I am done with science fair! Yes! And I don't have to ever do it again in high school! Also, I am done with gym class for the rest of my life! I am ecstatic!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Or Nintendo DS. Or Nintendo Wii.
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Undella Bay's mall was simply spectacular. It was open and beautiful, with a fountain at its center, and several stores with colorful signs lined the walkway.
Leaf walked through the morning crowd, getting a few looks from guys as she passed them. It made her more confident about what Gary would think of her outfit. She wasn't sure why she had dressed up to impress him. Maybe his opinion was starting to matter to her. She didn't like that.
I suppose that deep down I enjoy the attention. I would never let him get in the way of my future though. That's not even an option. I really shouldn't even be going on this date. Oh, there's Gary.
The auburn-haired boy was standing out front of the music store where they had planned to meet. It turned out that they had discovered a shared love for music. Leaf played piano, and Gary played guitar.
Gary saw Leaf approaching and smiled at her. His eyes looked her over, and he seemed to like her dress. She'd removed the black jacket because it had already warmed up considerably.
He, himself, was wearing a blue and black plaid button up shirt, and gray cargo shorts. The shirt was open, revealing a black T-shirt.
"Hey," he greeted Leaf, immediately taking her hand. "You look gorgeous, Babe."
"Thanks, but don't call me that," she responded coolly. She would let him hold her hand. Otherwise, he would just keep trying, and she didn't want to spend the whole date smacking his hand away.
"Let's check out the store!" she said, dragging him inside. Maybe if they could look at the instruments, it would make being with Gary more bearable.
The inside of the store was rather large, and it smelled faintly of vanilla. They appeared to have every instrument imaginable from flutes to drums and pianos to saxophones.
A particular piano caught Leaf's eye. It was a large ebony Grand Piano. It shined with newness, and looked practically untouched.
"Would you like to try it?" a salesperson asked. She had friendly purple eyes and neat black hair pulled into a bun.
"Oh, yes!" Leaf said excitedly. She sat down on the bench and cracked her knuckles, preparing to play. Gary watched with intense interest.
She played a few experimental scales to warm up, enjoying the feeling of the keys beneath her fingers. Then, she began to play a song. It was a sad sounding piece. Slow, yet complicated. The kind of song that makes you feel emotion, even though it has no words. Just hearing the power beneath the melody conveys the sadness, and you feel your heart break for someone or something that doesn't even exist.
Gary watched Leaf as her fingers played effortlessly from memory. She was good. Really good. Maybe...
He walked over to the guitar section and picked up an acoustic guitar. It had a classic look to it with its standard shape and light brown color.
He made his way back to where Leaf was lost in her song.
"Leaf, try playing something else. Something more upbeat," he requested, breaking her out of her trance. She stared at him, noticing the guitar, and nodded in understanding. She began to play a happier melody with a nice beat . Really, she was improvising, but she had years of experience, and it sounded really good.
Gary listened, feeling the rhythm of the tune, and joined in, improvising as well. He exchanged glances with Leaf, and they seemed to become one person. Their two minds understood one another, and they were able to play in perfect harmony. Together, they were creating a beautiful song.
Leaf let herself smile as they finished the song. That may have been the most fun she'd had in years. It hadn't been complicated. She hadn't had to think about what she was doing. She just... let herself loose. Followed her instincts.
"That... was amazing!" she said, seeing that Gary wore an identical grin on his face.
"I've never been able to play with someone so easily before. I'd like to do that again sometime, Leaf. Maybe we could even write some lyrics. We could write a song together!" Gary said excitedly.
Leaf thought for a moment. She hadn't thought that she could possibly enjoy spending time with Gary, but right now... This had been a beautiful moment. She wanted to have more beautiful moments like this.
"Let's do it," she said, smiling at Gary. "Let's write a song."
Gary smiled back at her. For the first time in her life, she felt like she was free. Then, she felt the cold metal of the charm bracelet on her wrist, and remembered that she was not.
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Misty sighed and checked her reflection in her hand mirror. Could she really do this? Could she go on a date with someone when she still had feelings for Rudy?
No. You don't have feelings for that jerk anymore, she reminded herself.
She kicked a soda can that was on the street as she walked. She wasn't in a hurry to get to the cafe. She had plenty of time to get there. Ash would probably be late anyway. Rudy always was.
