Chapter 4: Message to May

May, Drew, and Ash all sat down at a nice table in the shade near the ice cream stand. May had ordered a big strawberry treat, while Ash got a small chocolate one.

"Mmm, it's so yummy!" May said happily as she shovelled it into her mouth with a spoon. Ash ate his quickly, almost done already! "Drew," May turned to him and asked, "Why didn't you get any?"

Drew just smiled and shook his head. He looked at Ash for a few seconds then he silently got up from his seat and walked to the ice cream stand.

"What's wrong with Drew? Is he not feeling well or something?"

"He's been on a diet lately, trying to watch the sweets." May shrugged and Ash pulled out his poke gear to start a new message. May sat there staring at Ash as his fingers flew in all directions across the keyboard of the device. "Who are you messaging?" she asked as she filled her mouth with the frozen treat.

"You." Ash looked up at her and gave a small smile.

May smiled back and Drew sat back down next to his girlfriend. He placed a caramel shake on the table in front of him. Ash was still typing away. "You're on a diet! Give me that!" she reached for his shake, spoon held in her mouth as Drew held his food just out of her reach. He seemed to find it funny, which to Ash was understandable, because he found it humorous as well.

Ash finished his message to May and he saved it, so he could send it to her later. May finally gave up on trying taking Drew's shake and she went back to eating her strawberry ice cream, finishing it up. Ash smiled at her then looked at Drew. He spoke out in the silence. "So Drew," he pushed his empty cup, which held his ice cream, forward. "You know how I'm a trainer and May's a coordinator right? What do you do?"

Drew stopped sipping his shake through the straw and he answered, "I'm a former coordinator."

"Why did you quit?" Ash asked. May looked at him, waiting for his response. She didn't know why it was that he gave up coordinating either.

"It just got boring." He said fixing his slightly messy green hair.

May's eyes widened! "You take that back! It's not boring; it's a very fun passion…"

Ash wondered if he had just started something, hoping he didn't.

May picked up Ash's empty cup and threw it at Drew, playfully. She crossed her arms and looked the other way.

Ash didn't know what to make of it, and he found himself suppressing a little bit of laughter. He looked at his poke gear and Drew asked him, "What time is it Ash?"

"9:40."

"Ah, c'mon May, we have to get you home." Drew smiled and poked her side.

"EEEP!" May jumped and squealed at the poke to her sides. It tickled her. She turned around to face him and she pulled down her eye lid and stuck her tongue out at him. "You know that I don't like that! Let's go; you're right, I do need to get home."

Upon arriving at Ash's house, he unlocked his front door with a key shaped like a magnemite and he waved goodbye to them. Well, he waved to May as the two walked off, but Drew waved back with her. "What's up with that guy?" he mumbled and went inside. Ash pulled his poke gear out of his pocket and sent that message to May. He entered his room and lay down in his bed. Ash stayed there for thirty minutes and sighed, his mind tangled up in everything that was going on. His poke gear was extremely silent, as was the whole house, and he dozed off.

The next morning, Ash woke up, head pounding and Pikachu on his chest. He scratched his head and yawned, then picked up his poke gear slowly, trying not to wake his Pokémon companion. He contemplated why he still didn't have a reply from May. Did he say something wrong in his message to her? He looked over what he had sent.

"May, I know that you have felt…torn lately, between Drew and I and I have been patient. Of course I can be patient for you! I would do anything for you, but I realized lately that this situation doesn't only hurt me. It makes me feel selfish to have just realized it recently that it pains you a lot more. I want you to be happy and I know that you have been searching for an answer, a decision, for a while. I don't want to do this, but please understand that I feel the need to. I want you to focus on Drew. You're in a relationship with him right now, so I want you to be focused on that relationship, and if anything should happened to you two, I'm here. I'm always here for you. We can still hang out and do everything we've been doing! Trust me, I would like nothing more. I'm not saying I want to be friends! I just want things to go naturally, without you being hurt by the pressure of being torn every step on the way. I'm doing this because I believe it's respectable and I want you to be happy. I love you May 3

Sent 9:56 pm May 5"

Ash reached the end of the message and shrugged. "I did the right thing." He pet Pikachu and suddenly his poke gear vibrated in his hand. "May?" He opened the message and it read:

"I told you I would talk to her, Ash." It was from Dawn and Ash's heart beat slowed down significantly. He wasn't expecting it to be her. Ash, now a bit upset, just set the poke gear down, ignoring Dawn's message. He fell back asleep, glad it was Saturday.

About an hour later, Ash awoke and grabbed the poke gear and he started a new message to May: "Do you hate me?" He feared a "yes."

Within minutes, May replied. "Noooes! I think it was sweet, Ash! Dawn called me last night and we talked until I was about to pass out. Sorry I didn't reply."

Ash smiled; glad he didn't make her sad. "Good, but what did you two talk about?"

"Oh nothing, mainly girl things~"

Ash was intrigued, just as any guy would be if a girl playfully kept a secret. His next response would be to ask her to tell him, but he quickly received another message.

"She helped me think about deciding."