Call to Action: Chapter 4.
Aelita closed the door behind her as her and Kale exited the house and followed him into the street. She shivered and put her arms around herself, regretting not remembering to grab her coat on the way out. Stopping and turning, ready to go back in to get her coat, she heard a car door opening behind her and not long after, felt a warm weight on her. Looking down, she noticed sleeves and a hood draping over her. Grabbing it and pulling it around to her front, she looked up and down at the coat that had be thrown over her. Turning in her spot, she watched as Kale climbed into the driver's seat of his car. Putting her arms through the sleeves which she mentally noted was fluffy, she zipped up the front and walked to the passenger's side and climbed in.
"Thanks for the coat." Aelita smiled, pushing the hood closer to her face to warm herself up faster. Kale looked at her and nodded, reaching back for his seatbelt and strapping himself in which Aelita realized she hadn't done, quickly following suit. As Kale put his keys in the ignition, he stopped and looked down and began patting at his pockets.
"Damn it." Kale stated, scratching his ear.
"What's wrong?" Aelita asked, watching him check the side compartments of his car.
"My wallet, I must have left it in work." he responded, absent mindedly rubbing the scar on the bridge of his nose.
"Do you work far from here? We could go get it?" Aelita proposed, curious where someone as serious as him worked. Kale looked deep in thought for a second before looking over at her.
"We'll go but you've got to stay in the car." Kale stated, looking Aelita in the eyes properly for the first time. She froze up when he did this, something about his gaze startling her.
"What? Why?" Aelita questioned but found herself waiting for an answer as he started the car as they began down the road.
"It's not somewhere you'd feel comfortable." he finally responded as they approached a red light, slowly coming to a stop. Something about how he said it annoyed Aelita which in turn, inspired her to be braver than usual.
"How do you know what makes me uncomfortable?" she shot, looking out the window and folding her arms in a huff. Kale looked at her out of the side of his eyes, raising an eyebrow.
"I never said I did, just that it's somewh-" Kale started but was cut off when Aelita whipped her head around to look at him.
"Oh, come on! It can't be that bad!" Aelita teased while she grinned but then felt herself mentally stop. What was she doing? Taunting and teasing someone she just met? At first, she considered the half a can of alcohol she had was affecting her but then she realized, something about him got under her skin, not necessarily in a bad way, in a way that made her want to rise up and challenge him.
Kale looked at her and raised an eyebrow before sighing, rubbing his scar again which Aelita noticed was something he had a habit of doing while he was thinking.
"Fine," he said with a shrug, "Just don't wonder too far from me when we get there."
Back in the house. (Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, Goss & Hugh.)
"So how did you all meet anyway?" Odd asked, finishing the can in his hand and setting it down on the table. Goss leaned back and folded his hands behind his head and smiled.
"We met when we were younger," he started, "Hugh and I knew each other since we were very young, maybe 5 or 6." he explained, gesturing with one hand towards Hugh before putting it back behind his head.
"Then one day, Kale and his sister Lucy, transferred to our school," Hugh explained further, folding his legs underneath himself, "From the get go, Lucy was very friendly and outgoing. Kale on the other hand, even as a child, was cold and distant."
"I didn't know he had a sister?" Yumi asked, never have hearing her mentioned or seeing her in the few times she had visited the house.
"Yeah, he works with her. She's a year older than him though and acts like his mother." Goss laughed, earning a chuckle from Hugh.
"So, he has two moms then?" Ulrich laughed, taking another sip from his almost empty can.
"Umm, not really." Goss sighed, earning a confused look from Odd, Yumi and Ulrich. Knowing he probably said too much to back out, Goss kept going. "The thing about that is-"
"He's adopted." Hugh interjected, bringing the attention to him.
"Subtle." Goss sighed but letting Hugh keep telling the story.
"Lucy and her family aren't from France originally and neither is he," Hugh explained, noticing Odd and Ulrich leaning in closer, "Lucy and her parents are Korean, Kale is Irish. Their family was visiting Ireland years and years ago and Lucy met him one day while playing in the park, they spent the whole day hanging out and when her parents suggested he return home since his parents might be worried, he straight up told them he didn't have parents, or to be more accurate, his parents abandoned him."
"Jesus..." Ulrich muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, he's always been really blunt about things, he could do with a lesson in sugarcoating!" Goss laughed, finally finishing his can and putting it down on the table beside Odds' empty can.
"This is just what we've been told from Lucy and her parents, Kale doesn't talk about his past or anything and if he does, it's super selective." Hugh sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"So, Lucy and her parents live in France, then?" Yumi asked, wanting to shift away from the main topic which she felt was bringing the mood down.
"Lucy does, her parents moved back to Korea recently," Goss stated, looking at the empty can on the desk, "She stayed here to keep an eye on him, but she won't admit it to him."
"So, what's she like?" Odd asked, shifting the way he was sitting.
