Please Say No

Chapter Three: Missed Opportunities

The anime store was quiet and silent when they entered. Sola, Kyle and Matt were already there, browsing the manga section and whispering quietly amongst themselves. Aria and Hannah shared a look when the other boys had stepped out of their car, barely looking at each other. Obviously something had happened. Aria noted the dejected look on June’s face and felt her heart twinge.

 A sad June was never something she ever wanted to see, so in an effort to make him smile she grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a pair of goofy cat ears.

“June come here,” she beckoned. Once he was near enough, she placed the ears on his head and watched as he giggled shyly, hiding his face in his hands. The sweater paws he had did nothing to detract from the cuteness and both Sola and Aria cooed.

“You’re so adorable,” Sola said, walking up and petting down the hair that stuck up.

“The cutest little kitten,” Aria added.

“I want to try on ears, too!” Ren pouted, grabbing another pair, this one white and fluffy, and placed it on his head.

“You look like the fluffiest little squish,” Sola pinched his cheeks and he beamed at the attention.

“Aria, how cute am I? Am I cuter than June?” He grinned.

“You’re fighting a losing battle, bro,” Lucas chuckled, “no one is cuter than June when Aria is concerned.”

“Except maybe Cedric,” Ren shot Aria a cheeky grin while the smile on June’s face fell.

“Who’s Cedric?” Matt asked, walking over to the group.

“Aria’s boyfriend.”

“We’re not dating, Ren. I literally just met him today,” she rolled her eyes.

“You will be if I have anything to do with it.”

“I feel betrayed,” Matt gasped, “why wasn’t I informed? I want to meddle in Aria’s love life, too.”

“Babe, that’s the worst idea,” Sola sighed, “you and Ren meddling in anything is bad for everyone involved.”

“Speak of the devil,” Lucas chuckled, looking over Aria’s head towards the door.

They turned around to find Soran and Cedric walking towards them, cups of coffee in hand.

“Well, f**k,” Sola muttered, sending a wary glance June’s way. She could see the scathing look he sent the pair and nudged him. They shared a look, Sola’s reprimanding and June’s guilty.

“Is that him?” Matt whispered.

“Yeah,” Ren whispered back, “the one who looks like an Asian model.”

“He’s really hot,” Matt commented. They would have carried on albeit for Sola hitting them both over the head as Soran and Cedric came nearer.

“Class finished early, so I figured we’d stop by,” Soran explained, “I needed to get some manga anyway.”

“He’s totally lying,” Cedric chuckled, “We left like an hour earlier. Something about a Kyle being here.”

“You’re pure evil,” Aria chuckled, catching onto the situation.

“He’s cute when he blushes,” Soran shrugged, “Where is he?”

“At the far end, looking at the Stein’s Gate art book,” Sola said.

They watched as Soran walked over to the figure hunched over said art book from behind, leaning his head over Kyle’s shoulder. Kyle jumped upon finding out who it was, and flailed as the art book went flying from his hands. A chaotic mess unfolded, in which Kyle tried to reach for the book without getting too near Soran, who also tried to catch the book. It resulted in the both of them grasping onto each other’s hands while the book fell to the floor.

“He’s so cruel,” Sola chuckled, “Kyle’s probably internally screaming. Let me go save my little brother from further embarrassing himself.”

“I’m not sure whether she’s being kind, or really mean for letting him get into that situation,” Matt grinned.

“She’s definitely really mean,” Lucas laughed.

“Hey,” Matt said, turning towards Cedric, “I’m Matt and that’s my evil cinnamon roll, Sola.”

“She was my evil cinnamon roll first,” Aria  rolled her eyes, “She’s my cousin,” she added, spotting Cedric’s confused expression.

“They’re like twins, only Aria is the smol and Sola is the tol,” Ren grinned.

“Seriously though, they were born like five days apart, too.”

“That’s really cool,” Cedric grinned, “I have a small family and all of my cousins are a lot younger than me.”

“How old?” Ren asked.

“Lisa’s around five now and she’s the cutest little thing. Let me show you a picture,” Cedric got out his phone and scrolled through his pictures before stopping at a photo of him taking a selfie with a little girl with blonde hair and big cheeks who was sitting on his lap.

