Spitfire, Chapter 12: For that bad romance.

Misty wasn't prepared for this.

She stared angrily at her plate; what in the word did she deserve for Delia to do this to her? It was too soon, and she was testy. While talking with Brock had calmed her nervous immensely, being stuck between the fire and the frying pan wasn't exactly her favorite seat, either. Delia must have been on crack when she set the table—that, or it was tampered with, and boy, did Misty think it was tampered with. Misty glared daggers at Dawn, who sat across the table from her, and to the left of Ash; laughing about some incoherent joke she couldn't hear.

This wouldn't be past Dawn to change the seating arrangement, especially because it was scrambled, and Delia never set a scrambled table.

"Well, unfortunately my arrangement must have gotten messed up in the mix of things; but oh well, we're all friends here!" Misty's thoughts were confirmed when Delia pushed open the swinging doors; holding a huge tray with a fresh duck on it.

"Holy crap mom, what did you make!"
"Ash, do not use that word at the table!" Delia scolded and Ash clamped his palm over his mouth. Simultaneously, both Misty and Serena cracked a small chuckle; but instantly stopped when they heard each other. Serena half-glared at Misty, and Misty played with her fork as she smiled at Brock. He smiled back, but in a humorous kind of way; he was laughing at her situation. That was so like him. Asshole; and she meant that in the nicest way.

Brock sat beside Clemont; who clapped at the roasted meal; Dawn was even fun to sit with at a table because she always had fun stories to share. She really stole the show when she was around.

"This is wonderful Delia! It must have taken hours to prepare everything!" Dawn cried happily while she looked at the table with stars in her eyes. Dawn was right; Delia had everything from roasted beets to candied yams set on the table—it looked like some combustion of thanksgiving with a mixture of Italian pizazz; because there was a lot of different types of pasta and roasted meat.

Misty hadn't seen this much food in one place in years, and her mouth watered at the mere sight of it all.

"Please, Dawn, call me Mrs. Ketchum." Delia retorted while setting the main dish in the center of the table. She took a knife in the same breath, and a fork in the other, and started to cut into the bird; releasing a toxic, but well mannered smell that made every person at the table nearly melt.

"Alright, everyone start dishing up! I hope it's good."

"If it tastes as good as it smells, I'm sure it will be great!" May and Ash spoke in unison, and Misty was impressed; they shared that same, deep love for food that Misty could totally get behind. She reached forward for the yellowish-red pasta and started to pile food on her plate in small portions; she wanted to pile it like a mountain because she was sure that with enough determination and effort, she could eat everything on the table; but, she needed to keep lady like appearances. Somewhat.

The feast was served, and not a single person would go hungry that day; it was finally when the grabbing hands, and shifting and passing of food came to a standstill, that Gary even thought about speaking; and he had to do so with care, as his grandfather was sitting two seats over beside him and didn't tolerate 'moldy' behavior.

"How's your hand, Misty?" Gary asked over he crowd of pleasantries being tossed around in other conversations. Everyone else was talking more than the small corner of the table where Serena, Gary and Misty sat; with an empty seat beside Gary, where Iris was supposed to sit; and another one beside Serena, where Cilan was supposed to sit; they were fairly isolated in their small section; and boy, was it awkward. Misty thanked the heavens for the delicious food; or she might have bailed already.

As on cue, Misty had to swallow the mouthful of pasta that she just shoveled down when Gary spoke to her; she sat back, placing her injured hand under the table; she didn't necessarily want Gary talking with her, that only raised more questions; then again, why did she give a damn what Ash thought she was doing? she shook her head.

"My hand is fine, thank you." Misty said, a little snootier than she had anticipated, which made Serena raise her eyebrows.

"He was just asking, don't have to be so rude."

"I answered him politely." Misty responded as she looked at Serena with a full on questioning gaze. Where in the world did she think that was okay to say? The same expression was fueled through Gary's eyes as well, who shook his head at Serena.

"I think butting into other peoples conversations is twice as rude; don't you?" Gary asked while handing Misty another roll, Misty took it with a smile.

"That is very true. But the worst thing is assuming things about people." Misty spoke, in reference to how Serena stuck her nose up at her before without any context.

