Secrets Kept
*Updated June 2014 – originally chapter 11, just tweaked a bit, not much of a difference.*
*Updated (again) February 2015 – I reread this story as I was getting a tattoo done a few days ago and realized that Tracey sighs about eight million times in this chapter. It drove me crazy so I had to fix it. Dialogue, events, and general actions are the same, I just made Tracey sigh less… Now I can read it without cringing.*
* Surprise! Updated June 2015 - Yet again... So apparently editing a chapter in MS Word with the Track Changes setting on will cause cause the chapter to be screwed up when you upload it. Fixed it (only about four months too late). *sigh*
There are a few things I want to quickly bring up before moving on to the chapter. The first is the appearance of non-pokemon animals in here. I know I mention them in a few of my other fics (including Secrets Told) so obviously I would figure that they would be around in the pokemon world. The main reason I do it (other than being a biology nerd who is quite familiar with sharks and other marine critters) is because I see absolutely no way for various ecosystems to work together with only a few hundred creatures that are so unique. It's the biologist in me. So anyways, that's that. Another thing is Tracey's family… With his quiet and patient personality, I could picture him with plenty of siblings, so that's one reason why he has a few.
And without further ado, here are the next two chapters. They're quite long and I think some parts are a bit wandering but hopefully it's okay (and elicits some reviews *looks hopeful*).
Chapter Ten
The water was beautiful - clear and crisp, a brilliant blue and Gary could see straight to the bottom of the sea. Gazing gloomily over the edge of the boat, he watched a large barracuda swim along a rock formation many feet below. Perking up a bit, he leaned further over the side of the boat to watch the fish's elongated body move slowly through the water. The species had always fascinated him for some reason, despite being common and far less intriguing than pokemon species. Though Gary loved pokemon, he often found himself nearly mesmerized by simple animals with no special powers.
Many trainers and, even more disappointing, researchers, found simple animals dull and not worth a second glance but his grandfather had raised him and May with the belief that all creatures were important. "If they are so unimportant, why do we need bacteria to help break down our food? So small and simple, yet we depend on them," the old man had said many times during Gary's seventeen years.
Gary jumped, startled when a pair of large hands suddenly grasped his shoulders. "Don't fall," a mildly amused voice spoke up from behind him.
Professor Birch leaned against the side of the boat next to Gary with a laugh, shaking his head amusedly while Gary caught his breath. "I hate you," Gary muttered when his heart rate slowed back to normal.
The professor laughed harder. "That was a good reaction. I haven't been able to scare you like that since you were seven," he commented, eliciting an eye roll from the teen.
Now one of the most well-known pokemon researchers, Professor Birch had spent several years working with Professor Oak after earning his first degree from graduate school while Gary was a child. Fortunately for Gary, his relationship with the still-relatively-young professor was providing him with opportunities that were certainly hard to come by. He had been asked to come along on this sharpedo-tagging trip before many marine biology grad school students from the universities scattered about Kanto, Hoenn, and the Orange Islands.
"So, you invited me here just so you can scare me. I feel so valuable." Gary shook his head and returned his gaze to the water.
It seemed like all he had done today was gaze at the water, lost in his own thoughts, whenever he wasn't throwing chunks of dead fish in the water to attract sharks and, hopefully, sharpedoes. He had been in the Orange Islands for only a few days now and, thus far, had not been in on much of the sharpedo-tagging action.
"Actually, you have the most important job here."
"Which would be?"
"My assistant." The professor laughed again when Gary groaned and slumped against the edge of the boat. "What, you don't like your job?"
Gary shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment. "I live with a professor. I know that the word 'assistant' really means 'slave that does absolutely everything.'"
"Exactly. And the best assistants eventually end up leading their own research teams. I wouldn't trust most of my grad students in your place, Gary."
Though flattered, there was still a sarcastic comment on the tip of his tongue, but Gary forgot it as he caught the glimpse of a shadow in the water out of the corner of his eye. "Shark," he said automatically, his brain quickly recognizing the streamlined shape of the fish below.
The professor leaned over the side to see the creature below. "First of the day," he confirmed. "Species?"
Gary frowned as he examined the shark from a distance. He could identify any pokemon species due to his familiarity with them, but this was much different and far more difficult. "It looks like a type of requiem shark," he guessed after a moment. It was a family of sharks, rather than a specific species but Birch would just have to deal with his vagueness for the moment.
