"He's your brother?" I asked again dumbly.

They both nodded.

My gaze shifted towards Aiden's. I grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into a random closet labeled 'Janitor'. Also, it was the first place I spotted where we could speak in private.

"What are we doing?" He frowned.

"He's your brother! Why is that such a big deal?!"

"Because," he started, his expression annoyed again. "It's Jay. You don't know him."

I blinked. Once. Twice.

"Could you get any more vague than that?"

He looked down at his feet for a second before letting out a sigh and looking back up at me.

"Everyone likes Jay. They all do."

My blank expression remained.

They all do?

"Get out." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Wait, what?"

"Get out," I repeated, pressing my lips into a straight line.

"You're not going to ask any more questions? June, why did you even drag us in here in the first place then? Are you kiddi-"

"Just be quiet." I opened the door and walked out. "I have a photoshoot to finish."

--

Aiden couldn't seem to get his eyes off me as we walked back to the car, and although I could only see him from the corner of my eye, I knew that a frown was resting on his face.

I continued walking, trying my best to ignore his stare. My fingers awkwardly fiddled with the hem of my shirt and I kept my eyes set on his car, determined to arrive at my final destination without budging. To my displeasure, however, Aiden couldn't seem to contain himself any longer and decided to blurt out his thoughts.

"I'm sorry."

I continued walking.

A groan from Aiden followed.

"June," he whined.

I continued walking.

"I'm sorry. I really am."

Step. Step.

He rested his hand on my shoulder, causing me to stop walking.

"What?" I said. It was a rather dumb question, considering I knew exactly what he wanted.

"I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have spazzed out on you like that."

I let my expression soften, noticing he seemed genuinely sorry about his actions. I drew my bottom lip in between my teeth, unsure on what to say. My gaze still remained locked with his, my hazel eyes finally giving into the green ones that stared at me in a pleading manner for mercy.

"Fine," I said firmly. "I guess I shouldn't have tried making you jealous. It's not your fault that it's your job," I added, finally allowing myself to swallow my pride.

He beamed at me before pulling me in for a hug, my cheek pressed against his chest.

"I knew you couldn't be mad at me for too long, cupcake."

"Don't push it, dude," I mumbled, rolling my eyes playfully.

A moment later, I finally escaped his embrace and I started running towards his car.

"Hey!" He yelled, running after me. I quickly opened the car door when I reached the black vehicle and slipped inside it, immediately buckling up.

A moment later, Aiden allowed himself inside as well and looked at me with an amused grin plastered on his face. He raised an eyebrow when he realized I looked just about ready to go.

"I swear you're bipolar." He chuckled, shaking his head at me, his dark hair falling on his face. His hand quickly pushed it out of the way and then he turned to look at me again.

"Would you rather me be permanently angry?" I told him, a teasing smile playing on my lips.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Can't argue with you on that one." He laughed, his hand reaching into the keyhole and turning on the car.

As we began driving through the city, I realized neither of us really knew where we were going. It really felt like everything was a vagary whenever I was with him.

"So, what are we doing?" I asked, my eyes fixed on the tall buildings around us.

I didn't like this part of town much. It was near Times Square and I didn't particularly enjoy all the tourists everywhere all the time. Besides, there were much better places to hang around.

"I know just the place. You'll love it." He smiled cheekily. I immediately raised an eyebrow, knowing he was probably taking me somewhere I wouldn't actually love. Something about that smile was sketchy.

"Something tells me you're lying." I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

"Just enjoy the ride, cupcake."

I sighed.

When we stopped at a red light, he pulled out his phone for a second and began typing something. A moment later, he put it away.

The light turned green again and we—well, he, continued driving.

--

"Cuban?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, I don't see anything wrong with Cuban restaurants," I admitted as Aiden took my hand and led me into the cute, little restaurant. He smiled.

"Oh, I'm glad to hear that." He didn't meet my eyes.

