Hey sorry, I know it's been a while since I updated. I am trying.It's hard to get computer time for me right now.

As promised, here is the 16th chapter for An Odd Love, dedicated to Fox Kitsune for her awesome chapter she just posted on A.I. Need You. If you haven't seen it, you need to. Check it out, it's going to be an awesome story.

Now, the next couple of chapters are going to be very interesting. I'm not going to call it OddxAvery fluff, because it really isn't fluffy. But it is centered on them, and will be for a while.It's kind of angsty, but not too bad. I haven't forgot about Herb, all that is going to come later.

Now that I've blabbered on enough to bore anyone to tears, on with the story.

(Odd P.O.V.)

After Ulrich leaves, I find myself once again bored to death. Looking at the clock, it's 7:43. Shrugging my shoulders, I get undressed and crawl into bed. Not much later, I hear Ulrich walk back in.

"Odd-" He begins to say, but stops when he sees the lights are off. I hear his footsteps quietly walk over to my bed, and I feign being asleep. I turn over slowly, showing him that my eyes are closed so he knows I'm asleep. After a second, I feel him gently pull my blanket back over top of me and exit the room. So I open my eyes again and lay there. I can't sleep, I haven't been able to for a while. It's not like I'm an insomniac, it's just that I don't fall asleep as easily as I used to.

After about half an hour or so, someone quietly opens the door again. I quickly shut my eyes again, not wanting to have to face anyone. As the person walks across the room, I realize it's not Ulrich. This person treads much quieter than he does, but they still sit on his bed. As they sit there, I realize they are most likely watching me, so I try to act more asleep. I slow down my breath and limit my body movement.

After about five or ten minutes of this, I begin to wonder who this is. It can't be Ulrich, he's about a subtle as a horse on pavement. And I can't think of any reason for Yumi, or Aelita, or even Jeremie to come see me. I nearly jolt in surprise as I feel their fingers slowly running through my hair, but I hold myself back. I hadn't even heard them walk over. They must be really good at stealth. Their hand is very soft and smooth, it feels very soothing. I really do jolt in surprise as I realize who it must be.

Avery….

She quickly pulls her hand away, probably afraid she had woken me. I just calmly turn a little bit more, facing her more directly, even though my eyes are still tightly closed. After a couple minutes, I feel the back of her fingers brush slightly across my right temple.

What are you doing? What if you get caught in here? Ulrich will never let me live it down if he finds out!

Half of me is enjoying the attention, half of me is wondering why she's in here, and the other half is wanting her to go so she doesn't get caught (A/N: Odd isn't that good at math, just check how many halves there were in that last sentence)

The biggest surprise of all came next. I felt Avery's lips gently connect with mine. No matter how much I wanted to pull her close to me and deepen the kiss, I refused to let myself do it. I couldn't control my eyes though, they snapped open as soon as she made contact. The first thing I saw was, of course, Avery. Her eyes were closed, luckily, so she didn't see me. She had her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she had on a light blue spaghetti-strap shirt. She slowly pulled away, so I had to close my eyes again. She stands up and smoothes out my blanket again. She lightly kisses the top of my head and exits. As soon as the door closes, I sit up in my bed and open my eyes again.

Avery kissed me?

Well, it's not the first time she has…

I remember the time when she came up to me during PE and pulled an Aelita maneuver. She wanted to check something… and she kissed me. Before I could say a thing, she ran off. This is beginning to drive me insane.

Girls confuse me. One minute she's telling me she doesn't love me, the next she's kissing me while I'm asleep. Or while she thinks I am.

This is not something I can figure out on my own. I need some help. From someone who knows about this kind of stuff.

Ulrich? Yah right, he would be as clueless as I am.

Jeremie? Yah Odd, lets go ask the computer nerd about love problems.

Aelita? She knows about girls almost as much as Jeremie does.

Yumi….

I stand up and get dressed again. I open the door quietly and check to see if anyone is out in the halls.

What the hell am I doing? It's like 8:00!

I open the door the rest of the way and walk outside. I figure either Yumi is at her house, or in the park with Ulrich. I jog down the hallway, taking the stairs three at a time, landing with a screeching halt at the bottom. I quickly turn the corner and stop in my tracks. Avery is walking down the hall to her room, only about 15 feet in front of me. She stops and begins to turn around, so I dash back behind the corner. I stay there for a moment, catching my breath. I hear her softly padding towards me, and I prepare to run back upstairs if she came any closer.

"What am I doing? I must be imagining things." I hear her say, probably not five feet from where I am.

"I thought I heard footsteps, saw a flash of purple, and suddenly I think Odd was following me." She laughs quietly to herself.

"Come on Avery, get a grip. You just saw Odd upstairs asleep. He couldn't possibly…." She trails off, and I hear her walking back towards her room. After a couple seconds, I hear a door open and then close.

"Phew. That was too close." I jog down the hall, tiptoeing past Avery's door, and go outside.

(Ulrich P.O.V.)

"Odd-" I say, but stop when I see that the lights are off. Odd is lying on his bed, facing the wall underneath his blanket.

Why would Odd be sleeping now? It's like 7:30!

Odd rolls over, making his blanket shift slightly.

His eyes are closed, he must be asleep. I don't get it, he's barely been sleeping lately but now he goes to sleep before 8:00!

Smiling slightly, I walk over to him and replace his blanket back to its previous position.

Something is fishy here, but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Sleep tight pal. You need it.

I walk outside and quietly close the door behind me. Realizing I now have nothing to do, I wander aimlessly through the halls and eventually end up near Avery's room. By strange coincidence, Avery walks out quietly just as I walk by. She's wearing a light blue spaghetti-strap shirt with dark blue shorts, obviously her night wear.

"Hey Ulrich, what are you doing here?" She asks nervously.

"Nothing, just wandering around. What're you doing?" I ask her.

"Uh… bathroom" She replies quickly, pointing down the hall. "Why aren't you in your room… or something?" She asks, trying to sound casual and failing miserably.

"Odd's in there, he's asleep." I reply, as if it was no big deal.

"I thought you said he wasn't sleeping much anymore."

"Well, I guess he's making up for it now."

"Oh, okay. See you later Ulrich." I smile.

"Okay," Avery turns and walks off. I notice she's not walking back towards her room, but for the stairs. "And Avery?" I add.

"Yah?" She asks, turning around.

"Try not to wake him up. He needs the sleep." Avery stares at me, but I just smile and walk outside.

I'm not going to talk much here, I need to go to bed before my parents kill me. I'm just going to say this is going to be the beginning of a very interesting night. Trust me.

Quote Number (something I can't remember off the top of my head): I can slice through you faster than cheese launched from a trebuche through a hot chain link fence.

Number (whatever comes after the last one): In retrospect, Blue's Clues isn't very educational. It teaches kids to talk to inanimate object because they can and will talk back to you.

One of my favorite quotes: The brightest light casts the darkest shadow.