I Hate You A Little Less Today

Chapter 34

"Why would you do this to me Hange?" I layed on a patch of grass in front of her, while she sat on a bench.

"Oh will you stop being so dramatic! It couldn't have been that bad" She brushed me off while reading today's paper.

I was looking up at the sky. It wasn't common for Hange and I to talk too often anymore, when we did, it was always incredibly refreshing.

"It was awful! I swear I saw his eyes turn black from how angry he was!" I explained.

"Hm..." She flipped a page of the paper, "They do that sometimes..."

"And why does he even care?! I mean he hasn't said anything about me for years...has he?" I looked over at her.

Her face was still buried on the paper, "Not a word..."

I stood up, "Haaaaange!" I whined.

She abruptly put the paper down, "What!"

I fell back on the grass, completely defeated.

Hange sighed, "You've been talking about this whole ordeal the whole day, I thought you said you were over it"

I blinked a few times, "Of coarse I am...but-"

"But?" Hange raised her eyebrows.

"N-no! I mean, I am over him. I am! But I just didn't like the way he was yelling at me for no reason, it just doesn't make sense" I tried to re-route the conversation.

Hange seemed to think for a moment, "I mean...maybe he...was just genuinely confused as to why Floch was there...I mean why was Floch there again?"

I had told Hange about Levi finding me and Floch together, but I hadn't told her yet why exactly I was talking to Floch. I felt like I had to tell her, just in case Levi were to tell her first, this way I could control my own narrative.

"If I tell you, will you promise to not tell anyone?" I faced her now.

Hange adjusted her glasses, "I promise"

I sighed, "Ok...well, I met Floch way back when I was working for my father..."

Hange was completely attentive now.

"Once I started working for the scouts again, we bumped into each other...turns out...he developed a crush on me back then" I looked at the sky again.

Hange gasped, "Floch has a crush on you?!"

"Yes..." I mumbled.

Hange fell off from the bench from laughing, which made me also laugh with her. In the back of my mind this all felt wrong though, I technically wasn't lying, since I really believed that Floch perhaps liked me, but that was definitely not why we were there.

Lying to Hange was always the worst, I knew she completely trusted in me, the only way I felt ok with it was by thinking about how all my lying will ensure her safety.

"Wait! So do you like him back?" She rolled over next to me, still laughing a bit.

"Absolutely not" I said immediately.

"Isn't that what you told me also when you first met Levi?" She nudged me.

I sighed deeply. For a second I reminisced on my first impressions of Levi. If I had to be honest, from first impressions I definitely liked Floch way more than I liked Levi at first, but the reality was that the only reason I was even tangled with Floch now was cause of Levi. There would be no point to be even talking to him if it wasn't for how much I cared about Levi.

I didn't say anything.

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