"Love is the stack of biographies on my nightstand
with a bookmark near the end."
-Julia Nicole Camp
"The room looks nice," Ash commented as he settled down on his chair, watching Dawn's through his laptop screen. She was sitting at the edge of the bed in her suit, her hair up in a bun as she slowly took off her watches and put it on the bedside table.
"I know right," Dawn said as she stretched her fingers, finally feeling free after the whole day's work. "I am excited and worried about the meeting tomorrow. Sorry about dumping Olivia on you for few days."
"Don't worry about that Love," Ash smiled and watched the two cats running around, playing with the toy mouse he got them. "I love having her around. She's much more affectionate than Loki." Watching him admiring the cats was a sight she could never get tired of. He turned back to look at her and gave her an affectionate smile and Dawn could swear she felt butterflies taking flight.
"Try scratching her belly and she'll skin you alive," Dawn laughed and untied her hair. "You sure you're okay with me doing my daily routine like this? Won't you be bored?"
"No..no," He waved his hand, dismissing her,"I haven't seen you in such a long time. Its fine. This works perfectly. Moreover, it has been such a long time since I saw you wear your hair in a bun. If I had called even a while later, I would have missed it."
"Yeah, this week had been hectic. The meeting came up suddenly and I had to leave on such a short notice." She took her phone and got up to get some comfortable clothes from her suitcase. "How was your day?"
He leaned back on his seat, watching her pull clothes and some stuff from her bag. "It was hectic. There is this patient who is around 8weeks pregnant. She was so sure she couldn't be pregnant because she just gave birth few months ago. Took a lot of convincing that you can get pregnant even if you are breastfeeding."
"Yikes... Poor girl," Dawn let out a sigh,"Ohhhh, which reminds me, when is Misty's due date? Any idea?"
"I think its 4 months from now. She's so excited to be a Mom." The grin on his face was making her happy inside too. She knew that he was going to be a fun uncle.
"Leaf and Gary are getting married in two weeks. Misty is going to be a Mom. May is engaged. Woah. Sounds fun, not gonna lie."
He could feel the excitement behind her voice. "What about you? What are you thinking about your future?"
Dawn pondered over that for a while. What about her future? Would it be insensitive to say that she had no idea and she had no plans to settle down any time soon? Shrugging, she put up the clothes in front of the camera. "Don't know about distant future but now, I've to change and wash up. Been in this suit since morning. Then I have to order food and eat while I watch you play with the cats. That's my plan at the moment."
"Sounds fun," He laughed,"Okay, I'll close my eyes so you get some privacy."
She gave him a side-eye, raising her eyebrows while a laugh almost broke out on her face. "Pervert. I'm gonna turn the camera off when I change."
Ash had the audacity to look offended,"And here I thought you would put up a sweet show for me."
"If your eyes were closed how would you know I put up a show," She shook her head, laughing.
"Why would I close my eyes if my partner is putting up a show for me?"
His straightforward cheekiness never failed to surprise her. The wild, fuzzy feeling she had in her heart made her tongue-tied. "I don't know how to react to that."
Her rosy cheeks and slight trembling lips made his heart flutter and all he wanted to do at the moment was cradle her in his arms and shower her with some innocent and some not-so-innocent kisses. "Come on, I have seen all of you and if I were you, I would show myself off all the time."
"Flattery isn't going to earn you a show Mister."
A small pout formed on his lips. "Boo. And I thought my charm was working."
It was. But she wasn't going to dive headfirst so soon in this relationship again. "No seriously. Give me 5 minutes. I'll be back."
"Sure. Sure."
Dawn muted herself and turned the camera off and rushed to the bathroom. The day had been too demanding and all she wanted to do at the moment was to clean up and snug inside the blanket while talking to her lover.
Her lover.
The word made her feel her so giddy and happy inside she couldn't express it. He was hers for now. And he was out there, waiting for her to get back.
Would it be too optimistic to believe that he was in love with her too?
Dawn wanted to believe that he was, and even if he wasn't fully in love with her yet, he would be soon. Atleast she hoped he would.
She quickly washed her face and discarded the used clothes. It was rather chilly so she decided against a bath. She put on clean pair of pajamas and brushed her hair, wincing as she untangled some knots.
When she came back to her room, she found Ash still on call and quickly turned her video and audio on, greeting him.
