Love's Tough Choices
A.C & S.T: Hey everyone! Before I talk about how this chapter is gonna be, I just want to take the time and say thanks to some of the people who read and made reviews on my fanfic so far. You guys, and I know some girls, give me the inspiration to continue it, and continue it I shall! Now, about this next chapter of this fanfic; it's going to get a little hectic because this is Ash's first, out of so many, dates that his mom made up on the calendar, and it's with Misty first! Read on how this is gonna turn out!
Chapter Three: The first date
When Ash got home, he noticed a delicious aroma was in the air and he sniffed the air to take it in.
'Mmmmmm! something tells me Brock or mom's making something really great for breakfast!' Ash thought and jet for the kitchen. But it wasn't Brock or his mom that was cooking it when he got to the kitchen, it was Misty. She was wearing her usual yellow tanktop shirt and red strapped, short blue jean overalls. She was also wearing her hair up in a ponytail, like the old times she was with Ash and Brock. Ash just stood there, amazed. He didn't know she could cook some good breakfast. 'She probably learned how to cook from Brock.' Was Ash's only thought at that moment. She turned to look at Ash, with a smile on her face and he quickly returned to his usual self around her. He said his hellos and Misty made the usual intros a little different with a hug before he went for a glass of Orange Juice.
"I couldn't stop thinking about you, Ash." She told him and he just froze on that spot. "What's wrong?" she asked him when she looked up at him.
"Uh…Nothing, nothing." He told her but she figured out why he was acting how he is at that moment.
"Is it because you have to choose between me and that tramp, May?" She asked him and that's when he, inadvertently, snapped at her at that remark about one of his friends.
"Misty, that tramp, is one of my friends and this whole squabble between the two of you for me is not what I want from both of you when I come back!" He told her and that made her shed a tear for what he said and jump to conclusions.
"So, you would take her over me?"
"Yes…I mean no…I mean, I don't know!" Ash said in his confusion of the question. "Look, let me make my decisions over this idea you, May AND my mom agreed on, ok? I care about you, Mist. But I don't know if I actually love you, y'know?"
"I…Understand…"
"Look," he started to say and lifts a finger to her tear on her eyebrow, "Let's just see how this whole thing goes, ok?"
"Okay!" she said in a cheerful voice and hugged him again. "So you want to try out the breakfast I cooked, just for you?" And Ash had been told by someone that whatever smells okay, may be bad for you. But he wasn't gonna let that get in the way of it. Plus, his stomach was growling for some food. Ash's face vaulted when his stomach started to growl, but Misty giggled. She went through that so many times on their first 3 journeys, so it's natural for that to happen. So he nodded in agreement and waited at the table. His mom, unexpectedly, comes downstairs, dressed in her usual house clothes, and follows her nose to Misty's breakfast meal and looked at the table to see Ash up so early.
"Ash! Hunny, your up early." She told him with a smile on her face. He chuckled bit and nodded.
"Well, he was gonna try out my cooking. Do you want some?" Misty asked her.
"Well I can't say no to try out someone's cooking so sure! Yes please!" She said and sounded ever so excited. Misty dished it out and it looked delicious! The usual Sunny-Side Up style of Eggs and the ever crispy and not so greasey-looking Bacon, all seasoned with the right amount of Pepper and Salt.
"WOW! This looks awesome Mist!" Ash complimented her cooking.
"I can't believe it! You're even better than me and Brock, Misty!" Ash's mom also complimented on her cooking. Misty blushed like crazy.
"Well…try it out…." She said while still feeling shy about it and the two took a bite of the bacon first. They almost fainted with delight on how great it tasted.
"Misty…" Ash started to say.
"Yes, Ash?"
"AFTER I'M DONE THIS CAN I GET A SECOND HELPING, PLEASE?" He screamed with a satisfied, but happy look on his face. Misty was absolutely shocked at how he asked her, but that shocked look turned to a smile. She nodded and went back to the stove with a smile on her face. A smile of achievement for what she accomplished.
