Yumi followed Aelita around most of the day. After her panic attack earlier, Yumi was afraid the littlest thing would set her off. Aelita, on the other hand, was getting annoyed. She need to breathe and Yumi was not helping that.
"Yumi?" Aelita started as the two sat in their usual coffee shop.
"Yeah?" Yumi looked up from her notebook where she was writing in.
"You know I love you and you are one of my best friends, right?"
"Yes," Yumi looked at her confused.
"Then I don't want you to take this the wrong way," Aelita told her. "You are suffocating me."
"Aelita-" Yumi started.
"No. Look, I get it. I scared you this morning but you have to leave me alone, okay?" Aelita interrupted.
"Fine. I'll leave you alone," Yumi sighed. "Your last class gets out at 3:00, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'll pick you up here," Yumi put her notebook in her sling bag and stood up. "I'm just worried about you."
"I know and I really appreciate it," Aelita smiled, assuring her that she wasn't mad.
Yumi nodded, walking out of the coffee shop.
Aelita breathed out a sigh of relief. She loved Yumi more than anything but the girl hasn't let her think. Sure, she freaked out this morning but now that the freaking out was over, she had more time to process it.
She pulled out her cellphone and started texting William.
Hey.
Hey. I think I figured out how to talk to Laura.
Great. How?
I'm going to 'run' into at the coffee shop and ask to join her. What should I ask her?
Don't ask too much. Just act like you want to get to know her.
Got it. I guess I should talk to my girlfriend about this.
Haha probably. Keep us updated, okay?
You got it.
Aelita shook her head at William's text and put her phone back up, getting ready for her next class.
Jeremy paced in front of Vivien as she sat on her bed, staring at him. He yanked on his hair as he paced.
"Jer, is there something you want to talk about? You've been pacing for ten minutes," Vivien finally spoke up.
Jeremy shook his head.
"Jer, you can tell me anything. You trusted me enough to tell me about Lyoko. You can trust me with this," Vivien encouraged.
"No, I can't. I did a bad thing, Viv. And now it's coming back to haunt me. I can't get you involved with this," Jeremy said.
"I'm already involved in this, Jeremy. We recreated Lyoko. And I have a feeling this has to do with Lyoko," Vivien reminded him.
"It does but it's bigger than that," Jeremy said. "I did something on purpose."
"Do this have to do with the memory feature the supercomputer has?"
Jeremy stopped pacing and looked at her.
"I'm right," Vivien smiled. "It is the memory feature. Did you abuse it?"
"Yeah, we all did a one point but this was different," Jeremy said softly. "Vivien, I can't tell you. You're going to hate me."
Vivien stood up, walking towards. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. "I doubt that but you don't have to tell me, yet. But one day, okay?"
Jeremy nodded, putting his arms around her waist. He pulled her towards him, kissing her.
William took a deep breath as he stood outside of the coffee shop, watching Laura in line. She looked kind of cute in brown leggings, brown boots, white sweater, and a brown scarf. William shook his head, reminding himself not to think like that and that he had a girlfriend. A girlfriend who was weirdly cool about him doing this. William sighed one more time and walked inside. He got lucky that no one was behind Laura and put his plan in motion. He dropped his bag and bent down to pick it up, "accidentally" hitting Laura in the back with his bag.
"Ow," She said, turning around.
"I'm so sorry," William apologized.
"You're okay," Laura responded.
"Are you new here? I haven't seen you around here before and this is a very popular coffee shop for uni students," William asked when Laura tried to turn around.
"Yeah, I am. I went to high school here for about a year then my parents and I moved back to America for awhile," Laura answered, smiling slightly.
"America, cool. And you decided to come back?"
"Yeah, I loved it here while I was here."
"What school did you go to here?"
"Kadic."
"Really, so did I!" William said. "That's weird that we never ran into each other."
"Yeah, it is," Laura smiled, making her way up to the counter.
"Hey, I would really like to continue this conversation," William stopped her. "Why don't we get our coffees and find a table?"
"I'd like that," Laura nodded.
After the two placed their orders and got their coffees, William led Laura over to a secluded table with two chairs. He held out a chair for Laura. She smiled, taking a seat.
"So, how did you like Kadic?" William asked, taking a seat across from her.
"Oh, I love it. I loved my time here which is why I wanted to come back here although my parents weren't fond of the idea," Laura laughed.
"France is a beautiful place and our uni is really good," William agreed. "What are you majoring in?"
"Physics," Laura answered. "More specifically quantum physics."
William whistled. "Impressive."
Laura blushed, pushing her hair behind her ears, feeling slightly self-conscious. Most boys felt intimidated of her intelligence. It has caused her many broken hearts. Every time she has tried to get close to a guy and they realized just how smart she was, they ran. She was hoping that going to college in France would be different. "Yeah."
"That's amazing. I wish I could do something like that. Right now, I'm majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Literary Studies."
"Now I find that impressive," Laura responded. "I always loved literature and writing but I was never very good at it."
"I seriously doubt that. You look like you could be good at anything," William winked.
Laura giggled, taking a sip from her coffee, enjoying William's company.
The two sat in the coffee shop for hours talking. It wasn't until the barista came over and told them that the shop was closing that they left. William gave Laura his number. Laura hesitated at first but also gave him her number. William walked her back to her car, promising her to text her.
He sighed, watching her drive off. He pulled out his phone, sending a quick text to Aelita. When he received a response, he headed over to his car and drove to the Hermitage. Aelita greeted him at the door, wearing blue snowflake pajamas pants and a white long sleeve top.
