"H-Hey Rise-chan, look who asked me out last week."

"Yeah I decided to go out with this idiot, I'm interested in giving it a shot."

"We were waiting for the right time to tell you guys, looks like the secret's out now."

I couldn't believe it. I found out that Yosuke and Chie hooked up, Naoto and Kanji were secretly dating for a while, and most importantly Senpai asked out Yukiko. Where did that come from? It was flabbergasting to hear that everyone was dating. Why was I left out in all this fun? And to think that Senpai actually liked me, I was definitely wrong about him. This meant that everyone was going to be lovey-dovey and I was going to be the jealous loner, I couldn't let that happen. But at the same time, I didn't want to be desperate and and try to date just anybody, I wanted it to be someone special and whenever I was ready for that kind of commitment.

After school, everyone was telling me that they have plans to go out and eat dinner together and all that boring couple stuff. I have to admit it made me feel a bit sour. I didn't want to feel sorry for myself but I couldn't help it. Oh well, looks like I was going to be home alone tonight.

And then it suddenly hit me. There was someone else who wasn't dating, well at least that I knew of.

Teddie. No not him! There was no way that I would even consider being his girl, that would just be weird. He's not even human afterall so who knows what's beneath those clothes. Ugh, why me? This has to be one of the worse case scenarios ever. Why do I have to be stuck with Teddie? Now that the news was out and everyone had their own partner, I knew that Teddie would be bugging me any day now.

Before going home, I decided to eat lunch outside of Junes like the whole gang used to do. I opened my bento box and started eating the warm tilapia with my white rice and soy sauce. It tasted delicious, the fish just melted in my mouth. I knew some people would spot me and start taking out their cameras to take a picture of me but I got tired of hiding all the time so I decided that it just wasn't worth it. But I expected people to make a big deal out of me eating by myself.

As I was eating, I thought I saw Chie and Yosuke holding hands and walking to Junes. It was a really awkward sight, something I thought I would never see. I decided to wave to them but they couldn't see me. But it looked like they were arguing about something, as usual.

"Hi Rise-chan! What are you doing here all alone? You look like you could use some company."

And there he was, Teddie. He had came up to me suddenly with his usual cheerful and flirtatious attitude without his mascot costume, plopping on the seat right next to me. Oh gosh, not now. What did he want with me? I would actually prefer if he wore his costume in public more often, it's much more charming.

"How come you didn't invite me to lunch?" he pouted, resting his elbows on the table and leaning closer to me.

"Well I thought everyone was busy today. You've said before that it's not always easy coming out here so I didn't want to bother you. Besides, I can handle alone time just fine." I smiled reassuringly.

"Well I'll always make time for you babe." he winked, moving his chair even closer to me to the point it made me uncomfortable. I scooted away from him a bit, feeling annoyed how he wasn't giving me space to breathe.

"Thanks Teddie." I started eating my food faster, trying to get out of this situation as quickly as possible.

"You know Rise-chan, you have such beautiful eyes. I honestly can't stop staring at them!" he giggled again and again, so much that I thought I wouldn't be able to get that sound out of my head.

"Teddie you don't have to flatter me so much. I just came here to eat and that's all." I said, sounding vexed.

"Rise-chan, you're dropping food all over your lap." he gasped in surprise, looking down at my white pants now stained with spots of dark soy sauce and pieces of my fish. Looks like I wasn't eating a little too fast, my bad.

"I'll help you Rise-chan, I'm beary good at this kind of thing." he grabbed some napkins on the table and started wiping it all over my jeans, which just smeared the mess and made them look even worse than they did earlier.

"Oh my, Teddie! What are you doing?!" I gasped, trying to push his face away from my jeans and prevent him from making measures worse.

"Hey look, Risette has a boyfriend now!"

"What the hell are they doing?"

This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. I didn't want to be alone with Teddie and for people to see him making a fool out of himself, I knew he would only embarrass me and I was right. I heard the two boys talking about me and I wasn't sure what to say exactly. I wanted to shut them out but they didn't stop. I pushed Teddie's face away from my jeans, my cheeks flushed with total embarrassment.

"Oh silly boys, I was just helping this beautiful lady with a mess she made." he said happily, trying to shrug this awkward moment off, only it didn't seem very awkward for him.

"You guys are a weird couple, doing that kind of thing in public."

"We weren't doing anything, he was trying to clean a stain. And who is this Risette you're talking about?" I asked, acting like I was actually curious to hear an answer to that.

"Wow looks like the rumors were right about Risette being a slut. Seeya later love birds"

Both of the boys left cracking up about the occurence they shouldn't have stumbled upon. That has to be one of the most embarrassing things that's ever happened to me.

"Teddie I can't believe you embarrassed me like that! Can't you just try to be normal for once?" I sighed, pushing my bento box aside. I didn't feel like finishing my meal after I was just called such a demeaning name. Teddie's eyes were welling up and I immediately felt bad for getting upset with him, afterall there was still so much he had to learn about this world.

