~Tired Hearts~
                               Ch.4

	The sun shone brightly through the trees that scattered throughout the park. It
was a warm and peaceful day. However, the park was empty save a few young
children chasing some Pidgey.
	Ash and May walked silently passed the playground, which was old and a bit
rusted, to a small bench. They sat next to each other and just watched the children
playing with the Pidgey until they ran off and no longer were in sight.
	“Ash,” May abruptly broke the silence, “I was never the kind of person who
lied to people I care about. I don’t lie to myself either.” May was looking down at her
fingers which had been playing with Ash’s glove. It wasn’t intentional and it was like
her fingers had a mind of their own, but either way she didn’t stop it.
	Ash felt his face get hot, but he wasn’t sure why. He was never very clever and
now he just felt confused. “What’s going on, May?” He asked.
	May stopped fingering his glove and looked him straight in the eyes. Her face
was bright red with embarrassment, but she never took her eyes off of him. “Ash,”
she began practically holding her breath, “I have a crush on you.” She said it so
bluntly that Ash almost fell over.
	“Y-Y-You have a crush on ME?” He stuttered. They both blushed.
	May leaned closer. “So, what do you think? Do you have any feelings for me?”
	Ash had to think for a moment. They had been good friends since they met. Of
course, he hadn’t known her as long as he knew Brock or Misty...Wasn’t she just a
friend...like Misty. Misty...was just a friend? It had seemed they had had a stronger
bond than that. “Friend” just didn’t seem to fit their relationship. No, that label
didn’t fit them...but, this is May. May’s here...All these thoughts were running wild in
Ash’s head. “How do I feel?” He thought to himself. He felt dizzy, like he was
watching everything happen but he wasn’t there. ‘Is what I’m feeling...love?’
	Before Ash had a chance to answer her, May leaned all the way in and pressed
her lips up against his.
	Ash’s mouth was engulfed with warmth. This was a totally new sensation for
him. ‘This never happened to me before,’ Ash thought in his head. ‘What do I do?!’
Eventually he let go of all his thoughts and let his instincts take over. He wrapped his
arms around her tightly and drew her closer to him as he felt her tongue slip into his
mouth. ‘Yes, this is what I want,’ he assured himself. He gently pulled away and May
rested her head on his chest. “I’m sorry,” she began, “I never let you give me an
answer.” Ash took a deep breath. “No, it’s fine,” he replied trying to keep his cool.
May looked up at him and stared into his eyes. ‘Boy, she sure knows how to get what
she wants,’ Ash thought.
	“May,” Ash grabbed one of her hands with both of his. “I-I like you too.
And...um...” his heart was beating faster and faster, “If you’ll let me...I’d like to be
your boyfriend.”
	Tears started to stream down May’s cheeks. “Wha-?! I thought you’d be
happy! I’m sorry!” Ash wasn’t sure what to do. May let out a small giggle. “Ash,”
May hugged him, “I’m crying because I AM happy. I never thought you would have
any feelings for me.” May cried a bit more on Ash’s shoulder. He was happy that she
was happy, but he still didn’t want to see her cry. Ash held her shoulders and
carefully leaned her back so that he was looking at her face. He took his hand and
wiped her tears off her face. “Please don’t cry,” he asked sweetly and then gave her a
small kiss. May nodded and then put her forehead against his. “You’re so innocent
and cute,” she said smiling.
	Ash blushed a little. “How about we go back to the Pokémon Center and tell
everyone our news?” May agreed and they ventured the short distance back to the
Center. Once they arrived, they found that Max and Brock were both waiting for
them in the lobby. Max spotted them and raced toward them while Brock slowly
stood up from the couch he was sitting on and walked over calmly.
	Once they were all standing together Ash looked at May and Max looked to
Brock. “We have some news for you guys,” they all said in unison. They paused for a
moment and stared at each other. Max began to jump up and down. “Let me go
first!” he screamed.
	“Uhh...ok,” Ash said reluctantly. May was kind of disappointed that Ash didn’t
fight harder to tell their news first.
	Max cleared his throat. “The League of Pokémon Researchers and Scientists
have been given the difficult task og finding people to assemble the committee for this
years Pokémon Festival of Souls.”
	May folded her arms across her chest, “So?” she asked impatiently. She was
dying to tell everyone that her and Ash had become a couple, but her annoying
younger brother seemed to be an unavoidable obstacle.
	“So? SO?!” Max was getting excited, “They have personally e-mailed me and
asked me to join the committee!”
	“Wow,” Ash was certainly impressed, “That’s great Max!” May raised an
eyebrow to this and moved her hands to her hips. “Yeah, that’s great and all, but how
do they even know about you? You sure you didn’t just dream this up?” 
