Three Couples, Six People, Many Songs(#5)
Song #5 - Falling for the First Time, Bare Naked Ladies.
Misty dusted off her deep blue-gray sweater, ridding it of the lint that had miraculously settled on it between the time it took her to walk from her house to her first class, Painting, which she happened to share with Brock. The only class the two of them shared, actually.
She placed her hand on the doorknob, but then paused to do a quick once over of her outfit. Blue jeans, not baggy, but not all that tight either, long sleeved white shirt, and then the sweater. Her sneakers were nice and clean, her hair was rather neat as far as she could tell. It hadn't been windy so she could not find any reason why it would be messier than it had been last time she had checked it.
Satisfied with her appearance, she walked into the class, but her hint of a smile turned into a scowl when she noticed that Brock had picked a seat next to Linda. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed one of the paint covered smocks and plopped down in the other seat next to Brock.
"Hey Brock," she greeted him, interrupting whatever he had been saying to the other girl.
"Oh, hi Misty!" He took a brief moment to acknowledge her presence, then returned his attention to Linda.
Misty snorted softly, then got up and made her way to her cubby to get her oil paints and her pallet paper. /Damn Brock. School's barely started and already he's hit on just about every girl in this class... And it's a class of thirty, with only four guys!/ She picked up her supplies, then also tried to grab her work in progress. Unfortunately, in the process of grabbing the painting canvas, she lost her grip on her box of oil paints. Gravity nearly won, but instead of the crash of her box hitting the ground, she heard the sound of a body sliding and catching it.
Grinning, Tracey got up and carefully placed the box back in Misty's arms. "Close call, huh?"
Misty nodded, smiling a little. She didn't know Tracey all that well, but Ash did, and he seemed like a nice enough guy. "Thanks."
"No problem," He smiled, then looked down at himself. "Heh, floor’s not all that clean, is it?" He brushed some of the dust off his black jeans and red t-shirt. "Say..." He looked at her painting, his eyebrows raising. "Nice painting."
Misty blushed slightly. "Thanks," she said again, though she personally though it could be better... And it was just a simple painting of the lake that she swam at, nothing special... "You're not so bad yourself. That painting you did of that girl, it was really good."
His turn to blush. "Took me forever. I spent nearly an entire day just putting on the finishing touches."
"So I heard." Misty graced him with a full smile, but then looked over her shoulder and noticed that Brock had gotten much further in his conversation with Linda than with his painting. "Well, I should finish this off. Thanks for saving my paint."
"All in a day's work." He grinned, then turned to his own cubby.
Misty walked back over to her seat and arranged her stuff on the table, watching Brock out of the corner of her eyes. Sitting down, she purposely dragged her stool so that it would screech, and consequently cause Brock to turn to pay even just a little attention to her.
It succeeded, and he stopped talking long enough to look at Misty. In doing so, he caught a glimpse at her painting, and he smiled, recognizing the scene. "Hey, that's the lake!"
Misty nodded, inwardly pleased that Brock could at least recognize her painting. "What are you painting?"
Brock blushed and looked sheepishly at his mostly bare canvas. "Er... It's gonna be my littlest sister's stuffed dogs; I'll give it to her for her birthday in the summer. But I kinda haven't gotten very far." He looked at Linda, who was currently devoting her attention to her own painting.
"Brock! You need to pass this class." Misty lightly hit his shoulder with the tube of paint in her hand. "You need two art credits to graduate, and it took you both your freshman and sophomore year to pass just Drawing." She shook her head in disapproval. "Can't you control yourself long enough to just finish a simple painting?"
Brock scratched the back of his head, looking at Linda again. "But I have to find someone to take to the prom! And with my luck, it'll take me the entire year."
/Look right in front of you, idiot/ Misty dabbed her paintbrush in some cerulean blue paint and started to touch up the lake. "Well class time isn't flirting time, get to work." She looked up and shot a stern glare in his direction. "And I mean it."
