"What program are you talking about?" Ulrich scratched his head as he accompanied the blonde, looking over at Odd that sat next to Aelita.
"It's nothing of importance. She should be fine." Jeremie tapped away on the computer, "It was something that Aelita wanted to use for her sleep, and I figured it could be used now."
"Yeah, that's great." Ulrich rubbed his face, "You're not pouring out projects on this thing again, right? We promised never to come in here again."
Jeremie ignored him, jumping out of the chair to crouch in front of Aelita, who held her head like someone knocked it, "Do you recognize me?" Odd and Ulrich let out a surprised expression.
Aelita groaned, her face scrunched up angerly, "Yeah…" she wanted to make a smart remark, but that wouldn't make things better, "That was too much…"
"Sorry, but it means it worked." Jeremie stood up, rubbing his chin while looking around the lab, "I could make some discoveries here…" he mumbled to himself.
"I – I think we had enough time here." Ulrich placed his hand on Jeremie's shoulder, "Let's shut this place down, buddy. It's over." He was noticing Jeremie's behavior when it came to the Supercomputer, and it sometimes made him more uncomfortable than anyone else.
"We have to get ready for our trip soon." Odd helped Aelita up off the ground, then let her stand on her own.
Jeremie wanted to fight it, but they were right. He started to lock the computer up with a firewall, "I can help her with her things."
"Sure, there's not a lot left." Aelita stretched her arms, her back popping, "William already got most of our stuff ready."
"Our?" Jeremie slowly turned around to face her, Ulrich and Odd felt goosebumps on them. They knew what was going on, they just never told him. The boys quietly started to tiptoe to the elevator to avoid the crossfire.
"Yeah, our." Aelita huffed, swinging her arms at her side, "He's coming with us."
"To – To live with you?"
"What's the big deal?"
"The plan was supposed to be JUST you and Odd!" Jeremie threw his hands up, "I'm trying to protect you, Aelita! He's going to screw all that up!"
"Great! Like what? I'm your property?" Aelita glared into his eyes, "William wants to help me start up my DJ career. We're partners now." Her voice started to grow rasped.
"Oh, like you guys are fucking, right?" he raised his tone, "News flash, princess. He'll find another girl as gullible as you!"
Aelita was flabbergasted at his words, knowing that's not what something Jeremie would say. Her eyes watered up but refused to let her tears fall. She gritted her teeth, then raised her hand to slap his face. The smack echoed in the large room. Ulrich and Odd winced and turned away from watching, knowing it wasn't a pretty sight.
There was silence; Jeremie held his cheek in shock, his glasses were crooked. Aelita was shocked herself. She didn't know she had the ability to hit somebody, and shocked it was Jeremie that received it first.
He recollected himself, adjusting his glasses. Trying to say words, but nothing came out. He was more worried to say the wrong thing again. Aelita rubbed her hand that burned, looking down to avoid his eyes.
"I think… I deserved that." Jeremie cleared his throat, looking over to the lift that Odd and Ulrich were at, but they avoided his eyes too. He was the bad guy, "God, Aelita… I'm so sorry…"
"I didn't enjoy hitting you like that," Aelita quietly said, "but I would appreciate it if you didn't budge into my love life."
"Uh… Duly noted." There was that pit in his stomach again, knowing that he fucked up, "We should… get you ready." She walked away before he got an answer out of her. There goes that chance to talk to her alone… and their friendship.
The three waited for Jeremie to shut the Supercomputer back down, not wanting to say their goodbyes to the machine once more. The group carried on through the sewers and began walking through the forest. Odd tried to keep a casual conversation with Ulrich to make the situation less awkward, keeping a distance between them, Jeremie and Aelita. The two walked uneasily.
Aelita held her arm, her feet crushing on old winter leaves. Jeremie kept eyeing her, noticing that she's wanted to say something. He sighed, "Aelita, I can understand that you don't like me right now…"
She cut him off, "Why did you want to save me?" This made him jump.
"What?"
"Me." Aelita looked at him, "When I was stuck on Lyoko. When I had night terrors. When Xana tried killing me. Why save me?"
Jeremie scoffed, adjusting his bag on his back, "I wanted you to be free from Xana, of course. What kind of question-"
She cut him off again, "Every night, you would give me company, so I wasn't alone. Every day, you would hold my hand. Every minute, I thought about you." Her face turned red, hugging her arms, "You cared for me like I was somebody…"
Jeremie placed his hands in his pocket, fidgeting his phone inside. He stared ahead so she wouldn't see his face, "I'm sorry." He said quietly.
Aelita waited more from him than that answer, but he said nothing else. They walked in silence.
"So, this is all it?" Jeremie frowned at the boxes neatly piled in a corner, looking up at Aelita facing away from him, placing last minute belongings from the desk into a pink crate. She didn't answer as she thumbed a portrait of the group; young and preppy. Smiling, she let out a sigh.
"You can ignore me all you want, but you're gonna need help taking these down." he grunted, shuffling some boxes around to decide what was easier to take first. He looked inside in one, finding DVDs of mediocre movies and overpriced music. Jeremie adjusted his glasses as he straightened himself.
"William could have taken these down..." he mumbled to himself, wanting to kick himself for offering to help so badly. There was no reason to pour salt onto the would from how their afternoon went. Looking back at Aelita, she continues to shift her belongings in the crate. There was a bite in the air, like an overbearing silence. Jeremie wants nothing more but to break it.
