JUST FRIENDS RIGHT? £RIREN£

Aesthetic

Eren's POV

It was a crisp day, early April, with that kind of quickly waning afternoon light that always makes it feel like the dark snuck up on you. I started walking to my next period before the bell could ring, I came upon Olou. He was sitting on a bench by the side of the canteen's wall, his back to me, talking to a guy in jeans and a sleeveless shirt with, IM THE BOSS written in bold in the middle.

     "I mean, it takes serious nerve for that midget to just go and talk to Petra after what happened at the cafeteria," he was saying. "Oh and you can just tell he's used to girls falling all over him and agreeing to everything he says, even it's stupid things that aren't even worth talking about. His clearly in love with himself. I mean did you see his hair? Keeping it 'clean' and 'right' to catch girls I mean come on?"

       The guy with the sleeveless shirt, who was tall and kinda buff with a seriously weird kisses-like haircut, just shrugged his shoulders, nodding at me as I approached. Olou turned around quickly, then his eyes widened, and he jumped to his feet. "Hi," He said too quickly, realizing I was one of Levi's friends. "Um, I didn't realize . . . How was your day? Good?" I nodded, silent then slid my hands into my pockets as I walked between them. About two beats later, I heard footsteps behind me, running to catch up.
     "Wait," Olou called out. Then, "Please?"
     I stopped, turning to face him. Up close, I realized he looked pretty old for his age. His cheeks were flushed, either from the cold or being embarrassed, as he said, "Look I was just blowing off steam, okay? It's not personal."
    "It's fine,"I told him. "It's nothing to do with me."
     He looked at me for a moment, then stopped, taking a breath. "I know it's not an excuse. But I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't. . . You know. . ."
   "I wouldn't," I told him.
   Olou nodded slowly. "Thanks."
   I turned and started walking to again, ducking my head against the cold. I'd only taken a couple of steps when I heard him say, "Hey, I didn't catch your name earlier. What was it?"
     I knew I should tell him my name, even though one day if Levi were to have a wedding with Petra and I'd be, best man for Levi, he would look at me as if we were great friends and I just destroyed all that. But who knows since it's none of my concern.

    "I'm Eren," I said, turning back to him.
    "Eren," he repeated, sealing the deal. "It's nice to meet you."

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      Back at the house, I cleaned everywhere, finished putting away the groceries, and moved the couch four places in the living room before deciding it looked best in the very spot where it usually was. I plopped down on it with a glass of milk and booted my laptop.
       My home page was still set to my last Facebooks homepage. At the top picture was one of aesthetic picture, taken on the beach, of the side view of the water in the beach that has a color pink filter. I scrolled down to my comment section, scanning the handful of new ones there:

      Wow great aesthetic thinking

      Hope you post more often this is great.

       You should really think of being a photographer as your job.

       I leaned a little closer to the screen, reading these eleven words again, once more. Then, against my better judgement, I thought about it. I've always wanted to be doctor like my father, ever since I was a child he would show the basic things about being one. And what I post was basically just a hobby I wouldn't think about going for as a work.
       In truth, since my mom died, I hadn't had much faith in myself, just doing what I was good at —and one of them is about medical— is enough for me to think this is a worthwhile job, for me to actually enjoy. My Fathers a doctor so it might, not be that bad, speaking of dad it's been a while since I talked to him. I was just typing at Word about my English homework when my laptop made a cheerful beeping noise and my webcam activated itself.
Crap, I thought, quickly putting down my laptop on the coffee table and darting into the kitchen. I had come and preloaded on my laptop, and no matter what I did I couldn't seem to disable it. Which shouldn't have been an issue, really, as none of my friends used it anyway. Unfortunately, someone else did.

"Eren?" A pause, some static. "Honey? Are you there?" I leaned against the fridge, closing my eyes as my fathers voice, pleading, drifting into the empty house. "Well," he said, I knew if I looked at my screen, I'd see him there. "I guess you're not home. I just had a free moment, and wanted to say hello. I miss you, honey. And I can't come there for another year or two because of work if I can make it there we can—"
This thought was interrupted by a sudden yell, followed by a 'theres a person in need of stitching'. Then babbling before he spoke again.
"Okay well I'll see you and have a great day Eren" I pushed off the fridge, then out the kitchen door onto the deck. Outside, air was cold, sky clear, and I just stood there, looking at the clear blue sky.

From where I'm standing, I had a partial view of the dining room of the house next door, where a women with short, frizzy hair, wearing a plaid sweater and glasses, was sitting at the head of the table. I went back inside, pausing in the kitchen to listen. There was only silence, but I still approached my laptop with caution, creeping around to the front and peeking over to make sure there was only the screen saver in view before I sat down again. As I expected, there was a messenger bubble, bouncing cheerfully from side to side as it waited for me.

Wanted to say hello, sorry I missed you. Hopefully you do good at school. And I'll be giving you money this next weekend. I love you. Dad

My father was never the feelings-showing-type. But when he did it was one in a blue moon but right now I could tell him a million times I didn't want to talk to him and needed some space.

Ever since mom died he's always been overseas. I was a child back then, when he left giving money to pay and look after things while his gone. But to him I wasn't due to how his been showing me about advanced learning and me quickly catching in time. Even though I was still a child, but I didn't care, and spent my days alone or with Levi.

Now I understood why Armin said I must feel lonely, but as I said I didn't care since it was normal. I shut my laptop, having lost any momentum I had to tackle my homework since it's not like we're going to pass it tomorrow. Then I sat back looking at the ceiling. A beat later I didn't know what was happening but I felt my eyelids turn heavy and then finally everything was dark.