Chapter Eleven: Secrets and Lies
Misty woke the next morning, her body aching with a mixture of hangover and shame. How could she have kissed Ash like that? She groaned, throwing the pillow over her head, trying to drown out the sounds of the birds coming through the window. She extended her arm out, feeling the other side of the bed for a body. It was empty. Rudy was already up, to Misty's surprise. He normally was up before her with the gym and everything, but she expected him to still be asleep, considering that his bachelor party had also been the previous night.
If it had been her choice, she would have spent the rest of the day in bed. Hiding in here was a much better option than actually facing Ash. Ash...what was she going to say to him? The kiss had been a one-off, just a way to get out some pent up frustration. It's not like it meant anything…right?
What if it meant something to him? He did kiss her back. She hadn't imagined that. He seemed to be quite enjoying their make-out session, by her standards. She then recalled him mentioning having feelings for a girl and that telling her would ruin everything. Apparently there was another girl anyway, so it probably meant nothing more than physical to him either then. He would feel differently if she were that girl, but there was no way she was the girl that he was in love with. She silently scoffed. Ash Ketchum in love? Please. Hell would freeze over before that would happen.
She giggled to herself, but then stopped dead, a cold feeling taking over her. What if—what if it were true though? And the girl—oh god. Realization hit her like a brick wall. What if he had been talking about her all along?
She covered her face with the duvet, her cheeks burning. Oh, this was bad, like really bad. Shit. What was she going to do? Either way, she was going to break someone's heart. How could she be such an idiot? She felt like she was going to be sick. Since when did she become someone who didn't care who she hurt as long as she got what she wanted?
"Misty! Breakfast is ready!" She heard her sister's voice carry up the stairs.
She groaned once more, throwing off the covers. She sat up, stretching her back. There was no use hiding, she told herself as she swung her legs out and stood up. She would have to face everyone eventually. Might as well get it out of the way now.
She entered the kitchen, taking in the aroma of waffles. She could see that Brock had taken out a huge waffle iron and was ladling some batter into it. There was already a huge stack of them on a plate to his right. On the table, she could see various toppings, including strawberries and maple syrup. It sounded good to her. She needed something like this to soak up all of the alcohol from the night before.
She looked over and saw that Rudy was sitting at the table, drinking his cup of black coffee. Daisy had made herself a large iced coffee with what appeared to be copious amounts of sugar and cream, judging by the color of the liquid.She sipped it from a straw as she sat next to Rudy. Misty balked when she saw Ash sitting at the far end of the table with a half-empty glass of orange juice. Brock walked over and placed the giant platter full of Belgium waffle corners on the table, causing Misty to jump. Her stomach grumbled at the smell of them. She sat down in between her sister and Rudy, careful not to make eye contact with Ash. Rudy planted a kiss on her cheek. She smiled back at him sheepishly. Ash had the sudden desire to break something.
"Jeeze Brock," Misty said, grabbing a waffle with her fork. "What are we going to do when you go back home?"
"Starve," he replied with a grin. "Eat up! I didn't slave away at a hot waffle iron for nothing, you know!"
She ladled some strawberries over them before taking a large scoop of the whipped cream and dolloping it on top. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Ash pour some chocolate syrup over his own waffles. His hand brushed against hers as he also went for the whipped cream. Her stomach did a flip.
"We should get him to be our live-in chef," Rudy said, jarring Misty back from her thoughts. "That would be nice."
"He won't do it," Misty said. "Not unless you promised him all the gorgeous women he could ever desire."
"You'd never find enough," Brock said with a laugh before sitting down to join them.
"Where's Lily and Violet?" Misty asked.
"Upstairs, still in bed," Daisy said, massaging her temples. "They're still wiped out from last night."
"How?" Misty asked, incredulous. "We barely did anything last night!"
"What are you saying?" Daisy said, glowering at her.
"Nothing," Misty replied quickly before turning back to her breakfast. "Nevermind."
Daisy said nothing. Instead she raised her eyebrows, looking down at her plate. She shrugged her shoulders. She was pissed. She knew that Misty hadn't enjoyed the party that they threw for her. Misty shook her head. Oh well. They could be pissed at her as much as they wanted. The party pretty much sucked, and that was a fact.
