Notes: Here is chapter five. Not much to say about it except that I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think. As usual there may be language and there are mentions and talk about terminal illness in the story if you don't like reading things like these or if they trigger you please don't read! Oh and thank you so much to everyone who left a review! It means a lot to me!

(Bold italics = text messages between characters)

(Italics = flashback or emphasis on something)

Faraway/Outcryshipping, some PokéShipping, AmourShipping, possibly Dawn/Drew or Dawn/Gary, mentions of other shippings.

Chapter Five: Uncovering secrets

True to his word, Paul came back with two coffees. They sat down on the dining room chairs, taking in the view of the sun rising.

"Thank you for driving me here."

"Don't mention it."

"I'm glad I'm off today. Are you working tonight?" the brunette asked her companion taking another sip of her coffee.

"No."

"Any plans?"

"Other than sleeping? Not really, although I may have to run a few errands but I'll do those before I head home so that way I don't have to go back out."

"Cool."

"Do you have any plans?"

"Well, I have a class later this evening at Uni, then I'm meeting Brendan for…well actually I don't know for what, but I'm meeting up with him later this morning."

Paul nodded and took a sip.

May rubbed the back of Sparky's ears, the dog sitting beside her, rubbing his face against her leg. They sat in silence until the sound of the door being unlocked made them turn their attention towards the front door. May excused herself to greet Ritchie following behind the lab who had sprinted towards his owner. Paul decided to sit back, letting them catch up before heading out.

"Sparky!" the man greeted his dog. Crouching down to pet him, he glanced up at the brunette, "May! How are you doing?"

"I've been okay, how was your trip?"

"It was okay," he shrugged standing back up, "not my vibe a wedding is just that a wedding?"

May laughed at his explanation. "Weird way to describe it but okay."

"You know how much I hate getting dressed up, it was an outdoor wedding, I was in a suit and it was 96 degrees."

"Yeah, that's gross weather, even when it gets past 90 degrees here." The brunette laughed. "And that's coming from someone who's from Hoenn and is used to the warmer weather."

"I don't know how you do it."

"Dude, you're living here too, so you're managing."

"Don't remind me anyway, how did you want me to pay you this time? In cash or through the bank app?"

"Either one I don't really have a preference."

The brown haired man pulled his wallet out, and after counting the cash handed it to her.

"Thank you." She folded the bills and put them away in her pocket.

"Are you okay?" he asked her seriously.

"Of course! Why do you ask?"

"The text you sent me earlier. I figured something happened. You never text out of the blue or late unless something happens."

"We had a little mishap at my other job, my coworker got punched and he wanted to drive me home but obviously he couldn't drive me home since I was staying here so…"

"He's still here?" Ritchie asked in a whisper.

"Yeah. We were finishing up coffee."

"Ah, well I'm going to grab my suitcase from my car and wait for mom to drive up."

Paul walked out of the kitchen as Ritchie asked, "Do you know where you're staying next?"

Paul stopped mid step, not wanting to interrupt but what did he mean? He pulled his phone out and tried to act normal as he walked into the living room but stayed silent to not interrupt.

"No, I'll probably book an airbnb later. I'm going to head to Brendan and Gary's to do some laundry."

"Ok stay safe." He looked behind his friend and noticed Paul. He extended his hand and Paul took it and shook hands.

"Hey I'm Ritchie."

"Paul."

"Nice to meet you."

"Thanks for letting me stay."

"Don't mention it. Anyway I'll get my things, you guys can take your time and leave when you're ready."

"Thank you." They both answered at the same time.When the man walked out the door, Paul turned to May."Do you need a ride anywhere?"

"Would you mind?"Rolling his eyes, "obviously no, that's why I asked.

"Drop me off at Brendan's?"

"No problem."

"Do you know where he lives?"

"I do. Unfortunately."

May wanted to ask what he meant by that but didn't, not wanting to press her luck, he was being nice offering her a ride considering all he probably wanted to do was enjoy his day off.