"So, what are your plans for tonight?" She asked him as she tucked herself inside the blanket, watching him pet Loki who had climbed on the table and laid down beside the laptop. Her eyes scanned the area for a mob of brown fur and she relaxed when Olivia came into the frame. The brown cat jumped on the bed and sat down beside the pillow, her eyes scanning her surroundings before she began grooming herself.
"Its just 5 pm here. I have morning shift tomorrow so I'll probably go to sleep around 11 or 12. I was planning on playing but I'll play later. What about you?"
Dawn tapped her screen to look at the time. "Oh. It is almost 10 pm here. I forgot about time zone difference," She laughed. "Well, I also have meeting tomorrow but I am not in a hurry to sleep because I will probably sleep on my way home."
"When is Johanna coming back?"
"In two days. She doesn't want to shift with me to Viridian so she is gonna stay in Pallet Town. Wasn't expecting this to happen."
He shrugged,"I mean, she probably wants you to be independent."
"I am? I mean, I think I am?"
The look in Ash's eyes pretty much screamed 'are you kidding me or kidding yourself'. She wasn't going to lie, the expressions where he said a lot without uttering a single word always made her feel incompetent, even though she knew he meant no harm.
"Staying with parents doesn't equal being dependent on them, you know that right?" She asked, her fingers tracing her thighs, her eyes a little tired. She internally winced at how defensive she sounded.
"I didn't mean it in an insulting manner babe," His eyes were wide as saucers on seeing her crestfallen face,"I meant that she left you all her assets and maybe wants to cheer you on from the sidelines. She was the one maintaining the house even though you lived there. So she probably wants you to maintain this one, on your own. Like, doing things without her influence or guidelines?"
"That stuff means being dependent on someone," She couldn't help but crack a smile,"But yeah. She is crashing at my place for a while though. Says she missed Olivia. Not me, her own daughter but Olivia. Damn."
He could understand. When his parents came to know about Loki (and his co-parenting situation with Dawn), they were surprised too. Spoiled the hell out of the cat when they were visiting him. Ash couldn't remember if he had ever seen his father talk to someone in that baby voice. The sight was heartwarming and terrifying at the same time. "Oli refuses to sleep with me if I don't allow her to sleep on my back. Loki has also started lying on my back."
Dawn held back a laugh. "Poor you."
He shrugged, not at all mad about the situation,"Its getting late, when are you going to order dinner?"
"Oh," She touched her screen to look at the time,"It should be here soon. I talked to room-service when I came in."
She told him about how much Kalos had changed since she last came here. Lumiouse City seemed even more busier and the roads looks even more hustled. "There is a pub over here which Maya took me to yesterday. The food over there overshined the drinks, can you imagine?"
There was a knock on his door and he got up. Dawn watched as he retreated back and heard some noise coming from his side. He was back pretty soon with a big parcel.
"What is it?" Dawn asked and Ash smiled.
"Gifts for Leaf and Gary."
Intrigued, she raised her eyebrows at him,"What did you get them?"
"Oh, just some personalized items."
"Okay?" She didn't press it any furthur.
"Let me keep it away so that the cats don't destroy them."
"Sure."
Once he was back, he began rambling,"What about you? You bought them gifts?''
"Yeah,'' Dawn answered,"I had no idea what they would need so I just got them couples watch. Along with a spa appointment for both of them."
"Neat"
Dawn excused herself when her food arrived and placed her phone on the table. "I am gonna-going to eat now. You want to wait till I am done or do you want to stay in the call?"
"I can stay. I have nothing else to do and I like doing nothing with you."
She shook her head as she took out the pizza from the box,"A weird combination of words but okay."
She was stuffing her face with food and watched as Ash gently put Loki down, deep in thought. He stared at her for a while and said,"How about we go on a vacation?"
This was something which she wasn't expecting. Sure, a vacation sounded nice but they had so much to take care of before going on that. Who would take care of the cats? What about Leaf and Gary's wedding? Wasn't Ash the best man? Could he spare time to fool around with her when such a huge responsibility was on his shoulders? She began chewing a little too fast to speak her worries but Ash beat her to it.
Sensing her line of thoughts, he laughed, taking her by surprise. "Dawn, relax. I am not saying that we should drop everything and run away tomorrow. Lets take our time to plan things and go for it. Obviously after their wedding, I don't want to pressure them with my absence when they need me the most."
