Phew! We are flying along!


Ch. 8- 'The Nitty-gritty'

"You!" scowled Ulrich

"Good buddy?" said the blonde man, starting to withdraw from Ulrich.

"How did you find me? I told you that I didn't do anything to your stupid mutt!" shouted Ulrich.

"Hey, hey whoa! Slow down!" cautioned the man, holding up his hands defensively.

Ulrich recognized the guy now. This was the guy that had yelled at him earlier that morning at the petrol station for being mean to his dog. Ulrich had an interesting interaction when the man had given Ulrich his business card "just in case he needed to get ahold of Ulrich". The brunette couldn't believe this. He was just about to storm out when he heard the man shout after him,

"Uh, are you Ulrich Stern?!"

Ulrich whipped around, "What?" his eyes widened and then narrowed. How in the world would this guy know his name?

"Depends, who wants to know?"

"Odd Della Robbia, his best buddy!"

Ulrich's head split open for what felt like the millionth time that day. Ulrich was transported back to one of the first days of the new semester at Kadic. Younger Ulrich had just walked into Mrs. Hertz's classroom and sat down when a kid in purple walked up beside him. Ulrich had seen this kid before, in his memory about Belpois and the vending machines.

"Uh, are you Ulrich Stern?"

"That depends on who wants to know?"

"Odd Della Robbia, his brand new roommate!"

"What?!" panicked Ulrich. He was used to having a room all to himself. And what kind of name was 'Odd'? The kid slid into a chair next to Ulrich, and Ulrich tried his best to slide away from the kid in purple.

"I'm new at the academy and the principal told me to move in with you," said Odd with a weird hand gesture.

Ulrich raised an eyebrow, "Uh, latch onto me is more like it…" He could already tell he wasn't going to like this.

"Relax!" said Odd, "I'm totally cool! Trust me, you won't even know I'm there."

"I sure hope so…" said Ulrich, already feeling a bit annoyed, he turned and pointed right at Odd, "Look, we don't exactly go 'way back'. So just for now let's take things nice and slow, okay?"

Odd raised his hands defensively in front of his chest, but still answered brightly, "Okay, nice and slow."

Ulrich's mind felt like it was being sucked through a straw as he flashed back to the image of his friends and the supercalculator. There was one person with his arm around Younger Ulrich, and Younger Ulrich didn't seem to mind. The face of the person filled in with Odd's face, but his hair was gelled to a point, not down like it was in his memory or like it was now. Ulrich then was shot back to the present day, standing in front of not the guy who was accosting him for messing with his dog but,

"Odd!" shouted Ulrich, throwing out his arms and hugging his old friend.

"Oof! Ulrich!" grunted Odd, "I knew I could get through to you," he said.

"Wha- Whe- How?!" stammered Ulrich, pulling Odd out of the hug.

"I started to remember after I saw you at the petrol station this morning," said Odd, "I mean, I didn't realize fully why until I got home this morning, and then I knew that I had to find you. Well, I found out through word-of-mouth that you work at CEM as well, so I looked you up in the directory and sent you that text."

Ulrich scoffed, "Yeah, great going on that…" he said pulling out his phone, "You couldn't just say, 'Hey this is Odd'?"

"I thought you knew! You seemed to recognize me!"

"Recognize you?" said Ulrich with a raised eyebrow, "I thought you were crazy!"

"Well I thought you were looking for me!" said Odd, pointing at himself, "I mean, why else would you be at that petrol station?"

"I got lost on a drive this morning…" said Ulrich, which was the truth.

"Lost? Huh…" ruminated Odd, "And you just so happen to show up at the same station where I went to fuel up…"

"Wow, small world huh?" remarked Ulrich

"Yeah, I thought you looked familiar, so I was hoping that my business card would trigger something for you as well," said Odd.

Ulrich then remembered the little card was stuffed somewhere in his coat pocket. He pulled it out and smoothed it over. There was the CEM company logo emblazoned across the top, which was just a large, blocky font with the letters "CEM" with a few small embellishments. Ulrich looked at the little card:

Odd Della Robbia

Pres of Development

Cardiff Entertainment Media

The rest of the card had Odd's work info and how to reach him. Ulrich was a little surprised he didn't actually look at the card. He was sure if looked at it sooner he wouldn't have had this problem.

"You didn't actually look at it!" realized Odd.

"Um…! No! I um, yeah…" admitted Ulrich, hanging his head, "But you know that business cards don't work like this!" he shouted, pointing at Odd with the card, "If you want to get my number, you need me to give it to you! Not the other way around!"

