I can't think of any cutesy love songs that'd fit as a thread title, consider this a placeholder

[Yugikun]

"Your sugar; yes, please. Won't you come and put it down on me?"

The song on the radio echoed through the cafe as Alvaro Vacanti sprayed down the table, taking the cloth out and wiping the table it was dry. It was a song that he had been hearing a lot at the cafe recently. He had never heard it before the past month or so but now it was playing at least every couple of hours, though. Not that he minded that, though. He liked it. The vocals sounded sweet, and it was the kind of innocent love song that he couldn't help but love listening to. He didn't know what band it was though, that was something he had to check when he got home. It was his favourite song at the moment, although that wasn't really hard. Uptown Funk was now boring and most of the other recurring songs he noticed weren't really his tastes. April seemed to be a month not for his tastes, it seemed.

The table was cleaned down sufficiently enough, so Alvaro took the table number and walked back to the counter with it. Lily was still sitting by herself, poking absentmindedly at a piece of cake. She had been here longer than she had before, and it was clear she wasn't really doing anything. Why was she staying? Did she want to talk to him for some reason? Why would she want to talk to him alone? She was the only customer in the cafe, and it had been nearly half an hour since the last one left. If she wanted to tell him something while he was alone she could have done it by now. Was it something that she had to work up the determination for? He hoped that it was something good. He wasn't sure what he'd do if Lily went up to him and told him that she hated him and never wanted to talk to him again. It was likely, he had been talking to her a lot lately, but he hoped that it wasn't real. If his crush rejected him it'd be the worst thing in the world and he-

"Hey, Al." His uncle clicked his fingers at Alvaro, waving his hand to grab his attention. Alvaro's head snapped to the desk, and Alejandro Vacanti stopped waving his hands. "I gotta go back behind the shop a bit before we close for tonight. You mind taking care of the store while I'm out back?"

Alvaro nodded. "I'm okay with doing that. Do you need help opening the door?"

"Nah, I'm fine." And with that said, his uncle wheeled himself out from behind the counter, and went behind the shop. Him and Lily were the only people in the cafe now. He looked over at her. Still poking at her cake. He could feel his hands shaking. The song was still playing as he wondered what she was going to say to him.

[ViolentMedic]

Lily prodded at her cake moodily. She was not in the mood to go home.

Not only were her parents on her case about running off to school while sick, but her brother was visiting and that meant an evening of being called a christmas elf or something equally demeaning. She didn't want to be rude and impose herself on a nearby cousin, so that left the whole family area off-limits. She hadn't brought her books out to study, or anything else to do.

So now she was stuck here, staring at a piece of cake that she didn't even really want. She just needed an excuse to sit down here so she had somewhere to sit down. And the cafe was usually quiet at this time. She'd had to awkwardly peek in the windows to make sure Caedyn wasn't working a shift, but right now it just seemed to be Alvaro.

She didn't want to bug him while he was working. So she just kept staring at the cake like somehow it held the mystery of the universe, buried somewhere underneath those strawberry layers.

Maybe she should just put the cake in one of those little baggie things and leave. This was probably getting awkward. And that song playing on the radio was grating on her nerves. She'd heard it far too much on the radio lately and there were only so many times she could listen to this kind of thing.

[Yugikun]

Alvaro still stood at the counter, trying to steady his hand as he waited for Lily to turn her head around to talk to him. The song continued to play on the radio and Alvaro tried to block it out of his head, it was far too cheerful for what he was thinking right now. She wanted to talk to him. That's why she had stayed way past when she normally did. He knew that it was something major, considering how long she stayed and her not speaking up right now. But what was major enough to merit her doing this? His mind browsed through possibilities, none of them good. Was she going to say that she hated him? He had messed up enough times to merit that. He had the panic attack at the cafe a couple months ago and he acted strangely with the chili in the cafeteria. He acted weird, and nobody wanted to associate with the weird antisocial people in the school. He knew that he wasn't like that but he knew that the way he had been showing himself could say otherwise and it wouldn't be too odd for her to think that he was possibly weird for doing those things.

Or even worse, she figured out he liked her. If she came here to reject him it'd just about be the worst thing in the world. He knew that he said it for everything but this time it was true. She'd reject him and then she'd laugh at him and he'd never be able to work up the courage to speak to her again.

