Alarm Clock - Ereri/Riren (Re-uploaded)

Chapter 21

Sunday finally rolled around, and it was the one day of the week I generally had nothing to do, so I made little plans in my head for how I would spend it as the morning light peered through my window. But I received an unexpected call. It was Armin.

I became slightly nervous. What did he need? And we hadn't really made up after our last fight. He had been ignoring me at school and at band practice but still showed up I guess. Reluctantly, after waiting for a few rings, I picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I said groggily, seeing as I had just gotten up.

"Hey Eren." I missed hearing that voice through the phone. I also missed the Armin that I usually knew, who wasn't jealous and passive. I rarely get calls from him anymore so it felt good. "I heard there was a new art gallery around the corner and I figured we could go check it out. I'll buy you lunch on the way as a way to kind of say sorry for blowing up on you last time." he said cheerily. I always liked art. It made it really easy to write music. I was absolutely shit at it. But Armin knew how to do it. Really well too. I guess that's another thing him and Levi shared in common. He would always make these really beautiful drawings of me when we were together. I always thought he made me look alot better than I actually did.

"Yeah. Sounds fun. I'll pick you up in a half hour?" I replied.

"Alright sounds good. See ya then." A beeping tone followed meaning he had hung up. I let out a sigh and had a slight smile formed on my lips at the thought that we had made up and we were gonna hang out. Well, I better get ready.

I knew the way to his house all too well. I used to go there every night to make sure he'd be sleeping so it was almost like second nature to me even after all this time. I rang the doorbell and there he was, leaning against the doorframe with his usual expression. This was probably the first time we were hanging out alone since we had broken up. I still wasn't used to his new look. I missed his hair when it was longer but this looked just as good on him. I always felt like there were two Armins. Not look-wise, personality-wise. I had fallen in love with both but I have to say that this one was a lot more pleasant than the one I would fight with. And I felt like I probably couldn't pick up or carry him as easily now that he was a lot more muscle mass. My lips naturally formed into a smile as they always did when I was around him. He had his hands in pockets of his blue jeans and was wearing that shirt I always said looked good on him. It looked different on him now though. He fit into it a lot better since it used to be overly baggy on him.

"Ready to go?" he said as he tilted his head slightly.

"Yep." I replied as enthusiastically as I could to match his happy go-lucky style of speaking.

The car ride wasn't long. It was maybe around 20 minutes. I played my mess of a playlist and caught him bopping his head a few times to the songs I had forced him to listen to frequently to get him cultured when we started dating. One of the things I liked about our relationship is that we could sit in silence for hours on end without it getting awkward. But sometimes he would get in these really chatty moods and I was always happy to just listen. He had interesting stuff to say anyways. And he was funny most of the time. We eventually pulled up at the parking lot of the gallery. The advertisement for it outside could draw you in from a mile away. The building was also quite modern looking and I don't know if i'd ever seen anything like it. It sure looked complex. Must have been a pain in the ass for whoever was building but I'm sure the architect had fun. I shifted my upper body so I could face Armin.

"Well you sure picked an interesting place didn't you?" I said as I smirked. He giggled a bit. His giggles were probably the most adorable part of him. Especially when a little snort managed to escape. We got out of the car and I had the urge to hold his hands before remembering that this wasn't like our dates. So I just put my hands back in my pockets and took a deep breath to take in the city air. It stunk, but it stunk like home.