Chapter 16 ~ EMPFINDUNG
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Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
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Drew opened the door to be greeted by a pair of narrowed eyes.
"Is your brain functioning normally 'cause I personally think leaving your bag at school was one of the stupidest things you've done," commented April, blocking Drew. Drew smiled apologetically.
"Yeah, you're right. My brain's messed up," he confessed. April sighed in defeat.
"Your bag's in your room by the way. And May's coming over," she stated in a resigned manner as Drew was climbing the stairs. Drew paused in mid-step.
"'Kay." was all he said before resuming his climb. April went to her own room to get her phone and text May. After she sent her message, she sighed once more before opening her closest only to find Mrs. Hayden standing there with a few shopping bags surrounding her, changing everything that was on the rack for her pajamas.
"Oh hi sweetie. I hope you don't mind but I just got this sudden urge to upgrade your wardrobe earlier on, especially considering the fact that these nightgowns are a little bit old fashioned." said Mary, explaining herself. April assessed the situation for a moment before shrugging.
"Umm…thanks mom…" she said, not knowing what else to say. I mean, her mom was the one who gave her the nightgowns a couple of years back. She was snapped out of her thoughts when a maid entered telling Mary that Daniel was waiting downstairs.
"Well then dear, I'm off now. Your father and I were going to visit the doctor. Can you please give all of this to charity?" requested Mary, gesturing to the bags full of nightgowns. The maid nodded mutely in understanding.
"Sure… when will you and dad be back?"
"I'm not sure. We might not be back until late tonight. See you then." she said giving April a peck on the cheek.
"Yeah mom, see you."
The bluette said nothing as she grabbed some of the bags. April grabbed the rest and the two made their way downstairs.
"Where should I put these?" asked April.
"You can put them there." said Grace, pointing to the couch in one of the numerous rooms in the mansion. April nodded before retreating upstairs only to pause in mid-step, much like Drew earlier, when the doorbell rang.
"May, hey, come on in." she said, beaming. May smiled sheepishly.
"Hi April, thanks for covering for me. I owe you."
"That makes it approximately 468 I.O.U.s." concluded April, closing the door behind her friend. The meowing box caught her attention.
"What's that?"
"Oh this? Well, I'll explain later…"
The scene faded and it was replaced by the two friends conversing on April's bed. May was wearing a pink sleeveless tank top and white cotton shorts while April wore a mint green spaghetti strapped camisole that was a few inches shy of her knees. They had a nice dinner earlier with Drew present and the girls had a number of snacks surrounding them.
"No way. Drew gave you Skitty? That is too cute!" she cooed, playing with her friend's new pet. May blushed lightly at the implications.
"He was just being a good friend, that's all." defended May. April quirked an eyebrow.
"Right…" she commented sarcastically. "May, I've known Drew for far longer than you have. I think I know when he's trying to get something across. He doesn't do this kind of things for his friends, granted he doesn't have all too many girls whom he's friends with in the first place…but still! Trust me dudette, it means something." insisted April, dipping a pineapple tidbit into a bowl of warm, melted chocolate. May eyed the snack in her friend's hands warily before grabbing a strawberry for herself.
"Does that even taste good?" she said, ignoring April's question.
"It does for me. Now back on topic!"
"You're weird you know that?"commented May. April sighed before eating the snack and nodding.
"Yeah, I know. So when are you gonna stop avoiding the topic May?" she asked. May distracted herself with Skitty. April sighed inwardly at her friend's silence before reaching for an apple slice and debating whether she should dip it in chocolate of not.
"Talk to me when you feel like it." was all April said before dipping the apple slice in the melted chocolate. May stared at her with a grateful smile. That was one of the good things about being April's friend. You didn't have to say anything you didn't want to.
"Thanks…"
"Still though…it was pretty scatterbrained for the two of your to leave your bags…"
"Yeah…sorry about that…" apologized May. April laughed before excusing herself and going to the restroom. May occupied herself by taking the book sitting idly on her friend's bedside table.
'Nuggets of Wisdom…' read May silently before opening it to the table of contents. Her eyes fell upon the topic 'Enthusiasm'.
'Page 50…' she thought to herself, leafing through the pages. She found the page and read the first thing under 'Enthusiasm'.
"Enthusiasm is the thing that makes the world go round. Without its driving power nothing worth doing has ever been done. It alleviates the pain of poverty and the boredom of riches. Apart from joy it cannot live. Therefore, it should be husbanded with zeal and spent with wisdom. To waste it is folly; to misuse it, disastrous.–Robert Haven Schauffler." read May out loud. She sighed loudly before petting her kitten who began to purr lightly.
