Searching for love

27

The next morning I did absolutely nothing. My thoughts were only filled with Eren. Every time he smiled, laughed or touched me I felt like I was going to burst, was that normal? My thoughts were only filled with him and I was going crazy constantly thinking about him. What was even going on between us? What did that kiss mean to him? My heart sank when I remembered that he still had on his promise ring. He was clearly not over Valentina. I really wanted to talk to Serena or Rose but they were both away on missions. Dad had gone golfing with a few friends and wouldn't be back until dinner time. Eren hadn't texted or called me either. I decided to check up on Reed who was watching Ellie this weekend. Luckily for him, Ellie was spending the weekend in the lab, so there wasn't much for him to do. Finishing up some reports and emailing Hunter with my progress I shut down my laptop and headed to the kitchen to make dinner. I had a lot of time on my hands so I decided to go all out with dinner making some slow-cooker sauerbraten and dumplings for the main course and chocolate souffle. As I was putting finishing touches on the desert, the doorbell rang loudly and I hurried over to the door. It couldn't be dad or Eren because they both had keys to the house. Honestly, I had no idea why Eren had the keys to the house but I didn't question it. Serena and Rose were out of town too. "Axel?", I said in shock.

Axel was in town for a special assignment and would be in Maryland till then. He wanted to surprise me which I was. I hadn't realized it but I missed him a lot, he was after all my best friend. We ended up watching a star wars movie together and were laughing whilst consuming popcorn. Once dad came home, which he should be shortly we would have dinner, which Axel was constantly bugging me about. I wasn't sure if Eren would show up and being with Axel proved to be a nice distraction. We were playfully wrestling when I heard a clearing of a throat and looked up to see Eren. His eyes were cold and I froze. I realized the position I was in. My tank had ridden up and Axel was over me on the floor. I quickly got up and pushed my sweaty hair away from my face "hey Eren! Wassup", Axel said breathing heavily. He nodded at Axel and shrugged and said, "What're you doing here?", before Axel could reply my dad came into the room and smiled and said, "Wow this is a first! No one was at the dining table".

Dinner was slightly awkward or well at least that's what it seemed like to me. Eren was tense and curt, but Axel's presne hid that. Luckily Axel left quickly saying he had a few things to take care of for the next day and left. As Eren was leaving I quickly stopped him and said, "Hey, can we talk?", he nodded and followed me to my room.

"About earlier...we were just fooling around. It isn't like that with Axel and I. We're just friends. We had a clean breakup and there are no unresolved feelings or anything", I said nervously while fidgeting with my frayed shirts. "Why are you telling me this?", he said coldly and my heart stopped. Is he going to pretend there was nothing between us? Angry I strode forward and said, "How can you say that! This has everything to do with you! Why do you keep pulling away?", I yelled at him breathing heavily. Tears filled my eyes due to frustration. His cold gaze lifted a bit as he made a move to leave my room. I grabbed him and kissed him. Love, frustration, anger...I put it all in my kiss. For a second he stiffened and didn't return the kiss. Slowly but surely he kissed me back gently and softly, filling me with warmth.

"I'm sorry. Seeing you with Axel drives me a little crazy", Eren whispered into my ear as he held me. I smiled and said, "I'm sorry too. I definitely shouldn't have been all over Axel like that. Anybody would jump to conclusion if they saw that. But I want you to know that you're the only one for me. Always have been. I had a crush on you since the first time I saw you". Eren smiled brightly at those words while I bloomed red under his gaze. I don't know what overcame me to say something so embarrassing! "The first time I saw you...you left an impression on me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to get you off my mind", he looked at me tenderly and held me carefully like I was glass.

Work was the same old boring mess that it was. I had an additional member in my group to work specifically during weekends which was a great relief to all. Elle and I hadn't spoken much at all. When we were alone in her apartment I would simply work and not bring up any personal topics like Eren. I knew she wanted to talk to me about Eren because whenever Eren called me over work she would stop whatever she was doing and listen over to our conversations. She had also asked me if we could go over to my place for dinner which I had obviously responded with a no. I didn't want her going anywhere near Eren at least until what me and Eren had was a little more defined. I was extremely insecure about our relationship. There was too much in the dark with him. While he knew everything about me I knew nothing. What little I did know was from other people. I had to talk to him and clear up what was going on between us. But for now I wanted to treasure every single moment we shared. I didn't want to rush things and ruin things by rushing things.

One fine Thursday as I followed Ellie around while grocery shopping, she casually asked me while looking at various ice creams. "So. What's going on between you and Eren?", I simply raised my eyebrow at her question. I hadn't expected her to be so direct. "We're just talking", I vaguely answered. She smirked and said, "Ah, for a little bit I thought there might have been something going on between you but that would obviously not happen". Ugh, I wanted to punch her. "What do you mean? There could be something going on. I don't need to tell you anything". She shrugged and said, "Well there isn't anything going on and I know that because he still wears his ring". My fists were tightly clenched at her words. However, there wasn't anything I could say to that. It was true. He still wore his promise ring.