Loving Him Is Pink -- Bede x Avery (A Pride Month Pokemon Short Story)

Epilogue -- Avery

I woke up to the sound of my purple Rotom Phone ringing.

Immediately, I peeked over to my left to see if Bede had awoken. Being the light sleeper that he was, I couldn't count all the times Bede had woken me up at some Arceus-forsaken hour to make me shut something up, which usually went like this:
"Avery?"
"Urgh....yes, darling?"
"Can you shut up whatever's making that horrible noise?"
"Sure...as soon as I find my *yawn* glasses..."

Living in a sleepy town like Ballonlea, even quiet noises felt like an airplane engine roaring. Mediocre noises like an alarm clock were like a sonic boom, and loud sounds like the ones from a Pokemon battle were equivalent to raising the Devil from Hell. Luckily, my Rotom phone soon ceased its ringing, and I took that as a go ahead to go back to sleep. Sinking back into the pillows, I was about to doze off, until....

RIIIIINNNNGGG!!!!!

The moment the noise started again, Bede muttered something and rolled back over in his sleep. Tenderly, I slid my hands around his waist and mentally willed for my phone to stop ringing. But, five minutes later, when it didn't stop, I snapped and sat up.

Pantomiming for my phone to shut up, I then beckoned it over so I could see who was calling me in the middle of the night. Grabbing it and clicking the power button, I sighed as I saw who it was. Two Missed Calls From: Athena. My little sister. That was strange; she should be asleep by now. After all, we're both on Galarian time.

Contemplating whether or not I should call her back, Bede mumbled something incoherent and wrapped his arms sluggishly around my waist. Sighing, I decided I would. After all, this might be one of the rare times I could talk freely with her without our parents knowing. Clicking the 'call back' option, I waited for her to pick up.

She answered on the third ring, her eyes popping out at me from the screen. "Hey, Avery!" she squealed, bouncing up and down from wherever she was. "It's been so long since we've chatted, so I decided to give you a ring and see what was going on!"

"You are aware people do things at one in the morning, right, Athie?" I asked using her nickname, yawning and stretching. "Like sleeping?"
"Oh, forget that," she giggled. "I've had six espressos and a Red Bouffalant. I couldn't sleep if I tried it!"

Now that she mentioned it, I did notice the corner of one of her eyes twitching. "Okay...." I murmured, wondering what her sugar crash would be like when it inevitably came. "But you still didn't explain the sudden, late-night FaceTime."
"Ohhhh, right! That. Hold on, I'm gonna go somewhere else real quick!"

Grabbing her phone, she raced up the main staircase (I could tell because of the muffled clomping of her socked feet on the polished wood), and I took the time to grab my eyeglasses sitting on the nightstand next to me so the screen wasn't a blur of black and navy blue. By the time I'd gotten them, she was in her bedroom, and the lights were on so I could see her better.

It had been almost a month since I'd seen her, and even longer since I'd visited her in person; she had made a lot of changes to herself in such a short amount of time. Her light blonde hair now bore thin streaks of lilac, and she had swapped her usual thick-rimmed eyeglasses for what I assumed were contact lenses, because her eyes were now the same color as her highlights instead of sapphire blue.

She also had gained at least two more inches since our last call, which was surprising considering she was fourteen and didn't grow much any more. Then I noticed the high-heeled boots with a similar design to mine, and the fluffy lavender dress so light it was almost white. She still wore white gloves and a small, black satin top hat littered with multicolored rhinestones, the latter clashing horribly with her palette of pastels.