What I Want For My Birthday

By Finaille Nailo

A/N- This is in Misty’s POV. So when you see an "I", it’s Misty talking. Some people seem to have trouble with that...

I smile as I look out the window. It was a little less than a week until my 15th birthday. I was extremely excited, because my mother wrote me telling me she would come for my birthday. I haven’t seen my mother in six years. We occasionally write, maybe once or twice a year, but no contact. My mother used to be the old gym leader, but then got sick of her job and decided to move away, leaving me and my sisters with our father. Of course, within about two months of her leaving, our father died. No one in our family, not Daisy, Violet, Lily, or I have ever been able to tell our mother about our father. We didn’t want her to worry. Of course, unfortunately she will have to know when she comes. Oh well, life isn’t perfect; it’s never going to be.

I’m also excited for the fact Ash and Brock will be there. Since we broke up our party after the Johto league, this will be our first meeting. What’s it been now, close to two years? I don’t know why we decided to break up, things were going extremely well, but I guess destiny had its toll to take.

I stare at the clock. Ash and Brock should be arriving in about an hour. I’m nervous about seeing both of them again, but happy. Yes, I know, it’s a little pathetic of me.

So who am I you ask? My name is Misty Yawa. I’m 14, soon to be 15, as you should already know. I am about 5’5". I have bright red hair... actually it’s more of a red-orange color, and aqua colored eyes. I’m one of the four gym leaders at the Cerulean Gym. The others are my sisters. We make the four Sensational Sisters, or as my sisters love to say, the three Sensational Sisters and the runt, since I’m the youngest. My sisters, believe it or not, are actually fraternal triplets. Fraternal means they are not identical, but they were born around the same time. Ah, you aren’t interested in that now, are you?

I start to fall asleep on my bed when I hear the doorbell ring. I bolt downstairs, and run to the door. When I open it, Ash and Brock are standing there.

"ASH! BROCK! It’s you!!! And you’re early!!!" I yell excitedly. They both hug me, and I take them to our living room. We all sit down, Ash sits next to me on a couch, and Brock sits in my dad’s old chair. We are sort of silent for a while, since all of us have no clue what to say. Brock finally talks.

"So, um, Misty, how have you been?" Brock asks me.

"Good. How bout’ you guys?" I ask back.

"Good." They both reply in unison.

"That’s cool." I say. " I really missed you guys. Things were really weird when I left you two." I said. They grinned, as I added, " I missed slamming you guys in the head with my mallet."

"Yeah... great..." Ash says. As I look at Ash, I noticed he has changed a lot from when I last saw him. I guessed he has grown at least six inches, now standing a little bit taller than I. He just turned 14 a couple of months ago (I’m older than him by nine months), and he really looks like he’s your average 14 year old hottie... wait... did I just say HOTTIE? " Oh my god, I just did. Oh well, I will pretend that I never just said that... thank god he can’t read minds.

As I focus my attention to Brock, I noticed he has changed very little. His hair might have gotten a bit darker, and I think he’s a little taller. Maybe he isn’t girl crazy anymore! Nah, that’s impossible.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" I ask.

"I've been traveling around." Ash says.

"I’ve been running the gym." Brock says.

"Yeah, me too." I tell Brock. " Did you get the trainer from Houen? Man, she was tough!"

"Uh, you mean Amber?" Brock asks. I nod. Brock turns a little red and looks down.

"What’s wrong?" I ask.

"Uh, Amber is sort of... my girlfriend." Brock mumbles. I look at Ash, and he looks at me. We both knew exactly what to say next.

"BROCK’S GOTTA GIRLFRIEND! BROCK’S GOT A GIRLFRIEND!" Ash and I shout.

"Hey, it’s not the end of the world!" Brock says.

"We had a bet going that you’d NEVER get a girlfriend!" Ash says.

"Yeah, but the nice thing was we both bet you wouldn’t." I add.

"So, doesn’t that mean I get the money?" Brock asks.

"We didn’t exactly bet money, just in case we lost." Ash says.

"We bet... WORMS!!" I yell. Brock falls over in embarrassment. Ash and I high-five each other.

"Oh yeah! Go us!" We yell.

"It seems like you guys are getting along much better than before." Brock says.

"Uh..." We both say, and I blush a little.

