back to shear squigglies bc wattpad wont let me copy paste the bars smh
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The wind blew the thin strands of hair that weren't pulled back in an updo around your face. You tugged your jacket closer to your body and took a long sip of the blue drink in your hand.
It was around four p.m. on an afternoon in late November and the sun was beginning to set. The air was chilly, your slurpee making it colder.
A friend of yours stood on either side of you, both conversing about something you hadn't been listening to until the boy on your left spoke rather loudly.
"What I don't understand is why our team is called the Titans when they get something cool like the Warriors." Jean rolled his eyes and took an angry sip of his cherry slurpee. His dark eyebrows furrowed as he stared forward at the sandy hair blowing in his eyes.
If there was one thing you knew about your best friend, it was that things were better if you didn't engage in his rambling about Marley, the neighboring, claimed "rival", school.
The blonde on your right shrugged and peered back at him through thick-rimmed blue glasses. His wide brown eyes had never looked bigger. "I don't know, Jean. I think the Titans is a pretty cool name." Armin pushed the glasses up his nose. Noticing that you saw the movement, his shoulders tensed and he looked down at his shoes. "These make me look pathetic, don't they?"
You shook your head rapidly. "You look great, don't worry." You smiled genuinely as he shyly tucked a blowing strand of hair behind his ear.
"Thanks. They're pretty stupid, though. They keep sliding down my nose." Jean laughed at the small pout etching Armin's face.
"It's because of your nose shape," he suggested.
Armin looked mildly offended. "What's wrong with my nose shape?"
You let out a noise of disapproval. "Nothing's wrong with your nose, Min. You've got a cute nose. I just don't think those glasses were made for a nose like yours. Jean didn't have this issue because he's got a horse nose."
Jean narrowed his eyes warningly. "Don't even go there."
"You wear glasses, Jean? I've never seen you with them on. What do you need them for?" Armin asked curiously.
"Nothing. My vision is perfect." Jean sneered at you, desperately trying to make you shut up.
"It wasn't always perfect. His mom showed me pictures of him before he moved here. He needed glasses all throughout elementary and middle school," you said through an innocent smile. However, you were casting sly eyes at Jean.
"You said you'd keep that a secret," he grumbled.
You shrugged and took another sip of your slurpee. Armin's head perked up suddenly.
"Wait, did you say there were pictures?" A grin could be seen on his face despite his efforts trying to fight it off.
Jean was quick to defend the little honor he had left. "No! She didn't! There are no pictures." He looked down at his slurpee shamefully. "At least none for your viewing pleasure," he muttered to himself before continuing to angrily chew on his straw.
Armin shook his head and looked back down at his own slurpee with a small smile.
The three of you stood against the exterior wall of Paradise Convenience in silence. There was nothing more to say to each other. You'd been hanging out with them for a couple of hours now and it seemed you'd either run out of things to talk about or you were just too tired to talk at all.
The light revving of an engine made you look up from the sea of blue in your cup. The driver honked their horn and you sent them a wave and a smile upon realizing it was Armin's mom.
She smiled back at you and Jean before gesturing for Armin to get in the car. He gave us rushed goodbyes and hurried into his mother's pickup truck.
You took one last long sip of your slurpee before tossing it into a nearby trash can. Jean threw his in after you and swung an arm over your shoulders. You didn't question it, as it was a normal occurrence, but from the teasing smirk he wore you had a bad feeling about what was coming next.
He paid no mind to the skeptical expression on your face as he guided you to his car on the opposite side of the lot.
Breaking the silence between you two, he snickered but continued to look ahead. You rose an eyebrow when the taunting tone was all too evident in his voice, "Y/n, dear Y/n, how are you so stupid?"
"Excuse me?"
He laughed loudly and pulled your body closer to his. He whispered close to your ear, "You can't even see how that boy feels about you. Forget that, you can't even see how you feel."
You were quick to roll your eyes and shove him away. He knew he was crossing dangerous territory yet he made no move to wipe the seemingly knowing smirk off his lips. "This again? Piss off for once, why don't you."