"Lucy?" Goss asked, rubbing his chin, "She's very pretty, super easy-going, bubbly and just generally nice to be around."
"Oooh, sounds like someone has a crush!" Yumi teased, earning a laugh from Hugh, whose laugh seemed a bit more than what was deserved. "What, what's so funny?"
"Well... You see," Goss started, rubbing the back of his neck while laughing, "Let's just say, Lucy and other girls don't really interest me."
Yumi, Ulrich and Odd all looked at each other in confusion. They weren't sure if he was joking or making a reference so they sat in silence until Hugh spoke up through his laughter.
"Goss is gay!" Hugh smiled, looking at the confused trio slowly understand and watched as their eyes lit up.
"Oh, that's great!" Ulrich smiled, nodding his head in understanding.
"Yeah, it's not something I ever try hide but it's not something I like to just spout into conversation!" Goss smiled, relieved that it was so casually brought up.
"What about you, Hugh?" Odd asked, earning wide open stares from Ulrich and Yumi at his brashness. The question brought Goss to laughter, since it was so openly and freely asked, even Hugh found himself laughing.
"Me?" Hugh said, rubbing his eyes from the laughter, "I'm uhh, not really interested in relationships or sex in general." he shrugged while explaining. The others nodded, not really sure how to respond.
"In case you're wondering if we're all 'weird'" Goss grinned, raising two fingers on either hand and doing air quotes when he said 'weird', "Kale is bisexual."
"Ohh, okay." Yumi said, rubbing her chin with a nod.
"What about you guys?" Goss asked, leaning back in his seat once again.
"Straight." Ulrich stated first, followed by Odd. Finally, they turned to Yumi and raised their eyebrows.
"I think straight but also, some girls are cute." Yumi mumbled, earning a laugh and a nod from everyone. They weren't sure if it was the alcohol or just that they were very comfortable around each other, but it felt like topics of conversation of the more serious kind were very easy to be talked about in this group, something they were all silently thankful for. As time passed, they shifted their attention from random conversation topics to wonder what was taking Kale and Aelita so long. Deciding it was best to check in, Goss took his phone from his pocked and dialed Kales' number and was surprised when Aelita answered.
"Hello?" she spoke over the phone, which had been heard by all since Goss had put his phone on loud speaker.
"Aelita? Where's Kale?" Goss asked, his eyes locking with the others before looking back on the phone.
"I'm here, I'm driving. What's wrong?" Kale's voice sounded. Goss let out a relieved sigh and shot a thumbs up.
"You guys are taking a while, are you almost back yet?" Goss questioned, placing his phone on the table so the others could hear better.
"It's only been 10 minutes." Aelita stated, looking at the clock on the dash of the car.
"I left my wallet at work so I have to go get it, we just pulled up outside." Kale explained, they heard the sound of the engine switch off. Goss and Hugh froze up when they heard this.
"Wh- You can't take Aelita there!" Goss almost shouted, causing the others to jump.
"I know, I tried telling her that." Kales voiced sounded, followed by the sound of seatbelts being unbuckled.
"And as I told you, I'm good!" Aelita retorted. Hugh smirked to himself as he could mentally picture Kale shrugging in response.
"Right, wait there. We're coming." Goss said, standing up and grabbing his phone.
"There's no nee-" Kale started but Goss cut him off.
"If anything happens, I'm going to kill you." Goss sighed, hanging up the phone and putting it in his pocket before turning to the group, "Get your coats, we're going over." Goss stated before walking out of the room.
Standing up and putting on their coats, the others stood in the kitchen and waited on Goss to return.
"So, what's the problem with his job?" Odd asked, his curiosity peaked ever since Goss shouted.
"He works in a nightclub that normally has a less than favorable crowd." Hugh said, buttoning up the last part of his coat. "Well, to be more exact, he's co-manager."
"Co-manager?!" Odd spluttered, wondering how someone his age was co-manager of a nightclub of all things.
"Him and a guy name Ren Corrigan are co-managers, Rens father owns the place." Goss said, returning to the room and zipping up his coat.
"How did he end up co-managing a family business?" Ulrich asked, noticing the frantic look on Goss's face.
"I'll explain that later, we have to get over there now. The crowd there are for lack of better word, assholes and scum. It's always rowdy there and I don't want Aelita, who we just met, caught up in that." Goss explained as he led the others to the door. Once they were out on the street, Goss locked the door, sliding the key into his pocket.
"We can't drive so we have to walk, it's about 20 minutes away on foot." Hugh explained, leaning down to tie a lace that had come undone.
"We're running." Goss stated, verbally putting his foot down. With a nod exchanged around the group, they took off down the road after Goss.
With Aelita and Kale.
After locking the car, Kale started towards the building on the other side of the street, Aelita a few steps behind him. She looked up at the building they were approaching which was rather big and had two stories, once her eyes wondered down, she began to hear the sound of voices and only just noticed the line of people standing outside and then a rather large man standing in front of the door. Once they approached the door, the Bouncer started talking without even looking up.