He hoped that neither was true, but at this point both possibilities likely were true. All he knew was that she was in the cafe alone with him and that it was almost 7 PM and that if she didn't speak up now the cafe was going to close and she wouldn't be able to tell him about anything. His hand was still shaking, despite his attempts to hold it in place. If she was going to do what she was going to do, she had to do it now. If she didn't then she wouldn't be able to and it was likely that they'd never get the chance to be alone together again and then he'd graduate and would likely never see it again. She had to do it now. She had to speak now or else she'd forever hold her peace, or however the saying went.

No.

No, he had to do it. His mind went back to last year, where Min-Jae and Isaac got mad at each other and left the library. Alvaro had gotten the book report done by himself but when the day came to turn it in Min-Jae submitted his own report and the teacher gave them a C for failing to work as a group. If they were actually able to work as a group, if they were actually able to work together at the library, they could have gotten an A for the assessment. If Alvaro had spoken up at the library, they could have done that; but instead, he stayed quiet as he always did and paid the consequences for it. Isaac left. Min-Jae got pissed and followed, leaving Alvaro alone to fail the assessment.

And it was his fault. His fault for not speaking up at the library. His fault for being a terrible group member. His fault for failing them. If he had spoke up, had actually done something, maybe they could have succeeded. If he had stood up for himself, stopped taking the background when arguments arose, maybe things would be okay. Maybe people would like him then. He'd be seen as someone who could actually stand up for himself.

So no, he had to be the one to talk. He had to be the one to approach her. He could feel that his hand was still shaking. He let go of it. He took steps, slow at first, before speeding up to his usual pace. There was a seat across from where Lily was sitting, and he sat himself down, pressing his hand down on the table as he did so.

"Hi." He said, turning to face her. It sounded a little odd. A little loud, sudden; as if he had blurted it out. He didn't notice. He needed to get the truth from her and he didn't care how he looked.

[ViolentMedic]

...That hello was louder than Lily expected.

She looked up to see that Alvaro had sat down across from her. Combined with the loudness and the way he had his hand pressed on the table—that was not a relaxed posture—it made Lily wonder if she'd overstepped some boundary.

It was getting late, especially for a cafe... perhaps she was stopping him from closing up and going home.

"Hello. ...Am I stopping you from closing up? I can leave, if that's the case."

Although even as she said it, she dismissed the notion. At least partially. Maybe she needed to leave, but she didn't think Alvaro was the type to raise his voice over it.

Lily tilted her head, eying Alvaro with mild confusion.

[Yugikun]

Lily jumped at what he said. Oh no, was he too loud? He was, wasn't he? Did he scare her? Hopefully he didn't, it'd make him look more worse than he already was right now. He was already overstepping boundaries by just approaching her. Oh god, if she thought of him as a creep there would be literally nothing worse that could happen to Alvaro. Wait, no, calm down, she's going to talk to you. Breathe in, breathe out. Just handle this like you normally would, don't act creepy, and everything will be fine. Have Lily talk, hope that it's not something terrible, and you don't have to fret anymore. He placed his hand off the table, and under the table, grabbing it with his other hand to prevent it from shaking. Good, just act normal and everything will work out.

She then asked him if she was stopping him from closing up, saying that she could leave if she needed to. He jumped back a little at that. Didn't she want to talk to him? That was what she was staying here for, right? She wanted to talk to him about something that could only really be talked about while they were alone and he had no idea what it was and he had no idea whether it was good or bad and he was scared just thinking about it. Sure, was the one who approached her, but he had to. If he was going to get anywhere he had to stand up for himself; not be the person in the library who messed up everything because he stayed back and looked away. He was a leader now, he had been elected soccer captain only a couple of days ago; and standing up and charging forth was what leaders did, right? If he had to do it again, then so be it. He just needed to get the words out there and not be weird about it.

"No, no, you can stay! I just thought you wanted to talk to me, is all."

[ViolentMedic]

"I didn't want to bother you while you were working. I was just... this cafe is nice, and... I mean, not that you're not nice, uh... if you want to talk, that's also good. I just don't have anything specific to say. But if you're off-work or nearly off-work..."

