Lillie's POV-
I was laying down on the towels that Ash had brought with us to the beach, the afternoon sun warming up the beach and the water. Ash had laid down beside me under the sun, his hand in mine, and our fingers intertwined with each other.
I glanced over at him and saw that he had his hat down over his eyes. A soft smile crept onto my face as I looked at him, before scooting a bit closer and leaning my head against his chest. It's been a bit since we got to the beach, close to maybe half an hour or so.
"This is really nice." I thought to myself.
I lifted my head up and saw Sophocles and Lana messing around in the water, swimming and splashing each other as they swam.
"Hey guys, how are you doing?" A voice said from behind us.
I tilted my head back and saw Mallow walking towards us. I smiled at her and brought my free arm up and waved at her.
"Hey Mallow, we're doing good, how about you?" I asked her.
Mallow stopped right over top of Ash and I, and smiled down at us. "I'm doing good, thanks for asking." She replied.
I saw her eyes trail from me to where I was holding Ash's hand. Her smile slowly shrank as she stared at our hands.
"So...Why are you two holding hands?" She asked.
I glanced over at Ash and didn't see any sign of him moving or anything.
"Hmm, he must of fell asleep at some point." I thought to myself, before looking back up at Mallow.
"Well...The thing is Mallow...is that Ash and I are dating each other." I replied.
Mallow frowned slightly. "So...How long have you two been going out for?" She asked.
"About an hour or so, he confessed to me today while we were heading here." I responded.
Mallow nodded before looking over to where Lana and Sophocles were. "Ah I see, well congratulations." She said, before stepping around us and walking towards where Sophocles and Lana were.
"Why did she seem so put off by the fact that we were dating?" I pondered.
I watched her walk away, before turning to Ash and lightly nudging him.
"Hey, Ash?" I whispered.
It took a couple of more nudges before he started waking up.
"Ugh, what...what's going on?" He asked while he looked around for a few seconds, before looking down at me and smiling.
"Hey Lills, what's up?" He asked me, a yawn closely following his question to me.
I glanced back over at Mallow, seeing her splashing Lana.
"Nothing really, just wanted to let you know that Mallow finally got here." I replied.
"No need to make him worry about that, I'll just talk to Mallow by myself." I thought to myself.
Ash nodded and laid his head back. "That's good." He replied.
I smiled at him and leaned my head against his side. "Yeah it is." I said.
Though while I laid there, I felt a pit slowly growing in my stomach.
"I should really talk to Mallow and see what's going on." I thought to myself, before turning and looking back a where Lana, Mallow, and Sophocles were.
I laid there for a couple more minutes, before finally making my decision, and leaning in a bit closer to Ash.
"Hey Ashy, I'll be right back ok, there's something that I need to go and do." I whispered to him.
Ash turned his head and lifted his hat up so he could look at me. There was a look of curiosity present on his face as he stared at me.
"Is something wrong Lills?" He asked me.
I shook my head. "No, nothings wrong, I just needed to talk to Mallow for a couple minutes." I answered.
Ash smiled and nodded. "Alright Lills, I'll be waiting here for you when you get back." Ash said.
I nodded and leaned in a bit closer, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Alright, I'll be back soon." I told him, before standing up and stretching a bit.
I headed off towards where the others were, not knowing that Ash was blushing like crazy while I walked away.
"Hey Mallow, could you come here for a minute?" I said to her.
Mallow looked back at me, and the smile she had faltered slightly as she stared at me.
"Yeah sure." She responded, before walking out of the water and to where I was standing.
"So what is it Lillie?" Mallow asked me.
"Well...I was just hoping to talk to you about something?" I said, while gesturing down the beach. "Do you think we can take a short walk while we talk?" I asked her.
Mallow looked from where I was pointing, back to me. "Yeah sure." She responded with a shrug of her shoulders.
I lead the way down the beach while waiting for us to get far enough away from the others.
I glanced over at Mallow and found that she was staring at me.
I took a deep breath before fully turning my gaze to her. "Mallow, what's going on?" I asked her.
Mallows head slightly tilted down as she began looking at the ground.
"What do you mean, there's nothing going on." She replied.