Professor Birch smiled and nodded his head. "It looks like a lemon shark, but it's at least fifteen feet below us, so it's a bit difficult to tell." He glanced over at Gary and grinned. "One thing you'll find working in the field is that the animals you work with do not always like to show up. Days like today are pretty common, where we've been out for eight hours with a long line of chum behind the boat –"
"Without a single sharpedo in sight," Gary finished for him.
"Yes. So, what we do is find something to amuse ourselves that we can somehow relate to our research… In this case, we're going to check out the ecosystem that the sharpedoes live in – specifically the non-pokemon apex predators."
"The regular sharks."
"You catch on fast," the professor observed, walking a few feet away to a large container that held diving equipment. "You're SCUBA certified, right?"
Gary nodded, frowning slightly with mild confusion. "Yeah, it was a birthday present from Grandpa years ago. Even May is certified," he added as an afterthought.
"Good." Professor Birch set a pile of diving equipment next to Gary before peering over the edge of the boat at the shark in the water. "He's getting away," he mused, moving towards a bucket of chum nearby. He dumped some of the chum into the water and instructed Gary to get ready to go in the water.
Gary looked from the shark to the professor and then to the spreading stain of fish guts in the water. "Now?"
"While the shark's still here, yes." He noticed that Gary looked wary, still glancing from his mentor to the fish in the water. Two more sharks had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. "You were bored in Pallet, weren't you?"
"Bored, yes, but not suicidal," Gary replied as he tugged on the diving vest that the professor had set aside for him. He ignored the fact that death had crept into his thoughts an eerie and somewhat disconcerting amount of times.
Pulling on his own equipment, the professor gave a small laugh. "One could argue otherwise with all that drinking."
Gary froze in the middle of adjusting the vest. "How do you know about that?" he asked slowly, his suspicions immediately jumping to his sister. May was far too talkative for her own good; she had most likely said something.
"You think your grandfather can't recognize a hangover? He grew up in the sixties, Gary, he's not that innocent."
Slowly turning over a pair of flippers in his hands, Gary frowned. "He noticed?" The professor nodded, continuing to gear up. "He never notices those things…"
"He's a researcher, Gary, believe me, he notices details. He might not be able to keep track of the days of the week, but he definitely notices. Do you intend on starting a research project on those fins or are you going in the water?"
With a small sigh, Gary finally finished gearing up to go into the water. The fact that his grandfather had caught on to his activities with his friends left him somewhat unnerved. What else had the old man noticed about him? Hopefully not the way his eyes would follow Tracey all the time... Impossible. His grandfather was too distracted by research to notice these things. He had most likely commented on the fact that Gary often ended up with short illnesses after spending the night at a friend's house. Professor Birch had likely developed his own conclusion from that.
A few moments later and the professor and Gary were both in the water, cautiously swimming below the sharks, not too far from the research boat. Though the water was delightfully cool and refreshing, Gary couldn't help but be tense. Normally any sort of water would relax him and the sight of sharks wouldn't be too alarming – he saw them often enough at the beach near Pallet to be relatively unconcerned by their presence. Today, however, the water did nothing to help him and he felt terribly out of his element in the water. It may have had something to do with Professor Birch throwing more chum in the water right before getting in, or it could have been the usual crap going on in Gary's teenage mind. The cause, he figured, didn't necessarily matter.
The professor noticed Gary's nervousness and gestured towards the surface after being under the water for only a short while. Unsure of the reasoning behind their surfacing, Gary followed Professor Birch up to the surface. They still had plenty of air in their tanks and the sharks were still present, so he didn't see much reasoning behind going to the surface.
They reached the surface and Professor Birch took out his regulator mouthpiece while leaving his mask on. The water was gentle and had only a slight current. On days like this back in Pallet, it wasn't unusual for Gary and his friends to simply float on their surf boards, talking for hours, though Gary hadn't enjoyed those days since perhaps September and hadn't even participated in them for the past several months. In the second that it took to remember those days, Gary felt a twinge of remorse and realized that he missed hanging out with the guys back home.
Gary pushed aside the thoughts of his friends and mimicked Birch, "What's up?" he asked, not bothering to hide his confusion – or his wariness about being in the water in the first place as he glanced down at the creatures swimming below them.
