Introducing: NO.

Revisiting NO. After 8 years and several disappointing hook-ups wherein KP found herself wondering if the world forgot the lessons that shook 2017, she decides it's high time to listen again to the series that brings you inside of a 'no' that sounds like a 'yes', and all the 'yes's that really wanted to be 'no's. CREDITS NO. written and produced by Kaitlin Prest, scoring and composition by Shani Aviram, editing by Sharon Mashihi, editorial feedback and production support from Mitra Kaboli, Phoebe Wang, Ariel Hanh. Editorial advisory board: JCJ, Brendan Baker, Stephanie Foo, Cassie Wagler.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This is a CBC Podcast.

• 0:04Speaker 01

  From Mermaid Palace and Radiotopia, welcome to The Heart.

• 0:13Speaker 01

  I'm Kaitlin Prest.

• 0:16Speaker 01

  Once upon a time, I was hanging out with a boy, a man, a man-boy, in my studio in Parkdale. It was what you might call a second date. We had met on the beach. I was watching the sunset.

• 0:36Speaker 01

  And he came up to me and told me that he really liked my energy. I seemed so peaceful, so serene. Found myself thinking on the inside, like... Just wait. Like, if you got to know me a bit, I don't know... I'd use the word peaceful to describe me, but... I'll take it. And he asked me if he could walk with me a little. And I said to him, "Yeah, you can walk with me. Although, it seems kind of unfair because the only reason why I'm saying yes is because I find you kind of hot. And if I didn't find you kind of hot, I would have said no." And, you know, it just seems wrong. He didn't know quite what to say to that.

• 1:21Speaker 01

  We ended up on a park bench, talking about music.

• 1:25Speaker 01

  He was reading me the lyrics of a song he wrote about the genocide in Gaza. And I decided that I liked this guy.

• 1:36Speaker 01

  He walked me halfway home. We said goodbye. We had a hug. And he asked me for my phone number and said that he really wanted to see me again.

• 1:48Speaker 01

  The night in the studio was, we're talking about art, we're talking about performing, and he's telling me a story about his friend hooked up with this girl. It was all on the up and up. And then she later regretted what happened and came after him on the internet.

• 2:07Speaker 01

  How the woman was overreacting and how fucked up the scene is and how careful you have to be. Of course, I kind of froze a bit, but then I reminded myself that this is a young man, a man who maybe has not received the education that he probably should have. So I afforded him some grace and I begin educating the young man. I simply explained to him that there was probably a lot more going on between that friend of his and that woman. I found myself pulling out my own podcast, this podcast, The Heart. I'm playing him a trailer from a series that I had made with the team on this show

• 2:51Speaker 01

  a very, very long time ago. I queued up this trailer.

• 2:59Speaker 00

  Do you want to start?

• 3:02Speaker 01

  Me?

• 3:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 3:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, well, what were you thinking?

• 3:06Speaker 00

  That you should start.

• 3:09Speaker 00

  Why don't you lay down? She kind of like, it's like, "No, no," like, just kind of like a whisper.

• 3:17Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 3:18Speaker 00

  Like, kind of keeping it sexy, but like, saying like, "No."

• 3:23Speaker 01

  The way that you're touching me makes me feel like-

• 3:25Speaker 00

  As soon as I knew that sex wasn't an option, I became a bit of a dick.

• 3:29Speaker 01

  Later, I'm gonna have to tell you that I don't want to have sex with you.

• 3:35Speaker 00

  I mean, I thought that what she wanted was the same thing as what I wanted.

• 3:39Speaker 01

  Do you know what I mean?

• 3:40Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm. And, you know, when it wasn't that way, I felt like I was trying to make it that way.

• 4:02Speaker 01

  No.

• 4:08Speaker 01

  By The Heart.

• 4:17Speaker 01

  It's summertime. As we set out to have our hot girl summers, our summer loves, our sexes on the beach, on the heart, we'll be revisiting the series that changed so many lives, that saved so many dates, that inspired so many apologies. Some of you may remember this series, The No Series, the story, the non-psychedelic trip through my girlhood. Some of you might be thinking, "Oh, cool, it's a rerun. I'm gonna skip this one." I'm telling you right now that this is no rerun. Come with me along this journey of reflecting on the things that are relatable still about this story.

• 4:58Speaker 01

  If there are things that you've grown out of, things that you've learned, let's listen to this story together. The story of a girl coming of age, becoming a teenager, becoming a young woman, and then becoming a not-young woman, a 38-year-old woman, who's listening to this story again and sharing where she's at now. What happened between me and Jay when we met up, after we put out the story of the friendship falling apart in this series? Stay tuned for No. Again. Again. And take care.