Stay With Me

Chapter 10: Discovering True Feelings

(Name) was gone. And she was with Ash. The Ash that had ticked off Gary from the very beginning. Nothing made Gary boil with more jealousy and rage than that fact.

To make matters worse, out of the corner of his eye, Gary saw Ana spying on him. She probably thought he didn't know that she was there. But he definitely noticed her.

Gary was also a little amused. Who knew that rabid fan girl of his would still be gaga for him three years later?

"Here," he said, thrusting money into the hand of the cashier as he left the coffee shop to head towards (Name)'s apartment, Umbreon hot on his heels. On the corner of the block, Gary saw (Name) and Ash chatting happily, which made Gary scowl.

"Losers," he muttered under his breath. But, his gaze kept drifting towards them as he approached the corner of the street. (Name) noticed this and waved him over.

"You know... you can hang out with us if you want, Gary," (Name) said. Umbreon was growling at Ash, which made the raven-haired boy back away a bit. Gary shook his head.

"Nah. I'll be at the apartment. Umbreon, back off." Umbreon was now trying to bite Ash's hand. Umbreon obeyed, although it still watched Ash warily.  (Name) shrugged, and Gary turned and walked away, heading back toward (Name)'s apartment.

Gary could've sworn that he saw Umbreon shake its head in disappointment. He shook it off.

"Come on, Umbreon, why are you being so stubborn?" Gary complained, trying to get Umbreon to come into the apartment with him.

"Umbri! Umbreon." Gary frowned. 'Translation: No! I don't want to.'

"Umbreon, stop being so difficult," Gary chided. Suddenly, Umbreon shot in like a rocket, toppling Gary over and rushing to the window.

"Umbri!"

'Umbreon! What are you doing?!" Gary groaned, sitting up and getting to his feet with a grunt. Looking over at his loyal Pokémon by the window, he saw it growling angrily. "What's wrong?"

'Umbreon!" Gary walked over to the window, wanting to see what was agitating the Pokémon.

"Where is it?" Gary asked, rubbing his temples in frustration when he saw nothing. Then, he saw it. "Umbreon, what's the big deal about (Name) and Ash hanging out?"

"Umbreon!" Umbreon slapped the window with its paw. Gary sighed in annoyance.

"Umbreon, return." His beloved Pokemon was sucked back into its Pokeball. The Pokeball shook, and Gary wasn't surprised; Umbreon hated its Pokeball. "I'm sorry."

What was Umbreon trying to tell me? he wondered. His translator translated Umbreon's cries into gibberish no one could understand. He thought that maybe it was breaking or something.

"Am I really a Pokemon Researcher? Because I'm pretty darn stupid," he wondered aloud. After that, he was really sure that he was going insane. Then... an image of a certain girl popped up in his head, and Gary was highly irritated.

"(Name), (Name), (Name). When did (Name) become important in my life?!" he exclaimed in frustration. Umbreon's Pokeball began to shake again. He thought about all the strange things that his and (Name)'s Pokemon had been saying. 'I'm a Psychic-type, (Name), I know how you feel about him, just saying...' Starmie had said.

How she feels about me? What is that supposed to mean? he thought. Then there was Espeon...

'Aww, come on, you gotta get used to sleeping in the same bed... after all, you guys are gonna get married.'

Married? That really puzzled the spiky-haired brunet. When was it even a possibility that he and (Name) would get married?

However, he started to have second thoughts. His eyes shifted over to the window, where he saw (Name) and Ash still standing in line at an ice cream stand. And he found he couldn't look away.