Chapter Twelve: The Fork in the Road

Daisy and Misty arrived back at the cottage a few hours later. They had gone shopping for a bit as well and succeeded in finding Daisy shoes to go with her bridesmaid dress. A few hours had gone by when they got back to the cottage. The house seemed quiet and empty. Lily and Violet must have gone down to the beach to tan or something. Misty couldn't imagine them doing anything else. Once they had gone through the door, Daisy went upstairs to put her things away while Misty went to go into the kitchen.

She walked to the kitchen, lost in thought. She didn't notice that she was not alone. In fact, she nearly had a heart attack when she literally ran into Ash in the doorway. She panicked and immediately did an about-face, trying to run away from him. He caught her by the wrist.

"Hey," he said. "You're not going to run away from me this time." He pulled her back into the kitchen where he knew that they would at least have some privacy. She glared back at him, her mouth contorted into a deep frown.

"Ash, I don't want to do this." She flinched as he narrowed his eyes at her, clearly determined to act otherwise.

"What the hell was last night then?" he asked, taking a step forward, his voice raised.

She took a step back from him. "It was a mistake. It should have never happened, and it's not going to happen again."

"I don't get you," he said. "One minute you seem like you're interested in me and then you go kissing me, but then the next, you run away and go back to Rudy. So what do you want Misty? Because I can't take this going back and forth. It's not fair to me."

"I-I don't know."

"Well maybe this should help you figure it out," he said before crashing his lips against hers. She stood there stunned, not sure what to do. For the second time in under twenty-four hours, they were kissing each other. This was wrong. She should have been kissing Rudy instead of Ash. However, as the seconds moved on, she started to not care as much.

Desire took over as she started kissing him back before realizing what she was doing and that it was in a place that she could be seen by the wrong person. Daisy was in the bedroom above them. She would be done any second. They would be seen. Misty had promised that the two of them kissing would never happen again. Well, there went that promise. Either way, Daisy couldn't know.

Misty came to her senses. She had to get out of there and fast before Daisy caught her. She put her hands against his chest and pushed him away. She wiped her mouth with a shaky hand, scowling at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He gawked at her. "Trying to get you to decide because apparently you're confused, but I'm not confused. I know how I feel about you."

"This is not happening," she said, starting to pace back and forth. Did he really just say that? Did he actually—? No. She pushed the thought out of her head. "Ash, I—we can't do this."

"Why not?"

"What about Rudy?"

"What about him?"

"I can't do this to him! I promised to marry him, and that's what I'm going to do."

"But Misty—"

"No. This conversation is over."

She turned around and stormed out of the kitchen, not bothering to look back at Ash as she went. She marched down the hall, turned the handle to the front door forcibly. It flew open as she crossed the threshold. She went on, letting it slam back against the house behind her.

She couldn't do this. She knew that she couldn't do this. It wasn't right. Ash needed to understand that. They would go their separate ways. That's what was meant to be. She had to get as far away from his him as she could. Being around him was not a good idea. This would happen again if she did.

She started down the path that led around the cottage and down to the beach. It was mid afternoon at this point. The sun was still hot, but starting to be at least tolerable. She wiped the sweat from her forehead. This was not going well. It was not going as planned. Why did she have to be so stupid? Inviting him to come to her wedding was the worst mistake. It was only causing one problem after another.

She continued walking, deep in thought. She had been honest when she told Ash that she didn't know what she wanted. She was in front of a fork—two paths for her life lay before her. She was the lost traveler—unsure of which path would bring her to the correct destination. She was traversing the forest without a map. It was immense and dark, thick with trees, blocking out all sunlight.

There she was, inches from the finish line, and all she could do was stop and stare at it. She just had to get through the next two days, and that would be it—she would be married. Why was it so hard to do that? Why was it so difficult to just let him go? He hadn't even been a thought in her mind a week ago, and now—now she wasn't quite sure.

Ash had been locked away in a special drawer within her heart for so long. Letting him out right before she was supposed to get her happily ever after was so cruel. She had always believed fate to have been kind to her. Perhaps, that wasn't so.

As she continued down the path, she considered her feelings for Ash. What was he to her? Was it a silly crush that she would just get over? Just a fling? A way to blow off some steam before she was tied down forever? Or was there something more to it.