“Oh my gosh,” Matt cooed, “she’s got cheeks cuter than June.”

“Matt,” June pouted.

“I’m sorry, June, but this little girl is the cutest thing ever.”

“She is really cute,” Ren added.

“Okay, while you all compare June’s cheeks to little children, I’m gonna go look at that art book Kyle had because I want one too,” Lucas said.

“I’ll come with you,” Aria added and they both made their way over to the art book section. June followed, grabbing the back of Aria’s sweater and following the two as they wove around the rows of manga.

“No it’s okay,” Aria heard Kyle say as Soran looked at him with his signature cocky smirk.

“I’m doing it anyway, so stop complaining.”

“What’s happening?” Aria asked as they reached the group.

“Soran wants to buy Kyle the book but Kyle’s being a giggly schoolgirl and refusing,” Sola explained.

“I don’t need it,” Kyle added.

“It can be a present for your final results,” Soran countered.

“We haven’t even started yet.”

“It can be incentive for you to study harder and get good grades,” he smirked again.

“You really don’t have to,” Kyle huffed. Soran looked at him for a moment longer before walking to the till, pulling Kyle along with him.

“He’s gonna give my brother a heart attack any day now,” Sola chuckled.

They left the anime store a few minutes later, each of them sporting new items.

“I can’t believe you got them matching ears,” Ren chuckled, flicking the pair of cat ears on June’s head.

“June looks really cute in them and everyone basically died when Aria put them on, so I had to,” Hannah grinned, innocently looking at the mock glare Aria sent her way.

“And June started pouting when Aria wore a different pair, so obviously they needed matching ears,” Lucas rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t pout,” June protested.

“You totally did,” Aria  chuckled, “You stuck your lip out and did that thing you do with your eyes where it looks like your heart has been ripped to pieces.”

“Black looks better on the both of us anyway because we both have black hair,” June  tried reasoning.

“It does look really cute on her,” Cedric smiled down at Aria who promptly blushed and tripped over her shoes as they were walking.  Lucas, used to Aria’s awkward shuffling, reached out his hand before she reached the ground, and pulled her up.

“One day I won’t be there to catch you and you’ll hit your head while falling and then you’ll die.”

“You’re gonna need to send her husband on a training course before they get married and prep him for situations like these,” Matt grinned. Hannah, Sola, Ren and Soran all glanced at June when Matt spoke.  

“He also needs to pledge to kill all the spiders for Aria because she’ll cry if you make her go near one,” Ren chuckled.

“He’s not lying,” Aria sighed, “he tried to get me to kill one and I almost had a panic attack.”

“It was horrible,” June glared at Ren, “not even my cuddles would help.”

“That’s a serious problem,” Soran said in all seriousness, “June’s cuddles help all situations.”

“Failed an exam? Just cuddle June.”

Your dog died? June’s cuddles will make it better.”

“The boy you like is six years younger than you and it feels illegal even contemplating a relationship? June’s cuddles will help.”

“That’s oddly specific, Soran,” Aria said.

“Soran’s daddy kink gets out of hand sometimes,” Ren shrugged. The group cringed in unison while Soran hit Ren on the back of the head.

“Stop saying stupid things.”

“So we’re going for drinks now?” Hannah asked, hoping to lead the conversation away from the direction it was heading in.

“I’m starving, can’t we get something to eat?”  Lucas asked.

“Yes,” Kyle added, “I need food.”

“I could take the kids to get McDonalds,” Sola offered, “and then meet you guys there.”

“Your car is tiny,” Soran scoffed, “I could use Ren’s car and Kyle and I can follow you guys.”

“What about June  and I?” Ren asked.

“You guys and Cedric can come with us,” Hannah offered.

“Okay, sure.”

“Thank you,” June shot Hannah one of his angel smiles.

“Okay, then we’ll see you guys in a bit.”

They all set off in their intended directions when Ren screamed “shotgun!”

“Aria will have to sit in the middle then,” Hannah giggled, “because she’s the smallest.”

Aria sighed, knowing full well what Ren’s plan was.

