Skye and Brock were sitting in the sand, watching the boats leave the harbor. She felt an unbelieveable whirlwind of emotions, some good, some negative. Brock seemed to sense her anxiety, and he did not reach for her hand this time.
"You're not happy..." he said softly, looking out at the boats.
"I thought I would be. This was what I wanted," she said, moving the sand around with her now bare feet. She rolled up her pant legs, and dug her toes into the sand. "Are you happy?"
"I don't know," he told her. "All I know is that I really enjoy your company, and I really wish I could just stay so we could know each other better, so we could work this whole thing out and make something of it."
He leaned back in the sand, supporting himself on his elbows. He looked at Skye. He wasn't hurt, just worried.
"I don't know what to do," she told him earnestly, wringing her hands in frustration. "I want us to work out too. I want it to just be later so we can have a relationship."
She flopped on her back in the sand, her blond hair sprawling everywhere around her, but she didn't care. She turned her head to look at Brock.
"Maybe we just have to let go," they said at the same time, and smiles began to spread across their faces.
"If it's meant to work out in the end, it will," she said, her gaze shifting towards the darkening sky.
"Yeah..." Brock said in agreement. He looked up at the navy blue above him, smiling at the stars that had snuck into the sky early. "I'm really glad to have met you, Skye. I know you'll do well on your journey. You have some really great friends, and you have a really strong bond with your Pokemon."
Skye thought briefly of Agile, who was waiting for her at the Pokemon Center.
"I hope you have fun in Hoenn with your friends," she told him genuinely, and sat up, sand spraying everywhere. "Will you write to me if you can?"
"Only if you'll write back," he grinned.
"Deal," she told him, smiling brilliantly. She looked at the now blackened sky. "We should head back."
"We should," Brock agreed, as they both stood up. He stopped her for a moment, his hand gently on her arm.
"What is it?" she asked softly, turning to face him. "I wanted to give you something...something I don't want to give to anyone else..."
He held her at arms length, smiling faintly.
"My first kiss," he told her honestly. "If you want it."
"It...would be mine too," she told him, blushing. "I couldn't think of anyone I would rather share it with, even though we can't be together right now....it would be something to share between us, despite it all."
Brock smiled, and Skye stepped closer to him. Her palms rested just below his shoulders, on the front pockets of his shirt. He leaned down to her slowly, carefully, as if a wrong movement would ruin it all. Skye closed her eyes gently. His nose brushed hers.
He touched his lips to hers briefly, sending a chill down her body. In that one instant, she felt love...like nothing she had ever experienced in her life. A love she would have to let go of. A love that may never return to her completely. A love that may only be in friendship.
They parted, no words spoken, both blushing softly, not embarassed, but relieved. Relieved that such a feeling could be expressed in something so simple, so quick. Skye smiled at him, and pulled him into a hug, pressing her cheek into his soft shirt. Brock wrapped his arms around her, holding her for a little while.
"It's getting late," he told her gently.
Skye stepped back a little, and they both started towards the Pokemon Center. Agile greeted Skye happily, and noticed something different about her. All signs of the kiss were gone, and what Agile had sensed was a new maturity about her. She was willing to let Brock go, and tomorrow, after they gym battle she would. Skye confided this in Agile, her dearest and closest friend. They then got ready for bed, and fell alseep, for the first time, prepared for what was to come.