I furrowed my eyebrows together in confusion but we just continued walking towards the entrance, the hispanic music growing louder as we neared the entrance. When we finally reached it, Aiden opened the door for me and we allowed ourselves in. I let a soft smile on my face as I was met by the lively atmosphere around us, loud music and people talking loudly inside the small, dim-lighted restaurant. There were several people dancing in the middle of the room, all of them with a partner. Most of them were very good, the guys spinning the girls and the girls swaying their hips perfectly. I smiled at the view.

"Hello! How many?" The host greeted us, a welcoming smile on his face.

"A table for four, please."

"Four?" I whispered to Aiden as the man led us to our table.

He set down the menus and silverware and then we took a seat as he walked back to the front, greeting the rest of the customers.

"Yes, four." Aiden lifted up the menu and began looking at our meal options.

"Who else is coming?" I asked, lifting up my own menu but keeping my eyes on him.

"Blake and Blue," he started. "I hope you don't mind but I'm getting us the ham croquettes."

I opened my mouth to speak but he raised his index finger up.

"I promise you'll love them."

I laughed.

"Okay." I shook my head playfully and began looking at the menu again. After a few minutes of trying to figure out what I wanted, I finally made up my mind. However, we decided to wait until our friends arrived to order our food.

"So, why did you pick Cuban out of all places?" I asked.

"Well, first of all, Cuban is delicious. Secondly, I thought it'd be fun," he said, grinning at the end of his sentence.

"Why fun?"

"Because you, m'lady, are dancing with me." He stood up and offered me his hand. I didn't take it.

"No way. I can't dance!"

He let out a laugh.

"Then I guess today you will be receiving your first dance lesson," he told me, before taking my hand and pulling me out of my seat, immediately dragging me onto the 'dance floor'.

He placed one hand on my waist and the other entwined with my hand, leaving my free hand to be placed on his shoulder.

"Okay, just let your feet follow mine. And follow the music, of course." He began moving his feet the same way everyone else was doing and, although I was doing pretty well at first, I eventually lost track and accidentally ended up stepping on his foot.

"Oh, dang it. Sorry. Ugh, this is hard," I grumbled, mainly to myself. He chuckled.

"It's okay. Try again."

We started dancing again and, after several awkward feet bumps, stepping on his foot a couple more times, and spinning the wrong way, I finally got the hang of it. I followed through a lot more smoothly and even began to sway my hips, letting myself go along with the music. Aiden began laughing, an impressed and amused smile on his face.

"Oooh, there you go, cupcake." He whistled, twirling me around. I let a smile on my face that soon turned into a full grin.

"You're pretty good at this," I admitted, trying to speak over the loud music.

"I know." He winked, and then spun me around again and did the famous dance move where the guy pretends to drop the girl but catches her just on time, making the final product result in their just a few mere inches apart. Both of us stood there for about three seconds, just grinning at each other like idiots.

Suddenly, he pulled me back up and I noticed three familiar faces making their way towards us. A huge grin spread across Blue's face as her gaze fell on us while Blake clapped slowly, his eyes shining with amusement. Jay, on the other hand, just shook his head playfully at his brother and I.

I gave Aiden a quick glance and immediately noticed his change of expression. What had been a playful grin just a few seconds ago had now turned into a slight scowl, his eyes narrowed in confusion.

As soon as the three of them reached us, we all walked back to the table.

"Hey, dude," Blake said, to which Aiden replied with an eyebrow raise as he looked at Jay in a questioning manner.

Blake chuckled.

"Oh, yeah. I was already with Jay when I got your text. I heard he was in town so we decided to chill. I hope you don't mind me bringing him."

Jay smirked.

"Well, it's not like I have much of a choice now, do I?" Aiden laughed a fake laugh.

"Wait, how do you know Jay?" I asked Blake.

"Well, Aiden and I have been friends since we were like seventeen. So, obviously, I was bound to meet Jay at some point," he explained, shooting me a smile.

"I had no idea you guys already knew each other. No wonder you've both been close since the first day." I shook my head at myself as the epiphany revealed itself to me.

