They had finished a pot of coffee by twelve thirty in the morning. It was relaxing to sit and talk about what they had been up to for five years while sipping their drinks. It felt familiar, like old times. All of the problems Aelita had seemed to be fixed by a cup of coffee and his company. It wasn't that he spoke and gave good advice. The fact he had always been relatively quiet is what made the difference.

Jeremie and Yumi always spoke. They advised her, guided her, and most annoyingly it seemed like they lectured. Ulrich gave her room to speak, and she spoke almost the whole time. It wasn't because he heard her. It was because he listened. He asked her how these things made her feel, so she could talk more. He asked her what she wanted to do, just to let her hear herself say it without the filter of condescension that was Jeremie and Yumi.

Aelita sipped her coffee and looked at him across her couch. They hadn't spoken in five years. Sure she missed the sex, she missed his kiss, his touch to her body. She missed all that. One cup of coffee made her fell like she could tell him anything again, and she missed that more than anything.

Back At Kadic

It appeared Ulrich was making progress with Aelita as his tutor because he got ninty two percent on a practice quiz. The past two weeks had been going good for Ulrich's grades, but not for Aelita's relationship with Jeremie. Yumi was the only one who knew she was thinking about breaking it off. The only thing that was preventing it, was Yumi agreeing with Jeremie.

"How are things going with Jeremie?" Ulrich asked and she answered things were fine, and he knew she was lying. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew.

"What's really going on?" Ulrich asked and Aelita started to lie again, and stopped.

"He wants me to do something that I really don't want to do let's just put it that way," Aelita answered, which only made more questions come to Ulrich's mind, "It's about school, get your mind out of the gutter."

"What about school?" Ulrich asked and Aelita sighed and figured one more opinion couldn't hurt.

"I want to drop chemistry to take a music class next semester," Aelita said and Ulrich looked at her, not sure what to say.

"That's it?" Ulrich asked and Aelita nodded, "You don't need his permission."

"I know but, he's my boyfriend so his opinion matters," Aelita said and looked at the time. They were over time again.

"So does yours," Ulrich answered and Aelita paused, letting that one sink in for a moment, "He's your boyfriend, so in the end, whether or not he likes it, he will have to accept your decision."

"Thanks Ulrich," Aelita said and hugged him before she grabbed her bag and said, "You're my hero."

Aelita left the library to go find Jeremie as Ulrich stood there, and sighed before he called Odd.

"Odd, we need a new code word."

Knocking came loudly on Ulrich's door as Yumi and him stopped at looked at the door. They had barely gotten started before someone began pounding on the door.

"Yumi, need to talk, right now!" Aelita's voice came crying through the door.

"Can this wait?" Yumi asked and Aelita didn't answer, "Aelita?"

"That thing I said I was thinking about doing, I did it," Aelita said and Yumi got off of Ulrich and started to get dressed.

"What the hell is going on?" Ulrich asked and Yumi said she'd fill him in later. Yumi grabbed the door knob, and looked back.

"Sorry, this is an emergency," Yumi said and left Ulrich alone.

Yumi followed Aelita to her room and the moment the door closed she looked at Aelita and shouted, "What the fuck Aelita!?"

"I made up my mind, I'm dropping the chem class. He didn't like it, didn't want to hear about it, so I ended it," Aelita said and Yumi stopped herself from shouting again and gathered herself.

"Aelita, it's just a music class," Yumi scolded and Aelita held her voice back.

"It's just a chem class, that I can take senior year," Aelita shot back.

"Your grades from the class won't be on your applications unless you take it next semester," Yumi said and Aelita groaned.

"You know what, I don't care," Aelita said and Yumi sighed and wanted to say something, "Don't start, I do not care about chemistry, or my applications. If a college doesn't accept me because I didn't take an irrelevant course then..." Aelita started to say, but realized she really couldn't finish the statement without swearing, so decided she actually would for a change, "then it can go fuck itself!"

"You sound like a child," Yumi said and Aelita shrugged.

"Maybe I do, I don't care. Jeremie is my boyfriend, not my father. You're my best friend, not my mother," Aelita said and Yumi shook her head.

"Was your boyfriend, you just broke up with him," Yumi said and Aelita realized she did. The fact she broke up with her boyfriend, just dawned on her.

"It doen't matter if he likes it, he has to accept my decision," Aelita said and Yumi sighed and exited the room before she got loud again.

"Aelita, stop acting like a brat," Yumi said and Aelita slammed her door shut.

Aelita slammed her face into her pillow and screamed as she punched it. Sitting up she got control of herself and took deep breathe to calm down. Her boyfriend and her best friend were against her. They both said it was for her own good, but how could someone know someone else's own good if they didn't even understand them?

Ulrich worked on equations as Aelita quietly instructed him, though he was pretty close to not needing it anymore. Not until the new coursework came. Ulrich noticed she was quiet. Every word she spoke was direct instruction, there was no small talk between them.

"What's up?" Ulrich asked and Aelita looked at him and looked at her lap.

"I broke up with Jeremie," Aelita said and Ulrich leaned into his seat and placed his pencil down. He was done studying anyway.

"I know, we have the same friends after all," Ulrich said and Aelita looked at him, and shrugged.

"Do you have anything to say about it?" Aelita asked and Ulrich shook his head.

"I don't, cause I'm not educated enough on the situation," Ulrich said, in a round about way of asking for details. Aelita sighed and looked around, checking to see if anyone else could hear. Ulrich noticed what she was doing and stood up.

"Come on," Ulrich said and grabbed his stuff.

"What?" Aelita asked, and yet stood up and grabbed her things as well.

"Let's get some coffee," Ulrich said and Aelita stopped and looked at him with a slight smile.

"Won't your girlfriend mind?" Aelita asked and Ulrich just smiled.

"I'm sure she'd be fine," Ulrich said and they dropped off their bags and walked off campus to a cafe the group frequented. They sat across from each other with their drinks and realized they weren't any more alone since roughly ten people from campus were there so went for a walk with their drinks in hand.

"So what happened?" Ulrich asked and Aelita sighed into her drink and took a sip.

"I told him I was taking the music class. He freaked out, said it was stupid and a waste of time. That I was being childish and irresponsible," Aelita said and looked at him.

"It is a killer thing to have on an application though," Ulrich said and Aelita smiled, figuring out he had been told about that part.

"Is a college not going to accept me because I didn't take that class?" Aelita asked.

"Let's say its down to you and someone else. Both of you have perfect applications, and the other one has a college chemistry class they took junior year. Who's getting the slot?" Ulrich asked.

"I know, it's just...I don't care," Aelita said and Ulrich smiled at her, "Is that bad?"

"No, cause you don't care about chemistry. You care about music, honestly you should get a degree in marketing or advertisement," Ulrich said and Aelita took a sip and tried to think of why he said that.

"Why?" Aelita asked.

"Do you want to be a music teacher, cause that's all you can do with a music degree," Ulrich said and Aelta laughed.

"I guess that's kind of true," Aelita said and figured out why marketing or advertisement, "Music is a still a product, got to get it out there somehow."

"Exactly," Ulrich said and Aelita stopped and took a sip, "What?"

"Nothing, just...thanks for listening without yelling at me," Aelita said and Ulrich shrugged, "They don't understand why I love music. I really don't understand either."

"I do," Ulrich said and Aelita looked at him curiously.

"You understand something about me, that I don't?" Aelita asked and Ulrich nodded, "What is it?"

"Not telling," Ulrich said and started walking.

"Hey, now I really want to know," Aelita said and walked after him.