FRIENDS ➳ jean kirstein

025. IT'S A DATE

Charlie — December 19, 2020
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The blaring music was silenced when Charlie's phone began to ring. Groaning, she capped her eyeliner and went to retrieve her abandoned phone from her bed. Seeing Eren's name glowing on the screen, her mood instantaneously improved a considerable amount. She answered the call, putting Eren on speaker before dropping the phone on her desk and returning to her process of makeup application.

"Where have you been?" she asked. "I've been trying to reach you since last night."

"I know, I'm sorry." Eren sounded groggy, voice hoarse, like he had only just woken up. "Zeke dragged us to some stupid pub quiz last night. We didn't get back until, like, two."

"A pub quiz? How thrilling," Charlie drawled. "Bet you loved that."

"Oh yeah, my favourite part was the sports questions."

Charlie snorted. She had managed to get her wings as close to perfect as they could possibly be, and now she had moved onto mascara. "How's Marley? Besides the pub quizzes."

"Forget that," Eren said. "Your text said you wanted to talk. What's up?"

"Oh, that." Despite the fact that Eren couldn't see her, Charlie gave a roll of her eyes. "Big news. My dad came back. Isn't that just fantastic?"

A beat of silence passed. Evidently, shock had ridden Eren of the ability to form words. After yesterday, Charlie was very familiar with the feeling.

"I—what?" Eren managed at last.

"Yep," Charlie said. "I walked out of school yesterday and there he was, smiling like him picking me up was an everyday occurrence."

"Well, what did you say?" Eren asked. Charlie heard the sound of a bed creak, telling her that Eren had rolled over. "What did he say? What did you do?"

"He gave me a porsche," she answered. "I took it, then I crashed it."

"He gave you a porsche?" Eren's voice was alive with disbelief. "Wait, wait, hold on—you crashed a porsche?"

Charlie quirked an eyebrow. "Are you worried about me or the porsche?"

"Where is he now?"

"Downstairs, I assume," Charlie said. "I dunno, I haven't been down since I got home yesterday." A knock at her bedroom door prevented her from saying anything else besides, "Hold on, one sec."

She gripped the handle, praying that she wouldn't find her father on the other side of the door, looking back at her with sickeningly apologetic eyes and a weary smile. Thankfully, when she pulled the door open, the person smiling back at her was Jean.

"Hey," he greeted. "Mikasa's outside for you. And—well—your dad was asking for you in the—"

"Tell Mikasa I'll be down in a second, I just have to grab my shoes."

Pretending that she hadn't heard the second of Jean's statements, Charlie sharply turned on her heel and crossed the floor, grabbing her knee-high boots and slipping her legs into them.

"Hey Eren, can I call you back later?" she called out.

"Sure." Eren's voice was quieter, the phone further away. "Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Charlie responded. "Talk soon, yeah?"

"See you, Cherry."

Eren ended the call, and Charlie was left alone, swimming in silence. She zipped and laced up her boots, starting when she turned around and found that Jean was still standing in the doorway, leaning on the frame and looking anywhere and everywhere but at her.