~Introverted~ An Eremika Story (High School AU)

~Chapter Nine~

Eren's POV

August 18th, 4:00PM

He was finally getting good sleep, despite his sweaty unwashed sheets, when his phone started buzzing on his nightstand. The vibration of the device confronting the smooth black hardwood equals a very unpleasant noise, enough to wake Eren up, frustrated.

"And just as I was about to fall asleep-" he started before his mother swung his door wide open, almost enough to slam against his wall.

"Yeah, at 4pm? Over my dead body, Eren. Get the fuck up. You have a guest," she announced as she walked away, leaving the door open still.

"Wait, ma you let someone I know in without me knowing?" He yelled in desperation while he scrambled out of bed. "Oh god, what if it's her?" he asked himself. His eyes widened thinking about it, and so he changed into fresh clothes, rebrushed his hair, brushed his teeth, and put eyedrops in; all within what looked like a second.

"Well it's hard to let you know when you're talkin' and snoozin' right after school!" he heard Carla yell from downstairs. He turned to the door to make a comeback when he saw Armin right at his doorway, in a nice leather jacket and slightly baggy washed blue jeans, his phone out and ringing. Now Eren knew who the caller was. He shrugged and widened his eyes at Armin and silenced his still ringing phone as he called out to his mother.

"Wait what was I saying?" he called out to her, nervous and ready to be embarrassed depending on the answer.

"She says you were muttering about the girl you have a crush on," Armin said as he put his phone in his pocket and stepped in his room, closing his door behind him and laughing.

"Shut up," Eren said with his teeth gritted.

"Sorry, what was that?" Armin asked, genuinely confused.

"I said.. why are you here friend?" Eren responded with a playful smile. "You came in kinda unannounced. I had my whole day planned out."

"Well for one, so sorry to interrupt your well reasoned post school nap," Armin said as he looked around Eren's dirty room with wide eyes, specifically his unmade bed. "I have something of importance. I stayed around the school and I met this weird girl.... I think she's been watching us. She said that she wants to tell you things."

"Let me guess, about the girl," Eren completed as he leaned to his side onto the wall to his left. "Man, If I knew you were staying behind at school, I would've stayed. It beats the..." he scratched his head and looked away embarrassedly, "...nap you mentioned."

"I should've expected you to say something about that, my boy," Armin smirked as he patted Eren's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll go fuck around again someday, like old times."

"I'd like that," Eren smiled.

"Anyways, getting back on track, yes, the girl you talked to once, don't remember the name of, and totally 'don't like'."

"You got it. So, where is she, in the city? Here, downstairs, talking to my mom?" Eren said snarkily.

"Actually genius," he stated with an eye roll, "she's at the park, right in between the city and this.... not clean room!"

"What! The park near my house?!"

"Yeah... is that a problem?"

"No, that's convenient, actually. Shall we?" Eren asked as he opened the door and rushed downstairs. Armin followed behind him all the way out to the front of the house.

The sun not even setting was good evidence that Eren was wasting his afternoon. When they started walking to the park, he started thinking back to when Armin and him were in middle school, not wasting a second after the bell rang dashing to Eren's old backyard and messing with firecrackers. He enjoyed thinking about ignoring Armin's pleas to not go up to the neighbor's old Ford pickup and trying to start the car before the old man found out. "God, what am I doing with my life now?" Eren started thinking. "I have to check in with my life."