Hey all! I'm back (FINALLY), hopefully with a somewhat interesting chapter. I'd also like to thank everybody for more than 50 WONDERFUL REVIEWS! I read every single one of them, and I appreciate them all. Well…enjoy as usual (hopefully)!
-Pika
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"Can I help you handsome boys?" asked the blonde salesclerk, twirling a strand of her golden candy-floss hair around one manicured fingertip. "Anything I can get you?"
"No thank you," was Drew's smoothly executed reply. His green eyes were still darting from rack to rack, taking in the huge selection of clothes and accessories all around him. Ash's eyes, he noticed, were sweeping the room too – but he suspected that his companion was looking for an escape route. "We're just browsing around at the moment."
"Well, let me know if you need anything," the young woman replied in a syrupy-sweet tone, winking at Ash, who stuttered something incoherent. Drew thought that it sounded rather like a garbled "Misty help me," but he couldn't be sure. Instead of asking, the Coordinator grabbed his friend by the sleeve and dragged him down the aisle.
Tuxedos. Rows and rows of tuxedos met their eyes as the boys gazed skyward. It was almost as if an army of Headless Horsemen – minus the horse – were marching down upon them, and in spite of himself Drew felt a twinge of trepidation in the pit of his stomach. He had never shopped for a classic tux before, no matter how many times he'd been to some fancy party. But for some reason, a tuxedo seemed, well, appropriate for one's first date – at least, one at a fancy restaurant in a fancy hotel, after participating in a fancy Contest – and with a girl that Drew felt rather obligated to impress…
No, wait, he told himself, shaking his head vigorously. Just…quit it, Drew. You need to STOP worrying about May and START worrying about the Contest two days from now…and maybe start worrying about what you're going to wear after the Contest…
Forcing himself to remain calm, Drew steered Ash toward a rack of tuxes that appeared to be their size – Ash was slightly taller than Drew, but that wasn't a big deal, the latter figured.
"Whoa," muttered Ash, stating his first (intelligible) word since the two had arrived. "There're a lot of tuxes."
"Yep," said Drew, mentally preparing himself for the dull task of trying on endless jackets, cummerbunds, and the like. "Let's get cracking," he added, rubbing his palms together.
Ash shot him a strange glance. May was right, all those times she ranted about you, the look said. You ARE weird.
"Whatever!" said Drew, chuckling darkly as he shoved Ash aside. "Let's start trying these things on, already." He glanced around, sober once more. "Where'd that blonde lady get to?"
"Oh, no," Ash mumbled, his shoulders hunched. "Not her again."
Drew grinned. "What's wrong with a little help from someone who obviously knows fashion? Unless you've got some designing skills that you've kept in the closet up till now."
"N-No, no!" The Trainer's tousled head drooped. "Let's get this over with."
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Fresh out of the hot shower, May towel-dried her long hair, pulling it back into a single ponytail. Her mind was whirling even as she grabbed her jacket and strode out the door. Where will we look for stuff to wear? I don't know where anything is around here – and Brock was always the "map guy," anyway…but with him home at the Gym, I guess I'm on my own. She sighed.
"There you are," came a voice from behind the brunette. "I've been waiting for you." Misty appeared at May's side, falling into step easily with her best friend. "What did you want me for, anyway?"
"So," May said simply as they took the carpeted stairs (what was it with these over-crowded elevators, anyway?). "Any ideas on where to go shopping for dresses?"
"Nope," said the redhead, digging distractedly through her bag. "But I've got a coupon that my sisters gave me ages ago for a place around here, I think – here it is!" She extracted a crumpled wad of paper from the red bag and began to smooth it, muttering, "I hope it hasn't expired…"
May grabbed Misty's arm to keep her from running into one of the many marble pillars that stood around the Premiere Hotel. "Well?" she prodded after a moment.
"It expires…today!" said Misty, giving a breathless hop of excitement. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Easy there," May replied, chuckling as they approached the lobby. "We need to ask directions first. Look, there's the guy we saw -"
She realized her mistake too late. Misty's face paled at the same moment that her eyes widened and her mouth became a tight, grim line. If May hadn't been one of Misty's best friends (not to mention a sensitive person in general) she would have burst out laughing. Instead, she approached the attendant like a girl who didn't have a mortified best friend clinging desperately to her and whispering, "You're making a big mistake!"
"Excuse me," said May bravely to the infamous man in the chartreuse suit, "could you please tell us the location of this store?" Fingers trembling, she extended Misty's still-wrinkled the coupon toward him (although she hadn't meant for it to happen, some of Misty's irrational fear of the man in green had rubbed off on the brunette).
His dark glasses glinted at her for a long moment, and she forced herself to meet his gaze as best she could, considering his choice of eyewear. At last the man spoke. "The Rosa Bella Boutique is only ten minutes' walking distance away, on the corner of Belue Avenue and Pecha Street. Does that help?"
"Yes it does, very much," said May gratefully. "Thank you. And," she added on impulse and in a low voice, "I'm sorry about my friend. She's just…kind of…I didn't know that she'd…"
"Oh, it's no trouble, really," the attendant replied, as amiable as he had been coolly distant a moment before. "I understand. My sister is the same way – she doesn't like seeing me in uniform. Apparently it's intimidating." He shrugged. "Tell your friend it's nothing personal, okay? By the way, I got the clear from Mr. Hayden that you were free to come calling on him when you so chose. So I, too, am sorry about our earlier incident."
