Notes: Here's the second chapter. I hope you enjoy it. This chapter is setting up more characters and their dynamics. There's not much May and Paul interaction in this chapter, just a bit towards the end. This chapter is mainly here to help set everything up, setting up the main characters a bit as well as their dynamics. Once we get to the middle of the next chapter is when we see more May and Paul. Thank you to those who left reviews and to anyone reading this.

(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 Two : Before it begins

Paul ran his fingers through his wet hair making sure that there were no more water droplets dripping off his hair. He grabbed a mug from the shelf and poured coffee into the mug. He took a sip and he let out a sigh. Nothing could beat a good cup of coffee first thing in the morning. He heard the door to the bedroom across from the kitchen and watched Ash walk out. He nodded his greeting and walked into the bathroom.

Paul sat down on one of the kitchen bar stools and scrolled through news pages on his phone. He read as this roommate walked around the kitchen looking for his mugs and making himself a cup of coffee.

"So Misty asked you to call her later." The purple haired man told Ash.

The raven haired man let out a noise almost choking on his coffee. "You…saw her?" Ash stammered.

"Hmm…" Paul nodded.

"She was trying to leave without being seen."

"Well then, she's terrible at sneaking around. Besides, I knew she was here anyway." he shrugged.

Ash raised his eyebrow questionably. "How?"

"I could hear you two, you guys aren't exactly quiet…or subtle."

Ash's face flushed in embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it, I just played TV through my headphones, I fell asleep pretty fast."

"Did…she say anything?"

"I didn't mention anything to her, just said hi and went to the bathroom. I don't plan on bringing it up either."

"Thanks man." Ash said as he finished his coffee. "Hey, could you do me a favor?"

Paul looked up from his phone. "Depends…what's the favor?"

"I need a ride to Uni today."

"What happened to your car?"

The browned eyed man rubbed the back of his head. "I was in an accident, well I wasn't in the car at the time, someone backed into my car and then decided to speed off…with my back bumper while I was inside ordering burgers."

"These things only happen to you, Ketchum."

"It's not like I go looking for things like these to happen to me, they just do!" he exclaimed.

"Could you give me a ride?"

Paul shrugged. "I'm leaving at 8, whether you are ready or not."

Not wanting to miss class or spend money on a ride-sharing cab or worse having to walk, Ash went to the bathroom and started getting ready for class.

Paul looked at his phone. 'I have time for one more cup of coffee before I go.'

The car came to a stop as it parked into one of the student parking spots. Paul turned the key and the car stopped unlocking the doors.

"Thanks for the ride, I seriously owe you one." Ash thanked his friend as they stepped out of the car.

"Don't worry about it, you already paid for the gas at the gas station. It's fine."

The raven haired man nodded when he suddenly felt two hands cover his eyes.

"Guess who?" a blue haired beauty asked.

"Hmm…I don't know…is it Misty?" Ash teased as Dawn moved her hands off his eyes and playfully punched him on the arm.

"You're the worst." she laughed.

She looked at Paul, "hey how are you?"

"I'm fine." he took notice of her outfit, a white long sleeved turtleneck bodysuit with navy high waisted wide legged pants. They had three gold buttons on each side, and she added a simple gold necklace and sapphire studded earrings as accessories to complete her look. She also had her hair pulled up in a high ponytail. She looked stunning and like she was ready to go work or out on a date not be in class. He was about to ask her about it but Ash beat him to it

"Hey what's with your outfit?"

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked with a frown looking down at her outfit not thinking anything about it. She thought it looked great when she left home.

"Nothing! It's just you normally don't get super dressed up…you…" he paused and looked over to Paul, "Could you help me out here? I'm not sure I'm explaining what I'm trying to say correctly." He exclaimed.

"That's not a surprise." Paul smirked.

His friend shot him an incredulous look.

"I'm joking, Ash," he said before turning his attention to Dawn, "You look fine, what I believe doofus here was getting at is you're dressed very professionally just for class. Not to say you can just wear whatever you want when you want," he paused then asked, "do you have anything to do later? An event or something similar?"

