Oldrival Blind date
My first Oldrival shipping story using the names Leaf and Gary.
Disclaimer: I don't own Leaf, Gary or Swarovski... Actually, I have a necklace from there but that was a gift.
Gary sat in a red convertible with one arm hanging lazily over the side while his other hand's index finger ran across the steering wheel.
His childhood 'friends' (Ash, Brock, May, Dawn and Misty) decided to set him up on a blind date with someone "hot" and they even leant him a very flamboyant looking car – just his taste.
He shuffled about in the seat for a while until he could see his face and (more importantly) hair in the mirror. His spikes were perfect – like always – and his black button up shirt complimented his perfectly toned torso.
After his vain decision of deciding that he couldn't possible make himself look any better, he started to examine the car that his friends had loaned him. To be honest, Gary thought the car looked awfully familiar to him, and upon closer inspection, he noticed the same sparkly, pink heart shaped sticker on the exact same spot as the one he had on his car. He hadn't seen the person who stuck it on in four years now.
*FLASHBACK*
The brunette, who was maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, snuck up behind the spiky haired boy in the car.
He looked towards the car's side mirror just at the right moment. In the reflection he saw his friend sneak up behind him. "Hi Leaf." He said just before she could pounce.
"I hate it when you do that!" She whined, "So why did you call me to meet you here, in the forest out of all places?" she asked, recovering from her whining state rather quickly.
Gary looked at her as if it was very obvious – which it was. "The car." He said after Leaf didn't notice it.
Leaf suddenly realised that Gary was sitting in something that was very ostentatious; which was to her liking. "Oh yeah!" She suddenly said excitedly, "Did you beg, burgle or borrow it?" She asked smugly, not completely believing that the car belonged to him.
Gary laughed at that one. "Neither. I used the fourth b: bought." He replied as he watched Leaf raid her small, brown bag that slung from her left shoulder to her right pelvis. Her bag was usually filled with sweets or sugar in some form. "What are you looking for?" He asked her just as she pulled out a packet of stickers.
She leaped into the car and onto Gary's lap without any warning then started to crawl over to the passenger's seat. She opened the packet of stickers and started to customise her best friend's car and he didn't even bother to stop her. Leaf stuck a sparkly, pink heart under the steering wheel and one that said 'Leaf' above the heart (the sticker brand was coincidentally called Leaf).
"You know, you're really lucky to have me sparing you my stickers. I was going to use them to decorate my history jotter." She commented as she continued to stick more stickers on.
"Depends on how you look at it." Gary replied as he pulled a sticker off from his cheekbone and read it. The sticker was a light shade of pinkie-red and said 'LOVE YOU'. It made him smile to see that out of all stickers, she chose to stick one that said something like that on him. He stuck that sticker beside the one that read 'Leaf'. Gary looked at Leaf as she amused herself with the stickers. You could've stopped after "you're lucky to have me", he thought.
*END FLASHBACK*
Remembering about his best friend and her stickers, Gary used his fingers to feel for any stickers under the steering wheel. He did feel one. In fact, he felt three; two placed side by side and one underneath the two.
"This is my car." Gary concluded to himself.
It was his first car he ever owned and he only ever allowed two people on it: Leaf and himself.
"I thought it looked familiar." Said an easily recognisable voice from behind.
Gary whipped his head round to see someone with long brown locks that belonged to a person who he had lost contact with. Judging by his expression, the girl could see that he recognised her and was more than thrilled to see her again.
"Hi there," the girl greeted, "It's been a long, long time since we've seen each other." She stood by Gary's side of the car and used one finger to push her hat back slightly so that he could see her same old grin and her trademark wink.
"Glad you remember me, stranger." Gary teased before he leaped over the side of the car instead of opening the door and walking out normally.
"Guess why I'm here." Leaf prompt as she shifted her weight from the heels of her flat white boots towards her toes.
"You want your stickers back?" Gary guessed despite knowing that that wasn't the answer. He used his head to indicate that the stickers were in the car behind them.
Leaf shoved Gary to one side and did a dramatic leap over the car door and landed on the driver's seat. She then twisted her body until she was sitting upside-down on the seat. "So they are!" She shouted, clearly amused by it. She then twirled her body back up into the upright position and rummaged around in her bag. "But that's not the point." she then pulled out an A6 sized card and flashed it in front of Gary's face. "This is."
