My Heart Skipped A Beat {Chapter 6}

The journey out of the cave was long and tiresome. My leg still hurt and the cut on my cheek was starting to sting uncomfortably. Steven helped me take my mind of these factors, however, by helping me through the caves many tunnels, and telling me about a few of it’s mysteries and secrets. He was such a nice guy it was almost unbelievable!

When we got the cave entrance, the sun was high in the sky and the cloud coverage was minimal. We made our way straight to the Pokémon centre so I could shower and we could our Pokémon, where I was delighted to see the stunned nurse staring at me next to Steven as I handed in my Pokémon for healing. I smirked at her as she seemed well and truly shown.

“You look pleased,” said Steven and I looked up at him still smirking.

“Yes, I suppose I am,” I said, glancing at the nurse as we left the building. When we were outside the doors, I bought my new Aron out of his ball and he pottered around the sand.

“I think it’s male?” I said, tentatively and Steven nodded so I continued, “I think he’s gorgeous! I’ve always had a thing for steel Pokémon.” Just as I said that, he looked up looking interested.

“Steel, eh?” he said and I nodded at him, studying his face carefully.

“Yeah, why?” I asked, cautiously, and he smiled.

“No reason,” he said and we walked of round the town.

“Come on, you’ve said it now!” I whined and he smirked at me.

“You’re not going to let this drop, are you?” he asked and I shook my head.

“Ok, fine,” he gave in and I shot him a dazzling smile, “I specialize in steel Pokémon.”

“No kidding!” I was gob smacked, “Hardly anyone specializes in steel!”

“Well, I’m hardly anyone, aren’t I?” he said, calmly, and I suddenly regretted what I said.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said quickly, “Sorry, I just meant that I didn’t know many people who liked steel Pokémon.”

“It’s Ok,” he said and we walked in silence towards the gym. As I got to the doors, I started to get butterflies once more. What if this time, things didn’t work out? What if I completely flopped? And, my stomach shrunk further at the mere thought of it, what it Steven watched me flop?

“You’ll be fine,” said Steven, reassuringly and I inclined my head slightly.

“Fighting type, right?” I checked and he nodded, both of us still staring at the doors. There was a pause.

“Well?” said Steven, and I looked at him.

“Well… what?” I asked and he looked at me back.

“Go in! Brawley’s waiting!” he said, with a look that told me I was being a bit stupid. With an odd feeling of Déjà vu, I stepped forwards towards the doors. Struck by a sudden thought, I turned to Steven.

“What are you going to do?” I asked him, hoping he wouldn’t leave again.

“Me?” he asked, slightly surprised by the question, “I’m going to stay and watch you battle Brawly. I’d like to see how you’ve been getting on with out me.” My stomach twisted itself into a knot. The extremely hot champion wanted to see ME battle! I went pink under my eyes and shot him a coveted look.

“Are you sure? I mean, you can like go do more important stuff if you want?” I so wasn’t ready for this. Not yet. Steven looked at me, a little hurt.

“If you don’t want me to stay-” he began but I stopped him when I realised where he was going with it.

“Oh! No! I just don’t want to cause you unnecessary trouble!” I said hurriedly.

“I love that song,” said Steven and I laughed at the reference to Hard-Fi, “but seriously, no trouble.”

“If you’re sure…”

“I’ll be your moral support.”

“Such a gentleman!” I said sarcastically and he laughed his gorgeous laugh. Smiling at the little confidence boost, I walked through the doors with Steven by my side into the gym.

It was vaster than I remembered. However, it was very similar to Roxanne’s gym in Rustboro except the walls here were mustard yellow and instead of boulders surrounding the arena, there were just blank caverns with a muddy brown floor. A shiver ran down my spine. My stomach rumbled again and my hand automatically flew to it.

“Are you Ok?” Steven’s head turned to me with a look of concern.

“I’m fine, just fine!” I laid a delicate stress on the last word as I pushed harder on my still unsettled stomach. Steven looked a bit embarrassed.

“Are you hungry? Or feeling ill?” he asked slowly.

“Oh, no, nothing like that, it’s just-”

“Steven?!”