Dawn smiled. "Yup, I have a job interview for a fashion designer who is looking for a new personal assistant, not exactly what I wanted to do but if I get it I'll have first hand experience and insights into the industry." the woman said excitedly.

"That's good. Hope it all works out."

Dawn smiled, "Aww, thanks Paul." Scratching the back of his head Ash placed a hand on her shoulder, "Sorry if I upset you."

"Nah, don't worry about it."

"Dawn, that's when I worry the most."

She giggled, "I'm not mad you didn't do anything wrong," she glanced at her watch, "we should head in, don't know about you two but I'm a little chilly and want to warm up a bit before my ethics class."

The two men nodded and followed her into the building.

May took a seat in front of Brendan. Pulling her bag off her shoulders she placed it on top of the table. He looked up and gave her a smile.

"How've you been?" he asked her.

"I've been doing okay. How are you?"

"I've been good, have you talked to your parents lately?"

"No."

"Max?"

"No." she muttered with a frown. "Why?"

"Max texted me. I told him I haven't seen you, which is true since I haven't seen you."

"Did he say anything else?"Brendan opened his mouth to answer, but noticed that Drew and Solidadwhad walked in and were walking towards them so he answered quickly. "We can talk later but he didn't elaborate. He just asked about you." May knew that he could tell that there was something off. They have been best friends ever since we were toddlers. It was scary sometimes how in sync they were.

A tray containing drinks was placed beside May. The two turned their attention to the two who had just arrived.

"Hey you two." Solidad said with a wide smile. She walked towards Brendan, gave him a hug and walked over to May and gave her a hug as well. Drew greeted May with a hug and gave Brendan a fist bump before handing them their respective orders.

Brendan's eyes widened. "You got me one too?"

The pink haired woman laughed. "Well yeah, it would have been rude not to."

"How'd you know-"

"We called May to ask what you liked." Drew explained.

"Ah, makes sense. Thank you."

"No problem." Solidad exclaimed.

Brendan gave her a smile and took a sip of his drink.

"This is so good!"

"Yeah, the cafe off campus is one of the best, if not the best around. They make the best coffee and apple turnovers so I'm not surprised they make good smoothies."

The group of four caught up with each other for a few more minutes before Brendan stood up, packing away his book in his bag and swinging it over his shoulder. "It's been great to see you guys, I'll catch you guys later, got to get to class." he smiled at them and waved, grabbing his cup and walking out of the cafeteria.

Dawn, Ash and Paul walked into the cafeteria as Brendan was leaving. Dawn, seeing him first, greeted him.

"Hey Bren!" The man stopped his speed walk and turned toward the voice.

"Hey Dawn." The two hugged.

"How are you?"

"Good!" she beamed. "We can catch up later, right?" she asked, noticing how he was in a hurry.

Nodding, he smiled at her. "Of course! See you." Looking up he saw Ash and Paul, "hey you two."

"Hey." the two men said simultaneously.

"I'll see you later." And with that the blue eyed man walked off making a left down the hall disappearing from their line of sight.

"Oh! It's May! I'll see you later in class, Ash. Paul, I'll call you later today!"

Before the two men could say anything she was already halfway towards the group of 3. The raven haired man blinked and shook his head. "And I thought I had too much energy."

"Hmm."

Paul felt his phone vibe and checked it. A text notification. Tapping his phone he tapped on the message and it opened. It was from Reggie.

Hey, I know you're busy, and probably won't want to respond, but when you can please. It's about dad.

Frowning he stared at the text reading it over and over, as he thought about what to respond…if to respond at all.

"You okay?" Ash questioned.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm going to head to class. If you end up needing a ride back home, text me later. I'll be done around 2."

"Uh…okay sure."

Paul walked out, phone still in hand. With a sigh he decided to just call him, clicking on his brother's contact he pressed the call button and pressed his phone to his ear. It rang once…twice…and before it rang a third a click sound was heard.