Gary quickly scanned the card. "Blind date?" He quoted from the card.
"I don't even want to do this." Leaf sighed, "If my date is blind then he won't be able to admire my beauty."
Gary gave his friend a raised eyebrow, while she just gave him an oblivious stare. "Uh Leaf, you do realise that the saying isn't literal right?"
"Uh..." she hesitated and paused for a moment to think. "Why are you here?" she changed the subject.
"To meet my date who, I'm guessing, is not blind but I'm guessing is very you-ish." He answered as if it was very obvious.
Leaf shrugged, she liked Gary anyway. "Okay then, where to?" She asked enthusiastically.
"You'll see when you get out of my seat." Gary said.
Leaf mouthed the word 'okay' to him while sticking her last three digits. She then crawled over to the passenger's seat. Luckily she had a pair of tights on under her extremely short skirt but Gary probably wouldn't complain if she didn't have tights on.
About half an hour later, Gary and Leaf made it from the forest, where Gary first showed Leaf her car four years ago, to the busy town square within Pallet Town. It was Christmas' Eve after all so Gary figured that everyone must've been doing some last minute shopping, like him.
He parked his car by the pavement and walked round to the other side to open the door for Leaf, like a true gentlemen. But then again, he did have a lot of practice from doing that with all his dates.
Leaf stepped out of the car and just stood there until Gary took her hand and dragged her onto the pavement.
"Careful or I'll be buying one Christmas present less today." Gary said sternly, looking at Leaf straight in the eyes, showing his genuine concern.
A slight blush crept on Leaf's face. He sure has gotten... Hotter over the last four years. Her blush didn't disperse though, possibly because Gary was still holding her hand.
"Come on. Let's go buy you something." Gary said, which snapped Leaf right out of her thoughts.
Gary felt Leaf's grip tighten as she ran forward towards the window of the nearest jewellery store. He looked at her face, which was completely focused on the shiny jewellery.
"Oh that rose necklace is nice, no, wait, that heart one is nicer, no that bracelet is pretty..." Leaf practically shouted at the window, which caused Gary to laugh, their hands still clasped together. "How many presents are you going to buy me?" Leaf asked casually.
"One present." Gary answered, emphasising the 't' sound. He remembered Leaf's tendency to point out that people often messed up and said 'presents' even when the number was 'one'.
She turned to face him. "But I spared you my stickers."
"Fine, two but I get to choose one of them." Gary proposed.
"Deal!" Leaf yelled without thinking. "Oh! Look over there." She pointed to the shop across the road then ran towards it, not stopping to look for any cars passing. Luckily there were no cars.
Gary followed closely behind her and took her hand, making her run faster towards the other side of the road. "Again, careful or I'll be buying two Christmas presents less." He warned her. Sometimes being with Leaf was like being with a child.
Leaf just repeated her action from earlier before she quickly ran towards the clothes store. She glanced at the clothes that were on display before quickly dragging Gary in with her, and picking up the closest t-shirt that she actually liked. The t-shirt was oversized and white with the word "sexy" written on it in a fading black tinge.
Gary agreed with the message completely.
"Gary, what do you think of this?" she asked eagerly while holding the shirt against her body.
"It's nice but do you really want to spend the gift you get to pick on a t-shirt?" Gary asked her, "I mean, I didn't say how much the gift can't exceed."
Leaf thought about it for a while. "Then let's go to the jewellery store up ahead!" She exclaimed as she retook Gary's hand and dragged him out of the store.
Gary remained firm on the spot. "After lunch. I'm starving at the moment."
Leaf pulled a face at him but obeyed him anyway.
Leaf sat there poking her Caesar Salad with her fork while Gary finished his pasta. Whenever Leaf was promised something like what Gary had promised her, she could not eat properly until she had received what she was promised.
"Gary, you done yet?" Leaf asked eagerly, barely able to sit still on her seat (not that she ever could).
"Nope." Gary replied, although he had finished already. Watching Leaf so excited like that amused him.
"Now?" she asked.
"Nope."
"Hurry up!" she yelled at him as she attempted to kick him under the table. It was her sixth attempt in trying to make Gary speed up through physical violence. Her first two kicks made contact with his shin but after so many times, he saw it coming. Instead, she ended up kicking the table, again.
