A shock of red hair and long, pale legs was the first Yumi saw of Aelita Stones. A large handbag at her shoulder, dark sunglasses over her eyes. A black camisole, solely obstructed by a gold necklace with a modest heart shaped pendant, caught the shimmer of fluorescent light as she took deliberate, calculated strides towards them. A boy, blond, tall and dressed inconspicuously, glanced at Aelita with something akin to adoration. Their hands were firmly intertwined, and Aelita was chatting him up with something that must have been funny because a moment later, the boy laughed.

Yumi could have easily confused Aelita for a foreign model and the boy for her consort. It wasn't until Aelita was decidedly walking in their direction that Ulrich said, "Oh, look, it's Aelita."

"Who?"

"Jeremie's with her, I would have expected Odd," Ulrich paused, as if he had unintentionally revealed something private. "I guess he isn't here yet..."

"Ulrich," Aelita promptly gave her handbag to Jeremie and rushed into Ulrich's arms. Her voice was demure but had a slight of salaciousness to it. A moment later her sunglasses were removed, revealing a pair of dark eyes and perfectly shaped eyebrows. Her lips, tinted red, slipped into a smile. "How have -- oh!" She glanced at Yumi and her smile lessened somewhat. "How rude of me," she went on in her bright voice. Then she did something completely unexpected -- she hugged Yumi as if they were separated at birth and had been reunited at long last. Yumi briefly wondered if Aelita was somehow related to the receptionist at the bakery. "I've heard lots about you."

"You have," Yumi managed as Aelita let go. Aelita clapped her hands as if something brilliant had just occurred to her. "Of course," she replied. "Ulrich tells Odd everything and Odd tells the whole world -- oops."

Ulrich was giving Aelita a dark look. Aelita simply laughed and patted Ulrich on the shoulder. "There, there," she said with a mock sympathy. "I'll make sure Odd behaves."

An outstretched hand caught Yumi by surprise, "Hello," it was the boy. "Since Ulrich has failed to be a good host, I suppose I'll have to introduce myself."

"Sorry Jeremie," Ulrich apologized, then turned to Yumi. "This is Jeremie Belpois. He's Aelita's --"

Boyfriend? Obviously.

"--stepbrother. Their parents were married last year."

"Oh," Yumi said gracelessly. The situation seem absurd, when the pair seemed more likely lovers than siblings. And there was no mistaking the way Jeremie looked at Aelita... "Nice to meet you," she finally said when she realized she was being impolite.

"Likewise," Jeremie replied.

"Odd is arriving tonight," Aelita smiled. "He had some arrangements to make before he left."

"Arrangments," Ulrich said in disbelief. "Don't tell me he --"

"Yes," Jeremie said with a sigh. "He broke up with her and stayed behind to send her flowers. Oh, and before I forget," he paused, smirking. "Your parents won't be arriving until the end of the week. The airline database was mysteriously hacked yesterday and their reservations disappeared."

"How tragic," the sarcasm was dripping from Ulrich's voice. Then, curiously enough, he added, "Thanks, Jeremie. I owe you one." Which led Yumi to believe that Jeremie had something to do with the lost reservations. But that was impossible, not to mention illegal.

What kind of people were these?

"I'm really thirsty," Aelita collected her bag and folded her glasses, neatly tucking them in. "Would you guys get us some drinks? I think I saw a vending machine not too long ago."

Yumi knew a polite dismissal when she saw one, and also knew that an interrogation was about to commence. Wisely, Ulrich and Jeremie complied, shuffling away through the crowd. Aelita looped her arm through Yumi's, annihilating any chance of escape.

"So," she said in her characteristically cheerful voice. Yumi was beginning to think it was a facade, much like her own defense mechanism. Except, instead of cheerful, Yumi became cold at best, bitchy at worst. "What's the deal between you and Ulrich?"

God, why are you doing this to me? What have I ever done to deserve this? I mean, I know I cut class in middle school but that was just once! And yes, so I had a boyfriend behind my parents back -- why can't you go after the criminals? The murderers? McDonalds?

"Yumi?"

Realizing she had lapsed into silence, Yumi steeled herself and answered as firmly as possible, "We're friends."

"Well, you need to stop being his friend," Aelita said, all business. "When that bitch arrives this weekend, you're going to need to be prepared. And you can't fight for your boyfriend when he's not your boyfriend."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't usually use such vulgar language," Aelita explained. "But when you meet her, you'll see that calling her anything else wouldn't be doing her justice."

