Chapter Text
Gendry noticed her the very first week of the semester.
She entered the room walking fast even when she was just on time. She looked young, probably a first year. Something about her caught his eye, he didn’t know exactly what it was, perhaps the fact that she was a very pretty short girl or the fact that she was carrying a bright yellow umbrella, and using it almost like a cane, on a perfect summery day and that was odd.
He was looking at her when the professor entered the room and his focus went to what this class about Bravos history was.
-
He was walking to the design workshop when he saw her again. She was sitting alone, resting against a tree, a book opened on her lap and her palms on it, her finger tips touching the pages but her eyes not looking, she was looking at nothing. What an odd girl Gendry thought.
-
At lunch time he saw her again, she was still carrying that umbrella and she had a bright a paint smear on her face and another on her jeans “Can I sit here?” she asked him, he was all alone at his table having lunch and sketching an idea he had for a freelance design work he had to deliver in a few weeks.
“yeah” she was sitting down even before he had answered, but he went back to sketch. It was completely normal for people to sit on empty seats available in the cafeteria.
“You were in one of my classes, weren’t you?” she said as she ate “Bravos art history”
“Probably” he shrugged, not wanting to admit he had taken notice of her.
“You were” the girl reassured and kept eating “8am, professor Forel”
“Then, yeah”
“Saw you looking” she shrugged and that was the end of their conversation. After a while, she gathered her stuff, picked up her tray and went away “Name is Arya, thanks for the seat!” and she was a little odd. Really, what an odd girl.
When he was exiting the cafeteria he noticed the grey clouds in the sky. The weather forecast didn’t say anything about rain, he wondered for a moment how that girl, Arya, knew to bring an umbrella.
-
He kept seeing her around campus all the time, he would just turn around and there she was. It wasn’t as if he was looking for her, she just happened to be in his field of view and he couldn’t help but look at her. She was in his Bravos Art History, two times a week, an elective he took to complete the semester credits and because it seemed interesting, he enjoyed art history and Bravos had an amazing design of pottery and sculpting. She was usually with books that she only touched and never read.
Sometimes she would catch him looking at her, he would avert his eyes quickly but sometimes he thinks he saw her smirking. Sometimes he would catch her looking at him with an expression he couldn’t quite read.
And that was how he started noticing things about her, like she would drag her fingers to get things on her desk, feeling them with her finger tips and never looking away from the board. She would use her hands and never look into her backpack when reaching out for her books as if she was using the feel of her finger tips to identify every single item in her bag. It was unusual and always interesting to watch, how she seems to rely on her touch to do stuff.
If they crossed paths in campus, outside their shared class, she would wave at him sometimes or nod at him. It was as if she had decided, one sided on her part, that they were some sort of acquaintances.
She really was an odd girl and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
-
He found himself at a party one time. His friend Anguy convinced him to go to a party of a friend of his, a girl named Margaery from the business faculty. He didn’t know much people, but he was in the mood to hang with some of his friends and have a beer. It was a nice townhouse close to campus, a fancy one, probably owned by some posh girl. The place was packed with people, mostly girls that seemed to be a little on the wealthy side and guys trying to hook up with them.
He wasn’t in the mood to go around and meet some girl so he just stayed with his group of friends.
He was laughing at something Lem had said when he saw her entering, she was dressed in well-worn band t-shirt, shorts and boots, most girls here were in low cut shirts or skinny jeans and heels so it made her stood out from the other attendees. For once her hair was loose, the ends touching her shoulders free from the ponytail she’d usually sport to class. She was approached by a tall red haired girl that seemed very happy to see her there, then she was dragged somewhere and he lost sight of her for a while.
He later saw her, the red head girl was hugging her and seemed to be introducing her to some guy, a blond guy who seemed chatty. Arya looked bored out of her mind, but hugged the red head, nonetheless. Something about that blond fellow didn’t sit well with him, he decided to just ignore it though at one moment he wondered if perhaps he could go and greet the girl and save her from her boredom, after all they kind of knew each other but he thought better of it and decided not to.
