Chapter 8
It had been a week since Ash had spoken to Brock. He didn't call him, didn't step foot into the gym until he circled the parking lot checking for his car and he didn't mention him to Misty.
It made him uncomfortable to talk about what had happened. He didn't want to talk about Tracy or what had happened back in college. He didn't want to feel the things he was feeling. His sex life with his newlywed wife was non-existent, besides a brief kiss before bed at night.
Even that didn't spark his interest…
Was what happened back in college more than he was chalking it up to be?
No. He wasn't gay. He couldn't be. He had gotten married to a beautiful woman and he couldn't destroy his mother like that. No. Ash Ketchum was definitely straight.
The telephone blurted out like an alarm clock and Ash was being pulled from some kind of dream. A dream where he was being kissed by someone who he could not see. But he could tell it was a rough, forceful kiss. One that was dominating and demanding…not that of a woman.
Misty squinted against the early morning sun and fumbled for the telephone next to her bed. Ash lay barely awake on his back and looked up at her. God, she was beautiful. What was wrong with him?
"Hello?" Misty wiped her eyes and looked at the bedroom clock. It was barely eight A.M. she didn't have to wake up for another half hour.
"Misty, like we need you to come to Cerulean City, like right away." It was Daisy's voice and she sounded upset.
"Why?" She asked, not too concerned. A crisis to her sisters was not anything to get worried about.
"You remember that photographer Todd Snap?" Daisy asked, avoiding a giggle. "Well, he broke up with Lilly this morning, like, twenty minutes ago. So, Violet and I were planning on surprising her with, like, a party tonight at Capricorn. You know the place? The nightclub. Invite everyone you know. We want it to be a big bash!"
"Yes. Yes. I know." She crinkled her brow and shook her head. "I'll be there after I take a shower. Give me 'til nine-thirty." She threw off her quilt and hung up the phone, irritated, but not surprised.
Why today of all days? That dream she was having was too wonderful to wake up from. Why couldn't it had finished. She smiled as she fumbled through her closet door, thinking of the way Brock touched her and how he touched her in that dream.
"Where you going, Gorgeous?"
Ash's voice startled her out of her daydream and she turned around, then forced a smile. "Oh, I didn't know you were awake." She cleared her throat. "I have to go see my sisters. Lilly is apparently going through some kind of crisis with Todd, her boyfriend…or ex-boyfriend now I guess."
"Oh…" Ash sat up. "When will you be home?"
"I'll probably be gone all day. Do me a favor and call Brock…" Her heart fluttered when she said his name and a warmness spread throughout her body when she realized she would probably be seeing him tonight. The first time since that night at the park…
"W-why do you want me to call him for?"
She didn't realize she had stopped in the middle of her sentence to revel in her infatuation. "O, uh…We're planning a party tonight for Lilly. It's probably the wrong thing to do, but Violet and Daisy are convinced it's like therapy. Anyway, tell him they are both invited and to bring any friends along."
She closed the bathroom door and realized her heart was racing.
Ash looked towards the phone and realized his was racing too.
The phone rang three times before Lucy answered, much to Ash's relief.
"Hello, this is Lucy Harrison speaking…" Lucy's voice sounded like the perfect housewife's voice.
"Hey, it's me…"
"Oh, Ash. How are you? Do you need Brock?"
Ash swallowed and shook his head. "No. No. I just…wanted to tell you that there is going to be a party for Misty's sister at Capricorn tonight in Cerulean City. You and Brock are invited if you would like to come…" He sincerely hoped Brock had to work. Or that he would say no…
"Of course we'll be there!" Lucy promised, then he heard her voice echo throughout the house. "Brock, after breakfast we have to go shopping!"
He heard the low, deep, muffled voice of Brock in the background. Then Lucy's.
"Misty's throwing a big party in Cerulean City and we have to go! I have nothing to wear!" Then she turned her attention back to Ash. "Tell Misty we will be attending. Both of us."
Ash felt his stomach plummet. "Alright…bye Lucy."
"Bye."
Then, she hung up.
