Her confession startled Ash. "she loves me?!? I thought I knew her so well, after 4 years and then she drops this bombshell on me...I'm only 14, I've never looked at anyone in that way before!... But be careful she's your friend, the last thing you want is to lose her. For the love of Celebi, say something quick!"
Misty examined his perplexed expression, knowing she made a big mistake "Take it back! tell him you didn't mean it... no, you can't lie"
Ash was in a hurry to say something, but he was caught off guard so he just let out a nervous ramble "I.. uh, see I think of you as a best friend and... over the last four years you've always... um, You're important to me."
Misty lowered her head in disappointment "Now look what you've done, he doesn't feel the same way and you just made everything awkward"
"That's enough Ash." she interrupted, unable to look at him "Lets just go back to the hotel"
Ash continued to stutter complete nonsense "b-but Misty, you told me.. when I don't know what-"
"I said lets go!" she snapped
Ash retreated, looking a little hurt "..ok"
Misty felt ashamed of herself for bearing her soul to him. "The one thing I tried so hard to keep quiet about and now its too late, those three simple words have scarred our friendship"
but Ash looked at the situation differently. "why is she acting like this? treating me like dirt and then telling me she loves me out of nowhere! I'm so confused... but no matter how bad things get, she'll always be my best friend"
She started pacing quickly to the curb to keep in front of him while hailing a cab, too ashamed to meet his eyes.
They jumped into the backseat "pine hotel please" she muttered, handing the cab driver money. Ash reached a hand out with some coins "that's alright Misty, you don't have to pay" he protested "let me take care of-"
"stop it" she said sternly, looking out the window to avoid all eye contact. "just don't say anything for the whole trip back alright?" A hard thing for her to request from him, being the talkative person Ash was, it took all his self control not to comment on all the places they passed or mention the trophy they won earlier. Every "Hey, Mist-" was cut off with a cold look from her. "for someone who said she loves me she has a funny way of showing it... Wait, why do I care if she loves me or not? Get a grip, Ash You don't like girls" At least that's what he kept trying to tell himself. His nails dug into his legs as he leaned forward in his seat, bored out of his mind and stewing in frustration. Misty, on the other hand, was gazing vacantly out through the window at nothing in particular. Just keeping her eyes fixated on one spot, pretending Ash wasn't sitting beside her.
--------------------------------------------------------
Who do you think you are?
You're talking so loud
You bury the sound
Of your heart that's singing out
And where do you want to be?
On top of the world
Where you're just a girl
Who forgot what its like to dream
-----------------------------------------------------------
Despite her futile attempts, she could sense his eyes leering into the back of her head, making her squirm with discomfort "he wants answers... but there's no way I'm keeping this up. I'll just have to get an early flight back to Cerulean in the morning"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
You leave everything behind
But you're so tired
One day you might open up your eyes and find
What you've got isn't what you wanted
What you need just happens to be
What you've got isn't what you wanted
What you need just happens to be
Someone you should know
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brock stifled a yawn and sprawled out on the couch with the remote dangling from his hand. "so boring here, they better hurry up and get here soon. This place is so quiet without them" Pikachu lay next to him snoring gently, exhaling a soft "chuu" with every breath. Brock dropped the remote and fell asleep, tired of waiting for his friends to return. A few minutes passed before The door slammed open and Misty locked herself in the bathroom "open up, Misty!" Ash twisted frantically at the handle
"would you keep your voice down, you'll wake Brock!" she hissed on the other side
"No! I wanna know what I did wrong. What did I do now, huh, Mist?"
silence.
Ash rested his palm on the door "yeah, see you can't even think of anything to say to that. Because I haven't done anything wrong."
silence.