"That wasn't very helpful…" May commented. Skitty meowed before jumping on the book. May's eyes widened as the kitten started pawing at the pages.
"Skitty! Be careful! She'll murder me if anything happens to her books! And you could get hurt!" exclaimed May, making a grab for the kitten. She managed to take hold of the cat but the book unceremoniously fell off the bed. May looked at the thing with dread as she slowly reached for it.
'Please don't let anything be wrong with it! Please don't let anything be wrong with it!' she thought repeatedly. God knows what'll happen if the book was damaged in any way. Guaranteed, it would not be pretty. May recalled a particular incident in her middle school years when Jun borrowed one of April's novels for a book review. He just happened to have the habit of dog-earing. He ended up occupying one of their clinic's beds for the rest of the day.
May gave a relieved breath when the book seemed to be alright. The page changed though. It was on the topics 'Liberty', 'Lies', and 'Life'. May chose to read a random saying under 'Life'.
'"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.–Soren Kiekegaard." What does that mean?' she asked herself, staring into space.
"Enjoying a few nuggets of wisdom?" asked April, returning.
"Not really… I don't get this." said may, chucking the book back to the owner, the stress of the earlier incident forgotten. April glared playfully at May as she caught the book.
"May! Can you please be a little less cruel to my books?" asked April, placing the book back on her bedside table. May giggled.
"Sorry." she said, sticking her tongue out. April laughed before choosing a random DVD off her rack and placing it in the player.
The image of the sleepover faded to give way to that of a dim lighted room where Drew exited his bathroom clad in a pair of black sweatpants and a towel in hand. He sat on the edge of his bed as he started to dry his hair. He sighed.
Just when he thought he could think clearly at home, the reason of his muddled thoughts comes knocking on their doorstep. Just what was may Maple to him anyway? He was desperate for answers. Was she on par with the Red Phoenix? Was she something more? Drew groaned before falling back onto his bed.
'Life officially sucks.' he thought. His reverie was short lived when a shrill scream broke through the silence. He reflexively got up. He tore down the hallway and down a set of stairs before opening the door to his sister's bedroom, which was directly below his.
"Hey bro." greeted April, waving her hand. The lights in the room were off and the only light was from the television set which was showing the movie 'The Messenger'. April was transfixed on the screen while eating chocolate covered pineapple tidbits while May, well, Drew assumed it was May, cowering beneath the sheets. A fur ball was curled up beside her.
"What was that?" he asked.
"What was what?" she shot back, popping a tidbit in her mouth.
"The scream." he answered, leaning on her doorframe.
"Oh. That. It was May." she said, pulling the covers off of her cowering friend.
"Geez April! You know I hat movies like that! Now I'll be having nightmares for a week!" whined May, keeping her eyes off the screen. Drew sweat dropped but he couldn't stop himself from chuckling a little. His sister ignored him but May stared at him. She was about to say something when her mouth suddenly went dry. She felt her mouth open and it took all of the will power she could muster to close it. She just happened to see a shirtless Drew leaning on the doorframe and chuckling lightly while being illuminated by the light of a movie. Three letters came to May's mind accompanied by alarms and all that.
'H.O.T.'
May buried her face into one of the pillows to hide her growing blush, thankful that she had fear as an excuse.
'I did not just think that!' she screamed mentally.
"You alright there Maple?" asked Drew, flipping his hair in amusement. May's answer was muffled by the pillow.
"That's loosely translated to 'I'm fine, sorry for disturbing you'…or something like that." commented April, eyes still not leaving the screen.
"Okay then night." he said, turning around to leave.
"Night." chorused both girls though the other one's reply was muffled. Drew shut the door behind him before retreating back to his room. He waved the approaching maids away, telling them that everything was fine.
May sighed in relief and April managed to tear her gaze away from the screen.
"Whoa May! You're blushing!" exclaimed April, astonished. Her expression was quickly replaced by a grin.
"Wow may. I never imagined that you'd fall for big bro. But then again, having you as a sister in law would be awesome!" she commented, turning back to the morbid movie.
"Y-you've got it all wrong!" exclaimed May, defenses high. April chuckled.
"Oh come on May! It's as obvious as the sun! You are in love with Drew." she teased, rolling her eyes. May's blush deepened.
"No I'm not!"
"Uh, yeah you are." teased April.
"I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot I'mnot!" she yelled, close to tears, embarrassment flying off the charts. April's eyes widened. Waterworks normally happened when May was totally and absolutely humiliated. Well, that among other things like angry beyond all reason, confused to the brink of giving up, drowning in the depths of despair, or one of the rare ones, caught red handed in absolute denial. April had a hunch that it was the last one.
