Hey guys!
Previously on Ice Roses (Chapter 2):
Drew shot up from his bed gasping. He just had the weirdest dream. No, it wasn't the usual nightmare. He didn't even think that it was a dream. He knew it happened sometime during his childhood. He was unaware that his loud gasp woke up his Roserade who was sleeping on the couch at the left of his bed.
"Rose, Rose rose roserade?" Roserade asked her trainer in concern.
"It's… it's nothing, Roserade. It's just a bad dream. Go back to sleep," he told her. With one last look of worry, Roserade shrugged and went back to her previous position.
Drew glanced at the clock and it read 2:41.
He brushed the bangs from his eyes and wiped the sweat on his forehead. He turned up the air conditioner and resumed to sleeping, trying to forget about the dream.
-xoOox-
ICE ROSES
CHAPTER 3
Drew groaned at the alarm clock beside his bed. It had been ringing nonstop for who knows how long. He wanted to just throw it at the nearest wall but he decided not to. The first and last time he smashed it into the wall, it sent sparks towards the nearest electric socket and before he knew it, he already had emptied his fire extinguisher.
It wasn't his fault for not wanting to get up. He had a rough night. Well, as rough as dreaming about your bad childhood could go. He woke up in the middle of the night after dreaming about his childhood and found himself no longer able to sleep.
To pass the time, he thought about his deal with May. He knew then and there that he would no longer go back to coordinating even if it meant getting rich and famous and all those crappy goals he used to have when he was still the arrogant ten-year old he was.
Or, at least, he thought he would no longer go back.
He didn't know exactly why he agreed to let May help him. He didn't want her sacrificing the time she could use to train or go on a vacation for him. And though they were best friends, he still felt as if he didn't deserve it. He taunted her and made fun of her for years. He made her think that she was inferior to him. Yet, here she was, volunteering her time to help him for some reason he didn't know and probably didn't want to know.
At first, he thought that she was doing this because she was being a nice, good best friend. However, something at the back of his mind was telling him that there was more to that. Whatever her reason was, it had to be very important. He didn't think that she would react the way she did when he told her that he wanted to stop coordinating if there wasn't an important reason for it. Yes, she was her best friend but he thought that she would be happy now that her ultimate rival was out of the way.
The clock now read 8:42. He was supposed to meet May at her apartment not too far from his in Lilycove City at 9:00. With a heavy sigh, he carried himself off his bed and headed to the bathroom to shower as quickly as possible and brush his teeth. As soon as he was done, he quickly grabbed his pokeballs and woke up his Roserade who was still asleep on his couch. He took some bread from the pantry and decided to eat his breakfast while walking to May's.
Unlike Drew, May was an early-riser. She woke up before 7 to prepare breakfast for herself and her pokemon. Ever since she turned 18, she started living on her own. Her reason was that she wanted to learn to become more independent. With a heavy heart, her parents and Max agreed. She still visited her parents, or vice versa, on a regular basis.
Originally, she wanted to live somewhere in Rustboro so she would be nearer to Petalburg but her mind changed when she heard that Drew bought an apartment in Lilycove. Stalker? Not really. She just thought it would be a lot better and easier to live near a friend. So with Drew's help, she was able to find a two-bedroom apartment for herself. It wasn't that big but it was cozy and clean. It was very affordable and was near Lilycove's center. Best of all, it was near the beach much to her delight. That meant going to the beach whenever she wanted to without having to worry about not having a place to stay.
May was currently in the middle of wiping the coffee table with a wet rag when the door bell rang.
"That must be Drew!" she exclaimed to no one in particular. She jogged over the door, opened it and saw no one else but Drew standing there looking sleepy as ever.
"Well, you look very happy to see me," she sarcastically commented. Drew took this as an invitation to step inside her place.
"May," he greeted, nodding his head in recognition.
"So, you ready to learn how to long coordinating again?" May asked.
Drew stared blankly at her. "I just got here and you already want to start working?"
"Well, it's what you came here for, isn't it?"
