" Odd?" Aelita asked again. Odd smiled and nodded.

" Yep, three years is quite along time huh. How you been?" He asked politely. Aelita stood up off the stool and wrapped her arms around him tightly. " Can't breathe." Aelita didn't hear him, she just kept hugging him. Then after she let him go, she slapped him across the face.

" That was for leaving without a goodbye," Aelita shouted at him angry. Odd just looked her about to laugh. He was just slapped and he was laughing. She hugged him again.

" Sorry about that, so how you been?" Odd asked, rubbing his face. Aelita took the stool next to his.

" Alright I guess. Why haven't you called, or wrote a letter, or..or..anything?" Aelita asked, wondering why it took three years to hear from him again.

" It's been complicated the last three years. After I dropped out my dad kicked me out, and I really didn't want to talk to anyone."

" Why not?" she asked, wondering why.

" Because I didn't want you guys to know that I was the failure of the group. I didn't want the sympathy or.. Just any of it. But now I'm back on track and trying to do something. What have you been up too recently?" he asked, tired of talking about his failure.

" Not much, school and work. What did you do though?" She asked, not caring about herself, but more about her lost friend who just reintroduced himself back into her life.

" I've worked a lot of weird jobs. But after I straightened myself out. After dropping out, got involved in things I shouldn't of. Did a few drugs, drank, stupid shit. After one of my friends died from an overdose, I quit everything. The withdraw from it nearly killed me." Aelita gasped at that.

" Oh my god. Is everything good now?" Aelita asked, shocked because Odd had almost died and she hadn't known.

" Well it's better. The drugs are done, been off for three years straight. Drinking I'm working on. Recently though I've been trying to get my life back, and ask my friends for a little help with a project I'm doing."

" Can I help?"

" If you have money. I need at least a total of twenty thousand invested for this to work."

Aelita listened as Odd told her about an item he patented about six months ago. It's a metal alloy that he made to soundproof rooms. Instead of just keeping in the noise, it absorbs the vibrations and keeps the room from shaking anything else. It keeps the noise in completely, not even the slightest chance of vibrations penetrating. It could be used to make things echo louder and clearer, and to her surprise, it worked. He had tested it several times.

" Well Odd I would invest, but I don't have anything to invest. Right now I'm saving money for after college."

" Least you would. Jeremie doesn't think it works, so he said no," Odd said to her.

" You've seen Jeremie already?" she asked, surprised by that.

" Yeah, it's how I knew where you were. Tomorrow I'm driving uptown to see Yumi, then I gotta find out from her where Ulrich is." Aelita shook her head and laughed.

" You've been gone for awhile. They live together," Aelita said to him, realizing how out of touch he was.

" They do, when that happen?" he asked, realizing how out of contact he was.

" Year and a half ago. They got married."

" Really. What made Ulrich change the date?"

" More like a 'who' really. You remember Ulrich and Yumi's happy goodbye sex," Odd chuckled and nodded. It was obvious back then they had sex that night. " Apparently it was a very, happy goodbye sex. She got pregnant."

" Wow. I've been gone for a really long time. Let me guess, indecisive Yumi didn't tell him." Aelita shook her head in. " Morons. Boy or a girl."

" Girl. Her's names Yuka. Actually, they sent a family picture last week."

Aelita walked around the back of the bar and came back with her purse and began to dig through it. Pulling out a letter she opened it and handed it to Odd. Odd opened it and saw a picture was taped inside. It showed Yumi sitting on a couch, with her three year old on her lap. Ulrich was sitting next him, Yumi her head on his chest, and Yuka was just wondering why they were posing. It looked like Yumi was holding her younger sister. Yuka had long black hair halfway down her back, and brown eyes. She had Yumi's nose, and Ulrich's ears, Yumi's chin, and Ulrich's head shape. It was like every trait was equally distributed between her parents. They all had a smile.

" Cute," Odd said before placing the picture back in the card.


Aelita was walking her bike as Odd walked next her. They were talking mainly about recent things. She found out Odd only needed five thousand more to start his project which he thought would be successful. They reached the campus gates and kept walking. Aelita chained her bike and Odd walked her to her room.

" Well tomorrow I'm leaving. Going to see the Sterns," He said as Aelita was unlocking her door. She walked in and stepped on a piece of paper on the floor. She picked it up and read it.

" Aelita. I'll be out the entire night, and most of the day. Sorry about the bed, I made it for you and cleaned the sheets twice. So if tonight you drag a guy to our room and want to be alone, this will be your last chance for a while, love Alissa."

" Where you staying tonight?" Aelita asked, making sure Odd had a place to sleep.

" Hotel."

" Stay here, save some money. My roommates out for the night, you can sleep on her bed." Odd thought for a few seconds then answered.

" Alright. I'll call them and say cancel. Good thing I didn't get the key yet." Odd called the hotel as Aelita crouched next to her mini fridge in the corner of the room and tossed a can of beer over to Odd.