"Well, I didn't know how else how to get you to remember me!" said Odd.

"How about just asking me?" said Ulrich.

"Well you looked right at Kiwi this morning and it didn't seem to faze you!"

"Wait…" said Ulrich, trying to remember back to that morning, "You still have Kiwi?"

"Yeah! He's the best little diggity-dog I've ever had!"

Ulrich remembered Kiwi now, he was the little mutt that when they first met had torn apart their dorm room, and made a 'mess' all over the floor. But over time Ulrich grew to like the little dog. Ulrich and Odd both stood there for a second, awkwardly wondering what to do next. Ulrich looked around the room and let out a large sigh. Odd rubbed the back of his neck and echoed Ulrich's sigh. Ulrich couldn't stand the silence any longer so he just thought of the first thing that came to mind.

"Well…! You're here!" said Ulrich, "Do you remember anything else?"

"Huh?" asked Odd

"Do you remember, you know? About anything else, any-one else?" said Ulrich with a particular interest.

"Anyone?" asked Odd, "Not really. You were the first one I remembered. I had a…a flashback?" said Odd, unsure of what words to use.

"No! I know what you're talking about!" said Ulrich, happy to finally have an understanding, "I've been having them too! About the…"

"Supercalculator…" said the duo in unison. Ulrich sighed in relief and Odd looked like he had just won the lottery.

"And the rest of the…group?" asked Ulrich.

"Well I knew there were others, I can sorta see them in my head but not really, it's like all their faces are blurred out," said Odd.

"Yeah!" said Ulrich, finally glad to be getting some useable answers.

"Yeah, all of this has been bugging me so much that I actually took some time to draw it…" said Odd, pulling out a sheet of paper from his back pocket and unfolding it.

Odd showed the drawing to Ulrich. He was blown away by the amount of detail there was to what he thought was just a simple photo. Odd had really spent a lot of time and had down a good job taking the memory they both shared and putting it on paper. But Ulrich was surprised to see it was exactly how he saw it in his mind. There was a small group of people gathered around the central terminal of the supercalculator. Most of the faces were missing since Ulrich figured Odd didn't know what Ulrich knew. In the back, there was a chair, next to the terminal, and a person sitting in it. Ulrich knew that was Jeremy. Next to the chair was Odd and himself. Odd had an arm around Ulrich's shoulder, and Ulrich was doing the same to Odd. The blond had a big cheesy smile and was flashing a peace sign. Ulrich was just grinning.

On the other side of the chair, there was a feminine figure, and she seemed really close to Jeremy It seemed like neither Odd nor Ulrich knew who this was. There was another feminine figure next to the first. Ulrich recognized this person as Yumi Ishiyama, but it was obvious that Odd didn't know who this was either, the face was missing. Then, at the front of the group, crouched in front, there were four other people; two guys, and two girls. Ulrich and Odd both didn't know who those people were, but Ulrich had to admit that the two guys dressed oddly similar to each other.

"This is what I've been seeing!" said Ulrich, taking the drawing out of Odd's hand, "Each time I find someone new another new face gets added."

"Wait," said Odd, slowing Ulrich down, "You mean you have run into more people than just me?"

"Yeah," said Ulrich. He pointed to Yumi's empty face, "This is Yumi, Yumi Ishiyama?"

"Yumi? Now you're just making stuff up, I know Yumi Ishiyama and that…" said Odd, taking the drawing back to examine it, "Is not Yumi Ishiyama…"

"No! I'm telling you! I have the same picture in my head, but I can see Yumi here! And there's another face, here!" said Ulrich, pointing to the person sitting in the chair, "That's Jeremy Belpois!"

"Jeremy Belpois? You mean information desk boy?" said Odd, shaking his head.

"I'm serious! Think about it, what if there are some things that I can see that you can't?" said Ulrich, gesturing to the photo.

Odd squinted for a second at the photo, then shook his head, "I don't see it…"

"No, here…let me show you…" Ulrich took the photograph, "You got a pencil?"

"Yeah, here," said Odd, pulling out a pencil from his shirt pocket.