"'Kay." he said as he slowly raised his glass towards his lips and took a small sip. "Maybe I'll have dessert." he smirked.
"No, no, no!" Leaf yelled, "You'll get fat!" She poked Gary's abs, scraped her chair back and once again grabbed Gary's hand and took him out of the restaurant.
Gary shook his head but smiled as she did so. Maybe he should take his time when paying the bill.
Behind the window was a lot of shiny jewellery and on the other side of the glass was a starry eyed Leaf with a very envious look on her face. Her hands were pressed up against the window. She only removed her body, which was also plastered to the glass, when she felt a hand tap her shoulder.
"Why don't you go inside?" Gary asked, "I'm sure less people would stare if you did that."
"Okay but I really need the bathroom."
"Then go and I'll meet you in there." Gary signalled towards the store.
Leaf followed the signs that led her to the nearest toilet in that the mall that had the jewellery store that she had previously pressed her body against in admiration. She didn't really need the toilet but she needed to see if she looked great for when she cons Gary into buying her the expensive, limited edition leaf shaped necklace that she saw in a magazine one time.
Looking in the mirror, she checked herself out. Perhaps a little more lip-gloss would do the trick. After applying a layer, she flicked her hair and left the restroom.
Back at the store, she saw Gary sitting but not alone. One of the shop assistant was (from where Leaf stood) obviously flirting with him using some of the techniques that she had planned to use. Feeling slightly jealous, she put on her usually excited look and skipped right over, slamming her bag on the shop assistance's hands 'accidentally'.
"Oops." Leaf said as she sat down beside Gary.
Gary raised an eyebrow at her. "Jealous now, are we?" He smirked.
"Me? Jealous? Now am I the type to be like that? After all I am your date." She said, emphasising the last word and looking at the sales assistant.
"I've known you for a long time and I know for sure that you are the jealous type."
*FLASHBACK*
"Hey Leaf!" Shouted Gary, who was approximately seven.
"Gary!" she exclaimed as she looked up from her sticker collection. She waved to him frantically while pondering over what was contained inside the small box. "What's that?" she asked with a finger directed at the box.
"My new sticker album." Gary answered, "Check it out."
Leaf didn't need his invitation to do so. She was already raiding through his collection, her eyes filled with envy. She let her eyes wonder to the bottle of fizzy juice in her hands. She quickly picked up her bottle and squirted it all over his sticker collection.
"Oops." She said as she did so.
That was the last time Gary ever bought any sticker.
*END FLASHBACK*
"I don't get jealous... Just protective when it comes to my sticker collection." Leaf defended while her eyes wondered off to the jewellery that was laid on the glass table with no glass in between them. She picked up a bracelet that had small diamond flowers on placed it round her wrist but she didn't wear it properly. "What do you think of this one?" She asked.
"You do get jealous and it's nice but you wrists are a bit small."
"Actually, I wanted to see if they sold this." Leaf pulled out a small magazine article with a picture of the leaf necklace she wanted. "I know it's been out for a while but I really like it." Her voice was sincere for once and Gary could tell.
"I'm sorry." The assistant apologised unpleasantly, "The more respectful people have bought it all." she shot Leaf a glare, and Leaf being Leaf, she returned it with daggers.
Gary put an arm around Leaf's shoulder. "I'll buy you something else."
Leaf perked up at the sound of that. "Like a third gift?"
Gary sighed, "Fine, I guess."
"Thank you Gary." Leaf said in her sincere tone again. "And we need to file a complaint about this woman."
Gary shook his head.
The pair walked towards another jewellery store. The sight of the more jewellery attracted Leaf.
"That's a nice pair of earrings." Leaf commented as she stared at another shop window.
Gary turned his head to see where she was looking. His arm was still around her shoulder and frankly, she didn't mind; in fact, she felt rather cosy and in good hands like that.
"Then why don't we go in and have a look." Gary offered.
"Welcome, sir. Are you here to buy something for your girlfriend?" One of the shop assistants asked.
At the word "girlfriend", Leaf couldn't help but blush and look away with a small giggle. Gary on the other hand just played along and held Leaf tighter.
About fifteen minutes later the pair left the shop.
"Thank you for shopping at Swarovski." The sales assistant said, without the cheek that the one earlier had.
