Nicotine (Eremin)

Chapter 24

March

Armin's POV

"You did what?!" Eren's angry voice rang out into the room. I told him about Henry, Dave, and Ross, and he didn't seem to trust them very much.

"It's perfectly fine! They're nice guys, and they were on their way to Utah anyways, and offered me a ride. Did you expect me to say no? I'll get to California faster, anyway." I pointed out. He just scoffed at my response.

"Yeah, you'll get here faster, that is if you don't end up dead on some highway! You have no idea what these guys want from you. You should get away from them as soon as you can, okay?!" he kept on yelling. I lowered the volume on the cell phone Dave let me borrow, so they wouldn't hear what Eren was going on about.

"I'll leave them when we get to Utah, and that's that. You have nothing to worry about, they're genuinely great guys." Henry smiled when I said that, and patted his friends' shoulders.

"And how do you know that? How long have you even known them?" he said, sounding more and more like an angry mother.

"A few hours, just trust me, okay? There's nothing to worry about."

"Oh, I'd trust you with my life, I just don't trust the actions of other people. I'm just worried about you." he said, dropping the angry mom act.

"I'll get there safely, I promise." I said, trying to reassure him in any way I could.

"Okay, man, just hurry, okay? I love you." he said. I felt myself blush, so I turned away from the guys.

"ThanksErenseeyouinCalifornia." I blurted out and hung up the phone, not wanting them to hear me tell Eren I loved him. I handed Dave his phone back.

"Is it okay if I take a shower?" I asked.

"Sure, kid. We're going to head downstairs for dinner, so why don't you meet us down there when you're done?" I thanked him, and made my way to the bathroom.

After I showered, I took what was left of the hotel shampoo, a hotel towel, and two bars of soap and shoved them in my backpack. After I left these guys in Utah, I'd be back to irregular showers, and I'd rather have shampoo so I could at least wash my hair in a public bathroom or something.

I put my clothes back on, and laid down on the couch that I would be sleeping on tonight. I have no idea how much longer I'll be with these guys- just however long it takes us to get to where they're going in Utah. I really hate to take advantage of them, but while I was with them, I would have to get whatever I needed to make the rest of the trip to California.

I didn't want Eren to be worried about me either- so I'll ask if I can use Dave's cell phone again tomorrow to tell him that I'm still okay. There's no way I would't be okay- I'm sure these guys had no harmful intent, but I wanted to do whatever I could to make Eren feel better.

I mean- I love him.