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No Matter What They Say

Chapter 37: Hidden Personalities and Messages

Yumi and Aelita took a seat at a booth in the back of the Chinese buffet. It was almost seven, and the waitress had already taken their drink orders. They were just waiting on Ulrich and Odd to show up. This was the only Chinese restaurant, so Yumi knew that they must be talking about this restaurant. Aelita and Yumi talked quietly together. The restaurant wasn't very crowded. There were a few other people sitting here and there. A lantern was sitting in the middle of their table, and the lights in the restaurant were low allowing the warm glow to surround the table. Their waitress came with their drinks and asked if they needed anything more. They both shook their heads and continued to talk as they waited for Ulrich and Odd to show up.

"Well, Yumi," Aelita said looking at the clock, "it's nearly seven. Do you want to start getting something to eat?"

Yumi sighed. "Why don't we give them a few minutes? It's still only 6:53. They have seven minutes. Let's wait at least until seven."

Aelita nodded. They continued to talk, and went over their day as well as talked about how much fun tomorrow would be. "I remember when I was little, I used to go skiing. I can't really remember it all that well, but I know I went once or twice," Aelita said and thought back. "This should be interesting to see how well I do."

Yumi smiled. "I'm pretty good. I've been multiple times. I'm just worried about Ulrich, what with his vertigo and all."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Hopefully, Ulrich will do fine. Well, at least you'll be there to help if he ever needs it." Aelita smiled. Yumi rolled her eyes and blushed slightly.

"Was there a hint of double meaning in that?"

Aelita laughed and Yumi smiled. "Take it as you will," she said and they both laughed. "So, who's coming again?"

"Um, well, there was me and you, obviously. And, Odd and Ulrich. And, you also invited Jared, so he's coming. I think Hiroki, Johnny, Milly, and Tamiya are coming too, although they may not stay with us the entire time. Oh, and I promised Sissi that she could go, so she's coming and possibly her lifeguard friend who she seams to be hanging out with all the time. I think that's it, right?"

"That's what I thought, but something, I don't know. I guess, I just, I don't know. I feel like we should invite Jeremie."

Yumi raised an eyebrow at her. "Jeremie? I thought you were upset with him. Aren't you?"

"Well, yeah, but oh, I don't know. I don't want to hold a grudge this entire time."

"Well, if you want to bring him, that's fine, but do you think Odd will mind? I mean, I think he's already a little upset with Jared tagging along, let alone Jeremie."

Aelita looked skeptically at Yumi. "Odd said he was fine with Jared coming. Why wouldn't he be ok with Jared? He's not still mad about that, is he?"

Yumi just shrugged and looked at the clock again.

"I'll ask him when he gets here," Aelita said and looked toward the buffet.

"It's 7:04. Do you think they're just a little late?" Yumi asked hopefully.

Aelita shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm getting hungry. We only had a pretzel for lunch. Can't we just get something to eat while we wait? I mean, I'm just as disappointed as you, but can't we be disappointed and eat at the same time?"

Yumi rolled her eyes and smiled at Aelita. "Yeah, sure. Why not?" Aelita smiled back at her, and they both headed up to the buffet.

-m-

"Odd, we've got to go!" Ulrich shouted again for the tenth time or so. "Yumi and Aelita'll be pissed if we're late and we've only got ten minutes until we're supposed to be there."

"Yeah, yeah. So you keep telling me," Odd said and lasered another Gorghee in the back. "We've got them. We can't just stop now!"

Ulrich sighed deeply and ran after Odd and the others. Soon, the Gorghees they had been following disappeared, and Odd, Hiroki, and Johnny stopped to catch their breath. "We've got to go, Odd," Ulrich insisted. He started to take off his armor so he wouldn't be a target for anyone who might pass by.

"Oh, come on, Ulrich, we've got 10 minutes," Odd stated and looked around to make sure no one was in sight.

"Odd! We've got less than 8 now. Besides, do you really want to make Aelita mad again?" Ulrich looked at him and raised his eyebrows. Odd stared back for a few seconds as he thought about it. Aelita's face came back to him. He thought of the one he remembered when she yelled at him to let her go as he carried her back to his room over his shoulder, the one he remembered when he got mad at her for liking Jared, the one that always came when Jeremie happened to do something stupid and inconsiderate. He recalled them all. "Or, worse. Do you want Aelita to be sad again because we showed up late?" Odd thought again this time about Aelita being sad. Her face immediately flew into his mind. The one where she was crying on him at Yumi's, the one where Artemis was torturing her, the one where she was crying over Jeremie not making it to her music video shot, the other times where Jeremie would ignore her to work on a Xana project, and she would cry, although she thought that no one noticed.

