Serena POV
Once I was out of the music section leaving Ash all alone which I felt regret for doing it, but I need to help first.
So I headed down hall where student mutely walk past me in my way as I arrived at my own plain locker in front.
I took a key out from my pocket and Unlocked the steel door, swinging it open to see my stuff inside that were books, bags and papers. Which I don't need them right now, so instead. I scanned inside my locker for a second and quickly grabbed one of Dawn's cold compresses that was near to the books.
Then went to a nearby water fountain and filled up a paper cup with cold water, nearly to the top. As I did, I rushed back to the music section with a filled up cup in my hand firmly in place and medicine inside my pocket. Walking past each student in my way without bumping so I won't get into trouble. Feeling efficient, organized and compassionate.
As I arrived at music section where I left before. I found Ash sitting in the same position, playing around with his cell phone in hand which I didn't what he was doing, so I ignored.
I mutely walk towards him with a cup in my hand while with another free hand taking out a medicine from my pocket, getting him to notices my appearance by putting his phone away inside his pocket as I handed him the filled up cup even medicine from my hand and sat down next to him again.
"Drink up," I instructed.
"Thanks Sere." He popped the pills into his mouth then raised the cup in my direction in some sort of toast and drank deeply.
While he did this. I pressed the compress against his forehead and he groaned sexily, even though he obviously didn't mean it to be sexy and I was just reading way too much into it, as usual.
He finished the cup completely empty and descends with his arm down on his lap. "Sere, you gotta tell me something," he murmured, closing his eyes fully shut.
"What?" I asked confusingly, absently brushing his hair back from his brow till I realized what I was doing. Mortified, I stopped and just held gently compress against his forehead.
"Are you an angel in disguise?" He muttered but loud enough for me to hear.
The question was so unexpected that I snorted with laughter. Trying but Managing to speak out.
"No, I'm just a regular girl," I replied once my giggling fit was over. Ash grinned.
"You can't be," he argued. "No normal girl carries cold compresses with them to school. Not that I'm not glad you have one, coz it feels so good." He breathed at the last word.
I simply shrugged in response. "I carry them because of Dawn," I explained to him.
Soon, He opened his eyes showing his brown orbs, slowly turned his head to face at me and smiled. "You're a good friend. And you'd make a good nurse."
"Thanks." I replied with a serenity smile, eyes closed then soon open as my pale cheeks heat up.
"Am I weirding you out that I'm here?" he suddenly asked, changing the subject rapidly.
Which made my face changed into a confused looking way "Well, a little bit," I answered.
Deciding to be honest. He was 'weirding me out' a lot, actually. I mean, sure, we'd had our share of run-ins, but that didn't mean that he could just show up where I was at and decide to spend his whole lunch break with me. Which was exactly what he was doing.
"I just wanted to talk." He muttered. Slightly glancing up at the ceiling then at me. "Hey, I can take over with the compress."
With a nod. I took my hand off just as he put his hand on, our fingers brushed and it gave me a strange little tingle in my stomach. That wasn't right. It was actually nice, but it wasn't right.
Lowering my arm near to my hips while gazing at him. "Ash, no offence but- you have friends. Lots of them. Why would you choose to talk to me over them? That doesn't make any sense." I spread my arms wide open in front of him as I slightly leaned forward. "I mean, you barely know me."
He nodded in acceptance and waved a finger in the air then rests on his lap "Good argument. But you're the only person at this school who knows about the- aneurysm."
He whispered the last word, which I thought was rather cute.
I raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Really? You haven't told any of your friends? Don't you think they'd be more help to you than I am?" I questioned curiously.
Ash shot me a cute grin, lifting his lips a little that gave me a slight view of his white teeth. "I don't see any of my friends cooling down my forehead. What do you think they'd do if I told them I was sick?" he said.
I simply shrugged. "I have no idea," I replied, even though I could imagine. People like Calem, Misty and Miette weren't exactly known for their sympathetic natures.
Ash scooted closer to me so that my leg was pressed against his. The concept of personal space is lost on this one. Still, it felt nice, which bothered me.
"Yeah you do," he said softly. "Calem would be dumb about it. Miette would treat me like fragile goods. Misty would tell everyone. I don't want that. It's not gonna help."
I nodded when he finished his words, totally understanding where he was coming from. They'd think he was different because he was sick and they'd treat him differently. That's why he came to me, I realized, because at Vanville, I was different.
Ash lowered his head down, staring unblinkingly at his fingerless hand. A brooding expression flitting across his face. "They're good people, but they wouldn't understand," he continued slowly, sounding as if he'd just grasped that.
I felt sorry for him. When you knew that your best friends wouldn't be able to understand what you were going through, that just wasn't a good place to be at all.
I wished I could do something to make him feel better, to wipe that sad, dejected look off his face.
But all I could say was, "So why'd you come to me?"
Wrinkling his nose, he looked at me. "You didn't look at me weird when I told you yesterday. You're not looking at me weird now." He sighed and looked away into a empty space, hiding his face from me. "I know it's odd that you're the first person I ran to especially since I never talked to you before."
I nodded. "Yeah, it kinda is," I agreed. Still, there could be a logical reason this was happening... Impulsively I asked, "Do you believe in destiny?"
A grin tugged at the corner of Ash's mouth as he looked at me again, still holding the compress to his head. It was more better than five minutes ago.
"Nope. I think it's a ploy used by card manufacturers to sell lots of Valentine cards."
