Please Say No

Chapter Six: Operation ArJu, Take Two

That morning, Hannah had woken up regretting the chocolate she’d inhaled last night. The night had gone horribly. June, almost close to tears, had left soon after the others had arrived and she had to watch as the wrong guy flirted with Aria the entire night. It was disgusting. He was too shy, too awkward, for Aria. They didn’t even look good together. June was obviously better choice. She huffed in frustration, reaching for her phone.

Me: We need to fix this.

 Lucas: He’s been moping arount the apartment all night long. He’s even listening to Ed Sheeran. I can’t deal with him being sad.

Me: I need to pick Aria up for campus, but we’re definitely talking about this when I see you.

She sighed, stretching before shuffling out of bed to get ready for the day. When she greeted Aria, she noticed the light smile on her friend’s face, “You never smile before twelve. Why are you smiling?”

“Cedric’s just being a dork,” Aria chuckled, typing away on her phone, probably replying to whatever ‘dorky’ thing Cedric had said. Hannah wanted to fling the phone out of the car.

They drove in silence, soft music playing as Aria continued to type at regular intervals.

“Have you heard from June?” Aria asked suddenly, “he hasn’t been replying to my messages.”

“Lucas said he’s feeling a bit better today. He’s probably just busy.”

The night previously, June had left early under the pretense of not feeling well. Hannah had caught the worried look that crossed her friend’s face, debating whether or not she should egg Aria on to go check up on June. She’d decided against it when she’d spotted Soran’s glare, silently scolding her for wanting to meddle.

“Huh,” Aria said, and Hannah didn’t miss the almost annoyed expression on her friend’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’d completely forgotten about him wanting to speak to me when everyone showed up and when I’d sent him a message about it, he ignored me.”

Hannah refrained from hitting her head against her steering wheel. They’d messed up so badly that June would probably never confess now. Not after seeing the way Cedric and Aria had interacted on the ice last night. She needed to fix this.

When they’d arrived on campus, Hannah spotted June’s hunched shoulders amongst their group of friends. She’d also spotted Cedric, to her dismay. Since when did he become an addition to their group? Didn’t he have other friends?

They’d greeted everyone as they neared the table, Hannah sitting across from  Lucas while Aria  sat next to Cedric. The pair had talked in hushed murmurs for a while, making Hannah want to wrench her friend away from this person who was so obviously not her soulmate. It didn’t help that June continued to shrink in on himself the closer Aria and Cedric got.

“I need to get food,” Hannah said, hoping Aria would catch on and join her.

“I’ll come with, I need coffee,” Hannah wanted to cry in relief.

“June come with us,” Hannah said, “I need someone to carry the drinks.”

“I can come with,” Cedric offered, “June said he wasn’t feeling very well.”

Hannah wanted to scream.

“Hannah told me that you were feeling better,” Aria said, immediately rushing over to June , worry evident on her face.

“I’m fine,” June smiled weakly, “just a little tired.”

“I’ll get you a hot chocolate to make you feel better,” Aria smiled, and Hannah could see the June brighten up a bit more.

“You can all stay here, and I’ll go get the food with Hannah,” Lucas offered. He maneuvered out of his seat before ushering Aria into it staying, “June’s been cold. Sit here while I’m gone.”

Hannah shot him a proud grin as they left the table and entered the student centre.

“We need to fix this,”  Lucas sighed, “if June  pouts any longer I think my heart will actually rip in half.”

“We need to get June  to forgive us for messing up last night.”

“How do we do that?”

“By getting him and Aria together,” Hannah nodded.

They brainstormed ideas as they ordered their food and drinks but nothing seemed to be concrete enough to work. When they’d walked back to their tables, Hannah had almost dropped the food she’d been carrying. Cedric was sat across from Aria, blush on his face as he played with her fingers that were stretched out across the table.

“Your hands are the tiniest,” Hannah heard him say, “They’re so cute.”

June was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did June go?”  Lucas asked, setting down the drinks.

“Bathroom,” Soran said, but his worried look told Hannah that there had been more to the situation. Even Ren, who’d been sleepy eyed for most of the morning, looked worried.