"Sure." I say. " Are you sure about that?" I ask Brock. Brock shrugs. Ash looks at me with a smile, and winks. My heart sort of jumped in surprise. What did he do that for?

"So, when does the party start?" Ash asks.

"Let’s see, Friday night." I say.

"Then why did you make us come four days early?" Ash asks.

"To spend time with you guys, duh!" I say.

"Then what should we do?" Brock asks.

"I dunno..." Ash and I remark.

"Figures. Why don’t we just see what we can do around town?" Brock suggests.

"Sounds good." I say. Ash nods. So we leave my house, and decide to take a small road trip to Celadon for the day. Brock actually got a car for his 19th birthday, so now we can go pretty much anywhere in Kanto.

So, on the drive to Celadon, Ash and I decide to sit in the back, so we can have a "private" chat.

"So Misty, how has the last two years been in Cerulean?" Ash asks.

"They’ve been ok. Of course, I always missed you." I say. Whoops, I should have said Brock too!!

"Me?" Ash asks in shock.

"I meant... you AND Brock." I say, sort of lying through my teeth.

"Well, I missed you guys too." Ash says, giving me a hug. I hug him back.

"So, who did you date?" I asked him.

"Huh?" Ash asks in confusion.

"Come on, you’ve been gone for two whole years and you haven’t dated anyone?" I ask.

"No." He looks down at the seat. "I sort have been waiting for someone else I’ve liked."

"Yeah, same situation here." I say, also looking down.

"What’s the guy’s name?" Ash asks. My eyes pop open.

"Uh, it’s nothing." I say.

"Nothing? That’s a very interesting name." Ash says. I poke him.

"His name isn’t Nothing! I just don’t wanna say it." I say. "So what’s the girl’s name?" I ask him.

"I really don’t wanna bring it up either." He says.

"Oh, well, that’s fine." I say.

"Yeah." He says. He looks into my eyes for a moment, and smiles.

"I see you aren’t the little runt anymore. You’ve actually gotten quite cute." Ash says. I blush.

"Yeah, you’ve gotten... a bit cuter." I say. When I realize what I just said, I cupped my mouth.

"Wait a second... have you always thought I was cute?" Ash asks, realizing what I just said.

"Well... I don’t know." I say quickly.

"You did, didn’t you?" he asks. I stay silent. He grins as he picks up a piece of hair that has fallen on my face, and tucks it behind my left ear. I smile back at him. He moves closer to me, inching slowing. His nose was about to touch mine...

"You guys! We’re in Celadon!" Brock yells. Ash and I both jump back.

"Jeez Brock! Scare us half to death why don’t you?" I scream.

"Sorry, thought you guys wouldn’t hear me if I didn’t. Looks like you two were getting it on back there." Brock says with a grin.

"Oh shut up." I say, as my face is flushing a bright red.

"We were just talking." Ash says.

"Oh, don’t take it so seriously. You know I was only kidding around. I wasn’t even watching you." Brock says. Ash and I look at each other and breathe a sigh of relief.

So we have a really fun day in Celadon. And we have a really fun week too! So two nights before my birthday, we decided to go to a dance club to have some fun. We get back to my house late, around 1:00am. When we get in the house, Brock decides to go to bed right away. Ash and I decide to stay downstairs and watch T.V. and talk for the time being. We both sit on a couch and I grab the remote. I throw it to Ash.

"Ash, you can choose. There’s never anything decent on at this time anyways." I say.

"Nah, I agree with you. Why don’t I just turn on the radio?" Ash suggests.

"Sure, sounds good." I say. He turns the radio on and sits next to me on the couch.

"So uh, today was fun." Ash says. I nod my head in agreement.

"It was." I say.

"Misty, may I ask you something?" Ash asks me.

"Well, why wouldn’t you?" I ask back. Ash smiles at me.

"Good point. Well, I told you about the girl I like, right?"

"Well, sort of." I reply back.

"Well, I think I should tell her how I feel, but I’m afraid she doesn’t like me the way I feel for her." He tells me, looking directly in my eyes. I hug him and I don’t let go.

"Well, maybe she’ll feel the same way about you. The worst she can say is she doesn’t like you." I say. He puts his hands on my shoulders.

"I only wish... she argues with me, we always get into fights... and more." He says.

"Kinda like us when we were a few years younger." I say. Ash’s grip on my shoulders gets a little tighter.

"Yeah, kinda like us. So are you saying I should tell her that I like her?" Ash asks me.