He shook his head quickly and started taking off his armor. "Let's get going. I don't want to upset Aelita again." Ulrich nodded as if to say 'that's better', and they quickly said goodbye to Hiroki and Johnny, and headed to put up their armor so they could head to dinner.

-m-

"Yumi, don't be too disappointed. They're only a few minutes late," Aelita said reassuringly.

"I know, Lita. I assumed as much anyway. I knew that they'd get wrapped up in their stupid video games. Whatever. It doesn't matter." Yumi stared angrily at her egg roll and took a sip of her water.

"It does matter. It matters to both of us, but I'm sure they'll be here in a minute or two. Maybe it's a ways away from here and they're on their way right now," Aelita said hopefully and took a bite of her chicken. "They're just running a little behind schedule."

"What are you talking about, Lita? Odd has no schedule!" Yumi shouted angrily. People from around the room looked over, and Yumi lowered her voice. "You better get used to this kind of stuff!" Tears welled up in Aelita's eyes at the thought of going through the same thing with Odd as she had just gone through with Jeremie. Yumi noticed and changed her tone dramatically. "Oh, I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean it like that, Aelita. It's, I mean…."

"Yeah, I know. Odd doesn't run by a schedule," she whispered and took another bite of chicken. "Some dinner." Yumi sighed as if to agree. "And, to think, I was actually looking foreword to this."

"Maybe, they'll still show up," Yumi encouraged. "Like you said, maybe, they're just running a little late."

Aelita shrugged and continued eating. She looked up at the clock. "It's 7:20 already." Yumi glanced up at the clock as if by just looking for herself, it might somehow not be true. As she recognized that it indeed was true, she turned back to her food and continued to eat.

-m-

"So, Sissi, was there anything else you wanted to do here?" he asked as they both exited the lazy river. "I mean, I have been off for over an hour and a half now. We can leave whenever you want."

"Um, I don't think there's anything else. Where did your friends go? Did you need to meet up someplace with them?" she asked, looking around for them.

"Ayden and Ian left a while ago. They always leave around 6. They usually go down to one of the teen bars and get drunk or they go and find some chicks, I mean girls, to eat dinner with. It doesn't usually take long for them to find someone. Ayden's not too picky. As long as it's a girl and she's not too ugly, he'll have dinner with her. Same with Ian. They shouldn't be back to the room until late. Maybe they'll be back around 11. Sometimes 9 if their dates weren't fun." Kiptyn walked Sissi toward her lounge chair. She picked up her shirt and looked around again. She couldn't see anyone she really knew.

"And, what about Oliver? Is he still here?"

Ayden looked around, but couldn't seem to find him. "I don't think so. Why? Did you want to do something with him?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just thought you might want to hang out with some of your friends, especially since you've been hanging out with me all day," she said and looked around again. "Oh! There he is!" she stated, pointing over toward a lounge chair a little ways away. He appeared to be asleep. "Do you want to see if he wants to come and do something with us?"

Kiptyn looked around awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, um, sure. We can see if he wants to come along." They headed over, and it turned out that Oliver was actually asleep. They shook him awake.

"Hey, guys," he yawned as he brushed the hair back out of his face and then shook his head so that it all fell back again. "What time is it?"

"It's around 6:15. Sissi wanted to know if you wanted to come do something with us. So, do you?" Kiptyn gave him a smile, but it looked awkward and made it hard for Oliver to keep a strait face.

"Sure, I'd love to go do something," he said and got up. He grabbed his shirt and quickly threw it on.

"Alright. That's great," Sissi said with a smile. She looked over at Kiptyn who seemed to be a little upset. "You alright, Kiptyn?"

Kiptyn shook his head out of a gaze and looked over toward Sissi. He immediately blushed, and Oliver tried to hold in his laughter again. He nodded, and Sissi shrugged.