Ulrich set the picture down and leaned on the bar and withdrew internally. He accessed the memory of this photo and then tried to take a mental picture of it so that he could see it when he opened his eyes. Ulrich focused on Yumi's face and then started to draw. It was then that Ulrich's artistic skills that he had received as Older Ulrich kicked in. Ulrich realized that after a while that he didn't even need the memory to draw Yumi's face. It was a face that Ulrich would never forget. Odd was hovering over Ulrich's shoulder, trying to get a peek. But Ulrich hid his work since he didn't know how Odd would react. He had drawn this photo so wonderfully, would Ulrich's skill be able to compare? Ulrich quickly finished Yumi's features and moved on to Jeremy. The blond nerd's features were even easier than Yumi's because most of his face was taken up by his glasses. Ulrich even included the small strand of hair that dipped down from Jeremy's hair that almost touched his glasses. Once he finished the details, Ulrich erased any stray marks, blew the erasing scraps away, and then held up the drawing for Odd to see.

"Huh, not bad," said Odd, screwing up his face in thought, "Yeah that looks like Yumi and Jeremy if they were kids…" said Odd.

"But…?" said Ulrich, he felt like Odd was just waiting to give him the news.

"But I still don't see it!" said Odd, throwing his arms up in the air.

Ulrich groaned, how was he going to get Odd to remember Yumi and Jeremy?

"How did you start to remember them?" said the voice in Ulrich's head.

Ulrich was puzzled by the voice's directions. How did he remember them? He talked with them mostly or saw them in a way that triggered a certain memory. But Odd wasn't going to have that luxury. The two of them weren't here, and Ulrich didn't know of a way to show Odd something that he hadn't before. He had done all that he could to try and show Odd what it was that he could be missing.

"What was said?" prompted the voice further.

Ulrich was thoroughly confused now. Ulrich thought that it was interacting with these people that had triggered the return of his memories. Ulrich went back into his mind. There wasn't much he could recall. Ulrich went step by step through his week so far. Ulrich started to remember Yumi after his dad brought up the fact during dinner the night before. He was thinking about how they were good friends, and then his mom asked him if he knew her, that's when he triggered the memory. But first, he felt, kind of flustered and a bit on edge being put on the spot. He remembered Jeremy after thinking that the blond nerd reminded him of Einstein, it made him laugh and then Jeremy got all panicked and he said, "S.O.S.". Then Odd triggered his memory after he basically recreated the first time they met. But first, he realized that Odd got him kind of riled up. So was there an emotional aspect to this too? Did he have to be in the right state of mind? Then something needed to be said? How was Ulrich going to get Odd to do all that? Plus, Ulrich seemed to know now how getting his memory back worked for him, that didn't mean that it would work the same for Odd. But with no other options, he ran his ideas by Odd.

"So…I think I'm remembering more of these other people," he said, pointing to the picture that Odd was holding in his hands, "Because I've been put into the right situations…"

"What? Like you know more just because you were in the right place at the right time?" said Odd, crossing his arms in front of his body.

"Um, yeah? No? I don't know…" admitted Ulrich, "Look, I think that this all works by getting into the right frame of mind, then having a trigger, something that's said that helps you to remember back to the past."

"What? You make it sound like we've all been hypnotized to forget everything or something, like out of a bad movie! And the only way to remember is for someone to say the magic word!"

"Um, kinda?" said Ulrich, he didn't have a better explanation.

"Look, how do we even know this is real? This could all be a 'past-life regression' or something," said Odd, shrugging his shoulders.

"What? Like you mean we knew each other in a past life or something?" asked Ulrich

"Exactly! We just so happen to look and act similar to the way we did in a past life, this past life!" said Odd, holding up the picture.

"But we all live super close to each other, and we all work in the same company?" said Ulrich, starting to get a little incredulous about this theory.

"Okay, so there's a few things that seem weird about this," admitted Odd.

"Weird? I'd say downright coincidental," said Ulrich, "But one unique thing is a coincidence, two or three, that's a pattern."

"Pattern? Like this happened on purpose?" asked Odd, "Who would want this to happen?"

"I don't know…" said Ulrich, "But there's no denying that this…this is real!" said Ulrich grabbing the picture and gesturing to everyone and everything.

"How do you know that for sure? Huh? What's your proof?"

"Proof?" asked Ulrich, "Take a look around! You and I are both here because we've been having the same memory, this memory!" said Ulrich with emphasis, holding up the picture again, "You and I remember things that no two other people could ever remember. I bet if you asked two random people if they remember a certain memory, they would either look at you crazy or have two totally different recollections depending on what they talk about!"

"So?" huffed Odd, he was really missing the point.

"So! This is a one-in-a-million circumstance! Not only do we remember things that we should have no way of remembering, but we have detail and things that no one else could remember unless they were there!"