Stepping into his apartment Paul let out a sigh of relief. All he had to do was put away his groceries and then he could go take a shower and sleep. Placing the groceries on the counter, he began to take them out and organize them as he put them away and since he didn't buy a lot it only took a matter of minutes before he was done. With a sigh he rubbed his temples as he walked to his room grabbing up a towel along with a change of clothes, so that he could just shower and get dressed all while he was in the bathroom. Closing the blinds to his room he got the room ready for his nap. Grabbing up the items he needed for a shower, he made his way towards the bathroom, hopefully the warm water would help with the body aches he was feeling.

When Paul walked out of the bathroom, he noticed Ash was home, he was going through the mail, he guessed as it looked like he was sorting through it when he walked out.

"Hey Paul, when did you get home?" the raven haired man asked.

Paul began to towel dry his hair as he walked towards his direction.

"Earlier this morning." he answered with a shrug. He was going to stay silent and not answer the question, but at the end of the day, he's an adult so it didn't matter. It's not like Ash was going to go around and tell people he stayed out late, especially since there's been plenty of days where Ash didn't show up for days or had shown up sometime early in the morning or sometime during the day and he didn't care.

"Okay." Ash made his way over to him to give him his mail and stopped when he saw his lip. "Hey what happened to your lip?"

"Someone at the store elbowed me by accident, when I bent down to pick up something from the lower shelf." he hoped Ash would believe him or at least drop it, not wanting to explain anything further he just wanted to get some sleep.

His roommate raised an eyebrow but didn't reply. He watched Paul silently, the story didn't quite make sense but it wasn't entirely out of the question. Deciding to take his word he nodded and didn't bring it up again.

"There's a letter from the landlord in your pile, I didn't open it since it's in your name but I'm assuming it's important."

"You could have opened it."

"No thanks, I'm not interested in committing mail fraud."

"I wouldn't have said anything."

"You say that now, but then you do get mad. You'd probably have me arrested." Ash joked with a chuckle.

"Well not really, I kind of need you to help pay the rent."

"So I'm just a dollar sign to you, I see how it is," laughing, "I'm going to get my car out of the shop. I'll see you later." he said as he handed him the mail.

"Later Ash." he looked down at all the letters and sighed, deciding to open them up later, after all it'd still be there when he woke up.

The sound of his cell phone woke him from his nap. Glancing at the time that displayed on his clock alarm it read 3PM. Reaching around for his phone on his nightstand he grabbed it and answered it.

"Hello?" the purple haired man asked groggily.

"Hey Paul. Are you busy?"

"I was asleep."

"This late in the afternoon?"

"I wasn't feeling well earlier in the day."

"Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. What's up?"

"I won't beat around the bush and just state the facts. Dad's condition isn't getting better. We're talking about moving him to hospice soon."

"How soon exactly?"

"Early next month most likely."

"I mean…is he still undergoing treatments?"

"He is but he's considering stopping them."

"Tell him not to stop them, unless the doctors say it's no longer helpful to do so."

"I'll talk to him and tell him you said that. Which leads me to my question, are you going to stop by and see him?"

"I…" he sighed and thought about it. He couldn't spend his whole time avoiding it, there may not be anymore time left to keep postponing. He wanted some closure and didn't want to feel like an asshole and he figured his father also deserved some closure as well. "Sure, let me know when you're seeing him next."

"Thanks Paul."

"Don't mention it."

May sat down on the plush couch in the living room of her best friend's living room. She let her head roll back and her body immediately relaxed, finally being at ease. She heard Brendan open cupboards and walk around the kitchen making them drinks and their lunch. Without opening her eyes she called out to him. "Do you need my help?"

"No! I'm almost done, you stay put."

"Okay!" she called back. She listened to the news playing in the background and then heard the hum of the dryer stop replaced by the light jingle it played signaling that it had stopped. She opened her eyes and was met with Brendan looking at her confused.

"Oh you're still awake. I thought you had fallen asleep."

"I'll sleep when I'm dead."

