Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Much Ado About A Crush ❯ Ch 11 ( Chapter 11 )
[ A - All Readers ]
By: Meusa 
Anime/Manga: Pokemon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Romance | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 12.17.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 392 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Pokemon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy / Romance | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 12.17.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 392 | Status: Work In Progress
MUCH ADO ABOUT A CRUSH
I don't own pokemon and all that jazz
**********************************
Ch 11
On The Other Side Of The Door:
Ash was holding my hand. I hoped that I wasn’t squeezing his hand too tight… he reached out and rang he doorbell.
Almost immediately, the door opened. Of what I could see, the curtains were all closed and everyone seemed to be hiding. “I guess they’re ready after all!”
Whoever was opening the door was hiding behind it.
‘Why are all the lights off? Come to think of it, why are the curtains closed to begin with??’ Ash puzzled as the door creaked slowly, to let us in.
‘Hey…where IS everybody?’ he continued to wonder as I practically dragged him into the living room.
Then, without warning, the curtains were thrown open, light poured in…and our friends popped out! ‘SURPRISE!!’ they cried out, big smiles on their faces! Even I was surprised, and I had KNOWN it was going to happen!!
Ash, on the other hand, seemed unable to comprehend the happenings. He stood in the middle of the room, his mouth hanging open. We all watched him…our big smiles still plastered to our faces.
Then, once he finally regained mobility, he looked at me and said, ‘You knew about this?’
I nodded, watching the grin spread across his face. ‘I thought you guys forgot!’
‘That’s the whole point, Ashy-boy!’ said Gary, thumping him on the back.
‘We wanted to do something special for your 16th birthday, dear,’ cried Mrs. Ketchum, coming out from behind the door, Professor Oak beside her.
‘Mom?! Professor? You guys were in on this too?! How long have you been working on this?’
‘A few weeks now,’ answered Brock.
And so, the party started off well enough. We ate Mrs. Ketchum’s excellent cooking and watched Ash unwrap his gifts (because he wanted to so badly). Then, when Tracey went to get the cake, things somehow went downhill so fast…
It started because of ME actually! After the last of the presents had been gushed over, I nudged Ash in the rib before getting up and saying, ‘You guys, Mrs. Ketchum, Professor. Ash and I have an announcement to make.’
Ash looked at me hopefully, I nodded.
‘The day before yesterday, Ash and I…we…we decided that…you tell them Ash!’ I pulled him up.
‘Well, you see, we…that is to say me and Misty…we’re sort of…um…dating.’
And, of course, to say the response was lacking in enthusiasm would be an understatement. Except Professor Oak, whose jaw dropped. He turned a stunning shade
of pink and kept opening and closing his mouth like a magikarp out of water.
‘Well, that’s nice dears,’ cooed Mrs. Ketchum, very anti-climatically…
“That’s nice”? Her son had just told her that he was dating his friend of six years and all she could come up with was “that’s nice”?!
Ash was stunned too…he just gaped at his mother, as if all his brain cells had just up and quit on him…
‘What your mom means to say is…Oh my God! That’s great you guys! I mean, we always had a feeling you guys liked each other but, we never thought you had it in you to find out for yourselves!’ cried Duplica, hugging us both, as if we had announced our wedding-date or something!
Gary thumped Ash on the back, ‘Nice job, Ketchum!’
Richie beamed silently…and I SWEAR (and I don’t care how much he denies it now), Brock had tears in his eyes!
When Professor Oak finally got over his humiliation, he had just one question to ask…
‘So, how did it all happen? How did you two young lovebirds finally decide to tell each other how you felt?’
I suppose I should have felt the temperature in the room drop as everyone’s faces went pale, their blood ran cold and they all turned to gape helplessly at the Professor.
‘No, they don’t want to tell us that! It’s private, right?’ Brock cried, waving his arms frantically in Professor Oak’s face…at the time, I thought it was nice of him…
‘Oh, that’s OK, we don’t mind, do we Ash?’ He shook his head. So, of course, I continued.
‘The day before yesterday, when Gary and I were at the market, I got a call from Ash on my cell…’
‘No, that’s not right,’ Ash chuckled, ‘YOU called ME from the market…remember?’
