Hey You

“I didn’t know you knew how to play the piano.”

June’s soft playing was abruptly stopped, being scared by the new voice in the room. She turned around on the bench.

“Didn’t know you could sing so well either.”

Her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

“Oh h-hi Sam,” she greeted softly, mussing with her hair. “You’re early.”

The young man let out a small laugh as he took a seat at a desk, backpack dropping at his feet.

“Ah yeah. Class ended early for once, so I thought I’d just head over here early for the meeting.”

He gave her a warm smile and it took everything inside of her to stop her heart from beating out of her chest. He always made her feel like this. Like at any moment she would melt into a puddle on the floor.

“So how long have you been playing?” he asked her, getting comfortable in his seat.

June hummed as she moved to completely face him.

“To be completely honest with you, I don’t really know how to play. I just memorized a few songs.”

She motioned to the keys behind her. “They do all the work. I just remember which key to hit when.”

Sam shrugged with a light chuckle. Oh June would love to hear that forever.

“Sounds like knowing how to play to me,” he responded playfully. “Definitely got something under your fingers.”

He continued just as June was starting to get up.

“Do you mind finishing? It sounded really pretty.”

June was taken aback, hand hovering over the key cover. She was just about to close it then get set up for the club meeting. But he wanted her to keep playing?

Nerves immediately flooded her senses. She hadn’t really played for anyone besides some family and close friends. Now her crush wanted her to play? How could she when her brain was short circuiting at the thought? Nonetheless she sat back down, facing the piano.

“It’s okay to say no. I didn’t want to put you on the spot. Especially you were in here by yourself.”

June shook her head, steeling her nerves. She was going to play for him. Maybe he might be impressed and want to-

Not the time for that. That’ll make you nervous.

Flexing her hands, she took a deep, calming breath then carefully placed her fingers down and began to play. Sam watched with a rapt and warm curiosity.

Then June started to sing. Much like her piano skills, her voice was simple and pretty.

Sam had never heard the song before, but he made a mental note to ask June what it was called so he could listen to it.

It was pleasant but it had a sense of longing to it. Like having something on the tip of your tongue but holding back at the last moment.

A feeling June was quite familiar with these days. 

For two and half years, she’s had a crush on Sam.

So many times she wanted to tell him. Normally she was a very confident person but when it to him, she turned into a shy little girl. There was just something about Sam that wanted her to confess how she felt in the most perfect way. She wanted to do it face to face but that proved difficult over her new shyness. Messages seemed to impersonal. When she landed on a letter, she thought it was the perfect solution.

Until it was time to deliver it. She couldn’t bring herself to give it to him in person and he hardly ever used his mailbox in the dorms. So that sealed letter had been teasing her on her desk ever since.

Now without any fear (well major fear), she was playing for him. This was easy. Something she had done a million times. Just memorize and focus on the notes, the words.

Sam was slowly fading to the back of her mind. Just the feel of the keys and controlling her breathing so she could do both seamlessly. Almost a year of getting both down were finally paying off.

And when she was finished, she looked over at a massively impressed and blown away Sam.

“Wow. That was absolutely lovely,” he complimented. “I could definitely listen to that for at least five more hours. Just a nice constant loop.”

June ducked her head, smiling bashfully as a quiet thank you passed her lips.

“Do you do this before every meeting?” Sam asked.

She nodded. “Pretty much. There’ll be some days that I don’t feel like it but those are few and far between."

Sam acknowledged her words as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I guess I gotta hope class gets out early more often so I can hear more.”

June waved her hands, shocked by his words. He really needed to stop before she exploded.

“I only really know four songs and bits and pieces of others, so I hardly doubt you’d want to listen to that.”

Before Sam could answer, the door opened and the rest of the club members came in, filling the room with voices. The one rising above the rest was one belonging to their rambunctious president.

“Good evening June Bug!”

Who also happened to be the young woman’s cousin and Sam’s best friend. Which were the only reasons he was allowed to get away with calling her that awful nickname.

June gave him a pinched smile. “Good evening Thomas.”

The man grinned until he saw Sam, surprise written all over his face.

“Sam? You’re early.”

“Class let out early.”

“Ah. I sent you a text, but I guess your phone was still on silent,” Thomas said as he headed to his spot in the front.

Sam pulled out his phone out of his pocket.

“Oh. Sorry man.”

“It’s fine,” Thomas replied, shrugging off the apology.

He then said something in Spanish that caused Sam to cough and bow his head. Thomas snickered, June wondering what was said between the two.

It was times like this where she regretted taking French instead.

But a few moments later, the meeting got started. Throughout the time, she could feel eyes staring at her. It was Sam. When they made eye contact, he smiled at her-so warm and bright and-

She was not going to read into it. She wasn't.

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“And then there was the smile! All the meeting smiles! What do you think that means?”

June and another club member, her friend Victoria, were currently eating lunch in the cafe area of the student center. They were currently talking about the new developments in June and Sam’s relationship.