"HEY! What's with all the yelling up there?" Someone shouted from the basement downstairs and came upstairs. No doubt, it was May. And when she saw what her rival was doing in the kitchen and saw how happy Ash looked, she almost freaked on all of them, but extremely freaked on Misty.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING? FEEDING MY ASH WITH YOUR SO-CALLED COOKING!"
"WELL 'YOUR ASH' IS ACTUALLY EATING & LIKING MY COOKING, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Misty shouted at her and you can see electrical currents going between these two girls as they stare at each other and Ash was still in La-La Land because of Misty's cooking.
"Uh….Why don't we get Ash's idea into motion you two?" Ash's mom said hesitantly just to break these two up from killing each other the first chance of them gets. "And Ash, snap out of it!" she smacks him in the back of his head and brings him back to reality.
"Uh…huh? What's going on?" he asked with a confused look on his face and then looks at May and Misty then figures it out. "Oh. Never mind..."
"OK! I covered the calendar so both of you don't know whose going out with my son. Now, lets take a look at whose going out with Ash firs…" Ash's mom stopped before she can finish her sentence. It seems that when she uncovered the calendar, it showed that the first date with Ash is with Misty.
"OK Now I'm gonna go get ready!" Misty said excitedly and jets to the basement to look for something good to wear, while Ash and his mom look like there was something's a miss about this whole thing.
"Mom, are you sure this is how you planned it?" Ash asked and his mom just, shrugged her shoulders.
"I guess…I was really tired that night." She said to him and walked off to prepare everything for the rest of the day with Brock and Max. And May, by the way, was steaming to the core about this.
'OK, HOW THE HECK DOES THAT SHE GET THE FIRST DATE WITH ASH?' May thought to herself but then checks the calendar and finds out she has a date with him tomorrow and the next day afterwards. 'OK, I've still got a chance with him!' she thought and got her going out clothes ready for tomorrow. While Ash is STILL standing there, in front of the calendar, in a daze and then snaps out of it after about 5 minutes.
"Well, better go and get ready because it says I've got to be ready by 1." He told himself and ran upstairs to get himself spruced up. While both Ash and Misty were getting ready, Brock and Max were about to leave to Prof. Oak's place to help out around the lab and study more about Pokemon and their lifestyle. But Ash's mom stopped them from going.
"Hey, Mrs. Ketchum, what's up?" Brock said to her and she looked a little bit serious, for some reason.
"What's wrong Mrs. Ketchum?" Max asked her.
"Boys, I need your help." She said to them. They didn't know why she would say that but she was worried that this whole dating thing might get a little out of hand with the "competitors" trying to ruin one of the date.
"Mrs. Ketchum, I understand, you don't need to say anything. I can tell by the look on your beautiful face. I'll look after them. You don't have to worry!" Brock told her and she was happy that he wanted to help her with this whole love triangle problem. While Max looked like he was gonna hit him with one of those folded Japanese fans in his hand.
"Thank you, Brock. I don't know what to say…"
"Well don't. I'll look after them, like I said."
"Okay. Thanks! Max?"
"Yes Mrs. Ketchum?" he asked while he hid the fan behind his back.
"Let's go and see Prof. Oak!"
"YEAH! LET'S GO!" Max said with delight and he and Mrs. Ketchum leaves the house to go and see the professor. All the while, Brock just stands there with his head down in shame, sorta.
"Why do I always do that? That always happens when I look at a women's face, WHY!" he said with a huge sigh. But nonetheless, he has a job to do, now, and it's to look after each date in secret. And since it's almost time for the first date between Ash and Misty he has to get ready for when they go. Well the morning passed into the afternoon and it was ten minutes to one. Ash was wearing his usual blue summer jacket and his red cap. He was waiting at the door for Misty when all of a sudden, May comes from out of nowhere and hugs Ash, almost scaring him to death.
"Hi, Ash!" she said when she hugged him.
"May! Don't do that! You almost scared me to death!"
"I'm sorry! I only want to warn you that Misty changed the calendar in order to go out with you first!" May told him and Ash, well he only figured it was one of her schemes to make him pick her overall.