"I could ask you the same thing," Birch retorted casually. He paused, glancing down for a moment to observe the body language of the three sharks in the water. Once he had determined the animals to be calm and uninterested in the two researchers, he looked back up and continued. "I've known you for a long time, Gary, I may not know everything about you but I know you well enough to tell when something is wrong. It's not like you to be nervous, especially not around the water. Something's bothering you and I'm willing to bet it has something to do with Pallet."
Gary said nothing in return and had to force himself not to roll his eyes. So many people back home had harassed him about his behavior and the last thing he wanted was one more person on his case.
The professor either didn't notice Gary's annoyance or chose to ignore it – Gary was willing to bet on the latter – and continued talking. "I'm not your grandfather so I'm not going to bug you about it. All I'm going to do is point out that we are not in Pallet, so whatever is bothering you can stay in Pallet. Take some time to enjoy being away from the lab, diving, and getting to mess with dangerous animals without Sam being on your case about it. Consider it a vacation in the form of a research trip and get your ass back down there without being worried about being eaten!" Birch then replaced his mouthpiece before diving back under the water and swimming straight towards the bottom, leaving a trail of bubbles behind him.
Gary groaned, surprised by the sudden lecture – if he could even call it that. After a moment, he too readjusted his diving equipment and followed the professor down as well. He forced himself to relax, deciding to focus his attention on the rock formation at the sea floor which he swam idly along, looking for any sort of critter that might be hiding there, until he could actually relax. He found a few krabby and goldeen, even a tentacool, which he left alone, not wanting to risk a sting this early into the trip.
It took a few minutes, but Gary could finally push away the last few weary thoughts clinging to him from Pallet and the issues the town held for him. Finally free of the thoughts, if only for a short while, he dared to venture closer to the sharks that were still circling the area. The visibility in the water was clear enough to be able to admire the way they effortlessly moved through the water from a few meters away. When Gary was within a few meters of them, Professor Birch appeared at his side, gesturing to a shape in the distance.
From a distance, it was difficult to see exactly what the large creature was but, after a moment, the outline of four fins surrounding a torpedo-shaped body become visible. There was no mistaking the body shape of the sharpedo approaching.
… … …
"You have a bite," a blonde teenager observed, glancing at her brother's fishing line. She gave a small huff, noticing that he was engrossed in a sketch of a lapras… again. "Trace!"
Tracey glanced up from the sketch to look at his younger sister. "Hmm?" An audible click came from the fishing pole that was set in a holder within the rock formation next to the siblings as whatever was attached to the hook swam in the water. "Oh!" Tracey tossed down his sketchbook, picked up the pole, and began reeling in the line while his sister, Marie, set down the book she was reading to watch.
Marie giggled softly at Tracey; it was an amusing sight to see her eldest brother reeling in what was undoubtedly another magikarp or small bait fish with a small, plastic rod that had staryu and starmie stickers all over it. It was quite old, a childhood rod of either Tracey's or her other brother's, and the family usually left it and a small tackle box of lures at the small cove they were currently relaxing at. The hook, with a tiny fish attached, reached the surface of the water and Marie laughed harder.
Tracey frowned, scooping up the fish to examine it. "Hooked through the gills," he observed. "Probably won't survive," he added a bit sadly.
"Use him as bait," Marie suggested. "Maybe we'll actually catch something that isn't so worthless then." She tossed her sun-and-lemon juice-bleached hair over her shoulder and picked up her book again.
Tracey frowned at the fourteen-year-old. "None of the fish are worthless," he chastised mildly. "They're all important to the ecosystem." He had heard Professor Oak say it so many times that it was now a natural response to offhand comments like Marie's.
"Yeah, yeah, we're all connected in the great Circle of Life," Marie said with a slight roll of her eyes. "I know, Tracey."
"Sorry, little guy," Tracey murmured, hooking the fish through the eyes with a deeper frown. "Then you shouldn't say things like that. And has Mom seen your hair? She's going to freak when she sees you've colored it purple," he added with a glance at the ends of his sister's hair, which she had colored with permanent markers earlier that afternoon.
Ignoring Tracey's comment, Marie snatched his sketchbook and began flipping through it in retaliation, moving out of his reach when he tried grabbing it from her. She paused on a picture and smirked; knowing what she had found, Tracey felt his stomach knot.