"Alright, so what did you want to do?" Sissi asked. Both Kiptyn and Oliver looked at her with eyebrows raised. "What? I thought you'd decide. I don't want to tell you guys what to do. I just thought I'd go along for the ride."

"Well, I thought you had something in mind," Kiptyn muttered. "How bout we go get something to eat?"

"How about Kilimanjava? Have you been there yet?" Oliver asked Sissi. She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "It's this great Coffee house and it's got this great African theme and everything. You know, like Kilimanjaro, the mountain? It's really good too."

"Sounds fine to me," Sissi said. "Who knew this resort would have so many varieties of places to eat. What kind of food is there anyway?"

"Oh, all kinds. There are a lot of different kinds of sandwiches and fruits. There is coffee, tea, and juices to drink. There are also different kinds of soups and a few chicken dinners and other meats. Some are really strange though. There are pastas and rice too. It's really a cool place. They have trees around the room, and the walls are painted to look like the African Sahara. They painted elephants, giraffes, and other animals on the walls. The ceiling looks cool too because it's painted to look like the sky, and there are birds on it too," Oliver continued. His eyes were glowing as if this was the best thing he's ever had before. "It's like no place you've ever seen before."

Sissi stared at him wide-eyed. "That's the most I've heard you talk. Ever. Kiptyn, we've got to eat there. If it get's Oliver so excited, it's bound to be good."

Kiptyn shrugged. "I've been there before. It's not bad. It's pretty good. Oliver's into organic stuff like they sell there. Besides, every day around 7, they have this performance with all of the waitresses and waiters doing some tribal dance or something. He seems to really like that." Oliver blushed and muttered some excuse to leave. It was something about needing to go turn in his clipboard or something.

"Oliver doesn't look like one of those types of people. I would have thought he'd be one of those, well, emo people. I mean, if you look at him, he's got the hair and outfit," Sissi said as she watched him leave. "Plus, he normally is mysterious and quietish. I wouldn't think he'd like anything to do with tribal dances."

"Yeah, he is quiet. I mean, around other people, not Ayden and me, but you know what I mean. He usually doesn't open up too much. I'm surprised he even suggested a restaurant or wanted to hang out with us. Now, I don't know if I would define him as emo, but I can see where you're coming from."

"Does he have a girlfriend?" Sissi asked curiously.

"No. He's too quiet," Kiptyn said with a sigh. "We try to get him to ask someone out, but he's either too shy, or he says she's 'not right for him'. He's always saying that. I feel bad for him sometimes. I feel like he's always by himself."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. He's always by himself," she agreed.

"Don't mention that I said that about him. He may be quiet, but he'd kill me if he knew I said that."

"Ok, I promise I won't say anything," Sissi said and they both continued with small talk until Oliver returned and they headed off toward the restaurant.

-m-

"They're not coming, are they?" Aelita mumbled, interrupting Yumi mid-sentence. Tears were just starting to form in her eyes and Yumi didn't know what to say.

She couldn't think of anything to do that would really help. So, she did the best she could. She lied. "I'm sure they're just tied up. Like you said, they'll be here in a few minutes."

Aelita shook her head. "No. It's been 25 minutes."

"They'll be here." Yumi looked over toward the entrance of the restaurant as if by some miracle they would be standing there looking for them. "I'm going to go get another plate of food. I'll be right back."

"Yeah, ok," Aelita muttered and pushed her rice back and forth on her plate.

-m-

"Odd! This is no time to stop and go to the restroom! We're already late as it is!" Ulrich yelled as Odd motioned that he was going to stop.

"Well, I don't think you want me to pee myself, now do you?" Odd said as he rushed into the bathroom at the arcade.

"Yumi's going to kill me!" Ulrich shouted as he leaned against the wall outside to wait for Odd.

-m-

"I'll take your chicken rice bowl without pees," Sissi said to the waiter. "Oh, and can I have fries as my side?"

"Um, sure," the waiter said and looked at her strangely because no one usually gets the fries. "And, what about you?"

"I'll take your kili-sandwich, and for my side, I'd like a mixed fruit bowl," Oliver said and smiled up at the waiter who nodded and looked toward Kiptyn.

"I'll have the chicken breast dinner with the specialty noodles as the side," he said.

"Yeah, ok. On the chicken do you want the peanut sauce or the house special?" the waiter asked.