"Well I doubt she would do that," he said to her. "But I'll keep it in mind" he lied. And May believed him.
"Okay so I guess I'll see you after the date or maybe tomorrow." She said with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, of course." Ash said to her and she left with a wave. Ash waved back and was hoping Misty didn't see that. But when he checked his wristwatch, it was five to one. 'What's taking her so long?' he wondered in his mind. Then she came upstairs, exactly on time. She was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Usual going door clothes for a girl to wear.
"You look nice, Misty." Ash complimented her. Misty giggled.
"Thank you, Ash. You look okay, too."
"Thanks. So you want to get going?
"That would sound like a good idea." She said sarcastically and laughed a bit. Ash opened the door for her and they both went out, on their first date ever. Brock, on the other hand, made sure they didn't see him and went out five minutes afterwards. Things were looking good for them. They first, went to the mall and looked around for a while and they found a food court to sit, eat and chat. What May told him, is something he doesn't want to believe but he had to ask her.
"Hey, Misty?"
"Yes sweetheart?"
"I wanted to ask you something"
"What's up?"
"Did you, you know, looked at the calendar dates and changed the first date from May to you? I just want to know, don't get mad at me."
"I can't believe you would ask me that! You know me for a long, long time and I would never do something like that! So no, I didn't change the date, or even looked at it before anyone else!" Misty said and almost cried in front of him. Now Ash felt like a first-class heel for what he did, and try to apologize for the mistake he made in asking her something like that.
"Okay I'm sorry Misty." He said. He then stood up, walked to her side, stood her up from her chair and hugged her. She felt like he really means it by how much he hugged her and didn't pull back. He then pulled away a bit and kissed her. She couldn't believe she was kissing him. In truth, it was her wish that she wanted to kiss him and show her true feelings to him, but didn't want to attract attention to the other people around the court. Ash noticed it too and they both pulled away…slowly.
"I'm sorry Misty." He told her again.
"I know you are. Don't worry about it." She told him. So when they got themselves together, and finished eating, they headed out of the mall and went to the movies. Brock, on the other hand, actually watched the entire thing and has his mouth wide open and is still in shock at what he saw.
'May isn't gonna be happy at what I saw' he thought. 'And his mom's gonna be surprised at this!' So he came to the conclusion of only reporting to Ash's mom about these things only. But all the while there was no sign of May around. But after he did a clean sweep of the area, he went on tailing Ash and Misty to the movie theatres. When the couple got there, they talked about what movie one wanted to see.
"So Misty, what movie did you want to see?" he asked her. But when he looked at her, she was acting all shy and was blushing like crazy like before. "What's up?" he asked her and she looked up at him trying to shake off her shyness.
"Nothing's wrong sweetheart. Um, why don't we see this one?" She said and pointed to one of the movie that was a comedy and adventure flick. They heard from the cashier that it got good reviews from the movie critics and the two got interested in it. They got their tickets (so did Brock without them knowing 5 minutes after they got theirs), went to the designated theatre and watched it to the very end. They laughed, and got a few kisses in when the little boring parts came in. But all and all, they loved the movie and before they left the theatre, they told the same cashier that you should add a couple more good reviews on it, cuz we loved it! And that made the cashier glad that they liked it. When they got back to Ash's place, they went their separate ways and got dressed for dinner. Because from what it says at the bottom of the calendar, it reads 'all dates will have a dinner reservation just for the couple of that night' so when Ash came downstairs, he had on a nice red and black-striped, long-sleeved, iron pressed shirt on and nice black pants.
'This should impress her.' He thought to himself with reassurance of his clothing. When he waited for Misty to come upstairs, May, AGAIN, came out of nowhere and scared Ash again!
"Hey sweetie, how did it go?" May asked so happily but Ash wasn't very happy now.
"Uh May? She didn't do any changes to the calendar. And we had a great time. We're going out to dinner now, as instructed on the calendar." He told her. May felt a little crushed about it, but still had reassurance that he would still go for her.
