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"I'm going to miss you so much..."
"Same, 6 months is the longest we've ever gone without talking. Hell, I don't think we've ever gone a day without talking since the day we met!" Hop's beaming grin momentarily brought Gloria peace, and she smiled softly back at him.
"Yeah... I don't know how I'm going to survive..." Her voice was soft, quiet. She fought back the tears that were threatening to fall, as she knew that would only worry Hop more. This was his farewell, and she didn't want his last memories of her to be snot-nosed and teary.
"6 months feels so long, but I'm sure it'll pass quicker than we think!" Hop tried to assure Gloria, but she gave him a wry look back.
"For you? Maybe, but not for me... What am I going to do for 6 months by myself?" Gloria was whining, she knew, but she couldn't help herself.
Hop was going with Sonia to the far northern region of Sinnoh, specifically out to the mountains where there was spotty at best reception. They likely wouldn't be able to talk for long stretches at a time, but Gloria knew the research the two of them were doing was important. This was for Hop's thesis, and would link several legends across multiple regions together if it panned out like he hoped. Gloria fully believed in him, in his work, as he'd been working so hard on this the last year. Hop had already passed his exams, but Gloria knew he couldn't become a full on professor until he finished his thesis.
Still, Hop was her best friend, her closest person, and she wasn't sure what she was going to do with herself without him.
"Train up to take your title back from Lee?" Hop suggested, as he always did. Gloria's only response was to sigh dramatically and shake her head.
"Not gonna happen, you know I've given up competitive battling..." The whole reason she'd lost her career, after all, was a freak accident during a battle. An attack had missed her Pokemon and hit her instead, cracking her spine, and rendering her in constant, agonizing pain. After a few years she'd learned to live around it, but she had sworn off any type of competitive battling, especially as there was no hope of a full recovery for her.
Hop's face went sad for a moment, he was likely thinking about the same thing she was. "I wish you wouldn't just give up like that, and your Pokemon miss battling with you!"
She felt bad, as her Pokemon rarely got to battle anymore. She'd let her friends borrow them, so they still got some battle experience, but she knew it wasn't the same. They were a team, they had worked seamlessly together for years, giving up wasn't in their nature. It hadn't been in hers, either, until the accident.
"Well... Can we not talk about this when you're about to leave? I don't want to start arguing about this now..." She crossed her arms and pouted. Gloria rarely fought with Hop about anything, but this was one of the few things they had to agree to disagree on.
Hop grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. "You're right, sorry. I worry about you, that's all. It feels like you don't have much going on these days. Everyone you know is busy, they have lives, and you're sitting at home all day by yourself! I worry that, when I'm not around to text with you all day and keep you company, that..." He didn't finish his sentence; he didn't need to. Gloria knew what he was talking about.
She bit her lip. She'd never tried to take her life before, but she'd thought about it many times. Hop knew, she didn't keep anything from him, so she knew exactly what he was worried about. "I'll wait for you, Hop. I'll be here when you get back, I promise." She squeezed him back, wrapping her arms tightly around him as she buried her head into his chest. He'd gotten so tall over the years, even taller than his brother, but it made being held like this feel so wonderful.
She was in love with him. It was the one secret she kept from him, as she knew he only felt feelings of friendship towards her. They'd both said 'I love you's to each other in the past, platonically, but Gloria's had always meant a little more than she let on. She'd take this secret to her grave, though, as she never wanted to make Hop feel bad. Or worse, wreck what dynamic they did have.
"Come on, Hop, we can't wait any longer, we have to start boarding now!" Sonia called out from a distance away, and Hop pulled away from the hug.
She wasn't ready to let go, but she knew she had to. In more ways than one.
"I'm holding you to that promise, mate. You better wait for me! When I come back, I'll be a real professor, and you better be the first person to congratulate me!" Hop grinned at her one last time, ruffling her hair and messing it up, before turning and running towards Sonia.
"I will! Be safe!" Gloria shouted after him, finally letting the tears fall now that his back was to her. She watched him board with Sonia, waving to the two of them until they were just a speck in the distance. Alone now, she started sobbing uncontrollably, scared for her own future.
Leon, who she'd forgotten was still there, came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you going back to your mum's, or did you want to come stay at mine for a bit?" His offer was tempting, as she'd sold her home here in Wyndon after her accident. She had needed care, and couldn't handle stairs, so moving home with her mum made sense. After years, though, she didn't have the motivation to move back out again, her fear of being alone keeping her locked in Postwick.
It wasn't so bad living with her mum, as Hop still lived with his while studying. They were able to see each other every day, and Gloria would go with Hop to the lab just to spend more time together. Now that he was gone, though, it was going to be incredibly isolating in the sleepy farming village.
"Can I stay with you? I really don't want to be alone right now..." Leon had always been a good mentor to her, and she couldn't ever bring herself to be upset with him, even if it was her last battle with him that had left her disabled for life.
"Of course! You can stay as long as you like, the guest room is all yours!" Leon beamed that same grin the two brothers shared at her, and it only brought more tears to her eyes.
"Thank you..."
Time passed so slowly, even as she bounced around from friends' homes on a near weekly basis. She couldn't stand to be alone, and felt the need to text Hop every minute she was awake. But she knew Hop had no service, and wouldn't get her messages until he returned, so there was little point.
