Because Dandelions Are Pretty

The girls' saber competition was over. The U.S. won two out of the three rounds overall, putting them in a good spot for the saber title. Eventually Aubrey was able to convince her coach to let her run around Hamburg with Bill and Tom, and soon she had her parents letting her off the hook as well.

Although, it did take a little bit more of an effort. After she asked if she could hang out with them, Aubrey's father gave the twins a look that clearly said, "If something happens to my daughter while she's with you, I'll chop your balls off."

Tom had to reassure Mr. Vasser that there was nothing to worry about. Noah even ended up tagging along with them. After all, he was family.

"Where are we going exactly?" Noah chirped as the four of them weaved through the arena parking lot, trying to get to Tom's car.

"The Elbe River. Hamburg is right on it," Tom answered.

It was dark outside; the sun had set only minutes ago. A lot of people were still parked at the arena waiting for the athletes to come out of the locker rooms. Aubrey caught sight of Melanie's parents and grinned. They were probably so proud of Melanie right now...

"Found it! Finally!" Tom's voice pulled Aubrey from looking around.

The black Cadillac was huge; Aubrey was surprised that it took so long to find.

Tom quickly unlocked the car door and hopped into the driver's seat while Noah and Aubrey headed for the back. Bill paused for a moment, looking wistfully at the third seat in the back of the car, but he decided on sitting next to Tom for the time being.

"We're taking the scenic route, ja?" Tom asked as he started the car and put it in reverse.

Bill nodded slowly. Something clicked in his mind as he whipped out his trusty marker board and marker.

Tom, did we leave Georg and Gustav at the arena without telling them?

Tom read the board before exclaiming, "Scheisse!"

He stopped short from backing up and then threw the car in park before whipping out his cell phone and dialing Gustav's number.

"Pick up..." Tom muttered as he listened to the phone ring on the other end. Finally, Gustav answered.

"Tom! Are you and Bill still with Aubrey?" Gustav asked.

"Ja. We're in the car." Tom figured he might as well admit it.

"What the hell are you doing there? What about us?" Gustav yelled into the phone.

"Sorry, sorry. Bill wanted to take Aubrey to the Elbe River tonight and then we had to get permission. Noah's coming along too. We just forgot."

"Yeah well...wait in the parking lot 'till we find you, okay?"

"Ja, ja."

He shut his cell phone. Aubrey leaned forward from her seat and asked, "What's the deal?"

"Georg and Gustav are going to try and find the car. We can all manage to squeeze in, right?" Tom asked, looking through the rearview mirror at the back of the car.

Aubrey nodded. "I'll go and wait for them at the arena exit."

"Why?" Noah questioned as Aubrey opened the car door and slid out.

"They'll never be able to find us in all this madness, plus I want a chance to exercise my leg. I'm still getting used to it," Aubrey responded, shutting the door quickly.

Bill watched as she walked quickly back towards the giant, hulking arena. He shut his eyes, tired, when he realized he could ask Noah something that had been on his mind for a while now. He grabbed the marker board.

Noah, who is Nicolas Dubont?

Tom read it aloud to Noah, who immediately snickered.

"Only the biggest fencing asshole to ever walk the planet," Noah scoffed.

"We kind of knew that already," Tom said, rolling his eyes.

Noah's widened. "You met him?"

"Ja. He went up and introduced himself to Aubrey."

Noah chuckled, shaking his head. "No wonder Aubrey's in such a good mood."

Bill snatched back the board.

Why is that?

"Nicolas isn't just famous in France. He's made it into American newspapers as well. People keep mentioning him whenever boys' fencing is brought up. It's like he's a celebrity in his own little way. They ended up doing an entire article on him in The Record, along with a picture, and Aubrey got this massive crush on him."

Bill felt his heart drop down to his lower intestines. Somehow, he had anticipated that would happen, but he still wasn't prepared to hear it directly from Noah. It still shocked him nonetheless.

"So that's why she was acting weird around him," Tom remembered. Then he smirked. "He wanted to hang out with Aubrey sometime."