It had been a little over a month since Sam started coming to meetings early and every time, June would play the piano and sing. Sometimes she would stop sooner than usual so they could talk. Twice a week like clockwork. Soon they started spending time together outside of meetings. A few days ago they caught lunch at a bistro near the library, afterwards going to study.

Then studying turned to talking. For three hours.

“Sounds like you guys are soft dating,” Victoria said as she wiped her mouth. “You talk to him about this?”

June shook her head wildly.

“Of course not!” she exclaimed. “Are you crazy? Why would I do something like that?”

“Because you have in the past?”

Victoria blinked at her friend, raising her brows.

“Why is Sam so different?”

“I-I don’t know,” June replied. “He just is. Or maybe it’s because he’s not a jerk like the others?”

“Ah. Now we’re getting somewhere.”

The blond leaned forward on her hands.

“You’re scared to tell him because he’s nice. This goes wrong and you get rejected, you’ll actually feel bad.”

She tsk’d as June’s facial expression basically confirmed her words.

“I still think you should talk to him about it,” she suggested. “Maybe he feels the same way you do and wants to pursue something more with you.”

“I doubt it,” she responded, slightly down. “Like you said. He’s nice. He wouldn’t be interested in me and the only reason we’re hanging out so much now is because we’re becoming friends.”

Even she cringed at how bitterly she said the innocent word.

“Something tells me this isn’t about friendship,” Victoria said. “Talk to him either before or after the meeting tonight.”

June could feel the butterflies starting to flutter in her stomach at the idea.

“Alright. I’ll do it,” she finalized.

“Finally. It’s been two years.”

June scoffed as she threw a fry at her friend’s forehead, the blond laughing in response.

As their conversation drifted off to other topics, what June would say to Sam was stuck firmly in the front of her mind.

And stayed there throughout her classes and the rest of the day.

She was relieved when she saw the piano in the meeting room. She placed her things in her usual spot then made a beeline for it. When she took a seat and did some quick chords on the keys, she already felt more relaxed. Before she could actually start playing, a warm voice came from the door.

“Hey You.”

The butterflies started up all over with a renewed vigor as Sam walked in with his bright smile.

“Hey You,” she replied with a shy grin.

“You start yet?” he asked as he dropped his bag and slipped into his seat.

“No was just about to though.”

Sam didn’t say more, just sat back and relaxed as June performed. He closed his eyes, but his eyebrows rose when he heard the first notes.

It was one of the pieces she was working on getting under her fingers. From the sound of it, she was starting to perfect it.

Pride bloomed in his grin. But as soon as it started, eventually it ended.

“Wow you’ve improved quite a lot on that,” Sam applauded. “You must’ve been putting in some work.”

June nodded. “A few parts were giving me a hard time, but I managed.”

“Good job. You’ll be competing with the pros in no time.”

June laughed as she pushed away from the piano. “I don’t know about that. I’ll stick to playing for fun if you don’t mind.”

Sam shrugged, letting out a chuckle.

“Very well then. I suppose I have to scratch that off the potential date list.”

Sam immediately placed his head in his hands as June stared at him with surprise in her eyes.

“Please pretend that-”

“You want to go on a date with me?”

Sam uncovered his face and looked over at the woman. She had a smile, easing the nerves that tried to bubble to the surface.

“Uh yeah. I’ve been trying to ask for a while but I kept stopping at the last second.”

Sam stood up and walked over to June.

“For the past two years, I’ve been trying to build up the courage to ask you out and of course I would just blurt it out.”

He shook his head.

“Anyways. June would you like to go out on a date with me?”

June placed a finger on her chin, pretending to think about it.

“I’ll go.”

Sam grinned.

“On one condition.”

The man listened intently. 

“You have to go on a date with me.”

Sam was about to ask what she meant, brows furrowing, when it dawned on him.

“Sounds like a good a deal to me,”

He beamed as he grasped her hand and laced their fingers together.

“Ugh finally.”

June and Sam faced the door. Thomas and Victoria entered, the president applauding slowly.

“I thought I’d be long gone by the time this happened.”

“It’s a good thing we joined forces,” Victoria said, brushing her hair off her shoulder. “Combined they didn’t stand a chance.”

June’s brows knitted. “What are you talking about?”

The two had matching deadpan expressions.

“We set this up,” they stated together.

Sam was shocked.

“You set this up?”

“Of course,” Thomas retorted, pointing at his friend. “I got tired of hearing you whine about June.”

He then pointed to June. “And I got tired of watching you pine over Sam. So Victoria and I made sure you two got some alone time together.”

Sam folded his arms.

“How’d you do that?”

“By blocking the meeting room door,” Victoria answered. “You really didn’t notice that we were all coming in at the same time?”

June looked everywhere as Sam’s face flushed. Thomas laughed at the embarrassment radiating off of them.

“Wow. You lovebirds really were wrapped up in your own little world.”

Thomas waved a hand.

“And it really took so long-”

He shook his head.

“I suppose we have to plan your date too?”

Sam hummed as he glanced over at June.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” he responded.

June gazed back, a fond smile brightening her face.

“Yeah. I think we’ll be able to handle this on our own.”