MUCH ADO ABOUT A CRUSH

I don't own pokemon and all that jazz

A/N: This is my very first fanfic EVER! Please be kind in your feedback...and 
I hope you enjoy it! That's what keeps me writing

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

Ch 7

In Ash’s Room: 

	‘But why don’t you think they’re ready to know yet, Mist?’ asked Ash, 
giving me a curious look from his bed.
	‘ These are our best friends we’re talking about, Ash. How would YOU 
feel if two of your best friends just decided to hook up all of the sudden?’ 
I cried frantically.
	‘It was almost 11.30 am. Mrs. Ketchum had proposed that we have a late 
brunch and I had offered to help clean Ash’s room. (I’m always a little off 
when I wake up…I’m not a morning person.)
	Little did I know that when I said I would “help”, I was signing myself 
up for almost an hour-and-a-half of walking around in circles, throwing 
clothes into the hamper and making frequent trips downstairs to empty the 
hamper again; picking up rotten pieces of who-knows-what from under the bed 
and washing my hands every time whatever-it-was had been safely disposed of; 
wiping the dust of everything and rearranging his table, closet (which was 
fun, actually…whenever Ash left the room…) and bookshelf. And I did this, all 
without so much as a drop of help from little Ashy-boy! 
	He just sat there on his bed, giving me cute, sheepish grins at odd 
intervals. I really couldn’t bring myself to make him get up! So, I decided 
that at least his brain should do some work for once!
I had requested him not to tell our friends about us until I was sure that 
they would be comfortable. So, here we were…
‘But it’s because they’re our best friends that they’ll understand,’ sighed 
Ash, leaning back against the wall.
I sighed, tossing the last of his dirty, mismatched socks into the hamper.
‘Could we please just wait until I’m ready? Please?’ I pleaded, sitting on 
the bed next to him and resting my head on his shoulder. 
	He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and let out a long “whoosh” of 
air. ‘Okay…,’ he sighed dejectedly.
	‘Why do you say it like that? Like you’ve lost something?’ I asked, 
surprised at how comfortable I was in his arms. 
	‘Because, as our friends, they deserve to know before anyone else…’
‘Or…maybe you just want to show me off?’ I suggested, my nose grazing his 
cheek.
	‘Yeah…that too,’ he whispered, turning toward me. He pressed forward 
and brought his lips down on mine. I ran my hands through his dark, spiky 
hair. He let his hands stray to my waist…
	Who knows where that kiss might have led.
I certainly don’t. Because, right then, Duplica decided to open the door and 
walk in. Luckily, we were at opposite ends of the bed before she caught us. 
	‘Your mom says to tell you that breakfast is almost ready, Ash,’ she 
said, her voice lacking of all emotion. 
Then, she turned to me dispassionately and said, ‘What are you doing in here, 
anyway? People are going to get a bad idea, you know.’ 
	‘No, no! I cleaned his room, see?’ I indicated the floor.
‘Ah…o-okay…you’re acting a little ‘Brock-ish” this morning…maybe you’re just 
hungry.’ She shrugged and walked out of the room…and I started breathing 
again.
‘That was close, huh?’ I asked, smiling with relief. The smile vanished when 
I saw Ash’s expression.
‘We can’t keep doing this, Misty. We HAVE to tell them!’
‘Why, so we can make-out in your room?
	‘EXACTLY!!’ 
I gave him what I hoped was a disbelieving glare.
	‘I mean…no…ahhh…It’s just...Not that…*sigh* I can’t come up with 
another reason right now…’
	I rolled my eyes and left the room. I didn’t want to let him find out 
that it was reason enough for me too…”Maybe we should tell them?”

*************************************************
	
Breakfast Table:
	
	‘Ahhh. Pechan berry pie…,’ gushed Gary, delighted, inhaling the 
uplifting aroma deeply. ‘True heaven on earth.’ *drool*
	‘Why, thank you,’ said Brock. ‘Oh! Duplica, did you tell them breakfast 
is ready?’
	‘Yeah,’ sighed Duplica, collapsing into a chair and resting her chin on 
the table. ‘Guess who I caught making out!’ she said acidly, an evil smile 
erupting across her face.
	‘WHO?!’ cried Brock (popping out of the kitchen), Richie (rushing in 
through the back door), Tracey (without taking his eyes off the TV) and Mrs. 
Ketchum (from the garden looking up through the kitchen window).
	Gary was too busy gulping Qualot juice to be bothered. Duplica gave 
them all confused looks. ‘Who else?? Ash and Misty, duh!’
	The reaction was instantaneous…and alarming.
	Gary sprayed juice across the clean, white room. Brock, surprisingly 
unconcerned about the mess, hisses ‘Yesss,’ and jumped around the table, 
grabbed Richie by the arms and began dancing around with him. Mrs. Ketchum 
and Pikachu both gave high-pitched, joyful squeals from the garden and rushed 
into the house to celebrate, garden shovels in hand. 
Tracey bothered to switch off the TV (ignoring the loud, petulant protests 
from Sparky and Ditto) and ran into the dining room, slipped on Qualot juice 
and landed flat on his butt. At that, Duplica and Gary went into mad peals of 
laughter…and none of them ordained, at any time, that Ash and Mist might 
actually hear them… 