"I-I didn't mean to embarrass Rise-chan! I feel so awful!" he started crying and he buried his face in my chest, wiping his eyes and blowing his nose in my blouse. Okay, I think that was the last straw. I really had to get out of here now.

"Ugh Teddie! I look like a mess now. First, you ruin my pants and now my top? I really need to head home now before someone else sees me!" I grabbed one of the napkins, wiping the snot of my blouse swiftly. So this is what being alone with Teddie feels like?

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize. I just thought something soft would make me feel better." he blushed, his eyes a little red. He wiped his eyes one more time with his own sleeve. "You're right, we should leave. I know how everyone wants to see the wonderful Rise-chan, so it's best that we go to your place for the rest of the night!" he got up with me and started swinging his arms around.

"Teddie, what are you talking about? I'm leaving to get away from you. You're not really going to follow me are you?" I heaved a tired sigh, walking briskly to my house.

"Well it's rare that we spend time like this! We're almost never alone together. Besides, I wanted to help you change out of your flithy clothes!" he grinned.

I guess it would be nice to have company over. He was right, it wasn't too often that we were alone together so I suppose I could give it a chance. I really needed to get out of these clothes though. Wait- didn't Teddie just say that he wanted to help me with that?

"Teddie, you can only come along if you promise not to do anything wacky and no bothering me when I change out of these clothes, okay?" I blushed, thinking of the idea about a boy helping me change. If that were to ever happen, the first guy would not be Teddie.

"You're not very nice Rise-chan! I will make no promises." he crossed his arms, making that pouty face again. "Every boy dreams of seeing Rise-chan in her fabulous underwear, I can picture it now!"

I grabbed my key inside my pocket and unlocked my door, nearly laughing at his comments. "Hm okay, well goodbye Teddie!" I shut the door on him before he could get in.

"No wait! Okay, I won't bother you when you're changing, just let me inside!" he whined, pounding on the door with his bear fists. Wait, did I just say that? I meant bare, sorry.

I opened the door for him and let him inside, I just wanted him to stop being stubborn.

"It looks like no one's home. Sigh, don't try anything funny okay? I'll be right back." I went to my room, immediately locking it just in case Teddie decided to come in. I stripped down to my underwear and slipped on a nice casual blue summer dress. I looked in the mirror and found myself posing, the type of poses I would do for photoshoots. It made me miss the camera a little, as much as I'd hate to admit it. I decided to stop thinking of show biz and see what Teddie was doing. I went out of my room and saw that Teddie was wearing my grandma's red robe on my sofa. I nearly screamed.

"Why are you wearing that?!" Oh, please don't tell me that you're-"

"Bear-naked underneath? Why yes, yes I am." he smirked smugly. I noticed that the lights were dimmed and he had a glass in his hand. The drink in it look crimson. Wait, was that wine?

"I think I'm gonna have to ask you to leave Teddie, you have no right to be drinking my grandmother's wine or whoever that longs to." I took the glass from him and set it aside. I sat on the sofa, staying as far away as I could from him.

"But Rise-chan, I wanted to put the cap on the night today!"

"It's not even night time! You just dimmed the lights, you idiot." I moaned, running a hand through my hair in frustration.

"Oh well, I thought it would be nice to do this kind of thing after the lights were killed, that's all. And that was a good one~" he winked, licking his lips quickly.

"What kind of thing?" I blushed at that compliment, knowing what he was talking about.

"Rise-chan, don't you know what I mean? I want to have a love affbear with you." he leaned close, puckering his lips and placing his hand on my lap. I almost slapped him but instead I just backed away, pushing his hand off.

"Teddie, I don't like you that way, honestly. Can we please just watch a movie? Talk? Do something else that's fun?" I tried suggesting things that he would be interested in, but he was relentless.

"Aw but I want to experience what it's like to be with Rise Kujikawa~"

"Don't make me repeat myself Teddie, I'm not afraid to kick you out." I crossed my arms, wishing I wasn't in this situation in the first place. I never should have left him in. I was silly for not wanting to be lonely and feeling bad for him at the same time.

"Okay how about we make a deal?" he smiled, his eyes sparkling. He leaned close to me again and it looked like his robe was sliding off a little, ugh!

"What is it this time?"

"If you give me one kiss, just one. We can do whatever you want for the rest of the day and I won't try to romance you, deal? I could help you clip coupons or watch a movie, whatever you're in the mood for!" he grinned, batting his eyes to charm me. And did he just say coupons? What?!

"Coupons? That's a total insult! Just because I'm not in show biz anymore doesn't make me poor. Y-You sure know how to offend me. Don't say anything that stupid again." I mumbled underneath my breath, that comment really bothered me. I knew Teddie wasn't good with words but come on, he should know what offends me by this point. And what's wrong with saving money in the first place? I don't see anything bad about that!

"Okay forget the cutting of the coupons part. But what do you think about my deal? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity!" he sneered.