"That actually makes a lot of sense."
"You loose a lot of common sense when you are with me," He gave her a grin,"I don't know why, but you're way too smart when you're angry at me."
"I just match your intellect when things are calm," She rolled her eyes but the slight upward curve of her lips wasn't unnoticed by him. "But sure, we can plan a trip. A trip sounds nice."
"How about a month after Leaf and Gary's wedding. Lets not fix a date soon, but sometime around that?"
Dawn nodded,"Where do you want to go? Mountains or to the sea?"
"Anything works as long as we are together and having fun."
Dawn couldn't help but feel a wave of contentment wash over her. He was way too cheeky and cute. "You remember how we were planning to visit Mt. Silver after our graduation?"
His eyes lit up,"Yeah! But-"
His smile went down quicker than it had lit up.
She crooked her head to the side, puzzled, "Is everything okay? What happened?"
What was holding him back now? When they were in college, he couldn't go to fancy places with her because he didn't want her to financially indulge him. But now, when he was in a better position, what was holding him back from spoiling himself?
"Nothing, just," His expression softened,"Had a moment of self-realization."
"Hm?" She was still confused,"So, should we aim for Mt Silver?"
"Sure, sounds good."
"Perfect." She looked like a child who had gotten hold of her favourite candy. "There's a resort over there which has pretty good reviews. I'll ask Maya to ask about availability of rooms, no wait, that's a call I want to make myself. Oh damn! I have so many things planned out!"
"Hold on," he was full on laughing and trying to control his amusement,"I just brought this topic up, how did you plan so many things so quick?"
"I wanted to visit that place for so long but never went through it!" Her excitement was contagious and he could feel his heart fluttering at the sight of her excited face. "I never went through with it though, it was just there on my bucket list."
"Didn't you buy a ticket to go there?"
Her smile faltered a little,"Who told you that?"
"I saw it on a tabloid. I thought you were super careful and so paparazzi couldn't get any pictures of you. You never went?"
She shook her head,"I did buy myself a ticket to go there after our breakup to clear my head. Had my bags packed and everything but couldn't went through with it because I kept thinking it would suck not going there with you. After few days, the urge to visit the place was back again but Hannah fell ill and I couldn't go. And then there was a huge storm which closed that place for months. After that Mom kind of began transferring all the duties to me so never had the time to think about that again."
"Oh," He was taken aback at her honesty. He knew that the break-up wasn't kind to any of them but hearing her put her feelings into words really made him mad at his younger, naive self.
They both left some permanent marks on each other. Both literally and figuratively.
"If you don't mind me asking," he looked unsure,"Why didn't you go with Ray? I mean you dated him for quite some time. I thoughts you guys were gonna get serious."
"We shared the sentiment of keeping things private but the more private you try to keep your life, the more the public spices it up for you." She shuddered,"According to the rumours, we were engaged and had a wedding planned. Freaked me out because I thought he was going to propose. Thank god he was as surprised as I was."
He nodded and Dawn gave him a side eye. "Ash, why did you keep tabs on me? I mean, why do you know so much about the gossips surrounding me?"
He had the nerve to look unaffected. "Was just making sure my favourite ex-girlfriend was in good hands."
She wanted to smack him with the pizza but she had way too much respect for the food to do that to it. "God, why did it have to be you? Again!"
Laughing at her annoyance, he shrugged,"Come on, my jokes aren't that bad."
"Ash, no one is laughing," She tried to keep her smile in check,"Pretty much explains how good your joke is."
.
First of all let me apologise for the long absence. I am really sorry and apologize to all of you and there is really no excuse for this behavior. I promised that I'll wrap this up soon but went back on my word. I hit writers block and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't form a single sentence. Just thinking about writing made me so frustrated that I couldn't get any work done. Hopefully, the next update would be here sooner.
I won't say that I have the ending all planned out but yeah, this is going to end pretty soon. Let me see how many more chapters I can squeeze out before losing the motivation to write. There are a lot of stories which I have left unfinished but I promise you I'll finish them one day. Thanks for sticking around. You guys are the best.
The opening quote is from a short story/post that I read on Instagram and it really stuck with me. If you guys wanna read the whole thing, you can search for "bookmark near the end" on any search engine.
~ darkestlightofhope