‘No Ash, YOU called and said you had to tell me something…’
‘I remember it clearly, Mist. You called and told me that Gary was missing…’
‘Yes, he was…’
‘Then you told me you needed to get the cabbages…’
‘…and YOU told ME that “cabbages are NOT essential”, remember??’
‘I did NOT say that! I would never give you an answer like that!! I clearly told you that the cabbages are sold under the fir tree…’ his voice trailed off as he gazed at me, his brown eyes swimming with hurt.
‘Shi-it…’ I heard Duplica curse under her breath.
And, in that moment, it all became clear. I whipped round to face her, my face burning with embarrassment, my eyes stinging with tears threatening to fall at any minute…
‘Duplica!’ I cried, my voice shaking with emotion. ‘YOU did this?! How COULD you?!’ and the tears stopped threatening and spilled out over my cheeks.
Duplica had nothing to say, she just stared at me with an emotion akin to regret in her eyes.
It took Ash a few more minutes to register the happenings, but when he did, he looked at Duplica with (what she would later describe as) all the pain a person could express through their eyes…and then some.
‘Duplica…you? But…but…why would you…I mean…how…?’ was all that escaped his lips.
I continued for him, ‘What made you think it’s okay to play with other people’s feelings like that?!’
By now, Brock, Gary and Richie, wearing looks of shock and remorse, were standing beside her. Finally, she opened her mouth:
‘It wasn’t completely my fault! Damn it, it was HIS idea!’ she cried, pointing at a bewildered Tracey, who was just stepping out of the kitchen. In his hands, he had the cake, shaped like a pikachu’s head, with the hand-iced face winking sweetly.
‘What?’ a bewildered Tracy wondered, staring from Duplica’s finger in his face to my face blotchy with tears…
‘Duplica…’ he growled, comprehension dawning on his face and quickly changing to anger. ‘What did you say to them?!’
‘Nothing, SHE didn’t say anything…’ muttered Gary, glaring at the Professor.
‘Well, I wasn’t aware that…I swear that if I had known I never would have…oh, me and my big mouth. I should just have kept quiet,’ mumbled the Professor as he stared sheepishly at his shoes.
‘So, you were ALL in on this?’ I cried, disbelieving. ‘But…why would you?’
Ash looked at his mother, and said one word. ‘Mom?’ he asked.
Her silence spoke volumes. She looked down, at her floral-print summer dress, wringing her hands. ‘It was for your own good honey,’ she mumbled.
‘Exactly,’ Brock spoke up. ‘You two are perfect for each other. And, we know for a fact that you two have more than enjoyed the past two days…and why? Simply because you were TOGETHER! So, why are you accusing us when all we ever did was help you? If anything, you should be thanking us!!’ he was furious.
Well, if HE was angry, how did he suppose WE felt? Of course, at the time I was scared because none of us had ever seen Brock so livid…
Mrs. Ketchum was the one who finally calmed everyone down. To this day, she still has the skill to do that. It took about half-an-hour but, we were ready to be more down-to-earth. It was Ash’s 16th birthday…and he deserved the best.
So, once again, Tracey brought out the cake. It was placed on the table and the candles were lit. The curtains were closed and the lights were turned out.
And, despite all our embarrassment, we sang:
‘Happy Birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear A-ash (except Gary, who said ‘Ash-y boy’)
Happy birthday to you.’
But Gary, continued in a solo:
‘Happy birthday to you,
You were born in the zoo
You act like a Mankey,
And you SMELL like one too!’
He made a fool of himself but, I suppose, in the process, he made us laugh…and that was exactly what we needed.
I stood behind Ash, watching the back of his head as he bent over to blow out the candles, wondering what I was going to say to him.
Have you ever had one of those instances where, in just a few seconds, you seem to think a million different thoughts? That’s what happened then…I remember it like it was yesterday…
In the time it took Ash to blow out 16 candles, make a wish and blow out the 17th one, so many things ran through my head, all at once:
“Maybe we were set up but was it really THAT bad? I never lied to him during these past few days. Everything I said to him, every word, every touch, every kiss…that was ME. Not anyone else. Sure Duplica and those other guys had…nudged us a little but, no one MADE me do anything. Ash and I made these choices…and I do…love him…”
Of course, it seemed there was nothing to be done…or so I thought.
As the last candle was blown out, we were plunged into darkness. I could hear everyone fumbling about frantically. The newly rearranged furniture added to the chaos and there was a…pandemonium!
