Serena POV
"This is getting seriously creepy." I spoke. My head stood straight in its place, gazing ahead of me in short distance.
My bare hand froze on the metal door handle after opening the door as I now eyeballed Ash, who was sitting casually on the piano bench like he had every right in the world to be there.
Okay, maybe that was true. But the impractical part of me insisted that our random and peculiar meetings were all to do with fate. And even though I knew it was crazy, I was tempted to agree. There was no earthly reason why Ash and I kept running into each other, yet here we were. Alone in the same room. Again. Counting furiously in my head, I came to the conclusion that'll this was the fourth time this week.
Pretty amazing for two people who don't move in the same social circles, huh? Now what were you saying about fate? Was destiny trying to give me a message? I had no clue.
The reason for me to come in music section was to play out my feelings, but now this boy shows up in my sight. I could of just go into another section, but they weren't empty and this section was my favourite place to play.
I closed my glistened mouth which had been gaping open for so long just as Ash grinned cheerfully at me and spoke first, "Hey, Sere! I'm glad I ran into you." He said. Clearly hearing his words call out across to me.
I couldn't move my legs to exit the section. I just stood still in my tracks. All I did was gaze at Ash sitting on a piano bench alone with no one around us.
Lights brightened the room since there isn't a single windows in this section, only the sound coming from a air conditioner running on and instruments were placed in order, near a shelf beside.
"You call this running into me?" I asked boldly, putting a another hand on my hip, above pink skirt and cocking my head to one side.
Ash closed his eyes shut, managing to somehow look even more gorgeous, which I thought was slightly unfair.
"Well, if you prefer me to run into you literally, I can do that," he mumbled, letting out the words so I could hear, barely moving his lips and shrugged. "But- I'd rather not." He finished.
I bit the inside of my cheek, still staring at him. My hand were still placed on the door handle as it was getting a little warmer from my grip. "Oh. That's okay," I heard myself saying. "So... why were you hoping to run into me?" I questioned.
Ash opened one eye and focused on me, hiding a long yawn behind one hand. "I look like a stalker right now, don't I?"
I shrugged while sliding my eyes from one side to Ash "Um, kinda."
"Actually, I think we're even." He opened his other eye that gave me a full clear view of both his hazel eyes and lazily stretched his free arm over his head at the back nape by scratching it. I raised an eyebrow quizzically, Confused on what he meant.
"Even?" I repeated, not caring that I ran the risk of sounding like a parrot.
"Yeah, even," Ash said patiently and descends his arms on to his lap. "Coz even though this is the second time I've come to this part of the school looking for you, let's not forget that you came to the penthouse and you walked into my hospital room. 2-2, we're even."
"What?" I exclaimed with my eyes widening in shock. "I had valid reasons for being there each time! I brought you your homework at the penthouse and I told you, I was picking up a-."
Luckily, before I could further pursue this new and disturbing line of thought, Ash interrupted.
"Anyway, I'm not stalking you."
I stopped myself for a second and snorted derisively. "A likely story."
"Okay, maybe just a little." Ash grinned widely, shrugging his shoulders in his blue short-sleeved Jacket. "I thought to myself, why should I be the only person being stalked? Let's see if Sere likes it, then I can be her own personal fan boy."
I scratched my chin as I went into deep thought. Ash Ketchum as my own personal fan boy. That was almost too hot to contemplate, yet my mind wanted to do nothing else.
"I'd rather you were," I said hurriedly, hoping that what I was thinking wasn't showing on my face, because if it was, I might as well just pack it in. Game over.
But Ash was just looking at me with an interested expression. "The only person being stalked, I mean. No offence, but it's creepy how you knew where I would be." He said with cheeky grin.
I was about to reply back until A thought popped into my head while I gazed at him still in same position. "Hold on. How did you know where I would be?" I squinted.
He blushed slightly across his z-marks cheeks, tugging on his earlobe and avoiding my eyes by looking away at the piano in front of him. "I asked Dawn."
I let out a silly laugh. "You're not a very good stalker then," I pointed out. "A good stalker knows where its prey is at all times."
Soon, Ash turned to me with a raised eyebrows. "You sound like you've done it a lot." Double entendre, right there. As if realising how that sounded, Ash chuckled. "I mean, stalked people."
I shook my head in disapproval as I closed my eyes then open up. "I read a lot of books," I admitted truthfully.
And I'm on wattpad constantly, but I had a feeling that Ash had no idea what Wattpad was.
With a nod "Uh huh." Still grinning, Ash gave me a highly amused look, as though he knew that I was lying, but he was just going to humor me. I bristled my short hair. This 'thing' needed to stop right now.
I stepped further into the room as my hand slides away from the handle, letting air run through my open hand's skin and suddenly realizing how small it was. And how private. And how my thoughts kept going from bad to worse.
"So, okay, you're here. I'm here. What did you want with me?" I asked curiously, spreading my arms open while walking towards him in some distance. Away from the closed door and now, walking up close to Ash who was still sitting down on a piano bench as he gazes at me. Every step I took made my heart beat fast like a drum.
"Well, I guess I came to take you up on your offer," Ash replied after a beat.
I drew a blank for a long second without looking away from Ash'a view. I knew my temporary loss of memory had something to do with Ash, damn him. All he was doing was sitting on the piano bench, oblivious about how he was making butterflies soar in my stomach.
As I was opening my mouth to ask, "What offer?" I suddenly remembered.
"You know, you offered me a shoulder to cry on," he reminded me. "I'm here to collect."
I narrowed my eyes with a tinge of blush engulf across my cheeks. "You laughed at me when I said that!"
He eyed me through his disheveled raven hair. "I'm not laughing now," he said simply.
I bit my wet lip. He was right. He wasn't laughing. In fact, he had a rather down look on his face.