"Bad idea." Noah shook his head. "Nicolas Dubont might be a great fencer, but he's a complete shithead. He acts like he owns the world just because he got called the Chuck Norris of fencing one time. I personally don't even think he's that good. He's just really aggressive is all, and he intimidates his opponents. That's why he wins all the time. His opponents are afraid that if they manage to defeat him, he'll call the French Mafia on their family or something. My friends and I even nicknamed him Nick the Dick."

"'Prick' rhymes too," Tom joked.

Noah laughed. "That's the spirit!"

Tom chuckled and looked over at Bill, who was forcing himself to smile. His mood was lightened a little bit. He was hoping that maybe if Aubrey hung out with Nicolas enough to see that he was, as Noah put it, a 'shithead,' then she might stop hanging out with him and, most importantly, stop crushing on him. Bill was just looking out for Aubrey after all.

---

"Bill, this is incredible!"

Bill smiled so wide that he actually felt pain. He and Aubrey were standing along the edge of a sidewalk that bordered right next to the Elbe River. Hamburg was nestled right up the river, and with darkness falling all around them, the river was illuminated with the city lights. It was like New York City and the Hudson River, but so much more magical; Aubrey couldn't hear an ambulance or a siren like she would in NYC.

Gustav and Georg were walking towards another part of town to a small coffee shop while Tom had taken Noah somewhere undefined. Aubrey made Tom swear on his life that they weren't going to a club before she allowed him to leave with her younger brother in tow.

Aubrey leaned against the cool metal railing and wrapped her arms around herself. It was chilly outside and she was only wearing dark blue jeans and a plain black T-shirt; she had changed after the fencing match between Melanie and Lydia. Bill took notice of her action quickly and began to shed his black leather jacket.

Aubrey chuckled as Bill silently draped the jacket over her shoulders.

"You didn't have to," she mumbled, turning her head towards him.

Bill shrugged and tentatively wrapped one arm around her waist. Aubrey took the hint and began to tilt her body into his chest-

"Bonjour yet again, Aubrey," a chillingly familiar voice sounded behind the pair.

Bill groaned and felt the urge to bash his head against the metal railing.

Nicolas.

"Nicolas! Hi!" Aubrey twittered, turning around and away from Bill. "What're you doing here?"

Nicolas, to Bill's utter disgust, looked like a supermodel. He had shed his sweats and instead wore a pair of tight jeans over classic black and white Converse sneakers. A bright green shirt fit his torso perfectly, and a black trench coat reached up to his thighs. His hair had been whipped around by the wind, making it look perfectly messy, if that was at all possible.

"I was just sightseeing. Hamburg is a lovely city. I spotted you while I was walking along the riverside and decided to say hello." Nicolas smiled at Aubrey.

"Well, hi," Aubrey said lamely, clearly star struck.

It was then that Nicolas 'spotted' Bill. "Oh, me pardoner Monsieur Kaulitz. Am I interrupting anything?"

Instead of acting on impulse (by kicking Nicolas in the babymaker like he deserved) Bill swallowed his annoyance and shook his head slowly. Nicolas smirked at Bill's surrender and turned to Aubrey.

"If you are not busy now-" here he glanced at Bill, "-perhaps we can take a ferry ride? I saw a sign for one only a few minutes' walk from here."

To Bill's surprise, Aubrey turned to face him. "Bill, do you wanna go? I mean," she went to catch herself, "I won't go if you don't want to..."

Grateful that she was including him in on Nicolas's plan, Bill nodded in agreement. Aubrey smiled and went to say something else when Nicolas interrupted.

"I have only enough money for perhaps two tickets." Nicolas looked at Bill triumphantly.

It was just asking for a challenge.

He wants to play games then, huh? Bill thought furiously

Bill reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, waving it in Nicolas's face. He had left his marker board in Tom's car, but he didn't need to write down what he was saying. Clearly, he had enough money to buy himself a ticket.

Nicolas looked at him distastefully before saying, "Good thing you have enough."

Bill nodded and offered a false friendly smile. Aubrey didn't seem to notice the tense exchange.

"Come on then, before we miss the ferry," Aubrey grabbed Bill's hand and began to walk. "Hopefully Gustav and the others won't be back for a while so they won't know we've gone..."

Bill couldn't help but smirk as he and Aubrey walked hand in hand with Nicolas trailing behind. He could feel Nicolas's eyes searing through the back of his head.

Let the games begin.