"Doesn't that make an ass out of you and me?" Gary questioned, and Misty low-fived him beside their chairs; surprised at their ability to work so well together. Their conversation, however; successfully ended Serena's endeavors to speak, and she looked at her plate and tossed around her food more sullenly than before. She hadn't eaten the entire time, and kept shooting shy glances at Ash and Dawn; which might have been more annoying than her presence at the table in the first place. Misty felt a little mean for her reaction, and immediately felt an immense amount of guilt for shutting Serena down like that. She echoed Brock's words in her head. "You're better than this" She thought this before speaking again.

"Sorry about the former comment." She lolled off her tongue painfully, she couldn't stand being mean to Serena when it wasn't technically Serena's fault. "If sitting over here by us clowns is bothering you so much, thought, go ask Mrs. Ketchum for her seat; I'm sure she would more than happily scoot over to make room for you."

Misty didn't look at Serena when she talked, instead, she cut into her meat, and took another bite while Serena looked up-slightly surprised at Misty's harsh, yet dutiful response. While Misty's tone was far from friendly, her posture screamed that she needed to relax, her words had a sense of kindness to them that Serena could only smile at.

"Ash always said you were like a double edged sword." Serena's interpretation of Misty's words made Gary stifle a laugh and take another drink from his glass of water to cover the sound. Misty, stunned, sat back in her chair and looked at Serena who finally took her first bite of the night.

"No, I'll stay here, I wouldn't mind getting to know you more; considering we kind of started off on the wrong foot" she paused "twice." Serena smiled at Misty, and for the first time; Misty was the one speechless, and terrified; did this girl's kindness know no bounds? She looked at Gary, who shrugged in response, and then looked back at Serena.

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Well, I guess something easy; like what was your first pokemon?"

Weird question, Misty thought, but shrugged. "That's a tough question. My sister's and I have been the gym leaders of Cerulean city since before I even got my license, so technically; I've always had pokemon—since the pokemon owned by the gym are technically owned by the leaders."

Serena blinked but then took another bite, cheering up slightly; an emotion that bothered Misty. Serena hadn't even apologized, yet she seemed to think that she and Misty could be friends. Misty pursed her lips; alright, she could play that game. Be nice Misty, she chanted to herself. Misty exhaled as she listened to Serena's answer.

"My first pokemon was Fennikin. A fire type from Kalos. Do you know anything about Kalos?"

"Uhhm, Home to 150 new pokemon, romance capital of the world; the closest thing we have to the fictional world of Paris." Misty passed Serena a forced smile and Serena's mouth fell ajar.

"You know of Paris, too?" Oh no, they had common interests; abort, abort speaking; do not answer.

"Yes...I love France." was all Misty could mutter, and it sounded more like she was being cut while she spoke. Serena clapped her hands in glee.

"We have a building that looks like the Eiffel tower; the designers made it look exactly like the one from the story book; oh my god, I have to take you there one day."

"That's a little weird, considering you are supposed to only bring lovers, and like, uhh, family." Misty slowly scoot away from Serena, getting closer to Gary while she spoke next. Unknown to her, that scooting closer to Gary was an action that Ash glared at. Serena continued her pursuit.

"It's not weird at all. The Eiffel Tower, yes, is for lovers and family; but the tower in Kalos is made for anyone; they say if you stand at the top you can see a rare pokemon."

This caught Misty's interest, and she smiled genuinely. Perhaps this could all blow over after all. "Did they ever say what kind?"

Dawn's POV

It wasn't that Dawn was mischievous, no, she just liked to have fun; and sometimes having fun meant stirring the pot a little, and she decided to stir by switching the seating arrangements at the table. Everyone was sitting by someone that they didn't know well; that way, everyone got to meet each other. Dawn sat in proximity of Delia, because it was the second time she would ever meet the woman, and she wanted to learn everything she possibly could. The one change that she noticed from her misplacement, was that Misty was seated in the wrong spot—she was beside Serena and Gary, rather than by Brock and Clemont.

Dawn couldn't say that she thought much about it, however, she wished that she put herself beside Misty instead; at least she seemed talkative while Delia was up and moving too much and Ash was like a steel trap unless he was talking about pokemon.