"Yes mother dear," Brock replied, smiling innocently.
Again, Misty shook her head, but then she concentrated on her painting for the rest of the period.
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Right After School
"Ash!" Misty grinned and ran up to the fifteen year old boy and hugged him tightly. "Where on earth have you been?" She demanded when they pulled out of the hug.
The boy grinned, and then shrugged. "Here and there. I was trying to track down the few black squirrels that live around here, along with hunting a few things, some considerably bigger." There was a hint of something that shone in Ash's eyes when he said the last part.
Misty caught that shine, and she raised an eyebrow, "Has our little Ash got a crush?"
"Aw come on Misty. Me?" He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an article from a magazine. "Look at this!"
Misty skimmed over the article. "Hm, white tiger eh? Planning on hunting one down in our little town?"
"No! Look there!" He pointed at a highlighted section.
"Hmm, bringing two to the zoo?" Misty Looked at her younger friend. "Ash, that zoo is a three hour drive away, how are you planning on getting there?"
"Uhh..." He put an arm around Misty's shoulder. "Misty, have I ever told you how much I absolutely love you?"
She slipped away and put one hand on her hip. "Ash, I am not driving that far!"
"Aw..." He pouted. "Think Brock might?"
"Maybe if he got to take all his younger siblings, yes." Misty sighed. "Sorry Ash, but you're gonna have to either find someone else, or find a bus or something. Why not ask you mother at least for money for a bus?"
He shook his head. "She's kinda mad about my grades from last school year..."
"So how were you planning on going with us?"
"Lying about where I was going, sorta..." He shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time. How do you think I get out of school to go off on my trips?"
Misty frowned, and was about to say something when Ash spotted his car.
"I gotta go. Bye Mist!" He waved and ran over to the car.
Misty adjusted her backpack then looked at the time. Three thirty already... She had to start walking then if she wanted to have time to do her homework when she got home.
Five minutes later, she looked at her watch again, dismayed at the short time that she had walked. She was tired, she wanted to sleep, not to walk home and then do her homework. But then, why would life give her what she wanted? While she was asking for immediate transportation to her home, and to her bed, she might as well ask for Brock to stop chasing after girls... and start chasing her instead.
Misty smiled sadly. Never would she have expected this to happen, her falling for Brock. He was such a slacker sometimes, though not to the extent of Ash, and he chased after any female human that he didn't believe was too young and that was attractive. Yet under his carefree attitude, he was serious, and caring... Misty noticed that especially when she caught Brock around his brothers and sisters. The way he took care of them, it was rather sweet to watch him tenderly pick up his youngest sister, and then struggle not to laugh at her stubborn refusal to believe that chipmunks were not baby squirrels.
And he had been through much the same stuff as Misty had, though to a much larger extent. Both of their fathers were practically nothing more than sperm donors. Misty was better off in that she had three older sisters, and her mother was still around, just not all that much. Brock's mother was fighting cancer... It was unlikely she would live much longer. If she managed to see Brock's graduation, it would be a miracle.
The red haired girl pushed the somber thoughts out of her mind. She was thinking about her crush - or was it more than that? - on Brock. Such a strange event, though now that she thought over it, she could understand what she saw on him, sort of. A relationship between them would never work though, they were too different...
She crossed the road, and noticed much to her delight that she was only a block away from home. As she finally reached her home, and then walked into the house and made her way up to her room, she marveled over her attraction to Brock. First time she'd every truly been attracted to someone, and it felt weird. She felt a bit upset, because she knew Brock would never see her as anything more than a friend, yet she felt slight hope that he might possibly fall for her someday. She felt resentment toward having this odd romantic attachment to her friend, but elation at knowing that at least he was someone that she saw every day.
As she sat down to do her homework, she smiled a little secret smile. She might as well just enjoy the crush while it lasted. It was just a crush, right?
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