An Unwelcome Renunion

Rhapsody was right, you were dressed up and at a literal ball. What could possibly go wrong!?

“Well, well, well, I didn’t expect to see you here Amber.”

No…

Rhapsody looks at the new arrivals “Oh, do you know these people Amber?”

No, NO, NO!!!

“Do I know Amber? We are all from Pallet Town, of course we know each other.”

To your horror, both Blue and Professor Oak are here, and they are sitting down at your table. Oak for his part looks uncomfortable, but Blue has that arrogant smirk that he is almost always has.

Rhapsody seems to sense that something is wrong “Amber, are you ok?”

“Yeah Amber, how are you doing!” Blue has sat down at the table and is smirking “I haven’t seen you since I left Pallet Town. How is Bulbasaur?”

You snap out an answer at Blue “Not that you care Blue, but my Bulbasaur is doing fine.” You try to stay calm, hopefully Blue won’t make a huge scene here...

Rhapsody doesn't know what is going on, but she also doesn't want to make a scene. So she breaks the ice by extending her hand to Oak “Hi, I am Rhapsody. How do you know Amber?”

Oak politely shacks Rhapsody’s hand “I am Professor Oak from Pallet Town. I gave Amber her Pokemon License and Bulbasaur. This is my Grandson, Blue.”

Oak and Rhapsody start to make small talk, but you and Blue simply sit there in silence. Even if you felt like talking to Blue you aren’t sure what to say, what would there be to say? You are fine with just sitting here in silence until Red comes back with the drinks. You don’t want to ruin the night for Rhapsody or let Blue ruin your evening anymore than his pure presence does.

But apparently Blue won’t let you sit in peace. “So Amber, have you caught anything yet?”

Now it would be rude to not reply “As a matter of fact I have. You?” Keep calm, he can’t challenge you in the city. Just make small talk, Blue isn't going to do anything here. But you are in the gym, where Pokemon Battles are legal! You start taking deep breaths to try and calm down. BUT the gym is closed! Can he challenge you? You can feel your heart start to pound in your chest. Keep calm, you caught Minnie for just this reason. Despite yourself you find yourself starting to sweat.

“Damn, I just lost a bet with Grandpa. I honestly hadn't expect you to catch anything." Blue gives a short arrogant laugh. "Well, I just caught myself a Nidoran.” He smirks at you. Blue’s arrogant smile gets even bigger “Honestly, I am surprised you even left Pallet Town after our battle, let alone catch anything.”

You stand up at the table, you can’t do this, you have to get out of here “Amber?” You look to your side and see Rhapsody giving you a look of concern “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah Amber” Blue smiles with that arrogant smirk that he is famous for “Is everything ok?”

Not bothering to excuse yourself you leave the table and rush towards the women’s bathroom. You enter and quickly make your way to a stall and close the door behind you. The instant you sit down the tears come and you can’t stop crying. You thought you were ready for this, you had prepared and trained for running into Blue again. But running into him just brought back memories of that moment of humiliation.

You aren’t sure how long you sit in the stall crying, but you hear a knock on the stall door followed shortly by Rhapsody’s concerned voice “Amber, I don’t know what is going on, but do you want to talk about it? If not that’s ok, but will you please open the door?”

You debate not opening the door, after all you are supposed to be the Pokemon expert. You don't want Rhapsody to see you like this, to know what happened to you. "Amber, please open the door. I'm worried about you."

You slowly open the stall door and Rhapsody steps towards you and takes a quick look at you. She doesn’t say anything as she quick wraps her arms around you and gives you a hug and you find yourself crying into her shoulder. Soon you find yourself rambling as you tell Rhapsody everything that happened between you and Blue.

Through it all, and after you are done rambling, Rhapsody is quite and thoughtful. You aren't sure what is going through her head but you can tell she is thinking of something.