Night Adventure

CHAPTER SEVEN

Last chapter everyone! Or hopefully it is. xD Anyway, I feel so disconnected from fanfiction because high school is 10x more busier than middle school. Between homework, extracurricular, and friends, I'm finding no time to write! I literally treasure my weekends now. :P Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

Ash slammed the motorcycle on the breaks at the side of the road. He turned around, watching as the wind blew her red hair around. "You…you loved it?" he stammered. In the darkness, he watched as Misty smiled with growing confidence by every second.

"Yeah, I did." She said. She squeezed his torso, looking ahead into the vast emptiness of the road. "Why'd you stop, huh? Aren't you going to show me that really nice beach?"

Ash stared at her for a long moment, wondering where this sudden confidence was coming from. They had just kissed. They had just admitted they liked it. And she was happy? Ash's insides trembled but he tried not to let it show. "Well, y-yeah…let's get to that beach."

Misty watched him stutter nervously before turning around and starting off on the road again. She felt so happy that he had liked the kiss that she felt like she could do anything in the world. As the drove in silence, the breeze sweeping through between her ears, Ash suddenly asked, "Misty…can I ask you something?"

Misty nodded contently. "Shoot."

"Well…" he cleared his throat. "If you liked the kiss and I did too…does that mean anything?"

The air tightened in on Misty and she swallowed, her confidence disappearing in one big swoop. "Ash, what…what kind of question is that?" she snapped, nerves tangling in her stomach.

Ash gulped, licking his lips as his hands gripped the handles. "I was just asking." He retorted. "You know, we're best friends, and we just kissed and liked it…what's going on?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Misty said.

"You're," Ash said slowly. "The romantic one,"

Misty sighed, knowing Ash couldn't figure things out by himself even if the world depended on it. "It doesn't need to mean anything," she explained awkwardly. "Everyone likes kissing, usually. It only means something if you, uhm…want it to."

Ash felt the rush of cool air on his cheeks disappear as his face burned. "Want it to?" he said. "I – oh, that's a hard one." He admitted foolishly.

Misty resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "There's no question or anything. C'mon, I mean…if you wanted to, that would mean you liked me."

"But I do like you. Very, very much." Ash said matter-of-factly. "You're my best friend Misty. I like you better than all my other friends, I like you better than Professor Oak-"

"Oh, I'm flattered." Misty said sarcastically. "I surpass an old poet."

Ash laughed loudly at that, feeling his nerves disappear along with the night. "You should be flattered!" he said. "Professor Oak's a famous scientist."

Misty rested her head on his back. She felt his neck stiffen, and then relax. "Anyway, that's not what I mean. If you wanted the kiss to be something, then that would mean you like-like me."

Ash whispered, "Like you would be my girlfriend?"

Misty nodded. "That's precisely right." She waited patiently for the 'Ew! I would never want to be your girlfriend!' 'Misty, that's disgusting!' 'I have my Pokémon and food to focus on.', but they never came. He was silent, contemplating. His hair rustled in the wind as he tipped it to the side to take in the view of the stars, sparkling easily in the sky.

"Well, I guess then…" he said anxiously. "Um, it's…that would be weird I guess…"

"You 'guess'?" Misty wondered suspiciously.

Ash swallowed thickly, taking on hand off the handlebars and running it through his slop of hair. "It wouldn't be that bad to be your boyfriend…and do that…k-kissing stuff with you."

"Kissing stuff? Boyfriend?" Misty said, now alert. Her heart fluttered. "You want to…do that with me?"

"No!" Ash blurted, his neck flushing. "I just…it wouldn't be that bad."

"Oh." Misty said, shivering, rubbing her arms. She wasn't sure if she should be freaked out or blossoming with happiness because of what Ash said, so she settled for unsure. Factly, she knew she liked Ash's kiss better than Gary's, so that had to mean something, along with the note that hanging out with her best friend had made her feel better than she had in years.

"Yeah, it wouldn't be that bad." Misty repeated uncomfortably.

