Hello again!
Yes, since I'm soon finishing up my other story "New Life In Portland", I was eager to get started on my next story, which you have the first chapter of below.
This is a romantic Four/Tris story, but will also involve some mild action, drama, and angst, which is new for me. But it will still be fluffy and lovey dovey, and again- is ultimately a romance. So please review and let me know what you think!
Also, this story is Rated M, primarily for language and sex (but sex won't be until later chapters). Lastly, I don't own any rights to Divergent. I'm just borrowing the characters for this original modern-day/AU fanfiction story!
:)
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"Crash Landing"
Chapter 1:
~TRIS POV~
After giving my mom and dad a big hug goodbye and reassuring them I'll call them when I get to my apartment, I wave to them and make my way through the busy Los Angeles airport, suitcases and carry-on bags in hand.
After checking my two large suitcases at the applicable counter and going through security, I head towards the terminal that I'm directed to. But as I near it, I realize I have some spare time to kill and my stomach is grumbling of hunger. I remember that in my rush to leave this morning, I never ate breakfast. Although they'll probably have food on the plane, it's still a 16 hour flight, and I'm nervous about this new experience and big change in my life, so I decide to stock up so that I can binge eat if I feel the need.
I stop at one of the small shops and load my hands with a bunch of various snacks, bottled drinks, and a couple new paperback books, since I know I'll be finishing up the one in my purse all too soon.
By the time I've paid for my things there and have a full bag of snacks and novels to read, I decide to grab a coffee from the nearby Starbucks, as well as a croissant. As I wait for my order to be called, I check my phone, knowing I'll probably have to turn it off when we're in-flight. I reply to a couple texts, first of which is a message from my brother Caleb. Letting him know that yes, today is the day of my departure, and that I'll text him when I arrive. Then I then reply to my friend Ciara, who has been one of my best friends and supporting people in my life. She was sad she couldn't be here when dropping me off at the airport, but she had her finals to take, as she is studying to me a pediatrician. So I assured her it wasn't a big deal. Plus, we got to go out and celebrate together last night. She's already saving up to come and stay with me next summer as well, which we're both looking forward to.
Finally, after grabbing my venti vanilla latte, I head towards the terminal where I am told I will be able to board the private jet that will be taking me to New Zealand for my new job.
I enter the small waiting area and take a seat while waiting until we're called to board.
As I sit and wait, sipping on my hot coffee, I glance around and see that I'm the only one waiting in this private seating area so far. Despite being alone, I still feel somewhat out of place, it feels like I'm in the V.I.P. or First Class waiting area or something. But I guess that's the kind of treatment you get when you fly on a private jet.
I have yet to actually meet anyone who will be joining me on the flight, all of whom I have been told will be helping with this big project of opening a new luxury resort in Auckland, New Zealand.
My employer and the owner of this soon-to-be grand hotel, a wealthy business man and entrepreneur named Jim Rosburg, is still in Los Angeles. And the main project building manager of this new New Zealand location, David Mason, is already there at the site of where the grand hotel is currently being built and is due to open in 9 months. But I was told that many other important people, primarily managerial staff who have been hired to run this new hotel, will be on this jet with me to get a head start on this large project.
I technically started working for Jim about 5 years ago. Tori Wu, the hotel manager of his luxury boutique hotel in Malibu, hired me to start at the front desk when I was just 20 years old, since I had some experience working the front counter at the local Hilton hotel. Tori has been great, she's actually been quite a mentor for me, as well as a friend.
Thankfully she saw my potential, reliability and good work ethic, and helped me work my way up the chain fairly quickly over the years, even while I still attended college. Just a year and a half ago, I had become lead HR manager of the Malibu hotel. I was glad to take on a position that I enjoyed and made me some stable money, but was glad it was also fairly easy work and didn't take up too much of my time. At least not more than the standard 40 hours a week I work. Which means I'm actually able to have time to enjoy my main hobby, writing.
