Summary: "You changed my life and I changed yours, because when we met sparks flew, flowers bloomed, love blossomed. Forget the IOUs; we were destined to be together, forever and always."
Thank you, GuiltyCrown09, Resacon1990, reppad98, RaveOn-LastYear and malory79080 for reviewing. You are all wonderful people. :') I hope you all like this chapter.
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~ d◦e◦s◦t◦i◦n◦y ~
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~ Chapter 3: Implications of a Chore ~
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Dawn yawned loudly, dragging it for a good long five seconds before smacking her lips. She sat up and stretched, moaning as she popped the stiff joints out. Her eyelids felt stuck tight to each other and gritty; she could barely open them a crack, and the sunlight pouring in through the portholes was blinding. She scratched her back, still in quite a daze from the happenings of last night.
Last night.
Her eyes shot open and she looked around frantically, ripping the covers off of her and getting up, trying to remember where she was, her panic increasing with every passing second on the clock. She then noticed a lump in the blankets on the bed next to her, purple hair all over on the pillow, and suddenly everything came to her.
She was on the ferry back home.
She had had a fight with Angsty-guy over there- which was entirely his fault, by the way—and he had run off, and she had followed him.
Then that big fiasco happened.
She had slapped him and he told her to get lost.
And she did get lost. Not like that was anything to be proud of. She coughed, pink with embarrassment.
Anyway…
And then, creeper alert.
She had narrowly escaped the goons and bumped into the last person she had wanted to see. She scowled at the thought.
Angsty-guy then had helped her back.
More like, dropped her on her butt.
Anyway, then she had invariably chased him down to their cabin and was so tired that she had collapsed onto her bunk and had instantaneously fallen asleep.
And here she was now, recounting the whole thing to herself.
Fantastic.
Because of their oh-so-great adventure in the middle of the night, she now was way too stiff and had a pounding headache. Everything hurt.
Life was simply excellent. Not.
Rubbing her temples to ease the pain, she sat back on her bed and pulled on her covers to her chin and stayed huddled like that for a while, drooling slightly and staring blankly at the wall in front of her, as the seconds ticked past.
It never even occurred to her to check the time.
And so when she finally looked at it, a scream was inevitable.
"Oh my Arceus, it's past noon!" she screeched, probably making a million wingulls fly away in fright and giving the other people in the ship a heart-attack. She started fidgeting around, a horrified expression on her face and then—
"For Dialga's sake, will you shut the heck up? Geez…" Paul muttered hoarsely. His head, which had been lifted by a centimeter to snarl at her, fell straight back onto the pillow and he rolled over from his stomach to his side, facing away from her.
Angsty-guy had had a rude awakening and was obviously not in the best of moods.
Like he ever was. She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at his purple head.
"Well, so— wait; did you just say 'Dialga'? Are you from Sinnoh too? That's awesome! We're from the same region! Isn't that epic? Isn't it? Isn't it!" Dawn jumped up and down on the bed in excitement while Paul only rolled back onto his stomach, with his pillow now clamped onto his head, obviously annoyed.
"Yeah, now shut up and let me sleep," was the muffled response she got.
"No! It's late and you have to get up!" Dawn frowned at his laziness and leapt out of bed, and floundered to his.
"Up, up, up!" She yelled loudly, pulling off the pillow roughly from his face and scaring him. She then proceeded to pull off his covers too, earning her an icy glare, but it didn't work on her at all. She gave him a sickly sweet smile instead.
A smile which made his skin crawl.
"Ups-a-daisy now~!" she sang, making Paul cringe visibly and dig his face back into the reclaimed, previously tossed aside pillow to block out the blue obscurity.
"Come on now, Angsty-guy! My voice ain't that bad!" She pouted at him, offended at his actions.
Paul snorted. He was about to give a snide remark but then paused.
"What did you just call me?" he asked, looking up at her in surprise. He had obviously not expected such a—well, decent—nickname after all what had happened.
Wait, why was she giving him a nickname in the first place? That—
"Well, that's because you never told me your name, Angsty-guy." She frowned and sat down on his bed. "And after everything I told you about myself, you're offended by the nickname? I have to call you something. It's only natural." She shrugged like it was no big deal.
