Chapter Four: Just Wondering

Armin set his pen down, flexed his fingers, and then leaned back in his chair. More people were filling up the café as the day wore on, as did the strong smell of coffee. He poked his phone to check the time: 1:02 PM. Eren and Mikasa should be here any minute now.

The blond boy crossed his arms and let his eyes rest on the world history homework before him. After his encounter with the mysterious homeless girl, with Annie, he stood there on the sidewalk and watched her go. When the shadows had swallowed her whole, he sluggishly turned around and headed for Springer's Café. He sat down at his regular table in the middle of the coffee shop and patiently waited for his friends to show, quietly working on his schoolwork.

Now that he wasn't caught under Annie's spell, Armin began thinking of her with a clear and rational mind. To put it mildly, she was rude. And had a foul mouth. But, then again, he had no room to talk. He had clean clothes and access to food and a home to go to. She didn't. One thing puzzled him still, however: why did she refuse his money? He wanted her to take it; she was in desperate need of it but she actually shoved his offering back at him like it was poison. Why would she decline help so strongly when she clearly required it?

A loud and startling clatter rang throughout the coffee shop, making everyone (including Armin) jump in surprise. All heads whipped toward the sound and were met with a frantically waving hand from behind the counter, plastic cups spilled everywhere.

"It's okay, everyone!" a voice called out, feminine and casual. "I just dropped a few things. Everything's okay!"

Just then, Connie Springer ran out from a backroom and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the mess before him. "What the—Sasha!" He reached down and grabbed the swaying hand and pulled it up. "What did you do?"

"Ugh…" Sasha dusted herself off and tightened her ponytail. "Well, I'm fine by the way, but here I was, minding my own business, washing some dishes y'know…" Connie stared at her with wide and frustrated eyes, somehow still surprised that Sasha was capable of creating large amounts of destruction. "…and then this huge spider came along and tried to jump me so I—"

"Wait, there's a spider in here?" Connie anxiously looked around the counter.

"Yeah. It was about this big." She spread her thumb and pointer finger an inch apart.

"Is it dead?"

"Well, yeah it's dead. I just freakin' karate-chopped its ass!" She indicated to the clutter she made. "Wait…you're not scared of spiders, are you?"

"No…" Connie took one giant step backward.

Sasha laughed loudly. "You are! I can't believe it!"

"Hey! Spiders can be very dangerous, you know…" Connie noticed Armin still staring at the duo (everyone else had looked away at this point). "Right, Armin!?"

The said boy blinked. "Um…I really don't know much on spiders—"

"But there are spiders out there that can kill you, right?"

He shrugged. "I mean, there are poisonous ones—"

"HA!" Connie shouted in Sasha's face. "Poisonous. That's never good."

"But those live in Australia with the rest of the world's biggest, scariest, and most dangerous animals!" Sasha snapped her head towards the nerd. "Right, Armin?"

He frowned. "You guys need to stop dragging me into your pointless debates."

"What's pointless?"

Instantly knowing who the voice belonged to, Armin glanced over his shoulder and answered his best friend: "If spiders are dangerous or not."

"Well, yeah they're dangerous—end of discussion." Eren Yeager tugged off his backpack and sat next to Armin. Mikasa, who trailed in behind Eren, sat across from the blond and nodded toward him in greetings. Armin smiled in return.

"Thank you, Eren!" Connie acknowledged, helping Sasha pick up all the cups off the floor.

"Oh, you guys are a bunch of babies!" Sasha playfully threw a cup at Connie's head. The shorter boy glared at the chuckling girl, shook his head, and then mumbled under his breath, "Someday, someway, you're gonna make my parents go out of business."

"Pssh! Your parents love me!" The two strolled into the backroom all the while tossing plastic cups at each other.

Armin couldn't help but grin at the pair. Sasha began working at Springer's a few weeks ago and Connie couldn't be happier. The best friends were always seen together (often causing mischief, however) and the café suddenly became a more likable place to be.

"Why are you here so early, Armin?" Mikasa asked him, breaking him from his thoughts. "Did something happen in one your classes?"

"Uh, yeah. Mr. Smith canceled calculus today," he replied. His hands started grabbing at his papers and books and filled up his bag once again, making room for his companions. "It was unexpected too, so I wandered around town for a bit and…" He trailed off when he recollected what he did next.

"Hey…" His tone changed to one of curiosity, which Mikasa took note of right away (Eren only noticed when his adoptive sister knocked her knee against his own).

"Huh? What?" He looked up from his phone blankly, glancing between Mikasa and Armin. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just…" Armin watched his friends firmly. "Have you seen a blonde girl sitting outside the café lately?"

The siblings paused, exchanging confused glances. "Who?"

"Oh, uh, her name is Annie. She has bright blonde hair and light blue eyes. She, um, usually sits in that alleyway across the street—been there for a few weeks actually. Do you know who I'm talking about?"

Mikasa looked thoughtful. "I think so. Does she wear a white hoodie?"

Armin nodded gladly. "Yes, she does."

"I haven't seen anybody." Eren looked at his best friend. "So what, there's some girl watching you leave the café every day?"

"I guess you could say that…" Although he wouldn't use those particular word choices, in Armin's opinion.

