a complete lie. "Do you want me to come over to your place now for our late dinner?" Misty heard Rudy sigh on the other side and she immediately knew the answer to her question.
"How about a really late dinner?"
"Why, where are you?"
"I'm still at the office. Big press conference tomorrow. One of the computers is completely fucked up."
Misty rolled her eyes. Rudy had retired from the gym leader world long ago and his gym was now run by his sister, Mahri. The actual reason he had moved to Cerulean was because of his big executive job. He worked for some huge company that Misty honestly had no idea what they did. All she knew that Rudy's work took up just about all off his time, which was his excuse of why she was the one planning their entire wedding. Whenever he cancelled on her, his excuse was always work-related. A meeting that ran late, an emergency at the office, dinner with his boss. It was always something with Rudy.
"Babe? You there?"
Mist remained silent before speaking again. "I don't know, Rudy, am I?"
And then without knowing why she was so mad or why she cared so much, she slammed down the phone in annoyance, not letting Rudy get another word in.
Misty shook her head to herself. Why did she care so much? It was as if she was dying to spend time with her fiancé. Why did Rudy blowing her off make her so angry? She didn't love Rudy. She just wanted to be with him, because it was nice to have someone to call, to go out with, to provide for her, to sleep with. Because Rudy was the best she could do.
Misty was about to walk away from the telephone but her hand lingered on the receiver as a sudden idea formed in her mind. She stood there for several moment, contemplating. A decision was eventually made as she picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number. She rethought her choice one last time as her finger hovered above the last digit that needed to be pressed. She willed herself to push that last button and put the phone near her ear, waiting until the familiar voice picked up.
--
Ash sighed thankfully as the credits began to roll. He glanced down at Melody and to his relief and surprise, she had drifted off to sleep, despite that it was still pretty early. Gingerly, he wriggled from her grasp and tip toed over to the television, ejecting the video from the VCR. He quietly moved to put the tape back in its case, trying not to make any noise that would wake Melody and leave him stuck in a night full of 'serious conversation'. Unfortunately, the ringing of the phone ruined that for him.
Ash dove for the device, picking it up on the first ring, glimpsing at Melody briefly and sighing in relief when he saw that it had not woken her. He tried to keep his voice as low as he could when he answered.
"Hello?"
"Ash? It's Misty. What are you doing tonight?"
--
Get a load of me, get a
load of you
Walkin' down the street, and I hardly know you
It's just like we were meant to be
Holding hands with you, and we're out at night
Got a girlfriend, you say it isn't right
And I've got someone waiting too
Misty giggled as she exited the movie theatre, a container of popcorn in one hand and her soda in the other. She listened in amusement as Ash complained about the movie she had dragged him to that just finished.
"That was definitely the worst movie I have ever seen in my life," he said expressively. "I could have written a better script in my sleep."
"Aw, come on, it wasn't that bad."
"Misty, it was a total chick flick!" he exclaimed
"Well, I'm sorry it wasn't one of those action films you big strong men seem to love so much," she shot back teasingly. You know, with guns going off, and bombs exploding, and, um, buses going really fast."
Ash raised an eyebrow at her. "Buses?"
"Shut up, I'm a romantic comedy girl, I don't know what's in any other genres," she told him while sucking the straw of her soda and drinking the carbonated water.
Ash snickered. "Do you know anything?" he asked jokingly getting elbowed in the ribs from Misty in return. "Ow!" he cried, rubbing the spot where she had hit him. "You know, why did I even agree to go out with you tonight? All you do is abuse me anyway."
"Oh, come on," Misty smirked. "You know you love it."
Ash paused for a moment to contemplate that he actually did love the attention Misty gave him, as violent as it could be sometimes. "Well, still. This is the second sappy romance movie I got manipulated into watching this evening." She looked at him confusedly and he further explained. "Melody decided we should have a staying in night where we watch a movie and have 'meaningful discussions about our relationship'." He made air quotes on the last words of his sentence causing Misty to laugh.
"And how did you manage to get out of that one?"
"I didn't. She sort of fell asleep when the movie was over, so I left her a note…" Ash admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "…saying that I went out to the store to buy milk."
Misty gaped at him incredulously. "Ash, you are horrible!" she exclaimed. "You know, if you were my boyfriend, I'd never let you get away with that," she informed him. If you were my boyfriend, I'd never let you out of my sight again, she thought inwardly.
Ash chuckled. "Well, if I was your boyfriend, then I'd never dream of pulling that kind of stunt."
"Why not?" she queried.
