Chapter 5
Back at the 8-ball complex, Bob sat on his couch and stared blankly at the wall. Even then he was still feeling the effects of Matrix' punch. After Matrix had stormed out of the complex Bob came back to his room and found AndrAIa had left. He was in shock. He knew he had to leave his apartment sometime. Someone would come looking for him if he waited much longer, but he still didn't know what to tell anyone. He wasn't sure if Matrix had told anyone yet, and there was no way of knowing until he left. He finally got up off the couch and walked outside of his apartment. It felt somehow wrong to just leave. He felt tense seeing every binome he passing by him in the hall on his way out. Just seeing another living thing after what had happened was awkward. He wanted to be any one of them; their lives were so simple. Their lives were happy and untroubled, unlike what his would be by the end of the day for sure. There were so many people he would have rather been then himself, if only not to face Dot. Just the thought of Dot finding out and then confronting him made him feel terrible
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After Matrix had stormed down the hall of Bob's complex, AndrAIa had hurried down the stairs on the opposite side of the building in tears. She ran out the door and started out for anywhere away from there. After about 5 minutes she found herself far away. She had run to the place where no one would have thought to look, Lost Angles. No one would bother her there. She walked through the streets, seeing all the old abandoned buildings. The whole sector looked dirty and dreadful, even the air was unclean. There was the occasional null that crossed her path, but she didn't seem to pay them any attention. A draft suddenly swept in. AndrAIa grabbed her shoulders and shuddered. It was then she was glad she had grabbed her icon before leaving Bob's complex as she put it on and clicked on it, putting her in a reddish brown leather jacket. She walked around Lost Angles not really caring about where she was going. She didn't know how long it would be before she went back to the city, but it wouldn't be anytime soon. How could she face Matrix? The first reaction he had had was about the worst she could have ever wished for. 'Why did he have to find out like that?' she asked herself as her eyes watered again. It wasn't fair to either of them. Just then, AndrAIa felt odd. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was not in Lost Angles- or was she? She was no longer outside, but inside one of the buildings. "AndrAIa!" a voice exclaimed quite happily from the shadows. AndrAIa sighed. "How nice of you to come and visit me!" the voice said once more as a figure emerged from the shadows.
"Oh, hi Hexadecimal," she said smiling a little at something finally getting her mind off of what happened. Hexadecimal smiled as she floated over to AndrAIa. AndrAIa looked around. The walls were a lighter red then what they used to be. Where Hexadecimal's black chair used to be was now gold and white. AndrAIa was surprised, the room actually looked decent, except for the loss of furniture. "It's nice what you've done with your lair, Hex. Hexadecimal frowned.
"Oh, dear child please don't call it a 'lair'. 'Lair' sounds so… so grotesque. Call it an… 'Abode" she said. AndrAIa gave her a halfhearted smile. Hexadecimal looked at her puzzled. "I don't mean to be rude, but why did you come here? I'm sure that you have better things to do than visit with me. AndrAIa sighed.
"Well, I guess I'm here because I didn't want to be in the city," she replied.
"But why not?" she asked. AndrAIa surely didn't want to tell a virus what she had done, so she tried to make up a story.
"Well the city was very crowded, and I wanted to take a walk where I could think. Seeing as how I've never really seen Lost Angles up close I came over here," she lied. Hex may have been crazy once, but she could still tell when people weren't telling the truth. She shook her head.
"Please tell me why you really came here," Hex asked softly. AndrAIa looked down sadly.
"Well Hex, I… I don't know if I can tell you," she said shamefully. Hex frowned.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Well I'll just say that I did something very bad and that I'm not proud of it," she said gloomily.
"Why did you do it if it was bad?" Hex asked.
"But I didn't mean to! I didn't even know I did it until it was too late," she said wiping away the tears that were building in her eyes.
" It sounds to me like you made a mistake," Hex said to her softly. AndrAIa had not considered that. When she thought about it, it was a mistake.
"But even so, its no excuse!" she said slightly louder.
"We all make mistakes, dear, its part of life. I'm sure you've made them before. Why is this one such a big deal?" she asked AndrAIa hoping she would answer. AndrAIa shook her head.
"You don't understand. This one is a big deal. My mistakes never hurt anybody before. This one has already hurt Enzo, it'll hurt more people too!" she said quickly without thinking. Immediately she regretted it, but Hex didn't seem to flinch when she had said that.
"Don't be ashamed, every couple has hurt each other by accident before for one thing or another," she said encouragingly.
"Not like this they haven't," AndrAIa told her shamefully.
"Maybe if you told me what happened I might be able to help," she offered. AndrAIa shook her head.
"The only way you could help me is if you could turn back time," she said sadly. There was a long pause. Then, Hex spoke.
"What would you do differently if you could turn back time?" Hex asked.