Tonight he would have to try extremely hard to avoid Brock. He knew his secret. The deepest, darkest, dirtiest secret he had ever kept from anyone. The secret that had been eating him alive since the night it happened. The reason he couldn't look his own mother in the eye.
The reason he hated his father…
The reason he married the most gorgeous woman he could find so he could convince himself he was straight…
He was. He was straight…
By now, he was shaking. He needed to get out of the house. Go for a drive. To anywhere. Anyplace.
Grabbing his keys from the coffee table he set out. Maybe to the mall. No, he could run into Tracy there and who knows what would happen?
Worse. Maybe he could run into Brock and Lucy as they are shopping for clothes for tonight.
This was silly. He was going to mall and he was going to enjoy himself.
Ash flipped his sunglasses over his eyes, despite that it was an overcast day. It would probably rain again. It had been raining a lot lately. In fact, the asphalt of the Landview mall parking lot was still dark with rain from the previous night.
He ran his fingers through his dark, messy hair and entered a long entrance hallway, walked by a jewelry store - the same one he bought Misty's wedding ring in- and then by a brand new BMW for sale.
He felt jumpy all over. He didn't want to run into Brock. He couldn't even stand to look him in the eye. Ash didn't feel like a man anymore in front him. He couldn't put on that macho façade when he was around any longer.
The worst part about being around Brock was he was starting to notice the attractive features about him. His scent. The feeling of his hand when he gave him a high five or a firm handshake. The square jaw. His beautiful eyes.
Things a woman would notice…
It was true. Ash was attracted to men. But he was also attracted to women. In some ways…
He stopped to get a piece of gum to calm his nerves and as he bent down to get the large, oversized ball of sugar-coated gum from the dispenser, someone startled him.
"Hey."
He jumped and dropped his gumball. It rolled across the tiled floors and disappeared under the dark blue BMW parked in front of a department store. Ash whirled around and his mouth hung open for a moment.
"W-what are you doing here?" He stammered, backing away from him. It was Tracy Sketchit. The last person on earth he wanted to see right now was Tracy Sketchit. "I don't want to talk to you."
"Ash, last week…when you kissed me…"
"Will you be quiet?" Ash hissed, receiving a few odd stares from other shoppers. Then, he looked around for Brock. If he saw him talking to Tracy, it was sure to get back to Misty. No sign of him, for now.
"Ash, let's go somewhere and talk." Tracy proposed to him and Ash found himself contemplating it.
"Tracy. I have a wife. I told you. I am straight!" He turned from him and decided he would lose him in a large department store, hiding behind one of those large perfume displays. But before he even took two steps forward, he was being pulled back to Tracy.
"Why are you lying to yourself? …To me?" His eyes scanned his face and his bottom lip shook. Not with tears, but anticipation.
Ash thought about how those lips felt against his. How his hands felt on his body. How sexy it was to hear him moan out his name just before…He shook his head. "I'm not lying to anyone! I love Misty!"
"You love me."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"No! I don't!"
Tracy kissed him again, pushing him into the thin hallway of the restrooms. Ash was startled at first and almost lost his balance, but grabbed onto Tracy's shoulders and kissed him back.
"Tracy…" Ash moaned against his lips, reclaiming them urgently. His fingers tangled in his long, dark locks as he found himself searching frantically for a way to get under his shirt. Misty never turned him on this much. Never.
Then, he realized…She never would.
Finally, Tracy pulled away and stared back at him. "I've missed you."
Ash was gasping for air and he felt the aching erection that was so painfully obvious. It felt so good to be with someone he was truly attracted to. "I've missed you, too, Tracy." He swallowed heavily before brushing his cheek with his fingertips and attempted to kiss him again.
Tracy stopped him. "Not here. If you want to kiss me again, you're going to have to take me somewhere private."
"My wife's out of town. She went up to see her family all the way in Cerulean. We can go to my house." He winked at him and hurried out of the thin hallway, scanning the area of the mall and much to his horror, he saw Brock and Lucy.