"Ugh… fine," he sighed. "What are we gonna do?"
May looked at him excitedly before bouncing up and almost screaming, "WE'RE MAKING POKEBLOCKS TODAY!" He winced at the tone of her voice.
"Anti-deafening pokeblocks please," he muttered under his breath. May just glared at him. She took his hand, not noticing the blush on his face and ignoring hers, and led him to the kitchen. The kitchen counter was lined up with the different ingredients used to make pokeblocks.
"I honestly don't understand how making pokeblocks is going to help me," he stated.
"Because, silly, pokeblock making is one of the basic skill that a great coordinating has to have," May replied. Drew simply raised an eyebrow.
"Besides, Mr. Uptight-All-The-Time, it's fun! Though I'm almost certain that you have no idea what fun means," she snarled at him.
"Fine, let's just get this over and done with," he gave in.
…
"Drew, I told you for the fifth time to push that button as soon as the arrow points at it!" May shouted at him.
The kitchen was a mess. Splatters of berries were everywhere. Drew and May had been dealing with May's Pokeblock blender for the past two hours with little to no success. May started to get frustrated at only thirty minutes into blending. Drew, on the other hand, just felt bored.
"I told you that this was a bad idea," he said calmly.
"Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Rose. At least I'm making an effort here!" she yelled at him through the blender's loud sound. Drew just shrugged.
And with one last push of the buttons, the blender finally halted to a stop. May's anger suddenly dissolved as she waited for the pokeblocks to come out of the pokeblock slot.
And out came one pokeblock.
"ONE HOUR AND ONE POKEBLOCK IS ALL WE GET?!" she screamed angrily.
"Actually, it was two hours. It's already 11:30," Drew reminded.
"I HATE THIS!" May screamed again.
"Anti-deafening human pokeblocks please," Drew quietly prayed, repeating his words from earlier.
"Shut up, Andrew!"
"Hey, at least we were able to make one, right?"
"No! We weren't even successful! We wasted so much time!" May fumed. Drew sweatdropped.
"It's okay. It's not like I enjoyed it anyway," Drew quickly replied. This got May to be silent.
"You mean you didn't like making Pokeblocks with me?" she asked. Drew knew then and there that May took what he said the wrong way.
"No, no. I mean it's not that I didn't enjoy making them with you. It's just that I didn't enjoy making them in general. I never understood why coordinators loved making them so much in the first place. I never liked it," he explained.
May couldn't help but feel sad at this. She frowned knowing that her first attempt of encouraging Drew had gone to waste. "Well, I certainly feel stupid thinking that some stupid pokeblock-making session would help you."
"I do appreciate you trying to help me," he answered sincerely.
"But still, it's not like it made any difference."
"Yeah, but maybe it's just me. Maybe I just don't feel happy about coordinating or anything that has to do with it anymore," he responded.
May's frown remained on her face much to Drew's dismay. He sighed for the nth time.
"How about I take you out for lunch? It's almost 12 and I'm pretty sure your stomach there couldn't wait to eat," he offered.
May gave him a small smile. "Sure."
"My treat," he told her. May's smile widened a fraction.
"Better."
…
"So after you quit-" she gulped, "coordinating, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know really," Drew answered. He took a sip from his iced tea while watching May go through her fifth slice of pizza. It was a wonder how May could eat and eat and eat and still manage to be slim. It was probably from all the training and travelling, Drew concluded.
"You should at least have something planned! You can't stay stuck doing nothing forever," May stated. Drew rolled his eyes.
Drew forked his lasagna lazily while resting his chin on his hand. "I'm pretty sure I could think of something, okay? Just not now."
"Drew…"
"Look, I appreciate you being concerned about me but I just have no idea what to do with my life yet, okay?" Drew told her, setting down the fork on his plate.
May frowned. "I'm sorry, Drew. I just thought that maybe there's something I could do to help you."
"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, let's talk about something else," Drew offered. May nodded.
"What's been happening in your life? I mean besides that thing with the contests," May asked.
"Nothing, I guess."