"Well I would have gone home with Enzo last night instead of staying and drinking more and then going home with-" AndrAIa abruptly stopped. She had said too much now, and now Hex knew. She buried her face in her hands.
"I see…" Hex replied with a blank face. She had not expected that.
"But I didn't mean to! I was drunk, and so was-" she caught herself before she made another mistake.
"With who?" she asked curious. AndrAIa shook her head.
"No, I can't tell you," she replied.
"That's what you said when you first arrived here, but you've already told me most of it," she said.
"Well to be honest Hex, I didn't know that you were so understanding at first," AndrAIa said. Hex smiled.
"Well that's because you've only seen the viral part of me before," AndrAIa nodded and smiled a little.
"Hex?" she asked
"Yes? She replied.
"If I tell you, will you promise not to breath a word of this to anyone?" she asked hopped. Hex nodded.
"I promise," she guaranteed AndrAIa. There was a pause before AndrAIa worked up the nerve to say it.
"Bob," she finally said. She looked down sadly. Hexadecimal was indeed shocked. Her mouth had come slightly open. 'Bob?' she thought to herself unbelieving. She was at a loss for words. But she could not be too mad at AndrAIa, after all, hadn't she just encouraged her that it was a mistake? How could she go back on her own advice?
"Matrix found out?" Hex asked. AndrAIa nodded silently.
"He went over to Bob's and he found me there with Bob," she said, her voice cracking. Hex looked at her. She saw how upset she was.
"Have you been able to talk to him yet?" Hex asked. AndrAIa shook her head.
"Not yet, but I want to. I need to tell him how sorry I am. But…" she paused. Hex looked at her, waiting for her to finish. "But…I'm afraid," she finished.
"Of what?" Hex asked.
"Of how he'll react. The first time, he was so pissed off that I couldn't even try to explain to him. I'm afraid he won't take me back," she said.
"If he doesn't then what makes you think he's the right person for you? If he truly loves you then he will forget this," she explained.
"He is the right person for me, I know he is. I love him," she said truthfully.
"Then should have no trouble," Hex smiled. AndrAIa had higher spirits now, she also had the confidence to go and talk to Matrix.
"Thank you, Hex," she told her as she readied herself to leave.
"I only listened," she said.
"Well sometimes that's all that matters," she said as Hexadecimal zapped her back into Lost Angles. AndrAIa headed back for Mainframe.
End of Chapter 5
Back at the 8-ball complex, Bob sat on his couch and stared blankly at the wall. Even then he was still feeling the effects of Matrix' punch. After Matrix had stormed out of the complex Bob came back to his room and found AndrAIa had left. He was in shock. He knew he had to leave his apartment sometime. Someone would come looking for him if he waited much longer, but he still didn't know what to tell anyone. He wasn't sure if Matrix had told anyone yet, and there was no way of knowing until he left. He finally got up off the couch and walked outside of his apartment. It felt somehow wrong to just leave. He felt tense seeing every binome he passing by him in the hall on his way out. Just seeing another living thing after what had happened was awkward. He wanted to be any one of them; their lives were so simple. Their lives were happy and untroubled, unlike what his would be by the end of the day for sure. There were so many people he would have rather been then himself, if only not to face Dot. Just the thought of Dot finding out and then confronting him made him feel terrible
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After Matrix had stormed down the hall of Bob's complex, AndrAIa had hurried down the stairs on the opposite side of the building in tears. She ran out the door and started out for anywhere away from there. After about 5 minutes she found herself far away. She had run to the place where no one would have thought to look, Lost Angles. No one would bother her there. She walked through the streets, seeing all the old abandoned buildings. The whole sector looked dirty and dreadful, even the air was unclean. There was the occasional null that crossed her path, but she didn't seem to pay them any attention. A draft suddenly swept in. AndrAIa grabbed her shoulders and shuddered. It was then she was glad she had grabbed her icon before leaving Bob's complex as she put it on and clicked on it, putting her in a reddish brown leather jacket. She walked around Lost Angles not really caring about where she was going. She didn't know how long it would be before she went back to the city, but it wouldn't be anytime soon. How could she face Matrix? The first reaction he had had was about the worst she could have ever wished for. 'Why did he have to find out like that?' she asked herself as her eyes watered again. It wasn't fair to either of them. Just then, AndrAIa felt odd. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was not in Lost Angles- or was she? She was no longer outside, but inside one of the buildings. "AndrAIa!" a voice exclaimed quite happily from the shadows. AndrAIa sighed. "How nice of you to come and visit me!" the voice said once more as a figure emerged from the shadows.
