The Only Exception

40.

Sorry for the late update. I've been taking the time to focus on my mental health right now and so far, I'm doing great. I've talked it out with lots of people and they were a huge help. Also, if you don't already know, I can't update as frequently as I used to considering I am still trying to focus on my mental health so I hope you guys understand. 

Also, I had help with this chapter so I can't take all the credit for this. Thank you @JasonMacarico for your amazing ideas! This is for you.

Enjoy!

Ash sighed as he fell backwards onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Luckily for him, Serena was out shopping somewhere and he hoped she wouldn't be back soon. He looked over to see Pikachu sleeping on the other bed and smiled softly at his partner. 

He heard the door open and immediately jumped up only to see Dawn standing in front of him with wide eyes. "A-Ash? You alright?"

"U-Uh, y-yeah. Sorry, I thought you were Serena." He chuckled.

"Oh." Dawn furrowed her eyebrows as she turned away from him.

"Everything okay, Dawn?" He asked worriedly as he got up to place a hand on her shoulder.

She simply looked at him and gave a small smile, "yup, no need to worry." 

But of course, that's when Ash always worried the most. He shook his head at her as he lead her out onto the balcony and sat on one of the lounge chairs while she sat in the other. She looked at him with one eyebrow raised as he smiled at her. 

"You can't hide things from me, Dawn. You should know that by now." He told her.

She sighed at the boy in front of her. He can see when she's upset but not the fact that she actually likes him? She mentally laughed to herself as she looked up at him and gave him a half smile. "Yeah, you're right."

"So what's up?"

"Well, I... I tried to talk Serena into calling off the relationship and explained how you were unhappy. But she... she didn't listen." 

Ash's eyes widened at her in shock. That was the first time that someone ever spoke up for him. He furrowed his eyebrows at the girl as he felt tears form at the corner of his eyes. Without saying anything, he simply pulls the girl into a hug. "Dawn..."

"A-Ash?"

"Thank you... again." He smiled happily as a tear streamed down his face. 

She smiled, "you're welcome." 

He broke apart from the hug as he wiped a tear away and smiled at her. He loved her, he really did. But he also remembered that she had someone she liked. He furrowed his brows as he looked up at her. "Hey, about the guy you like... could you... tell me more about him?" He asked. 

Dawn raised an eyebrow him, "oh? What about our deal?" 

"I can't exactly wait that long." He chuckled. "Come on, I just wanna know more about him."

"Why?" She laughed.

"Well, I wanna see if he's even worthy of you. Like... can he protect you? Make you laugh? Smile? Talk about your contests? Help you with training?" Ash asked her, hoping the guy she likes wasn't worthy enough to be with her.

Dawn chuckled, "he has been doing those things actually."

Ash's heart dropped as he averted his eyes and leaned back into the lounge chair. "Oh..."

"But..."

Ash looked over at her, his eyes lighting up a bit as he waited for her to continue. There was a 'but' so that meant that he does something wrong, right?