Kiptyn shrugged and looked at Oliver. "Get the special," he stated, and Kiptyn went with his decision. The waiter nodded and went to put in their orders.

"It's already 7," Sissi said. "When do they do the-?"

"And now, it's time for the waiters and waitresses to do the tribal dance!" a head waiter projected.

"-dance?" Sissi finished.

"I guess that answers that question," Kiptyn said and laughed. Oliver looked over toward the back of the restaurant and watched wide-eyed as the waitresses and waiters got situated and the music came on. They all danced for around five minutes, and by the end, they all looked really tired. As the music was turned off, everyone in the restaurant applauded and then went back to their eating.

"That was interesting," Sissi said and took another sip of her juice. "This place isn't too bad so far. I'm going to go use the restroom before our food comes."

As soon as she was gone, Kiptyn got Oliver's attention. "Hey, what do I do?"

"What do you mean, what do you do? About what?"

"Oh, you know. About Sissi!"

"What about her?" Oliver asked and raised an eyebrow at Kiptyn.

"God, do I have to spell everything out to you. What do I do? Is this a date or what? Should I do something?"

"I don't know. Do you like her?"

Kiptyn scratched the back of his head awkwardly and blushed slightly. "Well, yeah. I mean, I don't know. Well, yes, but I don't know if I should."

"Well, why not?"

"You know!" Kiptyn said exasperatedly. "She's only 14, remember? I don't know if she's too young or whatever. I mean, she's young, but is she too young. Am I taking advantage of her? What if she thinks I'm taking advantage of her? Or, what if she thinks I'm just a friend? Or what if I'm being stupid and going way too fast?"

"Kip, be calm. You never have this much trouble with girls."

"I know, I know, but she's different. You know?"

"Not really."

"Oh, right," he muttered awkwardly, "but, still. You can imagine. I don't think I've ever felt like this before. What do I do? Hold her hand? Is that too childish? Should I kiss her? Ugh, it's too soon for that, isn't it? Well, what if I just invite her to a movie or something? Is that too cliché?"

"Stop worrying," Oliver stated. "Ride the situation out. You'll make the right decision."

"You're right," he said confidently. "I'll think of something."

"Sorry, I took so long," Sissi said as she took her seat. "There was a huge line in the bathroom. So, what'd I miss?"

"Nothing really," Kiptyn said and smiled at her.

-m-

"This rice is really good," Yumi said and took another bite. Aelita was staring down at her plate without really eating anything. That was when Odd and Ulrich quickly came up to their table, slightly out of breath.

"Hey, Yumi. Hey, Aelita," Ulrich started to say. "Sorry we're late."

Aelita looked up at Odd and Ulrich and glared. "Don't say sorry. Show up on time."

"We would have been here on time, it's just that…," Ulrich started, but stopped as he noticed Yumi scowling.

"Don't give excuses. You said you'd be here at 7," Yumi said. "It's 7:30. Now, five minutes isn't too bad, but a half an hour is ridiculous!"

"Yumi, I'm sor-," Ulrich started, but stopped himself. "I'll try to be here on time next time. Odd and I'll just go get some food, and we'll come back and eat with you guys."

"Well," Yumi started, "better late than never."

"No," Aelita said and took a pause. "It's not better late than never. I'm sick of people not showing up for things. I'm sick of people who don't keep promises. You guys can eat, but I'm not hungry anymore. I'll be leaving. I'll see you tomorrow," she said and slid out of the booth. "That is, if you decide to show up on time." She glared once more and walked away out the restaurant.

"Aelita!" Odd called after her, but she kept walking. He had noticed the tears forming in her eyes. He hated it more than anything, and he didn't want it to be a regular occurrence. "I've got to go talk to her," Odd said to the others and then headed out after her.

-m-

"Aelita! Wait!" Odd called after her. She continued walking away as if she hadn't heard him. "Aelita, I'm sorry. I really wanted to show up on time. I really did."

She turned around abruptly. "Then, why didn't you?" Her eyes were filled with tears. She wiped them quickly away. "Huh? Why didn't you?"

"I lost track of time, and I was caught up in the game, and then I had to…"

Tears came flowing out of her eyes. "And all of those things are important to you. I understand. I come second. I get it." She turned away from him so he wouldn't see her cry.

