BEFORE US

16

"Well, there's something I've been wanting for quite sometime now." You said as you broke the moment of silence between the two of you. Eren twisted his head to his side, waiting for whatever you wanted to spill out.

"I want those frozen yogurt strawberry drinks that they sell at the snack bar." You confessed to Eren, your eyes twinkled at the thought of those delicious drinks that you often craved. Eren shot you a questionable look with his eyebrow raised. "Is that all you want?" He asked as he slightly tilted his head to the side. You nodded calmly, signaling your acceptance. But deep down, was that really all you wanted? Eren exhaled audibly before reaching his backpack, rummaging through it to find his wallet. You watched silently as Eren searched his backpack for his wallet. After a moment, he found it and filled it open. His eyes scanning through the contents inside before glancing over to you again. "Go ahead down and get it then." Eren said as he slid his fingers into the small pocket hole of the wallet and held up his credit-card towards you.

You looked at the card he held out towards you, a mixture of curiosity and hesitation held up your expression. "Are you sure? I can pay for it myself." You said, feeling a slightly guilty and nervous taking his card. Eren rolled his eyes as he dropped his card down onto your lap. "Didn't you say you wanted it?" Eren annoyingly said as he turned his head towards his screen. You picked up the card off your lap, still feeling a tingle of guilt. You looked over to Eren in pleading eyes, yet his focus was on his screen. Assuming he wanted to ignore your presence, you rose up and slid on your shoes.

You turned to face Eren, your hand on the door handle. "Do you want anything, or?" You asked, hoping for a different reaction. His eyes remained in the screen, but he shook his head in a negative response. A gentle sigh escaped your lips as you swung the door open and made your way to the living room, heading for the front door. With a swung on your arm, you twisted the door open and closed it behind you. Pacing down the hallways, you made your way to the elevators. The elevator door opened with a soft ding, inviting you to step inside. The elevator descended down smoothly, the numbers on the display counting down with each floor it passed. After a brief pause, you reached the lobby and walked over to the snack bar to quench your appetite. Spotting the drink lined up in the cooler, you bended over and grabbed one of them.

"Find everything okay?" The cashier asked as he scanned your drink with the scanner. You slightly nodded your head as you reached into your pocket and grabbed the card Eren gave you, handing it over to the cashier. The cashier took it from your grasp and looked at the name of the card holder. "Wait a minute," He said as his eyebrows furrowed slightly. "You're not Eren!" He splatted out as he chuckled slightly. "He gave me his card to pay for the smoothie." You said as you slid your hands into your pockets. The cashier laughed as he held onto his stomach. "Like Eren would ever do that—"

"What would I do, again?" Eren leaned closer to the clerk's ear, his voice barely a whisper. The cashier's body visibly tensed, his hair standing on fear. In a quick swift, he twisted his body around standing in front of Eren. "Wait, no! I meant Aaron, not Eren!" He clarified as he shot up his hands in surrender. He snatched his card from the man's hands and slid it inside the reader, where the sound of the card swiped acceptance. Eren smirked as he took it out and placed it carefully into his wallet with a smug expression on his face. He then grabbed the drink off the counter, placing it in your hand.

"Don't make assumptions when you don't even know me." Eren said as he grabbed your wrist, walking you out of the snack line. You followed silently in a slight shock as you continued to be in Eren's grip, causing an unbearable tension between the two of you. You whipped your head around to look back to the cashier, who was looking at both of you in complete terror. Eren led you out the dining hall, your arm still in his grasp. The cool air hitting your skin as the wind started to whistle. You turned to look at him, about to open your mouth. "Where did you even come from?" You asked as a twinkle of curiosity lingered through the sounds of your voice.

Eren chuckled slightly as he let go of your grasp gently. "More questions?" He teased as he met your gaze, sharing a smug expression on his lips. You couldn't help but roll your eyes at his response. "Oh, because you've suddenly appeared out of thin air?" You protested with sarcasm, waiting for his response. "You were taking too long, I thought something happened to you or something." Eren said as he reached into his pocket retrieving a lighter and cigarette box. He ignited the flame, holding it discreetly in his palm as he took a deep drag of it before sliding the lighter into his pocket.

You looked at him as he puffed out the smoke that was in his mouth, slowly feeling a slight breeze of disgust and confusion. "You shouldn't smoke, you know?" You said as you took a sip of your drink, trying to hide the disappointment in your voice.

Eren glanced over at you, a hint of annoyance in his eyes as he continued to take a puff of his cigarette. "What are you? My personal doctor?" Eren said as he finished the last bit of the cigarette before disposing it to the floor. You watched as Eren squash the cigarette with his feet in disgust as you crossed your arms. "No, I'm just someone who cared about your health." You replied as your voice betrayed with annoyance.

"Yeah, since when do you care about my health?" He said as he continued to stroll his feet around his pavement. You stopped in your tracks as your expression turned into a more disappointed one as you continued to talk back with him. "Would you rather me hate your guts?" You said, and in response, Eren twisted his body around to face you with a smug on his face. "I already do, so why don't you match my energy?" He said as he slipped his hands into his pockets. Frustration building within you as you tried to remain calm. "Match your energy? Seriously?" You shot back, rolling your eyes at his response.

"You make it seem like having sympathy is a bad thing." You countered as your voice dripped with sarcasm and anger. Eren met your gaze, particularly towering you. "Maybe worrying about other people, you should worry about yourself." Eren said as he kept his tone cool. You let out a sharp sigh as you furrowed your eyebrows together. "It's not about that, I worry about myself more than you do since you clearly are foreign to that subject."

Eren paid no mind to your words that had zero effect on him, casually digging into his pocket and lit up another cigarette, blowing the air directly into your face. The smoke stung your eyes as soon as it hit you, causing you to swat the cloud of smoke in front of you. "What the hell is wrong with you?" You said as you coughed slightly to the smoke's effect on you. Eren chuckled at your reaction, clearly amused about the whole thing. "Awh, can't take a little smoke?" Eren said as he took another puff before turning around. You proceeded to walk faster to keep up with his pace, about to open your mouth. "You're such a jerk, what do you even get out of this?" You questioned as you threw your empty smoothie cup into the nearby trash can.

Eren smirked, clearly having a good time by teasing you. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't." He said as the arrogance in his tone grew bolder and bolder by the second. You took a deep breath and decided to ignore him as the two of you strolled to the dorm quarters. Eren raised an eyebrow as he turned his focus to you in confusion. "Finished talking, hm?" Eren said as he swung the door open for the dorms, letting you inside.

Continuing to ignore him, you entered the lobby and pressed into the elevator button waiting for it to collide open. Eren followed closely behind, you could feel the smirk on his face from behind you as he leaned against a wall that separated the elevator from it, his eyes fixated on you, not saying a word. The elevators opened up wide and revealed a familiar face, Jean.

"Jean?"