THE OTHER SIDE. aa

zehn.

     THE RELIEF you felt when you woke up at seven in the morning was astonishing and refreshing, something you definitely missed. how lucky you were that you had afternoon classes for the day and you got to sleep in for a little bit after days of meeting up with armin that left you sleep-deprived and exhausted. unfortunately, you had to finish some homework which you didn't get to finish yesterday.

     after an hour or so, you packed up your things to get ready for college. you went to your room to change and grab the remaining supplies that you may have left before putting them in your bag. you checked the clock and saw that you still had an hour and a half left.

     deciding to head out now, you could buy a cup of coffee to pass the remaining time or—

     your phone rang, a notification popped up. well, no coffee in the meantime. you checked the message you received before deciding that you'd head to reiner's and pick him up since he asked you to.

     apparently, his car wasn't working today.

     you quickly replied and headed out, jumping in your car before driving away to reiner's location.

     surprisingly, there was no traffic in the city as you headed towards reiner's place considering it was almost afternoon, where traffic becomes heavy with people trying to get to their job.

     minutes later, you parked in front of reiner's apartment and sent him a message to let him know that you were already waiting for him. you got out of the car and looked at the ocean up ahead, spotting a few people playing and having fun on the sand. you glanced at the ocean, unintentionally smiling and getting your mind muddled up with happiness and somewhat nostalgia.

     the memory of armin flashed and your small smile turned to a shy grin before you could even stop it. you could still remember the sea anemone hopping around as you play with it, the texture of its soft tentacles was still there just on your fingertips. you were still giddy and jubilant with armin's gift, you weren't expecting something like that and you couldn't forget it even if you wished it to be. it's a wonder how he memorized and knew what your exact favorite sea creature was just because of a page and your wistful talk when it comes to the creature. just thinking about it brought a new feeling in you, something familiar yet you can't put a finger on it. your cheeks were hurting from your smile that never faded as you recall the memory, heart flipping for some reason while you tried to keep your excitement from yesterday at bay.

     "hey y/n!" reiner exclaimed excitedly, breaking you out of your memory lane, closing the door behind him before making his way towards you. he pulled you in for a hug which you reciprocated, patting his back after.

     "hey reiner, you ready?" you asked, opening the car door to the driver's seat before getting in. reiner followed and went to the passenger's seat, wearing his seatbelt before giving you the go signal.

     it was silent between the two of you, only the car engine and the outside world was the noise both of you could hear. you didn't think too much of it, perhaps he had something in his mind or he was too lazy to talk. if you were being honest, you kinda were too. you have no idea what to talk about, you don't even have the latest gossip.

     at the stoplight, you glanced at your blond friend only to see him scrolling through his phone with a bored look. you slowly turned back to the road and waited for the light to turn green and while waiting, your mind wandered off to your conversation with reiner yesterday.

     you could remember reiner being a tad bit protective of you, and your dumb butt thought it as a sign of him liking you. you cringe every time you remember it, you could only cry in despair and curse at yourself for even thinking about his feelings toward you or getting your hopes up.