Authors Note-Wow you guys, I love you all sooo much! I can't believe that this story has already gotten like 100 views and it has only been four days! I will try and to keep updating almost every other day, but forgive me if I don't post as often in the upcoming weeks. But here is Chapter 3, hope you guys enjoy! Happy Reading!-Zenovia
Armin's POV
Chapter 3
All I wanted to do was press fast forward on all of my classes during that Friday morning. I had so much running through my mind, it was if there was a traffic jam in my brain, not allowing me to concentrate on my lectures and surroundings during the day. I couldn't believe that Friday was already here. This day could decide a lot of things in my future. From this day forth, I might not be alone anymore. I could be able to use my phone to call and text somebody, rather than just use it to indulge myself in my music. I had no idea what to expect from this "hanging out session" but all I knew was that I got to be closer to Eren. And that was all that mattered. He seemed to bring me a small light in my pit of darkness. He was the only person to make me laugh a legitimate laugh. He brought this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, that I could only describe as the feeling of an ocean current. It tossing over and over again, not having any mercy for anybody who sinks further into its depths of cold water. As much as this ocean type feeling in my stomach would not go away, whenever I thought about the boy or saw him, I couldn't help deny that I enjoyed the sensation.
The second that classes ended, I hopped on my skateboard and rode home. It was getting colder with each passing day, which meant that once it first snowed, I wouldn't be able to ride to any of my classes, which meant that I would have to walk. In the freezing cold. Alone. Flashbacks of my high school days passed through my head like an old film. The feeling of having people look at you, with their eyes of daggers. The horrible gut wrenching feeling of hearing that one, single, word. The word that played over in my head, as if it was on a track that was stuck on repeat. The feeling of having nobody to protect you when the attackers decided to strike, for no apparent reason. Just feeling, alone...empty...numb...useless.
I tried to shake all of these depressing feelings off. I had an important night coming up in only, two hours. Two hours of pacing around my dorm room waiting for Mr. Emerald Eyes to pick me up. Two hours of waiting was certainly going to be the death of me. When I unlocked my door to walk into my dorm room, I went straight for my bed. I laid on my back and stared up at the ceiling. Just then I had a sudden realization. I hadn't called or texted Eren yet. I quickly grabbed my phone, and the piece of paper, that I had written his phone number on so I wouldn't forget it. I typed the numbers into the appropriate place, and typed a quick message
To Eren: Hey Eren, it's me, Armin. I was just wondering if you had anything planned for tonight so I can dress accordingly, and to know if I need any money.
I waited for a reply, and while I waited I put on some music, the song that came up was "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers. This song was one that put me in my "I'm going to try and write something inspirational" moods. Although, it wasn't to long into the chorus that I had a reply from Eren
From Eren: Oh, hey Armin! I was afraid that you had forgotten about me for a sec ;) but as for clothing, just wear casual stuff and maybe bring like five dollars. But I'm going to surprise you for what I have planned for this evening ;) I will pick you up at like 4:30. See you soon!
My heart pounded a little faster. What kind of surprise did Eren have for me? I looked at the clock on my desk. It was already 3:15. I had a little bit of time to get ready. I decided that I should probably go shower and get cleaned up before I go out.
By the time I was done showering and got dressed. I only had fifteen more minutes until Eren was supposed to pick me up. I started to pace around my room in anxiousness. I didn't know what to expect for all of this. but yet I was excited at the same time. A tsunami of emotions were clouding my judgement. But after a few minutes of pacing up and down my little room, I heard a knock at the door. I reached for the doorknob, and was greeted with having Eren grab my hand and run out of the door and into the hallway. "Eren! Slow down! Where are we going?" I said. "There is no time to waist my friend! We have places to be, spectacular sights to see, thrilling adventures to explore!" Eren replied. I pulled my hand out from his grasp. I stopped dead in the hallway. "Friend. Am I dreaming, or did he just say that I was his friend." I thought. My mind seemed to be running hurdles to get oxygen to my brain because for some reason, I could not seem to comprehend what Eren just said to me. Eren looked back at me, his grinning face fell when he noticed that I was standing in the middle of the hallway.
He said "Armin, are you okay? You look really pale."
"Eren...did you really mean what you just said?"
"What do you mean?"
"You, you called me your friend. Do you really mean that?"
"Well, yeah! Of course! I mean, I want to hang out with you more, and I want to get to know you more, so this is what a newly formed friendship does. They hang out at some random places and just talk and share stories from the past so the other person can take a look into their life to get a feel for their new friend."
I was absolutely stunned. He wanted to be my friend. I thought that maybe this was all a hallucination that I had made up, but no. He was here, and he was real, and he wanted to become my friend. I was pulled out of my daze at this sudden realization, and I walked over to him and grabbed his warm hand and said "Well Mr. Emerald Eyes, take me on an adventure." He laughed at my comment "Mr. Emerald Eyes, okay, I like it, but only if I can call you Blondie!" I laughed and said "Fine. Now take me to this super secret place for our first adventure."
Eren drove himself and me in his Chevy truck to the secret location. It only took about five minutes to get there but I realized while we were walking up the stairs, that I was going into his dorm room.
Eren unlocked the dorm and I was met with a huge keyboard and empty sheet music everywhere. "Tada!!" Eren exclaimed. "Is this for me?" I asked "Yeah! I remember when you collided with me on your skateboard and told me that you would love it if I would teach you how to write sheet music one day, so I'm going to teach you the best I can." Eren said. My mouth was hanging open at the surprise he had planned for me. I couldn't believe that he remembered the little conversation that we had only yesterday! "Well, lets get started!" I said.