"I thought you said that you wanted to talk about something else?" May asked.
Drew shrugged. "My life's been pretty boring. The Grand Festival's over, I'm on some sort of vacation while I think to myself about what I want, and as far as I know, the ladies are still after me," he said as he flashed her his very famous smirk.
May rolled her eyes. "I see you're still as cocky as ever."
"I wouldn't be Drew Hayden if I weren't cocky."
"You're annoying," May commented.
"If I were so annoying then how come you still want to help me?" May groaned. Drew won their argument once again.
"Because… because you're my best friend," May answered. She cursed herself for almost stuttering. 'Yeah, just my best friend,' she sadly thought to herself.
"And…?"
"Best friends, uh, t-they help each other," she stuttered.
"There has to be a deeper reason as to why you want to help me with this," Drew argued.
"N-no!" she squeaked.
"I get it!" Drew exclaimed.
'Please don't say it, please don't say it, please don't say it,' she repeated in her mind.
"You wouldn't be able to live with yourself if I stopped coordinating because then you would miss me soooo much!" Drew told her as he made an impression of May hugging herself and faking tears.
"Drew, that was very disturbing. I don't think I'll ever 'unsee' that in my head!" May whined, covering her face with her hands.
"Meh it was worth a shot." He waved his hand off as if nothing happened. That brought out a giggle from May.
While Drew continued to tease May, both didn't notice three familiar figures walk inside the restaurant; two men and a woman. The woman had bright orange hair that cascaded down her back and was clad in a yellow sundress and a white cardigan. One of the men had messy, spiky raven hair and had a yellow rodent resting on his shoulder. He wore khaki knee-length shorts, a black t-shirt and blue trainers. One hand was in his pocket while the other was around the woman's shoulder. The oldest of the group was wearing black cargo shorts and muscle tea. He had brown spiky hair and was currently texting on his phone.
"Did I ever tell you that you looked great in that sundress, Mist?" The raven-haired man asked.
"Gee, Ash, you've seen me where this countless times. You should be used to it by now," Misty replied. She giggled at her boyfriend and leaned closer to him, wrapping one of her arms around Ash's waist.
"Guys, can you please knock it off with the flirting? It's making me miss Solidad even more," the other man scolded gently.
"Come on, Brocko, it's not everyday that I get to do this with Misty. In a sundress, no less!" Ash whined.
Brock rolled his eyes. He was about to retort when his eye caught a familiar couple. "Hey, aren't those May and Drew? Over there at the last table?"
Ash and Misty quit flirting for a second to follow Brock's line of sight. Sure enough, they saw Drew and May bickering at each other.
"Let's go say hi. I haven't seen them in ages!" Ash exclaimed as he walked towards their table dragging Misty by the hand.
"I swear, Drew, sometimes I wish you were- Ash!" May suddenly stopped talking as she looked up at the older trio behind Drew.
"You wish I were Ash?" Drew looked surprised.
"Shut up," May calmly said as she stood up from her seat and enclosed her three friends in a tight hug.
"Ash, Misty, Brock! I missed you guys so much!" May said as she released the three of them from the tight hug.
"We missed you, too, May!" Misty replied. She then looked behind the younger girl, "I see you've brought Drew with you?"
"Hello, Ash, Misty and Brock," Drew politely said, standing up from his seat.
"Wow, Drew, since when were you polite?" Ash joked earning a glare from the grasshead.
"Anyway, May, I heard you won the Grand Festival this year!" Brock cut in before Drew could reply.
"Yeah, I did! I beat Drew over here!" May giggled, pointing to Drew who only remained emotionless. May realized her mistake and sent Drew an apologetic look.
Drew shrugged. "It's fine."
"Why? What's wrong?" Misty asked, sensing the discomfort between the two.
May looked at Drew again for approval but was only met with a shrug. "See, Drew here just told me that he was no longer passionate about coordinating and wanted to quit."
"WHAT?" The trio all exclaimed at the same time.
END OF CHAPTER 3
There you go! Chapter 3!
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