The Only Exception

33.

SO SORRY FOR THE SLOW UPDATES. Im working on an Adrienette comic ;v; ANYWAYS, ENJOY. :'D

Dawn stared at Ash in shock. Trying to process what he just said into her mind. He loves me? Is this real?

"Y-You... you love me?" She asked him.

Ash's smile slowly turned into a shocked expression. He stared at Dawn with wide eyes and a blush on his face. Did you... really just confess to her? Oh no, this is bad. She's gonna totally reject you.

He can't love me. He has Serena. This is wrong.. all wrong.

How do I fix something like this? Come on, Ketchum. Think!

"You're a really great friend!" Both Dawn and Ash shouted. The two looked at each other in surprise when they realized they had shouted the same thing.

Dawn looked away from Ash and furrowed her eyebrows as she swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to hold back her tears. I knew I was just a friend.

Ash looked away as well with a sad expression on his face. He turned away from Dawn as he wiped a tear that had rolled down his cheek. She rejected me.. I had a feeling.

The two trainers made their way back to the Pokémon center without saying another word.

•_•_•

As soon as they walked into the Pokémon center. Clemont and Bonnie looked over at them. They felt an awkward tension between the two as Dawn walked up to them and Ash went to their room. Dawn sat on the couch next to Bonnie.

"Something wrong, Dawn?" Bonnie asked.

"Ash told me he loves me." Dawn said.

Clemont and Bonnie smiled happily, "Hey, that's great!"

"... as a friend." Dawn said as she grabbed one of the pillows and hugged it — hiding her face from the two of them.

"Aw, Dawn.." Clemont said sympathetically.

With Ash

He went into the room and sat on his bed. He sighed as he fell back onto the mattress and placed an arm over his eyes. He wanted to block out everyone and everything. He didn't want to talk nor even do anything.

He had done the most stupidest thing today.

He confessed to Dawn when he still had a girlfriend. To top it all off, he got rejected.

He heard someone walk into the room but didn't bother to see who it was. He hoped it wasn't Dawn or Serena. He didn't want to see both of them right now. Well, it was Dawn he didn't want to see the most.

You're a great friend.

That was really all he ever was to her. A great friend. Did he really think he was gonna ever be more than that? No, not really. He hoped, but it wouldn't come true. He already had a girlfriend. Dawn already had a guy she likes.

But, is he happy?

"Ash? You alright?" It was Serena who walked into the room.

He moved his arm slightly to see her giving him a worried look. He sighed as he got up from the bed and smiled at her. She sat down next to him and placed her hand on his. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He thought about it for awhile and knew he couldn't tell her about what happened today. They'd have a huge fight and he didn't want that.

"Well.. uh, let's just say I have this friend who confessed to a girl." He started.

"Yeah?" She didn't catch on and that was a good thing.

"He confessed but she told him he was a great friend." He explained.

"Aww.. who's your friend?" Serena asked.

"Um.. he's someone from the same region as me. We don't talk often."

"Then.. why would he—"

"Anyways," Ash interrupted before she could ask him anything else. "I was thinking we could do something together."

Serena looked at him surprised. "Really? Like what?"

"Anything. We can go.. anywhere you like." Ash said. He was really trying to avoid the subject of his so called "friend" so she wouldn't find out that it was actually him.

"We could go dress shopping! I just saw this really cute dress in a boutique earlier and I thought it'd be great for the next Showcase." Serena smiled.

"Awesome." Ash smiled, trying to sound enthusiastic about it. In truth, he didn't want to go dress shopping. It was boring and he knew he'd just be sitting around watching Serena try on different dresses.

"Let's go!" Serena smiled happily as she grabbed his hand and dragged him out the room. Dawn, Clemont, and Bonnie noticed the two run out the Pokémon center. Dawn furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at the ground sadly as Bonnie tried to comfort her.

•_•_•

Ash had been right. He was now sitting down while Serena tried on many dresses — trying to decided which would look great in the next Showcase. Ash sighed as he looked around and saw another couple. They weren't like Ash and Serena. The boy stood next to the girl as they looked at different dresses together and the boy would often tease her. The girl didn't mind of course, she teased him back.

Ash smiled as he remembered the times he and Dawn use to shop together just like that.

"Hey, Ash. What do you think about this one?" Dawn asked as she held up a yellow dress in front of him.

"Yellow? Is that really your color or are you just trying to be funny?" Ash laughed.

Dawn glared at him as she put back the yellow dress and picked out a pink one. "How about this then?"

Ash stared at the dress for awhile. It was a strapless dress which reached above the knees. It would fit Dawn really well, but Ash didn't like the thought of her wearing it.

"No way." He said.

"Why not? Is it not cute?" Dawn asked.

"That's the problem. If you wear that everywhere we go, you'll only attract boys and they'll never stop bothering you and then I—"

He heard Dawn laughed then raised an eyebrow at her, "hey, what's so funny?"

"You're such a mom."

"Shut up." He chuckled.

He smiled at the thought and looked back at Serena who had finally picked out a dress for her next Showcase. "This is the one!" She smiled as she lifted up a pink strapless dress almost similar to the one Dawn wanted to wear but this time, the length of the dress reached to the bottom of her knees.

Ash sighed as he fell back.

Dé jà vu.

Sorry for the long wait :D But I hope you enjoyed!!