"Hey! William!" Aelita called out as she approached the boy, a silly grin plastered on her face.
"Oh, hey. Wait, why are you here? Where's Yumi?" he asked, raising a brow confusedly.
"She stayed at school to help Ulrich and Odd with their assignment, and she told me and Jeremié to go in her place, but he couldn't make it," she grinned widely. "And I love the Subdigitals!" she almost squeaked.
"Oh," he fixed his jacket a little, suddenly feeling somewhat overexposed.
He had spent a good long while choosing between those darn black and red jackets for Yumi and turns out the only person he'd be impressing that day was...
"Say, um... what was your name again?" he scratched at his temple.
"Aelita. Aelita Stones," she stated, holding her hands behind her back.
Aelita. It was strange, yet fitting. It certainly was a different name. Even though he was planning on simply going back to Kadic, he remembered all he did to get those two tickets and groaned. It would certainly be a waste. Aelita watched William's expression's change from intrigued to annoyed and couldn't help but giggle a little. She knew what he was thinking, how he was expecting Yumi and certainly not her, and so her smile turned a little sad. She took her ticket out of her pocket and handed it over to him.
"It's your ticket, take it. This probably wasn't one of Yumi's best ideas," she gave him a nod. "You have fun in there; I hear the atmosphere's going to be one of the most ecstatic France has had yet."
And so she turned to slowly leave with a little shrug of the shoulder. Now he felt bad. Way-to-go, William. He clutched onto the ticket and sighed.
"Wait!" he called out, running up behind her. "I'm not letting these tickets go to waste," he smirked, handing the ticket back to her.
Aelita immediately lit up again like she did when she first arrived and frankly, it lit William up too.
"I was thinking for a moment what Yumi ever saw in you," she teased, taking the ticket and almost skipping her way towards the entrance while William stood dumbfounded.
"H-hey, what do you mean what Yumi ever saw in me?"
The pair of them made their way inside the auditorium and made their way to a small open area in the crowd where they could easily see the stage. The lights began to flash across the whole room and smoke was rising from the sides of the stage.
"It's starting!" she squealed yet again.
William just stared at her. Every time she squeaked and clenched both her fists against her chin in excitement, his urge to ruffle her hair or squeeze her rose by the second – but he wouldn't do that. That would be weird. He barely even knew her.
Ben, Nico and Chris, the men who made up the Subdigitals, made their way onto the stage and welcomed the crowd. Then they started to play and the crowds began to jump and sing along. William was starting to feel quite stuffed in his red jacket – what was he thinking? It was a concert, wearing that jacket was a stupid idea, and Yumi probably wouldn't have been impressed by it. He held the jacket by the collar and pondered taking it off. Aelita playfully danced her way near him and laughed at his just standing there.
"Are you not enjoying yourself?" she shouted across to him.
"Well..." he mouthed silently.
She made her way much nearer to him this time.
"Would you still be like this if Yumi were here instead of me?"
William was about to reply until he saw her almost hopeful eyes and an eyebrow raised. He just couldn't bring himself to be blunt with her like he normally would. He decided to divert the question away with another.
"Say, is that your natural hair colour?"
"Yes?" she shouted back, brow still raised in confusion.
He watched her dancing slow down a pace or two as she neared him, and that's just it – all he could do was watch her, his lips teasing to curl up into a wide smile.
"I like it," he simply stated back.
At one point Aelita stopped dancing and just stared at him. The bubbly feeling in her chest was making her anxious – both about the fact that she didn't know whether it was a normal thing to feel and that she sort of liked it. She placed a palm against her stomach and giggled out a shy thank you.
And then William began to wonder – he began to think of everything about Aelita: where she's from, what she likes, how she ended up being friends with Yumi and the gang. He decided he'd find out eventually. He'd felt more than glad to become friends with this girl. She seemed the kind that can be trusted and trusts in return. William had a small feeling that he'd need someone like Aelita at one point.
But for now they had a concert to accomplish and fulfil. William snagged his red jacket off and tied it by the sleeves around his waist. He then began pushing Aelita's back so they would both move forward and into the crowd. They would enjoy this, whether Yumi was there or not.
The concert had eventually ended after an hour and a bit, and people were making their way out of the auditorium, chatting away about the pictures they took or what songs were performed best. Before William and Aelita reached the front gates of Kadic after they energetically spoke of their favourite moments of the concert, they stopped and turned to face each other.
"Thank you for today, William," she shuffled her feet a little. "I'm sorry you had to spend that time with me when you wanted to spend it with Yumi," she huffed out a short laugh.
"No- no, that's not true at all. I had a great time with you and I don't regret anything."
She smiled at him and they shared a short moment of silence.
"Well, I'll see you around?"
"Definitely," they grinned at each other and began to leave for the dorms.
"You know," Aelita began. "Yumi would probably like the black jacket, but I think the red one suits you more," she gave him a quick playful wink.
"That's why I normally wear both colours," he smirked back.
Yeah, he thought. Trusting Aelita Stones would be the best idea I've ever had.