The man frowned and crossed his arms. "Not very funny. You should take a nap while you're here. We have the guest room for a reason."

"Nah, don't worry I'll sleep later when I check into the airbnb." Grabbing a sandwich off the tray and taking a bite.

"Did you at least already book it?" he sighed.

"Yeah I did on the way here."

"Hmm."

"This is a good sandwich."

"Thank you."The two finished their first sandwich in silence. Brendan looked over at May, as proud as he was for his friend, standing up to her father for not only his blatant favoritism between her brother and herself but telling him that she would not be following in his footsteps in becoming a lawyer, it was hard to see her in this spot. Being essentially kicked out of her home and her father stopped financially supporting her, fully expecting her to cave, and he was proud of her and in awe of how hardworking and smart she was but still so worried. She was essentially technically homeless and while she had income, the bar wasn't the safest place to work, not to mention the neighborhood it was located in didn't help matters. Sometimes he wished she would just take his help or ask Dawn to stay with her but he understood. It never did stop him from asking her every so often, like right now for instance.

"Why don't you stay here?"

"Brendan…"

"What? You can't say I don't care, why won't you stay?"

"Because I've seen how you and Gary live."

"I'm a very clean person thank you very much."

"I know I was speaking more in regards to Gary…and Gary's tendency in having women stay over."

"Ah, can't argue against that fact."

"I don't need to hear that and I don't want to risk seeing it and I don't need that drama in having random girls think I'm the girlfriend, side piece or sister."

"You two dated at one point though."

"We were 5, it doesn't count." May countered.

"What doesn't count?" a voice asked from their foyer. Seconds later, Gary walked into the living room.

"Us 'dating' when we were 5."

Laughing he nodded. "Yeah that definitely doesn't count."

"Told you." May said in a single song tone at Brendan, who just rolled his eyes.

"How did that even come up in conversation?" Gary asked.

The brunette stopped and grabbed another sandwich to not answer the question. Gary noticed her body language and knew she wanted the conversation to end and he looked over at Brendan who was frowning.

"Okay what the hell did I miss?"

"I was telling her it'd be easier for her to just stay here, that way she could save up and then get herself a place."

"Yeah…that sounds like a good plan, what did she say?"

"She didn't want to risk walking in or hearing you and lady of the week."

"Hey, I am not a manwhore much these days…and we used to date, you should know me."

"You just agreed with me, it didn't count."

"Oh yeah…" scratching the back of his head "but regardless, why wouldn't you just stay here? I'd be okay with not bring women over, it's not going to kill me."

"That's why I don't stay in, I don't want to make you guys have to change or make arrangements to accommodate me. I don't want to be a bother."

"You're not inconveniencing us at all. We're friends, that's what we do."

"Look, I love you guys and I know you're worried but I'm going to keep doing it this way. I promise if I ever do need help I'll reach out , okay?"

"Alright."Gary said, ruffling her hair before plopping beside her on the couch.

Brendan sighed, "Fine." He looked over at Gary, "how's your grandfather?"

"Gramps is good. Still working himself to the bone."

"He's probably just happy to be able to work and keep busy. It must be lonely for him, being an empty nester."

"Yeah, I offered to go back and work for him but he flat out told me no."

"He probably didn't want you back there."

Gary placed his hand over his chest, "You know that was rude."

"But it was true."

"You guys suck." The three laughed.

"Oh did you two hear about a new bar opening in downtown Slateport City?"

"There's a new bar opening?" Brendan asked.

"It opens this Saturday," Gary pulled out a flyer and handed it to Brendan.

"We should go."

"I don't know…" May began.

"You are coming with us. You keep ditching our outings."

"I'm sorry, just working too much and I'm tired."

"Yes we know which is why you're coming with us, to have fun, unwind, get drunk…maybe find a boyfriend."

"Let's not get carried away there." the brunette said.

"Yeah cause Paul…" Brendan teased her. She looked up at him, sapphire eyes widened in disbelief he had said that Gary raised an eyebrow.

"Okay the fuck did I actually miss? What about Paul?"