Ash nodded solemnly and they continued to drive across the empty roads. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, and Misty pressed her face right up to Ash's back, trying to hear the thumping of his chest. She felt nervous, anxious; a tangle of nerves – yet somehow she felt on the top of the world, like nothing could ever hurt her if she was with him.

Gary had whizzed out of her mind completely after Ash and she had kissed, and now his quirks seemed stupid. She felt stupid for ever crushing on an egoistic person like Gary. Gary had been the sexiest man in Pallet University, and he knew all the right things to say, but…he didn't mean them. Misty was just realizing this now as she remembered the way his comfort always sounded rehearsed, and his cheesy phrases were always from off the internet.

Then, she thought about Ash, her best friend, who had took her out on a night of fun and adventure – and with that one night, he had solved her heartache about Gary and had successfully cheered her up.

"Ash?" Misty murmured quietly.

"Yeah Mist?"

"Thank you."

A stupid smile formed on Ash's face and he was glad that he was facing away from her. He breathed happily as the buttery moon seemed to brighten in the sky.

"Anything for you Misty."

A few minutes later they finally arrived onto the beautiful beach of Pallet. Ash had parked his motorcycle on the sand near a tree, leaving Pikachu, who was still asleep, snoozing in his cap. They made sure to stay a fair distance from the motorcycle and Pikachu so they would be alerted if anything happened.

"Wow Ash, I remember coming here when we were younger, but it's really amazing at night." Misty said as she took the time to look around.

The darkened ocean waves crashed against the shore, sweeping back and forth, beckoning and rejecting. The trees were shapely and they swayed rhythmically along with the sound of the sea. The light house was a spot in the distance, but the bright light sparked to show it was there. Misty could feel her chest swelling with comfort as she arrived at the place she felt most at home.

"It's nice, huh?" Ash said quietly. He had his arms folded behind his head, grinning as he watched her amazement. "My mum used to take me on walks around here when I was a little boy, and we would talk about stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Misty asked, thinking about what Ash would be like as a little boy, holding hands with his mother as they walked by the beach.

"Oh, you know, first day of kindergarten…" Ash shrugged, smiling at the memories. "Or this one time when this boy was being mean to me, my mum told me to be the better person and ignore him."

"You don't listen to her, do you?" Misty asked playfully, remembering all the times Ash had acted impulsively when angered.

"I try." Ash protested, before laughing. "My anger just gets the best of me."

Misty laughed, taking off her flip flops so she could feel the sand sink in between her clear painted toes. The smell of salt filled her nose and she stretched her arms, embracing life. She was quite sleepy, as it was probably twilight by now, but standing here she felt more energy surging through her than she had in years.

Ash watched her, pleased, before joining her to stare at the ocean. It was really a gorgeous sight of dark indigo blue, melting in with the black sky. "My mom," Ash continued, sounding different. "Always called this the 'feeling beach'. She said whenever you went here with someone; you would admit what was on your mind."

"Really?" Misty said, titling her head, intrigued.

"Yeah." Ash recalled. "I believed her too, because I would never tell her what was upsetting me, but when she took me to this beach, I ended up spilling everything." He chuckled slightly, shaking his head. "So it ended up being the 'feeling beach'."

Misty laughed, but she was touched at the sweet memories Ash had created with his mother. It was obvious he was very close with her, even though they were separated most of the time due to his Pokémon life and university.

"When I was little," Misty said, "I went to this little candy shop that was near my house. I went there so much the store manager knew exactly what I wanted each time."

"And what was that?" Ash asked.

Misty grinned. "Gummy bears."

"Gummy bears?" Ash laughed.

"I was obsessed with them when I was little. I still am. But this one time, when I was in grade one, this girl said I was a very nasty person because I was eating pigs." Misty sighed, shaking her head. "Since gummy bears have gelatin and all."

"Yeah…but…was she vegetarian or something?" Ash asked, slightly confused.

"Nope."

"Then she ate pigs too!" Ash cried. "What a mean little girl."

Misty giggled at the sight of his distraught expression and gently shoved his shoulder. "Hey, it's not like I listened to her. In fact, I ate gummy bears even more, right in front of her face, chewing loudly."