"This doesn't look very much like your boyfriend," she trilled, referring to the boy, Alex, whom Tracey had hung out with on the ferry over to Sunburst Island.
The boys had spent quite a bit of time together – they had been friends as children – and Alex had asked Tracey out after being back home for only a day and a half. Tracey reached for the sketchbook but Marie pulled it out of reach again.
"Or is this your Pallet boyfriend? Does he know about Alex? He's hotter than Alex… Look at that stomach –"
"Marie!" Tracey made another snatch for the sketchbook, blushing furiously.
It was a sketch of Gary that he had made at the beach one day a few weeks prior. He had taken Marill while tagging along with May and had barely been able to keep his eyes off of Gary as he had placed Umbreon on his surfboard and let the waves push the canine around. It was one of the few times Tracey had actually seen the sullen teenager laughing and smiling recently.
"How's he so ripped? And is that his Umbreon?"
"He's a surfer, hence the surf board, now give that back!"
Sensing her brother's annoyance, Marie grinned and passed the book back to him. "Think I have a chance with him?" she teased.
Tracey sputtered for a moment before being able to force jumbled thoughts into a coherent sentence. "No – he's three years older than you and he's ga-" he paused. "You didn't hear that," he said quickly, turning his attention to the fishing rod, which he fidgeted with nervously.
"He's gay too?" Marie inquired interestedly.
Tracey sighed and shook his head, frustrated with the way he had blurted it out. "No one else is supposed to know that… It's been a bit of an issue."
"Why? You didn't have any problems with being gay."
"Yes, I did. They were short-lived and you were too young to remember, and I was lucky," Tracey pointed out softly.
The two siblings were quiet for a few moments until Marie spoke up again. "Do you like him?"
"He's my friend, Marie," Tracey replied, his tone mild but holding a slightly impatient edge to it.
"Is he the one you were talking to Mom on the phone about? The one that's in the closet and you like him and he likes you but he's too scared to do anything about it and you don't want to risk the friendship and he's paranoid about his friends – oh, is it something worthwhile this time?" she suddenly changed topics when Tracey began reeling in the line again.
"Whatever it is, it's bigger than what we've caught so far," Tracey said, purposely ignoring and avoiding the comments she had made about Gary. Undoubtedly, she had listened to his conversation with their mother through one of the other phones in the house. Though annoying and frustrating, this was something Tracey could deal with later, right now, there was a feisty creature attached to the other end of the fishing line and he wanted to reel it in and unhook it before it injured itself.
The rod bowed dangerously, looking nearly ready to fold in half before a white and orange fish emerged from the water, frantically thrashing on the line. Marie gasped excitedly. "I love goldeen!" she squealed happily.
Tracey frowned again as he eyed the fish, which was obviously particularly angry. He knew that goldeen tended to unleash relentless peck attacks whenever they were hooked on fishing lines: that was his experience at least.
Sure enough, the hooked pokemon began attacking the pole the watcher was holding, causing him to hold the pole as far away from him as possible, trying to take a moment to think of how to deal with it. If it were Gary in his situation, he would deal with the attacks – no matter how much blood they spilled – and quickly remove the hook from the fish and carefully return it to the water. For a brief second, Tracey suddenly missed the young researcher; things were so different without his sarcastic friend around. Gary would love the island, Tracey was sure…
Shaking his head, Tracey gritted his teeth and used the fishing line to pull the goldeen closer to him. Doing his best to ignore the sharp pain in his hands as the fish attacked them, he quickly removed the hook, checked for injuries, and returned the goldeen to water.
"Why couldn't that have happened while Gary was around?" he muttered to himself.
Sure, he would have had to attend to Gary's injuries had the boy been around, but in all honesty, Tracey didn't mind that. Though Gary tended to insist on treating his own injuries, he would usually allow Tracey to help and Tracey had to admit to enjoying taking care of him, regardless of the worry stitches and antivenin injections caused.
Marie had pouted as her brother released the caught goldeen but now watched him curiously after hearing the comment about Gary. "If you like him so much, then why are you dating Alex?" she asked softly.
"Drop it, Marie! Mind your own business," Tracey replied sharply, setting about the task of disassembling the fishing rod and replacing it amongst the rock formation they were sitting at.