"Yeah." I say.

"Misty?"

"Yes, Ash?"

"I...I...I’m glad we’re friends."

"Me too." I say, and I kiss him on the cheek. "We’ll always be friends." He touches his cheek shyly, and I smile.

"If you want to, since you’re tired, you can lean on my shoulder." He says. I get in a lying position, and so does he. I rest my head on his shoulder, and he puts his arm around me.

"Ash?" I ask. I get no reply. "Ash?" I ask again. I look at him and smile. "He’s asleep..." I say to myself. I kiss him very lightly, so I wouldn’t wake him up. I whisper, "I love you." And I fall asleep.

The next morning I woke up, still in Ash’s arms. I nudge him, and he groans.

"Ash! Wake up!" I yell. He opens his eyes.

"Morning Misty." He says. I stand up and he sits up. "Is Brock up yet?"

"I dunno. I just got up too. Come on, I’ll fix breakfast." I say.

"Sounds great!" Ash says excitedly.

"Sound’s like you’re still the boy who eats a ton." I say with a grin.

"Yup, that’s me!" Ash says.

"Well, come on. You can help me." I say, helping Ash up off the couch. We go into the kitchen. I dig around the cabinets, and find some pancake mix. While I was making the pancakes, Ash was making eggs. Shortly after we get started, Brock walks in.

"Hey guys!" Brock says.

"Morning Brock!" Ash and I say in unison.

"Did you guys sleep well?" Brock asks with a mischievous smile.

"Uh... yeah." I say.

"Ok, whaddya giving us that evil smirk for?" Ash asks. Brock holds up a piece of paper. I snatch it, and it’s a picture of Ash and I last night on the couch, asleep. I give it to Ash.

"I was going downstairs to get a snack or something, and I found you two sleeping together on the couch. Nothing went on..." Brock says, being cut off.

"... We did absolutely nothing!" I say, pushing him into the living room. " Now you sit down and I’ll tell you when breakfast is ready." I run back into the kitchen.

"Uh... I can’t believe he did that." Ash says, still looking at the picture.

"Oh well, it’s just us sleeping." I say, pretending not to care.

"I guess." He says. "So Misty, whatcha want for your birthday?"

"A boyfriend." I say somewhat sarcastically, and laugh.

"You wish!" Ash says, grinning. I throw a towel at him. "Maybe you’ll get what you want. But I don’t know, I can’t predict the future."

"That would be scary if you could predict the future. But like usual you’d probably screw something up." I say with a cute smile plastered on my face. He hugs me from behind.

"I’ll pretend like I never heard that." He says, still not letting go of his grip. "So when’s your mom coming?’

"I think sometime around 3:00 tomorrow." I say. He turns me around so I’m facing him, but keeps his arms around my shoulders.

"That must be really exciting to look forward to." He says, putting his forehead on mine. Then all of a sudden we hear this really muffled laugh. We look to the kitchen entrance and Brock is standing there, wide-eyed and staring at us.

"We shall attack!" I say, and Ash and I pounce on Brock. After some clearing out... as in my terms kicking Brock out of the house temporarily, Ash and I realize we were the only ones home.

"Maybe it wasn’t smart to kick Brock out..." Ash says.

"Oh well. Maybe now he won’t spy on us every five seconds." I say. We laugh.

"So, wanna do anything?" Ash asks.

"Yeah, why don’t we go to Cerulean Lake and go swimming for the afternoon." I suggest.

"I really like that idea." Ash says. After we get our swimsuits, we head out of the door and start our walk to the lake, about a fifteen-minute walk. Ash asks again what I want for my birthday.

"So Misty, tell me what you really want for your birthday." Ash tells me.

"You..." I say, knowing he wouldn’t understand.

"I...?" He asks, somewhat puzzled.

"Oh never mind. I like jewelry, but not real jewels..." I say. "I mean, I like them, but I’m not saying to get real ones." I say.

"Ok chill. So you’re saying like a necklace or a bracelet or something." Ash asks me.

"Yeah, that’s right." I say. We get to the lake. He decides to get in the water, while I sit in the sand and tan. I sit there for about 45 minutes, quietly, when Ash comes up and sits next to me.

"Doesn’t tanning get boring?" He asks me.

"No, not really. I usually like to think about things when I tan." I tell him.