Because I'd never want to leave you. "Because, I know you'd kick my ass if I tried," he responded cheekily.
"You got that right," Misty grinned. She dropped her finished soda into a nearby garbage can and took Ash's hand with her free one. He entwined his fingers with her's and they continued to walk down the sidewalk, appearing to onlookers as any normal couple on a date, all of them oblivious to how complicated their situation really was. The two of them continued to stroll down the street, Misty stopped at a nearby bench, plopping down on it and pulling Ash down next to her. She stuck her hand into her container of popcorn and stuck a handful of the yellow kernels in her mouth.
"You do realize that most people get popcorn during the movie, right?" Ash asked.
Misty shrugged, eating another handful. "I thought you realized by now that I'm not like most people."
"Yeah, most people didn't pound me with a mallet when I was a kid," he joked before grabbing a handful of popcorn from the bag and throwing it in Misty's face.
"Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Yeah? Well, most people didn't destroy my bike when I first met them!" she cried as she too threw popcorn at Ash.
"Well, most people…" Ash's voice trailed off as he tried to continue the playful banter existing between them. He suddenly became aware of how close his and Misty's faces were. Their noses barley apart, their lips almost touching. Misty felt a shudder of desire run through her body as she felt Ash's breath on her mouth, warm and rampant. Her heart rate accelerated, pounding so fiercely she feared Ash would be able to hear it. The space between their faces was slowly decreasing, to the point where there would be none at all…
Suddenly, the tune of Liz Phair's 'Why Can't I' filled the air, completely ruining the moment. Misty looked down at her ringing phone, not noticing Ash's expression of hurt and disappointment. She sighed out loud as she saw the words Rudy-Home illuminating her screen. Reluctantly, she opened her phone.
"Hello? You want me to come over now? I thought you had to work. Rudy, I'm not at home. I'm… out. What do you mean 'out where'? I don't ask you every detail about what you do when you work late. Of course, what I'm doing isn't more important than you. What kind of a question is that? Rudy, I… fine, I'll be there soon. Bye."
She flipped her phone shut and turned to Ash with an apologetic glance. He had obviously understood what was going on from hearing her side of the conversation and was now looking at her understandingly.
"Let me guess… duty calls?" he inquired, trying to grin weakly but was not too successful in doing so.
Misty sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Nah, don't worry about it.," Ash reassured her, struggling to sound nonchalant as he waved his hand in dismissal. "I'm gonna head back soon too. Melody probably thinks I've been kidnapped being the drama queen she is," he chuckled. Misty made eye contact with him and the two of them stared at one another longingly before Ash broke the silence, leaning in and kissing her tenderly on the cheek in an area not too shy of her mouth. "Goodnight," he murmured.
"Goodnight," she replied softly before willing herself to stand up and walk down the street in the direction of Rudy's apartment which was not too far from where they were currently.
Ash leaned back against the bench as soon as she left, placing his hands behind his head. He gazed up at the night sky, the numerous stars that shone shined brightly against the blackness. He felt a dry structure brush his face and he looked up to see a dead leaf had fallen from a tree that happened to be hovering above him, symbolizing the true beginning of autumn. Ash sat up and glanced down the street to get a glimpse at Misty one last time before he headed back, but she had already disappeared amongst the darkness of the night.
This is, this is just the beginning
We're already wet, and we're gonna go swimming
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
It's inevitable, it's a fact that we're gonna get down to it
So tell me
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Isn't this the best
part of breakin' up
Finding someone else you can't get enough of
Someone who wants to be with you too
It's an itch we know we are gonna scratch
Gonna take a while for this egg to hatch
But wouldn't it be beautiful
Here we are, we're at the beginning
We haven't fucked yet, but my heads spinning
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
It's inevitable, it's a fact that we're gonna get down to it
So tell me
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
I'd love for you to make me wonder
Where it's goin'
I'd love for you to pull me under
Somethin's growin'
for this that we can control
Baby I am dyin'
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
It's inevitable, it's a fact that we're gonna get down to it
So tell me
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
TBC
--
A/N: Good? The original chapter I admit was better than this one, but since my computer decided to delete that first copy I had to rewrite the whole thing *pulls out hair*, lol, it was a very stressful situation. I hope you all noticed that Misty's ring tone was the song I included there at the end. Heh, me trying to be creative. Anyway, I know I made Lily look like a total whore in this one, but we still like her in this one besides that fact. She has an important part in this fic, and I just wanted to add a little flavor to her character ;) I hope everyone else in character, R+R please =)