"I'm not going to kiss you just to get you off my back when I can just kick you out." I glared, trying to move away from him because he kept moving closer to me.

"Aw but Rise-chan, don't you think that it's unfair that everyone has an item and we're left out of it? I don't think it's right, and we need to do something about it! Do you really think that I like being alone?" he pouted, playing the sympathy card with me now.

"No I don't think you do, and I don't either. But it's not really unfair, it's more like well. . . something you have to wait for, when the time is right." I smiled, thinking about who I might be with in the future. Of course there's someone out there for me, I just have to be positive about it and find the right person, it's just very important to wait it out.

"Enough of that! You're ignoring my deal! Can we kiss or not? I want my first kiss already!" he started whining again. His whining actually became a bit cute, I think that's what happens when you're alone with Teddie. You realize that he's not just a bear, and that he has a lot of likable qualities. He's funny and his yapping isn't all that irritating once you hear it for a while. And not only that, he's a great friend.

And after I thought about it, what would be so wrong about kissing him? I've kissed dozens of guys before- not to brag, when I was in show biz and it's all a part of the job so it can't be so bad. A kiss doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to. Besides he was practically on his knees just to kiss me.

"Okay Teddie, I'll kiss you. Just don't tell anyone about this, alright? It'll be like a dirty little secret between us." I giggled at how his eyes lighted up.

"Woohoo! Teddie scores once again!"

I grabbed his cheek in my hand abruptly and pulled him into a kiss, it was a light and soft one. I pulled away quickly even though he was trying to get more out of that small kiss. For some reason when I kissed him, I thought I heard something come out of his pocket, but I might have been imagining that.

"There, now let's watch some TV!" I smiled, grabbing the remote. Teddie's cheeks were red and he leaned in again, trying to get more sugar. I pushed his face away with my hand, laughing at how persistent he was. I could tell that he was really surprised which just made him sort of cute to be honest.

"W-Wow Rise-chan, I had no idea you felt that way about me." he grinned, finally saying something.

"What are you talking about? I just did that so you would get off my case about your first kiss and everything."

He smirked, resting his head on my lap, nuzzling his head there. "I can't believe Rise-chan kissed me! This is better than the time you were drunk!"

"What was that? We weren't supposed to speak about that remember?" I blushed, feeling embarrassed about that incident. He dreamily sighed, not able to stop thinking about what I did. Looks like I'm going to be regretting that decision of mine.

"Th-that was so wonderful. I feel like such a lucky bear." he continued to nuzzle his head in my lap until I pushed his face away, getting up from my seat.

"I'm going to make some popcorn real quick while you're in la la land."

I went into the kitchen and started popping popcorn in the microwave. While I did so, I heard two voices but the loudness of the popcorn made it difficult for me to make out what I was hearing. So after the popcorn was finished, I went into the hallway and listened.

"Hey Yosuke, looks like you lost the bet!"

"Dude, she seriously kissed you?!"

"Yeah she just did right now, I sneaked a pic of it too. I'll show everyone tomorrow morning, I can't believe I scored with Rise-chan!"

"This better not be a prank Teddie, but I guess we'll be finding out tomorrow for sure."

"Yeah and once I do, looks like I'll be eating at Junes for free for the whole month!"

"Yeah whatever. I didn't actually think she'd go through with it."

"Well you thought wrong Yosuke. Oh and Yosuke-"

I grabbed Teddie's phone after hearing his conversation with Yosuke, ugh! I have to be one of the dumbest girls ever falling for that. I quickly went through his pictures, deleting the one with us kissing. I tried not to look at the other pictures, and it seemed to be all of us girls. I didn't want to get into that but I had a feeling there were more embarrassing pictures of me.

"Ha! Now no one will ever know that happened." I smiled, putting my hands on my hips, feeling accomplished. Teddie smirked, and that's when I knew that I lost.

"I already sent a couple to my email that Yosuke made for me so it's no biggie!"

Ugh Teddie! He was smarter than I thought!

The next day at school, I was trying to avoid everyone but when I heard Yosuke laughing at Teddie in the hall, I was interested in what they were talking about.

"I knew you weren't being serious Teddie! I actually believed you for a second too."

"Well I'll try again next time. This bear isn't giving up yet!"

"Whatever Teddie, that's not going to be easy. I'm going to meet up with Chie and others now, wanna join us?"

"Yeah sure, I'll catch up with you soon."

I smiled, so Teddie decided to keep it a secret afterall. Now I couldn't help but regret kicking him out last night, I felt bad about it and he proved that he was sorry so I should do the same. I ran over to Teddie and hugged him close. He hugged me back and told me that I didn't have to worry, he'd keep it a secret regardless. And it wasn't that I didn't like Teddie, I just didn't want everyone to see it and make a big deal out of nothing. But hearing that Teddie didn't tell Yosuke or anyone else about it I felt so much better. But then he slid one arm away from me and I heard a click sound.

Ugh Teddie!