In Between | Eren Jaeger

chapter 3 | not so familiar faces

If I wasn't at work or doing assignments, I was walking Bea. It turned out we had initially underestimated the effort it would take to look after a dog, but after a couple of days, we got the hang of it. Kind of.

Bea was a free spirit, always wanting to go on walks, constantly craving attention and making my bed her permanent home despite the dog-bed Ant had purchased for her. I didn't mind the company, sometimes the house was a little lonely when Ant went to work so Bea's company was more than welcomed. And I even found that I was lot happier as of late, but there were numerous factors that contributed towards my elation. The first being that I'd managed to successfully submit two assignments that I had been stressing about for a while now and two, my blossoming friendship with Sasha.

Sasha soon realised that I wasn't much of a texter and if I did send any sort of message, it was usually dry. I couldn't help it, one of my personality flaws was that I couldn't fully express myself online (or real life), so midnight calls had gradually became our thing. It consisted of Sasha rambling about her day, her professors or annoying customers she had encountered and I was tasked with playing music in the background and listening to her speak, I'd always been more of a listener than a talker but recently Sasha was trying to drag me out of my comfort zone a little- which, I didn't mind, but I wasn't accustomed to speaking about myself to, well, anyone really other than Ant.

Currently, I was walking Bea through Brooklyn Bridge. Ant encouraged me to explore Brooklyn more and re-familiarise myself with my surroundings once again. One place I knew I had some sort of memory attached to was the very bridge I was trekking on right now, where the view overlooked all the tourist attractions and sky scrapers in the background, and if I tipped my head over the edge, I'd get a grand view of the algae-infested river below.

Dad took Maven and I through here every weekend before we all eagerly scuffled off to the park nearby, it was before a quarantine had been initiated when we were around 7 or 6 due to the spark of ghoul activity and increased mortality rates. As of now, Brooklyn was relatively more calmer than the other boroughs. If I recalled correctly, Manhattan was on the brink of a similar crisis.

Things were simpler back then. Too bad I couldn't remember most of it.

"Jun!"

I looked over my shoulder, a smile automatically lifting my lips at the sight of Sasha. She was wearing an oversized red shirt with jean shorts and a matching cap.

"Hi." I waved.

"We're matching!" She grinned, gesturing to my red hoodie before her eyes set sight on Bea who was chasing her own tail. "Oh my God! And who's this cutie?"

I glanced down at Bea fondly and tugged on her leash a little. "This is Bea, we got her over two weeks ago so she might be a little apprehensive around strangers." Bea looked up at Sasha's outstretched hand, sniffing it curiously before she leaned into her touch.

"I'm good with animals." Sasha smirked.

"Ah right, farm girl." I teased.

"Exactly!" She rolled on her heels. "Wanna head over to Mel's?"

"Actually, I got a shift there soon so we can drop off Bea at home and head over to the cafe after?" I suggested. "If that's okay with you, of course."

"Of course it is, silly." Sasha nudged her shoulder into mine as we began to walk. "You know, you're very polite."

"I am?"

"Yeah, I don't know how to word it but hm, sometimes I feel like you hold yourself back a little? Am I overstepping boundaries by saying that?"

Her words made me feel lighter, not many would care about whether they've overstepped boundaries or not. "No, you're not. And I understand what you're saying I just, uh, have a difficult time relaxing I guess."