It certainly has been a while yeah? Like, three years or something (I thought it was five, oops). Anyways things were happening, got a new laptop, original Re: BbaL files were in my old laptop, and that one was being wonky so I kinda just, lost motivation. But I'm back! Sort of! I wanted to update this on Ikarishipping Day, so here it is! Enjoy~!

Summary: Remake of my original story "Bluebells and Lavenders". Drastic change ahead, beware!

"speaking"

'thoughts'

The main characters are in their senior years (grade 12)

A/N: Today's chapter title is by Vance Joy

~oOo~

An Ikarishipping Fanfiction

Re: Bluebells and Lavenders

Chapter Twenty Three

"Riptide"

~oOo~

Previously…

"Why?"

Without even a second thought, she knew exactly what he had meant when asked.

"Because I needed to know…"

~oOo~

Dawn felt the dark cold eyes bore into her skin. Even without looking she felt shivers tremble throughout her body. She knew exactly what she did and why it was wrong, nothing she could say or do could justify her actions.

"I truly am sorry about going into your room and looking at your laptop without your permission. It was honestly a terrible thing to do, especially since I'm a guest in your household… I understand if you're still mad at me for what I did, and I'm not asking you to forgive me. I just wanted to tell you that what I did was really stupid…" She breathed out. Her voice shook with nerves. Dawn quietly thought about what Paul had said the other day about giving her tedious jobs.

She awaited one of Paul's usual comebacks, but when the time came, there was only silence. Dawn gently rose her head up and her eyes met with Paul's. She almost felt a strong shock electrify all her nervous system when their eyes interlocked one another.

"Uh…" Her voice was quiet and coarse.

Paul brushed his bangs back and sighed when he suddenly looked away.

"Look. What you did was borderline breaking in and entering. You pretty much invaded my privacy." He said bluntly. Dawn twitched with fear.

"But I guess even a Troublesome dolt like you knows how to apologize for doing something morally wrong." He finished. His hand fell down beside him and his gaze was upon Dawn once more.

"E-eh?" Her eyes widen with sudden confusion. What was Paul saying? Was this really Paul?

"I'm not saying that I forgive you for what you did, I'm saying that I'm also sorry for blowing up in your face. However, I had every right to be angry at you…" He paused before he turned towards the living room. "I'm sorry."

With that, Paul had left the kitchen with his lunch. Dawn was unsure what had just happened. Just earlier Paul had yelled at her to get out of his room, yet just a few seconds ago he had apologized for yelling at her in that manner.

"I must be dreaming." She deadpanned.

~oOo~

Lunch was long over and the dishes had been cleaned. Dawn was in her guest room, her eyes shut completely as she laid on the bed. Her mind replayed the scene earlier in the kitchen, as well as when she had entered his room without permission.

"Maybe he's not as bad as I made him out to be…" She whispered quietly. A groan escaped her lips as she pushed herself up. Her vision was hazy from having to open her eyes with swiftness. The girl planted her feet onto the floor and looked down. Her gaze never left the tiny speckled dirt that scattered around the bottom of the bed.

"Ugh!" She cried aloud. "It's so stuffy in here… I'm going to do something productive!"

With a single jump, she found herself standing up. Dawn begun to move towards the door when her pokegear rang.

"Who could that be?" She leapt back onto the bed - stomach first - and grabbed her pokegear from the other night stand. The screen blinked rapidly as it continued to fill the room with melodic music.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hey! Dawn!"

"May?"

"You got it! Ya have a second?" May's voice boomed loudly that Dawn had to remove the pokegear from her ear.

"Uh, sure? What's up, May?" She asked as she rolled onto her back.

"I wanted to know if you want to come shopping with Misty, Leaf, and I?"

Dawn checked the clock in the room. It was quarter past one, a particular slow Saturday afternoon. She contemplated on whether she should up and leave, or to stay in the same house where moody Paul was.

"Dawn? You there?" May's voice echoed from the cellphones' speaker, interrupting Dawn's thoughts.

"O-oh! Yes! Sorry, I'm still here!" She paused for a few seconds before she answered May's question. "I'll go. I'll go shopping with you two!"

"Really!?" Her voice louder than ever. Dawn was certain she would end up losing the ability to hear in one of her ears if May kept this up.

"Of course! What better way to spend Saturday afternoon than with friends, right?" Dawn piped up. Her eyes gleamed with anticipation. She was excited to spend time with her new friends.

"Awesome! Where are you right now? We'll pick you up!" Her voice quivered with enthusiasm.

Dawn froze. Her heart thumped vigorously in her chest as she thought about what to say. Sweat had begun to form on her forehead. She heard the pounding inside her head as more sweat exposed themselves on the hand that had the phone.

"Dawn? Did you disappear again? What's the matter? Dawn? Dawn?"

"S-sorry, uhm… I'm at uh… Paul's place - but only because my mom and his mom are friends and she's not in the city right now so I ended up having to bunk with Paul and his brother," she rambled. Her face heated up and her voice cracked with anxiousness.

"You're at WHOSE place!?"

"J-just… Wh-where are you guys right now? I'll come outside okay?" She begged.

"Okay… Uhm… Well, I'm going to need the address of Paul's place in order to pick you up." May explained.

"R-right." She cleared her throat and recited Paul's address to May. If she were a robot, she would have definitely overheated from embarrassment.

After the call had ended, Dawn stood up and threw herself back into the bed; her face met with the fluffy pillow immediately.