By the time he was done, there was blood dripping from his hands and staining the rocks while his little sister watched on worriedly. It wasn't often that Tracey got so annoyed by a family member and he tended to feel guilty after any sort of outburst; this time was no exception. After a moment, he glanced up at Marie with an apologetic smile. "Come on, kid, let's get home and let Mom work her magic," he suggested, walking to the edge of the water to wash the blood off of his hands.
It was nearly time for dinner when the two siblings reached their house: a modest two-story beach house that was a short walk through some woods to the hidden cove where they had been fishing. It was in a less inhabited part of the island with many pokemon and animals living in the surrounding area. Growing up, Tracey was forever playing in the woods with his younger brother or swimming in the ocean with his slightly older twin sister when he wasn't out developing his talent for watching pokemon.
Their mother was a bit annoyed when her elder son appeared in the kitchen when she was in the middle of cooking dinner with cuts and scrapes all over his hands and a sheepish explanation involving a goldeen. Nonetheless, after about five minutes of light chastising, cleaning, and bandaging, Tracey's hand was nearly as good as new and he was busy helping his mother in the kitchen.
He was quietly chopping vegetables, lost in his own thoughts, when his mother spoke up. "Do you miss Pallet?"
Tracey thought about it for a moment before he responded. "I guess so. It's not so much that I feel homesick or anything… I guess it's more that I miss certain people," Tracey admitted.
He chose not to elaborate for the moment but his mother cast a prying glance his way and he couldn't help but give in. She'd always had a way of making any of her four children spill their thoughts.
"Well, I've lived with May and the professor for years now so it feels weird to not see them every day - they're practically family to me now. And Gary's really my best friend in Pallet, other than Ash, but Ash is so rarely home that it hardly counts when you talk about the town specifically."
His mother gave a small, knowing smile. "I thought Gary was driving you crazy though," she said slyly.
Tracey paused in the process of cutting vegetables. "He does drive me crazy," he admitted. "But he's still my friend and we have a lot in common -"
"Like, you're both gay and you like each other?"
"Marie, out," Mrs. Sketchit chastised without so much as a glance at her youngest child.
Tracey set down the vegetable knife rather hard and turned to face his mother, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms across his chest. "She has a point," he said after a moment of hesitation. "I hate seeing him have so many issues with being gay... It's not the end of the world; it's not even a bad thing."
"It is to some people, Tracey. The world has a lot of closed-minded people in it."
"Yeah, but his family isn't like that and neither are most of his friends. I honestly think that he's been friends with them for so long that it wouldn't change anything between them, even if they are somewhat homophobic."
"All of them?" Tracey paused at his mother's interruption and looked at her questioningly. "I mean, are all of his friends and family absolutely likely to accept it with no problem, or is there one or two people that could have an issue with it? There's a reason behind every fear, you know."
"There's probably one person that would have an issue with it, but it's not family and it's not one of his best friends..."
"Even so, he's probably scared that he's not going to have anyone by his side -"
"He would have me," Tracey cut in irritably.
At this, Mrs. Sketchit turned from the stove to face him. "As a friend?" She asked slowly. "Or more than friends?
Tracey couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly as he took a deep breath. Getting annoyed about having to repeat something they had already spoken at length about would not help matters. "I thought we had established this, Mom."
She shook her head slightly. "Let me get this straight, you want to be more than friends with him?" Tracey thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Then why in the world are you dating some other guy?"
He paused and tried to think of a reason. Unable to find one, he finally shrugged and slumped against the counter in defeat. "I don't know... I thought he was cute and we used to be friends... Maybe I just wanted experience having a boyfriend for once. All of the other gay guys in Pallet are just so feminine and shallow, I can hardly stand being around them because it's so annoying –"
At that exact moment, a young woman in a swim suit and short-sleeved rash guard walked into the kitchen. "I saw your boyfriend out surfing today, Trace," she announced, pulling a soda from the refrigerator. Tracey groaned in response to his elder sister's appearance. "It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Next time, do you think you could date an actual guy?"
"Thanks for that, Tara," Tracey snapped. "Really, that's exactly what I need – everyone being on my case about a guy I've been dating for a week! What is everyone's deal with this?" He suddenly felt a rush of sympathy towards Gary and the frustration the other boy felt whenever his family would get on his case about his attitude.
Tara set down her soda and crossed her arms, fixing her brother with an even stare. "It's not you to date someone like this. The boy wears skinny jeans and eyeliner for god's sake! You need a real guy, not –"
Tracey pushed away from the counter and began heading towards the back door. "Suddenly I'm not hungry," he said, slipping into the backyard.
