Meeting the Higher-ups

Chapter 9 ~ Rivalries and Stars

The next morning I woke up early again, so I decided to make breakfast for everyone. I walked into the kitchen and found somebody there that I didn't expect to see.

"Jake? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, good morning, Emma." He said while walking up to me from the barstool that he was sitting on. "Before your parents' last trip, they gave me a spare key to your house just in case you needed me."

"Oh... I wish they would have told me that." I said, looking away. I didn't really mind it, but I wish I would have known so that I wouldn't be surprised in moments like this.

Jake then pulled me into a hug. We're best friends so I dismissed it as nothing. That is, until he kissed the top of my head. My eyes widened a bit and my face heated up a little.

"So, what's for breakfast?" He asked, still hugging me. I then heard a "tch" from the doorway and broke away from Jake. I looked over and saw Levi there, glaring at Jake. Jake glared right back, seeming not at all affected. I practically felt the tension in the room and decided to try to break it.

"Good morning, Levi. How are you?" I asked nervously.

"Fine." He answered, curtly and sat down on one of the barstools. Jake sat down on one a couple over from him. They again started to glare at each other.

"So!" I said, trying to lighten the moment again. "How does scrambled eggs and bacon sound?"

"That's fine with me." Jake answered with a smile.

"Anything made by you is fine with me." Levi answered. I was a little surprised because I think he just tried to flirt. Heichou just tried to flirt... HEICHOU JUST TRIED TO FLIRT... with ME...

The thought made my face heat up and I looked down. Levi then placed a couple fingers on my chin and lifted my head up. "You okay, Emma?" He asked with concerned eyes, his face now very close to mine.

"Y-yeah... I'm fine... I think I'll just start breakfast now." I said, breaking away from him. I turned to get the ingredients and I heard a smirk from Levi. Ughh... I already don't like this... Oh well. I got Hanji to help me out.

As if on cue, Hanji burst through the doorway. "Good morning!" She said very cheerfully.

Levi "tch"ed but I answered her. "Good morning, Hanji." I said with a smile.

She stood there for a few seconds and must have gotten the idea that something had just happened. "How's it going?" She whispered to me, now where I was standing getting the bacon laid out.

"Not good." I sighed.

"It'll get better." She said encouragingly.

"Thanks." I said softly with a smile.

Don't get me wrong. It's not like this whole thing was like a civil war or something, but I really just wanted them to be friends. I mean, it's my best friend and a man that I really admire. I always thought that it would nice to meet him, and that actually somehow surprisingly happened. I'll just try to keep things in check.

Soon enough, everybody had woken up and we were eating in the living room again.

"Wow, Emma, this is really good." Jake commented.

"Thank you." I giggled.

"Maybe you should cook for me sometime. Just me and you." He said with a wink, earning a deep growl from Levi. I just giggled again in response.

After that, we settled back down in the living room again and tried to decide our plans for the day. "What do you guys want to do?" I asked.

"I want to go back to that pet shop!" Hanji said excitingly but with a look in her eyes that I knew wasn't good.

"NO!" We all said at the same time.

"I kind of liked that coffee shop." Erwin commented.

"Um, no." Levi stated bluntly.

"Awwe, Shorty, do you not like being hit on?" Hanji teased while placing her arm on his shoulder.

"Depends on who it is." He said, taking a sip of his tea. His response kind of surprised me but also not. We sat there thinking for a minute before I finally thought of something.

"Oh! I know a place we could go!" I said. "But we'll have to wait until tonight, though." They all nodded in agreement.

Time skip

The rest of the day we spent just laying around the house, playing games, watching Attack on Titan and such. A few times a small fight almost broke out between Jake and Levi, but I was able to put it to rest. When it was about 8:30pm, I decided that we would go to where I was planning.

All six of us piled up in my car and I drove us to a little place about 20 minutes away from my house, just on the edge of town. It's a place that I always like to go to to clear my thoughts. I've always loved it, ever since I was a little kid.

"Wow." Erwin commented as he looked over the cliff. I brought us to a grassy cliff that overlooked the entire city. The weather was really nice up here. Down below you could see the bustling of people and cars of the city during the day and the bright lights of the city at night. Up above, you could see the bright blue skies and clouds during the day and the glistening stars and moon at night.

Jake and I used to come here when we were younger during the day to have a picnic and lay down on the blanket and describe what we thought each cloud looked like. We still did it every now and then.

"Yeah, I like to come up here sometimes to clear my thoughts and think. It's very beautiful, both during the day and night." I said, laying down on the grass and looking up at the stars. They all did the same. "The stars are so pretty. I wish I could just reach out and grab them." I said while reaching out my hand upwards and acting as if I were doing just that.

Jake chuckled and grabbed my hand and held it. I reluctantly held back. I knew who I liked, but I still didn't want to hurt him.

I looked over to Levi, who practically had the stars reflecting in his eyes with a small smile on his face. He noticed me looking and smiled even more at me. He's so beautiful when he smiles... With how much he's been through in his life, how could he not be beautiful when he smiles? I smiled back.

I didn't think at that moment about the fact that he and the rest of the cast were going to have to go back to their own world eventually. For that moment right then, I just closed my eyes and enjoyed it.