Where was the juicy stuff? Something she could chew—she could see that Misty and Serena had a bunch of gossip just waiting to be heard. Also, she kept seeing Ash's shy gaze-glance up at Misty and Serena; did he think he was being conspicuous? Because he might as well have put a sign up saying "look at me!"

In reality, though, Dawn mostly found everything kind of...funny. She had heard about the 'event' from a friend she was in a contest with in Johto; more specifically, Zoey had told her that Ash Ketchum, the champion of Kalos was kissed on national television. It didn't take long for the news to reach anyone that wasn't lost and wondering around in the middle of no where (May), and then almost half a week later, she got a call from Ash, inviting her to a party his mother was throwing.

He always refused to say that he was throwing himself a party, though Dawn was sure that's not how he looked at it. He was probably just glad to have finally won in a league after years of failing. Catching her wandering eye, Ash finally looked over at Dawn with a scrunched up face. He was so something. Something that Dawn wanted to figure out in her swirl of emotions...but mostly she wanted to enjoy her time with her friends. She hadn't much time to think about how she felt about Serena, she didn't know Serena; and she refused to make assumptions.

"Did...did you change the seating arrangements?"

Dawn blinked at him, and then placed her forefinger against her lips as if saying "don't tell anyone" before offering him a sly wink.

Ash's POV.

Before speaking with Dawn, Ash had watched Misty and Serena from the corner of his eye. He knew that she didn't "cut" herself, but dug her fingernails into her palm; like she had done on only one other occasion that he chose to block from his mind. There was no doubt that Misty was tough—and he hadn't realized his reaction to her would drive a stake so far into her heart.

Sure, Misty would be seated beside Gary if luck would have him! Thanks mom. He thought with an eye roll...but if his mom had really set the table, there was no doubt in his mind that she would have put him and Serena together, so he looked back up to readdress the situation.

Come to think of it; the whole seating arrangement was weird. Dawn sat beside him on his left, and his mother was on his right; with the rest of his guy friends sitting on the same side; with the females on the other end of the table. No one else seemed to think much of it; or at least no one that he could tell. When he last glanced over at Misty and Serena, he was surprised to see them talking; and for a few moments it put him at peace.

Was he worried? Maybe he was, he looked at Dawn after realizing that she was staring at him.

"Did...Did you change the seating arrangements?" Ash asked skeptically, and a snicker and slight clap from Dawn let him know right away that she did. He sighed, so practical of her.

"Of course! This is much better like this! The bros are on this side of the table and the...well, everyone else is on that side of the table! We're all sat by someone we don't know!" She seemed awfully chipper with herself. It was a prank she was so proud of; and Ash knew just how Dawn-like this was.

"C'mon, it's fun; I get to talk with Clemont, and you get to talk to your mom"

"I know my own mom, Dawn." He muttered, she must have planned something, because he felt oddly estranged from the rest of the group. Dawn hadn't lost it, had she? He sighed lightly, feeling depressed while he shuffled dinner into his mouth. Moreover, he didn't want to think of anything but filling his own belly.

The silence was nice, though. With Dawn chatting heavily with Clemont and Brock, and his mother fetching refills and napkins; it gave him plenty of time to think. He pushed his peas around his plate, eventually knocking them off to the small pokemon table that Delia had set up—Piplup and Pikachu were the only ones seated, but he rather enjoyed the idea of a small pokemon table.

In fact, he enjoyed finally being able to win a pokemon league. He hadn't really been able to think much about what his next plan of action would be since he won—would he stay in Pallet Town? Repeat leagues? Go visit some uncharted territory on the other side of the world? Really, the world was his oyster, and he was the clam. He could do anything at this point! ...At least, he forced himself to hold in a sigh, that's what he wanted to believe. He strove so long to win a league, that now that he had finally won one, where did that leave him?

Why was he just now asking himself all of these questions? He blamed girls. Girls were the bane of his exsistance.

