ELEVEN
Aside from a trip to the Pokemon Center to swap out Haunter for Eevee, Serena spent much of the next day in her apartment. She watched TV, played with Eevee, and continued work on her paper. While out and about previously, she had noticed that there were a few police officers outside her apartment building, outside the Pokemon Center, and outside Sycamore Laboratories.
Shauna called once to ask to borrow notes for class, and seemed surprised that Serena was spending a relatively nice day (it was sunny and the temperature was cool and pleasing) cooped up inside her apartment.
"I'm studying really hard right now. Two quizzes next week." Serena used that as her excuse.
"And you're not having your new boyfriend help you study?"
Serena blushed. "We aren't officially calling ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend yet. But . . . his job for the government is taking up a lot of his time."
In truth, Serena did not know if Augustine was working that weekend, or even where he was. She had gone by the Pokemon Center on South Boulevard to retrieve Eevee, just so she could get a peek at any activity in the lab, but inside Sophie had told her that he had not been in at all that day. On her way back, she stopped by his apartment, knocked several times, and then jiggled the doorknob to find that it was locked. She left him messages every two hours, but never got a response. The version of studying she had done consisted of staring at her notes, unable to absorb any information, because her mind was somewhere else completely.
Her gut reaction was to assume the worst: Teleurac was keeping him locked up to ensure her cooperation. Realizing that line of thought was perhaps unwarranted, she remembered that he was supposed to be in some top secret meeting with the other Team Flare scientists.
Around eight o'clock Saturday night, her Holo Caster rang. It was a pre-recorded message from Augustine, whose holographic image looked tired.
"Serena, I'm sorry I haven't been able to return your calls. I've been in meetings and in and out of laboratories all day. Mable wants me to stay here and work on this experiment until midnight, maybe later – depends on whether or not she's happy with the results. It's exhausting! Anyway, I'm supposed to be off tomorrow. If you want to come over to my place, there's a spare key under the welcome mat. Bonne nuit, ma chérie. Don't study too hard."
"Aw," Serena cooed sympathetically as the message finished playing. Eevee, who was sitting at her feet under the kitchen table, looked up at her curiously, thinking that she was talking to him. She bent down and picked up Eevee, holding him in her lap as she reread the section of paper she had just typed.
Serena arrived at his apartment at midmorning the next day, with a leashed Eevee in tow. One hand held a drink carrier with two cups of coffee, and a bag of breakfast pastries from a nearby café was in the other hand.
She used the spare key mentioned in his message to go inside, and took care to lock the door behind her. While she tried to walk through the living room quietly, Eevee was scampering about, sniffing at everything, exploring this environment that was new to him. Eevee's insistence on checking out every nook and cranny of the living room made it hard for Serena to reach the kitchen, so she set the food, coffee, and her bag down on the coffee table while she let the Pokemon off his leash.
"Can you sit still here?" she whispered, crouching down so she could be closer to Eevee's level. Eevee sat down obediently.
"Good boy," she said approvingly, reaching into the bag and pulling out a lemon-flavored Pokepuff. She handed it to Eevee, who gobbled it up happily.
From there, Serena tiptoed to the back of the apartment, where she peeked inside Augustine's bedroom. He was lying on his stomach on top of a perfectly made bed, and his head was inches away from the nearest pillow. In addition, he was still fully dressed – he had even forgotten to take off his shoes the night before.
Serena chastised herself for not calling ahead to make sure he was awake first. But before she could turn back, Augustine rolled over and lazily started to push himself into a sitting position.
"This is a pleasant surprise," he said groggily upon seeing Serena, gazing at her through half-open eyes.
"I brought breakfast," she replied.
"Ah, tu es magnifique. Let me put on something more comfortable . . . and I'll just take it here in bed."
Serena went back into the living room and grabbed the bag of pastries and the coffee. She waited outside his bedroom until he called for her to come in.
"What did you bring me?" Augustine had changed into a gray T-shirt and purple sweatpants. He was sitting on his bed, leaning back against the headboard.
"Just the breakfast pastries from Café Introversion, and the strongest black coffee they had to offer," she told him as she walked over to his side. She set down the drink carrier on the nightstand and began to reach into the paper bag, but then Augustine patted the space on the bed next to him, inviting her to join him. She accepted the invitation, and distributed pastries while sitting next to him.
"You take good care of me, Serena," he said gratefully, running his fingertips over her shoulder.