Shuffling more boxes, he found stationary items, Christmas cards, and Mr. Puck at the bottom. He blinked, using his index finger to turn its grubby head, only to sag back over, "You still have Mr. Puck?" he asked lowly to himself, but hush in the room broke and Aelita perked up.
"Who?"
Jeremie jumped from away from his thoughts, looking back at her staring at him, "Oh, uh... Mr. Puck? I'm surprise it's in one piece still." Jeremie chuckled awkwardly.
"What are you...?" her eyebrow creased as she watched him pull the doll out, waving her hand nonchalantly, "I got it at a fair, I think."
"Aelita..." Jeremie almost laughed, thinking she was really joking, "You got this from your dad."
She frowned, like she was trying to think, "I don't know- Why are you messing with my stuff?" her voice growled, crossing her arms. Jeremie immediately dropped the doll back in the box and raised his hands up.
"My bad, sorry." both his hand adjusted his glasses, keeping his hands busy other than keeping them still. "Memories, that's all."
Aelita bit her lip, tapping her finger on her arm. Her posture began to look uncomfortable, shifting her feet, "Gonna miss this, huh?"
Jeremie stared at her, confused from her sudden move of emotion. Miss what? Moments with each other? The way they would bicker over the last croissant during lunch? The understanding presence of studying together? The feeling of her hands on his? The unbearable nights of being alone, struck with love? He took the urge to not answer with his thoughts. It punches his gut not to.
"Miss the group?" he lied, wanting to so desperately answer the obvious painstaking truth, "We'll all be in contact. It will keep our sanity. I wouldn't leave you on your own like that." Jeremie closed the boxes he left open, pushing them back in the corner with his foot. He kept his gaze low from her, his cheeks heating up.
Aelita sighed, "Yeah, sure... That." her arms dropped as she glance out the window over her empty desk, "This was my home. Why can't I stay here?"
"It's a school." that question made him laugh, remembering she still had so much more to learn, "You don't want to be like a certain gym teacher."
She didn't laugh, turning her head to him. Upset that he didn't catch what she meant, he stopped laughing, "What?"
"Why can't you come with me?"
Jeremie rubbed his face as his glasses lifted, almost wanting to drop the conversation. Like that, he didn't answer right away. It wasn't obvious? You're probably dating a retro wannabe, right? But that was the same question that kept him up at night, running over every possibility to be with her. He wanted to live with her, show her amazing sights in North America, learn new taste like pot roast or Chicago-style pizza. Aelita waited for him with her emerald eyes glued to him, spiking his anxiety.
"I have to stay here to ensure that the supercomputer stays shut down, and I can't risk you being here if any government wants to connect the pieces together. You're technically still family to Odd." Jeremie sighed, keeping his face carefully composed, "How many times should I explain this?"
Asking the same question and getting the same answer, it brings a toll over somebody. It gets tiring, smothering out many of the jagged edges in their relationship, only to be within a confusing line of communication. Aelita pushed herself off the desk and stepped towards him, making his hairs stand on end. Watching her like a hawk, expecting her to explode into anger about deciding her future.
Instead, she hesitantly raised her arms around his torso while watching for his reaction. Then closing the space between him, laying her forehead on his chest. Jeremie wasn't understanding her behavior today, trying to keep his gaze away that would encourage being embarrassed. The stillness beckoning upon them as he begs silently for something to make a noise. Jeremie kept his arms to his side to avoid making any wrong moves, wishing he had his inhaler.
"You can hug me back you know." she said plainly under him, unimpressed by his lack of movement.
"Oh, y-yeah. Sure..." his voice quivered, extending his arms around her instantly from her approval.
They stood for what felt like eternity. Time stopped in favor for him.
Aelita gazed up at him, and their eyes locked. Jeremie felt like a jolt of lightning had struck into the empty dorm room to smack into the top of his head, chest tight and breathless. Staring, remembering every detail of her face, her hair, her lips...
This is getting out of hand.
It wasn't so hard for him to contain himself, but the way her lips parted made his face flush with red. He almost wanted to run, or to run his lips across hers. It was a dilemma.
"Aelita... uh... Are you w-well?" Jeremie stammered, almost wanting to smack his head for such a regrettable response.
Aelita laughed softly, shaking her head, "Yes, just... ruminating on our luck."
"Right..." he responded with a shaky laugh. What on Earth is going on? As if she totally forgot to be mad at him. Yet this behavior was not foreign to them, like they were the only two in the world. This is nothing like he rehearsed in his head for the last day of school. But he would be lying if he didn't imagine kissing her either. She took her thumb and brushed it along his bottom lip, smirking.
"You're trembling."
Electricity went down his spine, his legs feeling like champagne. The urge almost broke when he thought about leaning forward and kissing the damn woman, confusing as she is.
"Aelita, Yumi is-" Ulrich let himself into her room with a candy bar in his hand, panning the room only to immediately stare straight at the two einsteins entangled together, "...here... Oh boy."
They both pushed each other off, not taking their eyes off Ulrich's unwelcoming entrance. Jeremie had a hand on his face, covering his flushed cheeks and Aelita just looked dazed. She perked up with a nervous laugh to break the silence, "Oh, she's here! Let's not make her wait, shall we?" she waited for an answer from either of the boys. Acknowledging the beating silence, she agreed with herself to walk out the door, passing Ulrich without looking him in the eyes.
Ulrich watched her pass with his mouth opened, then stared at Jeremie as he started to pass him too, "Oh my god-" he mouthed at him.
Jeremie pointed a finger at Ulrich's chest frantically, "Don't you dare say a damn word." he whispered loudly; his face covered in red.