"What's the matter with you?" Misty lectured. "Don't you have any common sense?"

"Yeah you're a huge jerk!" May agreed.

Dawn stomped her foot. "What did you do?" she asked accusingly.

Gary blinked at all of them. It was too early in the morning to be yelled at by girls. After last night he had just gone home and slept. Umbreon woke him after what seemed like only a few minutes later to alert him to the three girls banging on his door.

"What?" Gary asked, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.

"You did something to Ash!" Dawn complained.

"And what would that be?" Gary sighed. He didn't have much time to spare on them. He was expected to be at his Gramps place in a half-hour.

"He's avoiding us!" Misty whined without answering.

"After he left last night he's been acting weird," May informed him. She sounded the most logical, so Gary focused his gaze on her. "He came back upset for some reason, but he said he only talked to you. What did you do?"

Gary sighed. "I don't feel like telling you." In truth he didn't really know what to think. He would be thrilled if that meant Ash had felt something from Gary's actions, but if it had made Ash mad or upset then Gary didn't know if he wanted to completely end their friendship. Was it better to secretly love a friend, or to confess your feelings and be hated or avoided?

Ash, who had been staying with Gary until last night, had chosen to stay at the nearby Pokémon Center. Gary knew because Brock had left him a message on his phone telling him, in case he was worried. The girls had to know this, which was why they weren't afraid of Ash finding them interrogating him.

"Come on, Gary," Misty said with a glare. "We both know you did something to him. He normally doesn't get upset over anything. Just spill it!"

Gary laughed and asked, "Aren't you three supposed to be at Delia's place by now? I thought you three were bridesmaids or something."

"Dang it!" May gasped. "He's right! Come on, we're going to be late."

Dawn and May took off running but Misty, who had taken her bike, stayed and glared at Gary. "I won't forgive you if you hurt him!" she growled.

Gary rolled his eyes, thankful that he could maintain this façade in front of them. Misty gave him one more glare before grabbing her bike and pedaling after the other two.

The next few hours passed quickly. Gary went to his grandfather's place and helped with the final preparations for the wedding. Ash was supposed to be there too, but was surprisingly absent and Brock was there in his stead. Once everything was ready and the ceremony actually started, everything went without a problem. Delia was a blushing bride, but then again Oak was just as red and both were beaming like two teenagers in love. After they kissed and ended the ceremony, Gary had to rush to his gym to make sure everything was ready for the reception.

Only once the reception was going as smoothly did Gary finally sit down and relax. He managed to avoid the troublesome trio (Misty, May and Dawn) enough for them to be unable to continue questioning him. Unfortunately he was unable to ignore Ash avoiding him. He would see the smaller teen slip away just as Gary had come into view.

Gary was unsure if that was good or bad. He really wanted to get the courage up to actually confess to his formal rival, but the little boy inside of him was afraid of rejection. Would Ash hate him, or would he be nice and just say he didn't feel the same way? Which was worse?

Gary felt a hand on his shoulder and noticed that Delia was offering him her hand to dance. Noticing that Oak was dancing with one of his female assistants and other couples were dating, Gary felt it was okay and took her hand.

"You and Ash have gotten so big," she said as soon as they were dancing smoothly.

"Thanks," Gary said modestly.

"I wish he would come home more," she admitted with a sad look, "but I shouldn't complain. He's becoming a famous trainer like his father."

"He still loves you," Gary encouraged. "If there was a way to continue his journey and still see you regularly he would."

"Thank you for that. How are you doing? The gym looks better than it did before you took over."

"Thank you very much. I try."

"Have you two talked? I know Ash was looking forward to talking to you. He specifically asked about you when we last talked. I hope you two are still good friends, it would be horrible if you weren't."

"We spoke yesterday," Gary dodged honestly. He had to force his mind to not go spinning off again at her words.

"He seems so preoccupied today. I was so surprised to see him this morning; surprised but pleased. He said he didn't want to see you. Why?"

Gary avoided her eyes and muttered, "I don't know."

"That's a real shame. I was hoping you two would stay close. He always liked you so much."

She cut off as if she shouldn't have said something, and Gary tried not to interpret that but failed. What did that mean? Did Ash like him, or like him? Could he really bring himself to hope for that much? Was Ash really avoiding him because of embarrassment?

The song ended and Delia moved to dance with someone else. Gary hurried away from the dance floor and went to find Ash.

Sorry for the slow updates. College has been a bitch, but I'm finishing the story now and putting off an essay for it. Hope you guys enjoy!