Late August
Living with Frustration
The following Saturday morning Yumi woke up exhausted from sleeping poorly from the last few days. She sent a message to Sissi.
'Want to just get breakfast this morning?'
A few minutes later she got a response.
'Sure. Not feeling up to sparring?'
'Nope'
The two girls made arrangements and met up at a cafe down the road. They were seated by the hostess and put in their drink orders: coffee for Yumi and just water for Sissi.
"Rough night?" Sissi asked and Yumi groaned.
"Rough nights... plural," Yumi replied making Sissi giggle. Gesturing to the Sissi's water she asked, "I take it you already had your caffeine fix."
"Yep. I had just hung up with Odd when you messaged me." Sissi paused. "Have you talked to Ulrich since... well... you know."
"Yeah, a couple times." Sissi looked a Yumi skeptically.
"Did you really talk to him?" Yumi groaned sleepily.
"He didn't bring up either Anya or Xavier, and I didn't really want to either." Sissi sighed shaking her head.
"If you're not going to tell him how you feel, you should at least tell him you broke up with Xavier." While she knew her friend could be pretty pushy, it seemed to Yumi that Sissi was being more than usual today and it was getting annoying.
"I will... eventually. Can we talk about something else? Like how is Odd doing?" Yumi asked, deflecting the conversation. Sissi shook her head in frustration, but obliged anyway.
"Odd's doing well, and just as happy about finals being over as we are!" The French woman's frustration was replaced by happiness at the change of subject and the two spent the rest of breakfast talking about other things.
After eating the two went their respective homes. For the first time ever Yumi wished that she was back in class. At least that way she'd have something to occupy her mind instead of having hours of free time to herself and her thoughts. She considered calling Ulrich, but being Saturday she figured that he might be out with Anya. Being turned down by Ulrich because of that was something she didn't want to be forced into, so she chose it instead... if for no other reason than to have the illusion of choice...
After lunch she just couldn't take anymore of the bored frustration, so she headed up to Hiroki's room and knocked on his door.
"Come In," he called our from inside.
"Hey." Yumi greeted after walking into her brother's room. He was laying on his bed, reading a book that she didn't recognize.
"Hi Yumi, what's up?" He said dimly.
She opened her mouth just before remembering that the last time they spoke she yelled at him. She frowned apologetically.
"Umm... about the other day..." he put his book down and sat up.
"I'm sorry," they said in unison and both laughed. After a few seconds Hiroki started talking first.
"I was out of line, and..."
"And you were right about everything," Yumi interrupted. Hiroki just sat with his mouth open for a second. "I was just too stubborn to admit it, just like you said." He closed his mouth and smiled.
"So when are you going to tell him?" Yumi frowned and hesitated before answering.
"He started seeing someone else not too long ago." Hiroki inhaled deeply and held it for a second before letting it go. He stood up, walked over to his sister and hugged her tightly.
"I'm sorry, Yumi."
"Yeah, me too." After a minute they pulled away. "It's been driving my crazy and I need to get my mind off of it. Would you like to do something? Just the two of us?"
"Sure, like what?" He laughed.
"Want to watch a movie?" He stopped laughing and looked at his sister with a thoughtful expression. He was clearly going to try to bargain, but Yumi found herself unexpectedly looking forward to the challenge of haggling! He suddenly grinned again.
"Ok, but I get to pick which one!" He offered.
"Hmm..." Yumi pretended to stop and think for a minute, though she already knew her counter offer. She sprouted he own wide grin. "Alright, but I get veto rights!"
Widening his grin, her brother cried out, "deal!" Hiroki sprung off his bed and rushed past his sister toward the front room with Yumi giving chase like they were a couple of little kids! Now that she had some distraction, and no longer felt bad about her fight with her brother, Yumi definitely felt better than earlier. Hiroki picked a movie that both of them liked, and they settled in. When it was done, They picked out another one with the same deal they had earlier, but with Yumi choosing the movie and Hiroki having veto rights this time.
After that movie ended it was almost time to eat, but Hiroki left to go out on a date with Milly leaving Yumi alone with just her parents. Dinner was tense and quiet with Yumi wondering whether or not her mom told her dad about everything. By the time everyone was done eating, the silence had started driving her crazy again!
"I'm going for a walk." She told her parents after putting her dishes in the sink.
"Ok sweetie, see you when you get home." Her mother replied.
Being Autumn, the shorter days had just started becoming noticeable and the sun was at that point where while it had already set, there was still enough light to see. It wasn't going to stay that way for long. Reaching the end of the driveway Yumi decided to walk by the factory for old time's sake. As she was approaching the bridge she saw the silhouette of a person with a hood up slowly walking towards the massive entrance that she'd rushed through so many times in the past. Yumi felt her heart race and she picked up the pace to try to... well, she wasn't sure yet but she knew that she had to make sure that this person didn't find the computer lab!