"Things... what things?" He asks. I blush. He continues. "Maybe I should tan, I have a lot on my mind too." He lies on his stomach, and props his head up with his arms. Then he looks at me.

"Like... what?" I ask, a little confused.

"Girl problems." He says.

"Who’s the girl? Maybe I can help out." I suggest.

"You know the girl... there is no doubt about that. It’s just that I don’t know..." He says, looking down.

"Well, don’t feel bad. I’m having a lot of guy problems too." I tell him.

"Well, ok, there is one thing I left out last night. I think the girl I like might like me back. I sort of want to ask her out on a date tonight." He says. My eyes pop open.

"Oh..." I say. "I was really hoping he might have liked me... but apparently this girl lives around here." I think to myself.

"What’s wrong?" He asks, while putting his arm around my shoulder.

"Nothing." I say. He hugs me, but continues to hold me in his embrace.

"Doesn’t look like nothing." He says, smiling at me. I look into his eyes and we both lean forward a little...

"MOMMY! LOOK! THOSE PEOPLE ARE KISSING!" A voice says. Ash and I, both startled by that comment, jump apart. A little girl of about four was pointing at us. Her mom came up and took her away, scolding her. Ash and I look at each other and laugh.

"I remember when I used to do that." I say, grinning.

"Yeah. Those days were always so much fun." Ash says back.

"Dare I say this, but did she actually say we were kissing?" I ask. Ash looks away, but I know he’s blushing.

"Maybe..." He says, in a very soft voice. He looks up at me. "Could we uh, try that again?"

"Try what again?" I ask, knowing exactly what he wants.

"The kiss." He says, turning extremely red. I look into his eyes, and he leans forward and kisses me. We don’t hold it; it was very quick. As soon as we broke the kiss, we stayed really quiet for a few minutes. I was in shock. I was not expecting this event at all.

"Wow... that was... really interesting." I say.

"It was... nice..." He says. We both look away, but in 30 seconds, I looked back at him. He did the exact same thing. We kissed once more, and we held it a few moments longer.

"Misty, was that your first kiss?" He asks me as soon as we break it.

"Yeah, it was. Yours?" I ask back. He nods. He takes my hand. "Come on, let’s go for a walk. I don’t like sitting here forever."

"You’re right. Let’s go." We gather our stuff, and go for that walk. He never let go of my hand...

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That night, I was watching T.V. I still had what happened earlier in the day on my mind. He only kissed me twice, but my heart felt the same way as when he did kiss me. I didn’t know what to do. I was trying to avoid him most of the night, hiding in my bedroom. But he left with Brock about a half-hour ago, so I had the house to myself.

I look up at the ceiling, wondering if this is just some crazy dream in my mind. I sigh, while a tear runs down my cheek. All of a sudden I hear a door slam. I get up and run to my bedroom. It wasn’t too long until someone knocked on my door.

"Who is it?" I ask grumpily.

"It’s Brock!" Brock yells. I sigh.

"Come in." I yell back. Brock walks in the door.

"Hey, you ok?" He asks me.

"I think so..." I tell him.

"Ash told me what happened."

"Oh, he did?"

"Yeah. He wouldn’t stop talking about it in the car. Mist, I don’t know if you’ve realized this but Ash is in love with you!" He yells at me.

"That’s not possible..." I say.

"Well it IS! You have had your mind in the clouds too these days. Is there something I should know?" He asks me. I blush.

"No, uh, what are you talking about?" I ask him, lying through my teeth.

"Misty, tell me now, please!" He says. "Or I’ll tickle you..."

"Ok, ok, I like Ash!" I yell loudly. He might have heard that...

"Well, we finally have it out. Now how come you haven’t been saying anything to him?" He asks me.

"I dunno, I guess I really don’t think I should." I reply.

"Girl, he is obsessed with you!" Brock yells at me.

"Yeah, and how should I believe that?" I ask. He grimaces.

"Do you really want to know why I know?" He asks me.

"Sure... I guess..." I say. "It’s NOT anything that would embarrass him or nothing... right?" I ask.

"Well... uh, maybe. I sort of found his journal." He says, handing it to me.

"You read it???" I ask, surprised.

"Yes." He says. I smack him on the head with my mallet.

"That’s invading his privacy!!!" I yell.

"I’m doing this for your guys’ sake! I’m sick of you guys not saying anything!!! Now turn to the last three pages he wrote!!!" He yells. "Maybe NOW you’ll believe me..."