"I get it! Don't turn on the waterworks! Please!" she exclaimed. April seemed to have been contented with her friend's easily readable reaction.
"You don't believe me!" accused May, huffing. Her face was all red but she didn't know whether it was from anger or embarrassment.
"May, I've known you for pretty much half my life. Of course I don't." said April nonchalantly. May pouted before jumping April. The latter's eyes widened at the sudden attack. She was absolutely defenseless.
"M-May! S-stop!" she screamed in between laughs.
"Not until you take back what you said!" argued May, tickling away.
"N-NEVER!" April yelled, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
"Take it back!"
"N-no! S-stop it! I c-can't breathe!"
"Take it back first!"
"Over m-my dead b-body!"
May pouted again before getting off her friend. She always said that and May had yet to find a proper comeback. On the other hand, April wiped the tears from her eyes before catching her breath.
"You know, this further proves my point."
May's frown deepened before turning away. April just shook her head at her friend's antics.
After a while, the tickle fight was forgotten as May buried her face in April's back, screaming from time to time. A little later into the night, the movie was over, the television was off, and April was sleeping soundly beside May who was clutching her friend's arm in a death grip. The movie still scared the heck out of her. Skitty was curled up beside May's head, purring lightly. The earlier array of snacks was taken away by some of the maids when the movie ended.
After a while, May's grip gradually loosened and she sat up before turning the TV on and muting it so as not to awaken her friend. A soft glow illuminated the room and may changed the channel to MTV. She got up and she warily opened the door, phone in hand just in case. She checked her phone's time. It read 1 a.m. May walked through the halls occasionally looking over her shoulder. After what seemed like hours, May stumbled into the brightly lit kitchen. It surprised her to see drew there and he was still shirtless.
She used all of her willpower to fight down a growing blush.
"Hey May, what're you doing up?" asked Drew, sitting on one of the stools near the counter, a mug in hand.
"I couldn't get to sleep…" May confessed. Drew chuckled.
"The movie too scary for you?"
"No." snapped May, a light blush crawling up her cheeks. Much to Drew's amusement and surprise, the wind picked up making a branch hit one of the windows, thus making May jump in fright.
"How about a cup of warm milk?" he offered, getting up and fetching may a cup, pouring some heated milk into it.
"Thanks." she mumbled, sitting beside him.
"So how about you, why are you still up?" she asked before taking a sip.
"Me? Nothing. I'm just not tired." he said. The bags under his eyes told May otherwise but she let it slide. A comfortable silence fell upon both of them. Rain started to pound on the roof.
"Hey Drew…umm, aren't you cold?" asked may. Drew raised an eyebrow while he sipped his milk.
"No. Why would I be? The heater keeps the house warm. Why, are you?" he asked. May mentally smacked herself. Heater. DUH.
"No…" she mumbled, trying to hide her flushed cheeks. Drew however refused to let it slide.
"Why'd you ask?"
"Oh, umm, no reason." answered May, fidgeting. She started to take a long swig of her milk when lightning and thunder struck making her jump and spilling the milk all over her top. Drew frowned before retrieving the cup from her.
"Let's get you changed." he said, frowning disapprovingly at the soggy tank top. He grabbed her wrist before half-dragging her through the halls and up to his room. He went into his closet before returning shortly with a towel and one of his shirts.
"Bathroom's over there." he said, pointing at one of the doors. May thanked him before going in and locking the door behind her. She then proceeded to change and dry herself. She looked at her reflection. Drew gave her a purple and black shirt that was a little too big for her. It reached mid-thigh and the sleeves were just an inch or two shy of her elbows.
"Sorry for all the trouble." she said once she exited the bathroom.
"No problem." he said. May wondered if Drew ever got tired of saying that. Silence reigned once more only this time, it was awkward.
"Well, I better get back to April's room." said May, edging towards the door, top and towel in hand. Drew nodded.
"Just leave the towel in the bathroom." he said.
"Okay…" she said, leaving the towel there. She was about to leave before hesitating at the door.
"Well, good night." she said.
"Technically, it's morning already. Night anyway." said Drew. May walked away from the door but when she was sure he couldn't see her, she ran down the hall and down the stair as quietly as she could manage. She found April's room before draping her top on the backrest of one of the chairs in the room. She then quietly slipped under the covers and soon, she found herself drifting off to sleep. She really should thank Drew one way or another. Maybe she'd dream about it.
Those happened to be May's last thoughts before sleep claimed her.
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Meaning behind the chapter title:
empfindung – (Ger) feeling
~ This refers to the feelings Drew and May have.
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And there you have it folks! Chapter 16! Reviews would be much appreciated!