‘I’ll get a flashlight, Mimey where are you?’ cried Mrs. Ketchum, leaving the room slowly, feeling the walls.
‘Don’t bother Mrs. K, I got the lights,’ declared Gary confidently.
‘You numskull! The switch is over this way,’ Duplica ridiculed from the opposite side of the room.
‘Au contraire, my dear, THIS is the switch.’ There was a “click”…and nothing happened.
The single “click” was followed by several “clicks”…‘Wha-?’ pondered Gary.
‘SEE?! I told you! Why is it that you NEVER listen?’ Duplica again!
‘Please, children, just calm down, arguing never solved anything,’ Professor Oak tried to restore calm…and failed rather miserably.
‘Here, I think this sofa’s in the way of the switch,’ said Tracey. ‘Hey Gary, could I get a hand here please? Gary? Gar-? *groan*…Where’s Brock?’
Gary was…um…otherwise occupied…‘Well, YOU have no right to be telling me what to do in the first place!’
‘Ex-cuse ME for trying to help you GARY OAK!’
‘That’s right, you shouldn’t! What do you think I am, a child?!’
‘Well, if you’re not, you do a VERY good impersonation of one…ever thought of getting into show-biz?!’
‘Brock’s trying to find the matchbox in the kitchen. Here let me see if I can help,’ offered Richie kindly.
And, in all this bedlam, I stood still, smiling to myself softly. This reminded me so much of the day-before yesterday. That day in the shed, Gary crying “Could one of you Einsteins PLEASE get the lights?”
Then, quite suddenly, a hand slipped around my waist and familiar lips met mine. I gave in after the initial shock…how could I not? I loved him for pete’s sake! The lights came on a few moments later, But we took our time breaking apart. Around us, the noise slowly came down and a rare hush settled upon the room.
When we ended the kiss (*sob*), Ash looked me straight in the eye and said: ‘I guess my birthday wish came true.’
‘What did you wish for?’ I asked, smiling, my arms around his neck.
‘That you’d kiss me back…’
So I did…
‘AND STILL NO THANK YOU FROM YOU GUYS, HUH?’ Gary demanded…
*********************************************************************
A/N: And that’s that…or is it? Stay tuned! Incoming Epilogue alert! X3. BTW, I hope you liked the ending, constructive criticism will be appreciated…I think!
I don't own pokemon and all that jazz
**********************************
Ch 11
On The Other Side Of The Door:
Ash was holding my hand. I hoped that I wasn’t squeezing his hand too tight… he reached out and rang he doorbell.
Almost immediately, the door opened. Of what I could see, the curtains were all closed and everyone seemed to be hiding. “I guess they’re ready after all!”
Whoever was opening the door was hiding behind it.
‘Why are all the lights off? Come to think of it, why are the curtains closed to begin with??’ Ash puzzled as the door creaked slowly, to let us in.
‘Hey…where IS everybody?’ he continued to wonder as I practically dragged him into the living room.
Then, without warning, the curtains were thrown open, light poured in…and our friends popped out! ‘SURPRISE!!’ they cried out, big smiles on their faces! Even I was surprised, and I had KNOWN it was going to happen!!
Ash, on the other hand, seemed unable to comprehend the happenings. He stood in the middle of the room, his mouth hanging open. We all watched him…our big smiles still plastered to our faces.
Then, once he finally regained mobility, he looked at me and said, ‘You knew about this?’
I nodded, watching the grin spread across his face. ‘I thought you guys forgot!’
‘That’s the whole point, Ashy-boy!’ said Gary, thumping him on the back.
‘We wanted to do something special for your 16th birthday, dear,’ cried Mrs. Ketchum, coming out from behind the door, Professor Oak beside her.
‘Mom?! Professor? You guys were in on this too?! How long have you been working on this?’
‘A few weeks now,’ answered Brock.
And so, the party started off well enough. We ate Mrs. Ketchum’s excellent cooking and watched Ash unwrap his gifts (because he wanted to so badly). Then, when Tracey went to get the cake, things somehow went downhill so fast…
It started because of ME actually! After the last of the presents had been gushed over, I nudged Ash in the rib before getting up and saying, ‘You guys, Mrs. Ketchum, Professor. Ash and I have an announcement to make.’
Ash looked at me hopefully, I nodded.
