Please Say No

Chapter Eight: A Happy Ending

“I, um, I like you. Uh, like like you. You know, the ‘butterflies in your heart’ kind of like. And seeing you with Cedric made this the worst week ever and I don’t ever want to feel like that again, so I’m manning up and I’m confessing to you in the hope that you feel the same way and I’ll never have to see you with him ever again because you’ll be mine.”

Aria stared in silence, eyes wide as June confessed. She was an i***t. How had she not seen this coming? And he wanted her to be his, ground please open up so she can be swallowed whole.

“Aria?” June asked hesitantly. The longer she stayed silent, the more rejected he looked, eyes glancing down.

“The correct phrase is ‘butterflies in your stomach’,” Aria said, just for something to say. June stared at her in disbelief, brows furrowing. She couldn’t be this ridiculous, could she?

“Aria Morrigan,” he had used her full name. Abort. Abort. She glanced down, pulling at her sleeves.

“I’ve just told you that I may be in love with you and you’re correcting my use of the English language,” he narrowed his eyes, giving her an ‘are you being serious?’ look.

And now he used the word love; she was going to implode. Her face continued to heat up, heart beating faster.

“Aria, look at me,” he said, grabbing her chin and forcing her to make eye contact. When their eyes met Aria let out a strangled whimper, indecipherable and sounding as though she was being stabbed.

June thought he had hurt her at first, worry coating his features, until he saw her close her eyes and gulp. She was nervous. A smirk started to form on his face, knowing the effect he had on her. Her skin felt hot to the touch, obviously she’d been blushing. He’d made her blush. The smug expression on his face continued to intensify.

“Open your eyes and look at me,” he said, still smirking, “I just confessed to you. What are you going to say to that?”

She tried to pull away at first, but when his grip didn’t loosen, she sighed and opened her eyes. And then wanted to close them again. He was smirking at her. God save her soul, why must she be punished so?

“Hmm?” June asked, tone playful, loosening the grip on her chin ever so slightly and rubbing reassuring circles with his thumb.

“Imaybesortofkindofreallylikeyoutoo,” she’d said in one breath and then proceeded to shut her eyes again. Looking at him was proving to be incredibly stressful.

“What?” June asked, chuckling lightly, “breathe slowly and try to speak at a pace I can understand.”

“I uh, like you too,” she mumbled, opening her eyes slightly.

The grin on his face had made the embarrassment worth it because when she’d looked at him, he’d sent her the warmest smile that made her heart flutter. His eyes shined, and his toothy grin made her smile, too.

“Good,” June grinned, leaning in. She’d panicked, thinking he was going to kiss her because she really didn’t have the energy or emotional stability to deal with kissing just yet. When he’s placed a kiss on her forehead, she sighed in relief, visibly deflating. She’d been through too many emotions in the last hour and all she wanted to go was collapse and sleep for a week.

“I really want to kiss you right now, but I know you’ll just freak out and avoid me forever if I did,” June explained, “and its okay, I understand that you need to process things and I’ll wait. But you need to deal with me giving you forehead kisses because I’m not compromising those.”

They both giggled at that, and she looked up to find him blushing while staring at her.

“You’re blushing,” she grinned, giggling behind her hand. June sent her a raised eyebrow, playful smile on his lips. He leaned in closer, so close she could feel him breathe, while staring at her. Another wave of heat encompassed her and she wanted to run away and hide. Why was he so close? Why does she have such a big mouth?

Noticing her discomfort, he chuckled, pecking the tip of her nose before pulling away again.

“Who’s blushing?” he smirked. She sent him a scathing look.

“Point taken,” she muttered, pouting as she looked away. If he kept doing things like these she was going to overheat for sure.

“So would you like to be my girlfriend then?” June asked, sweet, shy smile replacing his smirk.

“Of course,” Aria smiled back, glancing at him shyly. Shy June she could deal with. Shy June made her melt, but she could deal with it.

“Okay,” he said, leaning in and kissing her cheek this time.

“You do realize that my parents are in the other room and if they walk in and see you kissing me in any form, they’ll probably kick you out?” Aria chuckled.

