A New Dream

Mostly Ghostly: Dawn's POV

I groaned when my alarm went off and blinked sleepily. Looking around I realized that I was in my bed and the covers were over me, even though the last thing I remembered was talking to Paul on the couch. With a small smile, I pushed off the blanket and quickly got changed into the outfit I had chosen for my pokemon league debut. Since it was pretty cold I'd gone with a white, faux leather jacket with three-quarter length sleeves and it was open to expose the dark red undershirt I was wearing with dark wash skinny jeans and white ankle boots. Then I braided my hair and draped it over my right shoulder to complete the look.

Once I was sure I looked okay I quickly went down to the building's lobby where I called Professor Rowan and exchanged my pokemon for the six that I had decided on for the preliminary rounds today. With that done there was still an hour before the Pokemon League was going to start, but when I peeked into the cafeteria I didn't see any sign of Paul. 

I walked quickly up to his room and knocked on his door. Slowly I counted to ten and then knocked. After another ten seconds went by I chewed my lip and slowly reached my hand to the doorknob. To my surprise, it turned easily and I swallowed, glancing up and down the hall where a few trainers were walking out of their rooms and heading to the cafeteria.

Taking a breath I slowly pushed the door open. I nearly yelped in fright as the door opened to reveal Paul was standing on the other side, his expression filled with wicked amusement. I could feel myself blush as he smirked when I met his eyes and I scowled at him to try and hide my embarrassment.

"If you were awake why didn't you answer?" I asked in annoyance and he shrugged slightly.

"I wanted to see if you would try opening the door," he said with a twinkle in his amethyst eyes.

Part of me felt annoyed that I fell into his trap, but the other part of me couldn't help but be thrilled that he was acting so attentive in his weird, teasing way. The teasing look in his eyes faded into a guarded expression as he reached out and fingered the collar of my jacket.

"New outfit?" he asked calmly and I shrugged.

"I figured I should go for a tough-ish look since it's the pokemon league," I explained, trying not to fidget as his fingers lingered at the collar of my jacket. 

He looked me up and down and then to my surprise his fingers moved to my neck and ghosted over my skin until they reached a small lock of hair that had come out of my braid and was laying along the side of my jaw. He tucked it behind my ear and smiled with faint amusement.

"White leather doesn't look tough, Coordinator," he said with a smirk. 

I blinked, needing to pull myself out of the fuzziness that had descended on my brain at Paul's gentle touch so that I could process his jab and then scoff at him. I reached out and poked him in the side, which made him jerk away. Slowly I felt my mouth break into a huge grin.

"Paul, are you... ticklish?" I asked with uncontained glee. 

Paul dropped his expressionless mask into place and looked at me imperiously. "Of course not. You just surprised me," he said gruffly, but when I moved forward he took a tiny step back.

"I don't believe you," I said teasingly and reached out to poke his sides again. 

He pushed my hand away before it made contact but I jabbed him lightly with my other hand, making him jump. I laughed with delight and tried to tickle him some more but a dangerous glint came into his purple eyes and suddenly he clamped his hand onto my wrist. With a firm pull and twist, he twirled me into him so that my back was pressed against his chest with my one hand trapped against my side. He then grabbed my free hand, wrapped his other arm around my waist, and lifted me off the ground. Surprised laughter escaped me as I kicked my legs in gentle protest.