"This is going to be so awkward oh my fucks." Her voice muffled by the feathery pillow that covered her mouth. Suddenly, she flung herself off of the bed one last time and scrambled towards the door. It would be a good idea to let Paul know that May and the others would be picking her up at the house soon. However, she also debated if she should let him know. It wasn't like he would be invested in where she was going, or would even care for that matter. But he had apologized to her earlier today and pondered if he was starting to recognize her as a human being - or at least alive.

She let herself out of the guest room and made her way towards Paul's. It was worth a shot to tell the person that lived in the house where the guest would be going, or if there was someone that the guest expected to be over.

Dawn knocked on the door to Paul's room with little to no energy. The knuckles meekly touched the wooden door as her heart began to pound in her chest once more. She wasn't even sure if she had knocked loud enough for him to even hear. She put up a brave front as she decided to knock again. The mild throbbing pain of her knuckles pulsed as she lowered her hand and waited for Paul to come out.

The door opened with slow agonizing precision. It opened wider, and wider until Dawn saw the person behind what she dubbed her 'shield'.

"What do you want, Troublesome?"

"I…" She puffed out her chest and stood firmly in her spot. "I'm going to be going out with May and the others. They're coming over here to pick me up… Thought I should let you know since Reggie isn't here."

He scoffed.

"And why should I care where you go? What? Did you think that just because I apologized to you meant that I saw you as a human being?"

"Excuse me?" Dawn asked. Her brows knitted together as a displeased scowl formed on her face. Her eyes squinted slightly as her focus of attention kept themselves on Paul.

"I don't care where you go. Just because you're living in my house doesn't mean I'm going to care about you. You're just another bit of dirt under my rug." He said bluntly. His eyes plain and solid, it was as if this entire conversation was boring him.

Dawn breathed in the air around her. Her nose flared up as she felt a different kind of heat rush towards her head. Her eyes darkened to an ominous black, it was impossible to find any spec of blue that once shone brightly.

"You… You… You're just… UNBELIEVABLE! You're one rude ass shit, you know that? And here I thought I'd at least tell you where I'll be going because I'm a guest in your household! But no, you decided to go back to acting like a real fucking douchebag! What, was breaking up with your girlfriend really that painful that you had to change yourself into a fucking dick!?

"You need to learn some fucking manners, you know that!? Maybe this is why your fucking girlfriend dumped you! I wouldn't be fucking surprised if she called you out on your bullshit either! I can't even believe you're related to Reggie! HE'S A NICE, GENUINE GUY! AND HERE YOU FUCKING ARE." She bellowed. Her face hot with anger, and her eyes glared with absolute fury. Her breathing was haggard and harsh after she had shouted at him. She felt sort of better after she had done that. It was as if an entire boulder had lifted off of her chest.

The silence between them was way too strong for Dawn once she had calmed down. The bored dead look on Paul's face showed nothing. It was hard enough to figure out what Paul was thinking about, but with his facial expression now, it was much harder.

"Uh… Wow uhm…" She stuttered. Her eyes wandered around, not wanting to face Paul.

"Are you done?"

"What?" Her head whipped towards Paul with raised brow.

"I asked if you're done." He stated.

"Uh… Y-yeah… Uhm... Sorry about uh, that… About what I said… It's just… You're just, really rude…" She said timidly.

"Hmph, never thought you had it in you to be that gutsy." He smirked.

"E-excuse me?" Dawn stared at him. Had something broke in Paul's head? He was suddenly complimenting her on how she was able to lash out like so. He was acknowledging her courage instead of getting angry and doing his usual pissy tantrums of slamming the door. Something was wrong.

"I always pegged you as the ditzy, gutless, Troublesome girl that didn't know how to stand her ground. But apparently I was wrong. You do know how to think." He voiced.

"What… What are you getting at right now?"

"I'll admit, I was definitely ready to throw you out of my house when you said all those things to me, but then I realized that you were just not what I expected. I mean, I probably should throw you out right now since you're living in my house. But why do something so easy when I can just do my usual thing and fuck with you?" He continued, ignoring Dawn's question completely.

"I am a bit pissed that you assumed so much about my relationship with my ex. That was definitely something you should not poke your nose in. What happened between Salvia and I has nothing to do with you at all. Just because you two look similar doesn't mean I have to tell you everything. You're just going to be playing fire-with-fire." He explained calmly.

"I don't understand what you're-"

"Also, impersonating me while you talked to my ex is pretty fucked up. Who in their right mind would do that?" He complained. He leaned against the door frame and lazily looked up.

"Okay no but-"

"You really need to learn your place and stop butting into other people's business. The world doesn't revolve around you, Troublesome." And with that, the door shut as Paul walked back into his room. Dawn continued to stand on that very spot for a pregnant minute as she processed everything that had just happened.

Paul had definitely returned to being a complete asshole, however, the way he had told her off completely threw her off. Was he experiencing some sort of mood swing? Was he playing a prank? Was this who Paul really was? All the questions cluttered inside of Dawn's head as a nervous broken laughter escaped her mouth silently.

"What the fuck was that." She muttered, her eyes opened with confused curiosity. The corner of her mouth twitched apathetically upwards as she slowly backed away from the accursed door.

oOoOoOoOoOo

A/N: Sorry this was short, but I figured it'd be best to leave this chapter like so! And also, HAPPY IKARISHIPPING DAY!

-EPRika-