Later, they were going to see a movie, and then go to lunch as well. There was no doubt in Misty's mind that Ash would never go on a date that didn't involve food.
Misty continued on her way, her mind swirling with thoughts. They all seemed to have problems right now. Well, except for Dawn. May was sick and upset, Leaf seemed a bit distant every once in a while, and Misty was fighting a losing battle with herself over Rudy.
She'd listened to his voicemail when the others were asleep. He wanted her back. He said he was sorry for being an ass. He promised that it would be different this time.
Misty wanted to take him back. She really did. But how could she trust him again after he cheated on her with Melody? She'd been a fool when she took him back the first time, only for him to cheat on her with Melody again. If she took him back now, would it happen a third time? She had a feeling that the answer to that question was yes.
Now she had reached the cafe. Taking a deep breath, the ginger-haired girl pushed through the glass door. She could do this. Ash was a nice guy, and this date didn't have to mean anything. He was taking her out as a friend. Not as a boyfriend.
She was surprised to see that Ash was already there. He was seated at a booth, and even more amazingly, he hadn't ordered without her! That must have taken him some incredible self control.
Ash waved to her when he saw her standing there, and she walked over and slid into the booth opposite him.
"Hey Misty! I'm glad that you got here. I'm starving!" he greeted.
"Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to be late."
"That's okay. I'm sure you had a good reason," Ash said kindly.
Pikachu was sitting on the table, hugging a ketchup bottle to his body. He seemed quite content with the smooth glass object, stroking it gently with his paw.
"What's with Pikachu and the ketchup?" Misty asked.
"I'm not really sure," Ash admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "He's always had a strange obsession with ketchup."
Misty stared a bit longer at the electric type Pokemon, and then she turned to Ash, taking a good look at him for the first time. He wore a black T-shirt and jeans, with his classic baseball cap. He wasn't particularly dressed up, and neither was she. They were able to be casual around each other, which was a nice break for Misty. Rudy had always demanded that she try to look good for him so he could show her off. She rarely gave into that demand though, which is probably one reason why he turned to Melody.
"Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day," Ash said, studying the menu.
"I thought every meal was your favorite meal of the day," Misty replied, picking her own menu up off of the table.
"You're right," said Ash with a smile.
After the waitress came and took their order, the two made conversation by talking about their past experiences and battles.
"I'm going to go take over the Cerulean City Gym when I graduate. Or at least I'm supposed to. Sometimes I look into other options, but I don't think I'll get out of being the next Cerulean Gym leader," said Misty.
"Being a gym leader is a good job. What other options do you look at?" Ash asked.
"Well... I think I might get an opportunity this year to start training as a professional swimmer," Misty admitted. "It all depends on how I swim this season, but because of being tied to the gym, I won't be able to accept it."
"That's too bad. I can tell that you're really into swimming," said Ash in consolation.
"Yeah... So what do you want to do when you graduate?" Misty asked, turning the focus on him instead.
"I'm going to go on a journey. I'm not sure which region I'll start with though. If you end up taking over the Cerulean Gym, I'll get to challenge you someday!" he said excitedly.
"Yeah. I guess you will," Misty answered. The thought of battling Ash again someday made her smile inside.
Soon, their food came, and they continued to talk as they ate. Misty felt completely at ease around Ash. She didn't feel self-conscious or ashamed. She felt like this was how a relationship should feel. It should be easy. Not complicated. It should just be natural.
Maybe if she hung onto Ash, it wouldn't be such a bad thing.
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Dawn tapped her foot impatiently. Where in the world was Paul? She'd been waiting in the hotel lobby for fifteen minutes! Had he stood her up? The nerve of that purple-haired dumbass!
Her temper cooled as she saw him emerge from the elevator. Then it heated up again when she saw what he was wearing. Paul had on a plain black T-shirt and purple gym shorts. Who wears that on a date?!
Dawn prepared to confront him about it as he approached, but then he walked right past her without so much as a nod and plunked himself down on a lobby couch. He pulled out his Nintendo DS from his pocket and started playing a game.
The bluenette stared at her date in confusion. She was completely dumbfounded. Never before had a guy treated her this way.
"What do you think you're doing?" Dawn asked once she regained herself. "Aren't we going on a date?"