Glad at an excuse to stop explaining, Steven and I turned around to view a muscular guy in his mid twenties I thought, with blue hair with was slightly wet.

“Brawly,” Steven smiled and nodded, holding out his hand to the male, who took it grinning at him.

“What brings you here?” the Brawly guy asked, glancing at me then back at Steven with a smirk on his face.

“You two know each other?” I asked feeling a little stupid, and then even more so for asking as Steven raised his eyebrow.

“I get around,” he said simply and I felt about two inches high.

“So, what brings you here?” Brawly asked again, repeating his glance at me a little more exaggerated. Steven shot him a shut-up-I’ll-talk-to-you-later look.

“I’ve, uh, come to, well, challenge you, I guess,” I said and Steven smiled at me encouragingly. Brawly looked a little taken aback.

“A challenger?” He glanced at Steven again and Steven said, “You heard the lady: She wants a battle.” I smiled slightly to myself. He called me a lady.

“Well, then, Miss… uh…” Brawly started.

“Collins. But, call me Jennifer,” I said. Steven shot me the fleetest of looks before looking back at Brawly.

“Sorry, Jennifer, cute name, by the way,” he added and I beamed at him. Steven folded his arms, “Let’s begin. George! Challenger!” Brawly bellowed to a sleeping man in a similar uniform to Ernie’s back in Rustboro.

“Huh? Wah? Oh, yes! Challenger and Brawly, take you positions!” He jumped up, slightly dazed by the bright lights in the gym, as me and Brawly stood on opposite sides of the arena.

“Two Pokémon battle where only the challenger can switch out, yes?” said George, but it was more a statement than a question. Brawly and I nodded even so though. He kept trying to look at me, but I avoided his gaze. I had done the same with Roxanne. I hated eye contact.

“Get ready!” George continued, and I laid my gun fingers on Wingull’s ball.

“Release your Pokémon!”

The battle flew by pretty quickly as I had a type advantage. I decided to play around a bit with time as I knew Steven was watching and I didn’t want to leave him disappointed. I floored Brawly’s Machop in a matter of a few minutes with a skilful display of dodging and wing attacking. His stronger partner, Makuhita, took a little longer, as it managed to drop kick Wingull with a critical hit, but not causing enough damage to hinder his speed. Déjà vu was becoming a common experience when fighting gym leaders as when Makuhita hit the floor, the vibrations caused me to stagger. I was prepared for the fall onto my arse but I was slightly thrown to find arms waiting for me halfway down. I looked up to see Steven standing behind me, evidently just jumped there as soon as I began to fall. He looked shocked to be there himself.

“Careful,” he said, quietly and gently raised me back up to standing, “You really are light.” His hands slowly let go of my arms and the moment became awkward. My stomach growled once more and I punched it as Steven smirked.

“Not a word,” I said, scratching the back of my neck as I turned to face Brawly, who, like Roxanne was giving me a completely changed expression.

“Dear God, girl, you are strong!” he said, looking impressed. I smiled, feeling less embarrassed now.

“Thank you, it was a very good battle,” I said, politely but Brawly laughed.

“It’s Ok! There’s no point in denying it; you floored me!” He raised his hands as though at gun point by me. I suddenly noticed how tall he was, only just shorter than Steven. My own five foot, four inches body seemed to straighten up slightly, dwarfed between these two men.

“Well,” I said, not quite sure what to say but Brawly put his finger to his lips and took my hand from my stomach and placed a small hard object into the palm and closed my fingers over it. I felt the chill of the metal spread up my arm.

“That’s the Knuckle Badge, it allows stronger Pokémon to obey you and you can use Flash, as I’m sure an intelligent trainer like you would already know,” he added, and I went pink under the eyes.

“Thank you, Brawly,” I said, “I’ll see you one time for a rematch?”

“I won’t forget!” he said, and he winked at me and I beamed at him.

“Brawly, a quick word,” said Steven, calmly, “Jennifer, could you wait here for a second?” I noticed the revived use of my full name.