Irritated by his family's insistent involvement in his love life, Tracey wandered about the backyard, following an old rock path past his mother's vegetable garden, past the pool, and into the grassy area beyond that. The yard was quite large and he had calmed down somewhat by the time he reached the old swing set that was in the middle of the grassy portion of the yard. He dropped down on to a swing with a frustrated groan and put his head in hands for a moment.
He was beginning to regret ever telling his mother about everything with Gary. It had somehow spread to everyone in his family, most likely due to Marie's eavesdropping but that was beside the matter. He was fast growing tired of hearing about why he should try dating someone his family didn't even know, who was too far in the closet to even attempt a relationship, as opposed to a childhood friend who wasn't the slightest bit scared of open flirting or kissing.
The past week had been fun, except for the three times that his love life had become the topic of a family discussion. Tracey had spent time with his family, of course, but what was far more exciting for the teenager was the time spent with his new boyfriend. The private moments in the other boy's bedroom and in the concealed areas around the Sketchit family property: the kisses and touches…
The speed of everything had both surprised and alarmed Tracey. It was fun and exhilarating but at the same time, his sister was right; this wasn't at all like him. Tracey was usually more shy than this, he knew it as well anyone else. The stress from dealing with Gary must have been affecting him, making him desperate for some sort of romantic interaction. The problem was, the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to be with Gary, but Alex was nothing like Gary.
One of the things that attracted Tracey to him was the fact that Gary was not the slightest bit feminine, unlike Alex, who had that certain swagger and fashion sense. Gary's athleticism, too, was an attraction to Tracey – for one thing, it was helpful at the lab and around the reserve, not to mention it made watching him fun. Were they to date, he would certainly never hear anyone say that seeing his boyfriend surfing was hilarious. If anything, he would be able to proudly say that his boyfriend was a damn good surfer and was sexy to watch.
The thought of Gary at the beach in nothing but a swimsuit was nearly enough to drive Tracey crazy. He felt his body react to the mental images the thought pulled up and he sighed as he shifted his weight to attempt to alleviate some of the pressure he felt in his groin.
"Hey, Trace!" Tracey looked up at the sound of his sister, Tara, calling his name and saw her crossing the lawn in his direction. "What are you doing sitting out here pouting?"
"I'm not pouting."
"Sure you're not. I can always tell when my baby brother is annoyed," Tara teased, tugging on a strand of Tracey's hair as she sat on the swing next to him.
"It's a ten minute age difference," Tracey replied tiredly.
"Twelve, actually, but who's counting?" she grinned and nudged him in the ribs, eliciting a tiny smile. "So, why are you so wound up about this? We just want you to be happy, if you're getting all stressed out about this then you obviously aren't happy."
"Maybe you should've been the pokemon watcher instead," Tracey muttered. He was ignoring the fact that Tara, similar to him, though to a less extreme extent, also had a knack for picking up on behaviors and feelings. It didn't hurt that they had a particularly strong sibling bond between them.
Tara smiled wryly and poked her brother in the ribs, hard enough to hurt. "Don't be so grumpy," she chastised as Tracey rubbed his ribs. "We don't get to see you very often, you know we're going to take the opportunity to pick on you. What do you see in Alex anyway? He's a nice guy, yeah, but really… He's never been one to get his hands dirty, he's not a very good trainer, he's not particularly funny, and, according to Marie, homeboy in Pallet is way hotter."
Tracey gave a sudden laugh and shot his sister an amused look. "Did you just say 'homeboy'?"
"What do you know? I made you laugh," Tara replied dryly, examining her fingernails. "Going to answer my question?"
"No."
"Because there is no reason, right?" Tracey sighed and shook his head exasperatedly, causing Tara to grin as she spoke up again. "You can try denying it all you want, Trace, deep down you're just a horny teenage boy. You want to get laid."
Tracey turned red and nearly fell off the swing at Tara's sudden announcement. "That's not true," he quickly defended.
"Well, I suppose at this point you'll settle for a blow job, right?" Tara glanced at him slyly, as though she were bargaining.
Tracey rolled his eyes at her coarseness.
"Fine," he huffed. "There's some truth to that…"
"A hand job, then," Tara said airily.
