FRIENDS ➳ jean kirstein

014. FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

Jean - November 15, 2020
_______________________

The last time Jean tried to fry eggs and sausages, he had almost burned his house down. Why Armin was trusting him to make lunch in his home, Jean really had no idea. But Armin said he was heading over to Annie's for a bit to talk some things out with her, so he couldn't make food for Jean, who was hungry and craving a fry-up.

"You'll be fine," Armin insisted, patting Jean on the back as he passed him by. "Worst comes to worst, you get a little burn and get yourself out of school for a month."

Jean snorted, giving an expasperated but amused roll of his eyes. "Oh yeah, great deal," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that Armin was headed for the kitchen door. "See you later, buddy."

"See you," Armin called back. "Don't forget my mom's coming home this evening!"

Jean stared down at the blue flames as they billowed from the hob beneath the frying pan, swallowing nervously at the prospect of cooking while he was alone. Biting back his anxiety, he had just cracked an egg into the pan when footsteps sounded from somewhere behind him. He threw another glance towards the kitchen door, not sure who he was expecting but Charlie to come through it.

He was going to ignore her entirely, but then he did a double-take. The girl looked completely dreadful. Had she been crying?

"You okay?" Jean asked. Charlie, who had opened the fridge, turned and blinked rapidly, as though she hadn't noticed Jean's presence in the kitchen until he spoke. Now, as he was looking at her directly, Jean took in the extent of just how awful Charlie looked. With bloodshot eyes and a redened face, he was now certain that she had been crying. "Okay, what'd Jaeger do?"

Letting out the barest breath of amusement, Charlie took a jug of milk from the fridge and twisted off the cap, tossing it aside before throwing herself into one of the island stools and taking a deep swig from the jug.

"He just got really fucking mad, dude," Charlie said, and Jean's eyebrows shot up to his hairline in shock. He certainly had not been expecting Charlie to answer, never mind open up to him. As she spoke, she grabbed a box of cereal that Armin had left on the counter, dipping her hand inside and scooping out a dry handful. "I don't think he was mad at me, but he certainly took it out on me."

Jean's heart skipped a beat inside his chest.

"What do you mean?" he questioned, surprising even himself with the hint of genuine concern in his voice. "He didn't, like, y'know—?"

"No," Charlie said quickly, eyes widening. "No, God no. He just—y'know—left right after we fucked. And he was really aggressive during it too—not that I really have a problem with that—but it was aggression out of anger, not for pleasure, you know what I mean?"

Rather proud of himself that he had not set fire to Charlie and Armin's house, Jean lifted the pan from the hob and slid the fried egg onto a plate he had set aside before. Deciding that he wouldn't risk making sausages too, he opted to just make toast to go with his egg.

"Yeah, I'm not too sure I want to discuss your sex life with you, Arlert," Jean laughed, half trying to lighten the mood, half being honest. He dropped two slices of bread into the toaster. With his back facing Charlie, he heard the faint crunch of her eating another handful of dry cereal, telling him that she wasn't going to reply, so he continued on. "Look, Jaeger's just being a guy. He's probably pissed off because his mom said he can't get the new Fortnite Battle Pass, or some shit. He'll come back here in an hour or two with some flowers and a cheesy-ass apology, I guarantee it."

While he waited for the bread to toast, Jean took a seat a few stools away from Charlie and started on his fried egg. Chuckling lightly, she took a few more gulps of milk before pushing the jug aside, raking her hands through her hair and then leaning on her closed fist.