Daisy lifted her head, turning to Rudy. "So...what did you guys get up to last night?" She asked with a wink.
Rudy nearly choked on his coffee. "W-what? I-I mean we didn't do much. Just drank some beer and uhhh played board games...yeah."
Misty and Daisy snorted. He wasn't even trying to be convincing. Misty smiled. He was actually very cute when he was flustered like this.
"So," Misty said. "No strippers or anything?"
"Uhh—"
"You're such a liar," she said with a laugh. "You know I don't really care right?"
She didn't care one bit about it. She had no right to be mad at him for that, for one thing. If anyone had a right to be mad at the other person, it was Rudy. She did cheat on him after all, but he couldn't know that. She hated keeping a secret like this from him, but the truth would kill him.
"It was great!" Brock piped in. "There were these three girls, and we actually saw their n—"
"I don't need to know the details!" Misty cut him off, her face reddening.
"Speaking of details," Daisy said. "Where did you run off to last night?"
It was now Misty's turn to choke. She sputtered on her coffee as her blood ran cold. So, someone had noticed her absence. Shit. And of all people! Daisy, though she may seem like a bit of an airhead, was quite astute. How the hell was she going to get out of this one?
"Umm," she said. "I just went on a walk, that's all."
She could feel Ash staring at her. She refused to look at him. What was she supposed to do? Admit to kissing him to her sister with their best friend and her fiancé watching? Oh please.
"By yourself?"
"Yeah of course, by myself. Who else would have been with me?"
She took a chance and glanced at Ash. He was no longer looking at her. Instead, he was stabbing at his waffles angrily. He shoved them in his mouth without a second glance at anyone. Misty's heart plummeted into the pit of her stomach. He looked miserable.
Daisy eyed her suspiciously, but didn't say anything. She finished off her waffled with a few more bites and downed the rest of her iced coffee with one gulp. She got up from the table suddenly. Misty raised her eyebrow at her.
"Misty, we have to go," she said.
"Huh?" Misty replied. "Go where?"
"We have to go pick up my bridesmaid dress, remember? Why else do you think I'm up right now?"
Misty clapped her hand over her mouth. "Oh I completely forgot," she admitted before taking a few more bites of her food before completely abandoning it. She scraped off her plate in the trash and left it in the sink. She went back to the table and drank the rest of her coffee, not bothering to sit back down.
Once done, she placed it in the sink with their plates. Misty swiftly gave Rudy a kiss before joining her sister at the door. Ash wanted to murder someone. Brock shook his head at him. This was going to be a long day.
Misty had only gotten a few feet down the hallway when she heard someone calling her name. She whipped around to see that she was face to face with Ash. Her heart gave a jolt at the sight of his face mere inches in front of her.
"Ash, what are you—"
"Can we talk?" he muttered lowly in her ear. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks with every second that they were together.
"Are you serious right now?" she hissed. She caught Daisy in the corner of her eye. Her sister was clearly staring at them. She was screwed. "You want to do this here?"
"We need to talk about—"
"There's nothing to talk about," she snapped, cutting him off. "At least not now, not here."
"But Mist—"
"I can't deal with this right now," she said. She spun the other way, her heart hammering. How could he think that this was an appropriate time to discuss their kiss? Was he that dense? She shook her head slightly before walking forward, joining Daisy. She grabbed her sister's wrist and said, "Let's go." Misty dragged her sister down the hallway and out of sight, leaving Ash not sure if he wanted to punch a wall or cry.
"Looks great, Daisy," Misty said, her voice cold and distant.
They were at the tailor shop on a neighboring island. Daisy was trying on her dress, a strapless chiffon evening gown in periwinkle blue. Lily and Violet were wearing similar dresses, with slight differences to better flatter their bodies. Daisy was picking up the dress after some last minute alterations, something that the other two hadn't needed. With the wedding only two days away, they needed to pick it up and make sure that everything was all right.
Daisy stood there in front of the mirror, admiring herself. You would have thought it was her own wedding, with the way she kept staring at herself. However, at the sound of Misty's voice, she paused. She twirled around and hopped off the platform. She sat down next to her youngest sister with a warm smile on her face, but her eyes were fraught with concern.
"Misty, cheer up," she said. When she didn't get the response she was looking for, she added, "You're getting married in two days!"
