From Across the Sea (Attack on Titan/OC) [ON HOLD]

Chapter 8

1 year later

She remembered her first time sitting at this table with her friends. The mess hall was usually crowded, but with a total of 7 people in their group they often had to squish together to fit at one table. She'd found herself sitting on the end of the bench with her body hanging halfway off the end. The same position she'd sat in when she first started sitting with her friends on a regular basis.

The foot she had hanging off the bench bounced lightly as she sat leaning against the table with her arms crossed in front of her. Her butt hurt from sitting in the same position for so long, but she dared not move. Plus, she would be completely lost without Hanji, who happened to be sitting next to her. Her friend had pushed her glasses up on top of her head, and she was using her hands to gesture wildly in the air in front of her. She looked around the table once more, trying to remember everybody's name.

There was Nile Dok, a tall, black haired cadet, who was so obvious he was a womanizer it was ridiculous. There was Nanaba, who was about the same height as her, and sported a fringe undercut. There was Rico Brzenska, who had short blonde hair that reached her shoulders. Like Hanji, she also wore glasses.

There was Mike Zacharias, who had a very keen sense of smell. She'd learned this pretty much the same as everybody else. Mike had shaken her hand before pulling her forward and sniffing at the top of her head. Ang had jumped back and looked up at the tall man as Nanaba laughed and pulled her to stand next to her with a gentle "That's Mike. He likes to sniff people."

Mike had smirked at her reaction before simply saying "You smells like citrus and cinnamon." This was true. She often made her own black tea, and she almost always used citrus peels and a cinnamon stick.

And then there was him. Erwin Smith. With his striking blue eyes and blonde hair, neatly parted to the side, he had taken her breath away. Literally, she'd accidentally bumped into him in the mess hall, too occupied with listening to Hanji ramble on again. She'd found herself suddenly on her butt looking up at him.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking at where I was going." He crouched down before offering her a hand to help her up off the ground.

"No, it's my fault. I was completely spaced out." She laughed as she stood to her full height. Looking up at him, she realized she only came up to about his shoulders. His very broad shoulders, which were now blocking her view from the rest of the mess hall, and from Hanji.

"Let me make it up to you." He said, still holding her hand. She looked down for a moment before looking back up into his bright blue eyes. He let go and turned to gesture towards a table in the back corner of the room. She could see 4 other people already sitting at the table. "Sit with me and my friends."

"Oh," she stuck her hands into the pockets of her Cadet Corps jacket, rocking onto her heels in nervousness. "I don't know..." She blew her bangs out of her face. "I'm not really good at meeting new people." She looked for Hanji again hoping to be saved from her own awkward antics in front of this very attractive young man.