“Come help me look for him,” Hannah beckoned Soran, under the pretense of giving him the hot chocolate.

“What happened?” she asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

“So it was fine when you guys left, Micks and June were being stupid and cute, and they were joking about cuddling like they always do. And Cedric gets kind of sad and quiet, and when Aria noticed, she lets go of June and then it was really awkward for a few minutes. Then Cedric said something about her hands and they ended up accidently holding hands or some s**t and June looked like he was gonna punch Cedric but before he could, he just up and left, saying something about needing the bathroom.”

“f**k,” Hannah sighed, “Aria probably thought that Cedric was uncomfortable with her and June.”

“Everything about this is just messed up,” Soran sighed.

They’d walked around for a while until they spotted June on one of the fifth floor rooftops, listening to music while leaning against the railing.

“Let me talk to him,” Hannah said, walking over to him and tapping him on the shoulder. He turned around and she could see the dejected look in his eyes, her heart aching for her friend.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I overreacted,” June  sighed, “she’s never pushed me away before and I just got really angry about it and then he held her hand and I wanted to shove his face into the table because he’s this total stranger but she seems  so easy around him and it’s just really frustrating. So I left before I got too angry.”

“I’m sure she didn’t mean to push you away,” Hannah offered.

“Yeah, but I understand why she did. If the girl I liked was sitting across from me while I latched onto someone else, I’d probably do the same thing.”

“Only, Aria is the girl you like and you’re the ‘someone else’ in this scenario, so it’s complicated,” Hannah sighed, “and how are you so sure she likes Cedric?”

“She’s comfortable around him,” June  shrugged, “You know it takes a while for her to warm up to people, it took her almost a month for her to be okay with my hugs and he’s only known her for a few days and she’s already okay with him being close to her.”

Hannah wanted to tell him that Aria had only taken so long to get used to his hugs because she basically died every time they did hug, but thought better and kept shut.

“Maybe she just likes him as a friend?” Hannah offered. She hadn’t had the chance to discuss this with Aria, what with everything going on but she was sure that whatever her friend felt for Cedric was nowhere nearly as strong as what she felt for June.

June kept silent, looking out towards the city. Hannah sighed, leaving him standing there and walking back to Soran.

“Let him cool down,” Soran said as they made their way back to the tables.

“We need to fix this, now,” Hannah said to Lucas as they walked towards their class.

“Already on it,” Lucas, typing away at his phone. Hannah’s phone vibrated, alerting her to the new group she’d been added to.

 Lucas created “Operation #ArJu, take two”

Danielle: why am I on this group?

 Lucas: Because you were with us when we f****d up and now you need to help us think of a way for June to forgive us.

Hannah had tried to pay attention to the lecture, she really had, but her phone kept vibrating at odd intervals, and her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

Danielle: You could just tell Aria about June’s feelings.

 Lucas: June would end my life.

 Lucas: How about giving Aria a truth serum? It worked in this one fanfic I read.

Danielle: That’s such a stupid idea.

 Lucas: L

Hannah: How about we take Aria to this mall and strand her there so that June is forced to save her????

 Lucas: THAT’S BRILLIANT

Danielle: That’s the worst idea ever.

 Lucas: Shh, Fluffy Princess, the adults are talking.

Hannah: I mean, we won’t actually strand her there. We’ll obviously be there in case it goes wrong, but the purpose of it is that Aria will think she’s alone and she’ll be kind of scared and June will swoop in and save her and she’ll realize that he’s the love of her life and that he’ll always be there to protect her even when her shitty (but not really) friends abandon her at the mall.

 Lucas: And then June will make me his best man and I can rub it in Ren’s face.

Hannah: Will I have to fight off Danielle or Lee-Anne to be Aria’s maid of honor?

 Lucas: You’ll have to fight off Jin.

Danielle: Or Sola. They both have attachment issues to each other.

 Lucas: What I want to see, is Joon and Aria’s dad fighting over who gets to walk her down the aisle.

Hannah: Soran would totally steal that opportunity while they’re fighting because he is secretly Aria’s actual dad.

Danielle: Her…daddy.

