The Tall Dark Mysterious Kind
"I used to dream about going on journeys with my little Poliwag, you know...like in the cartoons and video games. All these fantasy places where I could make friends and save the world with Pokemon. It's wild to think that child-like fever fantasies come true these days because of people like Miles and Art."
Hannah sat cross-legged at the top of a set of bleachers, passing a marble back and forth through the alleyways of the bench seats until it stopped in the palm of a boy's hand and came back to her from underneath his thumb, tricked to have a spin on it.
"My dream has always been to be a professional soccer player," said Salem. "Pokemon aren't very common around my town, so if you could imagine it...I almost grew up in a world without Pokemon. All through school, focus was very high on academics and athletics. But one day this Pokemon rehabilitation agency came in and made habitats for pokemon in my area. I met my Torchic one day on the way to soccer practice and have never stopped training pokemon since."
Hannah grinned as though she were a grandmother watching her entire family gather around the hearth at Christmas, thinking of dreams and ambitions...and happiness.
"You know, you're more than welcome to travel with me and my fr--"
"I don't think I am." His voice was the color of dark orange, speckled in texture like rust on a wheelbarrow in the countryside of Hawaii. Her hand folded over the marble. "I've already made a dick of myself, right? Trying to stay perfectly quiet about who I am and how Bismarck was acting?"
"You named him Bismarck?"
"After the German Chancellor."
"After the German Chancellor."
They both smiled. Hannah thought of her friends. Of travelling. Of food. "Would you like to get a bite to eat? There's a great open air grill near our hotel. It has a KELP rating of 5 stars."
Salem shrugged and nodded. "I could eat. But only if you let me pay. To start erasing what happened today."
"Free food never gets a bad rating from this woman. Let's hit it."
By the highway in front of the hotel, the two stopped when they spied Hannah's gang huddled around a display for the Synchron. Connor was excitedly explaining it to everyone else with a voice loud enough to drown out traffic. "--and the grandest part of all is that it connects you to the battle like nothing ever has before! Almost like seeing the entire ordeal through the pokemon's eyes! I'm preordering mine tonight, as I've already confirmed my allowance from Mother and Father back home. I suggest you all do the same."
Hannah nudged Salem in the ribs and nodded towards the restaurant to their left, and they ducked in, stopping immediately as a warm, familiar face in a slim peacoat turned the corner with menus in-hand.
"You're likely to get a fever if you play with the devil, you know." Nathan smirked.
Hannah raised her eyebrows and looked between Salem and Nathan, and then let out a long breath. "We were just coming in to fetch a table for everyone." A huff. "Isn't that right, Salem?"
"I'd rather this not be a thing, so I think...I'm just gonna..." Backing away, he suddenly turned and walked off, hands shoved in his pockets.
Hannah watched him go, but held her tongue until he was out of earshot. Then she didn't.
"What the Hell, Nathan?" Peony and Jasmine approached behind her, but she pushed past Nathan and charged for the bathroom, the only closed-in space of the entire restaurant.
She sat on one of the toilets with her boots up on the lid, same as her butt, phone-in-hand. The doors opened and Cam and Peony came in after her. Ignoring them, she wanted to text her daddy. She wanted some semblance of family with her.
Remember the year we
took a trip to Cancun and the
pellicans kept swooping down
on mom and she ran across the
water like Jesus in a bikini? That
keeps me sane when nothing else
makes sense. Love you. -Hanners
took a trip to Cancun and the
pellicans kept swooping down
on mom and she ran across the
water like Jesus in a bikini? That
keeps me sane when nothing else
makes sense. Love you. -Hanners
She left her stall and looked at the two girls who'd come after her. "Can we not make a thing of this? Nathan..." She hadn't realized how flustered and conflicted she was until then.
"He wanted to suspend the food wheel for you tonight," said Cam.
"Said he was going to make poke for us in the hotel kitchen, but no one wanted it...so he wanted to wait until we had more open minds."
"But poke is delicious."
"It's raw fish with a vinaigrette."
"Yeah, and you don't fix what's not broken."
Cam came in for a hug. "You've had a weird day, love. I don't think it's smart for you to let your emotions out of their boxes right now. But I do have something I need to tell you."
Hannah looked confused. "Whazzat?"
"Jasmine, Saul, and I are part of the faction moving to Hokkaido tomorrow for the tournament. We're not going to Oz with you."
She took a step back. "D-do the others know about this?"
"We all just found out about an hour ago while you were helping clean the pavillion."
"I...I won't even say goodbye!" She hugged Cam again, tears breaking. "You'll stay on mobile the whole time and make sure I don't miss a beat of what you're doing and how you are and you'll eat good food and have a great time and we won't miss one another because it'll be like. It'll be like we're just. We're just not even apart..."
Read 10:51pm
Gender:
Points: 1626
Reviews: 745