However, a part of me didn't want to be stuck in Southern California forever. I badly wanted to travel, but new it would be difficult without quitting my job. I thought about transferring to one of Jim's other hotels, as he has one in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Hawaii and Florida, as we'll as one in Paris and London. But none have had the lead HR position open, which is what I knew best. So when they announced they'd be opening two new locations, one in Italy and one in New Zealand, I jumped at the opportunity and applied for both locations, hoping at lest one would work out. The HR position at the Italy location was snatched up by someone with more experience than me. But thankfully after countless interviews and a bit of persuading on behalf of Tori, I got the job as HR manager manager of the New Zealand location. Jim said if I do well, then the plan is to have me hire the staff and get them acquainted for a couple years, then hire someone to take over for me there, so that I can help open another location in 2017. Either in Greece or Fiji. So this dream of being able to travel, might just be within my reach, even within my current job under Rosburg Enterprises.
As I think about my luck with these awesome opportunities that have come up in my life, I notice a couple people filter in. They're both dressed nicely, the man in a navy blue suit, and the girl is in a grey pencil skirt, white top and black blazer. Which makes me feel even more out of place, as I sit sipping on my coffee in skinny jeans, a brown belt with matching boots, and a short sleeved white blouse. They approach me and I stand to shake their hand.
"Hello, I'm Harrison, Accounting and Finance." he says, shaking my hand with a friendly smile.
"And I'm Christina- Customer Service and Hospitality." She says with a big smile.
"Nice to meet you both, I'm Beatrice Prior. But you can call me Tris. I'm the HR Manager."
"Good to meet you too. So, have you been to New Zealand before?" She asks as she take a seat nearby, and Harrison heads to the nearby mini bar.
"No, I'm actually from California, and unfortunately have never traveled outside the state." I say.
"Well, you're due for some adventure then, huh? And I hear it's beautiful where we're going." She replies.
As we continue our light conversation over the next 15 minutes or so, I realize how relieved I am to have met her. She seems so friendly and easy to talk to, which is really comforting considering this big move I'm making and not knowing anyone.
She eventually says she's going to hit up the restroom before we board the plane, so she leaves me to myself for a bit, where I pick up on reading the Dean Koontz novel I'm currently 2/3 of the way through.
Every so often, I notice a few more people trickle into the room. They seem friendly, but only a some of them introduce themselves. Such as Johanna Reyes- the hotels General Manager, Zeke Pedrad- Sales Manager, Uriah- who I find out is Zeke's brother and is the Maintenance Manager, Marlene- who in charge of Administration, and George Wu, who I've actually met once before, since he's Tori's brother. He will be the new restaurant and kitchen manager.
I can't help but notice a couple of guys who sit off in opposite corners of the waiting area as well, minding their own business. They don't seem to know each other, or if they do, you'd never know it. But they both seem fairly closed off and keep to themselves. One of them is a muscular guy with blondish hair and an eyebrow piercing. He doesn't seem very friendly or outgoing, and honestly, I have no idea what kind of position he might hold within the hotel.
Once I sneak a glance at the other guy, I notice he is similar in the aspect of being anti-social, but he has a likeness to him. I don't know why, but I automatically already like him more than the blond guy. Maybe it's because he's so attractive, but I feel like it's more than that. I mean, he might even be the hottest guy I've ever seen. Even from where I sit far across the other side of the room, I admire his medium brown hair, strong jaw and golden skin tone. Plus, he also seems quite muscular, but leaner than the other guy. But even beyond his good looks, something about him interests me. I find myself being curious about him. Who is he? What is his job? What are his interests?
As I catch myself glancing at him a second time, I take in his apparel. He makes me feel a little better dressing casual, as he just wears jeans and a gray button up shirt.
But I shake my head to gather my bearings and keep myself from staring. I try to put my focus back on my book, but I can't seem to concentrate. It's like he has a magnetic pull and I just want to look at him. How creepy is that? Especially if I'm going to be working with this guy. I don't want to seem like a weirdo. So I force myself to keep my eyes to myself.
Thankfully, its not long until we're called to board the private jet. We're led outside and up the stairs into the clean white Gulfstream G550.
As we enter, Christina and I can't help the small gasp that escapes us as we take in our surroundings. The fine interior of the plane with shiny wood panel detailing, the individual reclining cushioned tan leather seats, the tables that separate them with built in cup holders and chilled champagne nearby, as we'll as what appears to be a personal TV for every seat. This is definitely an expensive plane. I know Jim is a rich man, but I have to say, I'm surprised he's offered us his company jet to fly us to our destination.