Hannah: NO

 Lucas: I’M GOING TO KICK YOU OUT OF THIS GROUP AND TAKE BACK YOUR SPY NAME IF YOU EVER SAY THAT AGAIN.

Danielle: XD

Hannah and Lucas had missed the entirety of that lecture but walked out with a spirit of determination. They waited for Aria’s lecture to end, not giving her time to see whether Cedric was at the table (because f**k Cedric) and almost sprinted towards the car.

“Hey Aria, can I use your phone quickly?”  Lucas had asked.

Sure,” Aria had said, completely unsuspecting of his true intentions.

“The bookstore at the mall is having this really big sale. Do you want to come with?” Hannah asked, knowing Aria wouldn’t be able to say no to a book sale.

“Yeah sure,” she smiled.

When they’d reached Aria’s house to drop off her things and change, Lucas sent a quick message to the group he’d made last night, without June and Aria.

 Lucas: Hannah and I thought of the best plan but I need you all not to contact Aria for the next few hours if it’s gonna work.

Ren: What’s the plan?

Hannah: No time to explain.  Lucas, STOP TYPING.

Soran: What’s the plan, Hannah????

Hannah grabbed hers and Lucas’s phones, tossing them into her boot just as Aria’s dad walked out the garage.

“Hey, guys,” he greeted, fiddling with the tools on the shelf.

“Hi, Uncle Danny,” Lucas said happily, bounding up to him and asking if he could help. They’d made small talk when eventually her dad had asked, “so why do you two look so suspicious?”

Hannah and Lucas shared a panicked glance before  Lucas blurted out, “We’re trying to set your daughter up with June .”

Hannah wanted to punch his teeth in.

“Good luck with that,” Aria’s dad laughed, “Lee-Anne’s been trying for over a year now and she couldn’t do it. Aria’s mom and I have bets on when they’ll get together.”

Hannah had stared at him wide eyed for a moment before bursting into laughter. Of course, Aria’s parents would bet on them ending up together.

“Well have fun, and stay safe,” he smiled before walking back into the house just as Aria walked back out.

“Let’s go.”

The drive to the mall had been painstaking, both Hannah and Lucas worried about their plan. They couldn’t f**k up again.

June would hate them forever. When they’d reached the mall, they browsed the stores for a few seconds when Aria No Bladder struck, and Aria had said that she’d needed to go to the bathroom. Hannah saw the opportunity, saying they’d be in one store and then running to the opposite side of the mall, where she sent June a text.

Hannah: I’m really sorry about last night, but Lucas and I are going to fix things.

June: What do you mean? How are you going to fix things?

Hannah: Just trust us.

June: Hannah? Tell me what you did.

June: HANNAH

Hannah closed her texts and opened the Find My IPhone app, tracing Aria’s path through the mall, keeping a close eye on her but also ensuring that she wouldn’t spot them.

Aria had wandered the mall for over an hour as she tried to find her friends. She tried calling them, but for some reason, the only contact on her phone had been June’s and she didn’t know Hannah or Lucas’s numbers.

She’d tried calling her mom because she didn’t want to disturb June, who was sick, but her mother hadn’t answered either (Danielle had stolen her phone, after much begging from Lucas). At this point, Aria was on the verge of tears because the mall was filled with a rush of people and she couldn’t find her friends and for some reason her phone had decided that today would be the day to f**k up and delete all of her contacts. She sniffed, tears forming, as she dialed June’s number.

“Ar?” he greeted.

“Hey, um, are you busy at the moment?” she asked, voice wobbly.

“No, what’s wrong? Are you crying?”

“Um, I’m at the mall. I came here with Hannah and Lucas but we got separated and I can’t find them and my mom’s not answering her phone and for some reason you’re the only person on my contacts list. Can you please come fetch me? I just want to go home.”

“Wait for me at the bookstore,” June said, “I’m leaving right now.”

Hannah had almost given up on the plan when she saw Aria start to cry, but refrained when June sent her a text.

June: I’m going to kill the both of you once Aria’s okay.

June had driven to the mall in a panicked haze, tempted to break road rules so that he could get there faster. Of course this was their genius idea. Of course it wouldn’t be something logical. Of course Hannah and Lucas had to meddle. And now Aria was in some strange mall, probably crying into her sleeve and having an anxiety attack.

