Smitten

Smit-ten: adj.1. Struck, as with a hard blow. 2. Greviously or disastrously stricken or afflicted. 3. Very much in love.

"You are totally smitten with her."

She said it just like that, without any hesitation, accusation, or sadness in her soft spoken tone. He was so shocked that he ripped his head towards her direction as she sipped on her chi latte and took in the small but beautiful smile on her face. He wondered what she was thinking as she locked her cerulean eyes with his dark brown ones, glittering with some kind of emotion…but what exactly.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, narrowing his eyes as he questioned her. She giggled gently before flicking her eyes towards the girl he had watched walk from the table only moments ago.

"I think you like Dawn…a lot," she said softly as she now watched the pretty bluenette at the café counter chatting up with the young boy at the register. Ash's jaw dropped at her guess, his heart stopping with her words.

"Your ridiculous," he managed to sputter once he felt his heart beating again, "if you think I like Dawn your totally insane not to mention incredibly wrong."

"You've been flirting with her all day and doing whatever she asks Ash. Whenever I asked you do stuff with me before you always argued and you always fought against the idea that I wanted to take you shopping with me. You actually held all her bags without a whimper," the redhead was looking at him now; her pretty smile had turned to a frown. He liked the way she looked when she was at the beginning of what looked like an argument. It was like she was trying to keep her cool and look calm, but she would also never back down and she would win. It was one of her best looks, he thought at least.

"I carried yours to idiot, or did you not notice the majority of those shopping bags belonged to you," he snapped.
"I was just taking advantage of the situation. Don't try and convince me otherwise Ash, I can tell you like her."

"You've barely been here three weeks and your already guessing that I'm in love with Dawn. Really Misty? Really?"

"Yeah Ash, I really am. I think I know my best friend well enough to know what he likes and admires about a person," She was raising her voice now, ready to show that she would win without worrying about what other people thought. She couldn't win this time though, because Ash knew that she was completely wrong about this…idea that propped into her head. Totally, insanely, and completely wrong.

"Come on you guys, let's not fight in a place like this," Dawn approached the table now, taking in Ash's angry appearance and Misty's determined one. She watched as they both let out a sigh of frustration before letting the topic of whatever they were arguing about drop. "Good, now where the hell is Brock?"

Ash took a swig of his coffee and shrugged glancing at the redhead as she smiled beautifully at Dawn and mentioned that Brock was just a few minutes late at meeting with them. He stayed quiet as the girls chatted away, gossiping about this and that, and wondered what he did today that would confirm the idea that he was smitten (that was the word she used right) with Dawn. If anything he had tried his hardest to do whatever Misty wanted, like the shopping idea. Of course Dawn had mentioned that she really wanted some new outfits, but Ash had seen the way Misty brightened at the mention of buying new clothes. And he only agreed with holding their bags because Misty had complained that she might have bought too many and should have realized that she would be carrying them all day, without a word Dawn whipped some out of the girls arms and tossed them to him, he was happy to make sure Misty was happy and didn't really argue about it, but that meant that Dawn gave him her bags too of course. Well whatever, he was sure Misty would catch on that he and Dawn were only friends and that's what they would always be.

"Brock!" Misty chirped suddenly, waving to get the handsome tanned boys attention. Ash grinned as he made his way to their table holding up the bag that he had took all day to retrieve.

"Finally got the items, ready to head back to the Center?" He asked cheerfully.

"You bet, I'm ready to just sit back and relax," Dawn nodded already pushing her chair back and slipping on her red coat.

"And I'm ready to get away from these girls, I think I've had enough of their voices to last me a few weeks," Ash added picking up Pikachu from the chair beside him. The rodent let out a soft "chu" and clambered onto his shoulder. The soft scoff from Misty made his eyes turn to her as she zipped up her light blue coat and pulled on her hood, a disappointed look on her face.

"Yeah I would get tired of shopping all day too," Brock laughed as Dawn smacked Ash on the arm for his comment.

The rain was pouring as they stepped out of the coffee shop, pelting the ground so hard that it looked like the drops were bouncing off the pavement. Ash sighed and adjusted his hat and pulled on his own black hood from his jacket for extra protection from the water. Misty bumped into him slightly from his sudden halt to do this and he felt the electricity flow through his veins at the idea that she was so close to him. He glanced at her watching as she brought her hands to her chest and blew on them.

"It's a little cold," she said as everyone else prepared to head out in the rain from under the eve that they were standing under.

"I guess that means we should hurry," Dawn nodded tightening her scarf and then pulling on red gloves. "I heard it was to snow later anyways." Brock started to lead the way with Dawn in tow and he stayed back as Misty followed. He watched her back as she walked ahead of him, thoughts of her words still pounding around in his head and leaving him slightly bitter. Could that mean that she didn't mind if he liked Dawn and that it didn't even bother her? It was kind of sad in a way, especially since he liked Misty so much.

"Oh!" The redhead exclaimed quite suddenly and Ash watched as she lost her footing and was beginning to fall forwards. He reached out with his fast reflexes and caught her just before she fell face forwards in the puddles all around them. "How embarrassing," she muttered slightly bringing his worried gaze from where he watched Dawn and Brock standing and watching them with surprise from the girl's sudden trip, down to where she leaned against him in his arms. She wasn't looking at him; instead her eyes were staring at the puddle she would have fallen into.

"You okay?" He asked gently so that her attention finally was on him and she locked her eyes with his. He watched as she blushed, her fingers clenching tightly on his arm from where she had grabbed him in her move to save herself from hitting the ground.

"Um, I'm fine," she said blinking and moving to get him to let go. He did regretfully and smiled as she growled about how her hood had fallen off and now her hair was soaked wet. How could she not see how much he liked her, how much he wanted to be able to hold her all the time?

"Misty?" He called from where he hadn't moved, allowing Brock and Dawn to continue on their way so that he could say this without embarrassing her in front of their friends. She turned back to him, worried and still embarrassed he could tell. "I need to tell you something."

"Ash?" she smiled slightly. She looked as amazing as she stood there with the rain falling all around her. Her now wet red hair was sticking to her face in soft curls and her cheeks were turning into a soft pink by the cold air. This was his chance to tell her, this was the time to let her know how he really and truly felt.

"I don't like Dawn." He stated firmly, taking the few strides to be right in front of her. She looked confused and he could tell she was on the verge of arguing about this fact again. "I can't like Dawn because…I'm completely smitten with you."

He loved the way her eyes widened from the news and how he could tell that the emotion glittering in them was one of pure happiness. This was one of her best looks, at least to him.

A/N: Sorry it took so long, I've been swept through a whirlwind of new things happening in my life. Nothing life changing I guess, but just experiencing that piercing bitter pain of losing something so good in your life to someone else. Yeah, it hurts but I'm getting better slightly. Anyways review if you could, it would make me a happy =)