Chapter Two
"Well to begin with, I never said that I did do that, you assumed. And you assumed correctly. And for the big question, why. That is a simple answer for me. I looked at the list of people coming to the reunion and noticed your last name from when our fathers were great friends and decided to give you a gift for whatever holiday you may celebrate." Steven had said. I had stared a little longer than I needed to. "Are you okay, you look like you are about to explode? Or burn up at the least," that had got me back to the world.
"I-I'm fine. But it still confuses me as to what made you want to give someone, that you had only met once," my cheeks only reddened more as I spoke. The smirk that replaced Stevens signature smile noted me that he knew my cheeks were getting redder.
"Why can't you just take a gift? But since you insist upon asking, I will tell you. Aside from what I have already said, when I met you that one time, you seemed like a nice person. You also were the only person that didn't act strangely around my beldum. You weren't afraid of it like half of my class in pokemon school. You also didn't bully my beldum by calling it useless or by calling it, and I quote, 'a shiny rock that knows a few tricks'," Steven had explained. I remembered back to the time when I was six years old and my dad and me took a vacation to Rustboro City in Hoenn. All the information that I had gleaned from my dad was that we were going to visit a friend and he had a son my age. I was pretty content with that, being at a young age. I remember the time when we had got there and waiting for the mysterious young son that my father had talked about to get home from pokemon school. I was so ecstatic to see when the boy had come home. I didn't see it at first, but the boy, who's name was Steven, had a strange pokemon with him. In Violet City, I had never seen another kid my age with a pokemon of their own, so naturally, I asked questions. A lot of questions.
" I wasn't afraid of your beldum because, well, nobody in our age group had a pokemon, at the time. Your beldum was also unlike anything I had seen before, I was absolutely wondered by your beldum," I noticed that at this point, it seemed that Steven had stopped listening and was looking through his pockets for a long forgotten object. I was ready to flick the former champion on his head for ignoring me, but before I had the chance, he pulled out his wallet and began to look through it. He pulled out a picture that had aged a little from when it was first printed. Steven began to chuckle at the photo.
"What are you looking at?" I queried. Then Steven flipped the photo so that I could see it. In the photo were two blue-haired children. One had a beldum hovering over his left shoulder and the other had a pidgey resting on his head, both had giant, even comical, smiles plastered onto their faces. I let out a small chuckle. I had rarely ever chuckled, and even less so to smile. Yet somehow, someway, a friend that I had made a lot of summers ago and never seen since, had made me do both in a matter of minutes.
"This may seem like an odd question, but, what hotel are you going to stay in, or are you going to stay in a friends house?" Steven had inquired.
"Dang it! I knew I had delayed and forgotten something of importance. What hotels are still allowing people to come in and ask for a room?" I had hurriedly asked.
"At this time in the night? None," those were the words that I had not wanted to hear. I played the situation out in my head. I thought about asking the city goers for a bed for the night. No they would never if they had ever been taught stranger danger. Convenience stores? Not likely, they were probably already closed.
"Any restaurants that are open all night? What about the pokecenter?" this was my final effort not to sleep on the street.
"Hmmm… no, none are open at this time of the night, and the pokecenter seems as if it is already past safe occupation," those words hung over me. It looked like I would have to sleep on the streets.
"Well, looks like me and my pokemon are going are going to have to huddle together and sleep on the streets tonight," I had grumbled out loud, not meaning to.
"No you are not. Well, not when I am here. Come on get your bag and follow me," Steven had demanded. I was about to inquire about the statement, but Steven was already pacing off towards the exit. I picked up my bright blue luggage and looked back my pidgeot to tell it to fallow me. I fastly walked to where Steven was walking to. By the time I caught up to the former champion of Hoenn, we were on the frozen over streets of Snowpoint City.
"Where are we going? You kind of skipped out on that small, insignificant detail," I don't know what answer I was looking for, but I was looking for one.