May realized that her mouth was hanging open and quickly shut it. "I didn't know that Drew knew about 'our incident'," she muttered, as much to herself as to the man in green.
"I've gathered that Mr. Hayden gets around a lot," the employee replied quickly. "And it seems that the two of you are pretty close as well."
If ever someone could look mischevious with a pair of dark sunglasses on, May thought, this man had pulled it off. "You could say that," she replied, equally coy, to both statements.
The man's eyes were unreadable the dark glasses. "Have a nice day, Miss Maple."
"You too, and thanks again," May replied, turning away more quickly than she had intended to and almost tripping over Misty. "C'mon," she said, suddenly energized, "that store is only ten minutes away!"
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"How about this one?" Ash raised a tired but hopeful glance toward his green-haired friend as he modeled a sharply-cut, jet-black tuxedo jacket. "It looks nice."
"Eh…I don't really like the fit of that one, to be honest."
"Picky," Ash muttered, throwing the silk cummerbund to the ground at his feet. "It looks fine to me."
"Do you want my help, or not?" Drew demanded.
"I just want to get a tux and go!" And with that, Ash stormed out of the mirrored room, yanking on his jeans as he went, and with a frustrated Drew stumbling out of patent leather shoes to follow him.
"Ash – Ash – don't do anything -"
The green-haired boy recognized the sound of a store alarm going off and saw a very disoriented Ash being held by security guards, who were removing his un-bought tuxedo jacket.
"- stupid," Drew finished with a sigh. He could feel the rough, cold sidewalk through his socks as he pelted toward the little posse.
Just as the Coordinator reached Ash and his "friends," the blonde woman who'd been helping them pick tuxes stumbled out of the store, her heavily-sprayed hair sticking out at odd angles. She attempted to scrunch it back into place as she ran, finally stopping in front of the two guards. "George, Harry…" she panted, "he wasn't going to steal the jacket…I was just helping him try on tuxes…but from what I've gathered, he's trying them on by force…" She mustered enough energy to wink broadly at Drew. "Right?"
"Right," said Drew, attempting to smile back at her. He suspected that it came across as more of a grimace. "Ash wasn't going to – hey, wait! May! Get over here!"
From across the busy street, her voice floated back to him: "Since when do I have to obey your every command?" But all the same she was across the street in a moment, dragging a very confused Misty behind her.
"What's going on here?" The redhead's eyes darted from the security guards to Ash to the blonde and back again.
"I don't exactly know," Drew replied confidentially. "Although it appears that our dear Ash has attempted to make off with one-half of a tuxedo." May snorted.
"HAVE NOT!" Ash's eyes were practically bugging out of his head.
"- Accidentally," Drew amended.
Even Misty had to chuckle at that. "Even he wouldn't do something like that," she added loyally, although her face gave her amusement away.
"That's what I've been telling you," said the blonde woman firmly to the guards. "Let him go with no charge if he'll take the jacket off."
"Gladly," said Ash, finding his tongue at last. Instantly, the jacket was off.
The salesclerk was immediately at his side, whisking the undesirable clothing out of Ash's hands. "Are you okay?" she said sweetly, bending over him.
"Of course," mumbled Ash at the same time that Misty growled, "Of all the nerve-!"
"It's okay, Misty," said May, smiling wickedly as she took the redhead's arm, "you don't have to prove to us that you're jealous."
"Shouldn't have said that," said Drew, grabbing May's shoulder and steering her away from Misty's seething wrath. "Let's get out of here and let Ash pick his own tux – speaking of which, I never got myself one," he finished ruefully.
May felt sure that her heart was beating faster than normal – and that Drew must be able to hear it. "Well…" she began, distracted by his hand on her shoulder.
"What?" he asked a little too quickly, glancing at his hand before removing it to dig in his pocket for change. He refused to meet the redhead's questioning gaze.
The brunette sighed, starting again. "Well…I don't really see the need for a tux."
Drew nearly dropped his quarters, dimes, and pennies. "What do you mean?"
"Well…I like yo – I mean, I like us the way we are," she said, giggling nervously. "Why don't we just go in normal stuff? I mean, we are amazingly talented Coordinators, so we can walk into a fancy restaurant in casual clothes, right?" she added teasingly.
"One of us is an amazingly talented Coordinator, you mean," said Drew, earning himself a shove from his fellow Coordinator. Of course, I'm only kidding, May, he added silently. You are talented. Maybe someday I'll –
"Besides," May added, breaking through his thoughts, "it isn't like this is an actual date – not for the two of us, I mean," she added. Drew imagined that he heard regret in her tone.
"That's true…" he trailed off helplessly, feeling like a liar. I'm such a coward.
The brunette chose that moment to change the subject. "Anyway, shopping at the Rosa Bella Boutique was a big waste of time. All their stuff was lots more money than I'm willing to spend – or at least, what I should spend. And as for you," she added, shooting Drew a sly glance, "purple is the new black, right?"
The emerald-haired boy did a double-take. "Are you insulting my wardrobe?"
"You could say that."
"Let's stop at this café before I lose my temper and begin insulting your Coordinating skills."
May grinned. "Deal."
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So…this chapter started out how I thought it would – and ended up completely differently than I'd planned. Believe it or not, next chapter there will actually be some Pokemon Contest-ing going on, so get excited! (Or not; it depends on whether or not you like Contests. I do.) But besides that, I'm pretty happy with this chapter, even though it's kind of an in-between one.
So, you know what I'm gonna say, if you've read previous chapters. …REVIEW! And thanks for reading, as usual!
- Pika