"But the real question is how do you know Jay? He hasn't been in town until today," Blake questioned me.

"I had the pleasure of meeting June earlier today. At the art gallery. We did the shoot together," Jay responded for me, and Blake raised his eyebrows in surprise and quickly looked at Aiden. Aiden rolled his eyes in response.

"Hm, what a small world."

Awkward silence.

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry. Let's order some food," Blue said. I'd almost forgotten she was here.

Blake smiled at her.

"Sounds good to me."

--

After our food arrived, conversation sparked and what seemed like an awkward situation turned out to be an interesting opportunity to learn a lot about each other. To my surprise, despite several flirty comments Jay would shoot my way, Aiden actually kept his calm and ignored most of them.

"So, why are you in town anyways?" Aiden finally asked his brother.

"Mom and dad told me they needed me. Apparently you're not around there much anymore. I wonder why," he replied, glancing at me with a small smirk playing on his lips and then fixing his gaze back on Aiden.

"Oh." He took a bite out of a ham croquette. "Yeah, I've been working on this project for the art course. June and I are partners so I haven't had much time to be at our gallery lately," he explained, and Jay let out a dry laugh.

"Why are you even in that stupid course? You already have a career in the art world." Jay rolled his eyes in annoyance, taking a bite of his own croquette.

Aiden narrowed his eyes at him for a second before speaking again.

"I don't settle with mommy and daddy's work. I, unlike you, actually like accomplishing things on my own." Aiden shot him a sarcastic smile, which only earned him a cold stare from his younger brother.

"Ooooooh, burn!" Blue said very maturely, earning herself an amused chuckle from Aiden, but he didn't take his eyes off his brother.

"Will you stop it? I don't need another cat fight from you two," Blake said, snapping both boys out of their staring contest.

Jay rolled his eyes but let a small smile onto his face.

"Sure thing, Momma Dawson."

I almost choked on my empanada whereas Blue burst into a fit of laughter, both of us incredibly amused at Jay's nickname selection.

"Momma Dawson?" Blue snorted, causing Aiden to begin laughing too.

"I'm gonna start calling you that," Aiden said, a deep chuckle followed.

Blake joined in on our laughter, but I didn't miss the slightly tainted color that now rested on his cheeks.

"I hate all of you." He crumpled up a napkin and threw it at Jay. He immediately caught it and threw it back at the blue eyed boy.

"Any of you ladies care to go back up there and dance with me?" Jay asked, eyeing Blue and I.

Blue grinned widely at his request, instantly standing up and taking Jay's hand as she dragged him to the dance floor. The boy let out an amused laugh, obviously surprised at my best friend's response.

Oh, he clearly doesn't know Blue, I thought.

I turned to look at Blake, who was raising an eyebrow, as he kept his eyes fixed on the scene in front of us; he, too, surprised at Blue's response. I smirked.

"Hey Aiden, do you smell that?"

Aiden sniffed at the air, his eyebrows raising up in fake surprise and his eyes lighting up.

"Is that..." He began, taking another sniff—this time, closer to Blake. Blake's eyebrows knitted together in confusement, clueless to Aiden and I's act.

"Is that jealousy I smell?" He finally said, and I grinned in amusement, happy at the fact Aiden caught on so quickly to what I was trying to say.

You know what they say...great minds think alike.

Blake rolled his eyes playfully as he finally caught on to what we were doing and lightly punched Aiden's arm, who just let out a laugh.

"It ain't so fun when it's your girl he's flirting with, huh?" A teasing smile remained on Aiden's face.

"That's not it," Blake said, shaking his head.

"Oh, sure it isn't. What else would it be?" Aiden replied, his tone more sarcastic than ever.

"I'm just surprised she didn't even hesitate to do so. Most girls are so shy about going up there to dance. Especially if they don't actually know how," Blake said, smiling softly as his eyes settled back on the blonde haired girl on the dance floor.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, buddy," I spoke on behalf of my best friend.

"What?"