"Oh, hi Hexadecimal," she said smiling a little at something finally getting her mind off of what happened. Hexadecimal smiled as she floated over to AndrAIa. AndrAIa looked around. The walls were a lighter red then what they used to be. Where Hexadecimal's black chair used to be was now gold and white. AndrAIa was surprised, the room actually looked decent, except for the loss of furniture. "It's nice what you've done with your lair, Hex. Hexadecimal frowned.
"Oh, dear child please don't call it a 'lair'. 'Lair' sounds so… so grotesque. Call it an… 'Abode" she said. AndrAIa gave her a halfhearted smile. Hexadecimal looked at her puzzled. "I don't mean to be rude, but why did you come here? I'm sure that you have better things to do than visit with me. AndrAIa sighed.
"Well, I guess I'm here because I didn't want to be in the city," she replied.
"But why not?" she asked. AndrAIa surely didn't want to tell a virus what she had done, so she tried to make up a story.
"Well the city was very crowded, and I wanted to take a walk where I could think. Seeing as how I've never really seen Lost Angles up close I came over here," she lied. Hex may have been crazy once, but she could still tell when people weren't telling the truth. She shook her head.
"Please tell me why you really came here," Hex asked softly. AndrAIa looked down sadly.
"Well Hex, I… I don't know if I can tell you," she said shamefully. Hex frowned.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Well I'll just say that I did something very bad and that I'm not proud of it," she said gloomily.
"Why did you do it if it was bad?" Hex asked.
"But I didn't mean to! I didn't even know I did it until it was too late," she said wiping away the tears that were building in her eyes.
" It sounds to me like you made a mistake," Hex said to her softly. AndrAIa had not considered that. When she thought about it, it was a mistake.
"But even so, its no excuse!" she said slightly louder.
"We all make mistakes, dear, its part of life. I'm sure you've made them before. Why is this one such a big deal?" she asked AndrAIa hoping she would answer. AndrAIa shook her head.
"You don't understand. This one is a big deal. My mistakes never hurt anybody before. This one has already hurt Enzo, it'll hurt more people too!" she said quickly without thinking. Immediately she regretted it, but Hex didn't seem to flinch when she had said that.
"Don't be ashamed, every couple has hurt each other by accident before for one thing or another," she said encouragingly.
"Not like this they haven't," AndrAIa told her shamefully.
"Maybe if you told me what happened I might be able to help," she offered. AndrAIa shook her head.
"The only way you could help me is if you could turn back time," she said sadly. There was a long pause. Then, Hex spoke.
"What would you do differently if you could turn back time?" Hex asked.
"Well I would have gone home with Enzo last night instead of staying and drinking more and then going home with-" AndrAIa abruptly stopped. She had said too much now, and now Hex knew. She buried her face in her hands.
"I see…" Hex replied with a blank face. She had not expected that.
"But I didn't mean to! I was drunk, and so was-" she caught herself before she made another mistake.
"With who?" she asked curious. AndrAIa shook her head.
"No, I can't tell you," she replied.
"That's what you said when you first arrived here, but you've already told me most of it," she said.
"Well to be honest Hex, I didn't know that you were so understanding at first," AndrAIa said. Hex smiled.
"Well that's because you've only seen the viral part of me before," AndrAIa nodded and smiled a little.
"Hex?" she asked
"Yes? She replied.
"If I tell you, will you promise not to breath a word of this to anyone?" she asked hopped. Hex nodded.
"I promise," she guaranteed AndrAIa. There was a pause before AndrAIa worked up the nerve to say it.
"Bob," she finally said. She looked down sadly. Hexadecimal was indeed shocked. Her mouth had come slightly open. 'Bob?' she thought to herself unbelieving. She was at a loss for words. But she could not be too mad at AndrAIa, after all, hadn't she just encouraged her that it was a mistake? How could she go back on her own advice?
"Matrix found out?" Hex asked. AndrAIa nodded silently.
"He went over to Bob's and he found me there with Bob," she said, her voice cracking. Hex looked at her. She saw how upset she was.
"Have you been able to talk to him yet?" Hex asked. AndrAIa shook her head.
"Not yet, but I want to. I need to tell him how sorry I am. But…" she paused. Hex looked at her, waiting for her to finish. "But…I'm afraid," she finished.
"Of what?" Hex asked.
"Of how he'll react. The first time, he was so pissed off that I couldn't even try to explain to him. I'm afraid he won't take me back," she said.
"If he doesn't then what makes you think he's the right person for you? If he truly loves you then he will forget this," she explained.
"He is the right person for me, I know he is. I love him," she said truthfully.
"Then should have no trouble," Hex smiled. AndrAIa had higher spirits now, she also had the confidence to go and talk to Matrix.
"Thank you, Hex," she told her as she readied herself to leave.
"I only listened," she said.
"Well sometimes that's all that matters," she said as Hexadecimal zapped her back into Lost Angles. AndrAIa headed back for Mainframe.
End of Chapter 5