"Eh, it's what I do, remember? Professor works late into the night, friend of professor brings breakfast the next morning because the professor is prone to skip meals when he has a lot to do." Serena responded, acting like it wasn't a big deal.
A small bark was heard from the living room.
"Oh! I brought Eevee. Hope you don't mind," she mentioned apologetically.
"No, not at all," said Augustine. He then whistled loudly; a few seconds later, Eevee had trotted into the bedroom and hopped up onto the bed, sitting himself cozily between the two humans.
Augustine ate silently, his eyes staring out into space. Serena watched him with concern for a while, before Eevee began pawing at her leg and she had to tell him that there was only one Pokepuff for him. Eevee looked at her with big, pleading eyes, as if his begging could magically make another Pokepuff appear.
"Something bothering you?" Serena asked Augustine after he let out a sigh.
"Everything's bothering me," he confessed, reaching out his hand to lay on Eevee's back and absentmindedly stroke the Pokemon's fur. "The things I saw yesterday . . . how did those scientists ever pass their ethics courses at university?"
Serena shook her head.
"They have other Pokemon in that underground facility, besides the ones we saw. And they were all malnourished and left to sit in their own waste inside their cages . . . none of them understood why this was happening to them. The scientists didn't even have the common courtesy to carry out experiments in a space away from where the Pokemon were being housed, so they all had to watch the experiments, and be terrified, and wonder when it would be their turn to suffer and die like that." He gulped down some coffee, and closed his eyes as Serena began rubbing his back soothingly.
"I told Teleurac that one condition I insisted on was more humane treatment of those Pokemon. If they were better cared for, we could get more out of them. He seemed pleased with that line of reasoning."
Serena clenched her hand into a fist. "Maybe I need to make another visit down there," she said.
"No you don't. If you free those Pokemon, they'll just go out and catch more. Besides, Teleurac told me that he has people watching you closely."
"Of course he does," said Serena bitterly, thinking about the abundance of police officers she had encountered the previous day. "But why does he insist on keeping so many secrets, and having people watch me, if he is really oh-so noble?"
"I know why," said Augustine shortly.
Serena leaned closer to him, expecting him to tell her everything. However, Augustine shook his head in denial, and pulled down the collar of his shirt to show a small microphone taped to his chest.
"It's classified, though," he added.
Once the shock of seeing the microphone wore off, Serena mouthed "Write it down?" to him. Augustine shook his head again and mouthed back "Not telling you."
"And please, Serena, don't go snooping around. Promise me you won't. I don't need the added stress in my life." Augustine pleaded, taking care to speak clearly and loudly. He pointed to his chest, at the approximate location where the microphone was taped.
"Fine. I promise," said Serena reluctantly. Making Augustine wear that wire must have been a way in which Teleurac could ensure that she stay out of trouble – she could hardly say no to Augustine, after all, especially when he used the human equivalent of Baby Doll Eyes on her, followed by a grateful smile after she made her promise.
"Merci," he said. "Now, what do you have planned for today? Anything exciting?"
"No, not really. I was just going to study and watch TV," answered Serena. "You?"
"The same, but perhaps we can do all of that while enjoying one another's company." Augustine reached over to the nightstand, grabbed the remote, and turned on the TV to a news channel. The current story was about the owner of Sushi High Roller being arrested after he refused to comply with the new policies regarding food quality and quantity. What followed was coverage of the arrests of workers at the Power Plant, and then a story about Wikstrom of the Elite Four offering a seminar on training Steel-type Pokemon. When commercials aired, he flipped through channels until he found a movie starring Diantha as an explorer in Johto.
"I here she's filming a commercial for the Governor," he commented idly.
"Promoting more 'environmentally-friendly' living?" asked Serena, recalling how Teleurac mentioned the possibility of her starring in such a commercial.
Augustine nodded, following up with a yawn. Strong coffee was evidently not working this morning.
By the time the movie was over, Augustine had scooted closer to Serena (leading Eevee to move to the edge of the bed) and draped an arm around her shoulders. She didn't mind, and even welcomed it when he pulled her in so that her head was leaning against his shoulder.
"You said you had studying to do?" he inquired as the credits began rolling.
"That's right," she breathed, "I have two quizzes coming up: one in biochemistry and one in Modern Kalosian History."
