Author's Note: This idea just came to me one day and I'm the type that has to write things down when inspiration strikes or else I'll lose that inspiration, so I had to get the meanings of different colored roses online (but I did check a bunch of websites to make sure it was right-ish) so sorry if there's some that are wrong!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Pokemon, or else Misty and May wouldn't have left the show!


Collection of Roses

By xXFireRoseXx

Drew liked roses. Each color had a different meaning; each color could be used to convey a message. And that was exactly what he used them for.


Lavender

It was his first day of Kindergarten. And although he was calm and collected for his age, there was no mistaking the tiny crease of his forehead or his extra tight grip he had on his backpack strap, because Drew Hayden was, in fact, nervous. He didn't know anyone, wasn't accustomed to the loudness in the classroom that came from the other five-year-olds. All he knew was that he wanted to go home.

"Hi, my name's May; what's your name?" He whipped around immediately, startled to have heard that cheerful voice next to him, and was even more startled to see how blue her eyes were.

"…Drew," He managed to mumble. The brunette tilted her head to the side cutely, cupping her hand around her ear as if it would help her hear.

"What was that? I can't hear you!"

"I said Drew!" He repeated, purposefully louder this time.

Her entire face lit up, her mouth forming into an 'O' shape. "Oh! Do you want to be friends, Drew?"

The green haired boy didn't know how to respond, and so just looked away from the (strange, in his mind) brunette. As the question lingered in the air unanswered, tension quickly spreading (although the blue eyed girl seemed to be oblivious), Drew grew steadily more nervous. "Uh…um…" And then he just ran away, having not known what else to do, leaving the confused girl staring after his retreating back.

They didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day. But the next day, Drew came up to May as she was coloring, and without saying anything, thrust something down onto the table she was working on. As May looked up, her gaze moved from her paper to Drew to the lavender rose he had left in front of her.

"Mommy, look at what Drew gave me at school!" May exclaimed excitedly as she hopped off the bus, holding the lavender rose up proudly for her mother to see.

"Who's Drew?" Caroline asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"He's a boy in my Kindergarten class, and he gave me this today!" May clarified, repeating what she had already said on account of her eagerness to show her mother the rose.

"What a pretty flower!" Her mother said enthusiastically as she bent down to May's level to see it better. "And it's a purple rose, too! Do you know what purple roses mean?"

May shook her head confusedly. "No, what do they mean?"

Caroline smiled tenderly at her daughter. "Well, they mean enchantment, or…" She trailed off as the thought came to her mind.

"What, Mommy?" May asked curiously.

Caroline shook her head. "Nothing, sweetie. Now, let's go inside and put this in some water."

The five-year-old nodded, following after her obediently.


Lavender Rose:

Enchantment

Love at first sight


Yellow

Drew never had responded to her request to become friends. This thought, however seemingly random and out of the blue, was what led May to ask hesitantly one day, "Drew, we're…friends…right?"

Drew looked up from his work at the sound of her voice from across from him, raising an eyebrow as if telling her to clarify.

"I-I mean…back on the first day of Kindergarten, you never told me if you wanted to be friends…"

Drew rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious and got up to hand his finished work to his teacher. But before leaving the table, he dropped something on top of her paper, making sure she would see it.

May looked down and held the rose in front of her. Yellow. What did that mean? She would have to ask her mother later that night.


Yellow Rose:

Friendship

Joy

Caring


Light Pink

Her eyes were red and puffy as she entered the classroom that day. At twelve years old, having been friends with May for five years already, Drew could notice the signs for when May was feeling down. She had red, puffy eyes, she was trembling, there seemed to be a raincloud above her head…

He was immediately worried as he walked over and asked, "Is there…something wrong?"

She looked down, angling her face so that her bangs covered his view of her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it." She replied, failing to keep her voice from shaking.

Drew decided not to press the matter for the time being, seeing as she looked as if she was about to start crying right then and there.

He cornered her during lunch instead, refusing to let the matter just simply slide. "May, what's wrong?"

She looked away in response, refusing to meet his concerned emerald green eyes that always seemed to be able to read her so easily.

"What is it that's bugging you?" He asked again, this time his tone holding a hint of frustration.

He could hear a whimper from the brunette in front of him before she finally let out the tears she'd been holding back the whole school day. "M-my…my grandma…she…she's gone!" She covered her face with her hands, trying to stop the sobs that continued racking her body.

Realization dawned on Drew as he grasped the meaning behind her words. His arms seemed to act on their own as they engulfed her into an embrace. He found that he didn't like seeing her so sad; didn't like seeing her cry.

He tucked her hair back as she cried, discreetly slipping a little something behind her ear to help cheer her up…if only a little.

...

The door closed behind her, letting her mother know she was home.

"May, is that you?" She heard from the living room.

"Yeah, Mom." She answered, walking to the living room to see her mother lying across the couch with red, puffy eyes and a box of tissues in hand as she stared uninterestedly at the show on the television. May could see from the multitude of tissues scattered around the room that her mother had been very upset the whole day, although she herself had felt much better after crying earlier, strangely enough.

Her mother's gaze shifted from the television to her as she entered. "Oh, did Drew give you that rose? That was nice of him."

Surprised, May saw in her reflection of the glass coffee table that there was, in fact, a rose; one tucked right behind her ear. She gently plucked it from it's perch, holding it between two fingers to examine it. A light pink rose – sympathy. She smiled softly as she replied, "Yeah, it was."


Light Pink Rose:

Sympathy

Admiration

Sweetness


Red

Drew was uncertain, and he didn't like it. He was always so confident, so sure, that it was bordering on arrogant, and being so unsure made him feel insecure and troubled.

The cause of his inner turmoil was not a something, but a someone, none other than –Who else?– May, of course.

He had that warm, fuzzy feeling every time he'd see her, and he could almost swear that his heart skips a beat. He can't understand the feelings he gets, and it just may be driving him crazy.

It wasn't that he was oblivious or dense; on the contrary, he'd read enough of his sister's romance novels (and don't look at him that way, he was only curious) to know that what he was feeling could've possibly been an attraction to her.

But then again, he could've only been mistaking it for an attraction when it was really something else (because, aforementioned, he had never felt this way), and he didn't want this to ruin their longtime friendship. So what does he do? Ignore the feelings. But that had proved to be impossible, and he is then forced to acknowledge it – but only to himself. And when that hadn't been enough, he had started subtly hinting at his feelings.

So here we are now when Drew thinks that May might (might being the key word) just feel the same. But then again, they are friends, and friends aren't supposed to feel this way about each other.

He waits until that day that men dread and women covet – February 14, none other than Valentine's Day. He sees her that morning at her locker and walks over.

"Hey, Drew," She greets him as she slides her books into her locker.

Said boy does not return the greeting. Instead, with the faintest hint of a blush, slips a rose into her bag before she notices.

...

As May pulled out her homework from her bag that evening, she saw something else slipping out with it. She looks down to find a single red rose and wonders, 'How did that get there?'

And then she remembers the one person she knows that always uses roses to express his feelings, and flashbacks to that morning when he was at her locker.

A smile unconsciously makes its way to her face as she blushes and gingerly fingers the soft, blood red petals.

Because everyone knows the meaning of a red rose:

"I love you."


Author's Note: So, the last one (Red), including the ending, didn't go as I had originally planned, but I like it anyways! :) This is my first one-shot, so please be nice!

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