Ash and Misty: Love Letters (A Pokeshipping Story)

Chapter 13: Have To

Misty

The rest of the next day was normal, as Ash promised. But it kept going on and on in this fake laughter as I got to know May and Max and kept Brock in line. There was a wall up between me and Ash, no matter how much I pretended to be normal.

And the time kept passing. And passing. And passing. It was late afternoon. My blimp left early tomorrow morning. I didn't want to go. I still had so much to do with Ash-

Ash grabbed my wrist as I walked into the Pokemon Center and held on. I turned, shocked to see how serious his expression was. He never looked serious like that except during battles. And it was different than normal. He looked solemn. For the first time I thought of him as mature.

Something was wrong with me if I was thinking that Ash Ketchum was capable of maturity.

I thought about this as I felt his hand firmly grabbing my wrist, secure but not too tight. His hand was warm. I had to stop myself from moving closer as he stared at me, his eyes not leaving mine. Ash was obviously speechless and frozen. I smiled. "You're still really slow. Not much has changed."

It felt so good to tease him in person. I couldn't talk to anyone else like this. Everyone else I met in Cerulean acted like I was some hotshot Trainer since I was the Gym Leader. I was put on some pedestal by all my challengers and my sisters treated me like I was no big deal. I didn't have someone who would treat me like a normal person.

Except Ash.

He let go of my wrist suddenly and stuffed his hand in his pocket. I hid my frown, though my body felt incomplete without his hand there, which was ridiculous.

Ash cleared his throat. "We haven't battled."

Battled? Why would we battle? The last thing I wanted to do was battle Ash right now. There were so many things I would rather do with Ash Ketchum and standing on opposite sides of a field, being his opponent, was not one of them.

"We promised we would in our letters. Remember?"

"Are you ready to lose, Ash?" I asked, smiling again. It was more forced this time. I was too focused on his face and it seemed like he was more focused on mine than the conversation too.

I couldn't take it any longer. I couldn't take knowing we'd be apart tomorrow. I couldn't take him not knowing.

I took a deep breath. "Ash-"

"Hey, where've you two been, huh?" Max came out of the Pokemon Center doors.

I looked at Max before glancing at Ash, taking a step back. We'd been too close together. I felt my cheeks redden. Ash stared at Max as if he'd never seen him before. "Hey. What's up?"

"Where've you been?" Max repeated impatiently.

"Oh. Right." Ash rubbed the back of his neck which I knew is something he did when he was thinking. Or nervous. Which was it?

"We were going to battle," I answered.

Max's eyes lit up. "Really? Cool. I want to watch. Let me go get May and Brock. Wait for us!"

Ash opened his mouth, but closed it when Max disappeared. He sighed and gave me a pained expression. "I actually wanted to battle you without anyone watching."

"Why?" My eyebrows turned down in confusion.

"Because I haven't had any alone time with you at all since you've been here," Ash said in a hushed voice very quickly, glancing at the Pokemon Center doors as if expecting people to emerge.