From there, things got a bit strange. It all started when they had all made their way into Ulrich's car and Jeremie had casually asked, "So, Ulrich, how's the recording --"

"Jeremie," Ulrich interrupted him with haste. His voice was slighter louder than Jeremie's, in the way that people often employ when trying to silence someone. "Not yet," he emphasized and from Yumi's vantage point, which was directly diagonal from the driver's seat, he gripped the steering wheel a little too tightly. So tightly, in fact, that his fingertips turned white from the lack of circulation and when he at last let go of the wheel, the indentation of his hands were still there.

There could be no further proof that he was hiding something from her than that. Ulrich had said that there were some things he hadn't told her yet, and yet he had firmly reassured her that he had not lied to her either. It was confusing and frustrating.

After that particular incident, the car ride was relatively pleasant. Aelita sat in the front with Ulrich, pointing out various buildings to Jeremie with unmistakable enthusiasm. Jeremie answered each one of her calls neatly, and the patience and almost inexhaustible desire to please her was blatantly obvious. Yumi tried to rationalize in her head that perhaps it was just a brother/sister complex taken too far. But Jeremie killed that idea flawlessly as he caught Aelita's eyes as she turned back momentarily; it was as if he was gravitating towards her without moving at all, as if his fingers itched to touch her.

Jeremie and Aelita were staying at a local hotel, which was within relative distance of Ulrich's apartment. Aelita spoke less than ten words and Ulrich and Jeremie were already hauling all the luggage into the hotel lobby. Yumi drew the conclusion that Aelita was very handy in handing men. The valet took the luggage from then on and Jeremie bid Ulrich a systematic goodbye. He reinstated what a pleasure it was to meet her, and Yumi blushed as he smiled. Jeremie had a knack for making you feel the center of the world and Yumi could now understand why he and Aelita complemented so well. Aelita's goodbye was a little more dramatic, she hugged both Yumi and Ulrich without restraint, making Ulrich turn blue and Yumi a bit dizzy. Yumi was sure some of her neurons had died when Aelita let go, and it was a few seconds before she could form coherent thought.

As they re-entered the car, Ulrich said; "Thank you."

Yumi didn't turn to him, didn't bother asking what he was thanking her for; for a fleeting moment they were perfectly synchronized, and Yumi could feel his heart as if it was in her chest, feel his gratitude on her lips instead of his, saw the tangled quality of their relationship, saw the destruction of Jeremie and Aelita. And through the fog of jumbled thoughts, one particular thought broke through;

was this how they were? Did Ulrich gravitate to her the way Jeremie did to Aelita? Were they as transparent without taking hands into another, without sacrificing their opinions for the sake of not disagreeing? For a brief, troubling moment, Yumi realized that although their relationship was a direct contrast to that of Jeremie and Aelita, they were the same. It was that same impossibility, that same helplessness, the same optimism.

Was this love? No, Yumi reassured herself. There was no way that she could give herself to someone else when she couldn't get through to herself. This was just a mild infatuation, years and years of loneliness culminating into a desperate clinging. Maybe it was different for Ulrich. Perhaps what he felt was stronger, bigger than what Yumi could imagine. Just thinking of it gave her a headache.

"Ulrich," she felt silly for asking, silly for not having asked. Feeling very far away, and quite possibly annoyed with herself. "How are you happy?" It seemed poorly worded, because it was more complex than that. Instead of being confused, of thinking superficially and two dimensionally, Ulrich risked a glance at her and quickly looked ahead again.

"It's not enough to want to be happy," he said quietly. "You have to do something."

Yumi's voice was very, very careful, "Do what?" She doubted that he was paying attention to driving at this point, idly she wondered if they would get into an accident.

"It depends," Ulrich laughed. He was always laughing, as if there was something universally funny that she couldn't catch. "If you want ice cream, in order to be happy, you go to the store and buy some."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know," Ulrich paused. "It depends on what's making you unhappy."

And suddenly, the fragmented pieces made sense.

Ulrich wasn't the problem, she was. The reason why she didn't want to tear herself away from Ulrich was because whenever she was with him, she was with him. She wasn't trapped inside herself, thinking the same things over, reaching a conclusion to only forget she'd found one in the first place. Ulrich freed herself from the restrictions of her mind, heart. And then the private joke finally made sense. Ulrich had seen it, from the beginning. He saw the fight inside of her, saw that she was pushing people away so she could deal with herself. He'd been wise enough to not attack her emotions because that was were her best defense was, instead, he attacked her from the outside where she was the weakest.