‘The day before yesterday, Ash and I…we…we decided that…you tell them Ash!’ I pulled him up.
‘Well, you see, we…that is to say me and Misty…we’re sort of…um…dating.’
And, of course, to say the response was lacking in enthusiasm would be an understatement. Except Professor Oak, whose jaw dropped. He turned a stunning shade
of pink and kept opening and closing his mouth like a magikarp out of water.
‘Well, that’s nice dears,’ cooed Mrs. Ketchum, very anti-climatically…
“That’s nice”? Her son had just told her that he was dating his friend of six years and all she could come up with was “that’s nice”?!
Ash was stunned too…he just gaped at his mother, as if all his brain cells had just up and quit on him…
‘What your mom means to say is…Oh my God! That’s great you guys! I mean, we always had a feeling you guys liked each other but, we never thought you had it in you to find out for yourselves!’ cried Duplica, hugging us both, as if we had announced our wedding-date or something!
Gary thumped Ash on the back, ‘Nice job, Ketchum!’
Richie beamed silently…and I SWEAR (and I don’t care how much he denies it now), Brock had tears in his eyes!
When Professor Oak finally got over his humiliation, he had just one question to ask…
‘So, how did it all happen? How did you two young lovebirds finally decide to tell each other how you felt?’
I suppose I should have felt the temperature in the room drop as everyone’s faces went pale, their blood ran cold and they all turned to gape helplessly at the Professor.
‘No, they don’t want to tell us that! It’s private, right?’ Brock cried, waving his arms frantically in Professor Oak’s face…at the time, I thought it was nice of him…
‘Oh, that’s OK, we don’t mind, do we Ash?’ He shook his head. So, of course, I continued.
‘The day before yesterday, when Gary and I were at the market, I got a call from Ash on my cell…’
‘No, that’s not right,’ Ash chuckled, ‘YOU called ME from the market…remember?’
‘No Ash, YOU called and said you had to tell me something…’
‘I remember it clearly, Mist. You called and told me that Gary was missing…’
‘Yes, he was…’
‘Then you told me you needed to get the cabbages…’
‘…and YOU told ME that “cabbages are NOT essential”, remember??’
‘I did NOT say that! I would never give you an answer like that!! I clearly told you that the cabbages are sold under the fir tree…’ his voice trailed off as he gazed at me, his brown eyes swimming with hurt.
‘Shi-it…’ I heard Duplica curse under her breath.
And, in that moment, it all became clear. I whipped round to face her, my face burning with embarrassment, my eyes stinging with tears threatening to fall at any minute…
‘Duplica!’ I cried, my voice shaking with emotion. ‘YOU did this?! How COULD you?!’ and the tears stopped threatening and spilled out over my cheeks.
Duplica had nothing to say, she just stared at me with an emotion akin to regret in her eyes.
It took Ash a few more minutes to register the happenings, but when he did, he looked at Duplica with (what she would later describe as) all the pain a person could express through their eyes…and then some.
‘Duplica…you? But…but…why would you…I mean…how…?’ was all that escaped his lips.
I continued for him, ‘What made you think it’s okay to play with other people’s feelings like that?!’
By now, Brock, Gary and Richie, wearing looks of shock and remorse, were standing beside her. Finally, she opened her mouth:
‘It wasn’t completely my fault! Damn it, it was HIS idea!’ she cried, pointing at a bewildered Tracey, who was just stepping out of the kitchen. In his hands, he had the cake, shaped like a pikachu’s head, with the hand-iced face winking sweetly.
‘What?’ a bewildered Tracy wondered, staring from Duplica’s finger in his face to my face blotchy with tears…
‘Duplica…’ he growled, comprehension dawning on his face and quickly changing to anger. ‘What did you say to them?!’
‘Nothing, SHE didn’t say anything…’ muttered Gary, glaring at the Professor.
‘Well, I wasn’t aware that…I swear that if I had known I never would have…oh, me and my big mouth. I should just have kept quiet,’ mumbled the Professor as he stared sheepishly at his shoes.
‘So, you were ALL in on this?’ I cried, disbelieving. ‘But…why would you?’
Ash looked at his mother, and said one word. ‘Mom?’ he asked.
Her silence spoke volumes. She looked down, at her floral-print summer dress, wringing her hands. ‘It was for your own good honey,’ she mumbled.