“Sure, no problem,” I said, slightly taken aback as Steven grabbed Brawly’s arm and walked a few steps away talking in low voices. I looked at them closely. Steven’s voice sounded calm enough but his face was hard and his tone was cold as ice. Brawly seemed mocking in his responses, even sniggering at one point. I wondered what they were talking about.

A minute or so later, Steven came back appearing calm and content but I could feel in the air something was wrong and when I waved goodbye to Brawly, he did not look at him but stayed facing the door. Brawly also looked a bit worried and recoiled, slightly, as he said goodbye back, avoiding my eyes just like I was to his. I now knew that something had been said. Something that shouldn’t have been said. What had been said, however, to me, remained a mystery. I called Wingull to sit on my shoulders and we left the gym, with the now hard-faced Steven at my side.

I decided to go the Pokémon centre to heal Wingull, collect my bag from my room and hand in my key, as I would be setting sail with Mr. Briney within two hours. While I did this, Steven said he was going to walk around the beach for a while. I thought I’d better leave him to it. After I had got Wingull back, I went upstairs to my room and sat on the bed thinking for a few minutes. Why had Steven suddenly gone so subdued? What had Brawly said to him? He hadn’t appeared to do anything wrong. Ok, he was casually flirting, but I got the impression that that was just his natural charm factor. After all, he was a surfer dude. It was stereotypical but it was a fact. So what on earth had he said to Steven? I gathered it was Brawly doing the saying as Steven seemed quieter than usual. And what was that about in the gym when Makuhita fainted? Catching me as I fell? It had made my stomach flutter and my guts disappear all at once and the feeling was overwhelming.

Confused and tired, I grabbed my bag from the floor, only to realise that it was open. All my things fell out onto the floor and rolled under the bed.

“Great,” I said aloud angrily, “Just great.” I bent down on my hands and knees and started grabbing things and shoving them back into the bag. Just then I noticed my journal lying about a foot away from my bedside table.

About 20 minutes later, I was outside the Pokémon centre wearing my big blue cardigan again as it was now clean. Steven wasn’t there so I decided to go drop my bag off at Mr. Briney’s boat and go look for him.

“Hi, Mr. Briney,” I said as I got closer and he looked up from what he was doing.

“Ah! You got your badge then, lass?” he asked eagerly and I showed him the badge box with the Knuckle Badge.

“Ah, well done, lass! Did you deliver your letter too?” he asked, while examining the small metal badge.

“Yeah, I did, and I have another tiny favour to ask you,” I said. It was only common courtesy to check with the boat owner before taking someone else aboard.

“Anything,” he said, smiling.

“Well, the person I delivered the letter to, Steven,” I thought I’d mention his name, “well, he’s coming with me to Slateport… so…” I trailed off at the look on Mr. Briney’s face.

“Of course! No trouble! He can come too, no problem,” he said, cheerfully but with a knowing look in his eyes which couldn’t find my own.

“Ok, just let me go get him from the beach, and thank you,” I thanked him again, put my bad on the deck and walked back to the beach. The sun was near to setting and the sky was branded all different colours and textures. It was truly breath-taking to look at. I stopped to take off my shoes and held them in my hand, walking over the waters edge. I dipped my feet in the water to check the temperature. Rather than the icy cold searing sensation I expected, to my surprise, the water was fairly warm. I put my whole foot plus the other one in the water and began walking, allowing my feet to be smothered by the gentle waves while I looked for Steven. I imagined a similar beach to this one on a similar night only much farther away, with no Mr. Briney waiting in his boat, no package to deliver and no towns or gyms, where it was just Steven and I walking along the beach sands, his arm around my shoulders, my arm around his waist, watching the sun set along the horizon…

“Hey.”

I jumped, ever so slightly, and turned around to see Steven standing there. The sun cast beautiful shadows on his face, highlighting his cheekbones. I smiled, weakly, and my stomach growled again. Once more. I punched it and the growling subsided a little but Steven looked at me.

“Look, are you sure you aren’t hungry? I’ve been with you all day and you haven’t touched a thing!”

“Well, nor have you,” I said, defensively. He smiled and the shadows on his face looked more beautiful than ever as I gazed into those eyes.