"Like what?" said Odd, he was really slow on the uptake.

"Like…" Ulrich really racked his brain, he figured the best way to get on the same page would be to try a memory that they both shared, "Like the first class we had in Mrs. Hertz's class that first day you came to Kadic!"

"Oh yeah! I remember that! I had just come from a meeting with Delmas, and he set me up with a room with…you…" Odd suddenly looked like he had a realization, "Wait! I didn't remember that before…I just now remembered that!"

"Yes!" said Ulrich, this was a major milestone, "Do you remember what happened in that class?"

"No, I never paid much attention in Hertz's classes, you know that!"

"Well how about what happened before class started?" urged Ulrich.

"Well there was Sissi…! I remember that, no problem."

"Wait, you remember Sissi?" probed Ulrich.

"Yeah, that's easy, she was the girl that always called you 'Ul-rich sweetheart' or whatever, real leech. But I used to think she was a real babe!"

"Huh, you remember her, but not Jeremy, or Yumi?" asked Ulrich holding up the picture to Odd's eye level.

"No, I remember Sissi coming into class, saying she had something important to tell you, and that she wanted you to come by her dorm room later that night."

Ulrich flashed back, he didn't remember that either, but when Odd said something, he was immediately transported back to that moment. Sissi was trying to come on to him like she always did, but Ulrich just thought of her as the brain-dead principal's daughter. Ulrich knew they had to be on a roll. He knew that it wasn't long after that the two of them ran into Jeremy at the vending machines. But in the meantime, what happened to get them there? Ulrich was interrupted by Odd's snickering and giggling.

"Hey, hey…did I ever tell you the joke about the waiter and the frog legs?"

Ulrich suddenly remembered. After class, Odd's idea of 'bonding' was to turn into a stand-up comedian. He basically told joke after joke in an attempt to form a connection with Ulrich. Looking back, Odd was really trying to become friends with Ulrich, but the brunette wasn't having it.

"Yes, you told it to me…ten years ago…"

"No, I think I would have remembered it! I mean, c'mon, who forgets telling a joke as good as that?"

"Odd, I think I could tell you that lame joke in my sleep…"

"Nuh-uh!" said Odd, "It's a real piece of comedy gold! And it ends with…"

"I don't have frog's legs! That's just the way I walk?" said Ulrich and Odd at the same time.

"Huh?" said Odd, taken aback, "So you've heard it before, big deal…"

"You're right Odd, I have heard it, ten years ago! You told it to me after Mrs. Hertz's class!"

"I- I did?" Odd looked a little lost, he had the same look on his face that it seemed like Jeremy did earlier, which reminded him about the blonde nerd.

"Think, where did we go after class?"

"We, we went to the vending machines…" Odd had his eyes closed, and he was lost in thought, "We hung out there for some time…"

"Yes!" said Ulrich, they were on the right track again, "And who came up?"

"Who came up? What do you mean?"

"Who visited the vending machines while we were hanging out there?"

"You telling me you forgot, love-bird?" said Odd, with a malicious grin.

"What?" asked Ulrich, taken aback. What was Odd remembering? The only people that came up to the vending machine were Jeremy, and…the color drained out of Ulrich's face.

"You remember now too!" said Odd, opening his eyes to see Ulrich's face which had gone from pale to bright red, "Yumi was there!" he said with a sing-song voice. Odd gasped, "Yumi! Yumi Ishiyama…was there!" said Odd, pointing to the drawing in Ulrich's hand.

"Exactly!" said Ulrich, glad about the fact that was the only thing he decided to get hung up on, "So you remember her now?"

"Well not entirely, I mean, it's kind of fuzzy…" said Odd, scratching his head, "But I know that you weren't making that up," he said pointing to Yumi's face.

"Thank you…!" said Ulrich, pumping his fists slowly in the air.

"But I still don't know about Belpois…" Ulrich groaned.

"Well who came up next?" said Ulrich in a monotone, hoping that Odd wasn't as dense as they were as kids.

"Who came up…?" Odd gasped again, "Jeremy took a lot of volts!" said Odd, grabbing Ulrich by the shoulders.

Ulrich sighed in relief, "Thank…you. Apparently, you aren't as dumb as we were when we were kids…"

"What are you talking about? You seem as dense as ever!" said Odd with a chuckle.

"What are you going on about?" asked Ulrich, slightly offended that Odd thought he was still a dumb kid.

"You telling me you never saw the way that Yumi looked at you when we were growing up?" asked Odd.