"Blue knows how to dance. And she knows it well. Her dad made her take salsa lessons when she was fourteen."

Blake laughed in disbelief.

"Why would he make her do that?" Aiden asked.

"Well, her dad re-married when she was that age. Her step-mom is hispanic, so they would be having a dance during the wedding. He made Blue take salsa lessons for it," I said, smiling at the memory of Blue and I at that wedding.

It was in our eighth-grade year. Just a few months after Blue and I had first become friends. I remember how excited she had been about her dad getting married again. At first it seemed kind of odd to me, knowing most kids hated or had a hard time accepting that a parent would be getting married again, but not Blue.

After their mom left them for some high school sweetheart she had reconnected with, her dad had become very involved with his job. Although he still payed attention to Blue, she had noticed there was some distance between them and stress was starting to get the best of him.

Finally, after a year, her dad met Betty. She was a gorgeous woman. Her tan skin, long and thick dark hair, and beautiful eyelashes were just the right thing to captivate Mr. Bellantoni. And not only was she beautiful, but her personality was something that won not only Mr. Bellantoni's heart, but Blue's as well. She soon became like part of the family to them and it wasn't long before Blue's father proposed.

On the day of the wedding, Blue nailed her dance perfectly. I'd wished to be part of it too, but we weren't close enough yet for me to tell her about my financial life. I was still too intimidated by Blue's wealth and didn't want her to think less of me for not being like her. It was stupid, I know, but at that time, it made sense in my head. I had come up with some dumb excuse about how I couldn't attend classes with her because I had to babysit. In reality, I just couldn't afford it.

Of course, that lie backfired on me the day Mr. Bellantoni met my mother. He had told her how it was a shame I couldn't be part of the performance and my mother, being my mother, obviously had to question it.

"Oh, I had no idea June was offered to be a part of it. Why didn't you tell me about it?" I remember her asking me.

I shrugged.

"She had to babysit," Blue responded for me.

"Since when do you babysit?" My mother asked.

Thankfully, Blue covered for me and lied to her.

"She thought you wouldn't let her get a job so she didn't tell you."

My mother didn't seem quite convinced, but she let it slide—well, in that moment, anyways. When we got home, I'd gotten in trouble. But that story is for some other time.

After Blue found out I'd lied to her about the whole babysitting thing, she demanded I tell her the truth. Finally, after several minutes of being nagged, I told her.

To my surprise, she didn't care. She just laughed it off and told me to stop being silly. A week later, she dragged me along with her to one last salsa class and told me her dad had payed for mine. Ever since then, we practically became like sisters.

Obviously, I'd forgotten everything I learned in that class, but I hadn't forgotten how that one little thing changed our entire friendship.

"Huh, I didn't know Blue had a stepmom," Blake said.

I smiled.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about Blue, dude. You better step up your game because let me tell you, there's a lot to that girl."

"I believe you on that one." He chuckled, and then we watched Jay and Blue dance some more as we continued enjoying our meals.

--

"Now that," Jay pointed at Blue, "was amazing. You're the first girl I've met that can dance almost as well as I can."

Blue gasped, placing a hand over her chest, offended.

"Almost? Please! I'm obviously way better than you."

All of us laughed.

"Believe what you want." Jay smirked playfully.

The smile resting on my face slowly disappeared as my eyes looked down at my ringing phone, a picture of my mother on the screen.

I tapped on the answer button, dreading every bit of it. I let out a sigh of preparation, already knowing how those phone calls usually started.

"Hello?" I said, my tone dull.

"June, I need you to make space for us."

I frowned.

"A hello back would be nice." I rolled my eyes. Aiden frowned, curious as to who seemed to be annoying me so much. I ignored this and began tracing invisible circles on the table, finding the motion visually satisfying.

"Yes, hello, June. Goodness, why are you always making things so complicated?"

I waited for her to stop grumbling.

"Now, your father and I are coming over on the weekend. I need you to make space for us. We have no money for a hotel right now."

"What? Why are you even coming?"