They both grinned at that, before sharing some more stories of when they were little. Once they were out of things to tell, they simply embraced the quietness of the beach, and the comfortable silence only best friends could bring.

"You know," Misty said, breaking the absence of sound. "I really enjoyed our night adventure. It got me over Gary."

Ash's face lit up and he turned around, facing her. "Yes!" he declared. "I did it. I told you that you would love it."

"Yeah, well," Misty shrugged shyly. "It wasn't the night adventure that was all that great,"

Ash's smile fell.

"It was the fact that I did it with you," Misty reached down and took his hand, squeezing it. His rough hands, yet somehow soft, and somehow just the right warmth squeezed her hand back. He looked surprised, and a faint blush was seen on his face from the moonlight reflecting off his cheek, but he was smiling all the same.

They held hands tightly now, staring at the beach with grins on their faces. It was a big moment – not a best friend moment, but not a couple moment either. Just a moment, where they relaxed, and felt happier than they had in their entire lives.

The air was dead from noise, but the silence was almost like music. Misty could hear the oxygen letting her breathe, and letting her live to hold hands with the remarkable boy next to her. "Ash," Misty said, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Yeah?" Ash said, aware that they had had this kind of conversation a lot today. His stomach flared as she felt her palms get sweaty from nervousness, and he wondered vaguely what she was going to say.

"You know how we both liked the kiss?" she asked, her voice tinged with anxiety.

Ash felt butterflies evoke in his stomach. His throat turned dry. "Yeah, I know."

"Well, I thought…I thought we ought to do it again…to see if…if we really liked it." Misty said this in a rush, before gulping and looking away so he wouldn't see her face had turned a million shades of crimson.

Ash nearly fainted from excitement, and he was stunned at himself by how much he wanted to kiss the beautiful redhead next to him. "We should," he said a little too loudly and a little too enthusiastically. He bit his lip, fidgeting.

"Okay, then…uh…okay, let's do it." Misty said tensely, letting go of his hand. A rush of cold hair hit her palm and she suddenly wanted his fingers wrapped around her own again very, very badly. She reminded herself that the kiss would be ten times better than just holding hands.

Positioning herself in front of him, she waited for him to kiss her. For a long moment, they just stared into each other's eyes, chocolate brown meeting cerulean blue. After being patient, and waiting as the seconds passed by uneventfully, Misty said, "So…aren't you gunna kiss me?"

Ash looked taken aback. "M-me?" he said. "I thought you were going to kiss me."

"What…no! You're the guy!" Misty said.

"Yeah, but..uhm…you suggested the whole kissing thing!" Ash retorted.

"Yeah, but you have to kiss me." Misty said. "Not the other way around."

"No, you." Ash pleaded.

"You!" Misty demanded.

"No, you!"

"You!"

"No, you!"

"You!"

"No, you." Ash raised his voice.

"You." Misty said exasperated.

"Fine!"

"Huh-oof." And suddenly he was kissing her. Misty stumbled but Ash caught her by the waist as he kissed her fully, feeling the soft taste of cherries on his lips, shared from Misty. She took a moment to get a hold of herself, before flinging her arms around his neck and deepening the kiss. It was a sensual moment of nature and love and friendship wrapped all in one, and as they clung onto one another, kissing like the world depended on it, a mental calmness wafted over them.

Even if they were to be girlfriend and boyfriend, they would still deep inside, always be best friends who loved and cared for each other.

Ash pulled back first, just for a moment, to take a breath. "What about…" he gasped. "What about Gary?"

Misty grinned, her cheeks flushed as she felt the world disappear around her. She leaned in again, readying herself. "Gary, who?"

And they were kissing again, deep and entwined with each other, kissing against the 'feeling beach', their friendship raging to unfamiliar territory, but all was okay, as long as they were with each other.

And so, their night adventure came to a pleasurable closure.

Author's Notes: Well, how was that. I found it cheesy, but it was actually kind of nice writing such a cheesy romantic story. I feel like it's been forever since I've done one! Anyway, thanks to everyone who supported me by reviewing, fav'ing, following, or even simply reading this story! It means a lot! xD I hope y'all enjoyed the ending. HAPPY WRITING!