Was my recent hairstyle change bad?
Did I wear the wrong clothes?
You wake up, but stubbornly refuse to open your eyes. Absentmindedly, you wonder why your body feels so uncomfortable and stiff. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to fall back asleep, you force your eyes to open. Looking outside your window, you see that the sun is setting and conclude that you were only asleep for a couple of hours. Once your mind registers the position you fell asleep in, memories of the picnic that you had with Red earlier this afternoon start flooding back into your head. As you get up and lay back on your bed, your thoughts go through all the emotions you were feeling earlier before you fell asleep.
"Yellow?" A muffled voice sounds from outside your door, snapping you out of your thoughts.
"Yes, uncle?" You hastily reply, then cringe at the hoarseness of your voice. Immediately, you sit up then clear your throat and say, "What is it?"
"Would you mind going out and buying some groceries? We're running low."
Unwilling to go out, but even more unwilling to refuse your uncle, you begrudgingly agree to his request.
You make your way over to your bathroom to freshen up a bit, and examine yourself in the mirror, taking in your disheveled state.
Maybe it's my appearance…?
Idly, your thoughts stray to your hair as you run your brush through your long, blonde locks. Perhaps the change was too much? When you first interacted with Red as a true companion you hid your hair in your hat. After the incident with the Mask of Ice, you'd taken to keeping it in a high ponytail. But today you were in a hurry, and had decided to let your hair hang loose.
After scrubbing your face and brushing your teeth, you go over to your closet and scrutinize your wardrobe. Your face scrunches up in discontent as you look through your admittedly plain choices, and you can't help but wonder…
Did I wear the wrong clothes?
Immediately, you perish the thought. Red wouldn't be as shallow as to judge you by your physical appearance, right?
Once you change your attire, you go to your mirror and sigh, suddenly unsatisfied with your appearance. After mulling over it for awhile, you decide that it doesn't really matter since you don't have anyone to impress (no one besides Red that is, but he probably wouldn't even care for your efforts, let alone take notice of them), you bid your uncle goodbye and start trekking over to Viridian City.
Strolling calmly through the Viridian Forest, you take your time, content to look at the flora and the fauna, basking in the calm and natural state of the wildlife. Suddenly, you cringe as an onslaught of memories from earlier today bombard your mind yet again, most likely triggered due to your surroundings. Shaking your head to recollect your thoughts, you hurriedly continue on and decide to pick up the pace.
Upon reaching Viridian City, you waste no time and head straight for the store, wracking your mind for the groceries your uncle asked you to get. Lost in your thoughts, you bump into someone's back and wind up on the ground for the second time today. You immediately start to get up and apologize, but come to a halt upon recognizing the person, and suddenly your heart starts to race (you're not exactly sure if it's out of excitement or out of fear).
"Yellow?"
It seems that you've bumped into Red's back and wound up on the ground for the second time today.
"R-red!"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." you mumble, averting your gaze.
"You sure?"
"I'm sure – don't worry about it." your mind races for something to say. "What brings you here, anyway? I would've thought for sure that you'd be back in Pallet Town right now, after our… picnic."
"Well, I actually did go back to Pallet, but I came back here to look for Green. The professor was looking for him," Red says with a sigh, sounding a bit exasperated. "But when I got to the gym, the only thing waiting for me there was his hologram, along with his team that seemed pretty convinced that I went there looking for a fight."
"Oh, I see…" you respond, desperately trying to find a way out of the small talk.
"How about you? Earlier you said you needed to do something when you left the picnic. Did you get that done?"
You can feel your face redden as you remember the half-baked excuse you gave to Red earlier today. "Oh! Uh… yeah! But my uncle just asked me to go out and get some more groceries, so here I am."
"Would you like me to go with you then? You might need some help carrying the groceries back."
"I-I don't want to be a burden! You're looking for Green anyway, right? Thank you, but I can manage on my own."
"Alright, if you say so." Red seems to hesitate a bit before he continues. "It's just that you've been acting kind of off today. Are you sure you're okay? Nothing happened to you when you fell? This is the second time you've bumped into me today, and the second time I've caused you to fall."
Oh, it's definitely not just the second time… you think bitterly.
"I'm fine!" you insist.
"You're not sick, are you?"
You look at him, confused. "No, what gave you that idea?"
"Well, I noticed that your face keeps flushing today. And you've been having a hard time talking."
"U-umm well…" you start, cursing your luck as you start stuttering, and your face grows warm again.
"See!" he injects, sounding generally concerned. "Are you really sure you're feeling alright?"
"I'm fine, really! Don't worry about it."
"Alright, so you're not feeling sick." he says, slowly nodding his head. Suddenly, he gives you an intense look that leaves you breathless. "Is there anything bothering you then? You can tell me anything… You know that, right?"
You back up a bit, not expecting his sudden inquiry. Unable to come up with an intelligible response, your eyes are locked to the ground.
Should I act like nothing's ever happened between us? Should I just come out and say my feelings outright?
Slowly, you force yourself to look back at him.
Should I just say that we should go out?
Still pretending like I don't know
Like I don't remember
Should I act as if nothing happened?
Should I just say that we should go out?