"No, Aelita, it's not that at all," Odd said quietly. He turned her around and tried to pull her into a hug. She shook him off forcefully, and started to walk quickly away. "Aelita, stop. Just wait for me to-."

She cut him off. "That's all I've been doing! I've been waiting for you, Odd. You know what? I'm sick of waiting for everyone!"

"Aelita, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess, I just wasn't thinking at all. I never think. I just, well, I thought I had more time than I did, and then I was late. I don't want to make you wait any longer. We can do whatever you want. Really. We can," he said. She still hadn't turned around.

"Why don't you go eat? Why don't you just leave me again and go back and eat?"

"Because, Aelita, I don't want to leave you again. I'm really sorry, and I didn't want to make you upset. I didn't mean to make you upset." He contemplated turning her around again, but decided against it. "I want to make it up to you."

"Just go eat!"

"I don't want to."

"You always want to eat."

"Not if it means that I'm going to leave you again. You're more important than that. I don't want to make you upset."

"Just leave already," she muttered. "You're going to have to eat sometime."

"Nope. I'm not going to leave you until you forgive me and are happy again. I'm not going to stop to eat or anything," he promised. "I want you to be happy again because I hate to see you cry."

She wiped her eyes and turned around slowly. "You really mean all of that?"

"Yeah. I hate to see you cry, I want you to be happy, and I never meant to hurt you."

She couldn't help but crack a smile. She ran into his arms and wrapped her arms around him. "Thanks, Odd." He kissed the top of her head. "But, don't make this a habit. I don't want to have to wait for everyone to see if they're even going to show up."

"I promise, princess," he said and she smiled and pulled herself into him. "Now, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I don't really want to do anything," she muttered. "I hadn't had anything planned for the rest of the night."

"Well, if you think of something, just tell me," Odd said and pulled out of the hug. "What did you do with Yumi today?"

"Oh, we went ice skating," Aelita said and smiled. "It was really fun, but Yumi wasn't very good." She laughed.

"That sound fun."

"Yeah," she said and smiled again. "I know how much you love ice skating. It was really fun."

"Well, that's good. I'm glad you had a good time today. I guess you must have done fairly well since you're not wet," he said and smiled.

"Yeah, I only fell down once or twice and that was because Yumi dragged me down with her," Aelita said and laughed again. Odd's stomach growled and he quickly wrapped his arms around his stomach to muffle the noise. "You know, you don't have to starve yourself. We can go get something to eat."

"No, it's my fault I was late. I missed dinner," he said and muffled another growl from his stomach. She laughed again.

"Seriously, Odd, we can go get some food. I know that you won't be late again. We can seriously get some food because there's no sense denying the fact that you're hungry."

"We can go wherever you want. I don't care. If you don't want to go eat something, we can go someplace else. If you want to be by yourself, that's fine with me too. We can always hang out tomorrow," he said with a smile.

"Oh, about tomorrow. Can we invite someone else?"

"Yeah sure. Who did you have in mind?"

"Jeremie," she murmured.

"What?" Odd shouted shocked at what she had said. "Jeremie? I thought you were mad at him."

"Well, I was, but I figure that this has gone on long enough, and that we have got to become friends again sometime or other seeing as he's the only one of us that knows how to fully operate the supercomputer."

"Now, you know that you can work that without him."

"Yeah, but still. I don't want to be enemies with Jeremie any longer," she stated firmly.

"Fine, invite him. Call him up."

"You sure you're not upset that I'm inviting him?"

"Yeah," Odd said with a smile. "Whatever makes you happy is fine with me." She gave him a big smile.

"Thanks, Odd," she said and pulled out her phone to call him.

-m-

"So, you see, we would have been here five minutes earlier, if not ten or twenty, if Odd would have left the first time I told him we needed to leave," Ulrich said as he continued to eat.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Odd really doesn't think about time too much. I just hope Aelita's not too mad at him," Yumi said and smiled. "I don't want to have a feud on our hands while we're skiing tomorrow."

"Right, and you're sure I have to go skiing?" Ulrich persisted.

"Yes. You have to go. It'll be fun. I'll be with you the whole time. Nothing bad can happen to you. I promise," she said and took his hand in hers. "You won't be all by yourself."

"Yeah I know. I just hope I don't freak out."

"I'll be right there the whole time," Yumi said and Ulrich's eyebrow twitched as he caught a hint of double meaning in her words.

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