She reached the end, where the beach began, feeling the spray of the salty sea on her face. The smell of the sea calmed her nerves, gave her an ounce of clarity. She loved him. There was no doubt about it now. Even though she loved him, they couldn't be together. This was the way it had to be. She would have to forget what her heart was screaming at her.

She gazed longingly at the vast ocean, a tear sneaking out of her eye and rolling down her cheek. She wiped it away flippantly. How she wished she could just jump into the sea and swim away forever. It would be easier to run away than have to deal with her feelings—feelings that caused destruction and pain wherever they went. Was she more of a burden than anything?

"Pikachupi!"

She peered to her right at the sound of Pikachu's voice. He was waving at her with both of his yellow arms. In front of him was a small sand castle. A smile tugged at her lips. Even after a decade, she could still count on Pikachu for a pick-me-up. She looked further to the right and saw that Brock was also there, ogling at some of the women on the beach. She sighed. He needed to get a steady girlfriend and settle down. Witnessing all of his failed attempts was beginning to get exhausting.

She peered around, taking a good look at the women as well. Her anxiety calmed down a bit when she saw that neither Violet nor Lily was on the beach. She didn't have the energy to deal with them right then. She strolled over to Brock and Pikachu, her flip-flops sinking in the sand as she went. She plopped down next to Pikachu. She scratched behind his ears, and Pikachu responded with a cry of delight.

"Do you want a friend to play with, Pikachu?" she asked the electric rodent.

"Cha!"

She grinned broadly as she pulled out a pokeball from her pocket. She pushed the button in the center. With a flash of white light, a white Pokemon with a spiky head and translucent wings emerged. Even though he only remembered it as a baby, Pikachu recognized Togetic's smell, waving his arms excitedly, happy to be reunited with his old friend. Togetic was as delighted, crying happily as it flew down next to Pikachu. The two of them started to expand on Pikachu's sand castle. Misty turned toward Brock.

"You seem to be having fun," she commented.

"Not as much fun as you and Ash seem to be having," he responded, looking at her from over the top of his sunglasses.

"He fucking told you!" she shouted, so loud that Pikachu and Togetic both jumped. Sparks flew out of Pikachu's cheeks. She glanced around wildly, looking at the beach goers that were now staring at her. She waved apologetically at them before burying her head in her hands.

"Of course he told me," Brock said. "Did you really think he wouldn't?"

She lifted her head up. "I'm going to murder him."

"Give him a break, Misty," Brock replied. "May I remind you that you kissed him? He came to me for advice...whether or not he took that advice is another story…"

"What did you say to him?" she pressed. "Did you tell him to go pursue me or something? Because if you did—"

Brock cut her off. "No, I told him to let you go and move on, but he didn't listen to me. You know how Ash is. He completely acts on his heart and his heart alone."

She exhaled, playing with the sand with her hand. She dragged her index finger against the wet sand, drawing squiggles with no artistic intention. Pikachu paused, his work on the sand castle construction forgotten. He hopped over to Misty and patted her thigh gently. She smiled back at him and reached over and patted his head.

He was right. Ash always had been that way, since the moment that she met him. He was headstrong and stubborn, but at the same time, he was kind and good. Like Brock said, he never let his head get in the way. Although, Misty suspected that it was due to there being nothing up there anyway, but that was beside the point.

"I don't know what to do Brock."

Later that night, Ash was moodily throwing his pillows on the cot when Brock arrived with Pikachu. The Pokemon leapt out of Brock's arms and on to the lumpy mattress. Ash stared at Pikachu on top of the half-made cot, biting his tongue. Normally, he wouldn't have cared. He would have even laughed it off. That night, he felt constantly on edge.

"So," Brock said. "I see your talk with Misty went well."

"I'm guessing that she told you."

Brock shrugged. "Basically."

Ash sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Is she pissed about me kissing her?"

"You did what?"

"She didn't tell you that?"

"No, she left that part out," Brock said, sitting down on his cot. He stared Ash down. "I'm telling you, you should just forget it and move on. This is just going to cause so many problems for you both."

Ash said nothing in response. He considered Brock's words carefully. What was the point? No matter what he did, no matter how much he felt for her, she was still going to marry Rudy. Nothing was going to change that.

"Maybe you're right."

"I am?"

"Yeah," Ash said. "No matter what I could do, she's not going to break her commitment to him. But there's something that I know I need to do for her in any case, but I need your help to do it."

Brock cocked an eyebrow. "Sure. What do you need?"

"First, we're going to need a boat."