“Nah,” June grinned, “your parents love me too much. They might kick you out though,” he giggled.

“You’re probably right,” she chuckled.

“It’s okay, love,” June grinned, grabbing her in a tight hug, “I’d stay outside with you and keep you warm.” She blushed again at the pet name, burrowing into his shoulder to hide her stupid grin.

Unbeknownst to the both of them, Aria’s parents had been sat in the TV room, betting on their relationship.

“I bet they’re making out in her room now,” her father sighed, “I don’t want to shoot June. Should I pretend not to know?”

“Aria’s too paranoid to make out in the house, she’s probably just making him watch movies with her,” her mom added.

June had left her house after 2AM with the biggest grin on his face. Neither of them had been able to sleep that night, so they spent most of it texting each other.

That Sunday, Aria  had been swamped with church and meetings and practice sessions to talk to anyone else, let alone see June  but they’d shared a call before they went to bed that night and June  had offered to pick her up for campus the next day.

When Monday morning came about, Aria had woken up in a frenzy, worrying about what to wear. She’d overslept again and had around half an hour before June showed up. She’d opted for his hoodie again, it slowly becoming one of her favourites.

 June  pulled into the driveway just as she ran her fingers through her hair, twirling it around and pinning it up before dashing out the door.

“Morning,” June grinned as she got into the car.

“Good morning,” she smiled.

“You’re wearing my hoodie again,” he commented, smug grin on his face.

“It’s become one of my favourites,” she shrugged, “I don’t think you’re getting it back.”

“I’m okay with that,” he chuckled.

Monday mornings meant early lectures for Aria, so she’d given him a quick peck on the cheek before making her way towards the lecture venue. The class had droned on, making her feel sleepy. The heaters were on, which meant that she’d only fall asleep faster.

Once the lecture finished, she packed her things quickly and made her way to their usual table, where June  had said he was waiting with food and coffee. When she arrived he’d practically glomped her, placing another kiss on her forehead as he buried her head in his chest.

“Hey, love,” he greeted, pulling back to hand her a muffin and a cup of coffee.

“Thank you,” she smiled, placing another peck on his cheek because she liked the way his cheeks tinted every time she did it.

When Aria had turned to greet her friends, she found them all staring at her with wide eyes and shocked faces. The only person who didn’t seem as shocked was Cedric, who sat with a smug expression on his face. Then she’d remembered that she’d been so busy that she’d forgotten to tell anyone about her and June.

“Oops,” she chuckled hesitantly.

“Oops?” Hannah snapped, “you ignore my messages all weekend, don’t tell me how your date goes after basically crying into my shoulder about how paranoid you were, tell me I don’t need to fetch you so I think you’re not okay and then you two have to act all couple-y and cute indicating that I’ve obviously missed something, and all you can say is ‘oops’?”

“You’re being melodramatic, Hannah,” Soran rolled his eyes.

“She ignored my messages all weekend, pardon me for being annoyed,” Hannah seethed.

“I had the church meeting and practice and I was really busy,” Aria shrugged helplessly.

“And what about me not driving you?”

“That was my fault,” June grinned sheepishly, “I wanted to monopolize her this morning.”

“I mean, I’m really happy about you guys finally getting together but as the friend who’s always monopolized Aria’s time, I’m a little offended.”

“I agree,” Lucas said, “It’s like Aria left Hannah for June  and I can’t support this ship anymore.”

“You two are so full of s**t,” Soran rolled his eyes, going back t sipping his coffee.

“Enough about the drama queens,” Ren grinned, “tell us how it happened.”

So they went about explaining how they’d ended up confessing to each other. Soran had shot her an exasperated look when June had mentioned her English correction and Aria shrugged sheepishly. Ren and Lucas had enjoyed the parts when June made her flustered the most, hollering and high-fiving him with smug grins.

“Do Jin and Jaehun know?” Soran asked.

“Yeah, I told Jaehun yesterday,” June said, “he’s already given me the ‘hurt her and I’ll end you speech’”.

“I can’t wait until Jin finds out,” Ren grinned, “he’s gonna be such a mom about it.”

