Chapter 23
OMG AN UPDATE! I honestly don't remember the last time I updated this book, but all I know it's been FOREVER. I'm so sorry, I'm such a bad person LOL
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~Ash's POV~
"I got a text from Serena, she wanted me to come see her."
I felt my heart drop down to my stomach. Did Serena actually text him saying that? After all the things I said, she still decided to get back together with him. Well there was no way in hell I was letting that happen.
"Oh, sorry. She's asleep." I casually shrugged, before closing the door.
Acting quickly, he placed his hand on the door before it could close on him. "She wouldn't be texting me if she were to be asleep, dumbass."
"W-well," I scratched my head. "It could be some other girl named Serena?"
He scoffed. "Just get out of the way." He pushed me away from the door and into the wall.
I rubbed my arm as I chased after him. "Calem! This is our cottage, you have no right to just let yourself in like that!"
He didn't answer, but just picked up his speed, trying his best to get away from me. He took a quick turn into the hallway. Before he could even take another step, I heard a thump.
"Agh!" A voice cried. Instantly recognizing the voice to be Gary's, I ran into the hall to see what happened.
It turned out that Gary was in the hall at the same time Calem came, resulting them in bumping into each other. Thinking it was me, he began yelling. "What the hell, Ashy?! Watch where you're going!"
"It wasn't me." I rolled my eyes.
Gary looked up, realizing it was Calem he bumped into. "What the?! What is this jerk face doing here?!"
"Watch your mouth, punk!"
Gary put a fist up. "You watch it! What do you think you're doing showing yourself here?!"
Calem clicked his tongue. "You're such a nuisance."
"Huh?" Gary said, dumbfounded. He leaned over and whispered into my ear. "Um, what's a nuisance?"
"You mean to tell me, you have no idea what he just called you?"
He pouted before lowering his face. "N-no."
"Idiot." I face palmed.
"Whatever, I'm out of here." Calem turned around.
I put my fist up. "Hey! Get back here, where do you do you think you're going!?"
"You already know." He smirked, before disappearing into the hallway.
I hesitated to go follow him. I wanted to stop him, but some part of me was saying to let him go. I sighed and turned around to find Gary rubbing his chin.
"Nuisance.... nuisance..."
I face palmed before giving up. I headed towards the living room. As I got closer, the sound of Misty's faint voice was heard.
"What the hell are you doing here?!"
In front of me was Misty holding Calem up by his collar. He had such a terrified look on his face, that I found myself starting to feel slightly bad for him. Nothing in the world but Misty was able to make someone look like that.
"M-misty, I think you should calm d-" Clemont anxiously put his hand on her arm as gently as possible, trying not to make her any angrier.
"GET OFF ME!" She swat his hand away, causing him to cry in fear as he ran and hid behind Bonnie.
Her being angry at Calem was okay for me, but seeing her like that towards one of my best friends was not acceptable.
"Misty! Was that really necessary?" I looked over at Clemont, who looked like he'd seen a ghost. "I mean, there was no need to-"
Her grip on Calem tightened as she yelled. "SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN, KETCHUM!"
Scaring the living daylights out of me, I instantly obeyed as if my body acted on its own. "S-sorry!" I sat down in my spot, sweating from head to toe.
"He's not a dog, you know." Gary walked up from behind me.
"YOU TOO, ON THE FLOOR!"
"Y-yes ma'am!" He dropped to the floor beside me, causing everyone else in the room to sweat drop.
As Gary, Clemont and I were crying in fear, Calem looked at us, before gulping at what he just witnessed. Misty scoffed and continued to deal with him.
"NOW TELL ME, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!"
Calem felt his heart drop down to his stomach, realizing it was his turn. "I-I'm h-here to-"
"FASTER, I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!"
Shivers ran up his spine as Misty yelled at him once again.
"What's going on here?" Serena approached us, having heard our voices all the way from her room. The first person she saw was Calem, and she soon caught onto everything that was happening. She placed her hand on Misty's shoulder. "It's okay, I asked him to be here."
