Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or it's affiliates.

A/N: I want to thank all of you who have been patient with me with this story and my others. I have had a bad case of writers block and this story in particular was the cause. Those who are familiar with my first story know that romance is not my thing, I have an extremely hard time writing it and making it come out the way that I want it to. That being said, I originally started this story to practice writing romance because I wanted to improve before I started my Gym Leader story that I promised I would write. This project evolved into more than that but it was a slow go of things and I hope it is a satisfying ending. Again sorry for the long wait and please review or PM me your thoughts on this, any advice would be much appreciated.

"Come on Ash. What are you going to do?" Gary muttered in a low voice but Daisy still heard him even over the excited crowd.

"You don't think he will do something crazy do you Gary?" Daisy asked while looking toward Ash with a sympathetic expression.

Still watching Ash through the bustling crowd, Gary replied to Daisy's question. "Honestly I don't know. But it would probably be best if you go congratulate your little sister, she did just get engaged after all. I'll keep an eye on Ash okay."

Seeing the seriousness on Gary's face, Daisy could tell that he was uncertain if he could keep his word about Ash but she knew he was right about her sister. "Alright. Come on Tracey lets go."

Nodding Tracey took daisy's hand and they headed to the DJ stand where Misty and Rudy were standing with a crowd of people congratulating them. Gary glanced at them as they left but quickly went back to Ash and Lily. Lily was holding one of Ash's hands in both of hers but Ash's stone faced expression didn't give the impression that he noticed. Gary couldn't help but feel sorry for his friend and former rival. Despite having dated many different women in his short life, Gary had never known them for very long or developed deep feelings for them like Ash apparently had for Misty. Not knowing what Ash may be feeling made it a guessing game of what Ash would do now and how to help him.

The guessing was cut short however when Rudy pulled Misty in for a passionate kiss that drew oh's from most everyone watching. Gary saw the kiss but immediately turned to see Ash backing away from the scene with Lily trying to stop him. After a few steps Ash turned and began to quickly push his way thru the crowd to the back door of the gym and out into the rain.

"Ash wait!" Gary heard Lily cry out over the crowd as she tried to follow him.

"Damn it Ash, don't do anything stupid." Gary mumbled to himself as he made his way through the crowd of dancing couples to where his friend had gone.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could I be so stupid!" Ash ranted angrily while pulling at his soaking wet hair as he paced back and forth across the gym's backyard. The backyard was typical of a city home but since the gym was so large it was twice as wide as a normal one. Despite the extra size there was very little in the yard besides a few shade trees and three lounge chairs that the Sensational Sisters used for sun bathing. "Argh! Damn it!" Ash cried as he sat on the end of one of the lounge chairs with his head in his hands.

"Ash are you okay?" A familiar soft voice spoke through the rain.

Slowly looking up, Ash saw a now soaking wet Lily standing by him, looking genuinely concerned. "No I'm not. How could she not tell me about this, I thought we were friends!" Ash spat.

"Misty is your friend Ash. You two have been friends for years and that won't change, you know that." Lily explained. "I'm sure she had her reasons for not telling you about Rudy."

Standing silently behind a tree near the back door, Gary listened intently tot he conversation that was taking place.

"And what would that be?! What reason would she have for not telling me?!" Ash said angrily as he stood up from the chair and turned his back to Lily.

"Maybe she just didn't want to hurt you." Lily said quietly. "She cares about you a lot, probably more than you realize."

Ash was silent for a moment as he let her words sink in before he spoke in a softer voice. "And I care about her a lot too. That's why I was gone for so long, I wanted to make myself better for her. But now I come back and she's with him, seeing them together like that and how happy they are. What do I do now?"

Lily walked up next to Ash and put her hand on his shoulder. "You made yourself better for her right?" Seeing Ash's small nod Lily continued. "But you were perfect just being you, you didn't have to change for anyone Ash. If you wanted to better yourself you should do it for you and no one else."

Turning his head to look at Lily, Ash saw that she was smiling at him. Seeing her smile he couldn't help but gain a small grin. "Yeah maybe your right but it doesn't make this hurt any less."

Shuffling her feet nervously, Lily decided to say something that was on her chest. "Ash if you could have told Misty how you felt about her before, would you have?"

"In a heartbeat. I never want to miss out on something just because I'm scared or think I'm not good enough. Life's too short." Ash said with a smile as the rain continued to fall on the pair.

"I agree completely and that's why I want you to know that Misty's not the only one around here that cares about you."

"What do you..." Ash started but was cut off by a pair of soft lips pressed against his. A soft tingling seemed to go through Ash's body as the pair of lips touched his own and then they both were gone.

"I care about you ash and I wanted you to know that before it was too late." Lily said with a smile as she turned and ran to the back door leaving a dumbfounded Ash out in the rain.

Touching his lips, Ash couldn't feel the tingle anymore but he remembered how amazing it had felt on his lips and through his whole body. It was completely different from the shocks Pikachu gave him, more a pleasant feeling that he couldn't describe than a painful one.

"It's an amazing feeling isn't it? First kisses are always special Ashy boy."

"Gary? Were you spying on us?" Ash replied.

"No, not spying. Just making sure you didn't do something stupid but I guess Lily had everything under control." Gary said with a smirk.

"Yeah I guess." Ash said with a small grin.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean?" Ash asked with a curious expression while looking at Gary.

"Heh somethings never change." Gary said as he stepped toward Ash. "The way I see it you have two choices. One you can leave now and deal with all this when you have cleared your head and there's not so many people around."

"And whats the other choice?" Ash asked as lightning flashed across the sky.

"Well I can almost guarantee that a certain pink haired women wouldn't object if you asked her to dance again. After that it's up to you." Gary spoke confidently with his arms crossed.

A big smile came across Ash's face. "Well come on we don't want to keep the lady waiting." Ash said as the two friends headed back into the party. Because life is too short.

The End?