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

Upstairs:
	
	I was heading to the top of the staircase, continuing my internal 
debate as to whether or not Ash and I should tell our friends about our new 
relationship when, there was a sudden eruption of screaming from downstairs. 
I stopped dead in my tracks.
	“What in all-of-heck was that?!” I thought. 
‘Misty, what was that noise? Are you all right?!’ Ash cried, as he came 
flying out of his room, panic-stricken. 
‘I have no clue.’
We hurtled down the stairs and sprinted to the dining room…where everyone was 
calmly helping themselves to pechan berry pie…
	The first thing I noticed was that they were all being unnaturally 
quiet…
‘What was with the yelling?’ I asked.
	‘Yeah, and why is this place so sticky…?’ Ash cried, looking at the 
floor suspiciously.
	‘What “yelling”? There was no “yelling” here,’ said Brock, avoiding 
eye-contact as he cut a slice of pie, placed it on a plate and pushed it 
towards Ash. Ash, of course, took the bait…and began stuffing his face  -_-…
 	‘We both heard a loud scream…’ I glared pointedly at each one of them.
Duplica sighed. ‘Fine, fine…I’ll tell you what really happened,’ she 
declared. 
	The moment the words left her mouth, Gary began chocking on his pie. 
The others (including Mrs. Ketchum – who was, strangely enough, wearing a 
large sun-hat) immediately ripped their eyes from their plates and stared 
daggers at her.
	‘What really happened was that…Gary was being a pig and drank his 
qualot juice too fast. He chocked and sprayed juice all over the place. 
Tracey slipped on juice and fell…so we all laughed. Is there a problem with 
that, Misty?’ she blinked pointedly. 
	I wanted to ask why Brock, being the neat-freak that he is, hadn’t 
cleaned the room yet…but quite honestly, I didn’t care. ‘We were just 
worried, that’s all,’ I said, ‘Weren’t we Ash?’
	Ash, however, was far too busy romancing his pie to notice anything 
happening around him. So, I pulled up a chair, sat down and had some 
delicious pechan pie for myself.

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

Later That Day:

Around noon, I was sitting in the living room reading a silly magazine 
article about how to make yourself more appealing by doing ridiculous things 
such as rubbing tamato berry juice on your lips and stuff, when Gary walked 
in all innocent and sat beside me.
	Now, I may not have known Gary for very long but, I knew him enough to 
know that, if he was trying to act innocent, something was up…
‘So, what’s up?’ I asked, putting the stupid magazine away and turning to 
look at him.
	He looked around the room quickly, (reminding me of a ratata evading a 
predator) making sure that no one else was in the room. Then, he turned to me 
and said softly, ‘It’s here.’
	‘What’s here?’
‘The book.’
	‘What book?’
‘THE book…’
	I furrowed my eyebrows. ‘What are you talking about?’
He sat up straighter and stared at me. ‘You really don’t know what I’m 
talking about.’
	‘Well…obviously.’ I rolled my eyes. ‘You think I like playing this game 
with you?’ 
	‘Misty,’ he said firmly, as he grabbed my shoulders, ‘THE book. Ash’s 
book. His BIRTHDAY GIFT…you DO remember tomorrow is his birthday, don’t 
you!?’ He gave me a little shake.
	‘Ohmigodness! I completely forgot…AGAIN!!’ I gasped, my shoulders 
drooping. ‘ihatemyself…’ I mumbled forlornly…
	 Gary just shook me harder, but his voice was gentler as he said, ‘Get 
a grip, Red! That’s what we’re here for. Remember US? Your “friends”? The 
people who will always be here for you, both of you? We’ve got your back. The 
book is wrapped and ready to be gifted, so relax, okay?’
	I could feel my eyes beginning to burn with tears I knew would never 
fall. I looked up at him and realized he was right. They were my friends…yes, 
including Gary. They may be a group of oddballs, but they were my oddballs. I 
threw my arms around Gary’s neck. ‘Thanks, Gary. You’re right. You guys are 
the best friends we could ask for,’ I sobbed into his shoulder, ‘And, you 
know what, Ash and I have an announcement to make tomorrow. You guys deserve 
to know…because you’re our friends!’
	He wrapped his arms around me. Suddenly, I felt him begin to push me 
away. I looked up to see Ash standing in the doorway. ‘What are you guys 
doing…?’

***************************************************************** 
A/N: before you start thinking I’m doing this whole ‘cliffhanger’ thing, let 
me just remind you that this whole story is supposed to be light and fun, not 
a big drama…so just relax and don’t let your imagination run away with you! 
I’ll let you in on a little secret…*I’m a big sucker for happy 
endings*…shhhhh……. X3

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