Chapter 4
The warm embrace around Misty was so different. But she was completely lost in it, but did she care? Misty would live forever in the feeling she was feeling. Suddenly, the man pulled away from her and she screamed after him. Finally his face turned towards her, and she smiled as she rushed back to his embrace.
"Ash, please don't go. Please don't leave me."
"Don't worry… I won't."
Misty woke up and when she opened her eyes, she saw Ash's face looking at her again. She blinked. No, it wasn't Ash; it was Josh. He smiled sweetly at her, and kissed her softly on her lips.
"Good morning sunshine."
She smiled at him, but behind her smile was guilt, once again.
"Good morning sweetie. What time is it?"
Misty sat up in her bed groggily and stretched out her arms.
"It's already eight thirty."
"What?" she said in shock.
"I said it's already eight thirty. Last night must have gotten to you more than you think."
She took his hand and stood up. After she came back from the bathroom, she was amazed to see Josh standing there with a tray. On it was a vase with a single rose in it, and her breakfast. She couldn't believe how alike they both were.
"Misty, get back into bed. I'm treating you to the luxuries of Café Josh."
He flashed his winning smile at her again, and she caved in. As he put the tray down, she gave him a warm hug. But it wasn't anything special; she didn't feel any kind of special spark. So all she did was give him a small kiss on the cheek and whispered softly into his ear.
"Thank you."
Josh watched as she slowly ate her breakfast, and with that guilty smile on her face. She didn't know it, but he had heard her say what she had said in her dream, and it was eating at his insides just knowing that she really didn't care about him at all.
After a while, she finished her breakfast, and got ready. Outside, it was becoming really cold, and the news had said that there was a good chance for a white Christmas. So knowing this, she dressed warmly. She put on a snug pair of jeans and a yellow sweater. Misty didn't really feel like doing anything special to her hair, so she just combed it and pulled some of it back with a pin on each side.
Downstairs, she was met by the all too familiar voices of the brothers.
"I told you already! Mom didn't care about me at all! So why should I have stayed?"
"Well, I cared about you back then at least! You were my big brother! I looked up to you!"
"I'm sorry all right? Do you have to keep nagging me about it?"
They stopped their argument when they saw Misty come into the kitchen. Ash and Josh just went on eating their breakfast, like nothing had happened. Misty sighed; she didn't like it, all of the arguing, especially between the two people she cared about most.
"Okay, if I'm going to have a nice Christmas, then the two of you better quit it. I understand that you two have family issues, but as long as you are under my roof, all of that is going to be put aside. Understood?"
Both of them gave her a confirming nod and she smiled.
"So, what are we doing today guys?"
"Guys?"
She looked at Josh sternly, and then smiled again.
"Ash, you want to come with us today? We are going holiday shopping at the mall."
"Oh… sorry Misty, I can't. I have to go do something else while I'm here. I'll be back later. You two have fun! Pikachu? There you are. Let's go."
Josh and Misty watched as the two of them left out of the door. As soon as he heard it close, Josh turned to Misty and grimaced.
"Misty, I don't know how you can stand him!"
This shocked Misty straight to her core. She looked at him angrily.
"What do you mean? Sure he can be annoying sometimes, but his intentions are good! I don't see why you have such a problem with him! I mean, he is your brother! I hope you don't intend on being like my sisters. Why not go date one of them?"
"Misty!"
"It's true! You barely know anything about me! Only yesterday did you find out about how mean they are! Knowing that, couldn't you have made some kind of effort to be nicer to Ash? It hurts to know that he has a brother like I have my sisters."
"Misty, I'm sorry."
She felt guilty again as he wrapped his arms around her. But this time, her anger hadn't subsided fully. She still felt the sting of the reality that Josh wasn't at all what she made of him. But she let it go.
"Okay okay. Let's get going. The crowds are going to be terrible today! Tomorrow being Christmas and all. I can't believe we waited this long to go shopping!"
"I can believe it."
She hit him playfully on the shoulder and they laughed. Time to go do some hardcore shopping.
..:-:..
It had been hours since that morning. Misty was still feeling like she could get some more hours in, but Josh, being as he was the one caring all of the bags, had had enough of it. After they ate lunch, Misty dragged him over to yet another store. But before they reached it, Misty spotted the cutest thing. Children were waiting in line to go sit on Santa's lap.
"Josh! Can we please go? I haven't done this in so long! It will be fun!"
"Misty, isn't this what children do?"
"Yeah, but still."