"I mean what was going on when I told you about Ash and I dating?" I asked.
Mallow sighed and tilted her head up to look at me. She knew what I was talking about, and didn't make any attempt to hide it.
Mallow stayed silent for a minute or two while we stood there, before finally answering the question that I had asked.
"Well....I'm kinda jealous of you." She responded.
"Wait...shes jealous of me?" I asked myself.
I gave her a look of surprise as the two of us kept walking. "Wait, why are you jealous of me?" I asked her.
Mallow let out a quiet sigh while we walked. "Because you were the one that Ash chose." She answered.
"What do you mean by that?" I questioned.
"I mean that I was also trying to go out with Ash...I had been dropping little hints here and there for him, but he never picked up on them...or just chose to ignore them." Mallow answered.
"Wait...She was...oh...that explains a couple of things actually." I thought to myself.
"I'm didn't realize that you had a crush on him too Mallow." I told her.
Mallow let out another quiet sigh before turning her gaze to the ocean. "It's fine...I can't really hold it against you, nor do I want to." She said.
"Are you really going to be fine?" I questioned.
Mallow glanced at me, before looking down towards the sand that was beneath our feet. "Yeah I should be...I haven't had a crush on him for long, so I never really got attached." She answered.
"It just kinda sucks, that's all, it makes me wonder if it's because I didn't try hard enough, or if it's because of something else." Mallow muttered.
Mallow held a down cast expression on her face while she spoke.
"I don't think it's your fault Mallow, Ash can be... a bit dense from time to time, especially if you're not forward with him." I told her.
Mallow glanced back at me as I spoke. "Really?" Mallow asked.
I let out a quiet sigh and nodded. "Yeah I am, though I'm sorry Mallow, I never knew...though I'm sure you'll find someone else." I responded.
"I feel bad, but not bad enough to end my new relationship with Ash." I thought to myself.
"Thanks Lillie, I appreciate it." Mallow said.
I nodded. "You're welcome Mallow, now how about we head back to the others, they're probably waiting for us." I said.
Mallow smiled at me and nodded. "Yeah that sounds good." She responded.
Before we turned back, I held out my hand to her. "So are we good now?" I asked her.
Mallow glanced from me to my hand, and back again, before reaching out and taking my hand. "Yeah, we're good Lillie." She responded.
Mallow smiled at me before letting go of my hand and heading back down the beach to where the others were.
"Well...I'm glad I got that out of the way." I thought to myself.
Ash's POV-
It had been about fifteen minutes or so when Lillie left to go and talk to Mallow, I was still laying down in the same place as when Lillie had left.
"I wonder what she had to talk to Mallow about?" I thought.
I pondered the question for a little bit while I laid there. Though I was snapped out of my thoughts when the sand shifted a bit as someone laid down beside me and rested their head on my chest.
I lifted my hat up and glanced down to see who it was. I saw Lillie resting her head on my chest, a small smile accompanying her cute face.
I smiled to myself while I looked at her. "So how'd it go Lills?" I asked her.
Lillie glanced up at me and smiled. "It went well, Mallow and I got everything sorted out, so it should be good." She responded.
"That's good." I said.
"Mhm." Lillie responded.
Lillie and I laid there for a little while, just enjoying the peace and quiet of the day.
A content sigh escaped out of my mouth as I laid there, causing Lillie to glance up at me.
"Something wrong Ash?" She asked.
I let out a quiet chuckle and shook my head. "No not at all, Lills, I'm just happy, that's all." I responded.
Lillie smiled at me and nodded. "That's good, I'm happy too." She said.
"That's good." I replied.
It wasn't too long before the sun started setting, and everyone else started gathering around us to get ready to go home.
"We should definitely do this again." Sophocles said.
I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah this was pretty fun, maybe we should do this every other week." I said.
My gaze drifted around to everyone as they nodded their heads. "Yeah that sounds like a great idea." Lana said, a cheerful smile present on her face as she spoke.
I glanced up at the sun and then back to the others. "Definitely, though me and Lillie have to get going, there was something I needed to go and do." I said.
Everyone waved goodbye to Lillie and I before heading their separate ways.
I grabbed a hold of Lillie's hand and started leading her down the road.