"Nothing, Brendan is being stupid…" May grumbled giving her friend a nasty stare.

"I'm so confused." the brown haired man muttered.

"Don't worry about it." Brendan replied with a shrug. However, the look Brendan gave May didn't go unnoticed by Gary but he decided to let it go for now.

"So…Saturday?"

"I'm down."

They turned their attention to the brunette, who sighed in defeat."Fine…." she whined "are we inviting anyone else?"

"Of course! The whole gang if possible."

"That's going to be a tough feat." Brandon said, stuffing the last bit of his sandwich into his mouth.

"Leave it to me, I have my ways."

Paul put the remainder of his vegetables into empty containers. He had already portioned out his cooked rice and pasta and packed them away as well cut chicken into strips and pre seasoned his steak strips and put them away until he was ready to cook them. As tired as he was, even having taken a nap he figured he'd get the meal prepping done because it made life easier the rest of the week, saving both time and effort. He was in the process of putting everything away in the refrigerator, when he let his mind wander to the conversation he overheard that morning between Ritchie and May. 'Why doesn't she just stay at her dorm?' he thought to himself. 'Maybe it's infested with bugs or something?' He guessed it was the reason or maybe a renovation of sorts. It shouldn't really matter to him, she was an adult, her business, she could do what she wanted and she could reach out for help if she needed.

Concentrating on disinfecting the counter he was done in a few minutes. Just as he had finished washing his hands the doorbell rang. Assuming it was Ash forgetting his keys yet again, he unlocked the door without asking who it was. Pulling the door open and expecting to see his roomate, he was shocked to see his landlord standing there.

"Good evening, Mr. Willow, how are you?"

"I'm doing alright, Mr. Evans. Do you have a minute?"

"Of course, would you like to come inside?" He offered.

"No it'll only be a minute."

"Alright."

"I suppose you got the letter?"

"I did, haven't gotten around to opening it yet."

"Good…you see I sent you that notice by accident, it wasn't meant for you, could you give it back?"

"Sure," Paul pushed the door open enough to place the door stopper and walk back inside. He returned around a minute later, letter in hand.

"Here you go sir." handing him the letter.

"Thank you."

"If you don't mind me asking, what did the note say?"

"It was an eviction notice. However, it was made for your upstairs neighbors. I had the envelope labeled with your name but I mixed up the letters inside."

"Right, well thank you for clearing it up."

The older gentleman nodded. "I apologize for the mix up. I'll see you around."

"Enjoy the rest of your evening."

"You too." The purple haired man watched the man walk away, when he wasn't in his sight anymore, he let out a sigh and closed and locked the door.

'This has been the weirdest day.'

"I don't know if I'm going to go." May told Dawn. She had just checked in to her airbnb that evening after her class ended when her friend had called to discuss what they were going to wear to go to the grand opening of the bar. The brunette still was unsure, even though she had told her friends earlier she would, as she didn't feel like going out, much less waste a Saturday but she missed hanging out with her friends together, they rarely ever have a chance to all get together and so she was in a conundrum.

"Girl you're going, even if I have to go and carry you there myself." Dawn told her to shut down any further argument about her not going.

"But I don't want to."

"I don't care, consider this payback for that one time you ditched me when we were at the mall because you heard the ice cream truck, back in high school."

"But I love ice cream."

"I know May believe me I know."

"What are you going to wear?" she asked, relenting to her fate.

"Something pink and sparkly of course."

"Sounds on brand."

"What about you? What are you going to wear?"

"I can just wear-" she was cut off with a sigh.

"If you finish that sentence with jeans I will personally come over and mess you up."

"What's wrong with jeans?"

"We don't want to look basic, we want to look sexy."

"Fine, I'll see if I can find something."

"I can see what I can find as well."

"How did your interview for the personal assistant go?" May asked, wanting to redirect the conversation.

"Well I thought it went well, but she did say she had to give all the applicants a chance but that they would get back to everyone regardless of denial or acceptance."

"I'm sure they'll call."