“I uh, told him already,” Aria smiled sheepishly, “the night it happened, I sent him a text about it.”

Hannah shot her another glare, obviously upset that she didn’t get a text from Aria.

“It was a spur of the moment thing and his contact was the first one I saw,” Aria tried to explain. Hannah, not having any of it, ignored her. Soran shot them both exasperated looks, rolling his eyes before going back to his coffee.

“So have you guys gone on a date yet?” Ren asked.

“We haven’t had the time,” June pouted.

Hannah and Lucas shared a look, her previous frustrations forgotten as another plan formed in their heads. They’d give them the best first date.

During their lecture, Hannah and Lucas sent a message to their group chat with Danielle. Ren, who’d accompanied them to their class, spotted Lucas typing and demanded to be made a part of the plan.

“I can help, too,” he whispered, snatching the phone from his friend and then adding himself to the group.

“Okay fine,” Lucas sighed, “but you need a codename.”

Ren thought for a few minutes and then typed something into the chat.

“V?” Hannah asked with raised eyebrows, “What does V stand for?”

“I have no idea,” Ren shrugged, “just thought it sounded cool.”

So they set to work planning the date.

Hannah: so I’m going to be the greatest friend and give Aria the best date even though she’s basically ignored me all weekend.

Danielle: Haven’t you guys meddled enough?

Ren: Obviously not!

 Lucas: So what’s the plan?

Hannah: Sunset park date! With lights and a little picnic basket and everything!

Ren: But how will we manage that?

Hannah: First things first. Who can cook?

 Lucas: I make decent Ramen.

Danielle: I can cook

Hannah: Danielle and Lucas are on kitchen duty! It’s already 12 so you guys need to start ASAP.

Danielle: But I’m in school.

Hannah:..

Hannah: Not for long.

She shut off her phone and packed her things, pulling Ren and Lucas out the lecture venue.

“We’re going to bust Danielle out of school.”

On the way to the high school, they continued discussing the logistics of the plan.

“So I’ll drop Danielle and Lucas off at your apartment, and then you go fetch June while I go fetch Aria,” Hannah instructed Ren.

“What time are we planning this?”

“For around 5pm. Any later and it’ll be too dark to set up.”

When they arrived at the high school, Hannah called the offices, pretending to be a family friend.

“Her mom’s been in an accident and the family’s on the way to the hospital,” she lied, feeling horrible.

 Lucas raced into the office to fetch Danielle and the two came out the doors almost sprinting.

“Hurry!”  Lucas yelled, “Before they catch on!”

They’d all jumped into the car and Hannah drove them to Ren’s apartment after buying the necessary ingredients. They’d dumped Danielle under the supervision of Lucas, Hannah sending her an apologetic glance as they made their way back to campus, Hannah and Ren driving in different cars.

“So Aria went home early because she had something to do,” Hannah explained once they’d reached, “But June’s still here. So you keep him busy while I help  Lucas and Danielle and I’ll let you know when you can bring him here.”

“Okay,” Ren said, “But how will I get him to the park without him being suspicious?”

“Dammit,” Hannah huffed.

“Okay, new plan,” she nodded, “I’ll bring June to the park once we’re done. My car is an oven and he’s sure to fall asleep. Then you go get Aria.”

Ren nodded, not really knowing how any of this was going to work out but wanting to see exactly how Hannah and Lucas managed to create such extravagant disasters.

When Lucas and Danielle had finished preparing the picnic food, they’d called Hannah and Ren, who drove back to gather the picnic supplies and set off for their intended park.

 It was frequented by the group and the guards were already on a first name basis with Lucas and Ren. When Lucas had explained their plan, the guard shook his head, smiling and agreeing to help with their plan.

Once they’d set up, Hannah stepped back and admired the scene. They’d set the blanket down near a tree, a soft black one that would protect from the Autumn cold. More blankets were piled next to the picnic basket that they’d filled with sandwiches, cakes and fruits. They’d wanted to bring a bottle of wine, but opted for chocolate milkshakes instead.  Lucas had even strung fairy lights through the tree branches, although Lord knows where he’d found an extension plug long enough that they could use fairy lights in the first place.