She could sense he was already becoming annoyed. Was he annoyed with anything associated with something that was twenty and below? It seemed now that she fit into that category too. During their wait in line, a mother had to run to go get her children, and as they zoomed past, Josh almost fell over while he was holding onto the shopping bags.
"Watch it lady!"
Misty stood there gaping at him. Who was he, and what had he done with caring, loving, affectionate Josh? Maybe she was finally seeing his true colors. The group of children ran back to the line, and Misty stopped them with a huge smile on her face.
"Miss! Miss! My children?"
She was laughing hysterically as the children played with her purse. Josh on the other hand, couldn't stand it at all, and he was wincing in pain from the noise. That was it.
"Misty, I'm going."
"What? Josh!"
"I'll see you back at the gym. I can't take this anymore!"
She watched him go, as the woman took her children back. Misty felt her boyfriend's presence leave, but for some reason, it didn't matter. She was happy, and that's all that she cared about, her own happiness. Then it hit her, a realization that came so fast, she didn't even expect it. If she wasn't happy with Josh, then why was she with him? Was it even right to tag him along?
But she couldn't finish her thoughts, because at that moment, she heard a husky voice.
"Next!"
She walked over to Santa briskly and smiling her head off like she was one of the kids.
"So, I see you're not a little girl anymore! You still believe in Santa?"
Misty smiled. For some reason, she felt so comfortable with this person. It was like she knew him, but it was Santa duh, not someone she knew, right?
"I sure do. Would you like to know what I want for Christmas?"
"Why of course! What can I get you for Christmas this year?"
"I want someone perfect for Christmas! Someone who I know is right for me."
"But don't you already have that special someone?"
She looked completely shocked.
"How did you know?"
The man let out a small chuckle.
"I only thought you would. You are pretty you know."
She let out a small chuckle, and then rolled her eyes.
"Um… I think that's it for me. Thanks."
"Oh wait! The picture! Say cheese!"
Misty hesitantly smiled as the man with the camera took the picture.
"Che-eese?"
Her smile was awkward, but she didn't care. She just wanted to get off of Pervert Santa.
"You can pick up your picture with the elves."
She really didn't want the picture, but what she saw made it irresistible to go to the elves. Her smile gave it all away.
"Ash? Ash! What are you doing here? In that!"
He turned around and a bright pink shade made its way to his cheeks. He couldn't hide the fact anymore.
"Yeah… um, remember I said I had to go do something? Well, this is it. I got a job for today. Needed some extra money. They paid upfront. So I'm stuck in this elf costume for about another four hours."
"Pika, pika pi!"
Suddenly, the yellow mouse came out from behind him, but instead of hilarious laughs, she let out a cute 'aww'. She fixed the pokemon's hat and smiled.
"All right then Ash, I'll be back here in four hours as you say."
"What? Really? But what about Josh?"
"Oh, him. Well he decided to go home, just like that. I swear, sometimes I just don't know about him! He seems so distant and oh I don't know anymore Ash."
"Hey! Get back to work elf!"
Ash shrugged his shoulders and went back to the pictures. As she left Santa's workshop, she watched him. He wasn't at all like his brother; instead she saw the warm, loving, affectionate person she thought was in Josh, in his brother Ash. She saw him play with the next group of kids that wanted to get their Santa picture.
Four hours was a long time. So with a heavy sigh, Misty walked home. She really didn't want to go back to Josh, she rather spend time with Ash. Okay, if she felt that way, then there was no way out of it; she didn't love Josh, she wasn't even sure she liked him. Then what made her think she did?
Misty walked into the gym, to find Josh standing at the receptionist desk.
"Hi Josh," she said carelessly.
"Misty, where have you been?"
"Jeez Josh! Calm down! It was only a half hour since I last saw you! I was with Ash at the mall!"
"Oh of course, with Ash!"
"Josh, is there something so wrong with that?"
"Well for one, I'm your boyfriend, he's just your friend, or am I wrong about that?"
She looked at him half exasperated.
"How can you even say that? Of course you are my boyfriend! I-"
"I don't want to hear it anymore."
His eyes were so full of sadness and she seemed to finally understand why. Oh, but she felt so guilty again. She just wanted to go up to him and make everything okay again. So that is what she did. As Josh rounded to the back of the desk, Misty flung her arms around him, but he pushed her away, but not before giving her a small kiss on the top of her head.
"Misty… stop pretending."
At this, her heart sped up and she felt like she was going to become dizzy.
"What… what are you saying?"
"I know you don't care about me… not like you care about someone else. I heard you this morning."
Her mind raced back to that morning. What had she said? She only had that… that dream. Dread spread over her, but in her mind she knew what he was saying was true.
