𝕠𝕣𝕡𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕤 ➸ 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐧

13 - Girl Time

"Happy birthday, Nanaba," Mike said with a grin, handing her a small wrapped box.
"Y-you...remembered..." she said, taking the parcel in her palms, the tip of her nose tinted red from the cold.

She took down the yellow bow and removed the red paper from around it, her eyes widening at a hemisphere pendant, with a pale blue stone that floated in the centre of two silver rings embroidered with small white diamonds. Underneath the gift was a small note.

'To match the colour of your eyes :)'

She looked up at Mike who was grinning.
"Do...you like it?" he asked, looking down as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Like it? I love it...It's the best present I've got," she said with an awkward chuckle.
The two of them shared a stare that lasted too long.

"Um...Nanaba?" Hange's voice echoed bringing her out of her trance.
"Uh, yeah?"
"You didn't tell me it was your birthday," she said with a pout, scrunching her nose.
"We can just spend some time after school."

Just when her and Hange were about to make arrangements, Rico came strutting towards the pair, Petra beside her.
"Hey, Banana!"
Nanaba scowled, her eye twitching a bit at the audacity this bespectacled girl had.

"So anyway, I bought you a present."
"You...you what?" she scoffed, as though not believing it.
"A present, duh," she said with an almost innocent smile, as she placed a small pink and white stripy bag on the edge of her desk.

Nanaba hesitantly brought the bag closer to her, looking through its contents, and gasped.
"Oh my god! Rico...how did you afford this?!"
"My dad was coming home from his business trip in America and he bought a ton of perfume back with him and I remembered something you told me once about the Giorgio Beverly Hills fragrance."
"Wh...why did you get it for me?"
"Although we haven't always seen eye-to-eye, I've known you since elementary. Surely that's a good enough reason."
"I bought you something, too," came Petra's quiet and reserved-sounding voice. She placed a medium-sized bag in front of Nanaba.

"Y-you guys...you really didn't have to," she said, awkwardly chuckling. Nanaba took Petra's gift bag in her lap, seeing some candles, tropical scented moisturisers and other things of the like.
"Thank you so much, guys. I really didn't expect you guys to-
"It's fine, now anyway I overheard some talk about spending time after school?" Rico questioned, raising her eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yeah... you guys can tag along if you want."
Hange stood there, stiff with the emotion of 'not knowing what to do in this situation'.

"So...do you guys wanna come over to my place after school? Because...I didn't get Nanaba a gift, so that's the least I can do for her. And it might be nice to have some girl time," she suggested catching a glimpse of the guys who were chatting away at Erwin's own desk. The three looked at her and beamed, agreeing to spend some time together.

Maybe they'd all got off on the wrong foot before, but it wasn't too late to reinstate some friendships.

"Levi, the girls are coming over."
"wHAT?! Hange~."
"Listen, shorty, it'll only be for a few hours or so."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Do what you do best. Be yourself."
He shot her a glare, making her giggle. By this stage, he had already devised a plan to lock his bedroom door and stay in there until they had left.

Hange's apartment, after school

"I nearly banged my head doing that," Petra said, as they all burst into laughter thinking about her previous cartwheels.
"Okay, so...it's Rico's turn. Truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"I dare you to dial the Domino's phone number and flirt with whoever picks up."
"Nanaba! And here I was thinking you were innocent," she exclaimed, the four of them giggling.