An Unusual Turn of Events
Chapter 8: Two best men? Or two...?
by Kenshin

"Wow! I didn't know you could do that!" exclaimed Ash, looking at Misty with a surprised expression on his face. "Duh, Ash!" said Misty, "Sometimes I worry about you." Ash scratched his head, "Yeah, but that's just because you love me, right?" "Well...." Misty began. "Right?!" asked Ash. "....Mostly" Misty finished teasingly. "Anyway," said Ash, shrugging off Misty's jab at him, "I'm glad we have that problem out of the way." "Me, too," said Misty, "Wanna make out?" she giggled.

"Ummm, do we have time to? I thought we had an appointment with the wedding planner," said Ash, sounding more than a little disappointed. "Ash Ketchum, you better kiss me right now or we won't have a *reason* to see the wedding planner!" Misty said warningly. "Yes, dear," said Ash, trying to sound monotone, but the excitement in his voice was bleedingly through. He leaned in and kissed her. Each of them could feel the other's heart racing.

"But don't blame me if we're late," said Ash as he broke the kiss and quickly kissed her again to avoid a reply.

"Ash?" Ash looked over at his fiance as she stared at the ceiling. "Yes, Mist? Are you upset that we missed our appointment?" Ash asked. "No, I wasn't even thinking of that...but it's your fault," she said. "No, it's not. You're the one who wanted to make out. And besides, I told you not to blame me if we were late." "I know, but we weren't late, we just plain missed it. And all I wanted to do was make out. You're the one that..." "Okay, okay. I get the point. But if you weren't thinking about that, what were you thinking about?"

"James." "WHAT?! We just...and you were thinking about *JAMES*?!" Ash didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. 'Why is she thinking about James?' "Ash! Not like that!" "...Oh" Misty propped herself up on her elbows and tilted her head to look at him lying beside her. Her hair cascaded down over her shoulder, making her look even more attractive to him. "Ash?" she looked worried as a big, idiotic grin spread across his face and his eyes went blank.

*WHACK* "Ow!" "Sorry, but you were zoning out!" she said, putting on her best pouting face. His grin started to grow again. "ASH!" "Huh? Oh, sorry." "Seriously, I was thinking about how we could thank him for getting us together," "Oh, I see," said Ash, "But what can we do? I mean, he's already a best man in our wedding." "Well, I was thinking that we could help him like he helped us," she began. "Uhhh...you want to kidnap him, tie him up, and leave him in an abandoned building?" asked Ash. "No, silly. I want to help him get together with his true love!" "Oh," said Ash again. "Here's what I was thinking that we could do......" she began.

"Alright, is everything ready?" asked Ash. It was the night of the rehearsal dinner and he was triple-checking to make sure everything was perfect. "Yes, Ash, *everything* is ready," said Misty, winking at him. 'God, she's beautiful. She must have something special planned for after the dinner,' he thought, temporarily forgetting their plan. '...oh, yeah...' he remembered.

"Ash, the caterers are here," Delia called from offscre...err, I mean the next room. "Oh, okay. Be right there..." Ash called to her. "Are you sure this is gonna work, Mist?" Ash asked for the tenth time this evening. "Of course it will work! I came up with it didn't I?" she said poutilly. "Yeah..." said Ash, "but what if it doesn't work?" "Ash! Don't worry about it! He'll be so nervous he won't notice until it's too late." "Okay...well, I better go see about the caterers. See you in a few minutes," he said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. Misty blushed as he walked away.

'That's the first time he's kissed me on the cheek...Wow! I didn't realize he's only kissed me on the mouth until now!' Her face was still red when Jessie walked up. "Hey, twerp. Have you seen James?" "No, I haven't," she said. "Okay, I'll check the bathroom. He might be hiding in there," she said. "Jeez, he's so pathetic...it's not even his wedding and he's getting nervous..." she said to herself as she wandered off in search of her partner. 'That was close... good thing I was still blushing from that kiss. I think I got a shade redder when she asked about James.'

"Okay, boys, time for your speeches," said Mr. Slate, Brock's father. "Brock, you go first," said James, nervously fidgeting in his seat. "Okay," began Brock, clearing his throat as he stood us and surveyed the plethora of familiar (and a few unfamiliar) faces as they turned their attention to him.

"I've known Ash for a *long* time now, and I can tell you, I have only one word to describe this party....FINALLY! I've been trying to get these two together for *years*, but it finally happened! Not only have they realized that they love each other and couldn't stand to be apart, but they've also decided to go ahead and tie the knot! Even *I* didn't think that their romance would take off *this* quickly! But seriously...Ash, Misty, I'm really happy for you two. I don't think that I know of a better pair of friends, companions, or soulmates anywhere." Brock finished his speech with a flourish of his hand towards his best friend, then sat back down. "Your turn James," he whispered.

"Uhhh...I don't think I can stand up!" James whispered back. "James! Get up and do your speech!" yelled Jessie, "Honestly, do I have to do everything for you?" "Yipe!" said James as he shot to his feet, accompanied by light laughter from a few people around the table. "*AHEM-HEM*" James began. "Get on with it James!" Jessie said testily. "I..." his voice cracked, "I've know Ash for a while now, ever since we first tried to...uhh...appropriate Pikachu..." "You mean steal him, right?" yelled Gary. "Gary, be quiet!" Professor Oak hissed at his grandson. "Errr..." James continued, "I've always thought of Ash as a worthy rival, but one thing always bothered me about him. You see, when I first saw him, he was traveling with a girl. 'Wow,' I thought back then, 'what a lucky guy to have such a cute girlfriend.' But I was wrong...Misty was following him around because he broke her bike. At least, that's what she told him. But deep down, I could tell that she liked him. I had lots of encounters with the twe...*gulp* Ash and his friends, but each time I could tell that their feelings had grown. They just wouldn't admit it to themselves." 'Wow, James has really gotten into his speech,' thought Ash, '...boy is he in for a surprise!'

At this point James had gone through three notecards of his speech. He continued as he flipped to the fourth: "Just like I could never bring myself to admit that I love my partner Jessie until now...." James' voice trailed off as he realized what he had just read out loud. 'Where did this notecard come from?' he thought frantically, 'this isn't my handwriting!' He looked up at Jessie, who was beginning to stand up and had a weird expression on her face.

Instantly, James' reflexes went into action and he cringed, waiting for a dose of pain...that never came. Slowly, he lowered his guard and peered over at Jessie. 'She's...' Jessie's eyes were filled with tears. "James...did you mean that? Really?" Jessie asked, voice full of hope. "Jessie, I...I'm.... actually, yes, I did!" he was shocked to here himself admit. 'Whoever did this...THANK YOU!'

"James..." "Jessie..." They began to drift toward one another, eyes watering. *GAG!* "Gary!" Professor Oak sounded appauled, "That is not the kind of behavior I expect out of you!" However, Jessie and James seemed completely oblivious to everyone else in the room....

"Ummm, maybe somebody should snap them out of it before they do something... embarassing?" asked Brock. Suddenly, James and Jessie looked around and realized that they should probably wait to elaborate on their feelings for one another. "Eh heh-heh. So, uh, where was I?" asked James.

TO BE CONTINUED?!