When they got into the car, Cedric put his arm up around the seat and turned so that Aria leaned against him to create more space in the small car. Hannah, upon seeing June’s scathing glare, made a harsh right turn so that Aria bumped against June , his arms coming up to keep her against him so that she wouldn’t be jostled.

“Sorry,” she said, “avoiding the potholes.”

When they arrived at the bar, Aria, Cedric and Ren went to order the drinks while Hannah and June found tables.

“What are you doing?” Hannah hissed.

“What do you mean?” June shot back, a confused expression on his face.

“Why are you letting this happen? Why aren’t you stopping it?” Hannah nodded towards the counter, where Aria and Cedric now stood alone, Ren nowhere in sight. They were laughing at something, Cedric moving closer ever so slightly.

“I don’t know what you mean,” June huffed, anger and jealousy rising again. Whats-his-face better stay the hell away from his small bean.

“You’re sinking my ship,” Hannah wailed, “go over there and do something about it,” she said before pushing him in the direction of the bar. June shot her another questioning gaze but as he turned to the bar again, he saw Cedric play with a strand of Aria’s hair before tucking it behind her ear.

Oh f**k no, only I’m allowed to play with her hair like that, was the last thought that crossed June’s mind before he stalked up to the pair at the bar.

As he neared them, Aria spotted him and beamed.

“Jun-” she was cut off as she tripped over Cedric’s foot. Things happened in slow motion, Aria would tell you if she ever repeated this story to anyone; not that she ever would want to relive the trauma about to unfold.

She saw the drinks in Cedric’s hand tilt as June reached them and watched as they splashed onto his sweater, coating his chest in an array of alcohol.

“Oh my gosh, June, are you okay?” Aria asked in a panic, reaching out to him but not knowing exactly what to do.

June remained silent for a few seconds.

“Yeah,” he replied, frustrated grimace on his face and eyes watery as he turned to walk out of the bar.

“For f***s sake,” Hannah shook her head, grabbing some napkins from a nearby table and walking over to a shocked Aria.

“Fix it,” was all she said before shoving the napkins into Aria’s arms and shoving her towards the exit.

Once Aria had walked out the door, she turned to Cedric, “are you okay?”

Ren watched from the side of the bar, laughing in awe before grabbing his phone and typing.

“June!” Aria called as she walked into the parking lot. She spun around in an array of directions before spotting him leaned against a far away wall, head lowered dejectedly. Her heart ached when she saw him lift up his sleeve and wipe at his eyes.

“Oh my gosh,” she said as she neared him, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” June sighed, giving her a watery smile.

“Here,” she said, taking the napkins and dabbing at the drenched shirt, hoping to make even a little bit of a difference.

“I’m drenched, and I smell like alcohol,” June sighed, “I don’t think that’s going to help. I think I’m just gonna go home.”

“No, please don’t go,” Aria pouted, “I’ll fix it, I promise. I’m not gonna see you for a few days because of your classes and it’ll be worse if you leave like this.”

“No, you can’t cry too,” June chuckled, lifting his hand to wipe at the tears now forming in Aria’s eyes.

“I’m gonna cry if you leave,” Aria said, “So if you don’t want me to cry, don’t leave.”

“Fine,” June huffed, smiling.

“Good,” Aria grinned, “Hannah still has a spare shirt of yours in her car and there’s probably a towel in there, too. Come on,” she said, grabbing his fingers and pulling him towards their parking space.

The universe had been gracious that night and June’s spare shirt had, in fact, been in the car, along with wet wipes and a towel.

“How on earth is she that prepared?” June asked in astonishment.

“We’re both incredibly awkward and clumsy and when we’re together it intensifies. So we’ve planned for multiple fuckups.”

“You guys are incredible,” June chuckled, pulling his stained sweater off. The lights were dim but Aria could still make out the defined muscles in his chest.

A chorus of internal screaming was all that ran through Aria’s head as she dabbed at his still wet chest. The scent of alcohol still clung to June and he scrunched his nose.

“I smell like a bar.”

“These wipes are rose scented and really strong. Hopefully they can help with that.”

“Of course Hannah would find rose scented wipes,” June chuckled.