Slowing to a quiet walk she crept in the door and peered into the darkness to try to find the trespasser. He, or she, was next to the edge of the catwalk looking at where the cables that Yumi used to slide down were hanging. Creeping as quickly as she could manage whilst still keeping quiet, Yumi managed to sneak up behind the figure before whoever it was moved again.
"Who are you, and why are you here?" Yumi demanded while dropping into a combat stance. The figure turned around slowly."
"Yumi?" A familiar voice called out from under the hood, which was promptly removed. Yumi dropped out of her combat stance in surprised recognition.
"William!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" He squirmed uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Uhh... I just kinda... umm... needed to come back here." Yumi looked his way in confusion and saw that while he was facing her, his eyes were shut.
"What do you mean?"
"It's sort of an exposure therapy... or something like that. Aelita suggested I try this and I thought it was a good idea..."
"Wait! You've been talking to Aelita?" Yumi interrupted. "Does Jeremy know?"
"Yes, he does. I've talked to him a couple times too." Yumi rubbed her temples for a minute.
"Ok, I'm confused."
"Maybe I should start at the beginning..."
As the two of them made their way down to the computer lab, William told Yumi about his nightmares, insomnia, visions, his chance meeting with Jeremy and Aelita when they were in England, and their offer to keep in touch to help him.
"I had no idea." Yumi said when he was done. The two of them were in the control room; she was in the computer chair, and he was sitting on the ledge of the holosphere.
"Yeah, originally I thought I'd be able to just bury everything and move on if I stayed away from you guys, but isolating myself ended being a pretty bad idea. Talking to Aelita has been a tremendous help. She's an incredible woman." He smiled wistfully.
"Hey, don't go getting any ideas, she's only ever wanted Jeremy!" The Japanese woman joked with a laugh, which the dark haired man returned.
"I wouldn't dream of it!" Their laughter quieted down. "Jeremy's a lucky man though."
"That, he is!" She agreed. The two of them sat quietly for a minute, Yumi slowly spinning the chair idly back and forth.
"About a month ago I was able to sleep all the way through the night for the first time in years." Yumi grinned at his good news. "For the longest time I was a complete loner... no one wanted to hang out with the guy that looked like an addict, not even the addicts because I wasn't actually one of them!" Yumi's grin faded. "But I've been able to start having a social life lately." Her grin started to come back. "And there's someone I've been getting pretty close to in particular... her name is Lily..." Yumi's smile fully returned at seeing the warmth in his face. "I think she likes me..." he said softly before looking back up. He avoided looking at Yumi, but she stared at him, amazed at how different he was from when they first met.
"You've really changed. You used to always say that love made you insane."
"Yeah... but I've been living with the price of recklessness for long enough to have learned my lesson. I'm going to take this nice and slow." Yumi really felt bad for everything he went through, but was pleased that his life was finally starting to look up. "So Ulrich really never told you why I wanted to stay away from you guys?" Yumi winced and looked away.
"No... he knew?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah, I asked him to keep it to himself, but I'm surprised that he never told you. It was what convinced him that I was sincere when I told him that he should ask you out." Yumi's thoughts flashed back to when she witnessed that conversation and she blinked back a few tears.
"I did know that you gave him the push he needed. I never got to thank you for that..." Yumi sniffed. "Those years were wonderful," she whispered.
"Jeremy and Aelita told me that you two broke up... it sounds like you wish you didn't." Yumi blinked back more tears.
"Yeah... I did it because he never seemed to have time for me anymore, but then we started talking a couple months later, as friends,and he... made sure to make time for me as much as he could." Yumi sniffed again. "I should have just talked to him... told him how much I needed to reconnect with him. I was just too dumb to think about it like that at the time and instead I just broke it off."
"Then maybe you should tell him that."
"Yeah... maybe," Yumi whispered.
William suddenly stood up, startling Yumi. "Well, I think I've gotten all the therapy that I'm going to get from here, besides I've got to take off soon if I'm going to make my bus!" Yumi didn't feel like staying in the lab any longer either, so she followed him to the elevator. Neither one of them spoke until they were at the entrance.
"It was great seeing you again, and while I'm sorry to hear about how you've been since high school, I'm glad that things are finally starting to look up," said Yumi.
"Thanks, it was good talking to you too." William turned to face Yumi with his eyes shut.
"You know, the Lyoko Warriors' reunion is two weekends from now, you should come by if you get the chance."
"I appreaciate the offer, but I think I'm going to decline. I don't think I'm ready to handle being around everyone yet."
"Alright, that's understandable. Bye, and good luck with Lily," she said with a smile.
"Again, thanks. Good luck with Ulrich!" Yumi winced slightly, but William didn't notice due to his closed eyes. "Bye, Yumi."
Yumi surprised William with a hug, but then they both went their separate ways. On the way home, she hoped that she'd have better luck sleeping that night than she'd been having lately.
A:N/ Yumi's definitely making herself miserable. I wonder how much longer she can keep this up!?
