Unexpectedly

Chapter 21: Grey Allen

Last day before the celebration of the Nutrition month, Arianne is busy gathering the decorations to set it up.

Erick: "yo."
Arianne: "hey."
Erick: "what happened to you yesterday? You suddenly become serious."
Arianne: "nothing.. I just remembered a movie."
Erick: "oh..." (I'm pretty sure it's because she experienced it before..)

When Arianne is decorating the hall, the lower area was fully decorated, but the higher area doesn't even have a single decor.
Arianne is already standing on her toes, yet she still can't reach it. She is too short for her height.

Arianne: *struggling * "d-damn it, I can't reach.."
Erick: "oi, what are you doing to the wall?"
Arianne: "nothing, okay?"

He noticed her face that gives a struggling expression.

Erick: "let me do it."
Arianne: "what? No, I can do it myself."
Erick: "don't be stupid. You're too short to reach that height."
Arianne: "I said, I can do it myself."
Erick: "then prove it. Reach my hand."

He raised his hand above his head. Erick is a tall person, taller than Arianne. She tried to reach his hand, but she surrendered.

Arianne: "fine, fine... go ahead."
Erick: "hmph.. shortie."
Arianne: (damn I hate him.)

He helped her with the decorations.
After they decorated the whole campus, they are walking down the hall heading to their lockers. Then someone suddenly hugged Erick from the back. It's Cheryl, again.

Cheryl: "hey Erick!! I missed you!!"
Erick: "well, I don't."
Cheryl: "let's go out tonight, just the two of us."
Erick: "hell no, I won't go out with you!!"
Arianne: (she's flirting again)
Cheryl: "why? What's stopping you?"
Erick: "nothing, I just don't like going out with you."
Cheryl: "wait, is that Arianne-girl stopping you?!"
Arianne: (the heck?! Why am I brought to this quarrel? )
Erick: "what? no."
Cheryl: "then why are you not going out with me?! I'm better than her! What's with that girl?!"
Erick: "can you shut the fuck up?! I don't want to go out with you, and it's not because of that girl!! I'm not interested with her, and I will never like her!!"

Arianne heard that and it felt like she was stabbed in the back.

Arianne: (s-so... all these time... he was never really concerned about me?)

Flashback: Erick comforted Arianne when she cried..

Arianne: (he... didn't really cared about me?) *teary eyes* "s-so... that's how it really is..."

Erick and Cheryl looked at her quite startled.

Arianne: "all these time... I was being played..", "y-you really are.... a cold-hearted bastard!"

Erick was shocked of seeing Arianne so angry at him. Arianne then run away, while Erick tried to chase her but Cheryl stopped him.

Arianne running away, having no idea where to go. After being tired from running, she found herself at the park. She sat on the grass and rest. A little while she silently cried, then someone noticed her crying. He sat beside her and asked.

???: "hey, are you okay?"

When she looked at him, she was suprised to see the guy who spilled his shake on her.

???: "y-you?"
Arianne: "you?"

Then they go to a café, where they talk about each other.

???: "I'm sorry for not introducing myself before, I'm Grey Allen."
Arianne: "nice to meet you, Grey. I'm Arianne Collins."
Grey: "why are you crying earlier?"
Arianne: "o-oh, it's nothing. I'm alright now."
Grey: "you can't fool me with a smile like that, I know you're hurt. You girls do that all the time, trying to hide your weakness to other people."
Arianne: "I-I don't want to share it... maybe you'll find it quite childish."
Grey: "it's okay, I'm willing to listen."
Arianne: "it's Erick, he.. he said something that really hurt me."
Grey: "Erick? What's his surname?"
Arianne: "Andersen."
Grey: "aah... Erick Andersen.. that's why he looked familiar."
Arianne: "you know him?"
Grey: "well yeah, his my old friend. But now... we don't see each other anymore."
Arianne: "w-why?"
Grey: "I don't know... he just disappeared all of a sudden, without telling me.", "what did he tell you earlier?"
Arianne: "he said that he doesn't care about me, and he'll never care about me. And during the past days, he was kind to me. When I cried, he comforted me. It's painful to think all the time when he was kind to me, was just fake emotions."
Grey: "don't think about that often, you'll forget about that. If you need help or maybe just someone to listen to your problems, I'm here for you."
Arianne: "t-thank you.."

Then Erick found them sitting on the grass, laughing and smiling together.

Erick: "Arianne, I've been looking for you."
Arianne: "Eri-"
Grey: "so.. this is where you've been hiding... huh, Erick? "
Erick: "W-wait....G-Grey?"
Grey: "don't tell me you've already forgotten me."
Erick: "what are you doing here?"
Grey: "nothing... it's just a coincidence that we saw each other again."
Erick: "tsk! Come, Arianne."
Arianne: "wait.. I-"
Grey: "I'll see you next time, Arianne."