Paul stared at her in disbelief. Just what was this woman?
"Besides, you owe me one for saving your life," she said, giving him a devious smirk. Again, he was taken aback by her sudden change in moods, but refrained from saying anything.
But the last comment did manage to piss him off.
"I don't owe you anything," he hissed at her, angry that she had forgotten his good deed for her last night.
Okay, not that he did it from the goodness of his heart or something like that, but still.
It counted, didn't it?
She pondered over his statement for a while, her chin resting on her palm and elbow on her knee while sitting with her legs crossed outward and frowned.
"Well, I guess you are right there. Sorry!" She straightened her back and scratched her head, giving him a sheepish grin.
He did a double-take. He didn't expect her to agree with him so quickly. But before he could say anything about it, the girl leapt off his bed and knelt beside it, eyes level with his own in his twisted half sitting-half lying position, stuck out her hand and gave him a brilliant smile.
"Well then, let's start again, shall we? My name is Dawn Berlitz. It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can be friends." She beamed at him with obvious happiness spilling out of her core.
Paul then looked incredulously at her outstretched hand, which she kept on jerking towards him, indicating that she wanted him to shake it, not knowing what to do since he didn't get what she meant for a while. He then looked at her with a 'Hell-no-not-on-your-life-I'm-not-going-to-do-it' look which she ignored and she impatiently grabbed his hand, making him lose his balance from his awkward position and fall back onto the bed facedown, and shook it after the few seconds of polite waiting.
"I'm Paul. Paul Carter. It sure as hell isn't a pleasure to meet you, and no, I don't want that to happen for a million years," he mumbled into his pillow, refusing to look at her.
But she only smiled wider if that was even possible. He pushed himself up again with his other arm.
He felt the softness and warmth of her hand, and smiled a little. But he quickly dropped her hand after a few seconds and scowled at her, when he realized what he was doing.
"Well, Paul, let's be the best-est friends ever!" She bounced back onto his bed, earning her a surprised yell from him.
"No," was the short response from him after he managed to regain his dignity after all that.
But she kept smiling.
That is, until she remembered her hair.
"Oh freaking Arceus, my hair! Atrocious!"
Paul now seriously had thoughts about arranging a funeral for his hearing. But he promptly clamped the pillow on his head and went back to sleep.
It was half-past one by the time they were both up and ready, and the sort-of-companionable silence was finally broken by the rumbling of tummies.
"Aw, I'm hu-n-gry!" Dawn moaned, stretching out each syllable of the word obnoxiously. Paul didn't say a word but sat cross-legged on his bed, his palm supporting his chin, his elbows balanced on his knees, staring out of the porthole with a faraway look in his eyes, apparently deep in thought.
"Hey Paul! Let's go get some lunch! Pwease?" She begged, tugging his left arm hard and making him fall onto his side in a heap.
"Geez, you're so annoying. Why don't you just go get yourself some food if you're that damn hungry?" he snarled angrily, sitting up again and giving her his best glare.
"But, aren't you hungry too?" she asked childishly, nudging him gently. She just didn't know when to quit.
"No." And he refused to give more of an explanation.
Well, it wasn't really required since at that very instant, a loud rumble was heard from in between them.
Dawn giggled.
"Oh, really now? I don't think your stomach agrees to that." Her attempts to cover up her laughter failed miserably and she was presented with another lovely specimen of a scowl.
"Shut up," was the no-nonsense robotic response from him.
But he got up, slipped on his shoes and walked to the door, and all the while Dawn stared at him in amazement, clearly not having expected him to go along with her wishes so easily.
But then again, Paul was the impatient type, as he stood there and tapped his foot in annoyance, startling her slightly.
"Well then, aren't you coming already? Or do you want to be there in time for dinner instead?" he snapped, turning his head slightly to the right to look at her from the corner of his eye.
Dawn smiled warmly and bounded off the bed, looping her arm into his unsuspecting one.
"Yep, let's go!" And with that she dragged him out onto the deck.
Just what did he get himself into?
"Mmm, these meatballs are like, the bomb," Dawn spoke while chewing her food simultaneously. Paul threw her one last furtive look of disgust and went back to staring at his plate, having lost his appetite.
He had wanted to thank her for everything and ask her why she was such a busy-body, but her atrocious table manners made him feel sick to the gut.