"It's a good thing that you have a scientist and certified Pokemon expert sitting next to you," said Augustine. "It'll be like a study date – I'll even make you dinner like I promised the other night. And you still need to let me look over your paper on Charizard and Mega Evolution."
"Um . . . ." Serena shrugged. "I didn't bring my notes or my computer with me."
"You can go grab them later tonight while I cook," he offered before changing the channel again. He settled on a show dedicated to exploring the world's different ecosystems and the Pokemon that lived there. This episode in particular featured Kanto's Mt. Moon and the vast caverns inside it; the current scene depicted a group of Clefairy dancing around a giant Moon Stone.
Serena snorted in amusement. "Your idea for a date is helping me study?"
"You want to do well in school. I want you to do well in school, and I want to make you a delicious dinner, and I want to spend lots of time with you. After all, you are my girl- wait, are you all right with me calling you my girlfriend? Because I don't know what we are, exactly. We like each other, have for a while now, and we're definitely more than friends, so . . . ."
Serena smirked. "Augustine, if you call me your girlfriend," she began, "I may have to start calling you my boyfriend."
"Oh the horror!" Augustine laughed heartily as he leaned in and gently kissed her on the cheek.
Later that evening, after her paper was perfect according to him, Augustine walked Serena back to her apartment. Instead of content blissful quiet this time, Serena still argued about some of the changes he made.
"I'm just saying, it's my paper. I think I should be able to give it a fun, witty title if I want to."
"Serena, 'Charizard the Mega-Pseudo-Dragon' is hardly professional-sounding. If you're serious about pursuing science as a career, boring titles that describe the subject of the paper are the place to start," Augustine reminded her.
"But 'Analysis of the Differences in Typing Physiology of Charizard and Mega Charizard X?' Really? Where's the pizzazz? The fun? I'd rather read about a Mega-Pseudo-Dragon, personally."
"When you have your doctorate, chérie, you can rewrite all the conventions you want. But right now, you'll do well to play by established rules."
The two of them reached the front door of her apartment before they knew it.
"Well, Augustine, thanks for helping me out. You may need to provide titles for my papers in the future so I know they're good," said Serena as she dug in her bag for her keys. "Um, especially after you had such a crummy day at work yesterday. Thanks so much."
"Anytime." Augustine smiled. He began to lean his head forward, but then he drew back and looked to the side as his cheeks turned pink.
"Serena . . . um . . . I-uh . . . hm. Could I – perhaps – kiss you? On the mouth, that is. You know, like a good-night kiss?" he asked nervously, looking down at his feet and scratching the back of his head.
She grinned, finding it adorable that he was asking for permission to kiss her. Her eyes gazed upon his lips briefly, and she wondered how they would feel against her own – wonderful, most likely.
"Augustine," she began as she took a step closer to him, "If you kiss me, I will kiss you back."
He giggled briefly, and his cheeks grew pinker.
Serena raised herself up on her tiptoes, placing her hands on Augustine's shoulders to steady herself. As she tilted her head up to him, he tilted his down, and they slowly moved their faces closer to one another, reveling in the anticipation. Finally, their lips met. She felt his hands rest on her waist, touching her with only minimal pressure. His lips were as she imagined they would be, soft and warm; that, combined with his closeness and the faint remains of his cologne from the previous day, all delighted her.
Augustine was the one to end the kiss when he slowly pulled his head back. Serena saw the awe and joy in his tired eyes, and the small smile on his face.
"We should make this a regular thing," she suggested, her voice soft and endearing. She would have to ask her mom or Shauna what the metaphorical "fireworks" felt like to them.
"I agree. One hundred percent."
Serena slid her hands off his shoulders, down his chest, and pulled them back to herself. She turned to the door of her apartment, intending to unlock it. Instead, she whipped around back to Augustine, raised herself up on her tiptoes, took his face into her hands, and kissed him again.
"See you tomorrow," she said as she pulled away.
"Good night, Serena," said Augustine with a big grin on his face. He walked backwards down the hall for a bit, not breaking eye contact with her, until he finally decided to turn around and see where he was going. She noticed a spring his step and she heard him whistle – it could have been real or imagined, but she didn't care. It wasn't until he had stepped into the elevator and waved to her one final time that she moved to enter her apartment.
Once she was inside, Serena locked the door and practically floated to her bedroom. She went through her pre-bedtime routine in a trance, and when her head hit the pillow sleep evaded her; she was too busy replaying her first kiss with Augustine in her head, over and over again.