"Oh." My face softens.
As if he knew what I was thinking. he put a hand on my knee. again! and said, "I may not believe in destiny and things happening for a reason, but I really need a friend right now." He gave me a shy look which almost made me melt into a fangirly puddle on the floor. "You wanna be my friend?"
Instantly nodded and answered. "Sure."
Ash grinned widely. bumped against me with his blue jacket by shoulder. "Thanks," he whispered.
"No problem," I whispered back to him with a smile.
We sat in companionable silence for several minutes, not talking one another before Ash turned to me. "You ever watch 'The Bucket List'?" he asked, randomly enough.
"No." I shook.
He grinned widely. "Me neither. But me and my best friend, we both made our own Bucket Lists two years ago."
I frowned my eyebrows. "You and Calem?"
Ash shook his head. "Not Calem. Gary. You knew him, right?"
I nodded wordlessly in response.
Gary Oak. I remembered him. He was Ash's best friend; the two were always together, flirting with cute girls in the hallway. I had cried when I heard that he was dead. He'd been my study buddy for two weeks before his fatal accident and had been one of the nicer guys at this school.
"Yeah, well, before his - accident, he did over half of the things on his list." He sighed softly. "I've done about 10 things on mine. I guess I should think about stepping up my game."
"Stop thinking so morbidly," I scolded lightly. "You're not going to-to die!"
"There's a strong chance that I could," Ash blandly said. He removed the compress from his forehead and placed it on top of the piano. "So- if these last two months are my last, I want to spend them doing the things I always thought I should do, you know?"
"You're gonna be just fine," I said in a scolded tone. "In two months, you'll be laughing at your pessimism and I'll be saying I told you so."
"I hope so." Ash stretched his arms over his head, letting out a tiring yawn. "That would be sweet. You know what, scratch nurse. You should be a motivational speaker."
I smiled pleasingly. "Or I could be both," I replied. Silence for a second. "When are you getting started on your list?"
"ASAP."
"Well, if you need any help with it, you know where to find me," I said with a another gentlemsmile, puffing my cheeks on both side and almost slapped myself.
He looked surprised, then pleased. "I'll hold you to it," he said lightly. "Sorry for messing up your lunch."
"Huh?" I said blankly, blinking a few times.
"I mean, you came here to play, right? And I just hogged up your time. Sorry."
"No worries. "Talking to you was- fun." I truthfully said. It was more fun to get to spend time with Ash.
"Yeah, but I feel bad for screwing up your lunchtime regime. Play something for me."
"Say what?"
"On the piano. Play me a tune," he explained affably. A naughty grin plastered on his face, giving me a nudged on shoulder "That's what friends do for each other, right?"
I stared at him for a moment and couldn't help but let out laugh. "You are off to a really bad start," Then wagged my fore finger at his face in-between the eyes. "That's abuse of your friendship powers." As I was finished, I lowered it down.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly. The wicked grin was still on his face that speeded up my heart rate with each thump in a second.
"You'll have to take a rain check. I- don't have my sheet music with me," I lied as I played my ear.
The real reason I didn't want to play for Ash is because I was very self conscious about my piano playing skills. It took me a couple of months to find the nerve to play for my mom, and I lived with her.
To change the subject, I spoke in concern, "Are you feeling better?"
Instantly. He stood up from his own seat and stretched lazily again with his arms raised up straight in air, causing his blue jacket to rose up, giving me a peek at his Pokémon boxers that had various of Pikachu faces. I clapped a hand on to my mouth to hide my wide smile which was caught from Ash who's just chockfull of cute surprises.
"Yeah, actually, I am," he said over his shoulder, meandering walking over to the drum set in the corner, alongside with other instrument.
I nodded thankfully. "Dawn's meds are quick acting," I commented, glad that they had worked for him.
I looked at the clock stuck on a wall which was showing nearly time for my lesson. Quickly turning at the bench to face the piano, I picked up the compress and slid it into my bag, zipping it shut then headed towards the door.
"Hey, you know we got a piano at home, right?" Ash asked, following me from behind.
"Yeah, I saw it," I replied, deciding not to bring up the elbow to the nose thing again. Now that we were 'friends', such things were better forgotten.
Curiously I asked, "Do you play?"
He snickered derisively. "Me, play the piano? no! The only person who even touches it is Leaf. She thinks she's some maestro. She makes the keys a bit sticky, but its fine."
I shuddered slightly. Did the Ketchum realise how rare their piano was? Why would they let anyone get the keys sticky? And who is Leaf anyway? Was she another of his fangirls? I hope not.
"You should come play it one day. It's just crying to be played." As soon as he said that. I felt and heard Ash come up behind, causing me to stop in my tracks as I exited the music section.
I calmly swallowed, as he slid his hands softly onto my shoulders that had bag-straps on both side, leaning down till his lips were right by my ear as his warm breath tickled down my neck with each word been spoken out as I was trying to resist the urge from closing my eyes and moaning out.
"I mean, the keys are practically dying to be touched." He breathed, Squeezing my shoulders once and stood upright again. "See you later."
Soon, I turned around just in time to see him saunter casually out of the music section, stepping through the fully opened door, whistling loud as he stuck his hands inside his empty pockets. Out of my sight while I was standing in the same area.
Meanwhile, the back of my neck was still tingling and my mind was racing. Did Ash Ketchum just, invite me over?