"Back of the line." he said, lazily looking over the clipboard in his hand. Kale stood in front of him and looked down at him. The Bouncer finally looked up and shot up out of his seat.
"Kale, go ahead in!" he said, stepping aside and gesturing in. Kale nodded and began walking in but stopped when the Bouncer moved back in to step in front of Aelita.
"Sorry, back of the li-" he said again but was cut off when Kale took put his hand on his shoulder, nodding at this, the Bouncer let her past ad they made their way up the steps just in the door.
Once they entered, Aelita felt as if the floor was... pulsing? After a few seconds, she realized it must have been the music blasting further in. The further in they walked, the louder the music got until they turned a corner and came to a set of doors.
"Stick by me." Kale simply said, pushing the doors open and revealing the main room of the building.
The music poured out of the doors like a wave and hit Aelita like a truck. Her ears instantly began vibrating the as the music blasted. Walking in, she stayed right behind Kale, reaching out to grab the back of his coat to not get separated before deciding against it and lower her arm. They walked around the outer ring of the dancing, mindless crowd as Aelita took in the sights of the place. There were speakers in all corners and in various places above her. The crowd was huge and were jumping in sync as the music played, around the dance floor was tables scattered which were filled with people drinking and laughing. On one side of the room, there was what Aelita assumed were exclusive areas as they were separated by ropes and had table and chairs. On the opposite side was the stage which screens and a DJ, reminding her of her past with the Sub-Digitals which brought a smile to her face. She eyes then wandered up from the stage and she then noticed a big glass window which was too high for her to see in but she assumed that was where the office was. Bringing her attention back, she looked in front of her to find Kale but was quickly stopped in her tracks when she realized she had lost sight of him?
"Kale?" Aelita said, her voice being over powered by the excessively loud music. She instantly began to feel scared and alone. She looked over her shoulders to try spot him but when she couldn't, she began to panic.
"KALE?" she shouted this time, her voice just about drowned out again by the music. Looking up at the window, since she figured that was the office, she decided to make her way over there but was quickly stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Hoping it was Kale, she instantly turned but found herself face to face with a stranger who from the looks of it, was incredibly drunk.
"Hey babe, what're you doin here all al-alone?" the man hiccupped, getting so close that Aelita could smell the alcohol radiating off of him, something that made her want to throw up.
"I... Ow." Aelita cried out, the man's grip getting stronger on her shoulder, causing her to yelp.
"You should come have a drink with me! I'll take good car-"
The man didn't get to finish his sentence before Aelita watched a hand grab the man by the neck and shove him off of her, knocking him to the ground. Stumbling back, Aelita bumped into someone. Turning and looking up, she saw Kale in front of her which filled her with relief but she instantly noticed something was off when his eyes didn't stray from the guy who was currently staggering back to his feet.
"You son of a bitch!" the drunk man screamed, barely audible over the music before throwing himself at Kale and Aelita. Kale managed to move Aelita out of the way but she watched as the drunk man's fist connected with Kale's face. Kale staggered back but stayed on his feet, looking at the man and then to Aelita, he gestured her to follow him.
"Let's go." he simply said, using his hand to rub his cheek before leading Aelita away from the man.
Finally arriving at the door, Kale opened it and gestured Aelita inside and was about to follow her in but stopped to look back at the drunk man, who stood staring at him. The man took one look at Kale and turned and walked away. Anyone who had of looked at him at the moment would have seen the one emotion Kale was possible of showing.
Sheer anger.
His gaze burned a hole in the back of the man's head as he committed the man's face to memory. Turning and following Aelita in the door, he closed it behind him and Aelita noticed the sound of music seemed to instantly fade away.
"This area is soundproofed." Kale said, looking at the confused look on Aelita's face. She nodded before snapping back to reality and looking at him. She noticed the mark on his face that was beginning to bruise and reached out to touch it before Kale stopped her with a wave of his hand, "It's fine, don't."
"Don't what? I want to make sure it's not going to bruise too badly." Aelita said, trying again to touch his cheek but this time, his hand grabbed her wrist.
"Don't touch me, please." he whispered, letting go of her wrist. Aelita felt stunned, even if she had just met him, the way he spoke felt so out of character and set Aelita on alert.
"Come on." he said, walking up the stairs past him. Looking at her wrist and then up after him, she followed him up the stairs until she found herself in the office overlooking the main room. She instantly noticed there was 3 other people in the room.
One guy and two girls.
One of which, turned when the door opened and was about to greet Kale when her eyes fell on Aelita and her face turned to one of disgust.
"What is SHE doing here?"
Sorry for the delay on this one! I actually got distracted over the week catching up on the AoT Manga for the finale so I had to rush to get this out! I'll see you guys over the next few days with the next part! Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys soon!