Chapter 7
"If we don't take the risk for love... than what do we take it for?" -Elisabeth Harnois, Charmed
--
"Pink or
yellow, Myst?" Lily asked her sister while turning around and holding up
two bridesmaid dress samples to Misty. However, the bride to be was
oblivious to all around her. She sat at the kitchen table of the Cerulean
gym, coffee clutched in hand and her head filled with deep musings.
"Personally, I think you should go with the pink," the older sister
continued, not caring that Misty did not answer. "I honestly don't
care what Daisy says. Yellow is so... blah. Pink is more
wedding-y. And plus I don't do yellow, so we're going with the
pink," She smiled as she made the decision regarding her sister's wedding
without even her consent. "Misty?" Lily inquired, after having
finally noticed that her sister was not responding to any of her suggestions as
she appeared to be deep in a train of thought. "Myst?" she
repeated and still got no response. "Honey, I am standing here with
a bridal magazine in my hand and I'm bored," she informed exasperatedly in
a more loud tone.
"Huh?" Misty asked obliviously, at last noticing she was being spoken
to. "Oh, I'm sorry, what were you saying?" she queried
halfheartedly while self consciously running her hand through her locks.
"Hey, are you okay?" Lily questioned upon hearing her distracted tone
while she sat down next to her sister.
"Yeah," Misty sighed. "I've just got a lot on my mind
now."
"Thinkin' about Rudy?" she asked mischievously while flashing a
knowing smile. Misty hesitated before willing herself to meet Lily's gaze
and answer the question.
"Um, actually, I was thinking about... Ash," she admitted and the
surprise was evident in her sister's expression.
"Ash?" she inquired. "What about him?"
"He, um, he kind of told me that… he loved me last night," Misty
found herself saying and Lily's blue eyes widened at the piece of information.
"What? Oh my God," she
exclaimed, bringing her hand to her chest in shock. "Oh God, this is
huge," she cried once more in the same stunned tone.
"No, Lil, he didn't mean it like that," Misty hastily reassured her
and she began to calm down a bit. "He was at the gym last night
after the engagement party and when he said it. He broke up with Melody
and it was just like a friendly 'I love you.' Not an 'I want to spend the
rest of my life with you' 'I love you'," she explained.
"Oh," Lily managed to say in a much less incredulous tone.
"Well, then what's the big deal about that?" she chuckled.
"Why are you freaking out about a friendly 'I love you'?"
Misty bit her lip and took a moment to debate whether or not she should admit
the thought that had been on her mind for hours. She eventually decided
to take the risk and after exhaling heavily she uttered the words;
"Because I was sorta wishing that he meant it as more than a
friend." Lily's mouth went agape and the same shocked features
returned to her face.
"Misty," she began seriously.
"Honey, look, I know..." she started to protest.
"No, you don't know!" Lily exclaimed, abruptly interrupting her
younger sister. "Myst, if you haven't completely forgotten... Ash is
not the one you are marrying in two months."
"Lily..."
"No, no, no, I speak... you listen," Lily firmly cut her off leaving
her no other choice than to listen to what she had to say. "You
cannot do this, okay? You cannot let your feelings for Ash resurface
again, especially not now when you're engaged to someone else. If you do than
everything is just going to become one big mess," she finished gently and
Misty hung her head downcast slightly.
"Sweetie, I understand how hard it must have been for you to be in
love with him all of those years and never gain up the courage to tell
him. But it's too late for all of that now. He's moved on with his
life... and I thought you had too?" she questioned softly toward the end.
"I have," Misty tried to reassure her feebly. "It was
just..." she trailed off letting a sigh escape her lips. She could
feel Lily's eyes penetrating her back and she knew there was no way her sister
could understand this situation. "It was just a momentary
lapse," she found herself saying, although that was not how she intended
on finishing her sentence. "I just got caught up in the
moment. I don't have feelings for him anymore. I love Rudy,"
Misty forced herself to say, trying as hard as she could to convince herself as
the fact as well but with no avail. She cleared her throat and willed
herself to go on. "Really, I do."
"Okay..." Lily answered in a slightly skeptical tone after a beat of
silence. "But you better really mean that, because if you don't this
will just turn into one huge love triangle that no body will be able to get out
of."
Misty let out a little laugh. "Well, I certainly don't want
that."
"Good. And don't worry; I have an idea on how to make sure that Ash
is well occupied so nothing will get screwed up."
She looked at her sister confusedly. "How so?"
"I'll go out with him," Lily answered promptly.
Misty felt her chest tighten and her brain suddenly go on alert.
Lily? Go out with Ash? The absurdity of the suggestion was
obviously not a concern to her sister who seemed pleased at the fact she had
come up with the supposedly 'good idea.' The thought of seeing Ash with
someone else killed her, which was why she clung to Rudy that whole time he was
with Melody. But the thought of him with her sister? It wouldn't
just drive her insanely jealous; it actually grossed her out a bit. She
knew exactly the way Lily was and the thought of them together in any sexual
situation was something she found quite disturbing. Misty visibly shuddered at her previous
thought.
"W-What?" she stammered. "You and Ash?"
"Why not? He's cute, he's sweet, he's a fun guy," Lily shrugged
nonchalantly until a knowing look came on her face. "Unless you
don't want me to..."
"What?" Misty asked once again, her voice raising an octave higher at
the accusation. "Why..." she let out a forced laugh.
"W-Why would I not want you to go out with Ash? I-I'm engaged to
Rudy, I don't have a problem with it." She forced herself to giggle
again and took a large gulp of her coffee as she did so.
