The following week passed by fairly quickly. Armin continued to sit with Annie at lunch and despite there being very little conversation between them, Armin was happy that she did not once try and stop him from sitting with her. That in itself was progress. Something was nagging at the back of his mind though, he found it extremely odd that she never brought food with her. He knew she was telling the truth about not being on a diet because she would eat the sandwich he gave her every day. Something was definitely not right with Annie but he didn't want to interrogate her, he was afraid that if he tried to pry into her life too much she'd end up blocking him off completely.
It was on Thursday when Annie asked "Why do you do this for me?", the question caught him slightly off guard and Armin just explained that he liked to help out his friends. He didn't want to see Annie go without. However, it was obvious that she wasn't comfortable with him giving her the sandwich. Most likely because she was so independent, or at least that's the impression she wanted to give off. On Friday, she actually bought tomato soup at the cafeteria. Soup was the cheapest option and it wasn't very tasty at all, Armin knew what the cafeteria's food was like first hand and that's why he always brought his own food with him. Armin assured Annie that giving her a sandwich wasn't a problem, but she shook her head and stated that she didn't want to rely on anyone. "Thank you, though" she added and Armin smiled at her, hoping that his smile hid his concern.
He also wondered if she had been still skipping out on gym, he wouldn't know because he didn't skip again. He didn't get the chance to ask her though, because the next week she didn't turn up to school at all. Naturally, Armin began to freak out. Why wasn't she in school? Was she even going to come back? Had something terrible happened to her? Those type of thoughts plagued his mind all week. He had no idea where she lived so it was impossible for him to go and see if she was okay. He didn't even have her cell phone number.
It didn't help that Eren wasn't that supportive either, "She probably got sent to juvie." he joked as they sat in the cafeteria on Friday afternoon.
"No way, don't be ridiculous." Armin raised his eyebrows at the absurdity of Eren's comment, taking him seriously.
"Maybe she is unwell." Mikasa offered her opinion. Mikasa was probably right, Annie was most likely just unwell and she'd be coming back.
Nothing serious…
"Well anyway, wanna hang out this weekend?" Eren asked. He thought it was best to turn the subject away from Annie Leonhardt.
"Going out will help to get your mind off of her." Mikasa added.
Armin smiled half-heartedly and nodded, "Sure, I'll go".
The trio spent Saturday afternoon hanging out at the mall, it wasn't all that exciting but Armin admitted that it was better than staying at home and dwelling on things. As the day came to a close, they all decided to go to McDonalds to get something to eat.
"I'm going to order three big macs!" Eren exclaimed as they entered the fast food restaurant, Mikasa sighed and Armin just chuckled lightly.
When Armin saw the person behind the counter he froze and his mouth fell open, "A-Annie!?" he couldn't quite believe his eyes.
"Armin…" Annie stood on the other side of the counter, looking as shocked as him, if so more. God no, why does this shit happen to me? She felt like crawling under the counter right there and then.
"W-what are you doing here?" Armin mentally face-palmed at the stupidity of his question.
"I work here." Annie replied bluntly. She noticed that Eren, the loud boy who was in some of her classes, and that emotionless girl who followed him everywhere were standing behind Armin. If this job wasn't bad enough it just got about one thousand times worse. This is hell.
Eren butted in front of Armin, "Hey, it's you! Armin's been worried about you!" Armin wished that Eren hadn't opened his big mouth, he immediately felt his face flush red.
"W-why weren't you in school this week?" Armin asked ignoring Eren, he noticed that Annie's bangs were completely obscuring one of her eyes. He watched as she raised a hand to the piece of hair and placed it behind her ear. At that moment, Annie revealed an ugly black eye. She must have forgotten about it for a brief second but was soon reminded when she saw Armin's horrified reaction. He gasped loudly, "Annie…y-your eye…"
Annie looked down, avoiding eye-contact with the blond boy, "Look, do you want to order something or not?"
Armin's heart was racing, he was scared. What had happened to Annie? Something was wrong and he wanted to get to the bottom of it but she was shutting him out again. "Annie, talk to me!" Armin pleaded. His eyes looked like a puppy's.
Annie looked up again, "Why should I? It really doesn't matter. Now if you're not going to buy something, get out. There are other people waiting to be served." she scowled at Armin and the other two, but there was some other emotion present in her eyes, Armin couldn't exactly pin-point what it was, but he knew it wasn't anger.
"Hey, you can't talk to him like that! He's only trying to help, he cares about you!" Eren's temper was rising and so was the volume of his voice.
"Eren stop." Armin looked to Annie again but said nothing. She wasn't even looking at him anymore. She was looking at Eren and giving him the evil eye.
If I didn't need this job so badly, I would have been over the counter and kicking this fucking imbecile in the ass for telling me what to do. Who does he think he is? "I've told you twice now, order something or get out" she somehow managed to refrain from saying something that could have potentially cost her her job.
Mikasa moved in front of Eren as Annie continued to glare at him, her body language had become defensive and she was completely prepared for Annie to do something to Eren. She wasn't going to allow that at all costs. "Come on let's just go, Eren" she grabbed hold of his arm.
"Fine, we're going. You don't deserve someone like Armin! He's too good for you" Eren said as Mikasa began to pull him away.
Annie's facial expression remained blank but she felt something inside sting at the brunet's words.
Armin raised his voice for the first time in a long time, "Shut up Eren!" He was in despair. Inside he was battling a mixture of anger and helplessness. He then turned to Annie again, "Annie I'm…so sorry…I-I have to go…" by that point people in the queue behind him had started to complain rather noisily. Armin had no choice but to follow Eren and Mikasa out of the restaurant.
Annie didn't say anything and Armin was unable to read her facial expression at that moment. He couldn't tell if she was angry or upset with him. The blonde girl quickly turned her attention away from him and focussed on the customers, ignoring him completely. Armin watched her over his shoulder as he walked away, she didn't even give him a second glance.
When Annie finally finished her shift a few hours later, she was somewhat grateful. However, as she walked home late at night alone, she began to dread what was to come.
I just hope he's already passed out.
Returning home was not the only thing that was playing on her mind. Why did Armin Arlert have to turn up again? Why did he have to find out that she works in McDonalds? Why was he always trying to be so nice to her? It really seemed like he generally cared about her…And what exactly did that loud mouth mean by "You don't deserve someone like Armin! He's too good for you"? She knew it was the truth. But did it mean he had feelings for her? Annie didn't know for sure, she had always isolated herself from others and therefore had little experience with relationships of any kind. All she knew was that Armin was becoming dangerous. Every attempt she had made to push him away had been futile, it was beginning to seem like he wouldn't stop until he had completely stripped her to her very core and discovered everything there was to know about her. What made it worse was that she had almost stopped fighting back. She had accepted those sandwiches from him and allowed him to sit with her at lunch. She was letting him get away with it. Does this mean that I have feelings for him, as well? After a few seconds reality hit Annie in the face, what the hell was she even thinking? She shook her head vigorously. No. No way. Of course she didn't have feelings for him. Why would that thought even cross her mind?