"Somewhere so that way your pokemon don't freeze to death out in the cold. Also so you don't freeze to death," Steven had blatantly answered. I decided I wasn't going to ask my other questions because I had already known the answer, silence. We briskly walked on the streets, spurred on by the freezing temperatures. We also took a turn once in a wile, a left here, and a right there. We walked for about five minutes until we stopped in front of the most grand hotel in Snowpoint. Steven surprised me by walking into the hotel. I lingered just surprised that anybody that I had known could have paid for such an extravagant hotel.
"Aren't you going to come in?" Steven asked while looking back only to notice that I wasn't following him. I quickly shook my head to get back into reality. I resumed my rhythmic stepping to fallow the former Hoenn champion into the hotel. The hotel was great on the outside, but, WOW was it shiny on the inside. Polished marble with silver accents everywhere. My mouth hung agape as I took in my surroundings. Steven took notice and placed his hand on my chin and pushed my mouth close. I began to feel my face grow warm. I could tell that my cheeks were not warm do to the drastic change in temperature.
"It's not polite to hang your mouth open in such a formal place. You look like you are going to burn again," Steven had said with a bemused expression on his face. I backed away from his hand, nodding appreciatively, although that was not what my emotions were. Steven approached the counter with me trailing behind him, making sure not to keep my mouth open.
" Hello sir, do you already have a room reserved?" asked the receptionist. The receptionist was quite well dressed, navy blue top with brass buttons, two buns on her head, and a plastered on smile that seemed quite creepy at times.
"I do have a room reserved, the penthouse I believe," the pent house? That must have made a dent in his wallet. But then again, maybe not, the guy did upgrade me to first-class on an international flight and bought me an extra seat for my pokemon.
"Are you… Steven Stone?" the receptionist inquired looking at her monitor to get the correct name. "Yes, I am Steven Stone," Steven had answered dully. The receptionist looked under her desk and got out a card the same size as a credit card.
"What about the person, who I presume is with you?" The receptionist queried. Steven replied with "He's with me," and began to walk towards the expensive looking elevators. Steven looked back and noticed I wasn't following him. He turned back and grasped my hand so he could make sure that I was following him towards the elevators. When we got into an elevator, he let go of my hand to press the number of floor we were going to. In one minute, the elevator was effortlessly gliding up to the top of the building. The doors opened before I even knew that the elevator had stopped at its destination.
The room was as large as my whole apartment. And it still had more room. "We need to fix our sleep schedule to be on Sinnoh time, that means that we have to go to sleep even though you just woke up," Steven had said.
"Okay, mother," I replied mockingly. Steven's only reply was to slightly shake his head. I went to the bathroom and placed my luggage on the floor. I opened up the blue traveling case and got out my sleep wear. I left the bathroom in a white, long sleeve shirt and fuzzy blue pants. I looked high and low for two beds, but lo and behold, I only found one. 'Well since there is only one bed, I will let Steven use it since this probably cost him a fortune and a half. Well were will I sleep then? Oh the couch.' I thought to myself. I found the couch and an extra blanket in one of the closets. I sat on the large, thirteen person couch and spread out the blanket over me. Steven got out of the bathroom with silk pajamas on, or course, since it seems he has all the money in the world at his finger tips. He stared at me in confusion as I sat on the couch.
"Good night," I said and I sunk into the couch. "Aren't you going to sleep on the bed?" he asked in reply. "Why would I? You payed for this room didn't you? If so, you get the bed," I stubbornly answered to the former Hoenn League champion.
Steven sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, I insist that you take the bed, you are my guest after all," Steven argued back towards me. He was playing stubborn as well. "No, I made an error and you letting me stay with you for the night is enough generosity, you take the bed," I was trying to be more stubborn than he was. I had a feeling that I was failing. Steven walked up to the couch. He then lifted me up in the way a groom might hold his newly wed wife. "If you insist on me taking the bed, I will. But, you will also be taking the bed," insisted the silver haired pokemon trainer. "You do realize that I am a guy, right?" I asked. "And your point is?" retaliated Steven. We finally got to the bed which seemed to take forever. Steven dropped me off in the bed and climbed in right after me.