He tried not to seem visibly upset, or down; but with each glance he passed to Serena and Misty; and Gary, who was now joining in the conversation between the duo, he seemed to feel...guilty? He also didn't understand why he was acting the way that he was. He over reacted to Misty; stuck his nose up at a long time friend, and for what? He had a sudden urge to apologize, but wasn't sure how to go about it. Really, he didn't think he was sure about anything.

Was this part of that dastardly thing called "puberty"? The depression he was supposed to get but seem to just glide over? He grimaced.

"Hello? Earth the Ash? Are you even listening?" Dawn waved her hand in front of his face, and he snapped back to reality, pulling his eyes away from the food on his plate. Apparently she had told a good joke, because Brock and May and Tracey were all laughing; and Max had chop sticks in his mouth, staring at Bonnie—Ash was so confused.

"What? Yes, yes I am." He lied, but it came out more like a question.

"Uh-huh. Then what did I just say?" She asked.

"Alright, you caught me. I zoned out." He spoke, laughing sheepishly, Dawn touched his shoulder in a way that wasn't exactly friendly, but wasn't hostile, and then shoved him gently. He touched the spot she pushed him at and rubbed it.

"Oh Ash, pay attention." She said, and then started onto her next story of her adventures in Johto.

Serena's POV

Apart from when she was talking with Misty, she would look up to see Ash every once in awhile—trying to do so only when Misty was talking with Gary so that she didn't seem influenced otherwise. When she would glance up; she would catch Ash staring down at his food; not up at the guests. She wanted to ask him what was wrong; but didn't know how to go about it; he obviously wasn't better from when he stormed out of the house, he was practically sulking. But she kept a trained eye on Misty; what ever was eating up at Ash, Misty knew what it was, and so while she wanted to know; she also wanted to apologize. Misty, even when she had every right to be mad an stand-offish, still told jokes and tried to bring Serena into a conversation. She was so mature; which was so unlike anything Ash had told her about the red-head.

While Misty and Gary seemed to be chatting rather heatedly about who was the top-grossing artist of the year, Serena started to realize just how blow it was for her to mistreat the girl; and so she reiterated.

"Hey, Misty. I... I am really sorry." She sighed, placing her fork down to look directly into Misty's green pools. Misty looked at her with slight surprise, which settled into acceptance rather quickly. Serena watched her eyes briefly cross over to where Brock was sitting, and then return to Serena.

"Really, don't worry about it. Not going to lie, I was pretty upset at first; but I get it." Surprisingly, Misty smiled warmly at her; she pat the blonde on the back, straightening her up.

Misty stopped and sipped her drink. "Ash is a complicated guy. Takes a lot to keep up with him, so I don't blame you for what happened." while she said this Serena's face immediately flushed bright red, and she put her hands down onto her thighs. Misty seemed so chill, but Serena wondered if that was how she actually felt, or if it was just a careful, trained persona.

Serena swallowed hard against a lump in her throat; "so...What exactly happened?"

Now that, Misty wasn't expecting; Gary visibly flinched, and Misty rolled the olive she had just eaten around in her mouth; as if she was asking the heavens for a drink.

"What do you mean?" She tried, but Serena could see the hesitation.

"Well, why is Ash so upset? I mean, look at him."

Misty's POV

Quite honestly, Misty hadn't even spared a glance at him since the start of dinner; she hadn't noticed that he seemed so down, and seeing him that way only made her angrier if anything. First he acts like a jerk, then he gets depressed about it? Really, what a way to be. He either had a heart of gold, or the brain of a dog.

"He...well.." She started, looking at Serena with a kind of look that didn't exactly say she was going to tell the truth, instead; she applied the brakes and decided on a different route. If she told Serena the truth, the automatic repercussions of her admittance could devastate Serena, or embarrass the two of them; or embarrass Ash. To put it plainly, the truth just wasn't going to work this time. "Ash got upset because he saw Gary kissing me" didn't have the same spin to it as Misty would like. She didn't want to see anyone get hurt—so she lied.

"See this jerk," She pointed to Gary in no uncertain terms, "Decided he wanted to get frisky. With Ash."

"I did no such thing!" Gary yelped, turning a deep shade of red.

