Metamorphosis

Chapter 12

Hey, everyone! I don't know how many of you are reading this fic of mine here on Wattpad, because I don't get a lot of comments. I'm thinking of deleting this work on this site and just continuing to update on AO3. Unless I get some feedback, because I feel like I'm posting it on here for nothing. *sweats*

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Somehow we managed to leave the club without bumping into anyone of importance. In my current state, I considered that an accomplishment. I was hobbling around like an Igor monster from one of the Frankenstein movies. Eren had offered to carry me out, but I knew that would draw unwanted attention, so I opted to walk. Although, by the time we reached my car out in the parking lot, I was more than convinced that I needed to sit down for the rest of the night. The pain in my hips was subsiding to a warm, almost pleasant ache, but that did nothing to relieve me of my limp-shuffle gait that was too embarrassing to think about.

            After I dug my keys out of my messenger bag—having to push aside a paperback novel, my leather wallet, and a pack of mint gum to find them—I unlocked the driver's side door and sagged back into the seat with a sigh of relief. This earned me a look of concern from Eren, who was hovering outside the door like a worker bee gathering pollen. Was he that worried about me?

            "Are you okay to drive?" he asked. I nodded, adding a small smile that I hoped would reassure him of my answer. "You sure? You were limping pretty badly. I didn't think I was that rough with you."

            "You weren't. I'm the one that got carried away. Plus, you're big." When I realized what I'd just said out loud, I smacked my hand over my mouth, embarrassed by my slip up.

            "Oh?" The tense expression he wore seconds ago melted into one of amusement. He reclined against the door and raised an eyebrow as a sinful smirk lifted one corner of his mouth. I noticed that his lips were still kiss-swollen from earlier, the color of them a deep shade of pink. I couldn't even understand what that did to me. I'd made them that way. "Disappointed with that?"

            My eyes snapped up to his in disbelief, because I think everyone within a ten-mile radius of Armin's dressing room knew that I wasn't disappointed with that. How loud had I been back there? Loud enough to wake the dead, I presumed. Of course it wouldn't hurt to tell him how I felt. It would be interesting to see how he reacted, so somehow I summoned up the nerve to say, "No, I'm not disappointed. Far from it, actually."

            His eyes widened, and then he released a deep groan. "What the hell are you trying to do to me?"

            "Huh?" I blurted out, confused by his response.

            "Give me some warning next time." He stepped back from the car and gestured to the road to the west of us. "I'll be coming from that direction. My apartment complex isn't far from here, just follow me there."

            "All right."

            He bent down, pecked me on the lips, and then walked back the way we came, toward the parking garage that was reserved for the higher-ups that worked at Club Rose. If I were a dancer, I would have an assigned parking space in there. But I wasn't a dancer, even though, after tonight, the idea of going up in the cage again appealed to me in a way it hadn't before. No one had reacted the way I thought they would. No one pointed and laughed, no one even commented on the fact that I wore glasses. When Armin had introduced me, everyone shouted in approval. They'd accepted me, no questions asked. Maybe Mikasa would still be willing to give me that position. I would have to ask her when I came into work tomorrow night.

            The rumbling of an engine snapped me back into focus and I glanced up to see Eren idling in the street on his motorcycle. His black shirt had ridden up on his back, revealing defined muscles that I'd felt beneath my fingertips minutes ago. I didn't have a name for what he made me feel, a deep thrum in my heart that I had no hope of disregarding, but I was sure that I was addicted to it at this point.