"I see. Well you must know that she isn't the one for you, Ash. She won't be trustworthy for you and she won't make you happy." She told him and he actually took heed to her words. He wondered if Misty would be someone he would actually want to be with. But then got that thought out of his mind and didn't want believe whatever she says. 'It's probably one of her schemes, again, for me to pick her.' He thought and told her not to worry about it.
"Just worry about tomorrow and our date, ok?" He said to her and she was happy again.
"OK! See you tomorrow!" And she waves to him and walks downstairs to the basement. After she left downstairs, he stood there with his head leveled, and his fists clenched, and a little angry.
'Why am I angry? Why am I listening to May and her words about Misty?' he thought and then growled. But then he calmed down, because of the thought about him and Misty kissing each other. 'Yeah, I should remember that. I did that on my own free will. It wasn't because she neither was sad nor was it ever planned. It was because…' And that was when he came to a conclusion he would never make. But he didn't want to actually believe that conclusion, yet.
"ASH! I'm coming up!" He heard Misty calling from downstairs and then footsteps coming up from the basement. When she came into Ash's view, he tried ever so hard not to make a double-take in front of her. She wore the beautiful light blue dress that was ever made. And she's wearing her hair down, too. "So what do you think? Do I look overdone?" she asked him and he shook his head rapidly.
"No! I think you look extremely beautiful!" He said then noticed what he said and turned his head away. "Uh, I mean, you look okay, for tonight that is." She didn't get angry about it. Because she knows he's hiding his feeling about it so she giggled and complimented on his suit.
"You look elegantly handsome tonight, Ash." She said to him and he just held his head high and blushed.
"Y-yeah, you think?" He said with so much macho in it. Misty just giggled and laughed a bit and grabbed Ash's hand.
"Okay, let's go to that restaurant your mom wanted us to go to." She said cheerfully and went for the door, just to let Ash go out first. He let out a little snort and walked by her. But before he completely walked by her, he quietly whispers "Thanks." and walks by her. Misty still smiled, with or without the snort from him. But when Ash got to the driveway, and when Misty followed, they were surprised to actually see a limo outside. And they wouldn't believe who was driving it.
"Hey you two, mind if I drive?"
And they recognized that voice and were completely surprised by it too!
"BROCK!" They both said together.
"Yeah your probably wondering when I got my driver's license. I'll tell you two the story later. But right now, we got to go!" he said and the 2 got in and Brock drove them to the restaurant that was on the calendar. This place was the most fanciest of all fanciest restaurants ever made in Pallet. And Both Ash and Misty couldn't help but stare in awe about it
'Man mom must have won the lottery or something or she wouldn't have got a reservation for THIS place!'He thought. Misty was lost in though as well.
'Okay, his mom must have hit the JACKPOT to get a reservation here!'
"Well don't just stand there, go in!" brock said to them and they both snapped out of it. They waved goodbye to Brock and he left. Ash extended his right hand to Misty looked down at his hand and up to him. She held his hand and they both walked to the entrance of the restaurant. When the host asked if they had a reservation here, Ash mentioned his last name and the host recognized it and showed them to their table. They ordered the best they got and just talked while waiting for their dinner to come.
"So, how much of a good time are you having?" Ash asked her.
"I'm having a great time with you, Ash. It's just what I truly wanted." She said to him and put her hand on his. Ash, then, talked about his journey in the Hoewen Region and how much he missed her. She felt touched and truly loved by him. When their dinner arrived, they ate, in a proper manner, and then waited for Brock to come and pick them up. But what they didn't know was, Brock was watching them from afar, just to make sure nothing was gonna go wrong for tonight. When he saw them leaving, he knew that was his cue to leave and get the limo ready to pick them up. So he arrives, after ten minutes and picked them up.
"So, had a great dinner tonight you two?" he asked them, even though he saw everything. They nodded their heads and just looked like they were ready for bed. When they got home, Brock let them off and told them that the limo will be here for a while because Ash's mom rented it out for this thing. Ash couldn't believe she actually had the money for all of this.
'Where in the heck did mom get all this money?' He thought and was gonna deal with that in the morning tomorrow.