Damn him, Yumi really could love him. He was just biding his time until it happened.

The cold of the glass against her cheek made her feel sleepy, and Yumi for once, didn't fight.

Odd was, well, odd.

Yumi awoke to the noisy shuffling of baggage and slid one eye open. Much to her horror, she found herself eye to eye with a stranger, who stood dangerously close.

"Hi," he said cheerfully. Were all of Ulrich's friends this happy? Or was it all just a lie? "Wow buddy," he was addressing Ulrich now. "You've gotten so boring that the girls falls asleep on you."

"Shut up, Odd," Ulrich commented dryly. Yumi straightened up as best as possible, still groggy. She could only assume that she'd fallen asleep in the car and Ulrich had graciously carried her into the apartment.

"Don't worry," Odd said cheekily. "I can promise I'm much more entertaining than --"

"Odd," Ulrich said warningly. Odd raised his hands in surrender.

"Sorry," he said impishly. "No more hitting on your girlfriend, I promise."

Ulrich glared and Yumi twisted her mouth into disapproval. She hoped Ulrich hadn't been telling his friends that she was his girlfriend after she had blantaly refused the offer twice. "Odd, I already told you that she's not my girlfriend."

Odd snickered, "We'll see how long that'll last."

"You know," Yumi said, slightly annoyed. "I'm still in the room."

"Yeah, I know," Odd returned her tone. "I'm just surprised you're here and not in his bedroom."

"Excuse me?"

This was the second time she'd use the phrase, but this time it was not from misconception. She knew exactly what he was implying.

"Odd!"

"Sorry," Odd repeated, this time at Yumi. "It's just ... Ulrich doesn't take his girlfriends seriously, so neither do I."

Which made Yumi infinitely glad that she had refused the offer for the second time that day. Ulrich's expression was caught in between wanting to stab Odd and apologizing to Yumi.

Standing now, Odd took Yumi's hand in his. "You'll have to forgive me," he said in earnest. "I was stuck next to a three year old on the plane. If listening to Barney sing for eight hours doesn't make you feel sorry for me, remember, I'm a guy. I'm suffering the curse of a Y-chromosome."

Yumi raised an eyebrow.

"And if you're still not in the forgiving mood," Odd continued. "I must resort to drastic measures--"

"Odd, you're not going to get down on your knees and beg for forgiveness, are you?" Ulrich asked, menacingly.

"Nope," Odd grinned. "I was thinking more of like telling Yumi here how beautiful," at this he turned to her and said, "Because you are, you know." He turned to Ulrich again, "And amazing she is. Now if that doesn't work, I might have to beg."

"That's not necessary," Yumi interjected quickly. "I forgive you, really."

"Great," Odd's grin widened. "Because you and are are going to have to become best friends, before say," he made a mock gesture of looking at a nonexistent watch on his wrist. "--this weekend."

How terrifying was this "dreamgirl" anyway? It seemed all of Ulrich's friends were determined to "prepare" her to fight against her. Which, in retrospect, Yumi didn't understand why they were under the impression that she would fight for him at all. If that girl wanted him so bad she could have him.

Something in Yumi's chest tightened which was a clear indicator that she was lying. She ignored it.

"I'm not worried about that girl," Yumi clarified.

"It's not her you should be worried about," Odd explained. "Throw a Gucci purse and she'll fetch it. It's Ulrich's parents you need to be prepared for."

"I'm not afraid of them," Yumi retorted, defiantly.

Odd's grin was still in place, but it was pinched in a way so familiar to Yumi that something in the back of her head whispered precaution.

"You should be."

"Enough," Ulrich said. "Yumi, I'm really sorry about this."

Yumi ignored him and spoke directly to Odd, "How bad?"

"They'll tear you to shreds," he said simply.

"Oh," Yumi said weakly and her mouth felt dry. Was Ulrich really worth all of this trouble?

"Yumi--"

Ulrich looked at her helplessly and Yumi sighed. He was worth the effort. "I hate you," she said to Ulrich, in response to her realization.

"Great," Odd exclaimed. "Now all we have to do is turn that hate into love by this weekend and we'll be set."

They were doomed.

Author's Note : I hope you guys enjoyed the quick/long update because it'll be a while until I'll be updating. The reason why I've been putting a lot of effort into updating quickly is because school starts next week for me and that means I'll be super busy. Now, you'll guys have to tell me -- were you surprised at what I did with Jeremie/Aelita? Was Odd's visit enlightening for you? Are you starting to catch some of Ulrich's dirty little secrets? Be sure to tell me :)