Goals Off Court | SatoSere

Chapter 21 - Honesty

Shrugging his bag over his shoulders, Ash had pushed the door open, stepping out into the crisp fall air. He was so sick of this; sick and tired of thinking about her constantly, sick of caving to every whim of hers. He had to stop. This had to end. No more kissing her, touching her, thinking about her. He would finish his final lesson, and let her go for good. He didn't need this level of distraction in his life.

As he stepped into his dorm building, he saw Gary opening the door to their room, about to leave, but he called him out. "Yo, Ashy-boy! You hungry? Brock and I were thinking about grabbing some dinner."

Ash opened her mouth and closed it. He shook his head. pushing passed Gary to head into their room. "I'm good."

"What? You missing out on free food? Impossible. It's on me." Gary was none the wiser to any of that, though, mostly searching for answers to look for as he spoke. "Hell, we even got Paul to hang with us."

"Good for you." Ash sighed, but couldn't look any less frustrated. "I'll figure out dinner later."

"Alright," Gary sigh paralleled his friend's, stepping back into the room. He would do the exact opposite of what Ash wanted him to do. His frown dimmed, but he quickly pulled it out again. His rascal, impish persona was nowhere to be seen anymore, and there weren't any jokes when he spoke up. "What the hell is wrong with you, man? Did something happen between you and Serena?"

Quite literally, yes, too much for them, but he sure didn't want to talk about it. He scoffed, flopping on his bed. "Nothing happened. Just go to dinner."

Gary's voice was molded along with a grin Ash refused to see. "C'mon, man. Don't be like that. I know you have a crush on her—"

"I don't," he snapped, cutting Gary off. He pushed himself up to glare at his roommate.

"I'm calling bullshit," Gary aired out, groaning with humor beginning to climb up the ladder. "I know you and her kissed on Friday night."

Oh, it more than that. At least almost.

"What?" Ash stood up, staring down his roommate. "How do you know about that?" At the same time, he realized he just confirmed his roommate's accusation, not that there was any reason to hide it at this point.

"Misty," Gary huffed lightly, unconcerned. His answer didn't bother him, and he sounded more fascinated than anything when he went on. "Serena mentioned it to Dawn and May. Misty heard it from them, and then she went and told me."

Ash's teeth gritted together. It's like they were playing telephone. His answer was toneless, and Gary tried to read through it. "Yeah, I caught onto that."

"You'd never tell me about it," Gary retorted.

Ash narrowed his eyes, grumbling. "Not like you asked."

"I did ask. When you got home that night, I seem to recall saying something like 'Yo, Ashy-boy, where did you and Serena go?' and someone told me off." Gary inhaled slowly before looking at him with the smuggest look on his face, one that was gonna get wiped off by Ash's fist if he wasn't careful. "Next thing I know, you rolled over and went to sleep, but you seemed all flustered and frustrated. I only assumed something happened between you two and Misty confirmed it."

"So what if we kissed?" His disbelieving nonchalant shrug didn't go anywhere as he continued. "It didn't mean anything for us. We got caught up in the moment."

"That's what they all say. Did Serena tell you that? Are you speaking for her or yourself?" When Ash didn't respond, Gary pushed the issue. "That leaves the question; what are you guys?"