He grinned widely and put his hands up in surrender. "Someone's easily irritated," he remarked carelessly, as if he didn't know from experience that this was the kind of thing that got you all riled up. "As your most bestest friend, I know that your obliviousness never ends."
When you both finally made it to the car, you made an extra effort to slam the door, knowing he would grimace at that. "Choose your next words carefully."
He turned away from you with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "All I'm saying is, you should start paying more attention to things like that."
"Things like what?"
He took one hand off the steering wheel to flick your forehead. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you missed his reaction to you compliments."
You frowned. "There was no reaction."
"Wrong! For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Once again, you rolled your eyes at his so called "knowledge" of physics. "He only gets shy like that when you compliment him. Frankly, I don't think he cares much for compliments unless they're from you."
"Just stop talking, Jean-boy."
You smiled to yourself when you saw his hands tighten on the steering wheel. "What'd I say about that nickname?"
"That it makes you mad?" you answered quickly.
Jean rolled his eyes and made an exasperated hand gesture at you. "Well, yeah. But I also said that it wouldn't distract me from talking about Armin."
Your grin faltered slightly before you regained your confidence. "Would talking about Marco distract you?" His olive skin was suddenly tinted red. He nearly swerved off the road.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about," he said, swallowing nervously and running a hand through his short hair.
"Who's the oblivious one now?" you teased.
"I'm not oblivious to my feelings," he argued. "Unlike some of us, I can actually recognize how I'm feeling and deal with it from there."
You raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly are you dealing with it?"
"By ignoring it."
Snorting at that, you folded your arms. "Oh, yeah. But apparently you're the expert here."
"Oh shut up." He paused, contemplating whether or not he should further delve into your love life. "Is there anyone you know you have eyes for?"
Your conversations with him always seemed to resort back to this topic as you got older. If you didn't know Jean the way you did, you'd think he was into you. "Not at the moment, but I'll be sure to let you know when that changes."
He snuck another mischievous glance at you. "When, you say? So you have hope that you, the one who is most uninterested in falling in love, will eventually fall in love?"
"You know it." The sarcastic tone of your voice should've swayed him.
"Great. Now get out of my car, we're here."
You messed up his hair, much too his dismay, before you left the car. You made sure to slam the car door again before running to the front door.
You were about to walk inside before you heard Jean call your name once again. You turned around to see him leaning against the roof of his car with his hands cupped around his mouth.
"Don't forget that you do have options!" he shouted before jumping back into the car.
"Shut up!" you yelled back but he was already zooming down the road.
You opened the door to your house and stepped inside, kicking off your shoes and hanging up your coat.
Your mother and younger brother both called out a greeting from the kitchen when the door closed behind you.
Your brother quickly went back to getting angry at his math homework
"Welcome back, Y/n!" your mother called from the kitchen. You walked over and saw her making something at the stove and your little brother doing homework.
He looked up from his sheet of math problems and shot you a grin. You sent an identical one back and ruffled his hair.
You mother turned around to give you a similar smile as she placed both hands on the countertop. "How're Jean and Armin?"
"They're great. We had a nice time."
She smiled warmly. "That's good. What was Jean yelling about outside?"
"Oh, nothing important. Just how I need to be more open minded about things. Do you need any help with the food?"
She looked you over skeptically. "No, I'm it's almost done. Make sure you tell Jean he's free to hang out here when he wants to."
You nodded and grimaced at her not so subtly hints at thinking the two of you were into each other. Just as you were about to head up to your room, you realized there was something missing. "Where's dad?"
Your mother sighed in annoyance. "At work. He'll be home late again."
You understood that it was better not to ask but you could never stop yourself from hoping it'd be different.
"This is stupid!" your brother slammed his pencil against the counter and glared at the paper in front of him. You raised your eyebrows, not fully used to his outbursts yet. Middle school was evidently a challenge for him.
"What's up, Luca?"
"Nothing makes sense and I want to die."
"I hear you."
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word count: 1.8k
yo it's been so long since i've updated this. i'm so sorry for the long wait. i hope y'all will forgive me for this one.
happy winter break! i wish everyone the happiest of holidays!