She shrugged. She didn't know where she was going with that. She couldn't blame him for the assumption. Although what things were so important that she'd wait over half an hour to talk to him were beyond her. If she'd needed to talk urgently she would have interrupted him, but she couldn't think of anything that would warrant it.

"Did you want to talk?"

She fidgeted with the fork, still prodding at the barely touched cake.

[Yugikun]

Wait wait wait wait wait no no no no no. She didn't want to talk? Did he will himself up to do this for nothing? Oh no oh no oh no no no no no. He looked like even more of an idiot than he had before! He had to fix it up, he had caused enough damage with his entrance and miss-assumption as it was, if he caused more he didn't know how he'd be able to look at Lily again. He had to take this slowly, not mess up like he always did.

"Sorry, um..."

No no no no. Words were what he needed. Stuttering through his sentence wasn't going to do very good for him. People didn't talk to the kid who couldn't even form a coherent sentence. He needed to fess up. Be honest. Admit that he messed up. It was, again, the story of him being the soccer captain and the story of him messing up in the library. He had to be an outgoing leader so that he couldn't fail and bring shame to himself. He considered letting go of his hand, but he decided to keep it in place, just in case. Breathe in.

"Sorry, I thought you um... wanted to talk to me, or something." And breathe out. He made it. He made it through the sentence without making himself look further like an idiot. He let go of his hand. Nothing to be worried about. She asked him if he wanted to talk. He responded:

"Um... sure! I wouldn't mind talking! Don't really know what to talk about, though..."

[ViolentMedic]

Well, talking was something to do, and it sure beat sitting here, staring at a slice of cake. As long as he wanted to talk, it was fine. Then again, he didn't seem to know what to talk about, either. Maybe he'd noticed she hadn't been turning up at the cafe as often lately, and decided that this would get her to visit more. Good impressions and all that. ...No, that was a stupid amount of effort for one person who occasionally bought cake.

She put her fork down and laced her fingers together.

"Did you have a look at those chess books I leant you? Anything interesting?"

She felt her phone go off in her pocket, buzzing quietly. As she waited for a reply from Alvaro, she fumbled the phone a little underneath the desk and tried to turn it off without looking too obvious.

[Yugikun]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the bumbling wreck that everyone hated came back. He fidgeted a little in his seat. He knew that the chairs and cushions of the cafe were supposed to be comfortable - the customers had told him themselves - but the one Alvaro was sitting in felt incredibly uncomfortable for some reason, almost as if he was sitting on a rock. It was probably the situation, he figured. He was sitting on a table with the girl he loved and he had just done something incredibly stupid and awkward and now she thought that he was weird, however good or bad that was. His hand had stopped, though, and he let go of it for what seemed to be the third time in the past minute or so. His hands grabbed the back of the chair he was on, and he hoisted himself so that he sat more properly.

Lily then asked him about the chess books. Chess Books? He wasn't sure what she was talking about...

...

Oh right! The Chess Books! The gift she gave to him back during that day at the cafe with Adelaide and Jasper! He hadn't gotten the chance to read them that much, though. School reared his ugly head and meant that between that and the cafe he was never really free. Still, he couldn't disappoint her, though. It was her gift to him, and he couldn't mock her gesture, especially considering this was Lily he was talking to. He needed to think of something quick. Um...

"Yeah! There was some cool stuff in there! Um..."

Wait, no. No stuttering, Alvaro. You've hurt yourself too much already. Just say something. If it's wrong, its wrong.

"I learned about a couple openings that I could use, like the... Silician Dragon, and things like that. I haven't been able to put them into practice, though."

[ViolentMedic]

Lily managed to switch off her phone without being obvious and stuck it back in her pocket before picking up her fork again.

Lily nodded slightly. "Right. That's the opening that involves... you fianchetto the bishops or something like that?"

She remembered the word fianchetto through looking through the book, but she couldn't remember what a fianchetto actually was. Or what that meant for the Sicilian Defence. She was sure it was important. Although she could be thinking of a different chess opening.

Oh well. If she was wrong, then she was wrong.

She stuck a forkful of cake in her mouth while waiting for the reply.