Still, from time to time, she sent him messages anyways. Things she wanted to tell him in that moment, things that made her think of him, even inner thoughts when she had no one around to vent them to. Hop was her person, and not having him there was torture to her. It was too hard to go even a single day without "talking" to him in some way. She'd pretend he'd respond, and end up having conversations with herself in Hop's DMs. She told herself there was no way he was going to read them all when he got back, so it was safe to keep using as a therapy tool to keep her sane.
That "therapy" was frail at best, however, and she was slowly losing herself to the loneliness she was experiencing. Even her friends eventually ran out of patience for her, and she was forced to return home to her mother, who was a busy woman with a full time job and no patience for Gloria's bullshit.
With no one to really talk to, her inner thought texts to Hop started to become more unhinged. She was losing her grip on herself, on reality in general, and started getting much looser with what she was texting to Hop.
One day, when she was feeling especially lonely and isolated, she sent a text admitting her romantic love for Hop. And once it was out there, she realized she couldn't take it back. At first, she tried to bury it with more messages, but realized there was little point. It was out there, so she might as well explain herself, in case he did read it. So she sent text after text, admitting to every hidden feeling she'd kept locked away since they were kids. Once the flood gates were open, she couldn't close them again, and kept pouring her heart out all night, until she cried herself to sleep in the early hours of the morning.
Then, about two months in, she noticed it. The 'delivered' receipt. He'd gotten service enough to receive all her messages, but hadn't sent any of his own. It was a horrifying realization, because now he had 4 whole months to read over every intimate text she'd sent. Filled with regret but knowing there was nothing she could do now, she ended up doubling down on the texting. She didn't care if Hop never responded, he probably hated her now anyways, or at least wouldn't want to be her friend anymore now that he knew the truth.
With the gym season coming up, all her friends were too busy training and preparing to really keep her mind occupied. She was alone all the time, with not enough hobbies to keep her tortured mind from thinking about Hop. She didn't have the motivation, anyways; how was she supposed to do anything without Hop around?
After an entire week where she didn't leave her bed, her mum finally got her to go to a mental health professional and get some therapy. Having more tools to deal with the loneliness helped, but she still felt herself drawn to texting Hop updates about her life, and every inner thought she had. She was too alone, too much time on her hands, and all the therapy in the world couldn't fix that.
Two months after she'd got that 'delivered' receipt, her phone chimed in the middle of the night with Hop's text tone. She immediately sat up in her bed, scrambling to grab her phone and see what he'd sent. Did he hate her? Did he want to end their friendship? Was he worried about her sanity?
Scared, she opened the text to read it.
"I've read every one of your texts, multiple times now. I haven't stopped thinking about you since I left. I've been in love with you for years, mate. I owe you as many kisses as you want when I get back. I'm worried about you, please take care of yourself. For me. I know you can't do it for yourself, but pretend I'm there. Do it for me, ok? I love you so much, I miss you so much, and you deserve to hear this in person. But I know you need to know now, so I hope I get service again soon, so you see this message and remember that you're not alone."
Crying, she wondered how long that text had sat on Hop's phone, waiting to be sent. She cringed a bit as she realized that all her even more desperate messages were now on Hop's phone, and he was going to read those over multiple times too. But she clung to that one text he'd sent, staring at her phone screen until her eyes were blurry, reading it over and over until it sunk in.
Hop had feelings for her. The same feelings she had for him. He loved her! Romantically! She'd been waiting years to hear this! Crying with relief, she stayed up for hours, sending text after text to Hop, knowing full well he'd read these too. But she wanted to give him hope, if he got these messages before he got back, to let him know not to worry anymore. She was going to be ok now, knowing how he felt.
It was easier to get up every day knowing Hop loved her and wanted her to take care of herself. She'd shower and brush her teeth, with Hop's voice in her head telling her to do it. She smiled more, felt happier, and was able to have conversations with her friends again that weren't just about how awful she felt.
Those last two months passed by much quicker than the first four, even though Hop never got signal again to receive her more hopeful messages. She watched every day to see if he'd get them, but the day arrived that he'd be returning to Galar, and still no 'delivered' receipt on her end.
Waiting with Leon at arrivals, Gloria couldn't keep still. She was pacing, bouncing on her feet, anxious to see Hop again. She tried to imagine how anxious he was, especially after all her texts, but it only set her off more. Leon would shoot her sympathetic looks from time to time, but otherwise even he was of no help to calm her down.
Finally, after what felt like hours, she saw Hop coming through the gate. Her lungs filled with air, and it felt like she could finally breathe again for the first time in 6 months. Immediately, she dashed over to him, throwing herself at him as she screamed his name out.
Hop dropped his bags to catch her, spinning her around in a circle before gently setting her down. His hands stayed around her waist as he looked down at her with the most worried expression she'd ever seen. "Are you ok?" He asked, his voice catching a bit with emotion.
"I am now," Gloria answered, lifting herself onto her toes and grabbing Hop by the face, her intention being to kiss him. But he was so tall, she couldn't reach, and it made Hop snicker before he leaned down and closed the distance between the two of them.
Finally, after waiting her whole life, she was finally kissing her soulmate, and it was better than she ever dreamed it could be.