Taking a deep breath in my mouth and cursing my compassion, I finally reached and took a seat next to him on chair without looking at Ash, putting my back pack on floor under a chair. He shot me a lopsided grin and I spared him a closer look.
"Are you, feeling okay?" I asked hesitantly.
Up close, I saw that he had dark circles under his eyes and was pale under his tan.
He looked at me and leaned back against the piano. "You have really nice eyes," he whispered which I heard him say it.
As soon as he said that. The whole world stopped moving. My heart did a somersault and a tingle feeling was raising with my eyes wide open.
"Thanks," I whispered back and slowly looked down at my lap. Feeling the heat rise on my cheeks with smile rose my lips. OMG, he's flirting with you. He's just being nice, mind! But I can dream, can't I?
"And in answer to your question, I feel like crap." He gave me an endearing sideways glance. "I probably look like crap too, huh? Admit it."
I looked up from my lap to Ash, shook my head and confessed. "You've looked better," still with a gentle smile on my lip.
Then, He winced as he shifted to look at me better which caught me by surprise.
"Is it a headache?" I blurted out in a worried tone "I was reading up on aneurysm's last night and-."
Ash grinned. "Because of me? Aw, I'm flattered!"
He actually looked quite pleased at the revelation that I had been reading up on his symptoms, not realizing how stupid I felt revealing it.
"What? No, I was doing research! For- Science class..." My voice trailed off as Ash chuckled quietly, a little color returning to his cheeks, which was good but didn't stop the fact that he was laughing at my expense.
"It's okay; you don't need to lie to me." He trailed off, breathing out at the end of his sentence. Suddenly, he slowly slid his right hand on to my bare knee between my skirt and long black socks, giving a gentle pat and I tensed from the sudden touch, slowly looking up at him just as he was looking down at me with our faces meters apart from each other.
I lick my dry lip in one swoop, making it go wet and give out a shy look at him. Receiving a warm breath coming out from his mouth, at my face that made my body prickle.
There was no sound coming out from the both us, just silent taking its place.
Ocean eyes met Coca Cola as we stared at each other for a long second without saying a word, just silently breathing into our mouths and out. Until I finally managed to wrench my eyes from his and stare down at my own lap, trying to slow my thumping heart with blush cooling down.
As though he hadn't noticed the 'moment' we had just shared. he continued. "Caring is sharing."
I looked up at him again into his eyes, narrowing my eyebrows. "That doesn't really work," I replied absently.
His hand was still rested lightly on my bare knee and I should have been enjoying how it felt there. It was really warm and smooth to slide out.
But instead of thinking about how nice it felt sitting right next to Ash and having him touch me, all I could focus on was how the heat from his hand was blazing through my knee.
Before I could stop myself, I lift my free left hand and pressed it firmly against his forehead by leaning closer, brushing aside his silky raven hair that was sticking out. His body tightened then relaxed as he gave me a sideways look which I ignored.
"Ash, you're burning up!" I exclaimed as sweat trickled down his forehead.
He nodded slightly, taking a breath."I know. Can you just keep your hand there, please? It feels so good!" He breathed like he was about to go into a deep sleep.
I didn't remove my hand, but I bit my lip worriedly. His forehead was feverishly hot and he just didn't look too good at all.
"You should seriously call someone to come pick you up,' I told him. "I mean, it's obvious that you don't feel well at all."
He closed his eyes fully shut, covering his hazel orbs while talking. "Maybe I'm just tired," he said in an unconvincing tone. "I got less than 5 hours sleep last night.'
I gave him a sharp quick look and determined that he wasn't lying. "You just found out that you're sick. You should be at home, resting!"
And getting more than 5 hours sleep. I shuddered. Just the thought of that gave me chills. Ash was far braver than I was. I'd get cranky if I got less than 7 hours of sleep.
Ash chuckled quietly. "You might be right," he muttered by letting out a warm breath from his mouth that send it below my arm that was still pressed on his forehead.
I frowned. "Why did you even come into school today?"
I had to move my head closer to hear his mumbled answer, but even then I wasn't sure I heard him right. It sounded like he said, "Because my dad is an egomaniacal idiot," but that couldn't be right.
"Don't you have any medicine, then?" I asked, establishing that he probably didn't want to go home. That surprised me. Usually, Ash rarely showed up at school.
"Yeah, I do. Dawn gave me some pills," he replied and I heaved a sigh of relief.
"Did you take them?" I questioned while my hand was still on his forehead.
Usually, Dawn's migraine pills were fast acting, but maybe because of the cause of the headaches, they were taking longer to act on Ash. I hoped not, though. He looked like he was really in pain, even though I sensed he was trying to be brave and shake it off. But I knew from experience that headaches couldn't just be 'shaken off' just like that.
Ash slightly shook his head. "Not yet," he said as he slowly opened his eyes, using his hand to shield his eyes against the light when he opened them. "Damn, that light hurts. Do they have a dimmer switch in here?"
"No," I shook, stifling a laugh. "Look, I'll go get you some water to drink your meds with, okay?" I removed my hand away from his forehead. "You're scarily hot, and not in the good way."
Instantly in one movement. I got up to my feet picking up my bag off the floor and placed it around my back then walk away from Ash, heading toward the door.
I was almost at the door when Ash interrupts, "Are you sure?"
Turning to face him, I gave a questioning look. "About what?"
He messaged his forehead with both hands. "That I'm not scarily hot in the good way?"
I smiled. "I'm sure. Just wait right there, okay? I'll be right back." I said, placing my hand on a cold metal handle and fully turning it into unlock.
"Trust me, I'm not even thinking of going anywhere right now," Ash replied, leaning back and closing his eyes again as I scurried out into the hall, heading to my locker.