 Hannah grinned, proud of their efforts.

“Okay, now Danielle and I will go get June while you and  Lucas go get Aria,” Hannah said, grabbing Danielle’s hand and almost jogging to the car. It was almost 4 and the sun would be setting soon.

As they neared the campus, they spotted June at their usual table, speaking to Soran about something.

“June, you need to come with us,” Hannah said, grabbing his wrist and trying to tow him to the car.

“Where are we going?” he asked in confusion.

“So Aria’s planned this thing for you guys and she asked me to bring you there,” the second lie of the day.

“Oh,” June smiled, huge dopey grin on his face.

“You guys are so disgustingly cute,” Danielle fake gagged.

“Thanks,” June continued to grin.

The ride in Hannah’s car was warm and June had fallen asleep in minutes, head resting against the window. Hannah almost didn’t want to wake him, but caved at the look Danielle had sent her.

Waking June up had always been impossible, and today was no exception. They managed to get him to walk to the picnic area, but he’d fallen asleep again as soon as he hit the blankets. Hannah placed on of the other blankets around him and left a taser near his hand, just in case.

She and Danielle left, Hannah going to drop her off at her house before going home. It was as she was leaving Danielle, that Ren sent the group a message saying that Aria was busy in a church meeting and couldn’t make the date. Hannah had been so devastated that she’d gone home and sulked.

Almost two hours had passed before Ren sent another message to the group.

Ren: Hey Hannah, what time are you bringing June home? I thought you would have been here by now.

Hannah stared down at the message, panic slowly overwhelming her. She’d been so preoccupied with the thought of the date being ruined that she hadn’t factored in who would fetch June. She’d subconsciously assumed that Ren would do it.

Hannah: I f****d up.

 Lucas: What happened???

Hannah:…I may have left him there…at the park…accidentally.

 Lucas: He’s going to kill us both.

Hannah: At least he has food! And a taser!

Ren: You guys are idiots.

Hannah: How do we fix this?????

A few minutes passed before Lucas replied.

 Lucas: Aria. If we give him Aria, he won’t be angry.

Hannah: Yeah but she’s at church.

Ren: You guys should totally kidnap her.

 Lucas: That’s a brilliant idea!! We get Aria and give her to June and he’ll forgive us!

Hannah: But first, we need to go pick June up because I feel horrible.

They’d all met up at the park and Hannah hid behind Lucas as they neared the picnic area. She could see a glimpse of June, who sat bundled in blankets, glaring at them.

“Of course,” he rolled his eyes, “It’s always you two.”

“At least we gave you food,” Lucas shrugged helplessly.

“Just take me home,” June sighed, and Hannah could hear the dejection in his voice. And then she’d remembered that she’d told him that Aria was behind all of this. He probably thought that she’d stood him up.

“This was our idea!” she blurted out, “Aria doesn’t have anything to do with this. She doesn’t even know about any of it.”

She could see his eyes light up a little, relief obvious in the fall of his shoulders.

“Okay,” he sighed, but she could see his small smile.

Once everyone piled into the car, they set off for Aria’s church.

“Lucas, you go in and bring her out,” Ren said.

“Maybe this is a bad idea,” June said, glancing at Lucas warily.

“Shush,” Hannah said from the driver’s seat, “we’re making it up to you.”

Once they arrived at the church, Lucas hopped out of the car and jogged through the gates, disappearing up the stairs of the building. Once he’d entered the room they had the meeting in he paused as everyone stared at his entrance.

“There’s an emergency and Aria is needed,” he said, shooting her a glance and looking at her confused expression. He didn’t wait for a reply, hoisting her up onto his shoulders like a sack of potatoes and jogging back out again.

When he’d reached the car, he’d opened the door on June’s side, depositing her onto his lap before climbing into the passenger seat in front.

“Off we go,” Hannah grinned, as they set off towards the park again.

“What the hell is happening?” Aria asked, “Why did you all kidnap me from my meeting?”

“I’ll explain later,” June sighed, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling into her hair.

“There’s space on the seat,” Ren grinned playfully, shooting the couple a smirk. June whined, his arms wrapping tighter around Aria. Ren looked at her then, noticing how flustered she looked. He waggled his eyebrows and she hit his arm.