[Yugikun]

Chess. Chess talk. He could do that. He hadn't been able to play for the past few months and he was terrible at it and he had forgot to read the chess books, but he could still talk about it. His seat still felt like he was laying on a rock, and he squirmed, trying to find the chink of the chair that he could actually lay on. Sicilian dragon. That was the opening that involved moving both knights, right? He had never used it, he normally preferred other openings, but apparently it was one of the best possible openings he could do.

"Yeah, you move the bishop in front of the knight. Not something I really use, though. I prefer using..."

Quick, think of an opening. Um...

"Lechester's Attack. That's what I like using." He wasn't sure if that was a real opening or not. He knew that there was something with L in its name. Caused a lot of forks and mindgames which would guarantee a win, or something like that. He didn't know. The song on the radio had ended and now they were sitting in silence, alone.

[ViolentMedic]

"I haven't heard of that one. What does it mean?"

Did the room just get way more silent? It was probably because that song had ended (thank god). Lily chewed on another mouthful of cake. Yeah, she was getting the sense of something super awkward being in the air. She was fairly certain she was supposed to leave. That the place needed to close up and Alvaro felt too awkward to say anything. She started removing another chunk of cake with her fork, this one larger than normal.

Finish her cake quickly and leave. That seemed like a good option. One that would save face all around.

[Yugikun]

Wait, no, ugh. She asked him what Lechester's attack was. He wasn't really expecting that. "Um..." Quick, think of something. Doesn't have to be true. She doesn't know what it is so it's likely that she wouldn't catch you out on your lie. His seat still wasn't comfortable, no matter what he did. Maybe he should talk to his dad about this? Maybe they'd get more customers if the chairs were comfy.

"It's an attack that basically guarantees the safety of your um... king the first few rounds, with a couple of tricks in between. You move the right pawn, knight, and bishop so you can get a castle as quickly as possible. There's some um... other stuff there, but I can't remember what it is."

Still squirming. Worth asking.

"By the way... um... are you having any issues with these chairs? I can't seem to make myself comfortable on these."

[ViolentMedic]

Okay. He was uncomfortable. He was definitely uncomfortable. And over the course of those few sentences, Lily had managed to quietly demolish most of her cake. Half an hour and she'd barely made a dent in it, but a few sentences later she was done. She nodded as Alvaro wrapped up his explanation.

When he asked her the question about the chairs, she held one hand in front of her mouth, still trying to finish chewing the cake—and there was nothing like eating a slice of cake that fast to really put her off chewing on cake—and raised her other hand for a moment to say 'wait a moment.'

Once she was done, she said, "These chairs feel fine to me. Maybe you've just been standing or sitting for too long? You should probably rest."

She moved to stand up.

"Also, it's late, so I should probably go?"

[Yugikun]

Lily went through her cake before answering Alvaro, and he just watched her, for a bit. He couldn't really help it. Every time she did so much as get into his sight he just became... lighter for some reason. Just being near her made him happy. She'd open the door of the cafe in the afternoon waving and the world would literally be perfect, just for that moment. It was dumb, he knew; but he loved it anyway. Maybe that was why he was so scared that she hated him, she had just done so much good for him that her being away would just... hurt. After the incident in the library, for example. She was there at the cafe that day and he felt better about himself, for a bit.

He smiled, slightly. He loved her, but he could never admit it to her. If she rejected him and left his life he didn't know what he would do. So he kept quiet about it. Watched, from afar. He talked to her, of course; but he tried to keep his feelings out of it. He didn't want to risk accidentally revealing anything to her. In the eyes of everyone else, they were friends, and that was just it.

But when she began to stand up, saying that she should go, he realised that he couldn't do that. He had to be the leader. He had to be the captain. He had to be strong and brave so that he could take over the cafe when he grew up. He couldn't let her leave. He wanted her to stay. Sure, the cafe was going to close soon, but every moment she was with him was a moment that he was happy, and he didn't want to rob himself of that.

"No, um, please stay!" He almost stood up from his chair, pushing it back slightly before he sat back down. His hands went up, and they waved in the air a little bit. He wasn't even sure how he looked, now. He just knew again that he had to do what he had to do, no matter how silly he looked.