Time passed and he had drunk three beers and one shot round when he felt ready to go home and sleep, it was still pretty early and just past midnight. He had a weekend afternoon shift at the car repair shop he worked at and he didn’t feel like being hangover during work and he just wanted to sleep in on Saturday morning. He had had a good time with his friends and had relaxed a bit after days of class. It had been nice but he just wanted his head to hit the pillow.
He ran into her as she was putting on her jacket by the front door, nodding at her in a greeting sort. There were no signs of the red haired girl nor the blond dude, perhaps she had gotten free of them.
“Leaving early?” she asked him.
“Yeah”
“Saturday class?”
“Work” he corrected. They were outside now, on a street close to campus where most students not in the dorms lived. It was late and dark and a part of him told him he needed to be polite “Do you live close by? Want me to walk you?” he offered.
“aha! So you can say more than one word at a time” she smirked, teased him a bit and he scowled.
“My place is really close by” she shrugged “I can take care of myself, but thanks for the offer, though uhmmm” he realized he had never introduced him, maybe she had reservations about a guy whose name she didn’t know walking her home.
“Name is Gendry. It is late, though…” he didn’t like the idea of her walking alone at night for a reason he couldn’t catch a grip on. Mostly, it wasn’t really safe for anyone to walk alone at night. He had a certain advantage to do so freely, he was taller than most and broadly built thanks to sports and work.
“Well, nice to officially meet you, Gendry!” she turned to the left “I live this way, just a couple of blocks away” he nodded not really knowing what to do “You can walk me home if it makes you feel better” she shrugged as she started walking, he hesitated for a second and went after her.
“Had fun at the party?” Arya asked, looking at him.
“Yeah” and she nodded.
“Saw you laughing with some friends, I wish some of mine had come but they all bailed out. My sister forced me to come to her friend’s party and introduced me to some friends of hers” why was she so talkative? And was her sister also weird?
“so…” she started talking again “What are you majoring in, Gendry?” she seemed curious and in the mood to start a conversation.
“Industrial design” most people didn’t really know what that major was and Gendry didn’t feel like explaining but he was probably going to have to do it.
“Industrial design? Really? That is cool, no wonder you are always sketching. I thought you were an arts major. So bravos art history is an elective for you, right?” she had noticed him sketching? And she apparently knew what industrial design was.
“Yeah, I needed to complete the elective credits and that class seemed interesting” he answered. After a few seconds he decided to keep the conversation going “And you? What are you majoring?”
“History” she answered “I want to minor in art history” he thought she was an arts major from the times she had seen her with paint on her face but decided not to ask because It would tell that he had been watching her.
They kept walking for a moment, she had gone quiet but it was comfortable, almost.
“It is going to rain” she said all of a sudden and he turned to look at her, she started sniffing the air “Probably before the sun rises, bet is going to rain all day”.
“The weather forecast said is going to be a sunny weekend”
“You’ll see” she sounded sure and stopped walking “I live here. Thank you for walking me, Gendry”
“You’re welcome” she was going up the entrance stairs of her building and he was starting to make his way home, he lived a few blocks away, just a three blocks detour if he had walked home from the party directly.
“Gendry!” he turned as she called him “Don’t forget your umbrella on your way to work!” she laughed as she entered her building and he stood there, thinking again that Arya was a really odd girl.
-
It indeed rained the entire day. He woke up to the sound of pouring rain and his shift had ended and he had arrived home at the end of the day rain was still going strong and didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.
-
Days after, he was at the university’s gym, at a time he didn’t really tended to go, when he saw her. She was running on the treadmill at a very fast pace without any problem. It seemed that she had been going on for a while as she was covered in sweat, her eyes were closed and her ponytail moving from side to side as she was wearing a very intriguing sports bra and running shorts.
She was tiny and short and at first glance she seemed very skinny but now he could see that her body was toned with strong, yet slim, worked muscles. He stood there looking at her for a moment until he realized that he was being that creep that looked at girls at the gym, so he shook his head and went to the other side to lift some weights and clear his head.
