STARVED

summer breeze

"Are you sure this is the right way Sasha?" you asked and looked around. The brick beneath your feet rather than sand and the unfamiliar area made you question if she was going the right way.

"I'm sure! I've been here before, just trust me." She insisted and made a left turn, you followed her reluctantly.

"Last time I trusted you—"

"See! We're here. The ice cream shop is still right here." She pointed and lunged at the door to swing it open, you followed in after her and you were met with the cool air conditioning and freezer air from inside.

Sasha immediately started ordering while you walked in and started looking at all the flavors first.

"Can I get a triple scoop of strawberry cheesecake in a waffle cone, please?" She asked and the worker nodded and began scooping up her ice cream. After they finished up and Sasha paid for her ice cream, you ordered.

"Can I have a double scoop of the mango pineapple in a cake cone please?" You asked and the worker began scooping. You got your money out and paid for it, Sasha was already at the door waiting for you to join her so you did.

The boardwalk wasn't just outside so you both decided to walk along that while licking your ice cream. There was a breeze coming through every so often despite the heat, you licked your ice cream and walked with Sasha along the boardwalk that was right next to the beach.

"Hey, isn't that Connie?" Sasha pointed across the beach at a man in his neon pink swimming trunks surrounded by girls and a few guys, all with red cups in their hands.

"Yeah, I think so. Should we go over?" You asked after she'd stopped walking to look at them across the sand. She nodded and you followed, Connie was a mutual friend but you'd never really hung out that much unless you wanted to use his boat.

"Connie!" Sasha shouted once you were close enough, kicking your feet through the sand. You realized he had a campfire going and some of his friends were sitting down in the logs, as were the girls next to them.

"Sashaaa! I didn't know you were coming??" He greeted and met you both halfway as you approached, a few feet away from the fire. Sasha started talking to him and you were looking around to see if you knew any of the people around from your university.

Or so you thought.

You recognized one of Connie's friends, the one you did not trust in the slightest. His name was Eren...at least you thought it was, you weren't all that sure. You didn't know his name for sure but you'd always avoided him. He was almost always covered in bruises on his face, usually around the temple, his jaw and a busted lip were common for him...even know he had a black eye and a busted lip. Just from that alone, you avoided him, you thought he must get into fights a lot and to have them this often he must be the one starting them.

He dressed fairly "typical", not much stood out about him besides his bruised face and that's all you needed to know. He often hung out with Connie and Jean, you knew they all lived in the same shared house together. You were dressed in just your bright blue bikini top and some regular jeans, it was hot out despite it being the evening and you knew Sasha would end up wanting to go to the beach when you went out for ice cream.

While Sasha talked and joked around with Connie, you walked over to the fire and sat in front of it on the sand while licking and enjoying your ice cream. As you were sitting down on the sand rather than the log, Connie came and plopped down next to your right and Sasha on your left.

While you were looking at Sasha, about to ask her something, you felt the weight of your ice cream shift and you looked over to the right and saw Connie who'd taken a huge chunk out of your ice cream.

"Connie!!" You shouted and jokingly tossed the sand up over his lap while he chomped down on the chunk of ice cream he took.

"Perfect flavor! Thanks!" He smiled at you then took another bite of your ice cream and popped up to run away from you while laughing. The second bite he took caused your double scoop to fall onto the sand and leave you with nothing but what was melted inside and the cone. At the same time, Eren stood up and you rushed to chase after Connie. He was laughing as you chased after him and he hurried to hide behind Eren before he walked away.

He grabbed him by the sides of his arms and his behind him, popping his head out like a game at a carnival while you stood in front of Eren, trying to get to Connie behind.

"Dude. I'm not your human shield." Eren professed and sighed as Connie went to his left and his right, opposite to you.

"With these muscles you sure are!" Connie stated and you eventually gave up, too tired to keep going back and forth with him.

You stopped moving, unintentionally stopping right in front of Eren and having to make eye contact with him before you could avoid him. It was only a second, nothing more, you saw the black eye and the busted lip and turned away quickly without saying a word. He was no good, he couldn't have been.

You just ate the rest of your ice cream cone and went towards the water to get your feet in. The tide was rolling in, you took your sandals off and left them on the dry sand before you walked onto the wet sand and allowed the water to rush up. The sunset was just ahead, right in front of you and you watched it until you finished your ice cream cone.

You thought about getting in but the water was cold so you just let the water come up to your ankles. You could hear Sasha and Connie laughing in the background but that wasn't all you heard.

You heard coughing, at first it was just a few times but then a minute went by and suddenly all you heard was coughing. You turned around after another minute and the laughter had stopped. You saw Eren coughing into his arm, Connie and his other friend approached him but he brushed them off.

"I'm fine," he dismissed in the middle of a cough before returning to it. Out of nowhere, his coughing became more violent, he began coughing blood onto his sleeve that even you could see and that's when Connie ran to him.

"Shit...Jean come on!" Connie shouted at his other friend, they both hurried to Eren and began leading him away, off the beach to the parking lot.

That wasn't the only thing strange about the three of them, what was more concerning was the fact that none of them looked even the slightest surprised that he was coughing up blood...not even Eren himself.