𝙿𝚞𝚣𝚣𝚕𝚎𝚜

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟸

You and Sasha had spent your entire afternoon out and about that day. The two of you strolled through the uptown for hours, taking in the unique trinkets of each little boutique.

Sasha had made it her sole mission to show you all of her favorite parts of the city. She loved every moment of it, too, as you would devote your weekends to exploring until the sun went down. Your hands were full with bags of odds and ends that you surely didn't need. You couldn't complain, though. What could be better than making up for all those years without your best friend?

Spending your days with Sasha still felt like second nature even after all that lost time. You still remembered the very day that you moved away. The last conversation you had with Sasha was when you struggled to find a way to fit her into one of your moving boxes.

Even after you moved, the two of you texted incessantly, talking about school, boys, and those trivial things that best friends love to share. That soon tapered into sending a one-off text to catch up every now and then. Still, you always considered her your best friend. It wasn't until you needed a change of scenery that it just made sense for you to come find her again.

It was toward the end of your big day out that you stopped by the coffee shop on your way back to her house. As you sipped your coffee, Sasha told you all about the places you should visit with her next weekend. You smiled, feeling a familiar sense of comfort that you missed when she wasn't by your side.

You continued to chat up until the moment that Eren unexpectedly joined. You heard the soft clinking of the bell as someone entered the shop. You didn't care to look over your shoulder, and you kept your attention on Sasha. She walked you through one of her favorite stories: the time that all of her friends visited the pier. It was the place – as Sasha had told you many times – that you just had to visit this summer. You could barely make out a single word she spoke through her fits of giggles. Her absurd attempts at continuing to speak only made you laugh even harder.

"Hey, Sasha," you heard.

You looked up to find the face that matched the foreign (or was it familiar?) voice. You recognized the man that stood near your table as Eren. Yes, that Eren. The guy you drunkenly met at Sasha's party last weekend. You greeted him with a plain smile to hide the fact that you were berating yourself over the memory of your last interaction with him.

He was the kind of guy whose presence alone would cause anyone to put their guard up. Yet, strangely enough, the way he carried himself was oddly disarming. It made you want to set down all your weapons and embarrassingly throw yourself at him.

He sort of reminded you of a villain in a classic teen movie. The archetype of a man with flashy eyes and an even flashier smile. One flirtatious raise of an eyebrow and you would be done for.

He didn't act that way, though. You watched as he tripped over his own words, trying to remember why he was even in the coffee shop in the first place. You maybe even found it a little charming, the way that he ran his fingers through his hair and scratched at the back of his head in thought.

Your first weapon dropped to the floor.

Sasha never addressed Eren's sudden appearance. You figured that it must not have been anything out of the ordinary, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Sasha knew better than to ignore Eren's erratic behavior. He rarely acted without purpose.

On the walk back to Sasha's house, she let you rattle on about whatever it was that was on your mind. She replied with superficial 'ohs' and 'ahs,' and you somehow didn't notice. She focused her brain power on gathering her thoughts, her mind drifting back to Eren's uncharacteristically anxious demeanor. When she returned home, she decided to send a text message to Connie to see what he could have possibly borrowed from Eren.