"Yeah…"
"Baby sis, are you saying that you don't want to get married anymore."
"I-I don't know…"
"What happened?"
Misty peered back at her wide-eyed. "Wha-what do you mean?"
Daisy narrowed her eyes at her. "Don't play dumb with me, Misty," she said accusingly. "I saw the way you and Ash were acting this morning. You're going to tell me the truth now."
"I went on a walk last night."
"And?"
"Fine!" Misty exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "I ran into Ash sitting out on the rocks. I joined him for a bit, and we got to talking, and that's about it."
"I know there's more to it than that."
"...and I might have made out with him," Misty added in a barely audible whisper.
"Misty!" Daisy yelled, flying up from the stool. "How could you?"
"It was a mistake!"
"You need to tell Rudy."
"No!"
"Well if you don't tell him," Daisy said, folding her arms. "I will."
Misty latched onto her arm, tears pooling in her eyes. "Please don't. It was a mistake. It won't happen again."
Daisy softened as she took her arm back. She sat back down next to Misty. "All right. I won't say anything. I just sure hope you know what you're doing."
Ash and Brock sat on the beach that afternoon, watching the waves crash against the sand. It was hot as they lounged, casually sunning themselves. Pikachu was playing in the sand, busy building a tiny sandcastle. Ash smiled affectionately at him. Normally he would have been delighted to join him in his little project. However, he had a mission to complete. He needed to chat with his best friend—needed his advice. He glanced over and saw that Brock was ogling at some girls who were also tanning on the beach. They were all clad in bikinis, and Brock looked like he was ready to abandon Ash to go and join them. Ash observed his friend, shaking his head. Some things would never change. Why did he even bother sometimes?
"Ash, why do we have to be so far down the beach?" He whined, still not taking his eyes off of the girls.
"Oh relax," Ash said. "We can go back over there once I talk to you."
"I get that you want to talk," Brock replied. "But does it have to happen over here?"
Ash peered around to make sure that there was no one else around us. "This conversation needs happen while we're alone. I don't want anyone overhearing…that could be bad if the wrong people know before I figure out what I want to do. Like we're talking a disaster of epic proportions here."
"Ash, what are you rambling on about?"
"Okay," Ash said as Brock started drinking his lemonade. Ash's own drink lay next to him, untouched. "So last night, I came out to the rocks over there to do some thinking—soul-searching—whatever you want to call it. I didn't realize that Misty was having her bachelorette party nearby because all of a sudden she was there, and I wanted to jump in the ocean and swim away."
Brock snorted. Ash glared at him. "Anyway," he continued. "We got to talking about some deep shit or whatever and everything was going fine, and then all of a sudden she's kissing me."
Brock choked on his lemonade. "S-she w-what?"
"Yeah," Ash replied, rubbing his temples. It was almost as if he was getting a perpetual headache at this point with everything that was happening. It was enough for anyone's head to spin.
"So…" Brock said, raising an eyebrow. "How was it?" Ash rolled his eyes at him.
"It was good," he started. "Before she all of a sudden panicked and ran off…and now she's avoiding me, so that part isn't great."
"Well, she is getting married."
"I'm well-aware of that," Ash snapped.
"No, I mean," Brock said. "She's supposed to be getting married to Rudy. She's probably avoiding you because she's feeling lost and confused. I would give her some space to figure things out."
"The wedding is in two days."
"Or don't, I guess," Brock said shaking his head. They were always going to do their best to put him in an early grave, weren't they? "Ash, do you really think that she's going to forget about Rudy, and you two are going to run-off into the sunset all happily ever-after or something?"
"Uhh—"
"Ash, don't you think that maybe you should let her go? I mean it sucks, but what else can you really do?"
"I can at least talk to her," he said. He stood, brushing off the sand. He tilted his head in the direction of the ocean in front of them. "Mind watching Pikachu for a bit?"
Brock sighed. "Fine," he said. "I just sure hope you know what you are doing."
"Hey Pikachu," Ash called over, ignoring him. "You mind hanging out with Brock for a bit here while I go back up to Misty's?"
Pikachu turned to him. "Pikapi chupi Pikachupi?"
"Yeah something like that," Ash replied to his Pokemon. "I'll see you later," he added to Brock before he spun around and headed back toward the cliffs in the direction of Misty's seaside cottage.