"It was a dastardly thing, let me tell you. Ash walked in and Gary just tried to pounce right on top of him."
At this, the whole table was intrigued, and Ash sputtered and spit his drink; holding his chest before belting out a roaring laughter. Misty was lying her ass off; she was sure if there was a school for liars; she would be there, first on the list. She only hoped Serena would believe it.

"What really happened?" Serena muttered, seeing Ash's reaction and Gary's as reason enough for Misty's objection to be false. Alright, challenge accepted.

"Okay, I didn't want to say anything," She paused for effect, looking at Ash, and then at Gary slowly shaking her head, then with a dramatic sigh she belted out: "but Gary was showing me pictures of his 'Ash album'!"

"His what?" Serena bespoke, and Misty just kept lathering the lie.

"You know, his Ash and Gary scrapbook; you've seen it right, Brock?" She asked, flipping a quick hand his way for emphasis, Brock, while grinning—and obviously in on the save, had to smother his grin with a sip of his water.

"That's right. Gary's been working on that one for yeeeears."

Misty nodded her head in agreement and Serena blinked.

"That is a total lie. You're the worst Misty." But Gary didn't say anything else, he knew why Misty was lying, she couldn't exactly say "I think Ash was upset because he saw me kissing Gary, which either makes Ash gay, or well, you know, confused and don't hate me." to Ash's supposed girlfriend, that just wouldn't turn out well, so she threw Gary under the bus. It was cruel, but it was also probably revenge for kissing her in the first place. After a few moments of roaring laughter amongst the table, one worried look outshone the rest of the jester faces.

"That isn't what happened." Ash muttered, silencing the house and finally catching up from his laughter in a serious tone. Serena snapped her head at him as his mouth moved to speak the truth.

"I saw Gary kiiii" The world slowed down as Misty spared one desperate glance at Brock and Gary. Like clock work, the three simultaneously created chaos to end Ash's speech in it's tracks. Brock knocked over a large glass of water plummeting liquid into several trimmings; Gary pretended to stand and trip onto the table and Misty threw herself backwards in her chair, landing with a hard thud on the ground.

"Oh my god, what happened!?" Delia yelped, coming in during the surge of madness.

"Are you okay?" Drew hollered at Misty, standing up in case she needed help.

"Brock, you just got water all over the food!" May screamed, horrified.

"Gary, my salad, get your hand out of my salad." Bonnie professed as the adult's fingers wriggled through her green plate.

Ash seemed stunned, as did Dawn; both of them knew a good distraction when they saw one, and Ash could only retract his statement; apparently, the truth wasn't something that was okay to admit? Was that what he was supposed to get from this display of accidents? Brock always said that sometimes a mess happens for a specific reason—and this seemed like one of those times.

When Misty hit the ground Serena completely forgot about her question, and instead knelt beside the gym leader's fallen chair.

"What happened? Did a leg break?"

"That smarts," Misty groaned rubbing her head which she had slammed hard against the ground before looking up at Serena who was helping the red-head up. "No the leg didn't break, I'm not that fat." She joked halfheartedly, Delia rushed over right after.

"Why do you keep hurting yourself? Are you alright? You don't have concussion do you?"

"No, I'm fine. I just threw myself back into a literal spiraling laughing fit. Really, I'm fine." Misty waved Delia off whilst turning her attention over to Brock who gave a nervous shrug, and then to Gary, who was picking pasta shells of his shirt.

Misty looked once over at everyone's faces, she stood beside Delia and a worried Serena when she looked Serena dead in the eye and shrugged.

"Who's ready for dessert?"

The rest of the dinner went off without a hitch; dessert was served, Ash seemed more cheerful—whether it was forced or not, Misty didn't bother to check. Brock, Gary and Misty seemed to have made a mental pact—at least they were on the same page. While they wanted what was best for Ash, they didn't want to see Serena get hurt—that was something they could all probably agree on in the end.

But in the end, wouldn't someone always get hurt? Technically, Misty and May were already hurt... So, Misty secretly hoped for one of those silly romantic movies where everyone gets somebody in the end. She just hoped her somebody wasn't anyone she knew; and he was waiting just outside for her; somewhere very, very far away.

Then, there was regards to Ash, who was more confused than ever—but pushed his confusion down into the pit of his stomach to enjoy what little time he had with his friends.