And to top that, he didn't know where to even begin.
Pathetic, he was.
But most of all, he had wanted to apologize.
The thought pulsed in his head, giving him a headache. Argh, why couldn't he just be man enough and say something?
Ridiculous, he was.
Come on, he could do it. He had thrashed an umpteen number of trainers, won many tournaments, then what could this small fry possibly do to him?
Nothing.
Yeah, exactly.
Nothing.
He took in a deep breath and looked up, now fully prepared, but the scraping of the chair from the other end made him blink rapidly in surprise.
"Thanks for the food!" she said, wiping her mouth on a paper napkin before burping loudly. "Man, am I stuffed. And I ate like never before. Probably had something to do with last night, eh?" She laughed heartily and winked, the wink earning them a few more embarrassed glances from the other diners.
Like they weren't already out of place there. Paul groaned and felt like smashing his head repeatedly on table. He himself understood the implications her statement could have made- which it did- and looked down back into his plate, grimacing, positively overcome with embarrassment.
This was going to be one long day.
She had pulled him along out of the cafeteria and onto the deck and by the railings, the very same railings from last night, and he felt his throat go dry, remembering the incidents from yesterday.
Dawn on the other hand had a big smile on her face and she leant on the railings and beckoned him over, her blue hair flying behind her.
She didn't have any annoying beanie or skirt to hold on to today since she had forgotten her beanie and had opted for shorts today. A good choice, she mused, pulling her hair over one shoulder and running her fingers through it.
Paul slowly walked up to her and took the same stance beside her, closing his eyes as the breeze went through his hair.
"Isn't this nice?" Dawn sighed, a small smile on her face now. She was thankful that it was warm and that the side of the deck where they were was well shaded. She snuck a worried peek at him from the corner of her eyes and was slightly surprised to see him actually enjoying the breeze. She was half scared that it might bring back those painful memories or what-not of his from last night, but looking at his now tranquil face, her mind was put to ease and she breathed easy. She turned back to look at the different water pokémon swimming in the water, their antics causing water to spray onto them. She laughed at it all and felt content.
For once, it was a silence she was comfortable in and she didn't need an excuse to talk herself out of it.
"Umm…"
At that, Dawn was brought out of her trance at that and she looked at Paul, who was now looking at her, and arched an eyebrow in surprise.
Something was up.
"So…" Dawn started, racking her brains for a topic to converse on. It was rare for her to be at a loss for words since she always had something to speak about.
But she also didn't want a repeat of last night and wanted him to be at ease, since this was where the incidents from last night had occurred.
Even though she was a blabbermouth, it wasn't like she couldn't be considerate.
Paul then coughed to get her attention, a vein now pulsing in his forehead. He looked slightly annoyed at her behavior and she decided that playing dumb also wouldn't get her out of this, so she just nodded at him.
"Well, you being quiet is a first," he grunted. Dawn was about to retort angrily when he put up a hand to silence her.
She did as she was told and turned back to face the scenery in front of her, just like Paul. Silence enveloped both of them once more as Paul struggled to find a good choice of words.
And at the same time, her mind was racing with the different possibilities of this conversation.
Irrational and illogical possibilities, that is.
She stifled a giggle.
"I'm sorry."
Dawn turned around completely in surprise and shock to look at him still staring a distant wailord, his hair flying with the wind, acting like a curtain for his face.
"I'm sorry for yesterday. I had no right to say all those things to you. And I definitely didn't have to be so violent and crazy. I'm sorry." He turned to look at her, eyes filled with sincerity.
He was genuinely apologetic and had struggled to say the right words. Dawn was touched. She smiled warmly.
"It's okay, silly!" She glomped his side from behind, her chin on his shoulder and arms looped around as she almost hung onto him, a big grin plastered on her face. He turned back to look her with a 'Really?' look, and her smile just grew wider, showing her pearly whites now.
"Of course! Everything is forgiven! Except," she then looked at Paul with a serious expression, and Paul who had just begun to heave a sigh of relief, tensed up, clearly not having expected that, "I can't really forgive you for the you-know-what." She expertly detached herself from him and brought her hands to her hips, scowling at him.