Bonnie pouted after she heard what Serena said, knowing that her feelings for Calem weren't true. Going back to what she said the last time, she knew Serena was just confused.
"Serena, why?" Dawn asked, concerned for best friend.
"Dawn, it'll be alright." She gave her a small smile in return.
I got off the floor, facing the performer. She turned around after hearing my steps. "S-serena...
"Ash, please. Just let me do this."
I stopped in my tracks as the expression on my face saddened. Letting her go, I stepped to the side as Misty let go of Calem. We watched as two walked out of the living room. Miette was about the chase after them, but Paul stopped her and shook his head, saying to just let them be.
They soon left our sights, entering Serena's room. I leaned on the wall beside me, taking in all that was about to happen. Serena was going to tell Calem she still liked him, and start dating again. I clenched my fist. If only I told her how I really felt earlier, if only I didn't chicken out like that, none of this would be happening.
"Ash, a-are you okay?" May asked, having seen the expression on my face.
"Huh? Um, y-yeah," I placed both hands into my pockets. "I-I'll be fine."
Gary got off the floor and began to head to Serena's room, not caring about what had just happened.
"Dude, where are you going?" Drew asked.
"I'm going to eavesdrop, duh."
"What? But that's rude!" May replied.
He smirked. "Does it look like I care?" He continued his way up to her room. "Don't act like you guys don't want to. She ain't gonna catch us or anything."
May sweat dropped. "You have got to be joking." Miette stepped out of the living room and went with Gary, with Misty following close behind. "Wha? Seriously?!" May said, before sweat dropping as Dawn and Paul went as well. Kenny and Barry sighed and went along while Bonnie dragged her brother up the stairs with them. Dawn and Iris soon followed as well, leaving May and I behind.
"Can you believe these guys?" She turned to me and placed her hands on her hips. I shrugged and left my spot, going with everyone else. "You too?!" She shouted, before face palming. Looking around her and realizing she was the only one left in the room, she gave up and made her way upstairs.
Once I got to the top floor, Gary and the rest of the group were already at the door. I pushed my way through them and got a good spot. Before I could press my ear against the door, pain shot through my side as Misty elbowed me. "Move over, pervert!"
I gave her a small glare, and took the spot next to her. Gary, Misty, Miette and I pressed our ears against the door itself, while the others were listening through the walls. It was a bit faint, but the voices were clear enough to understand.
"So, I'm guessing you finally came to your senses and realized that I'm the only guy for you." Calem said. Serena didn't answer, all she did was continue to listen to her ex boyfriend talk without saying a word. "Look, I know I fucked up, but I learned from my mistake. It was wrong of me to date Miette while I was dating you. I never really liked her anyways, she was stubborn and not my type."
"Ouch." Gary whispered as he listened.
Miette kicked him in the leg in return, causing him to silently cry in pain. Trying my best to ignore his squirming, I continued to eavesdrop.
"Serena, can we stop playing the silent game? Why won't you say anything?" Calem asked.
"Calem, I-I didn't call to get back together with you." She said.
My eyes widened the moment she said that. The others also had the same reaction, each one of them gasping.
"What?" Calem said. "So you're telling me I came here for no good reason?"
"No, I wanted you here so I could settle things with you."
Yes, yes. This was the complete opposite of what I thought was going to happen, and I couldn't be more glad. If this continues to go like this, I might be able to get what I want.
"Settle things with me?"
"Yeah." Serena confirmed. "I'm not going to lie, but I found myself liking you again. But after a little thinking, I've come to realize that these feeling I've been having for you aren't real."
I caught Bonnie smiling to herself from the corner of my eye. Looked like what she said earlier today was actually right.
"Not real?" Calem repeated.
"Yes, Calem. I've finally understood what my real feelings are. I only felt like this because I thought it was love, and I just couldn't let all the good times we had go. But knowing that you've done such hurtful things, I think I can put that all in the past."