“If push comes to shove, I can just dump my entire perfume bottle on you. I know it’s in here somewhere.”

“Your perfume smells like flowers. I really like it,” June gave her a soft smile.

“You are a flower, so it would suit you perfectly,” Aria shot back, face heating up.

“It’s really warm in Hannah’s car,” June  commented, “I don’t want to go back out.”

“Yeah, it’s the Orange Oven,” Aria  chuckled, “It’s always warm in here.”

“We should just stay in here and watch YouTube videos on my phone,” June  grinned.

“We can’t do that,” Aria rolled her eyes, “Ren would sulk.”

“Ren’s a drama queen but he’d get over it. And I have this really cute cat video to show you.”

“You can’t do that, you know I’m weak for cat videos.”

“Fine,” June  huffed, “but can I show you the video before we go?”

“Yeah okay,” Aria  chuckled. He reached into his pocket to pull out his phone and scrolled before pulling Aria into his side and putting his arm around her so that he could watch the video from over her shoulder.

They were so engrossed in seeing the kitten try to catch its shadow, that they didn’t see the figure walking up to the car. A second later, Matt knocked one of the backseat windows.

“What are you guys doing?” he asked once June opened the door. Sola stood behind him, her eyes wide. It was only then that Aria noticed the situation, her and June alone while he sat shirtless with his arm around her.

“Um, well, I uh, I tripped and made Cedric spill his drink over June  and then we had to get him cleaned up but June  distracted me with this cat video before we could go inside because it’s really warm in Hannah’s car and he didn’t want to leave.”

Her entire body was ablaze at that point, and she was sure steam had actually been rolling off of her in flustered waves.

“Okay,” Sola chuckled, “We’ll meet you guys inside.”

“What if they need help,” Matt asked, worry in his eyes.

“I think they’re fine, babe,” Sola rolled her eyes, towing her boyfriend towards the entrance.

“We should go inside before they all come out to look for us,” Aria huffed.

“Yeah,” June sighed, but smiled when Aria glanced his way. He shrugged on the shirt, a long black one that hung loosely on his frame.

“Your collarbones will be the death of me,” Aria muttered, mainly to herself but blushed when June smiled bashfully.

They got out of the car and made their way back into the bar where their friends sat at a table.

“Are you okay?” Aria asked Cedric, only now remembering the situation, guilt coming back.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Cedric smiled, ruffling her hair. It was too loud for Aria to hear the frustrated huff that June gave but Ren had spotted it, shooting him a warning glance.

Cedric moved over so that June and Aria could sit down.

“We didn’t know what to get you guys,” he grinned down sheepishly at the drinks on the table.

“June and I will go get them,” Hannah said, pulling June with her as she stood.

June and Hannah made their way to the bar when Hannah asked, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” June sighed.

“Okay. Good,” Hannah took a breath, “because when I said you should go over there and fix it, I didn’t mean that chaotic mess that unfolded. Because now Aria’s probably feeling really guilty about it, and I guess it kind of worked out because you got to spend alone time with her but that was the most awkward thing to ever happen and I would have liked to have avoided that.”

“What are you implying?” June asked, wary eyed. Hannah huffed and stared at his confused expression before flicking him on the forehead.

“I know you like her. Everyone knows you like her,” Hannah rolled her eyes; “you follow her around like a puppy begging for attention. Before you say anything, I’m rooting for the both of because, as nice as Cedric is, I’d much rather see Aria with someone like you who I know will take care of her.”

“Have you seen him? He’s all cool and manly and confident with his stupid hair and his stupid leather jacket,” June sighed, “I can’t compare to that.”

“You’re the most oblivious person on the planet,” Hannah looked towards the ceiling, closing her eyes and praying for patience, “Aria, quite literally melts, every time you so much as smile.”

“That doesn’t mean she likes me,” June huffed, “does it?” And Hannah knew he had implied something else, had asked an indirect question about Aria’s feelings.

She stared at him for a moment, wandering whether she should say what she wanted, that they were both head over heels for each other but were too oblivious to see it, but she held herself back because Aria wouldn’t want her to tell June and as much as she wanted to push the two together and go ‘now kiss’, they had to figure things out on their own.

