Title: When a Genius Falls in Love
Chapter 3: Taking Odd's Advice
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Odd looked up as soon as he heard the knock on his door. "Yeah, who is it?" He walked over and opened the door and, to his surprise, Jeremie was standing there, red in the face.
"What's the matter, Einstein?" Odd asked.
Jeremie fiddled with his glasses. "I, uh... need your advice..."
Odd wasn't sure he heard right. Jeremie needed advice from him? "Okay, what can I do for ya?"
"It's about Aelita..."
After explaining to Odd about his feelings for Aelita, Odd could understand the problem. Computer nerds aren't exactly good at expressing their emotions. Or, at least, Jeremie wasn't. "Well, Einstein, there's only one thing you can do. You've got to make your move."
Jeremie blinked. "What do you mean, 'make my move'?"
"Just what I said. If you're not going to tell her how you feel, you're going to have to show her."
"Odd, what are you talking about?" Jeremie had started chewing on his lower lip. How do you show someone how you feel?
"Ask her out. Go to the movies or something."
Jeremie thought about it. "Well, now that you mention it, there's a new sci-fi film out. We could go see it."
"Sci-fi? Are you crazy? Really, Jeremie, you don't know anything about girls. Take her to a romantic movie!"
Jeremie didn't know how to respond to this at all. He couldn't take Aelita to a movie filled with kissing. He doubted Aelita even knew what romance was. After arguing with Odd for about an hour, Jeremie realized he had no choice, although some of Odd's more mature suggestions would simply not do. So, in defeat, Jeremie went to pay Aelita another visit.
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Aelita was happy about going to the movies. She didn't seem to mind going to a romance film, mainly because she didn't really understand the human concept of 'romance.' They arrived at the theater and Jeremie paid for their tickets. They took their seats in one of the middle rows on the left side of the room and set down their drinks and bags of popcorn.
"I've never been to the movies before. What's that big computer screen for?"
Jeremie explained all about movies and projections, glad to have something sensible to talk about. When the movie started, however, this quickly changed.
Within the first twenty minutes of the movie, Jeremie's face seemed to have been permanently stained red. Some of the things happening on the movie screen made him wish he was anywhere but there. And it was even worse that Aelita was sitting beside him. 'Why did I ever listen to Odd? Why did I ever listen to Odd!' his mind chanted frantically, 'This is awful!' He couldn't bring himself to even look at Aelita.
Aelita, however, didn't seem to be affected by it. She was much too entertained by looking back and forth between the projection machine and the movie screen. Having lived in Lyoko, she knew a lot about computers, but she had no idea that humanity had evolved this much. She was fascinated.
Jeremie was physically shaken by the time the movie was over. He reminded himself to break Odd's neck the next time he saw him. Aelita was chatting cheerily about how the light from the projection changed with the movie screen and how she couldn't wait to go to another movie and study the projection process more carefully. Jeremie noted mentally that the next movie they went to together would not be a romance movie.
They returned to Kadic Academy and Aelita finally noticed that Jeremie's face looked like it had been painted crimson. "Are you okay?" she asked, "You look sick."
"I'm not sick," he assured her, "Just a little bit, um..." He paused for a minute, "I'm just a little... embarrassed, that's all."
"Embarrassed? What's that?"
Jeremie thought of how to explain it to her, but decided that he couldn't find the right words to say, so he changed the subject. "Aelita, there's something I really have to tell you..."
Aelita stopped walking. "Okay, what is it?"
'Here we go again...' Jeremie's mind groaned. This was not going to be easy, especially not after seeing that movie. "I, uh... I l-lo... I..."
"Jeremie, what's wrong? You're talking funny."
"I-I..." he tried again, but with no luck. Aelita was getting concerned about him. After a moment of awkward silence, Jeremie decided that he could not tell her right now. So, he backed out, again. "It's n-nothing... nevermind..."
Aelita gave him a concerned look, but she knew he would tell her what was bothering him eventually. Jeremie walked Aelita to her room, and they stood there for a minute, Jeremie gazing at Aelita with a look almost of pain. Not being able to tell her his feelings was killing him. Without even realizing what he was doing, Jeremie leaned toward Aelita and closed his eyes. All he was aware of was the taste of her lips and the bursting feeling in his heart.
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A/N: Next (and probably last) chapter should be up soon. Don't forget to review with your opinions!