He spent the day training trying to clear his mind yet his mind was constantly going back to thought about that odd girl and he found himself searching for her with his eyes throughout the gym. He watched her run, lifting weights and when she started to do some stretches he decided to call it a day and went for the showers, he felt like having a cold shower that day.
This was not good.
-
Next day in class she arrived earlier than usual. They were pretty much, apart from a pair of girls, the only ones in the classroom. She entered, still using her yellow umbrella as a cane and tapping the tip of it time to time in a constant rhythm as she walked and sat next to him.
“Hi” she smiled at him, he only nodded.
“You were at the gym yesterday, weren’t you?” her voice was curious, not really holding any anger but he wondered if indeed she had caught him looking at her? He shifted in his seat uncomfortable. He had been a bit creepy, maybe he should apologize.
“Yes”
“Oh. No wonder I felt familiar eyes on me for a moment” she shrugged not sounding angry, at all. He was saved of any further comment as their teacher entered the room in that moment.
Yet his luck wasn’t that great, their professor instructed that their midterm would be an essay and it was group project, groups of two people. He felt the weight of her eyes on him during the announcement.
“What do you say, Gendry? Partners?” she had a playful smile and he felt his neck heating up.
“Sure” Apparently he was destined to be around the odd, yet cute, girl.
They exchanged their schedules and phone numbers. It was difficult, he had shifts at work and she was usually busy on Saturday mornings and was attending college full time. They finally agreed to meet on Mondays and Wednesdays afternoons, Sundays, if needed, and to create and open document in the cloud so both of them could work and check what the other had done.
“Well, see you at the library tomorrow. Bye, Gendry” she waved him goodbye as she left, still tapping the tip of her umbrella against the ground in a two one rhythm as she waked away.
He resigned himself to be near the presence of Arya the entire semester, she was everywhere. He tried not to think about her too much until next day.
They met at the library’s entrance and after a while they were inside a cubicle with a pack of books and trying to define the best way to tackle their essay, setting un the topic they were going to cover and the sources needed.
She was easy to talk to, smart and seemed hard working so he was relieved as he would not have to carry the project on his back alone. They had defined the books needed to start working and separated a private cubicle for the week and decided to call it a day as it was already night time and he wanted to have dinner.
“Hey, if you want we can work on Sundays at my place. I have a few books on Bravos art that we can use and it is far more comfortable than the library and I have coffee” she offered.
“Alright” he sorts of remembered where she lived “I think I remember where you live, it is not far from mine”
They were exiting campus when she started sniffing the air.
“It is going to rain” she lifted her umbrella and opened it, covering both of them “Let’s get cover”.
When he heard the sound the droplets started doing against the umbrella’s surface he opened his eyes wide in surprise. The sky had been clear, completely clear.
“How did you…” she shrugged and he took the umbrella, he was taller so it made more sense he carried it as he walked her home.
“I’ll walk you, it is late” Gendry tried to ignore the grin in her face.
He walked her home and when he offered her umbrella back once they reached her entry, she refused “Take it with you, I don’t want you to get sick. Give it back tomorrow” and with that she was off opening her building’s door.
He walked home carrying the yellow umbrella, he gave it back on Thursday when he got to class.
“Thanks!” she smiled at him and he felt a little bit shocked, a little bit breathless and a little bit stunned.
-
On Saturday morning he went to visit his friend Thoros at the hospital. The guy had gotten surgery recently because he had broken his leg in three places and his clavicle because he stupidly fell while drunk. He was leaving the building when he bumped into someone making them stumble lightly backwards, a short person carrying a big bag and a yellow umbrella.
“I’m sorry.. Arya?”
“Gendry!” she stumbled a bit as she was arranging her bag on her shoulder. She was wearing big goofy glasses and odd colored and baggy mismatched clothing, a bit of a clownish outfit “Fancy seeing you here!” she smiled and he felt again a bit weird but then her smile disappeared quickly, replaced by a worried expression “Oh, this is a hospital so I hope everything is okay…”.