"In your dreams, Troublesome," Paul said casually. "You really are stupid if you thought that I would really take you out today. Now that the others are gone, they won't know that I didn't take you on a date."
Anger flared inside Dawn. She felt a pain in the back of her throat. She wasn't going to cry. Wait... why was she about to cry? It wasn't like she had been looking forward to this or anything. She was just angry. That's all.
"What am I supposed to say when my friends ask about our date?" she asked. "And what are you going to say when your friends ask you?"
"Who gives a shit?" Paul replied, still focusing on his handheld gaming device. "We have all day to figure out what fake story we're going to tell them."
"So... that means that we are going to hang out?" Dawn pressed.
"Yeah," grumbled Paul. "But not here. Why don't you come up to our room?"
"Are you just trying to get me up there so that you can take advantage of me?" Dawn asked defensively.
Paul let out a snort.
"You really think I'm like the idiots that your type like to date. I'm no playboy, Troublesome. I'd never lay a finger on a girl who wasn't my girlfriend. Especially not you."
Dawn didn't know whether to take offense to that or not.
"You would never get a girlfriend," she said. She immediately looked away from him so that she wouldn't see the anger in his eyes. She hadn't meant for the words to come out in such a cold, cruel way.
Paul did not answer. The air seemed to be frozen around the two of them, as though they were suspended in time.
Eventually, Dawn couldn't take it anymore, and she turned her head back towards him. He was still staring at the screen of his DS, but his fingers were no longer tapping at the buttons. He blew some air at his bangs, causing the feathery strands of hair to rise and fall back above his eyes.
Paul rose to his feet, folding the game system and returning it to his pocket.
"Come on, Troublesome," he said, heading back towards the elevator.
Reluctantly, she followed him.
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"So, are you any good at video games?" Paul asked Dawn. She was sitting on one of the two beds in the boy's hotel room, looking rather nervous about her surroundings. Paul had noticed a pair of Ash's boxers on the floor, and he kicked them under the bed with an irritated roll of his eyes.
"I've played video games before, but I'm kinda average," Dawn said.
"Good enough," Paul said, turning on the Nintendo Wii. The boys had ordered video games for their entire stay at the hotel. All four of them had claimed that the vacation was too long to go without mindless hours of ass-kicking electronic fun.
Paul threw the second Wii remote too Dawn, who studied it briefly before holding it comfortably in her hand. Soon, the title screen for Super Smash Brothers Brawl appeared on the television.
"Ooh, I've played this before!" Dawn said excitedly. "I'm not so bad at it either!"
"We'll see about that," Paul said nonchalantly as he set up a survival match with ten lives each. When the time came for choosing characters, Paul chose Wolf, and Dawn chose Zelda.
"I'd expect nothing less from you than to choose a stupid princess," Paul jeered.
Dawn let out a grunt and switched her character to Lucario instead.
"No we can each choose a computer character to be our teammate," Paul said. He selected Samus.
A smirk grew on Dawn's face.
"You only chose her because you know she'll become Zero-Suit Samus after she used her smash move. You just want to see a blonde chick in a tight jumpsuit," she accused.
Paul blushed at her words, but didn't admit to anything.
Dawn had a funny idea, and chose Snake to be her partner. Paul shot her a sideways glance.
"Now who's the one choosing a character for their sex-appeal?" he taunted.
Dawn snorted and covered her laugh with her hand.
"Does that mean you think Snake is sexy?" she teased.
"No!" Paul said in disgust. "I am straight!"
Dawn giggled again as Paul pressed start. This girl was getting annoying, and he didn't know how to respond to some of her jeers. Maybe she wasn't as dumb as she acted...
As they played the game, Paul found out the hard way that Dawn was most certainly not "average" when it came to video games. She was astounding. She wiped the floor with him, and that was a huge blow to his ego.
The bluenette stared sideways at him, a bemused look on her face.
"We're playing again," he muttered, forcefully pressing the start button.
Dawn just laughed.
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Bet you guys weren't expecting that to be Dawn and Paul's date. If you've never played Super Smash Bros, then that was probably confusing. Sorry! I hope you got the main ideas of the interaction between Dawn and Paul though. And he does still have to take her to the club next chapter, so that will be more like a date, okay?
Please review! I enjoy you guys' reviews so much!