"So Ash, what did you need to go and do?" Lillie asked.
I glanced back at her and smiled. "Not so much need to do, but need to show you." I responded.
Lillie looked at me with a curious expression. "What is it that you need to show me?" Lillie questioned.
A chuckle escaped past my lips as I replied to her. "Well if I told you, it'd ruin the surprise."
We kept walking down the path that led home for about ten minutes or so, before I stopped and looked at the forest that hugged the other side of the path that we were on.
"If we go through here, then we should get to where I want us to go." I told her.
Lillie glanced from the edge of the forest, to me. "A-are you sure about this Ash?" She asked me.
I smiled softly and nodded. "Don't worry Lills, I won't let anything bad happen to you." I said.
She stared at me for a few moment before slowly nodding. "Alright then. Go ahead and lead the way." She replied.
I gave her hand a small squeeze before leading the way into the forest.
"So how are you doing today Lills?" I asked her.
Lillie turned her gaze from the surrounding flora, to me. "It's been great so far, how about for you Ashy?" She asked.
I blushed a bit with the nickname she had chosen to give me. "I'm doing good, thanks for asking Lills." I responded.
"I'm never gonna get used to that nickname." I thought to myself.
Lillie nodded and turned her gaze back to her surroundings while we kept walking.
It had been a couple minutes since we started heading into the forest, when everything started looking familiar enough that I knew how long it would take to reach the spot.
I glanced back at Lillie and smiled. "Not too much farther now Lills, we'll probably be there in the next couple of minutes." I said.
Lillie looked at me and smiled back at me. "I can't wait to see what you have to show me." She replied.
I nodded and kept walking down the path that led to the spot inside the forest.
True to my predictions, we got there only a couple minutes later.
I glanced over to Lillie and smiled. "Alright Lillie, we're gonna have to be real quiet ok?" I whispered to her.
Lillie nodded and glanced around a bit as I moved forward into the bush that I had stopped and kneeled down in front of.
I stopped just short of exiting the bush, raising my head up so I could see out of the bush. Getting a good look around the spot that I had brought her to.
Lillie came up beside me and looked around. "Wow, I didn't know there was a pond this close to the edge of the forest." She whispered.
My eyes slowly drifted over to Lillie, while I let out a quiet chuckle. "I can't tell if that was sarcasm or not." I said.
Lillie looked back at me and giggled a bit. "Hmm, maybe it was maybe it wasn't." She replied.
I shrugged my shoulders and nodded. "Fair enough, though that wasn't what we came here for." I said.
"Then what are we here for?" Lillie questioned.
"Well, if I'm right with my predictions, then what we want to see, should be happening very soon." I responded.
Lillie glanced over at me with curiosity. "You're being unusually cryptic today." She said.
I let out a quiet laugh. "Yeah I guess so, I just don't want to give anything away." I responded.
"Should be happening any minute now." I thought to myself.
That's when the pond began to slowly light up under the night sky, little bulbs of light that began appearing one after the other.
"Woah..What is that?" Lillie questioned.
I stayed silent as the bulbs of light kept appearing one after the other, slowly lighting up the pond a little bit more than the last. That's when the bulbs of light started dancing, quickly moving around one another as they moved around the pond.
I let my gaze drift over to Lillie while we sat there in the bushes, finding that she was watching the bulbs of light in awe.
I leaned over and whispered to her. "This is what I wanted to show you." I told her.
"What are they?" She asked.
"They're Volbeat and Illumise, dancing around the pond together." I answered.
Lillie looked over at me and smiled. "It's beautiful Ash, thank you." She said.
Lillie wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug. I felt my face heat up with a bit of a blush, before wrapping my arms around her and returning the hug.
"I'm glad you liked it Lillie." I said.
"I'm really glad that you enjoyed this Lills." I thought to myself, a smile present on my face as we stayed like that.
A/N
Hey everyone, I hope you all enjoy the newest chapter of the story. I'm sorry that it took so long to get posted, though my second semester of college is ending soon, so I haven't been able to work on the story as much as I want to.
So thank you all for being patient, and if you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to post them.
As always, I will see all of you in the next chapter.
-Pearlshipper332