“I think that if you work up the courage enough to ask her, you can find out for yourself.”

“But how?” June sighed in frustration.

“I’ll help you,” Hannah grinned.

“What about Cedric?” June asked.

“Cedric is the Lisanna to Aria’s Natsu. They’re just not meant to be. We need to stop your i***t friend from setting Aria up with this complete stranger when her Lucy is here with his cute eye smile and his sweater paws.”

“Are we gonna sabotage Aria and Cedric?” June asked, a hopeful glint in his eye.

“We’re gonna sabotage Aria and Cedric,” Hannah grinned, nodding her head.

They both turned towards their table again to find Cedric’s arm around Aria, a light blush on his face as he showed her something on his phone.

“For f***s sake,” Hannah huffed, head in hand. Of course things would go to s**t in those few moments that they were away.

“Jin?” Hannah heard June question and when she turned her head she could see Jin and Jaehun walk through the doors of the bar. They spotted their friends’ table and made their way over to them.

“Hey guys,” Jin greeted the surprised faces of his friends.

“I thought you weren’t coming here,” Aria said, shooting out of her seat to hug the tall man.

“Ren sent us a message saying that you were all here and I had some free time so I convinced Joon to come with me so we could spend some time with you guys,” Jin explained. He kept a secure arm around Aria as he stood, casually holding her in place as Jaehun slid into the seat next to Cedric.

“I’m beat,” Jaehun sighed, “I’ve been recording all day.”

Cedric sat awkwardly hunched in on himself as Jaehun splayed himself out on the seat. Jin turned his head when June and Hannah neared their tables.

“Hi, Jin,” June smiled, bringing his friend in for a one armed hug.

“June,” Jin grinned, returning the hug with equal warmth.

“Jin, come here, I’m cold,” Jaehun whined, pulling Jin onto the seat next to him. Jin brought Aria with and when Hannah saw the opportunity, pushed June into the seat as well, so that Aria  was now nudged between Jin and June .

“June, would you mind making a bit more space? Jin’s a bit squashed,” Jaehun had asked, dimples out, with an innocent smile on his face.

“Of course,” June said, maneuvering for a while in the seat until Aria had practically been placed on his lap. She sat under his arm, cozily tucked into his side.

Ren sat on the opposite end of the table, grin plastered onto his face, as he sneakily shot his friends a thumbs up when no one was looking. Jaehun gave him a sneaky smile and winked before returning to the conversation he had been preoccupied with.

The rest of the evening passed by without much disaster.

Jaehun had spilled his drink onto Soran’s sleeve, and the latter, now already quite drained, had called it a night. This meant that Cedric had had to leave early as well, the both of them calling an Uber to their apartments, conveniently situated closely to each other.

June had brightened up significantly after that, reverting back to his bubbly self as they carried on the conversation. When it was time to leave, they bid their good nights and set off in their desired directions, Hannah and Aria heading home.

“This has got to be one of the most stressful nights we’ve had since last semester,” Hannah sighed.

“I mean, there was that time we all got really drunk and lost in the parking lot.”

“I still can’t believe we forgot that the car was parked underground.” Hannah laughed.

“I can’t believe we were going to drive while that drunk! Thank god, Jin had the sense to stop us.”

“Yeah,” Hannah chuckled, “Jin and Jaehun seem to always save the day.”

“Hmm,” Aria hummed, exhaustion taking over.

“How are you feeling? I know you must feel terrible about the June thing,” Hannah broached.

“I felt horrible at first because June  was crying outside and it was my fault because I spilt alcohol on one of his really nice sweaters,” Aria  whined, “but then we fixed it and he wore that shirt, you know the black one that hugs his shoulders just right so that you can see the outline of his muscles? Yeah he wore that one, and I got to touch his abs, I mean, I touched them indirectly because I had to wipe the alcohol off of him but you know, I still got to touch them. And then we were watching cat videos and everything was okay again,” Aria inhaled, “so I guess I’m okay now.”

“I’m glad,” Hannah chuckled.

“What about you and Cedric? You guys seemed cozy,” she asked coyly.