"Hi," She greeted, holding the door open for him. "You said you had news?"
"Yeah, is everyone here?" He asked, coming inside, taking off his coat. He pushed his hair back, getting the snow out of his hair.
"Yeah, they're waiting in the living room," Aelita nodded towards the room. "Do you want some hot chocolate? It's pretty cold out there."
"Hot chocolate sounds good. Thanks, Aelita," William smiled.
Aelita smiled back, going into the kitchen.
William sighed, walking into the living room, preparing for the worst. Odd and Ulrich were arguing over what to watch on TV. Yumi sat curled up on the opposite end of the couch with her laptop in her lap, rolling her eyes at the boys' antics. Jeremy sat in the middle also on his laptop, ignoring the boys.
"Hey," William greeted.
"William, my man, which one is better? Arrow or The Flash?" Odd asked.
"Oh, The Flash hands down," William answered.
Odd grinned, grabbing the remote from Ulrich and changing the channel. He scooted over, motioning for William to take a seat. "I hear you bear news of Laura."
"Sort of," William answered as Aelita came back in.
Aelita handed William the mug of hot chocolate then pulled a blue chair over that she had recently added to the room and sat down. "So what happened?"
The others stopped what they were doing and turned to William, giving them their full attention.
"I ran into her at the coffee shop and we talked until they kicked us out," William told them. "I asked her about her time at Kadic and she didn't mention any of us once."
"Did she recognize you?" Jeremy asked.
William shook his head. "No, nothing she said gave it away."
Aelita sighed in relief. "That's good, right?"
"For now," Jeremy answered. "You have to keep talking to her. Figure out what she knows."
William nodded. "Yeah, no problem. We can figure out what she's doing."
Later that night after William had left, Yumi found herself in Ulrich's room. She threw her pillow across the bed, groaning. Ulrich pulled his shirt on and turned to her.
"Someone's mad and not just at me," He commented.
Yumi glared at him. "I'm still mad at you but it's Aelita."
"Uh oh, what happened?" Ulrich asked, making his way over to the bed and sitting down.
"I was worried about her after her panic attack so I stayed with her most of day, keeping an eye on me. She told me that I was suffocating her! Can you believe that? I was worried about her for fuck's sack!" Yumi yelled, picking up the pillow again and throwing it at him.
Ulrich caught it, placing it in his lap. "Yumi, I get why you are mad but you have to look at Aelita's side of this. She is use to dealing with stuff on her own."
"Well she doesn't have to be alone anymore," Yumi answered, sitting down beside him.
"Maybe you should tell her that."
Yumi messed with the blanket. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Yumi smiled then frowned, realized she was still mad at him. She laid down, pulling the blankets over her. She rolled over, her back facing him.
Ulrich sighed, knowing Yumi wasn't giving up that easy.
The next morning, Yumi woke up earlier than usual. She took her shower then went back to her room to get dressed. She put on a pair of skinny jeans, a plain black shirt, and a red infinitely scarf. She finished her outfit out with a pair of brown boots and a green jacket. She made her way downstairs where Aelita was sitting at the island with a mug in her hands. Aelita was wearing a red skirt with a beige turtleneck sweater and black tights. She completed the look with beige booties.
"Morning," Aelita greeted.
"Morning," Yumi smiled, going to grabbed a mug. "I like your skirt."
"Thanks. I like your scarf. That's very different."
"My mom gave it to me for Christmas. I kinda like it," Yumi answered, pouring her coffee.
"Do you want anything to eat? I can make a couple of Eggs in Clouds," Aelita asked.
"That sounds really good."
"Help me?"
Yumi nodded, going to get the eggs, bacon and cheese out of the fridge. "Aelita?"
"Hmm?"
"You don't have to be alone anymore."
Aelita stopped messing with the spices and looked at her. She reached over, pulling Yumi in for a hug. "I know that." She pulled away from Yumi and placed her hands on her cheeks. "Thank you."
Yumi leaned into her hands, smiling. "Anytime, princess. Come on, let's get to cooking."
Later that day, Yumi sat alone in the coffee shop with her notebook open in front of her. Her feelings from the past month started flowing out of her and onto the pages. She knew she shouldn't be mad at Aelita. Aelita was her best friend. But Ulrich hate her by calling Aelita. She thought she and Ulrich shared something. They helped each other with their nightmares yet he didn't call her. Aelita was just being a good friend by answering his call and helping him. Yumi shouldn't be mad at her. Yet, she was. Not as much as much as Ulrich but she was still a little mad.
Across the coffee shop, William sat at the same table he shared with Laura the night before. His leg juggled nervously as he waited for Laura to show. He had no idea why he agreed to be the one to do this. He knew they had to find out why she was back but why him? William groaned, taking a long sip of his coffee. He had to do this. He had to figure it out. But boy did he wish his girlfriend said no.
He took another long sip of coffee when he saw Laura walk in. He waved her over. It was a good thing she was pretty. She was wearing skinny jeans, a blue bottom down shirt with a black and white sweater over it, and beige suede shoes.
Laura smiled and waved at William. She pointed over to the counter, indicating she was getting coffee. He was cute, she'll give him that but she knew he had something to do with her memory. She couldn't trust that pretty face. She had to think of herself. She couldn't get involved with him. As she waited for her coffee, she smiled over at him. When he smiled back at her, her stomach felt weird. Why? Oh why was he so cute?