"We want to visit the city. We need a small vacation."

I scoffed.

"So you have no money to stay in some cheap hotel for a few nights but you have time to take a vacation in New York? You know my apartment's small. I have no room," I said stubbornly.

She was silent for a few seconds. I could picture her clenching her jaw, her hazel eyes staring coldly at whatever happened to be in front of her in that moment. It was so like her to do that—to try giving me the guilt trip or trying to make me take back the words I'd said during that silence I was oh-so privileged to have.

Sadly for her, I didn't regret my words one bit.

"I'm your mother and you will do as I say. I provided a house and food for you all your life. Doing me one favor will not hurt you," she said sternly.

"Whatever you say." I narrowed my eyes at the table.

"And I'd like to visit that art gallery you're taking the course at. You never even tell me anything about it."

I let out a bitter laugh.

I never tell her anything? Geez, I wonder why.

"I rather you not." I put my glass up to my mouth and began drinking some of my water.

"I'm doing it whether you like it or not. I already spoke to your teacher. He's giving us a tour of the gallery." I choked on my water.

No. Oh no. No no no. Not Mr. Falkov.

The man would make sure to try and make my life more miserable than he already did.

"At least you're doing something productive for once." She had the audacity to laugh. "I'm glad you're not roaming around with that Miles boy."

I felt my blood begin to boil and I put my glass down on the table, accidentally slightly slamming it.

Everyone on the table turned to look at me, worried and confused expressions painted on their faces.

I mumbled a quick sorry before going back to the conversation I was having on the phone.

"Don't do this again," I glowered, trying to ignore the looks I was getting from everyone around me. At this point, Aiden no longer seemed confused but rather worried.

"Oh, June. Stop being so melodramatic. It's just a boy—"

"No!" I whisper-yelled. I immediately stood up and barged out of the place, aggressively swinging my bag over my shoulder, not bothering to push my chair back in.

As I got past all the people, I felt my cheeks get hot.

"What's going on? Why is it so loud?" My mom asked.

"Look, I'll make sure to have your precious space ready for when you get here. I have to go now, bye." I hung up and called for a taxi.

Suddenly, I felt someone grab my shoulder.

"Hey." I turned around to find Aiden panting. I gulped down the guilt I was feeling.

"What's wrong?" He asked me, worry clouding his features.

I looked at him with pity for a second, knowing he, in no way, shape, or form, deserved my following words.

"I can't do this. That's what's wrong." I looked away, not having enough guts to keep my eyes locked with his.

"What?" His voice came out so soft, it almost didn't sound like him. My stomach felt awful.

I didn't say anything.

"June, I don't understand. I thought we agreed on taking it slow. I'm sorry if I—"

"No. It's not that. I just can't okay?" I whispered, not letting a trace of guilt or sadness in my voice. He couldn't know that I didn't want to break up with him.

But I couldn't deal with my mother judging, yet again, someone else important in my life. She had already ruined so many of my relationships before. And I don't mean with boys.

"June..." He furrowed his eyebrows together in a sad manner.

"No."

"But-"

"No! Can't you understand what 'no' means?" I spat angrily, biting my lip once again to stop myself from sobbing out the ocean of guilt swimming inside me.

I turned around and hopped inside a cab before giving him the chance the say anything. I dared looking out to the window, instantly regretting it, as I stared back at a pretty, black-haired boy standing outside a Cuban restaurant looking confused, sad, and completely and utterly dumbfounded.

And it was all because, just like my mother, I thought of no one but myself.

The irony of this hypocrisy was astounding.

I guess there's a lot of truth in that saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

A/N:

Well that didn't last...oops. Sorry to all of you who were pumped about Jaiden. Those two—well, more like June—always so complicated. Smh.

I hate June's mom. What bout you?

Leave a comment/vote if you liked it (: Also, if you have any suggestions on what should happen with Blue and Blake  please shoot them my way! I never know what to do with those two cuties (': They're so lowkey about everything hahahhah

Happy friday!