Of Complacency and Conspiracies
Day 6: Aftermath
The tickets to the aquarium Ruby had managed to acquire was an adults-only experience after hours targeting couples specifically to come and learn about the creatures of the sea, alongside wine and seafood pairing tastings.
Jaune couldn't help but laugh- "Isn't it a little cruel to eat fish in front of the tanks?!" he kept giggling as he and Pyrrha read over the adverts online while trying to come up with the perfect pitch to sell the adventure to Ren. She simply rolled her eyes and smacked his arm lightly, but she couldn't help but agree.
Nora was already on board, but she had wanted to go with Pyrrha, and that wouldn't get them very far in their plan. "But hey!" Pyrrha cheered brightly as Jaune was putting on his jacket to head out for the evening. "We're halfway there!"
Jaune pumped his fist in the air determinedly. "Yup," the blond grinned. "Now, I've just gotta convince Ren. I'm not opening tomorrow, so I'll drop by his store!"
The memory of his excitement was what made Pyrrha's visit to HTC so disappointing the next day. Bringing some healthy sandwiches for lunch, the redhead found Nora arguing with Emerald, the lighting specialist for the show, about different cues and effects.
"Pyrrha, I'm going to be stuck here all weekend," the orange-haired girl groaned. She cast a glance back through the open door, pouting mournfully at the pile of body-worn and headset microphones she still had to set up. Emerald had already stormed off to go discuss things with Mercury, the techie managing the spotlight for the show. "I don't think I can make the aquarium." She huffed, stamping her foot angrily. "Ooh, and I was so excited! There's so many cute little fishies…" Looking back up at the redhead, she asked, "Did you already buy the tickets?"
"Um, yeah," Pyrrha chuckled awkwardly. Ruby was going to drop them off with Jaune the next day to hand off to Ren. I guess… we'll have to tell Ruby to make sure someone else gets them. Blake, maybe? The quiet girl would definitely enjoy the evening, if all else failed.
The thought of having to text Jaune about their abrupt failure stung a little, though. She had been so sure that they were already halfway there!
Suddenly, Nora leapt forward, grabbing Pyrrha's hands. "Oh my god, you guys should go!"
The redhead frowned. "Who?"
"You and Jaune! Ruby said you two have been hanging out more lately! Why is that, anyway? You've never hung out a ton before, outside of like, Ren's birthday parties and stuff."
It was true- the redhead had never really spent a lot of time with Jaune before the past week, only ever seeing him whenever Nora planned a dinner with their close friends. Since Ren didn't usually enjoy outings like that - he much preferred smaller groups of people- the bubbly girl didn't force him to go through that often. Looking at it from the outside, it must've indeed looked bizarre that Pyrrha was hanging out with the blond as often as she had been.
"Oh, well, since he's also friends with Ruby, I've gotten to know him a bit more!" Pyrrha fibbed. "It's no big deal." Handing the other girl her sandwich, she added, "Let me know if rehearsal calms down and you wanna go, okay?"
Nora gave her a quick hug before running back into the main theatre hall, hollering at the music director to get the newly-worked-out effects cues for whatever scene they were working on.
Pyrrha trudged out of the theatre, thoroughly defeated as she typed a message to the group chat. When she tried to tell Jaune, however, she saw another message that crushed her hopes even further.
Ren can't make it, Jaune had typed sadly. He's got some family thing.
As Pyrrha walked back into the back room of the gym, tossing her belongings into her locker, she couldn't help but mull over the events of the day. What could their next step be?
It was only later that evening after she threw herself into her workout that she realized she hadn't turned down Nora's suggestion. She blushed, then put it aside- it meant nothing, right?