“Came to visit a friend” the only reasons one is at a hospital is if you are sick or visiting someone. She was probably worrying if he had something.
“I hope your friend is okay” she had a sheepish look, as if she was truly worried about Thoros’s wellbeing.
“Broken bones, the idiot fell from a window while drunk” he chuckled softly, shaking his head in disbelief at Thoros’s idiocy.
“Hey! You can laugh…” her voice was low and it showed her surprise and it startled him a bit “Poor guy, my brother once tried to do a backflip while drunk and broke his ankle.”
“ouch” he answered and he didn’t know what else to do or say for a moment as they stood and the hospital’s main entrance.
“You going home or work?” she asked.
“Home. I don’t have a shift today”
“then we’re on the same route” she began walking and he followed, they were walking to the bus stop.
“What about you? Why are you at the hospital?” she looked fine so she must be visiting.
“I volunteer” Arya answered “I volunteer with some people at the cancer children’s wing. I often read for them”
“That sounds nice” IT was indeed nice. A college girl using her Saturday mornings to read for a bunch of kids. He had never met one, or anyone in reality, who volunteered at a children’s hospital. Most people he knew used Saturday mornings to sleep in, being hangover or doing personal errands.
“It is nice. Most of the kids are bored out of their minds, others can’t get out of bed so I read to them. It is nice when someone reads out loud for you, you know? It sorts of lets you travel far away from that hospital bed. We are reading Stephen King novels, so they pretend not to be scared sometimes” she chuckled “we tried to make them laugh and have a good time”.
She sounded proud and happy about what she did and she should be, he thought.
“That is pretty cool, what you are doing, Arya” Gendry rubbed the back of his neck, he wasn’t really good at giving compliments.
“It is nothing” she shrugged. She sounded as if she really believed it, that it wasn’t something remarkable but something ordinary that deserved no especial recognition. She may be right, a good deed was just a good deed and not something that deserved an award.
“Did you just started doing it? Volunteering?” he was curious about it, they were on the bus now.
“No. I started when I came back from living in Bravos while I was still in high school and when I moved here for college I signed up as a volunteer on my first day here”.
“Why did you decided to do it?” this was the most he had talked to her and he was starting to feel a little bit privy.
“Because I can” her answer was simple “It is something so simple but it makes their day. They have fun for a few hours and in that time they are feeling better. The volunteers, we do comedy sketches and bring stuff to play with the little ones. The teens are harder but we try to make them have a good time, some like to learn new things so I download podcasts for them, get them books and stuff”.
“That is pretty remarkable” he had never thought about doing volunteering work. Perhaps he should one day help with something in his free time, though he didn’t have much of it.
“It is not; I think is what we would want people to do for us if we were in that position” The few times he gets sick he tends to be miserable and wanting to get out of bed almost immediately.
“Are there many volunteers?”
“Not nearly enough” she sighed “My sister sometimes, rarely, tags along with her best friend but I wished more people would sign up. I’m trying to get some people I know to sign up”
He nodded in agreement “wait, did you say you lived in Bravos?”
“ah, yes. For a while” her face scrunched up a bit as if she wasn’t comfortable talking about it.
“So you saw all the bravosi art we are writing about first hand?” he had always imagined what it’d be to live someplace faraway. He was born in King’s Landing, in Flea Bottom, and he had lived here his entire life.
“No. I didn’t get to… this is our stop” she stood up and he followed her out of the bus. She said goodbye and went her way home.
She seemed uncomfortable when he asked about Bravos and he made a mental note to not ask her again. It was the first time she had shown some sort of discomfort, her usually perky smile gone for a moment.
He kept thinking about Arya, the volunteer at the children’s hospital, as he walked home. She may be an odd girl but he realized that he was starting to like that bit of oddness in her. Arya, he had discovered, was an interesting person and he was feeling quite intrigued about her.