You Shine Brighter

Will You Go To Fall Con With Me?

Drew overheard the announcement from Elita. Dances weren't his thing, but what immediately came to mind was the fact that it could be an opportunity to spend time with Liz. The only problem was, he had no way to contact her and hadn't seen her since they were in Summerland.

But he put that aside for now. He focused his attention on the contest, which was the next day.

Drew and May were dominating through the preliminary round and their first battles. Soon enough they were facing each other. Glaceon vs. Masquerain. The seconds ticked by and the two were neck-in-neck. Even with May's type advantage, Drew wasn't going down easily. Eventually though, the time ran out, and May had just a couple more points than Drew, making her the winner.

The crowd roared. It wasn't too often that May defeated Drew. Now she was tied with him, with four ribbons. Drew was proud of her. He always was whenever she beat him.

Normally he'd give her a rose on occasions like this, but this time he noticed that he only had one with him. He wanted to save it for someone else...

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It was 9:00 at night and lightly snowing. May was waiting at the train station. It was running late.

"So much for needing to be on time," she whispered to herself.

Drew found her there and walked up to the bench. "You're looking a bit pale, May. Are you that cold?"

She smiled and looked down. "No, I'm fine. Just... nervous."

"About what?" He looked slightly puzzled.

"Well..." she trailed off. She looked up at him with a sassy look on her face. "I'm not sure if I should talk about this with you. You'll make fun of me."

"Well, I can't guarantee that I won't," he said with a hair flip, taking a seat next to her.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh Drew, you're still the same old you. Well, okay. I guess I should talk to someone about it. So... there's this guy... and I really like him. I think I might love him, actually."

Drew's heart skipped a beat. Why? Why did it do that? It's not like he had feelings for her anymore. He liked Liz...

Not knowing how to feel or react, he managed, "Go on."

"And, I want to ask him to Fall Con. I have to tell him how I feel, but... I'm just so scared of doing that. I don't know how he'll react, and I don't want this to ruin the friendship, but I feel like it will if he doesn't feel that way... oh, who am I kidding? He's gonna say no. I should just turn around and not get on this train..."

She started freaking out and got up to leave, when Drew caught her by the arm.

"You're NOT gonna chicken out of this. Listen..." He gently pulled her back down to the bench. "Sometimes you just need to take risks. You took a risk when you left home. You took a risk when you decided to become a coordinator. You took a risk when you came with me to Fiore. Think about all that you would've missed out on if you didn't take those chances. If this guy cuts you out because you tell him you like him, then he's a jerk who was never worth being friends with. Just do it."

She sat there thinking for a moment. Drew may be a cocky, arrogant know-it-all, but he could be really deep when he wanted to.

She looked into his emerald eyes. "Thanks, Drew. I really needed to hear that."

He smiled and nodded. It was occurring to him that soon, he'd likely have to take a similar risk.

The train arrived.