By the time they had bought one present, it was dark out already, almost eight thirty... And Gary was hungry again.
"Let's go get dinner now." Gary insisted.
Leaf looked at him. "Are you serious? We ate like..." she looked at her new watch that she made Gary buy her after she had intended to buy the earrings, but didn't. "Seven and a half hours ago."
"No. I ate seven and a half hours ago. You turned your food into 'a work of art'." Gary pointed out, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers when he said the last part.
"But I have one gift still to buy." she pouted with her arms crossed. She leaned her head back onto Gary's shoulder, giving him a good view of her fluttering eyelashes.
"Don't worry, I promise to buy you that final gift. I'll even promise you like how you used too." he said, facing her. He picked up her left hand and kissed it.
"A kiss on the left hand is a sealed promise and a kiss on the right hand is a secret." She recited. "You remember it!"
"And you doubt me?" Gary questioned rhetorically, a pretend hurt look on his face.
"That was super yummy!" Leaf exclaimed as she walked towards Gary's car with him following closely behind.
"It's probably because you didn't eat your lunch." He pointed out bluntly.
The convertible's top started to open up, allowing Leaf to jump into the car, and get comfy. Gary also leaped into the car but unlike Leaf, he didn't sit with his legs crossed, he sat so that the soles of his shoes could reach the clutch and the accelerator pedal.
"Where to now?" Leaf asked.
"Well, we can go watch the fireworks display when it reaches midnight. We haven't done that since we were sixteen."
"Awesome, then let's go!" Leaf exclaimed, "To the hill tops, right?"
"We're here." Gary said. He turned to Leaf to see her sound asleep. The sight made him smile. He went into his pocket and pulled out a small box and opened it. Inside it was a small leaf necklace – otherwise known as the one that Leaf was dying for. He gently put the necklace on her, careful not to wake her, and shoved the box back into his pocket.
A while after that, Leaf's sleeping form started to stir. She opened her eyes and yawned. "Are we there yet?" She asked.
"We've been here for a while."
"Oh." She said. "The fireworks haven't started yet, have they?"
"No. Not for another ten minutes so why don't we go to the viewing point."
Leaf nodded and opened the car door and stepped out.
They both walked up towards the viewing point. It was relatively quiet there as most people only came here to see the fireworks on New Year's Eve and the people who were there were all paired up. Gary and Leaf stood so that they could lean against the wooden railings while they waited for the display to start.
"So what have you been doing over the past four years?" Gary asked.
"Well, I've been studying at a uni Hoenn and I came back to Pallet Town to celebrate Christmas this year." Leaf answered, "And I'm kinda glad that I made the decisions to do so." She looked out towards the view of the town. It was lit up brightly. "I'm leaving Pallet Town after the new year."
"So soon?" Gary asked, feeling slightly gutted that she was going to leave so soon.
Leaf nodded. "I have to finish my course. What have you been up to?" She looked at him while she asked him.
"Nothing much. Just some research." Gary replied.
They then looked in front of them to see the first of the fireworks.
"Merry Christmas." Leaf greeted in a calm tone, calmer than it had been all day.
"Merry Christmas to you too."
"Now where's my final present?" She looked at him while smiling sweetly.
Gary laughed while Leaf just looked at him with a puzzled expression. But Gary pulled out a small green and gold box and gave it to her. She opened the box but made her well known pout when she saw that the box was empty. Gary moved his hand and put it up to her neck which just confused her even more.
When she realised what Gary was doing, she gasped. "How did that get there?" She asked, completely surprised, "And when did you buy it?"
Gary laughed at her. "I'm not telling you that."
Leaf was too overwhelmed to retaliate in any way.
The fireworks in the background ware very loud but the pair dismissed it like most of the other people near them. They were too busy locking lips.
"Where's my present?" Gary asked her.
She stared at him aimlessly and bit her lip trying to decide her next action. After spending a good five seconds or so of thorough thinking, she finally came up with the solution and that was to go with intuition. Without wasting any more time, she tiptoed up to him, grabbed his shirt and kissed him on the lips.
Gary reacted to this by wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her closer and started to kiss her back. Their bodies were pressed up against one and other. He loved the gift of a reuniting with an old friend, but was there more?
"Merry Christmas." She said cheerfully when she eventually pulled away.
Revised: 22/01/2012
Later *silver-hedgehog