"Josh, I'm sorry."
He put his finger to her lips and smiled gently.
"I do love you Misty, I want you to know that. But now I know the truth, and so I'm going to…"
Josh picked up two bags from behind the desk and Misty gasped.
"Leave?"
He nodded and a small tear fell from her eye. She watched as he left the gym wordlessly, and it hurt her so much that she felt like crying, bursting out on the spot, and running after him.
But she didn't.
..:-:..
The rest of the time she spent just cleaning up the gym and her house, putting up the decorations she bought, and putting up the Christmas tree. She lit the fireplace and waited a while. Finally the four hours had passed and Misty made her way to the mall.
"Ash! Pikachu!"
She saw them standing near the now closed Santa's workshop store. Misty ran up to them, and Pikachu jumped into her arms. They laughed and then Misty decided she had to tell him right off the bat.
"Ash, I need to tell you something."
He looked at her anxiously and nodded.
"Josh and I broke up a couple of hours ago. He left."
"What? Are you okay? That's so typical of him!"
She was amazed at how angry he was and how worried he was as well. His arm was around her shoulder and she smiled as the warm embrace she felt in her dream came alive again.
"Ash, don't worry, I'm fine. To tell you the truth, I guess I didn't really like him that much to begin with. It was just so familiar with him because I guess he reminded me so much of you."
Her friend smiled, and then he began to walk away. Just like the dream, she reached out towards him, and he stopped.
"Ash! Don't leave me! Please don't go!"
He took her hand and smiled.
"Oh come on Misty, did you really think I was so much like Josh that I would leave you? Come on; let's go get some food! I'm starving!"
She chuckled as he grabbed her hand and along with Pikachu, they went and found a fast food diner in the mall.
"So Misty! Have you been living it up in the gym?"
"Haha, sure you could call it living it up, but I'm really lonely, if it weren't for Josh, I'd probably be bored out of my mind for the past two months!"
"Wow… two months huh?"
"Yeah, but it really wasn't much. Just sort of spur of the moment, no excitement."
As she said this, millions of flash backs popped into her head of when she was on an adventure with Ash.
"You know, I don't think I've had any excitement since our last adventure. That was so long ago Ash! And now I can't even go with you anywhere because you are already the best!"
He laughed and then almost chocked on his drink. She gave him a worried glance.
"Ash, didn't your mother always tell you not to laugh while you drank?"
"Yeah, but you made me laugh!"
They both sat there laughing then. Time passed by and they caught up with each other about what they had been doing for the past couple of years. The two of them hadn't even realized that it was already dark outside.
"Oh wow. It's getting late. You want to go home Misty?"
"You know what Ash? I really don't. Do you want to go to the lake like yesterday?"
Inside, Ash rejoiced at hearing her say that. It was perfect, his plan was perfect, and it was great timing, especially with Josh gone and all. They walked to the lake laughing to each other along the way, and Pikachu occasionally running ahead of them. When they got there, Misty couldn't believe her eyes. There was snow, snow maybe two or three inches deep! She let out a joyous laugh.
"Ash! Can you believe this? There's snow here! In Cerulean City! It must be a miracle!"
He just watched as she danced around in the snow amused. Of course it wasn't a miracle, just with the help of some of his pokemon, and the move 'Blizzard'. It was cold enough any way, so the snow wouldn't have melted. Everything was going to be perfect.
Boom.
Ash wiped away the snow from his face and it revealed a frown. He picked up some snow and rolled it into a ball.
"Misty, you are so going to get it!"
"No Ash… it wasn't me…" she said slyly.
Right then she turned around and was going to run, but the snowball had already hit her in the back. She looked at him with shock, but laughed it off.
"Ash Ketchum, you better get over here!"
She picked up some snow in her hand, and began to chase him around. As she did this, the snow fell from her hand and now she was just chasing him. Ash turned around abruptly, and it was a good thing that he did, because at that moment Misty slipped on some ice. He caught her in his strong arms… strong? Misty looked up at him, at his soft smile, his warm inviting eyes and that jet black hair that could never be groomed; it was always somewhat messy. She stood up, but his arms were around her, and her hands placed on his chest. The wind slowly blew her hair into her face, but he tucked it behind her ear. Suddenly, they both looked up at the tree above them.
Mistletoe.
A/N: hahaha! Cliffie! Yes, I know, (starts to back away from angry mob) but I had to! It fits in! lol… sorry to say that the next chapter will be the last! But I'll make it extra good! Lol Stay tuned!