"Well, that's great," Lily chirped, clasping her hands
together. "I'll call him later and we can double with you and
Rudy."
"Um, Lil..." Misty started, becoming a little agitated by her
sister's confidence that Ash would definitely accept her invitation.
"No offense, but how do you know he'll even say yes? I mean he just
broke up with his girlfriend last night..."
"So, he's looking for someone new," she reminded her and Misty looked
somewhat annoyed at her sister's 'plan' to distract her best friend to prevent
the looming attraction she had for him.
"Oh, yay!" Lily squealed clasping her hands together. "The four of us are going to have so much fun
when we go out," she exclaimed and her sister plastered a fake grin on her
face.
"Yup," Misty
smiled sarcastically, sipping her coffee. "Can't wait."
--
Ash sat in his
office at the League's location in Cerulean, desperately trying to concentrate
on the task he had been assigned but with no avail. He was supposed to be
looking over the rules for the upcoming Johto tournament but instead he found
his mind only filled with the thoughts of Misty and what had happened between
them the previous night.
He could have sworn that there was something going on between them when they
each uttered those special words. Of course they had both assumed the
other had spoken them in a friendly manner, but Ash had not meant them that
way. He had meant the true meaning of love with every bit of his heart
and soul. He never had directly said
those words to Misty before in all their years of friendship and he simply
could not wait any longer to say them... even if she did not interpret his
inward feelings or return them.
But there was something else that had happened. After he had said 'I love
you' he had felt Misty's grip on him tighten and her breathing momentarily
stop. If she had thought he had just spoken them with no real meaning
than why had she hesitated when she answered? What was the big deal if
she did not feel that way about him, she could have responded without the
thought of the statement meaning something more. That was unless she was
secretly wishing that the words had not been spoken in the way they were.
Ash shook his head to himself furiously at the thought. It was
impossible. Misty did not feel that way about him and she never would and
no matter how much it killed him, it was just something he was going to have to
accept.
His musings were suddenly interrupted by a knock on the ajar door. Ash
looked up to find Lance of the Elite Four entering with a thoughtful expression
on his face.
"Hey, Ash," he greeted him while he stepped into the office.
Ash acknowledged his presence with a simple wave of his hand. "You
got a minute? There's something I need to talk to you about."
"Uh, well, yeah, sure," he answered while gesturing for him to take a
seat in the chair on the other side of the desk. Lance did so and Ash
looked over at him with quizzical eyes. "What's up?"
"As I'm sure you are aware of, the tournament in Johto is coming up in a
couple of months."
Ash nodded. "That's right."
"And ever since you became a master you've been running and battling in
the tournaments in Kanto, correct?"
Ash nodded once more. "Uh huh."
"Okay," Lance concluded toward himself. "You see, Ash, as
a master you are required to compete as well as run all the tournaments that
take place within the League." Again, Ash nodded. "Now,
this isn't a problem in the Orange Islands considering we have
many locations in there but it has come to my attention that you have not spent
much time in the Johto region. Now, it is not completely necessary that
you go over to Johto to work there for a while but it is highly recommended by
myself as well as the other League members. Part of your responsibility
of being a master is being in charge of all aspects of the Pokemon world so I
want to you to seriously take in consideration, Ash..." Lance paused
before continuing. "... of moving to Johto for a while."
Ash sat there in silence; trying to absorb the information he had just been
given. He observed Lance's serious expression and began to try and
comprehend of exactly he was asking of him. Leaving the Kanto region and
moving to Johto... that was something Ash could not rule out as possible.
Sure in his early years he would have jumped at the opportunity to travel
across a new land both that was back in his journey days. He was now an
adult, his dream had been achieved, he had settled in a city which was right by
near his friends, family, as well as his career. He could not picture
leaving all of that behind for work related purposes.
"Lance," Ash finally spoke. "I'm not sure..."
"Look," the older man interrupted him. "I'm not saying you
have to decide right now but I do need an answer as soon as possible."
Ash sighed. "When would you have to know by?"
"Well, the flight to Johto departs from Celadon and since the train from
Cerulean goes directly to that airport, you might wanna do that instead of
taking a cab. But the plane leaves some
time towards the end of the week."
His eyes widened. "What?! This week?!"
"Actually, I would need to know in a couple of days," he informed and
Ash put his head in his hands, unable to deal with such an important decision
so fast. "I know it's a little soon," he admitted and Ash let a
sarcastic smirk of agreement escape his lips. "But I just found out
about this today and I really do think you should go through with this,
Ash. After all, it is part of your job."
"How long would I have to stay for?" he queried weakly.
"As long as you need to. But you'd
have to be there for at least five to seven months."
Ash sighed once more. "All right, I'll think about it," he
informed much to Lance's excitement. "I'll get back to you as soon
as I can."
The Elite Four member smiled. "Thanks, Ash," he said before he
left the room.
Ash exhaled strongly as soon as he left. Had this been several months
ago, when Misty was not engaged to another man and when his life made a little
bit of sense he would have denied the offer right on the spot. But that
was all in the past and this was the present.
Now things were different. Now he
had to sit by and watch as Misty made the countless preparations for the
dreaded day that would unite her and Rudy for all eternity. Now he had to experience the terrible
heartache every time he saw the two of them together. Now he was slowly losing Misty and there
wasn't a thing he could do about it. Now
his life had absolutely no meaning. And
because of those reasons, along with all that had happened, Ash realized that Lance's
request might not be so crazy after all.
TBC
--