"Ok everyone let's go inside and get some rest." Brock commanded them but Misty only requested that she would like a little time alone with Ash before they go inside.
"Sure, this is your night, of course. I'm gonna get some shut-eye. Later guys!" he said with a wave. The two waved and wished him a nice night and when the door closed, she turned to him looking down with a smile her face, looking at her hands holding his.
"I-I had a really great time tonight, Ash." She said to him.
"I did, too, Misty." He said and he took one of his hands and he lifted her chin up to him softly with one hand and she knew what was coming to her and he knew it too. No one was around and the kissed, ever so passionate. What they didn't know was May was ease dropping on them and she was looking through the peephole and saw them kissing each other. She, then, backed away and slid down slowly on the wall close to the kitchen. She looked like she was possessed by the look on her face and tears came down on her cheek.
'WHY? WHY DID HE CHOOSE HER? SHE'S ONLY GOING TO BRING HIM MISERY!' She thought with so much hatred in her words, and in her mind, too. She started to run downstairs to the basement and started to cry in the room she was given. When Ash and Misty came inside, they had no idea that May was watching them kiss and were still happy about tonight.
"Well I guess this ends our night, huh?" Ash said to her and Misty nodded.
"Yeah…"
"Well at lease we had fun, right?"
"Yup!" she said and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Well goodnight, Ash." She said.
"Goodnight, Misty." And they parted ways for now. When Misty went downstairs she heard crying from May's room.
"So you looked, didn't you?" She asked her and then May automatically came to the door and opened it forcefully.
"WHY DID YOU KISS HIM? YOU ALREADY KNOW HE'S MINE!" She barked at here.
"Hey, calm down." She said in a proper manner.
"WHY SHOULD I? I TOLD YOU HE'S MINE!"
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, May…"
"DON'T USE MY NAME, TRAMP!"
"Sorry but my name's Misty."
"I DON'T CARE! YOU DO NOT LAY ONE HAND ON HIM, GOT IT?"
"Sorry May, But that can't happen. Remember, he has to make the decision between me and you."
"YOU KNOW HE'S GONNA PICK ME! NO DOUBT! No...Doubt…" and she started to cry and then all of a sudden, falls on her and cries on her. Misty didn't know why she did but then feels a great deal of pity for her. They both care about the guy, ever so deeply but he had to choose one of them. She knows it would be easy for her because he already showed his true feelings for her and she showed hers. But, all and all, she starts to feel this…uncertain care for May. She doesn't know why but she tries to shake it off.
"Look May," she starts to say while she looks down on her. "Let's stop fighting about this, okay?"
"Why should I stop fighting and stop arguing about this? He's mine!" she says while she's crying on her.
"I don't think so, May."
"Why do you say that?"
"He belongs to whoever is in his heart. That's what I think"
"What?"
"His heart knows who is a part of his life. I thought I know but I may be wrong. But that's what I think, anyways." May understood what Misty means by it and instead of having hatred in her heart and her mind, she feels okay in both mind and heart. So she hugs Misty and Misty gets surprised at what she did.
'I thought she hated me, now she likes me as a friend now? Talk about a mood swing.' She thought but then she didn't think THIS would happen. Because out of nowhere May gives Misty a kiss on the cheek; and then, on the lips! Both girls start to blush with embarrassment and backs away from each other. 'Why did she do that? Is she…' But then shakes off the rest of that thought and goes into her room. All the while, May is still standing in front of her door and only have one thought in her mind, 'WHY DID I KISS HER!' Luckily, Brock was already asleep, and a heavy sound sleeper at that. And Max is upstairs in Ash's room, again, and didn't see nor hear what happened in the basement.
A.C: Well, what did ya all thin about this one? It was longer than expected but then again, I wanted to add in the full on details of this chapter, and a few little "extras" as well. But like I said in the beginning, I'm not gonna make this into a fanfic that'll get me in serious trouble. So I'm just gonna leave it at that for now. Tell me what what you think of it and if you all want to know what happens next, well you got to wait for Chapter four to find out!