Switched Opportunities (JeanxArmin)

Chapter 6: Just... Hanging

Chapter 6: Just.... Hanging

The sun's golden streaks already beamed down over the earth's surface, lighting up the ocean water even more than before. Just by the sand line leading to the beach was a small park surrounded by a forest of trees. A group of people gathered there with banners and custom made t-shirts they were hoping to sell. The speakers boomed insanely loud that reverberated around any hard surface it could. People shouting, music booming, waves crashing. All of this, and Armin still couldn't wake up. He had parked himself on the table a little away from the group and fell asleep. It was already an hour into the activity and the run was about to start. However, Armin still slept. He had to blame Christa for most of that but, he did blame himself too. After all, it was his fault he wanted to go work Christa's job again. And now he paid the terrible price. He could hardly get his head off the metal table to his lack of energy.

"Hey, Armin?" A familiar voice called, getting him to whip his head off the table. There stood Jean, beaming a gorgeous smile as always at him. Armin's cheeks felt hot, and he knew he was blushing.

"Oh, hey Jean. Wha-What are you doing here?" Armin tried to not stammer his sentences, but it really was hard when most conflicts that week was with this two toned brunette. Jean just smiled even deeper, If that was even possible. He ran his fingers through his hair playfully and extended a hand to Armin.

"A friend of mine has cystic fibrosis." Jean's voice trailed a little, and his words sounded hoarse when they were produced. Armin just shook it off and stood from his seat, taking the extended hand into his grasp. There was an awkward moment of silence as he stood, hand gripped in the taller's, and eye contact being avoided. The moment he stood however, Jean started to laugh. It was more of a snicker but he was still laughing for no apparent reason.

"What's so funny?" Armin dropped Jean's hand and crossed his arms. Jean continued to laugh. When Jean finally managed to simmer his laughter, he asked-"Were you sleeping on the table?"

"Yeah why?" Jean let out one last snort before he composed himself back to his normal self.

"You have the table's design imprinted on your left cheek." Jean pointed to his own cheek as if he didn't know where his own cheeks were. Armin could feel his face start to heat up again, and all of a sudden, he was a ball of pure embarrassment. He turned away, trying to rub at the bumpy skin. It was no use, it wasn't coming off anytime soon. He sighed in contempt and slowly turned back to face Jean, who was smirking like a mad man.

"W-Whatever. I'm going to head over to the starting line." Armin said. He started walking over to the sidewalk where the walk began. For some reason, he almost wished Jean would come along, like that one time in his office. But he didn't. Instead he gave a final wave and ran off toward another group of people. Armin let out a breathy sigh and continued to walk. It didn't really matter right? If Jean liked him or not. He probably wasn't even gay to begin with. If he was, he would go to one of those gay bars instead of that old, cheesy broken down bar Christa worked at. It made sense, sorta, that Jean wasn't gay.

The walk already started a few minutes ago and Armin's feet were starting to feel sore. However, despite the soreness in his feet and tiredness yanking at his eyes, all he could think about was Jean. His thoughts were boggling his brain. He didn't even know if he was gay, let alone like Jean. The thoughts were foreign, a new way to look at life. Just thinking about it to much was addicting yet sickening. It was a good thing he was walking while thinking over things. It really got him to really think things over. There were only a couple of laps left before he could go home, take a nice, warm, relaxing shower, then fall asleep. Maybe he could just avoid Jean the rest of the day and everything could be peachy. But life has this weird game that whenever you want something, it gives the opposite. For example, if you want lemons, life gives you apples. It was screwed up like that.