Trollhunters - first meetings - (various x reader)

Chapter 14

Behind the corner by Nestor's Mechanics, you whirled around upon feeling a hand land on your shoulder, holding onto your freshly repaired motorcycle and coming face to face with…

"Claire!!" 

The brunette laughed lightly, pulling back her hand from your shoulder and stepping to a comfortable distance for a chat while you were still rather shocked.

"Dear heavens, don't scare me like that!" you exclaimed, making her chuckle more at your flabbergasted expression.

She gave another small giggle, appearing happy to have surprised you successfully, "Hello to you too, (Y/n)!"

You wanted to get mad and yell at her, tell her that you might've punched her out of reflex or that you could've dropped your bike. But when you looked at her carefree smile, you didn't find the motivation to raise your voice anymore.
Those faint, sunlit freckles were just too hypnotic to look at.

Claire soon noticed your lack of a response and opened her eyes to look at you, slightly titling her head while still smiling.
"Did your bike get damaged last year? This is the first time in months that I've seen you with it," asked the girl with a worried tone, "I remember you had been injured shortly before winter break, right? Was it a traffic accident? Are you ok now?"

Baffled by her fitting observations and her voiced concerns, you stumbled over your tongue for a few moments, needing some time to catch up with her.
Damn her smartness.

"Oh, uhm, yeah. A.. uh, boar ran into me while I was on my way back from training. The bike took most of the damage though. Was quite a while ago so we're all healed up now."
Giving a loving pat to your bike's seat, you breathed a small sigh before looking back to your classmate.

Showing a relieved smile, Claire folded her hands behind her back when she spoke, "That's good then!" 

"Mhm, yeah," you answered clumsily, unsure of what else to say while your eyes went and wandered off again, unable to stay on the brown-eyed girl for long.

A short moment of silence filled the space, some birds flying above your heads and chirping in the pleasant afternoon sunshine.

"Say, (Y/n)," Claire began, wearing an expectant smile while a few people passed by on the sidewalk, "I was just about to get some ice cream. Would you like to join me?"
Jabbing her thumb over her shoulder, the slightly shorter girl motioned toward one of the cozy cafés in Arcadia that was just across the street.

You hadn't been to that one before so, admittedly, you were curious to check it out but alas, you still had things to do.

"Thanks but, as you can see, I just picked up my bike and would like to return it into my garage," trying not to sound like you were making an excuse or trying to brush her off, you cracked an awkward and stiff smile, scratching your cheek with your free hand. 
You hoped she wouldn't be insulted or feel let down by your refusal.

"Oh, that's alright! We can pick something to take along and walk back together, if you want!" Claire immediately suggested, already moving to the side of the street, as if knowing that you would say yes.

A bit surprised at her quick solution, you stuttered again but then shut yourself up and simply nodded with a 'yeah, sure', turning your bike around to follow Claire over to the other side of the street.

It was no use trying to shake her off. You knew how headstrong this girl could be. And it wasn't like grabbing something to eat with her was a bad thing either so why would you fight against it? 

Well, maybe to avoid awkwardness. Or embarrassing yourself somehow. Or making her uncomfortable. Or- 

"Are you coming or not?" Claire's voice suddenly snapped you out of your overthinking and as you looked up from the ground -which you had been intently staring at- you realized that the girl was already by the café's door while you hadn't even crossed the street yet.