At that, Eren raised one of his dark eyebrows and his lips lifted into a sly grin, leaning toward Armin almost mockingly. "Oh, really?"

Suddenly, Armin's face felt like it was on fire. "E-Eren! It's not like that!"

Eren laughed at his friend's reaction, nearly hitting his head on the table. "Ha, ha! I know, Armin; I'm just giving you a hard time." He straightened up. "But seriously—why are you asking about some stranger?"

He shrugged, still blushing a little on his cheeks. "I'm not sure exactly. Just wondering I suppose…" That was a half-truth, really. Yes, he was wondering about Annie but for a specific reason. When he spoke with her earlier and looked into her ice coated eyes, he noticed how unbelievably sad she seemed. He swore he had never seen so much sorrow in one's facial features without them sobbing hysterically. He desired to know the reason for her unhappiness—and to somehow change it for the better.

"Well, after we're done here, we can go see…uh…Anna?" Eren asked uncertainly.

"Annie."

"Annie! I knew that, I swear!" Armin snickered as Eren waved his hands in front of him, also trying to hold back his laughter. Mikasa, however, didn't appear as interested as the two boys were. She said not a word though; if she had learned anything about her childhood friends, it was that they were very friendly and outgoing young men who were always willing to meet new people.

The trio sat and talked and drank coffee for the next twenty minutes before packing their things to leave, waving to Sasha and Connie on the way out. Armin was the first one outside and his eyes tried to peek at the alleyway across the busy street. It was a little difficult to see it clearly with all the cars speeding in front of him but there were occasional pauses where he plainly saw that Annie wasn't there.

Armin tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach as he felt Eren's presence come up behind him, his head whipping around like a bird. "Alright. So what does she look like again?"

"She's…not here."

"What?"

He gestured to the vacant alley. "She usually sits over there but…" He paused. "…not today I guess." He let out a small chuckle to convince Eren and Mikasa (and himself) that this unpredicted absence didn't affect him too much.

Mikasa's face remained emotionless at the news while Eren's lips tilted downward in an obnoxious frown before shrugging one shoulder. "That's alright. Maybe she had something to do. Or maybe she found a place to stay for the night, if she's lucky."

Armin's eyebrows rose at Eren's suggestion. He hadn't thought of that. He prayed that was the case, that she had found shelter somewhere so she wouldn't have to spend the night shivering and alone.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks anyway. I'll see you guys tomorrow!" And with that, Armin waved goodbye to his friends (Eren waving back with much effort, Mikasa simply raising her hand in parting) and made his way home.

For a moment, Armin considered going over to his grandfather's house for a while. He had enough time because he didn't have to go to the library for all his homework was already done. He felt bad for not visiting recently; studying for exams had taken up most of his time. A quick glance at his phone told him that his idea may not become a reality. The old man was reaching ninety and Armin felt the need to prepare for a visit to his grandfather's home. He had a tendency to tell detailed stories about his parents and his days in the army during World War II (which Armin could never get enough of; though that wasn't good in the middle of exam time).

So he made a mental note to check on the veteran sometime soon.

The boy finally arrived at his destination and was relieved to feel the room's familiar pair of warm arms wrap around him. After removing his winter apparel, he went to continue with his daily routine when his feet came to a stop in the middle of the living room. He just remembered that he had two extra hours all to himself. What was he to do with all this free time?

His eyes wandered over to the inactive fireplace in the corner of the room. He probably used that thing once since he and Eren had rented the apartment; there was just no need for it. He wished someone would use it every now and then so it wouldn't be a complete waste…

And then he thought of her, of cold and alone Annie.

Millions of questions ran through his mind at once. How long has she been on the streets? Are her family members looking for her? Is she truly alone? She looked awfully thin—when was the last time she had a proper meal? And oh how white her skin was and how red her nose seemed and how her bones shook when the wind blew! How…how was she still alive?

Armin closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. Why was he thinking about this stranger all the time? It hasn't even been a full twenty-four hours! Besides, no matter how strong the urge to help her was, the girl made it pretty clear that she didn't need him (or anyone, really). But still, the overwhelming desire to assist Annie was practically pouring out of him in rivers. He really wanted to change those hard, crystalline blue eyes into soft, sparkling ones.

The energetic boy decided to go along with his instincts and help the poor girl. He moved around the apartment, searching for anything that could be useful for Annie's sake. Well, frankly everything in here could be useful to her, Armin thought to himself dumbly. But he wanted something that would be more helpful than a twenty dollar bill. His old winter jacket maybe? A paper bag stuffed with a water bottle and a ham and cheese sandwich perhaps? Or what about some cold medicine for her flu?

It took some time, but Armin finally invented up a plan for his next encounter with Annie. He didn't have school the next day (it was Saturday) so he thought he'd walk around town and try to find her somewhere in the depths of the active city. He stopped mid-chew on his ramen noodles. To go out of his way to look for a girl he barely even knew…was it too much? All he was certain of was her name and that she didn't want help (which he was going to give anyway) and here he was—setting himself on an adventure to bring back happiness to the somber lone wolf. Would she find him creepy and weird if he did these for her? Or would she show some sign of thankfulness in those hollow eyes?

He guessed he'll have to find out tomorrow.