*In honor of my little darlings birthday, I will post a chapter today! Happy birthday Armin! I love you my little sweety!
We are sitting under a tree. Armin is staring far off into the distance, at something I cannot see, not even squinting through my glasses. I, meanwhile, am thinking of nothing in general, and am trying to read, but my thoughts keep drifting off to last night. With an open book and a filled mind, I couldn't concentrate on the actual reading. All I could do was sit and stare at the page I was on, though my mind was processing none of it.
"Sara, what are you thinking about?" Armin asks. I turn around and look at him.
"N-nothing. I'm just reading my book." I reply, scared of him asking for further information. He continues with his interrogation.
"No you're not. You aren't reading because first, you haven't turned the page for the past half-hour, and second...." He sighs. "You don't have that shine in your eyes that you get when you read." What? What is he saying? How would he even know? He would have to stare at me when.... I..... read....
"Armin-"
"Sara, what has been on your mind? You've been acting weird all day. First you daze out and push me away, and then you cut your hair? What's going on?" I close my mouth and look down ashamed. I didn't mean to push him away, I wasn't planning on doing that.
"G-gomen-nasai..." I don't want to hurt him. I look up to see him mad, annoyed, and worst of all, hurt. I am having an inner battle, deciding whether or not I should tell him. I sigh and decide to tell him, after all, he is my best friend, and there is nothing bad about the small peck. "A-alright... I'll tell you." He has a face of victory as I start to tell him.
Once I am done telling him the short yet lasting story, I look up to find a face filled with rage. "A-Armin.... what's wrong?" I ask him.
"Kissed you! He kissed you!? Who was it, Sara!?" He? I never said it was a guy, it could have been a friend acting like a brother or sister, I never said it was a guy!
I part of me hurt. I think that deep down, I was hoping it had been Armin. Apparently it was not. "Armin, I never said it was a guy..."
"Seriously Sarai! I know that it was a guy! You can tell right away! Someone likes you!" He is getting me mad. Does he expect me to live a loveless life forever!?
"So what if someone likes me, Armin! There's nothing wrong with that!" Now I was yelling.
"Who was it, Sarai!?"
"No one! It was no one, Armin!"
"Sarai-"
"I don't know, okay!?" I cut him off. I was extremely mad right now. I folded my arms and turned away from him. We were silent for a moment. Then, he finally spoke.
"I'm sorry, Sara. I just.... don't want anyone to hurt you." I turn to look at him and see that he's facing the opposite direction. We stay quiet for another moment, until he speaks again. "Uhm... Sara?"
"Yeah?" He stayes quiet, as if he were deciding against something. When he finally decided, he asked me something that caught me off guard.
"Where did he kiss you again....?" He side glances at me, and all I can do is point at my forehead. Touching the spot reminds me of the kiss. He nods and turns away again. I sigh, sad. Why is he acting that way?
I stare at him for a few minutes, but before I turn away again, he abruptly and swiftly takes hold of my head, and then plants a kiss on my forehead. I just stay there dumbfounded. When he pulls away, he laughs nervously, with a bit of a blush on his cheeks. When he stares at me, he chuckles slightly at my heat filled face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When we are heading back, there is an ominous silence between us. It's kind of creepy. I am holding my book and am walking with it. It's difficult to see, there is barely any light. I am suddenly grateful that Armin is here with me. Who knows how scared I would be if I were alone.
The streets are quiet, adding to the odd aura surrounding us. The trip would have continued that way if Armin hadn't started a conversation.
"So, uhm, Sara.... why did you cut your hair?" I sigh and am about to explain when he cuts me off, rephrasing his question. "It's pretty! But.... uhm.... why did you cut it?" I giggle a bit at his act. A slight blush creeps onto his face.
"Well, uhm, I did it to help Katie... a little girl..." I start, then proceed to explain who she is. "I had seen her when the city of Trost was taken over by Titans. Her father disappeared, and her mother is starting a job to raise money. She cuts hair.... so I decided to cut my hair to help them out...." I laugh a bit nervously, not believing the story myself even though it was true. I look up to see him smiling at me, which relieves me a bit.
"Well, you look beautiful." He turns away and I just laugh, ready to joke around with him.
"So you're saying I wasn't before!?" He turn towards me with wide eyes as I just laugh in amusement.
"N-no! You always look beautiful...." At this, my habit of facing the ground kicks in, but I fight down the blush creeping into my face.
We continue to walk until we are finally on front of the mess hall. Our dorms are on opposite directions, so here is where we say goodnight.
We face at eachother and another akward silence fills the air. Finally, I decide to leave. "Uhm.... goodnight, Armin." I wait for him to return the farewell, and when he does not, I turn to leave with a small ache in my heart.
Before I could travel far from where I was, a hand grasped my arm and pulled me back, and when I turned to look at him, his lips collided with my cheek. I gasp as Armin pulls away. I can feel my face heat up, but I stay staring at him. He smiles and turns around to leave.
"You look pretty with your hair short, it suits you. Goodnight Sara!" He leaves, but I just stand there like a complete idiot, holding my impacted cheekbone.