Calem was the one staying quiet this time. He listened to each one of Serena's words as he began to realize where this conversation was going to.
"So," Serena continued. "I'm here to tell you that I am not going to get back together with you. So whatever reason you came all the way to Kanto for, it's not going to work."
"Erg..." Calem grunted.
I knew it, the only reason Calem came to Kanto was to somehow find his way back to Serena. He must've found out when he heard the winners announced on TV, and took advantage of the situation.
"Calem, I'm sorry. I hope you understand."
Although he began to feel angry because his plan failed, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Uh, y-yeah. I understand."
"So now that that's over, can you please stop acting the way you do towards Ash?"
I was caught off guard once I heard my name. Why mention me? Everyone looked over and gave me a weird look, as I shrugged in return.
"I've noticed there has been some tension between the two of you, a-and whatever you two have been fighting about, it would be great if you guys stopped..."
The funny thing was that she was the reason why we were fighting, so I was not too sure if it could really be stopped.
"Y-yeah," Calem replied. "I'll try my best to stop."
"Thank you."
There was some silence between the two for awhile. I couldn't see anything, so my guess would be they were just standing there in an awkward silence. I was about to take me ear off the door until I heard Serena speak again.
"B-but this doesn't mean it's entirely over between us, I mean, we could try being friends, I-I guess..."
"Uh, s-sure. I-I think we could try..."
"That's good." She replied.
It was insane, thinking that Serena was going to stay friends with the guy that cheated on her. It was a bit weird if you asked me. But I wasn't going to stop her from doing it.
They said a few more things to each other, but for some odd reason it was way more faint and quieter. I couldn't understand a single thing they said. I pressed my ear harder against the door, while the others did the same. The first thing we heard were footsteps getting louder and closer to us.
"Crap, they're coming!" Gary said.
"H-hide in one of the rooms!" Barry ran around the hall, pulling open the first door he saw.
"No! Run back to the living room! She'll become suspicious as to why no one is in the living room if we hide in a room!" Misty said before dashing towards the stairs. We all followed quickly, even Clemont was able to keep up.
We all dived onto the couch once we got there. We all did our own things to make it seem like we were here the entire time. I took out my phone and pretended to be using it as I heard the footsteps of Calem and Serena making their ways down the stairs.
I looked up for a split second, only to find the two passing by the living room and going to the main doors. Not too long later, she enters the living room without Calem.
"Hey guys, did you wait long?" She asked as she scratched her cheek.
"Oh no, not at all!" Dawn replied.
Miette cleared her throat. "So... what happened?"
"Well, nothing much, actually. I just settled things with him, and tried making up."
"Oh, really?" Misty said, trying her best to sound like she doesn't already know all that happened. "That's great!"
"I'm sorry that I've made you all worry about me," She said. "It just took me some time to get everything together..."
"That's okay!" Bonnie said. "What matters now is that you don't have problems anymore and that you are friends, right?"
Serena nodded and smiled. "Yeah, you're right!"
"This calls for a celebration! Now that all this stupid ex boyfriend stuff is done, let's have a big dinner!" Kenny suggested.
"Haha, I'll get cooking then!" Clemont chuckled and made his way to the kitchen, while the others cheered and followed him close behind.
They soon disappeared into the halls, leaving Serena and I alone. I stood in my spot as she walked up to me, placing both hands behind her back.
"Hey Ash? I-I just wanted to say, thank you."
"Huh? For what? I haven't done anything."
She shook her head. "No, you have. You were always there whenever I needed it the most. The things you said to me that night, I thought over it well and realized that it was indeed wrong of me to get back together with a guy that was the one who caused me my pain." She gave me a sweet smile as her cheeks turned a subtle shade of pink. "So... thank you."
The sight of that smile instantly made me feel warm on the inside. I've missed that beautiful smile of hers, and I was glad that I was able to see it once again.
I lifted the corner of my mouth and gave her a warm smile back. "Yeah, you're welcome."
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