"What? You must have some bad memories, Yumi and I were never a thing, we were just good friends!"

"Oh, yeah, uh-huh, good friends, that's all, right..." said Odd sarcastically.

"What? What are you going on about? Are you drunk? Yumi and I were never more than just good friends!" Ulrich moaned as his brain split open once more that night.

This time was even more painful than the previous times. His brain seemed to be feeding him two sets of memories at the same time. On one hand, the memories of Younger Ulrich showed him that, yes, Yumi and he were just good friends. They hung out sometimes outside of class and even took the same martial arts class, but for some reason, he could never catch her eye. Or did he? There were times that he would look at Yumi and she would look at him and then play with her short, black hair. Then there were times that he would look at Yumi and she would already be looking at him. She would quickly look away and either cover her face or brush her hair in front of her eyes. Ulrich just thought she was a nervous girl, but that didn't make sense since she seemed so confident all the time. Everything he got from her seemed to be a mixed signal. So that's why he never really pursued it much.

On the other hand, Older Ulrich remembered Yumi well. It wasn't much different from Younger Ulrich's memories, but when William came along, everything changed. Since William was in the same grade as Yumi, he spent more time with her than Ulrich did. They still had marital arts classes together, but over time they practiced less and less, and so Ulrich didn't see her as often. After a while, Yumi stopped coming to class altogether, and Ulrich only saw her in the cafeteria when she sat next to her new boyfriend, William. Ulrich's blood boiled when he thought about William. He hardly knew the school bad-boy, but the two of them seemed to have an unspoken rivalry, and William seemed to gloat just by the way he acted every time he saw Ulrich when he and his "girlfriend" were together. In the later years of school, their affection became very physical, and each time Ulrich passed them in the hall, William pulled Yumi in for a hug, and then a very loud, sloppy kiss. Ulrich had no doubt in his mind that William was just with the Asian girl because it made Ulrich mad. Yumi never seemed to notice because she had long since forgotten Ulrich, and never seemed to look his way. Soon after grade school, William convinced Yumi to go with him to the same college, and the two of them went on to be famous, Yumi as an actress, and William as a writer. Ulrich catered to his parent's demands and went off to college in Germany for a few years where he cleared his head and got over Yumi. Or so he thought until he saw her again while he was applying for jobs around the CEM building.

Ulrich had seen Yumi on occasion in the media. How couldn't he? She was in all the magazines, all the entertainment news programs, and in all the famous movies. There was really no forgetting her, which is why he felt overjoyed when he saw in the news, that she and William had called it quits. William had been the center of a big debacle in the social circles in France. He claimed that another person assaulted him at an awards show, causing irreparable damage to his nose and face. The whole city was abuzz with the latest in the gossip, and everyone was taking sides. Finally, someone just went back in the tapes and saw that William was just making it up and trying to get compensation for a plastic surgery that had gone wrong. He thought that if he could blame someone else, he could make his money back in a lawsuit, and no one would ever have to know. Well, the truth was leaked, and William was disgraced. He ended up losing it all, even Yumi, who he desperately tried to hold onto till the bitter end. But eventually, the two split, and William sunk, while Yumi rose. Ulrich remembered he saw all this just after coming back from Germany, and while starting to look for a job amidst taking odd jobs here and there. But just like before, Yumi had long since ignored Ulrich, and there was no fixing that. Ulrich groaned as he was sucked back to reality. Odd was standing there, with a mix of panic and amusement on his face.

"Have a fun trip?" said Odd, once he was sure Ulrich was okay, "Remember anything fun?"

"Can it…" said Ulrich, he still felt a sense of sadness and loneliness washing over him when he thought about what just happened.

"Oh, so it wasn't pleasant!" laughed Odd.

"So maybe we could have been more than friends, but that ship has sailed…" said Ulrich sourly, jamming his hands into his pockets and walking out of the bar. Ulrich could hear the door open again as he walked out into the street.

"Wait, Ulrich!" It was Odd.

"What do you want?" asked Ulrich, "Come to rub more bad memories in my face?"

"I didn't mean to do anything! I just must have said the right thing that triggered something in you!"

Ulrich sighed and turned back towards Odd. He realized that the short blond probably didn't mean for this to happen, it probably was just a case of saying the right thing at the right time. But it still didn't help the way he felt. Ulrich gave a half-smile to Odd but didn't know what else to say or do. Ulrich felt a little awkward now.

"Uh…see you 'round," said Ulrich, turning towards his car.

"Wait!" shouted Odd, "What do we do now?"