We walked over to the keyboard and sat at the little bench that was situated a few inches away from it. Eren started to explain to me the idealistic that went into composing music. You had to think of a tune, then the notes, then the lyrics, and then restart the process all over again sometimes. I watched as he played the notes on the keyboard. His fingers seemed to float over the keys as if he weren't even touching them. I tried to play a few of the notes myself, and whenever I messed up, he would gently grab my fingers and move them to the right position. Every time he performed that little action, it sent shivers from the top of my head, all the way down to my toes. I started to steal glances from him again, just like back on the train that fateful night. When I looked into his eyes, he had a sense of contentment in them, like he knew exactly what he was doing, without fumbling over the notes. He was so calm while he pressed the black and white keys on the keyboard, like he was going to his own quite world, where only he was allowed inside.
When it came time to sing the lyrics, his voice was like honey. It was strong and sweet at the same time. He had me so entranced that I didn't even realize that I was harmonizing with him until he looked at me with a surprised look of shock in his eyes. "Armin, I didn't know that you could sing!" "Oh, that, that was nothing. Sometimes I just have a knack of harmonizing to a tune. But I don't usually like to sing when other people are watching. I get very insecure and nervous." I said. Eren just looked at me with those piercing emerald eyes and said, "Well, you can sing very well. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard you harmonize with me. It was really good Armin." "Thank you." I replied.
I continued to speak, "Well thank you so much for the surprise Eren. I loved it a lot!" but suddenly, he smiled that mischievous little grin of his, and I knew that he had something else up his sleeve. "Weell....." he dragged out "that's not all. I have one more thing planned for us tonight, but first lets order some pizza, I'm starving!" I reluctantly agreed and gave him my five dollars when the pizza arrived. We both ate the whole thing and then left for our last destination of the night.
I knew that we were close to the location when Eren told me to cover my eyes so that I wouldn't see where we were. I said "Is this where you plan on murdering me and hiding my dead body?" Eren laughed until he started coughing. "Just keep your eyes closed." he said. And so I did. After a little while I felt the truck stop, and I heard Eren get out of the truck. He took my hand in his so I didn't trip and fall when I got out of the truck.
"Alright, open your eyes." Eren whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes to a park. But it wasn't your normal park. It had a beautiful lake right next to the slide. There was a small amphitheater in the middle of many beautiful flowers and the grass was so lush and healthy, it felt like a blanket when you laid down on it. "Eren, this place...it's amazing!" I said. "It's my thinking place." Eren replied. "Whenever I feel like the world is plotting against me, or I just need some time to myself, I come here. Sometimes I swing. Other times I go swimming. But a lot of the times, I do absolutely nothing. I just like to sit here and observe my surroundings. I feel as if the Earth and I are at peace in this place, if you get what I mean."
"I totally understand." I said. "Everybody needs something to escape to, for me, it's writing and reading. For you it is this place and your music." Eren just nodded his head. Then he lead me to the swing set and we just sat, looking at everything around us. I felt so tranquil, so at peace with everything here. There was no more stress or worries about school. There was no tormenting bullies from high school. There was only Eren, me, and the swing-set, and that was all I needed.
Everything was quiet, until Eren said, "So Blondie, what's your story? What's your past history? Who are you?" I was a little leery of telling him everything about me, but this is what you do in a new friendship. You share things, you give each other advice, you just talk. I said "Well, my story is pretty boring, so be prepared to fall asleep. I was originally born in England, but my parents thought that I would have a better future here in the States so we moved here. I was a pretty quiet child. I barely said anything, except to my mom, dad, and grandfather." I stopped talking for a few seconds, for I knew what was next to come in my tragic story. "When I was about six years old, my parents flew back to England to visit some relatives, but they never came back home. They both died in a freak plane accident. I never got to say goodbye. I never saw them again. I remember the last thing they said to me..."Be strong Armin." and each day I feel as if I have disappointed them. After they died, I stopped talking for the longest time. Many people picked on me in Elementary School, then Middle School, all the way leading up to High School. I was pegged 'Teachers Pet' I got called a lot of words, ranging from 'Freak' to 'Spaz' to 'Fa....'" I stopped on that one word. I looked at Eren and he finished the word for me "Faggot." he said. I just nodded my head. I continued to talk "I had a lot of people beat me up and I wasn't in the best mental place in high school. I wanted to take some extreme measures sometimes, but then I would think of my parents last words "Be strong Armin" and I continued on living. I thought that college would be better, but for the whole of Freshman year, I was alone. I didn't have any friends, and nobody talked to me. A lot of people asked me if I was mute since I never said anything to anybody. I have been alone my whole life Eren. But I'm just thankful that I got onto that train last week, because ever since that night, I feel a little bit more whole."
Eren just sat there for a few minutes. I could tell that he was shocked at what I told him, but I had never opened up to somebody like that before. I think all along, I just needed to expel all of these feelings from me because in this moment, I feel like I can be me for once in my life.
A moment later I felt Eren take hold of my hand in his, and he whispered only for me to hear, "I will never leave you." I looked at him incredulously and held onto his hand like I was holding on for dear life. By this time, the night sky had been lit up like the New York skyline. We were looking at all of the stars when Eren said "Lets pick out our own constellations, in celebration of our new friendship." We looked up at the sky for what seemed like hours, when Eren said "Lets be the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper." "Why do you want those two?" I questioned him. He replied "Because no matter what season it is, or how hard you try and separate the two constellations, they will always be together, and no force, no matter how powerful, can change that."