"Fine, just don’t blow up on me..." I say, opening his journal. I slowly read his last journal entry, dating yesterday. I finish reading in extreme shock.

"Told ya so..." Brock says with a smirk on his face.

"Wow..." I say... then my mind realized something. Did Brock do the exact same thing to Ash, with my journal??? I run to my drawer, and look around. My journal wasn’t there. I turn and glare at Brock.

"What now?" He asks me. I pull out my mallet.

"I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THE SAME THING TO ASH!!!" I say, cursing at him. Brock gives me a scared look.

"Uh, I gotta call Amber... um, bye!!!" He says, running out of my room.

"I gotta talk to Ash..." I say to myself.

******************************************************************************

The next morning I wake up hearing a crash.

"Oh crap, what could that be?" I ask myself, pulling my clothes on and grabbing my brush as I walk out the room. I look around, trying to figure out where the noise came from. I look around downstairs with no luck. I go back upstairs and check my sisters’ room. Nothing. So I decide to check the guestroom, where Ash and Brock were sleeping. I figured if every place else I checked didn’t have anything that could of caused a crash, it was probably Ash’s fault. So I open the door to their room. I check Brocks’ side first. Nothing, he wasn’t even there. I look at Ash’s side. I start to laugh, because he fell off his bed. I go over to him, and kneel down next to him. I shake him lightly.

"Mom! I don’t need anymore underwear... go away... huh?" He says, slowly waking up.

"Mornin’ sleepy-head." I say with a grin.

"Oh hi Misty. Happy birthday!" He says, giving me a hug.

"Thanks." I say, hugging him back.

"What time is it anyways?" He asks me.

"It’s 11:30am." I tell him.

"Bleh, too early..." He says.

‘Oh well, time to wake up anyways." I say, smiling. He gets dressed (not in front of me...) and we head downstairs.

"So where did Brock go?" I ask.

"I have no clue. He said he had to pick up somebody and something before the birthday party." He says.

"Lemme guess, Amber and my birthday present?" I ask.

"Hey, I said I had no clue... but that was my guess too." Ash says. "So, you’re mom’s coming in about three hours. Excited?" He asks me.

"Yeah, I guess." I say. All of a sudden the phone rings. I pick it up.

"Hi mom! Uh, yeah, thanks! What! Why can’t you? You have a meeting? There is no way you can cancel? I guess, I’ll keep my eye out for it. I’ll talk to you later. Bye." I say, hanging up the phone. Tears well in my eyes.

"Hey, something wrong?" Ash asks me.

"My mom can’t come. She has an important meeting..." I tell him, tears now falling down my cheeks. He puts him arms around me.

"It’ll be ok. I still care about you." He says, looking at me in the eye.

"What?" I ask, in confusion.

"Maybe I should give you my birthday present now, since nobody is around. Misty, I love you!" He says. My heart pounds loudly in the quietness that followed.

"You... do?" I ask. He nods.

"I’ve always loved you. Well, maybe not always, at first I thought you were annoying, but that changed. But, you don’t feel the same way, do you?" He looks at me, a little disappointment glimmering in his eyes. I smile.

"Are you kidding!?" I yell. " I feel the exact same way!" He leads me to the couch, and sits right next to me, keeping his arms around my waist. He kisses me, and I feel years of love in that kiss.

"Misty, when I leave, you have to promise to keep in touch with me. I promise I’ll do that for you." Ash tells me.

"I promise I’ll keep in touch too." I say. He smiles and takes my hand.

"Since I told the others to leave until tonight, why don’t we go up into your room." He says with a sly smile on his face. I smile, and he carries me up to my room...

A/N- No nothing happened, so you know. I’m too young to go into that!!! I’m only fifteen people!!! Oh, info to where the story came from!! The starting date... May 13, 2003, which is (was) my fifteenth birthday. That’s where my idea came from... but you should know that. Yes, I know a lot of you probably thought I was younger. I’m a bit different for my age, but I still obsess about my hair, my clothes, and a lot more (boys, boys, BOYS!!! J/k). I’m your average ninth grader (well, now tenth), with a few small twists ^^ LOL. Well email me at rcangel13@hotmail.com with a review. Thanks for reading!! Oh, and more news! There is a sequel to this that will be out really soon!