They were sitting in the food court with food from the Pretzel Shop. He hurried out of their line of vision and looked across the hallway at Tracy who was already heading towards him. Quickly, he hurried out to his car and waited for Tracy to appear behind him.
He would keep this discrete. No one would ever find out.
Just before three o'clock that afternoon, Misty arrived home after the hour long interstate ride from Cerulean City. She wasn't sure why she came home since she'd just be driving back in a couple of hours, but she had housework to do that she was planning on doing if it hadn't been for the trip.
One hour of her time in Cerulean City was consoling a distraught Lilly who was angrily burning pictures of her and Todd. She tore up letters, tossed out jewelry, video tapes, Christmas ornaments, everything that reminded her of Todd Snap.
Then, they went to the Cerulean City mall and did what Violet called "Therapy shopping". Then it was on to Capricorn, which was an elegant restaurant by day and flashy nightclub by night. The reservations were made and the guest list was in check.
That's when she headed back home to do a few chores like vacuum, sweep the floors, dust the furniture, or maybe just do some laundry. Anything to get her mind off Brock and how she was going to look in the new dress she brought at the mall this morning.
Misty opened the front door and sat her purse down on the coffee table, next to a coffee cup.
She growled and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, Ash! Can't you ever clean up after yourself?" Mumbling to herself, she picked it up and noticed that another one was located right next to it. Both were only half full.
Suddenly, she became nervous. Was Brock here?
No, if he was, she knew exactly where he would be. In the kitchen talking to Ash or right here in the living room, watching some kind of ball game with Ash. The entire house was silent, but wasn't empty.
She peered out the window. The forest green sedan parked across the street was not familiar to her, but she figured it was probably her neighbors guest. Or perhaps they brought a new car.
Ash's car was still parked in front of the house.
He was definitely home.
"Ash?" Misty called out and placed her hand on the rail of the staircase as she climbed up. "Ash? Where are you?" The shower wasn't running. Nor was the television. He must have been asleep. It wasn't unusual for him to take a mid-afternoon snooze.
Without knocking, she swung open their bedroom door and felt her entire body stiffen with grotesque shock.
Ash pushed Tracy off of him, causing him to stumble backwards over the jeans that were fallen around his ankles. "Misty!"
"Oh my god…" Her eyes stung as the tears threatened to show and she covered her mouth, wide-eyed and unmoving. Her entire body was numb and she wasn't even aware she was crying.
Not only was her husband having an affair. He was having it with a man.
She sank down against the wall and cried harder than she had ever cried in her entire life. She hated herself for not seeing the signs. She hated herself for marrying him. But most of all, she hated herself for feeling guilty all week about what happened between her and Brock.
The bedroom door swung open and Ash stood there, fully dressed and embarrassed. "Misty, I- I can explain."
"You don't need to!" She stood up and wiped tears from her eyes until she could see clearly. Then, with blurry vision she hurried down the stairs. Ash chased after her.
"Misty, wait…I'm…I'm sorry!"
"I'm not going to Capricorn tonight. Why don't you take him as your date?" She shot Tracy a mean glare before tearing herself out of Ash's grasp. "Get your hands off me, sick bastard!"
She slammed the front door so hard that it forced their largest wedding picture off the wall and shattered it to the floor. Getting back into her car, she started it but could not see clearly enough to drive. Her vision was blurred by tears again that she just could not control.
Angrily, she rolled down her window and threw her wedding ring across the front lawn. She couldn't bare to wear it anymore now that everything made sense. She had to get out of here before Ash tried to talk to her again.
She didn't even want to look at him.
Pulling out her cell phone, she knew exactly who to call. She knew his number by heart.
The phone rang an agonizing four times before his voice crackled over the speaker. She could hear a medley of voices in the background.
"Hello?"
"Brock, I need you to come and get me. I can't drive."
"What? Why? What's wrong?" He was standing at the checkout line of a very expensive department store. He handed the cashier his credit card.
"I saw Ash…and…" She looked towards the house, towards the bedroom window. She couldn't say it. It was all too confusing and she kept wondering if she was ever going to wake up from this terrible nightmare.