"I hope so…" she sighed, "Oh crap I forgot I had to go meet up with Drew and study for our final! Gotta go love you talk to you later bye!"

May laid there and chuckled at how Dawn managed to say all of that in one breath. Figuring she could take a nap before figuring out her dinner situation. It was only 7:30 in the evening. Closing her eyes she was getting comfortable when suddenly her phone pinged a text message that had been sent.

'There goes my nap.'

Clicking on the message she read it, it was from an unknown number.

Hey, sorry to bother you. But this is Serena. You helped me out the other day.

Omg I remember you! How are you?

I'm okay thanks to you and your coworkers.

I'm glad, wait a sec not to sound rude, but how'd you get my number?

Oh um…your coworker gave it to me. I asked her if she had your number, sorry if that was weird.

No need to apologize, you're good.

Reason for me texting you is to ask if we could meet up sometime this week? I got you a little something as a thank you.

Oh that's sweet, you didn't have too.

I know, but I wanted to.

May stopped typing to think. Maybe she should invite her to the opening on Saturday, the more the merrier and she seemed like she would fit in fine. She didn't get any weird vibes from the blonde either. With a shrug she picked up the phone and typed.

Hey, my friends and I are going to a grand opening to that new bar downtown. Would you like to come with us?

Oh, that's so sweet but I wouldn't want to impose.

You wouldn't be imposing, the more the merrier. Plus my friends like meeting new people.

Okay! Sounds fun.

Great! It's this Saturday. We're probably going to get ready at my friend Dawn's but I'll talk it over with her. We can meet at where I'm staying, first though.

Okay, sounds good.

Let me send you the address I'm currently staying at.

May texted her the address of her airbnb and gave in to Serena coming over tomorrow to drop off the gift, she had gotten her as a thank you. She couldn't talk her out of it, the last text was proof of that.

Great! I'll be there tomorrow! Thanks again!

The rest of the week went by pretty quickly and currently it was 2 pm on Saturday. May would rather be spending the rest of her afternoon sleeping and baking her favorite cookies, before working on her assignment. Basically relaxing on her day off before she has to work her consecutive shifts at work. But there she was standing in front of the full length mirror in Dawn's room. They had agreed on meeting at her house since it was closer and the blue haired woman wanted to get ready together and met the blonde so it worked. May had called ahead and asked if Serena could come with her, as she invited the blonde, and the blue haired beauty simply had said the more the merrier. The two of them of course hit it off. Which is good because it felt like the 3 of them have known each other for years. The only thing May had asked of the blonde was to not state the name of the bar where they'd met. Serena was unsure as to why May wouldn't want her friend to know where she works but she agreed to not name the bar specifically nonetheless she respected the brunette's wishes and did as she asked.

Dawn walked out into her bedroom dressed in a long sleeve pink sequin mini dress pairing it with simple black stilettos with bows on the ankle and small gold hoop earrings. Serena and May turned their attention to her and stared in awe.

"Wow. You look amazing!" They both praised her.

"Really? It's not too much?" she asked, twirling around.

"Not at all." Serena gushed.

"Agreed."

With a smile and a clap she turned to Serena.

"You can get ready next. I'm going to need your help with this one." She said pointing behind herself at May.

"Hey!" May huffed, "I'm right here, I can hear you."

"I know."

While Serena got ready, Dawn began working on May's makeup, opting for a natural look. She got the foundation and light blush applied when Serena walked out wearing white racer neckline dress that was sleeveless with a skater length skirt, the back was an open back.

"Oh wow, you look great!"

Blushing deep crimson she muttered a thank you.

Dawn walked to her closet and pulled out a dress and handed it to May. "This would look really good on you and should be a perfect fit."

Lifting the dress and holding it away from her to get a better look at it she looked up at her friend, "I don't know…it's a bit too shimmery ."

"It's a sequined dress they do that."

"I don't know." she stared at the dress apprehensively.

"Just try it on and we'll go from there." Serena offered "Who knows you may actually like it."