	Max stuck out his tongue at her remark. “Of course I didn’t dream it up! Since we’ve started
this little journey of ours I’ve been submitting numerous articles and essays to several different
magazines and newspapers such as the Golden Rod Times. Plus, I had dad put in a good word or
two at rival gyms.”
	May blinked a few times. She had no idea Max was talented enough to get anything
published. Why hadn’t he ever told her about any of this? Her thoughts then wondered to Ash. She
looked over to where he was standing, still talking to Max. She could tell that he was genuinely
happy for her younger brother and his smile was melting her heart. She had an incredible urge to just
walk over to him and kiss him all over his body. Before this became any more than an urge, Brock
spoke up. “So, Ash, what’s your news?”
	Ash thought for a moment. “Oh yeah! I almost forgot!” May’s heart dropped for an instant
at Ash’s clueless remark. How could he forget for even a second? She quickly decided to let it go
and simply smiled at him.
	Ash reached over and held her hand. Brock and Max didn’t say anything, but they looked at
the two strangely. They really didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. 
	“You guys,” Ash began, “Um...me and May are sorta going out now.” He then waited
silently for any kind of reply.
	Brock and Max were taken aback. Max’s mouth hung open but in the end he was speechless.
Brock just stared at them. Then, suddenly, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small
notepad. He slammed it down on a table close to him.
	“W-w-what’s that?” Ash felt a little nervous to be asking.
		Brock’s voice lost all emotion, “It’s Misty’s phone number. She called when you
were out.” Brock then turned towards the door and left to go back to their room without saying
another word.
	“M-Misty, huh?” May didn’t know what to say. She had heard of her, of course. She knew
who she was. An old friend of Ash and Brock. When she first met them, that name was all she heard.
Then suddenly, it just stopped. They didn’t bother talking about her anymore. She was just a
figment of the past. But, still, she didn’t see what the big deal was. “Well, that’s cool. She was your
old traveling buddy, right? But, what’s up with Brock?”
	Ash let go of May’s hand and looked at the notepad. After a brief moment, he shook his head
and looked back at May. “I don’t know. He’s a strange guy! I wouldn’t worry about it too much
though,” Ash was smiling again.
	“I’m gonna go check on Brock and start packing. I have to be at the train station by 6:00 am
tomorrow to meet with the rest of my committee, so I won’t see you guys until the festival,” Max
stated. Then he extended his hand to Ash. “Congratulations. Uh...take care of my sister,” he
mumbled as Ash shook his hand. Then he ran to catch up with Brock.
	“Well, at least Max is happy for us. Hmph! It doesn’t matter what they think anyway! All
that matters is that we’re happy, right Ash?” May said in a determined tone.
	‘Happy....How do you know when you’re happy? I’m happy aren’t I? Then...why do I feel
like there’s an empty pit in my stomach?’ Ash started to mentally question himself but was soon
interrupted by a request from May.
	“Ash, we should call your old friend. Wouldn’t she like to know that you’re doing ok and...”
She paused for a moment and then slipped her arms around his waste pulling herself closer to him
and pressing up against him seductively, “...and that you’ve finally found someone?”
	Ash was surprised by this. Words escaped him briefly as he concentrated on his own
thoughts. “Why exactly does she want me to call Misty? Misty...do I even want to call her? I mean, I
DO have someone now. Wait...why should that matter? Oh, my head hurts....”
	“Ash?” May sounded a little concerned.
	Ash quickly snapped out of his daze. “Oh, uh...May, I don’t think it’s such a good idea.”
	“Huh?” May released her hold on him and walked over to the table with the notepad on it.
“But, why wouldn’t you want to call her back? She left her number for you,” she said pointing to
the numbers neatly written across the paper.
	“I-It’s just complicated, OK?!” Ash said, raising his voice more than he had wanted to.
	May stood there, still. She could feel chills racing up and down her body. She wanted to
question him further, to know why he wanted to distance himself from his friend and why he had just
yelled at her. But she couldn’t. She bit her lip and stayed silent.
	“May...” Ash didn’t want to upset her, but calling Misty was something he had to do on his
own. He couldn’t explain it, but for some reason he felt that May couldn’t be there when he spoke to
Misty again for the first time since she’d left. “May, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into me,”
Ash put his hand behind his head embarrassedly. May didn’t say anything. “Come on, let’s go get
some lunch,” Ash said as he grabbed her hand. He remembered the notepad and quickly, but
discreetly, put it in his pocket. 
	They started walking out of the Center and looked for a decent and affordable fast food
restaurant. May forgot about the whole “Misty thing” and was enjoying her time alone with Ash.
She walked very close to him and held his hand tightly, as if someone might try to take him away.
But, even though he was with May, plotting to get alone and call Misty was all Ash could think
about.