“You haven’t tasted my dad‘s cooking, have you?” he asked with a cheeky tone in his voice and I laughed, slapping his arm playfully, “Well, no, of course you haven’t, but I’m like Camerupt when it comes to food. You, on the other hand,” he looked me up and down and I blushed slightly, “are damn skinny and damn light to boot. Let me buy you a sandwich or something; it might settle your stomach.”

I felt my heart melting at how much he cared.

“Ok, fine, I’ll come with you at you can get me a sandwich. How’s that?” I said, pretending to give an irritable sigh. He smiled and said, “I win.” I smiled back and we walked back to the Pokémon centre to grab some food side by side.

When we got there and I observed the sandwich section, I had no idea what to choose. Steven claimed he wasn’t hungry but I laughed at the pained expression he had on his face as he saw the chocolate ice cream on sale.

“Ok, here’s the deal,” I said, “You buy me the sandwich, and I buy you the ice cream, Ok?”

“I guess that can be arranged,” said Steven, smiling although his eyes did not leave the ice cream section.

“I shall have this one,” I pressed a cheese sandwich into his hand, “Chocolate, I take it for you?”

“Got it in one,” he said, grinning as he went to pay for the sandwich at the counter while I collected the ice cream tub, grinning to myself as I picked the large one.

“What the hell is that?!” Steven exclaimed aloud, gaping at the vast tub of ice cream I was holding for him when I came out of the Pokémon centre. I burst out laughing at the look on his face.

“Well, you were drooling over it, so I thought I’d treat you,” I said, brightly, taking my sandwich out of his hand and replacing it with the tub of ice cream, “Happy eating!” I stated and I walked, with a little spring in my step, back to the boat while Steven hurried to keep up.

When we were at the side of the barge, Mr. Briney looked up and said, “Hello, lass, and… Steven, I presume?” he asked, and Steven nodded, politely shaking his hand.

“Thank you for letting me come along for the ride, Mr. Briney,” he said, smoothly.

“’Tis no trouble, lad,” he reassured Steven, as we both stepped on board, “Now, just to warn you the start is always a bit jerky, but the level will soon even out.”

“How long do you recon until we hit Slateport?” I asked.

“It’s an overnight trip, I’m afraid,” said Mr. Briney, “But you can sleep in the cabin.” He gestured towards the little room in the centre of the boat.

“Thank you,” Steven and I said together.

“Right, then!” Mr. Briney clapped his hands. “You’d better find somewhere to sit,” he called as he retreated to the engine of the boat.

I did as he told me but, using my knowledge from the last journey, I sat on the deck floor and held on tightly to the leg of the bench. Steven looked confused and slightly amused by my display of odd behaviour.

“You may laugh,” I said, knowingly, thought still blushing a bright Scarlet, “but go sit on the bench and see what happens.”

“I think I’ll trust you,” he coughed, slightly and sat down next to me. A couple of seconds later, a loud familiar roar was heard and the boat jerked suddenly forwards, causing Steven and I to fall back slightly, but kept safe from our positions on the ground.

“I now know I can trust you,” muttered Steven, rubbing his back. I grinned at him and sat up on the bench as the boat steadied. He sat on the bench opposite me and watched as I released Combusken and Wingull and Aron to roam around the deck or, in Wingull’s case, fly over the boat. My stomach growled.

“Eat the damn sandwich!” exclaimed Steven, starting to sound worried now. I took it from the bench and we locked eyes for a long moment. I felt something pass between us, something from both sides flowing into each other. I looked away feeling uneasy. I didn’t know what he had seen, or whether I wanted him to see it.

“Eat your damn ice cream!” I retorted, trying to cover up the accidental connection. Steven smiled, evidently trying to do the same, and opened the tub of the ice cream. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a plastic spoon and began attacking the ice cream. I unwrapped the sandwich and I sensed his eyes on me. I took a bite out of the sandwich and closed my eyes. The taste was divine for a two-dollar sandwich. I continued to munch it until only crumbs were left, and Steven seemed a bit more relaxed, until he suddenly clutched his head and bent down.

“Brain freeze!” I giggled and he groaned loudly from his position.

