24 Graduation Day 4 (2/2)

Astounded at the progression of events, Aria's jaw dropped and the three other people in the room all started laughing.

As she realized she had missed out on the joke, Aria pouted and took her phone out from her purse.

Aria scrolled through her playlists before selecting one called '18' and putting in headphones.

Instead of actually hitting play, she pressed on it twice extremely quickly so it paused immediately. Pretending to be fully engaged in her music, she mouthed the words to her favorite song and watched everyone else at the table.

Everyone's faces of happiness gradually crumbled and were replaced with a mix of shock and guilt.

When she saw everyone react like that, she felt really bad instead of finding it funny like she expected and took the headphones out.

”I'm sorry, I was just trying to mess with you...” Aria felt like she had done something horrible and couldn't apologise enough.

Suddenly, Aika hit her shoulder gently and pulled her into a hug. As they were pressed closely together, her mind went blank and she unconsciously sniffed her friend. When Aika pulled away Aria realized what she did and felt her face and ears heat up slightly.

Aika had a cute smirk on her face and spoke slowly, ”It's okay, we've all told bad jokes now, so let's move on?”

Aria nodded a little too eagerly and turned back to her friend's parents. ”I-”

Before she was able to speak, the sliding door opened and a traditionally dressed waiter walked in with the first course of food. The waiter ran his eyes over Aria repeatedly as he set down the food.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, she was about to ask the waiter if anything was the matter when she felt something warm fall over her shoulders and upper body. When she looked to see what it was, her face turned bright red and she found herself unable to speak.

Covering her previously somewhat exposed upper body was Aika's cardigan.

Without a chance to process what happened, her heart was assaulted once again.

Aika spoke coldly with a deadly edge to her voice, ”Please get us a different waiter or I'll be speaking to your boss.”