Getting impatient, he tapped on the door "this isn't funny, Mist! Just come out and talk"
Misty leaned her back against the door, eyes wide and her hand clasped over her mouth to keep herself from answering his pleads "no, you haven't done anything wrong, Ash. That's the problem. Sometimes I secretly wish you would hurt me so that I wouldn't have to love you anymore... who am I kidding? even when you hurt me it's still there. That's why I'm going home tomorrow. Maybe the distance will get rid of my obsessive thoughts and I'll finally be able to get over you"
she wanted to confess it all to him and say exactly what was on her mind, but all that could come out was
"I'm going home tomorrow"
-----------------------------------------------------------
You try to hide between the lines
Of a story never told
------------------------------------------------------------
Ash's heart sank and he walked away from the door to lie on his bed "I give up"
His Pikachu slept peacefully beside him. Ash curled into a ball and stared at Brock on the couch, snoozing loudly with the occasional "joy...jenny..." in between his snores. Ash frowned "why does he try so hard to make me and Misty get along when she clearly doesn't want that? she told me she loved me and then acted like she never said it." his fists began to curl "she couldn't of possibly expected me to say it back? I don't love anyone!.. well I love my pokemon and friends but in a completely different way. I'd better do something about this" He sprung up from the bed and walked to the desk on the other side of the room with a notebook in his hand
-------------------------------------------------------------
I've seen you run away
You're afraid of the fall
The weight of it all is too much
But you might change your mind
If you'd stand up one day
You might open up your eyes and find
What you've got isn't what you wanted
What you need just happens to be
What you've got isn't what you wanted
What you need just happens to be
Someone you should know
----------------------------------------------------------
Misty tossed and turned on the cold bathroom tiles uncomfortably. It was the last place she wanted to sleep but having to face Ash outside was much worse so she refused to move. She unzipped the coat he bought her and used it as a blanket. "It'll be easier to sleep now... damn this coat even smells like him" not that she didn't like it, in fact she adored his scent, she just hated being reminded of him at times like these. She cleared her mind to stop thinking about him and closed her eyes for 10 hours of a numbing thoughtless bliss. When she was sleeping she couldn't feel pain, it was her temporary escape at night
----------------------------------------------------------
How do you keep it up?
Its all just a front
A dangerous stunt
You're gonna come down soon enough
--------------------------------------------------------------
Ash slowly peeled his eyes open as the morning light hit his face. He raised his head wearily and looked around the room. "I fell asleep on the desk..." he squinted at the blurred digits on his watch "I only got 3 hours sleep. I shouldn't of pulled an all nighter" then he remembered the notebook that kept him occupied during the night and tore out the page he wrote on while Misty was in the bathroom.
creak
Brock came into the room with a tray of things for breakfast. "hey, I was downstairs getting us some things to eat from the buffet- did you only wake up just now?"
"yeah, I was up all night writing uh..." Ash blushed and changed the subject as he stuffed the note into his pocket "so what did you get for breakfast?"
"just some cereal, tea and bread."
Ash dragged himself off the chair and pushed the bathroom door open, the room was unlocked and empty "Hey, where's Mist?"
Brock placed the tray on the desk "Didn't she tell you? she left this morning about two hours ago. She's catching the next train home to Cerulean"
Ash's jaw dropped. He remembered Misty told him she would leave this morning but he didn't think she'd go without even saying goodbye.
"What?! How can you be so calm about this? Why didn't you stop her, Brock?"
"I can't force her to stay with us if she doesn't want to" he shrugged.
Ash plucked the black coat off the bathroom floor "she didn't even take my present with her..."
"when does her train leave?"
Brock raised his sleeve back to check the time "about 10 minutes-"
thump
Ash left the room and Brock looked up only to catch a glimpse of the hotel door close behind him.
"...Ash?"
------------------------------------------------------------
"The 12.30 train to Cerulean will be leaving shortly. Please check all luggage before leaving the platform" echoed the announcement throughout the hollow train station. Misty heaved her backpack and approached the ticket inspector with a grimace "four hours in a noisy carriage back to my gym. this is going to be so boring" her uncomfortable night on the bathroom floor made her grouchy "maybe I'll be able to get some sleep..." she watched as young trainer got onto the Cerulean train in front of her with a boisterous Mankey and Ivysaur
"I spoke too soon"
"here's my ticket" she sighed, handing it to the burly inspector beside the carriage entrance
"ok, everything's in order miss" he stepped aside to let her pass.
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