"It's not all about sex, Tara! Yes, maybe I want something other than my hand for once, but there's more to it than that! I want to be in a relationship, even if it's short. I want to see what it's like and learn from it –"
"I get the point," Tara interrupted dryly, holding up her hand to silence Tracey before he continued. "Learning experience and all that jazz. Do you really think you can do that with someone who is clearly not your type? Or that you can't do that with someone you really like and actually is your type?"
Tracey seemed to deflate a bit at his sister's words. "What are you getting at?" he asked grimly.
"Do you like Alex, yes or no?"
Tracey groaned in annoyance – his family was starting to be too much this evening – and then thought for a moment. Did he like this boy? Well, a bit; they had been friends after all, but that wasn't the type of like that Tara was asking about.
He hesitated a few seconds and then answered honestly. "No."
A smile and then Tara replied with quiet question. "Who do you like, then?"
Immediately, Tracey's mind jumped to the very person he had been thinking of when Tara had come out of the house. It was the same person he thought about every night, the same person he imagined he was with whenever he and Alex kissed. The same person that was always on his mind these days – Gary. Whenever Alex tangled his hands in his hair during a make out session, he wished it was Gary's hands. Whenever Alex groped his way down Tracey's chest and stomach, he wished it was Gary grinning mischievously at him as his tongue snaked out to tease him…
A sudden chirp from his cell phone interrupted Tracey from his thoughts, signaling a new message. He pulled it from his pocket and quickly recognized the number; it was Gary's.
Curious, he opened the newest text message and was greeted with a picture of a group of Lapras on the ocean. Below it was the message: It made me think of you. Tracey sighed a bit sadly and held the phone out to Tara to show her.
Tara smiled again as she looked at the message. "Is this from him?" she asked softly. Tracey nodded silently. "That's sweet of him. You're on his mind, Trace, more than a normal friend would be."
"I can't stop thinking about him, Tara," Tracey blurted out after a moment. He smiled one last time at Gary's message and slipped the phone into his pocket – he could reply later. "He has a lot going on and it's really giving him a lot of issues, but he's a good guy and he can be really nice and sweet when he wants to be."
Tara's smile faded and she suddenly looked more serious than she had in the past few minutes. "He likes you, Tracey, how do you think going back to Pallet and saying 'I dated some guy I don't really care about but I won't date you' is going to make him feel?"
"I would never say that!"
"Would you tell him that you dated another guy?"
"I guess so," Tracey replied with a small shrug. He knew Gary would assume that was what had happened anyway, especially after their final conversation on the ferry to the Orange Islands.
"Anyone in a similar situation would mentally add that last part. It doesn't matter if he's the most confident guy in the world, he's still human, the thought will still come up," Tara reasoned. "How do you think it would make him feel?" she asked again.
Tracey was silent for a moment as he thought. "It would upset him," he answered honestly. "He wouldn't show it and I know he wouldn't admit it, but it would definitely hurt him. I don't know how much he would trust me afterwards, which would be the worst thing possible, with how closed off he is. I'm the only person he talks to about this," he admitted.
Saying it out loud made him suddenly realize how much he liked Gary and how little he was into his current relationship. It made him feel horrible that he had gotten into a relationship that he didn't really care for and he realized what his sister was getting at.
"Fine," he resigned. "I'll call it off with Alex."
"Are you going to do anything with your Pallet boy?"
Tracey considered her question for a moment before answering. "When it comes to Gary, it's hard to say. I mean, I'd like to, but it's not just my decision. It all depends on him as much as it depends on me. The most I can do is try reading his moods and hint that I'd like –"
"Guys suck with subtlety," Tara interrupted blandly. "You're better off just being blunt."
"And possibly scaring him off? Gary's smarter than most people, he catches details… It's one reason I like him."
Tara shook her head. "Whatever you say. Just get somewhere with him by Christmas and I'll be happy for you." Tracey glanced at her curiously.
"Christmas?" he asked.
"Yeah, that holiday in December where we buy lots of crap for each other. That gives you six months. I wonder if you actually have it in you to do it."
"That sounds like a challenge to me," Tracey mused with a faint smile. Tara always had a way of lighting a fire in him to get him to do something. He felt a shot of determination go through him and he grinned at his twin sister. "I bet I can get somewhere with him before our birthday."
This time Tara laughed. "First you've got to break up with Alex."
… … …