“He put his arm around me while showing me a picture of his dog,” Aria said, “who does that? I mean, I’ve just met him, and yeah he’s cute and I maybe have a small crush, but that’s too much for our first meeting.”

“Of course he was showing you his dog,” Hannah muttered, hoping Aria wouldn’t hear. When she didn’t comment on it Hannah asked, “could you see yourself dating him?”

“I don’t know,” Aria sighed after a moment, “he gave me his number.”

“Oh my gosh,” Hannah gasped, “are you going to message him?”

“Um, I don’t know,” Aria  shrugged, “I don’t know if I want anything to progress with him.”

“He doesn’t seem like ‘the one’?”

“No…I don’t know. It’s weird. I can’t explain it. Maybe I’m over thinking things.”

At that moment, Aria’s phone pinged and when she checked her messages, she gave a quiet screech.

“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked, wide eyed.

“He sent me a message,” Aria explained, her voice staring at the message on her phone screen.

Cedric: I had a great time and it was really nice meeting you. Would you like to go out for coffee sometime?

Aria read the message over one more time in her head before reading it aloud to Hannah.

“Oh my gosh!” Hannah screeched, “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know! He knows I’ve read the message, I have to send a reply, what do I reply with?”

“Do you want to go on a date with him?”

“I don’t know!”

“You need to know!”

“But I just met him, oh my gosh, this is too sudden, I can’t go on a date with someone I don’t even know, that’s terrifying.”

“Just reply with your gut feeling.”

A beat of silence as Aria replied to the text.

“What did you say?”

“I liked hanging out too. I have a test coming up that I need to study for so I’m going to be busy for the next couple of days.”

“But you have no tests until three weeks from now.”

“I know,” Aria  sighed.

They rode in silence after that, both contemplating what the message meant, while Hannah panicked about June’s role in all of this. While she wanted her two friends to get together, she didn’t want to manipulate the situation by steering it in the direction she wanted it to go. So she stayed quiet about it, hoping that Aria would eventually come to the right conclusion: that June was obviously her soulmate and that they needed to get together soon so that Hannah could see her ship sail.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Aria said as she got out of the car and headed into her house.

Once she’d showered and gotten ready for bed, she dialed Ren’s number and explained the situation to him, wanting his advice on what she should do.

“It doesn’t hurt to try,” he said, “go out on one date and if you like him then go out on another and if you don’t, have Soran scare him off for you. And it’s coffee it’s nothing serious.”

“Do you think I should?”

“I think you should do what you want to do, and do what makes you happy.”

For a moment, June sprang to mind, sitting in the car watching cat videos. She smiled sadly, remembering the events of the day, playing the scenarios out through her head and laughing at herself when she’d thought that June had been jealous.

“I’ll call you back,” Aria said, hanging up the phone and dialing another number.

“Hello?” June had answered and she began to explain the situation to him, along with her anxieties.

“Do you like him?” he asked, tone almost sounding sad.

“I think so. I’m not really sure.”

For a moment, June was silent, contemplating what to say. He wanted to tell her that she shouldn’t go on a date with Cedric because Cedric wasn’t good enough. Because Cedric didn’t know her anxieties, her fears, the way June knew them, the way June knew her. Because Cedric wouldn’t let her put dorky cat ears on him, wouldn’t watch Tangled and The Little Mermaid with her almost every month. But June would. And then the conversation with Ren ran through his head. He was being selfish. By keeping her to himself, he kept her suspended and wouldn’t let her move on. Maybe Cedric was better for her because he was braver than June, could do the one thing June could not.

“You should go out with him,” June said softly, “I think you should go out with him.”

“…okay.”

She didn’t know what she had expected. A jealous June, petulant and sulky about Cedric asking her out? Claiming that she shouldn’t go out with Cedric and that she should go out with June instead?

“Yeah, okay. I’ll say’ yes’,” she said, her voice beginning to shake. She said her goodbyes before she actually started to cry and calmed herself down. Opening up her messages again, she typed in a new reply.

Me: I’m free on Saturday, if you want to go out for coffee then J

Cedric: That sounds great! See you then!