"Misty, are you at home?"
"I'm in the driveway."
"Don't move, Sweetheart." He grabbed his shopping bags and flagged Lucy down who still had a pile of clothes hanging off her arm. "I'm leaving the mall right now. You just try to calm down."
Sweetheart? Since when did he call her sweetheart? Suddenly, she wasn't crying anymore. Just fretting. Like she did when she was five and her ice cream cone fell on the ground. Or like that time in kindergarten when the bigger kid pushed her off the monkey bars.
Brock still hadn't hung up. She could hear him talking to Lucy.
"Lucy, we have to go. I have to pick up Misty." She heard him say, but she couldn't hear Lucy. "I don't know, but she's really upset….alright, fine. I'll be back to pick you up later then." His voice became clearer and louder now. "I'll be there in five minutes. I promise."
"Ok…" She said, softly. Then, she shut off her car. She looked terrible. On top of being tired, her hair was messed, her eyes were now red and puffy, and her nose was as red as Rudolph.
And Brock was on his way.
Then she thought of how strange it was to worry about something like that at a time like this.
Every car that passed she hoped it was Brock and she didn't feel relieved until she saw his truck race down her street and stop with a jolt behind the forest green sedan that she now knew belonged to the man Ash was with.
She raced towards his car and he leaned over and opened the door.
"Just…get me out of here, please." Misty begged him as she climbed inside and settled into the passenger seat.
Brock didn't question her, he just did as she said and neither one of them spoke until they were out of the neighborhood, headed back towards Landview mall. He already knew what had happened. It was only a matter of time.
"Brock, he was with…a man. A guy…in our…bed." Misty felt her stomach churn as she admitted it out loud. Embarrassed beyond belief, she was shaking so vigorously the lose hinges on the door were rattling.
He reached over and placed his hand on her leg. "Calm down, Sweetheart."
She looked over at him. He called her that name again and she could literally feel her heart jump inside her chest. It sounded beautiful and sexy coming from his voice, the way his lips moved when he spoke.
Why in the hell was she even crying over Ash?
"Misty, I'm sorry you had to see that." He apologized and came to a stop in front of a stoplight. She looked over at him only for a second, then looked away. What could be going through his mind right now?
"Why couldn't he just…tell me he was gay? I wouldn't hate him. I'd still be his friend. I just…wouldn't have married him." She folded her arms over her chest. "Now I know why he didn't want to…you know…" She didn't dare finish her sentence. It was too awkward.
His palm skimmed roughly over her thigh and she felt a rush of heat spread through her body. "Ash can't even admit it to himself. You confronted him about the magazine and he denied it. He's obviously uncomfortable with his sexuality."
"It's my fault." She said after a moment as he pulled his truck into an empty parking space in front of Landview mall. "I did this to him."
Brock put the truck in park and stared over at her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, protectively. "Hey, don't you blame yourself. None of this is your fault." He forced her to look up at him, even though she'd rather look anywhere else.
"He's gay because of me! I'm so ugly and hideous I turned him off from women and--" She was quieted by his kiss. A rough, unrehearsed, passionate, unstoppable kiss that sent her into a tornado of emotion.
He slowly parted from her, shaking just as much as he was. "You are not ugly. Or hideous. I don't kiss ugly women like that. There is your proof." He offered her a smile and even though she thought she could never smile again, she did.
An awkward silence passed between them. Misty finally broke it. "I'm not going to Capricorn tonight. I can't…"
"You should. I'm going to be there." His elbow rested in the middle seat and he leaned over until he was eye level with her breasts.
"Yea, with Lucy." She folded her arms and sighed.
"She'll get drunk within the first fifteen minutes, anyway. I'll need someone to dance with. Besides, it's not good for you to sit around and think about this all day. You should go out and have some fun…with me." He smiled up at her and she smiled back, then looked out the window.
"Well, it is for my sister…I guess I should go."
"See, there is another reason." He sat up and plucked his keys from the ignition. "C'mon, let's go get Lucy. You can come with us to the party."
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