"Paul?"

"Reggie."

"I didn't think you'd call."

"I start class in five minutes so I figured this would be faster than sending texts."

"Right, so let me just get straight to the point."

Arms wrapped themselves around May and the brunette nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise until a familiar voice added.

"Hey girly missed you!"

"Oh thank goodness, Dawn! You nearly scared me to death," May laughed, leaning back into the hug.

The blue haired woman let go of May, hugging Solidad and Drew before taking the seat across from them.

"How's it going?"

"We're good." Drew answered, the pink haired woman nodded in agreement.

"I'm tired." The brunette said. "There's not enough coffee that can help me today."

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Did you not sleep well? Or did you stay up too long?"

May bit her lip, she told her friends that she did house and pet sitting for work but didn't know she was a bartender, only Brendan and Gary knew, before carefully answering, "Yeah I was pet sitting Richie's dog, and he kept barking. I think there was a squirrel perched on the window. So it took a while for him to settle down. That was enough for me to not be able to go to sleep though. I've been awake for a few hours now."

"Well, hopefully you can get some rest."

"Thanks," she noticed her outfit, " oh you look good! Love the outfit!"

"Thank you! I have an interview later, and figured I'd make a great impression visually before acing the interview!"

"You'll do great! Jobs as good as yours!"

Drew nodded in agreement.

The blue haired girl took note of Drew's drink."Can I take a sip of your drink, Drew?"

The man raised an eyebrow, "Do you mean a sip or are you going to take my drink hostage and drink the rest of it?" he teased.

Her cheeks turned a light pink before she rolled her eyes. "Fine, can I have the rest of your drink, please?"

"Sure." he passed Dawn his iced chai.

"Thank you!"

"No problem."

Solidad checked her watch. "We should get to class. It's ten to 9:00."

The three friends nodded and got up from their seats and after saying their goodbyes headed to their respective classes.

May sat in the back of the room, where she was alone. Taking out her book, pen and notebook and placing them on the table in front of her as she sat in silence waiting on her professor's arrival. placing her elbows on the desk she placed her chin on her hands. Students would occasionally step inside every few minutes or so, making the once quiet room buzz with chatter as students were making conversations with each other and others talking on their phones. May felt her phone buzz.

'Huh, who could be texting me now?'

She pulled her phone out and clicked the notification. It was Brendan.

So when are we hanging out? he texted.

Well, I'm too tired today. And I have to go to work, so Wednesday? She texted back.

Wait, tomorrow Wednesday? Or next week Wednesday?

Uh, I meant tomorrow. Sorry I'm just tired.

No worries, tomorrow works for me. Do you need me to pick you up from work tonight? I can hang out at Gary's so I'll be closer.

I don't want to bother you.

May, stop that. It's not a problem. So yes or no? Or you can, I don't know, quit that job?

May sighed. She knew he was only looking out for her.

Brendan you know I can't. I'm applying for different jobs. That hasn't been going well. Besides, you know it pays well and I need this job.

I know. It just sucks. Gary and I just wish you'd let us help you.

I appreciate you guys care but I need to do this on my own. I don't want to be a bother to you. I've got to go, the professor just walked in.

Okay, call you later and let me know if you want me to pick you up! Love you.

Love you too.

She had just placed her phone on the desk and it vibes again. Thinking it was Brendan she opened the text then blinked. It was a message from her brother.

Hey May, mom told me you haven't replied to her texts so asked me to tell you to call her please. You know how she gets.

Sighing the brunette thought about what to text back.

"Okay we're about to start, please put away your phones so we can start today's lecture. She turned her phone off for class, feeling bad for leaving her brother on read but not having a choice.

'Eh, he can wait a little while for a response.'

Notes: And there's the end of this chapter. Let me know what you think, please apologize if there's anything you're wondering about the story that needs clarifying please ask and I'll respond to it in a note in the beginning of the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it and I will see you in the next chapter! Bye!