" When did you start drinking. Thought you said it was foul and stupid," Odd asked her, because they tried it when they were sixteen, and didn't like it then.

" It still is. When I was nineteen, about the same time I had my first sexual experience."

" Really?" Odd asked. " Sex and beer, for some reason it's rare to use those words in a separate sentence."

" Yeah, like video games and internet porn." Odd laughed loud and so did she. It was fun catching up. Odd had only had two beers the entire night so far, and Aelita had had enough to make a bad decision. It wasn't her first being drunk, so she wasn't completely out of it, but far enough gone to notice she was her full self.

The two were sitting on her bed, talking about her roommate. Odd found the whole bed thing rather humorous. Aelita hadn't mentioned her friend having sex on her bed, because she didn't want to remember about it. Odd stood up and walked across the room and jumped on her roommate's bed.

" It is lumpy." Aelita laughed and walked over, and sat down and fell back. She hit the back of her head on the wall and pulled herself up and began to rub where she hit it.

" That sounded like it hurt. Let me see it." Aelita turned her body and lay her head down so Odd could look at the hit. " No blood or brains, your good. Suck it up baby."

" Hey," she said giggling, pulling her head up to look at him, " I'm not a baby." Then she noticed when she pulled her head up, their faces were a inch away from each other and she was looking directly into his eyes. After a about a full minute of starring she said, " Tempting proximity."

" How tempting?" She leaned in and kissed him. Odd had expected that to happen. She was drunk, he was partially drunk, it was bound to happen. Aelita slowly made her lips let go of his and looked back at his eyes again.

" Forget I asked," Odd said then initiated the next kiss that lasted much longed than the other one. Aelita pushed him down on Alissa's bed making her be on top and continued to kiss him.

Odd suddenly stopped and said, " Whoa that's lumpy. And I don't want to know what stabbing my back." Aelita giggled and Odd grabbed her from below her thighs and carried her back to her bed, softly laying over her.

Then Odd began to think about where this would lead. He didn't want to take advantage of her. " Is this the alcohol or you?" he asked her, pulling his head up.

" Both, what about you?" Aelita said, because she was smart enough to know she was too shy for this to happen on her own.

" I don't know. I really don't know," Odd said, unable to decipher which part of him wanted this more, alcohol or himself.

" Pick one."

Odd thought hard for a moment as Aelita began to kiss his neck. Odd had a very sensitive neck, and it seemed Aelita knew that. Was it the alcohol, or him, or both. Maybe it was neither, but he didn't think that was the reason he wanted this to happen. Whatever it was, wanted it more than the part that didn't and went with the best answer.

" It's me," Odd said, not wanting it to appear artificial.

" Liar." She said to him. Odd let out a nervous breathe from her kissing his neck. " Someone likes this." she said to him sarcastically. " Maybe I should nipple a little."

" That's a cheap shot." Aelita laughed and continued to kiss, leaving her teeth out of it. Aelita put her head back down and Odd began to kiss her lips again. Aelita suddenly slipped her tongue into her mouth, and waited for it to be greeted my his. The two introduced each other fairly quickly, as Odd began to reach his arm under her shirt. She knew where it was going, and just let it.

" Are you sure?" he asked, making sure he had full permission before playing.

" Haven't we already settled that," she answered with a smile. That meant yes.


Aelita woke up the next afternoon in the same place she fell asleep. She was under her blanket in the center of her bed completely nude. Feeling around the bed, she was trying to find the other occupant, and didn't find him.

" Odd?" she asked, hoping for an answer.

" That was his name huh. He was really cute, I saw him as he walked out," Alissa said from her desk turning around to look out her roommate. Alissa stood up and opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water and placed it on Aelita's night stand. Then she opened the drawer to her desk and pulled out a bottle of aspirin and placed two tablets next to the water.

" In case you have a hangover, puke that way." she said, pointing toward the wall. Suddenly, Aelita realized she had huge headache and grabbed the pills and took them, not leaning far enough to show she was naked

" Someone got lucky last night," Alissa said because she knew she was naked because Aelita always places her laundry in her basket, but her clothes were still on the ground.

"All night and into the morning. I wasn't drunk enough to forget, which is good because I don't want to," remembering how eventful last night was.

" Was he that good?" she asked interested greatly.

" If you call multiple orgasms good. Where'd he go?" Aelita asked, because she hoped when she woke up he'd still be there. It made it less of a one night stand.

" He left this morning about ten. It's almost two, someone slept well. He left you a note." Alissa handed her a piece of paper and Aelita read it.

" Aelita, sorry to leave without a goodbye again, but you can slap me later. I needed to catch the bus early. I'm not sure what happened last night, if it was a fling or actually something to go with. But none the less it happened and I don't regret it did. Call me when you wake up and let's see where this goes.

Love Odd, p.s. Here's some contact information so I don't lose you again, later." Aelita smiled as she closed the letter.

" Your still not good with words."