“I’m wounded Aria,” Ren pouted, “How could you choose him over me? You’re destroying our destined love.”

“More like our destined curse,” Aria giggled, rolling her eyes at Ren’s antics. He grinned back at her, pulling out his phone and taking a picture of them to send to their group chat.

“Need to feed the ship,” he explained when she narrowed her eyes. Jin commented a few seconds later, ten pink hearts littering their chat.

When they’d arrived at the park, they’d kicked the couple out, saying that they’d be back in a few minutes to bring Ren’s car over so that they could go home after their date. When June had walked Aria over to the picnic setup, she’d gasped softly, taking in the scene. It was completely dark, save for the fairy lights and a few park lights that lit up the area.

“It’s so pretty,” she sighed.

“Yeah,” June smiled, “they’re actually not that useless.”

“You need to explain exactly what they’ve done this time,” Aria said, sitting down on the pile of blankets. She pulled June down with her, who’d bundled them both up in the extra blankets before scrimmaging through the picnic basket.

“I’ve eaten most of the food because I was hungry, but there are still marshmallows,” he grinned sheepishly.

“I see you hiding those strawberries, June,” she said, turning her head to glare at him.

“I wanted to feed them to you,” he blushed, eyes disappearing as he smiled.

“You’re so cheesy,” she chuckled, “but fine.”

So he fed her strawberries as he explained how their friends had left him stranded at the park with a dead phone, a picnic basket and a taser.

“At least they gave you a taser,” Aria  sighed, wanting to yell at her friends but also wanting to thank them because she felt incredibly warm and happy, bundled up in blankets as June  fed her strawberries.

When they were done eating, she ran to the swings, grinning, “Push me!”

June chuckled, strolling over to her and pushing her lightly. He smiled softly as she continued to giggle in delight; sometimes he thought his girlfriend was five years old. When she’d grown tired of swinging, he walked around the swing set, so that he faced her as they talked about their day.

Eventually he’d taken to leaning down, resting his chin on her lap as she quietly swayed back and forth. He wanted to kiss her. He’d wanted to kiss her for forever, but he couldn’t before. He could now. Possibly.

June raised his head, looking up at her. She had a soft smile on her face, her head leaning against the swing’s chain as she stared down at him.

“I’m going to kiss you,” June said, cupping her face while leaning in.

“Okay,” she whispered.

They kissed for a while, June enjoying just being close to her. When he’d pulled away to smile at her his grin faltered.

“Don’t move,” he said, lifting his hand to her hair. He grabbed it before it could move again, his wrist flicking it away, into one of the bushes.

“There was a spider in your hair,” he explained when she shot him a confused look. Her eyes slowly widened as she took that in, eyes tearing up and panic visibly setting in.

“It’s okay,” June whispered, grabbing her head and hugging her to him, “I killed it.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist, trying to calm her breathing.

“Thanks,” she said, voice shaking.

“My pleasure, love,” he smiled, dropping a kiss on her hair and pulling her closer.

When they’d eventually left the park, the guard smiled, throwing them a knowing glance.

“Even the guard was in on it?” Aria asked in disbelief.

“Apparently Hannah and Lucas are more persuasive than I gave them credit for.”

“It was a nice date, though,” Aria shrugged, “don’t be so hard on them.”

“You weren’t the one stranded in the park, thinking your girlfriend stood you up,” June huffed, poking her side.

“Yeah but I’ve got to explain to my youth leader that the ‘emergency’ was just my friends being idiots, trying to meddle in my love life.”

“Yeah, Aunty San is kind of scary, good luck with that.”

“It’s fine,” Aria chuckled, “I’m pretty sure she shipped us, too. Looked like I gave her the moon when I told her we were dating.”

“I think dating you warrants more than the moon,” June grinned, interlinking their hands as they walked.

“You’re so cheesy,” Aria laughed, blushing lightly. They walked to the parking lot and stopped when they found it completely empty.

“Where’s the car?” June asked, eyebrows furrowed,”This is the only parking lot.”

[end]