 He tried, he really tried to keep his anger in check, knowing they’d done this for him because they were sorry about last night but at that moment the only thing he wanted to do was punch Lucas. And maybe scold Hannah for thinking this was a good idea.

When he reached the mall, he sprinted out of his car, basically running to the bookstore that he told Aria to wait in. he found at the back, sitting on one of the chairs with her legs pulled up, head hidden in between her knees. He could see her shoulders move violently, knowing she was crying. He rushed over to her, pulling her up and into a hug, stroking her head.

“It’s okay,” he said, “I’m sorry I took so long.”

“June,” Aria hiccupped, hands winding around his waist. He stood there for a few more minutes, as she calmed down enough to stop crying.

“I’m going to kill them when I see them,” June said, using his sleeve to wipe at her stray tears.

“I don’t even care anymore, I just want to go home and sleep for an eternity,” she sighed.

“No,” June pouted, “then we could never hang out.”

“I’d wake up periodically to spend time with you,” Aria chuckled.

“Obviously you would need to throw in the rest of the gang because they think I monopolize your attention as it is,” he giggled, “Have you eaten?” June asked.

“Uh, no,” Aria shrugged sheepishly.

“We’ll get you something to eat before we leave,” June decided, grabbing her hand and linking their fingers together, leading them into the café section of the bookstore. They sat in one of the booths, next to each other so he could keep his arm around her and make sure her anxiety was kept at bay. They ordered a pizza and to make her laugh, he would get cheese all over his face, pretending not to notice and watch as she giggled while wiping it off.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked, sipping from the chocolate milkshake they shared.

“Yeah, thank you,” she sighed, wrapping her arms around his waist again so that she could hug him. He kept her there; tucked under his arm as they ordered an array of different ice-creams and fed each other the flavors they thought the other would hate the most.

 Aria had almost kicked him when he’d tried sneaking her the caramel flavored one. They met Sola and Matt, who had coincidentally come to the bookstore on a spur of the moment date.

They joined them for lunch as June explained the predicament Aria had been in.

“I’m going to strangle the both of them,” Sola said angrily biting down into the pizza, “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“You have to get in line,” June said, “I’ve already planned out how I’m going to murder them both.”

“We probably shouldn’t tell Jaehun or Soran,” Matt added stealing one of Sola’s chips as she shot him a betrayed look, “They might actually kill them. I don’t think Jaehun handles the thought of Aria crying very well.”

“Do you remember when her ex had phoned during new year’s last year and it made her cry?”

Sola asked, “Jaehun almost broke her phone, yelling at him.”

“Soran was the real scary one,” Matt chuckled, “he was so quiet but you could see him think murder.”

“My favourite was when he tried to crash the party we had that day, and  Lucas decked him in the jaw,” June  grinned.

“Can we all stop talking about how you all almost got yourselves arrested for my sake?”

“You’re our little baby,” Sola cooed, “of course we’d defend you.”

“I’m older than you,” Aria deadpanned.

“You’re still our little baby,” June grinned.

They’d finished lunch and browsed the bookstore, Matt and June grabbing Twilight off of the shelf and reenacting some of the scenes.

“Aria had a Twilight phase,” Sola grinned.

“Jacob or Edward?” June asked.

“Edward,” Aria said begrudgingly.

“We can’t be friends anymore,” June gasped, hand over his heart, “You love the enemy.”

“Of course you would be on Asshole with Muscles’ team,” Aria rolled her eyes.

They’d all decided to go for cake at one of the cafes Sola suggested, meeting Soran and Kyle there.

“Are they on a date?” Aria whispered.

“Kyle said it’s not a date, but he’s totally lying,” Sola whispered back. They continued to giggle about Kyle’s ‘not date’ behind June and Matt, who walked in front of them, giggling.

When they’d ordered their cakes, Aria noticed the waitress throw Matt a flirtatious smile as she took down their orders. She also noticed the possessive hand Sola placed on Matt’s arm, her eyes saying ‘come try me, b***h’. Soran had also sent the waitress a sneer upon noticing and she had scurried off to fetch their cakes.