Dawn nodded in both agreement and encouragement .

"Alright be right back." May sighed as she sauntered away toward the bathroom.

The brunette smoothed the dress and looked at the mirror. While yes it was a tad bit much, Dawn had done a good job at picking out the dress and color. Then again she was always told red was her color. She was wearing a ruby red sequin one shoulder bodycon dress. The dress had an asymmetrical neckline and a single long sleeve. She really needed to trust the process and probably work on her self confidence. Walking out of the bathroom, she heard them talking excitedly but when she walked back into view they stopped and looked at her.

The blonde gave her a beaming smile and Dawn clapped her hands in delight.

"I am a genius, that dress looks so good on you!"

With a blush May nodded. "You were right. I honestly don't know why I doubted you."

"Me neither."

"If you pull your hair up into a pony with bangs framing your face it'll really pull your look together, that and a red lip."

"Serena, you're also a genius!"

"I do what I can."

"You're too modest! But come on, let's finish up so we can melt the hearts of all the men in town."

May and Serena just laughed.

The three women met up with the rest of the group, sans Paul, who according to Ash said he didn't want to go out that night, saying he had work that needed to be done. May knew he had to work at the Hidden Diamond both Saturdays and Sundays, and had mentioned he had to write his thesis paper when he drove her to Brendan and Gary's the other day so she knew he wasn't technically lying to Ash. It had nothing to do that he hated being around crowds of people…who was she kidding that was also a reason.

As May predicted Serena was immediately welcomed in by the group and Ash specifically took a liking to her. More like he was struck by her beauty but they clicked instantly.

May smiled at them when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking up she noticed Drew. She got up to hug him and kissed his cheek, noticing Soledad she greeted her the same way before sitting back down.

"How have you been?"

"I'm okay. How have you been? Haven't seen you two too much this past week."

"I've been good. The assignments have been annoying though." The green haired man answered.

"I had to study for my finals." Solidad added. "Can't wait to finally be done."

Both May and Drew nodded in agreement.

"Who is the blonde?"

"That's Serena, she's a new friend of mine, so I figured what better way to introduce you all than tonight, since we all managed to actually meet up."

"Cool."

"Come let me introduce you guys and then we can order a round of drinks."

Several introductions later they were all laughing and having fun. An hour and a half later a man came over and asked Dawn to dance, to which she agreed too. May watched as Gary watched Dawn walk away with the man, taking note of how his jaw clenched and the grip he had on his drink. She hadn't noticed previously that Gary was interested in her blue haired friend, then again Gary himself was a mystery to her. Ash, deciding it'd be a good idea, bought them one more round of shots.

May spaced out for a moment before she realized she needed to head to the bathroom. Excusing herself she walked off in search of the bathrooms. The more she walked the less people were around, just a few people who were apparently in search of secluded quiet places to make out or for other activities. She walked down a slightly dimmed hall, and noticed the bathroom signs. She took note that there were two people making out in front of the door but she couldn't really make out faces, with it being dim.

However her relief would turn to shock when she got close enough to make out who the people were. There in front of the bathroom doors in public where everyone could walk by and see them was her father, kissing another woman. A woman who very clearly wasn't her mother. Her heart sank to her stomach and she started to feel sick. She held back her tears and when they didn't notice she was there, her sadness slowly turned to anger. How dare her father, the man who always talked about the value of being honest, of being a good man, someone who always told her to keep her morals, was standing in front of her, clearly cheating on his wife. It was almost funny how hypocritical it was. Not wanting to keep watching the scene in front of her unfold, she cleared her throat. The pair pulled away from each other and Norman looked up in surprise, eyes meeting with May's piercing glare.

"May, what are you doing here?"

That was it, with those words she snapped.

.

Notes: And that's where I had to stop this chapter. It was getting too long but I did start writing the next chapter and it's about half done so there's that. Let me know what you all thought of the chapter. I'm always happy to hear opinions. If you have any comments or questions leave them too I'll gladly answer them. Until the next chapter, bye!