"Now?" huffed Ulrich, "Now I go home…" he figured their business was done, he could cross Odd off his list and move on.

"Wait! That's it?" said Odd, catching up to Ulrich, "You got some answers and now you're done?!"

"What else do you want me to do?" asked Ulrich.

"Well aren't you going to, I don't know, figure out who the rest of these people are, or figure out why we're here?" said Odd, gesturing with his hands.

"Well yeah, but I don't need to hang around here to find that out…" said Ulrich, bluntly.

Odd looked stung, "So that's it? You meet up with your friend from childhood, shoot the breeze a bit, then just move on? What kind of person are you?"

"Look, I was fine finding answers on my own. I mean, thank you for the help, and thank you for getting me further along, but I really don't see why it is that we have to stick together anymore," said Ulrich, and he turned to walk away.

Odd growled, "Ulrich Stern!" It caught the brunette slightly by surprise.

"You are the world's biggest anti-social person I've ever known! And that's even saying something considering Belpois was the biggest nerd I knew in school, who never talked except for outside of class!"

"Wha-?" stammered Ulrich.

"No! Hold on! I'm not finished! You may have given up on the whole 'people' thing in school because studies were more important in order to 'please daddy', but there is more to life than just living up to your parent's expectations! Isn't that what having kids is for? Ruining all your expectations?"

Ulrich was flabbergasted, who knew so much anger could be built up in such a small person? What's more, he was also making sense. Older Ulrich had several memories where he shrugged off friends, social interaction, and generally "fun" things after being heartbroken by Yumi. It was like having a bad breakup, but without the other person ever knowing you exist. Ulrich guessed that it kind of came off as pretentious to other people since his biggest excuse that he used in school was that needed to make the grade for his parent's sake. His parents pushed him all through school when he would really rather just play sports. After being paired with him as a roommate, Ulrich quickly asked to be transferred to another room. Ulrich spent the rest of his time at Kadic in his own room. Odd, however, went on to be a big hit amongst all the other people on campus, and always seemed to be swarmed with groups of people; friends, acquaintances, and especially girls. Older Ulrich knew that Odd was always the "cool" guy on campus, no matter where he went.

When Ulrich moved up from Junior High to Secondary school, his parents persuaded him to give up athletics. Which meant no longer being the star of the soccer team, which drove him further into a recessive hole. Ulrich was always jealous of Odd since it seemed like he was always the center of attention. Ulrich realized that over time that he did turn into Jeremy, eventually, he would only talk in class, and then, he wouldn't even do that. Ulrich realized that was just kind of…there. That's why when he ran into Herb and Nicholas in the mail room after being hired at CEM that he latched onto them. They were his first real friends, and they actually acted like friends. Older Ulrich felt like he didn't have a lot of that growing up, sacrificing friends for studying.

Younger Ulrich, however, had fond memories of spending time with Jeremy, and with Odd, and the rest of the group, even though he couldn't remember the rest of them. They would spend time out on the town together, study together, and even just hang out. What changed? Where was the difference? Ulrich withdrew from his thoughts, Odd was still ranting.

"And…you're never going to be able to…" shouted Odd, he stopped to take a breath, and Ulrich cut him off.

"Odd!" shouted Ulrich. He chuckled. It was kind of touching that Odd felt so strongly about their friendship, "Maybe it's time that I give this whole 'friends' thing a try."

Odd sighed and it looked like he smiled, but then suddenly crossed his arms and turned away from Ulrich, "Well maybe I've changed my mind…" said Odd through pouted lips, almost like a child.

"What?"

"Maybe I don't want to be your friend anymore…"

Ulrich sighed and offered a hand out to shake, "I'm sorry for what I said, I got a little too…"

"Arrogant? Stubborn? Self-centered?" interjected Odd.

"Presumptuous…" growled Ulrich, a little upset that Odd seemed to be mocking him, "A little too presumptuous that I could do this…" said Ulrich, holding up his arms and gesturing widely to indicate just life in general.

"Without my good buddy…"

"Aww!" mushed Odd, "I accept," said Odd, taking Ulrich's hand and shaking it. He then quickly pulled Ulrich into a hug.

"But brothers don't shake! Brothers gotta hug!"

Ulrich was kind of embarrassed that Odd did that, but he sighed and hugged the blond back.

"So now what?" asked Odd after he broke off the hug.

"Now, we get down to the nitty-gritty."


There goes anther chapter! Why don't you take some time to let me know what you think about the chapter and my story?