“What was that?” Aria asked, giggling at Soran.

“The only person Matt is allowed to be with, other than me, is Sola,” he explained. He threw a casual arm around Kyle’s shoulders as he leaned back and Aria and Sola tried not to giggle at the way Kyle fumbled with his phone.

“I mean, if someone looked at me that way, I’d feel exposed,” June shrugged.

“Everyone looks at you that way, June,” Sola said.

“You’re basically a walking s*x god,” Aria finished. June’s ears turned pink as he giggled.

“You don’t look at me that way,” he shot back.

“The only thing Aria looks at that way is ice-cream,” Sola giggled, watching her cousin fumble with the spoon she was holding, only to have it shoot out of her hands and hit Soran on the side of the head.

“You’re lucky I love you so much, kid,” he sighed, rubbing the injured skin.

“You should ask Kyle to kiss it better,” Sola grinned, watching them both sputter at her comment.

When their cakes arrived, at least eight different flavours, they’d all shared slices, spooning bits off of each other. June  and Matt competed against each other, seeing who could feed Aria  and Sola the most bites without them picking up on it. They’d lost when Soran had outed them, shoving a piece of chocolate cake into his mouth.

“Very no fun,” Matt pouted and they all burst out laughing.

It had only been around 8:30 when they left the cake store and Sola had suggested they go to this music lounge, only it wasn’t so much of a lounge and more of a karaoke bar, minus the drunkards shuffling about.

One of the bands Sola enjoyed listening to were going to play there so they’d all decided to go there and invite the rest over. Jaehun and Jin had shown up shortly after they arrived, finding them at one of the bigger tables. Ren arrived later, dragging a pouting Lucas.

“Hannah didn’t feel well so she’s at home,” Ren explained. Upon seeing Lucas, June shot him a glare and decked him over the head, cursing his idiocy.

“But I know you did it with the best intentions, so tell Hannah that I’m not too mad,” June grinned, facing away from Aria so she couldn’t see.

“Sorry,” Lucas smiled sheepishly, “Hannah wanted to stop plan Thigh-chan when she saw Aria crying but I told her not to.”

“Thigh-chan?” June asked, confused expression furrowing his brows.

“It’s your ship name!”  Lucas beamed, “Hannah came up with it! We gave you guys codenames. You were Thigh Guy and Aria was Hime-Chan so we decided to call you both Thigh-chan!”

June stared at him for a moment before shaking his head and walking back to his seat next to Aria.

“Is Hannah not coming?” Aria asked once Lucas had thrown himself on her lap, begging for forgiveness.

“She feels terrible about leaving you but her dad had this emergency thing and she couldn’t find you and she panicked, so I went with her to make sure she drove there safely. By the time it was sorted out, June  said he was with you and she felt really bad so she didn’t come.”

“It’s fine,” Aria  sighed, “I hope everything’s okay though.”

“Yeah, everything is fine,”  Lucas said, dropping his head guiltily.

They descended into small chatter after that, tiny conversations here and there. June never strayed too far from Aria’s side, still wanting to make sure that she was okay after the ordeal of this afternoon.

When Sola and Matt got up to go dance, June pulled her along, ignoring her weak protests. The song wasn’t slow, but not too fast paced so he could guide her along comfortably pulling dorky dance moves to make her more laugh.

They could hear Matt’s loud exclamations and Sola’s giggles as they danced near them.

When the pace had finally drifted to something slower, June pulled her into him, his hands encircling her waist once more. He smiled down at her encouragingly, trying to gage whether or not she enjoyed this. The small smile on her face told June that she did.

 He stared at her for a moment, the lights dim and the alcohol they’d had making him feel warm. He wasn’t drunk; far from it, but the light buzz he felt made the atmosphere seem all the more soft. June had to stop himself from leaning down and kissing her. Today wouldn’t be right, not after what she’d gone through, not with the poorly hidden the anxiety behind her eyes. Instead, he leaned down just enough to peck her forehead, bringing her in closer and allowing Aria to rest her head against his shoulder.

 One day he’d tell her.