Paul blinked at her and looked blankly, evidently not getting what she meant. Confused as he was by her antics, he couldn't even begin to comprehend what she meant, but it suddenly hit him.
He smacked his forehead. She had meant that. Good grief.
"I wasn't trying any funny stuff, you idiot," Paul snapped at her in annoyance, angry that she was still going on about that. He exhaled loudly, trying to calm himself down, but she just made him so frustrated.
He couldn't stand it.
"But-" Dawn was cut off by Paul, who was now exasperated.
Was she really that dumb?
"It wasn't trying to do any of that. My hand slipped on these railings is all. Don't go assuming stuff, you little idiot!" Paul's furious tirade rendered her speechless for a few seconds, her eyes now as big as saucers.
"So you're telling me-"
"Yes! It wasn't like that at all. Happy?" Paul was by then reaching boiling point, he was just that infuriated. Why did he have to even start this conversation again?
But Dawn's blank look made him even more annoyed and a little nervous.
This is hopeless.
He dragged his face down with his hand, letting out a sigh. He prepared himself to say something, but didn't need to since this time, he was cut off by Dawn.
"I am so sorry!" She bowed repeatedly, a huge blush on her face now. "This is all my fault! I don't even know what I was thinking! But you were looking so lost and then you had that look in your eyes and then you leant a bit too far and then I thought that-"
"I-It's alright. You don't need to apologize for that," Paul almost stuttered, taken aback at her response.
This just wasn't going too well now, was it? Brilliant.
"B-but, I really shouldn't have jumped onto the point and assumed and-" Dawn was becoming more and more flustered by the second and it felt like she didn't even hear Paul's harried interruption.
And being the impatient person he was, he did the only sensible thing which came to his mind.
He grabbed hold of her shoulders and shook her slightly (more like rattled her), to make her get out of her frenzied nonsense, glaring daggers at her, till she was silenced.
She began whimpering, and Paul sighed. His arms fell back to his sides and he looked down at their feet, his hair covering his face.
"See, listen. You don't have to apologize anymore. None of it was your fault. Okay, granted that you really didn't have to annoy me the way you did, but everything still worked out in the end. I'm not mad anymore, and in fact, you kind of, maybe, did help me in a way, so I just wanted to apologize and say thank you. That's all." Paul stared at the wooden planks of the deck throughout the entire speech, not sure whether he should look up or not.
But suddenly he felt arms around him and was surprised to see that she was hugging him, her big smile back onto her face.
"I forgive you." She beamed at him and her eyes danced with happiness. Paul was overcome by the glee she radiated and felt a bit stifled by it all. He smiled slightly, and Dawn's eyes widened in surprise and her mouth fell open in the comical O-shape.
"You have dimples! Ohmiarceus, that's so cute~!" She was beginning to suffocate him and so he prized her off of him.
"Don't touch me," he snarled, but it had no effect because she was busy trying to poke his cheeks, her eyes sparkling.
"But you have dimples! That's like, the cutest thing ever!" Dawn's 'epic' monologue sessions had started. "You know I've always wanted to have dimples, but no, I can't have them. I say, phooey! It's just not fair. Even my best friend Leona has them and it makes me so mad. And you know what-"
Paul sighed. It certainly was going to be a long, long day.
But he felt a bit lighter. It was as if a heavy weight had been lifted and he could breathe easy and deeply.
It no longer took him an effort to do so.
And even though the whole thing had actually ended up being accidental, since Paul wasn't stupid to have actually done something like that, inside he was kind of glad that it all had happened.
Maybe, just maybe, this ferry ride wouldn't be that much of a wrong choice anymore.
But about it being a chore— Paul glanced at her. She was now in full swing and completely into her rant. He smirked and looked up into the sky at the flying wingulls overhead.
Well, let's just say that only time could really tell that.
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Review for a Dawn-bearhug! Or a Paul-awkhug. Whichever. (Dawn is such a hug-gy person here! XD)
Ugh, I'm so busy-busy. Me no likey! :'( I also have a few out-of-town projects so the update schedule can get a little bit shaky. But I shall try my best to keep to it.
See you on the 19th, hopefully! *stocks you up with cookies for till then*
Chapter names have been changed~! :D They're still stupid though. ._.
Dated: 5th October'13