The rest of the evening was wiled away with jokes and Pokémon talk. I was curious about the other Pokémon gym’s Pokémon type. Very soon the sun had set and the both of us were off in our own thoughts. I looked over at Steven. He had a gorgeous look on his face that portrayed perfect content, his head tilted a little to the left and his eyes looking at the stars bright in the night sky. Struck by a sudden inspiration, I went through my bag and found my journal. Flicking to a clean page at the back, I had one last long glance at Steven, and began to draw.

After ten minutes or so of sketching his features, he noticed what I was doing. His eyes moved carefully over to me but because I was drawing him, I noticed instantly and looked up.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“What are you doing?” he asked, suspiciously.

“Nothing,” I said, innocently and he raised his eyebrows.

“What’s that you’re holding?” he asked, gesturing at my journal.

“Nothing.” I held the book close to my chest, defensively.

“Oh, come on,” he whined, “Let me see?”

“You’ll be lucky!” I laughed at him.

“I’ll dangle you over the side of this boat if I had to!” he jokily threatened.

“Bring it!” I cried, standing up and placing the book inside my cardigan and standing tall.

“Oh, really?” Steven sounded slightly evil.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” I asked. He nodded, smirking and came at me. I suddenly remembered how tall he was compared to me.

“Steven! No! Don’t you dare-” I shrieked and we began the war over the journal I currently was keeping hidden in my cardigan.

“You ticklish?” he asked, playfully, still trying to reach the journal I was now holding behind my back while lying on the deck floor.

“Very,” I said, then thought about my mistake, “Shit. I lied. I’m not, seriously- STEVEN!”

A second later I was being tickled until I thought my lungs would burst. I rolled over and Steven grabbed the book out of my laughter-weak hands.

“No! Don’t you dare! Give that back now or I will get Combusken to burn your arse!” I giggled, feebly as he stood up with the book in his hand looking triumphant.

“I win,” he said, smiling and I came to my senses, stood up, and jumped on his back.

“Not yet you don’t! Give it here! Combusken! Where are you?!”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Wouldn’t I?” I grinned at him, still trying to grab the book. Aron danced around us, yapping like a Zigzagoon and causing the floorboards of the deck to creak ominously.

“Uh…” His split second hesitation was all I needed.

“Combusken! Ember!”

Already knowing that I didn’t actually want to burn Stevens cute and sexy arse, Combusken fired her flames just to the right of him. He was still shocked though.

“You actually tried to burn my arse!” He sounded offended.

“Well you stole my-” I was cut off as the boat suddenly gave a violent jerk. Steven lost his balance at the same time I lost my grip and we both fell onto the deck’s bench. I couldn’t tell what had happened. Steven groaned slightly. I raised by head a little and slowly opened my eyes. A pair of moonlight silver eyes were gazing back into my own. I registered where I was. I had fallen stomach down, onto Steven, stomach up, onto the bench and our faces were but inches apart.

“Sorry, about that little snag-”

Mr. Briney came round the corner from the other side of the cabin and stopped dead to see the position me and Steven were in. Shocked and embarrassed, I quickly got up and my eyes stuck themselves to the floor as I drew my cardigan further around my shoulders. I couldn’t see Steven but I could tell he had sat up. My face was burning beet-red and my stomach had began growling again. I punched it automatically and looked up at Mr. Briney.

“I… uh…” I began to say but Mr. Briney interrupted me.

“I just hit a small cluster of rocks and one has damaged the engine. Just thought I’d tell you we may be stuck here for a quite a bit while I fix it.” He sounded keen to leave us be, though he shot me a grin as he turned to fix the problem. The air between Steven and I remained stiff and edgy as I went to lie down on the opposite bench facing away from Steven. I felt a hard rectangular object beneath me. I pulled it out and smiled to myself.

“Steven?” I called, turning over.

“Mmm?” he answered, looking up.

I held up my journal in my left hand and he smiled.

“I win,” I grinned.

We both laughed and turned over to get some sleep.

:::Steven's POV:::

=O what did brawly say?!?!?!
you will soon find out, if you keep reading
sorry i havn't posted in a while, i've been busy =/
any ideas for a better title, or any ideas at all, message me =]