Access All Areas.

Chapter Two

It was then that I grabbed my friend's arm and looked her dead in the eyes.

"Dawn, I know what I'm doing. Trust me."

Before she could say another word to me, I was off, running as quick as my already shattered legs could carry me. I was headed in the direction of the backstage and VIP areas, where May was most likely to be.

"May?? May Maple, has anybody seen May Maple?!"

I screamed at the very top of my lungs, for what must have been the fifth or sixth time in as many minutes. Running at my top speed around what looked to be the exact same corridors, leading me to the exact same rooms I'd seen far too many times to count. I stopped for a moment to catch my breath, bending down slightly and placing both my hands onto my knees.

"Excuse me, are you doing okay? Are you perhaps lost?"

A few moments later I heard a voice; a voice I recognized instantly as that of Drew; May's old contest rival and eventually, friend. Forcing a grin to grace itself upon my features as best I could; I stood-up, raised my head a little and looked into his eyes.

"Erm... I'm looking for May Maple, I need to speak with her urgently. Could you possibly tell me where she might be?"

Upon further inspection; I then noticed that Drew happened to be wearing a jet-black suit, complete with white shirt and tie and gold, circular cuff-links. There was also a small, plain white, rectangular badge attached to his top-right pocket, that said 'SECURITY'.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't old Ashy-boy..."

A cocky, arrogant smirk then crossed Drew's face.

"Normally I would be obliged to ask for ID at this point. However, seeing as I know you, I'll be more than happy to show you where May is – although whether or not she'll be as happy to see you is another story entirely."

I felt a sudden pang of hurt, overwhelming anger and deep regret punch me square in the stomach; as Drew then produced a single, perfect red rose from his suit pocket. He sniffed it contentedly, before proceeding to then return it to his pocket.

"Right this way, Mr. Ketchum..."

Drew made a slight gesture with his right hand, towards the long corridor just ahead of us. A patronizing smirk sat perfectly in place on his lips, and a knowing look in his eyes as he did so. As big and as obvious to me, as the feeling that what I was about to do was a bad idea was getting; deep down I knew that I had to do my utmost to push the feeling aside and to ignore it.

After all, I simply hadn't come all this way just to watch my true love sing. Although that was a rather significant part of why I was here. I had really come here to do all it took to find her again, and to say to her what I had failed to say during all that time we spent travelling together. Those few brief, blissful months that had seemed to pass us both by so quickly...

The closer Drew and I got to the door of May's dressing room, the more nervous I was growing. But there was absolutely no turning back now. Especially not in-front of Drew, an obvious long-time admirer of May's.

We were now within reaching distance of her room door, which I recognized straight away from the sudden quickening of my escort's footsteps; along with a quick flip of his hair and the all too rapid production of a single, beautiful, aromatic scarlet rose from one of his suit pockets.

There were then three simple, but distinctly loud knocks on the door of the pop-star's room.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

"Enter!"

Her voice was rather faint, but still audible from just behind the dressing room door. Both myself and my escort were still perfectly able to understand her invitation, to then set foot inside of her room. This admittedly seemed a little strange to me. I'd have thought a world-famous pop sensation such as herself, would wish to have a bit of alone time after playing to such a large audience, for all that time. On the other hand though, I knew May. I knew her much better than anyone else, even better than she knew herself at times. She was never one to put her own thoughts and feelings before those of the people she cared about, no matter how much she may have wanted to.

Unsurprisingly; Drew of course made his usual dramatic entrance towards the star; making his usual cheesy, gushing attempts at romantic advances on the poor girl. Only to then be knocked down a great deal quicker, than the time it had taken to build himself back up. He shot me a look of complete disdain and utter embarrassment, on his way out of the room. Knocking into me hard as he passed by me, causing me to lose my balance and collapse onto my knees as a result. A throbbing pain ebbing through my shoulder area, where Drew had so cruelly knocked into me.

...It was then that she saw me.

Exhausted, battered and bruised from my highly energy-draining, yet exhilarating journey to see her. Although there was that one part of me that was still very much in-tact...

My heart.

For but a fleeting moment; she simply stared down at the knotted, tangled mess that was usually my shiny, black hair. I could feel the very weight of her stare burning down on me, but I hadn't the nerve to move my head upwards and look her in the eyes. Not just yet, at least. All I could do for the moment was to just... Listen.

"Ash... Is – is that really you? What are you doing here?? You shouldn't be here you know, this is a private room."

I heard that unmistakably sweet voice of hers when she spoke to me, but it wasn't quite her usual tone. She spoke to me in rather a low voice, almost as if she didn't exactly feel happy to see me again.

"I... I was at your concert earlier."

I stammered, still with my nervous gaze transfixed towards the floor.

"It's been so long since I've been able to catch even a quick glimpse of you, May. So the opportunity to travel all this way, to see you sing, was one I just couldn't pass up. I had to make a few sacrifices to do so, like skipping a few Gym battle training sessions to get here on time, but to me... To me, it was worth it. I just wanted to be able to see you, just one more time in-person."

At this point; I could feel my cheeks getting hotter and flushing redder, the further into my explanation I got. Though at the same time, I could also feel my shaking nerves beginning to calm down a little.