‘Exactly,’ Brock spoke up. ‘You two are perfect for each other. And, we know for a fact that you two have more than enjoyed the past two days…and why? Simply because you were TOGETHER! So, why are you accusing us when all we ever did was help you? If anything, you should be thanking us!!’ he was furious.
Well, if HE was angry, how did he suppose WE felt? Of course, at the time I was scared because none of us had ever seen Brock so livid…
Mrs. Ketchum was the one who finally calmed everyone down. To this day, she still has the skill to do that. It took about half-an-hour but, we were ready to be more down-to-earth. It was Ash’s 16th birthday…and he deserved the best.
So, once again, Tracey brought out the cake. It was placed on the table and the candles were lit. The curtains were closed and the lights were turned out.
And, despite all our embarrassment, we sang:
‘Happy Birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear A-ash (except Gary, who said ‘Ash-y boy’)
Happy birthday to you.’
But Gary, continued in a solo:
‘Happy birthday to you,
You were born in the zoo
You act like a Mankey,
And you SMELL like one too!’
He made a fool of himself but, I suppose, in the process, he made us laugh…and that was exactly what we needed.
I stood behind Ash, watching the back of his head as he bent over to blow out the candles, wondering what I was going to say to him.
Have you ever had one of those instances where, in just a few seconds, you seem to think a million different thoughts? That’s what happened then…I remember it like it was yesterday…
In the time it took Ash to blow out 16 candles, make a wish and blow out the 17th one, so many things ran through my head, all at once:
“Maybe we were set up but was it really THAT bad? I never lied to him during these past few days. Everything I said to him, every word, every touch, every kiss…that was ME. Not anyone else. Sure Duplica and those other guys had…nudged us a little but, no one MADE me do anything. Ash and I made these choices…and I do…love him…”
Of course, it seemed there was nothing to be done…or so I thought.
As the last candle was blown out, we were plunged into darkness. I could hear everyone fumbling about frantically. The newly rearranged furniture added to the chaos and there was a…pandemonium!
‘I’ll get a flashlight, Mimey where are you?’ cried Mrs. Ketchum, leaving the room slowly, feeling the walls.
‘Don’t bother Mrs. K, I got the lights,’ declared Gary confidently.
‘You numskull! The switch is over this way,’ Duplica ridiculed from the opposite side of the room.
‘Au contraire, my dear, THIS is the switch.’ There was a “click”…and nothing happened.
The single “click” was followed by several “clicks”…‘Wha-?’ pondered Gary.
‘SEE?! I told you! Why is it that you NEVER listen?’ Duplica again!
‘Please, children, just calm down, arguing never solved anything,’ Professor Oak tried to restore calm…and failed rather miserably.
‘Here, I think this sofa’s in the way of the switch,’ said Tracey. ‘Hey Gary, could I get a hand here please? Gary? Gar-? *groan*…Where’s Brock?’
Gary was…um…otherwise occupied…‘Well, YOU have no right to be telling me what to do in the first place!’
‘Ex-cuse ME for trying to help you GARY OAK!’
‘That’s right, you shouldn’t! What do you think I am, a child?!’
‘Well, if you’re not, you do a VERY good impersonation of one…ever thought of getting into show-biz?!’
‘Brock’s trying to find the matchbox in the kitchen. Here let me see if I can help,’ offered Richie kindly.
And, in all this bedlam, I stood still, smiling to myself softly. This reminded me so much of the day-before yesterday. That day in the shed, Gary crying “Could one of you Einsteins PLEASE get the lights?”
Then, quite suddenly, a hand slipped around my waist and familiar lips met mine. I gave in after the initial shock…how could I not? I loved him for pete’s sake! The lights came on a few moments later, But we took our time breaking apart. Around us, the noise slowly came down and a rare hush settled upon the room.
When we ended the kiss (*sob*), Ash looked me straight in the eye and said: ‘I guess my birthday wish came true.’
‘What did you wish for?’ I asked, smiling, my arms around his neck.
‘That you’d kiss me back…’
So I did…
‘AND STILL NO THANK YOU FROM YOU GUYS, HUH?’ Gary demanded…
*********************************************************************
A/N: And that’s that…or is it? Stay tuned! Incoming Epilogue alert! X3. BTW, I hope you liked the ending, constructive criticism will be appreciated…I think!