The Long Kiss Goodnight
A night without a XANA attack sounded great, but could it be done? It was doubtful. Despite the looming threat of the inevitable attack Aelita slipped on her long pink gown and prepared for the prom. She had already missed so much of her life being trapped on Lyoko and she would not miss this, for it was an important rite of passage that everyone must go through in life. She sat in front of the mirror in her dorm room and applied the finishing touches to her hair. She smiled at her reflection showing a mild satisfaction at what she had done.
There was a knock at the door and Aelita stood up to answer it, her dress flowing gracefully behind her as she opened the door to reveal her date. The boy stood in front of her in black suit trousers, a white shirt, black blazer, purple tie and waistcoat combination. He scrubbed up kind of well, with the exception of his hair, as usual it stood up at a point with seemingly random patch of purple that he swears is natural, Aelita wasn't so sure.
"Hey Princess, you look beautiful," he said flashing a smile.
"You don't look so bad yourself Odd," Aelita said her cheeks beginning to glow a deep shade of crimson. Odd too Aelita hand and slipped on a baby pink corsage and Aelita pinned a white rose to his lapel, she smiled as her hands rested on his chest her cheeks deepening in colour as their eyes met.
"Shall we go?" Odd asked looping his arm. Aelita nodded as she linked arms with her date for the evening. It felt quiet strange to be heading down the the gym with linking arms with Odd. She never dreamed that she would be on a date with him, especially not to prom. She figured people expected her to be going with Jeremy and in all honesty she would have if he asked her, at least if he asked her before Odd did. Aelita had once shared feelings for Jeremy, the times he kept her company while she was alone on Lyoko and all the time and effort he put into virtualising her, she figured they would be together once she got to Earth. However once she arrived on Earth nothing seemed to happen with him, Yumi and Ulrich would often hint about a relationship between the two of them but he never seemed willing to make a move and Aelita wouldn't know what to do to initiate something between the two of them. She was new to Earth after all.
Then almost out of the blue Odd started to pay more and more attention to her, at first she just thought he was being friendly and trying to help her fit into her new surroundings but somewhere along the line she found herself hoping and wishing that it was more than that and the more she wanted it to be so the less she believed it would be. To her surprise Odd had been harboring feelings for her after all and he revealed himself when he asked her to the prom to her shock he did it on Lyoko while Jeremy could hear. She had barely spoken to Jeremy since that day, it had been easy to avoid him since there hadn't been a XANA attack since then, which also made it more likely that there would be one tonight. Aelita tried to put all this behind her, at least for a little while so she could enjoy what ever time of the night she would get with Odd.
The gym had been transformed, the walls shone silver and blue under the lights from the stage which hosted the live band. There was already a large group of students on the dance floor and other students around at the various round tables when Aelita and Odd walked into the room. Neither of them could see Yumi, Ulrich or Jeremy. Odd suspected that Jeremy would be coming tonight. He was quiet annoyed at Odd for asking Aelita to the prom but Odd was sick and tired of sitting around on the sidelines while Jeremy acted like Aelita was his property and yet failed to make a move. Odd was however surprised that he couldn't see Yumi or Ulrich anywhere, then again neither of them were the type of people to dance in public.
The band eased out of their current rock jam and announced that they would be slowing it down for a few songs, Odd held out his now free hand in front of Aelita,
"May I have this dance?" he asked smiling. Aelita blushed and nodded,
"Of course," she replied happily and took his hand. Odd led her out onto the dance floor, they stopped having found a good and open spot to dance, Odd nervously place his hands on Aelita's waist and Aelita placed her arms on his shoulders and the two of them swayed in time to the soft instrumental that the band played. Odd looked up and into Aelita's eyes which made her blush a deep crimson, she smiled returning the loving gaze and the two leaned into one an other.
Odd's cell phone began to ring in his blazer pocket just as the two were about to meet, Odd sighed and took it out of his pocket,
"XANA's attacking," he said.
"I knew it," Aelita said, the dissapointment in her voice as clear as the day was long.
"We better head to the factory," Odd said quietly as he took his dates hand and led her out of the gym.
At the factory Jeremy was sat at the helm of the supercomputer while Ulrich and Yumi were already virtualised on Lyoko. The elevator doors opened and Aelita and Odd stepped out into the room,
"Sorry to pull you away from your date," Jeremy said without looking at the two.
"Yeah I bet," Odd mumbled under his breath, Aelita giggled to herself which gave Odd the impression she heard him.
"Head down the scanners, Yumi and Ulrich are waiting for you," he said.
"Are we the only ones who went to prom?" Odd asked as he noticed Jeremy's casual attire.
"No date, no prom," Jeremy said bitterly as the elevator doors closed and the two descended to the scanner room. Aelita and Odd stepped into the thin scanners and the doors slided shut. Jeremy began to type on his keyboard,
"Virtualisation," his voice echoed through the ears of the two as the were scanned. Aelita and Odd landed directly on the overboard, Yumi and Ulrich were waiting for them on their own vehicles.
"Neither of you to were at prom then?" Odd asked. Yumi and Ulrich looked at each other then swiftly looked away both with a light crimson blush on their cheeks.
"Didn't feel like it," Ulrich
said. Yumi hummed in agreement.
"Stop kidding around you have
work to do," Jeremy's voice boomed like an all seeing diety. Odd
and Aelita looked at each other before looking back at the others.
Yet another tower to deactivate.
***
"Return to the past now," Jeremy said as he ran the process, he would now have to relieve this miserable day one more time.
***
Once again Odd and Aelita found themselves in each others embrace dancing to the soothing music from the band. This time they were not alone, Aelita looked over Odd's shoulder and saw Ulrich and Yumi dancing together just like her and Odd, she motioned to Odd to look behind him,
"I wonder how long it will be before we see that again," Aelita said happily. Odd smiled and Aelita rested her head on Odd's shoulder.
The night ended too quickly for Aelita's liking, she longed for an eternity in Odd's embrace but it was not to be and Odd walked her back to her room. Aelita had never loathed the sight of her door before but this time it meant the end of the night and that was the one thing she didn't want to happen. She leaned against her door as Odd stood nervously in front of her, a way she had never seen him act before.
"I had a wonderful time Odd," she said sweetly.
"Me too Princess," Odd agreed. Odd decided to throw caution to the wind and do what he had wanted to do all night, what they would have done if it was not for the interruption of XANA. He leaned forward and kissed Aelita. The feeling of passion was explosive for both as they deepened the kiss, Aelita's hand slided towards the door handle and she opened her bedroom door, it wasn't clear who broke the kiss but a few moments later. Aelita was in her room, alone, with Odd on the other side of the door.
Ulrich was already in his bed when Odd arrived at their room. Odd tried to walk in quietly so he could slip into his own bed and sleep but it seemed Ulrich had other plans.
"Well?" he asked quietly as Odd closed their bedroom door.
"That was the longest kiss goodnight I've ever had," Odd said leaning against the door.
"Well?" Aelita whipped round to find her browned hair Japanese friend sitting on her bed, then she remembered she was spending the night.
"It was the most amazing goodnight kiss ever," Aelita said dreamily.
Odd looked over at Ulrich, Aelita looked over at Yumi, "But what about you?" they both said simultaneously.