One by one, we filter into the plane's cabin and place our carry-on bags into the overhead compartments, and find seats. Christina sits across from me, and I notice the handsome guy sits next to me, on the other side of the aisle. But he sets his laptop bag in the seat next to him, obviously implying he wishes nobody sit there. He seems to be getting out his headphones, but pauses to listen as the pilots and cabin crew introduce themselves in person.
"Hello everyone, my name is Amar. I'm the pilot of this fine jet, and this is my co-pilot, Will. Our flight attendants here are Nita and Lauren. We will be taking a straight trip to Auckland, New Zealand, without layover. The trip should take us just over 16 hours, and we will be serving a few meals along the way, as well as beverages. There are also a number of on-flight movies for you to pick from with the click of your TV's remote. So please, make yourselves comfortable and let Nita or Lauren know if there is anything you need." He explains and then finds his way back to the cockpit. Will gives us a smile and a nod, which I notice is especially directed toward Christina, then follows Amar.
Once were all settled, we're instructed to buckle up for take off. I notice the handsome guy is resting his hands casually in his lap, but they're clasped together quite forcefully, causing his knuckles to go white. But his face doesn't show any emotion. I wonder if he's afraid of flying?
Once were at an appropriate elevation, we're told we can remove our seat belts and mill about if we wish. But I notice handsome guy remains in his seat, buckled, listening to his headphones as he reads his book, with what I think is a Jack and Coke in his left hand.
After a couple hours of sitting and chatting with Christina, and flipping through magazines with her, she encourages me to get up and talk with the others. So we make our rounds and say hi to everyone. We chat a bit with the people we had already met, and introduce ourselves to the ones we had yet to meet. I learn the not-so-friendly-looking blonde guy, is Eric, and he's head of security. I also meet Al, who will be the Reservations Manager. When we head towards handsome guy, Christina makes a face and turns back around to avoid him, whispering to me that he doesn't seem to want to be bothered, and that he's just intimidating. So she goes back to chat with Marlene and the others, seemingly excited to join in on their game of rummy. While I decide to go back to my seat and read some more. As I pull out my book, I realize handsome guy is reading the same one.
For some reason I decide to point this out. I take my book and nudge his with it. He looks up, almost looking annoyed that he had been interrupted. He removes his earbuds to look at me, as if waiting to see what I want.
"Yeah?" He asks.
"Sorry, I didn't um, I didn't mean to bother you. I just noticed we're reading the same book." I say, for some reason stumbling over my words, which is unlike me. Maybe it's because he's acting like a jerk? Or because for the first time, he's looking right at me?
"Oh, yeah." He says indifferently.
"What chapter are you on?" I ask. Stupid Tris, I scold myself. Why are you still talking to him?
"19." He states simply. I nod and submissively look back down at the book in my lap, willing myself to leave him alone. He obviously doesn't want to make small talk.
"You?" He asks, which surprises me. And it almost seems to surprise him too.
"24." I say, shyly. "But I bought the next two in the series at the airport store, so it should keep me busy for a while." He nods and offers me a hint of a smile. It was barely there, but I know I saw it for a brief second.
"You can borrow them too if you want, when you're done with that one." I add before he puts his headphones back in place.
"Thanks." He says, and I see his mouth quirk up again just slightly as goes back to his book.
I try to withhold my smile at the fact that I actually talked to him. I don't know why he makes me flustered, but he does. Thankfully I feel like our little conversation -if you can even call it that- seems to have eased the tension somewhat. Despite the fact that we still don't even know each other's names, it somehow makes it more comfortable as we sit side by side near each other. It's just feels like the vibe around is better now.
The flight attendants regularly check on us, but neither of us really request anything. Nita seems to be extra smiley around him, but his closed off demeanor doesn't change, not even around her.
Time flies as I get sucked back into my story, munching on my bag of pretzels as I read.
At one point, I realize he might want some too, and I don't even think twice before I hold the bag up to him without even glancing up from my book. After a moment, I think about retreating my arm and pulling the bag back, giving up on my friendly offer to share. But then I feel him reach inside and grab a small handful. I smile to myself just slightly, and refuse to let myself look up at him. But I can feel his eyes on me.
Not long after, I close my book, having finished it. I sit there and look at the cover for a moment, then look out the window to the cloudy sky, thinking about the story I just read. Koontz is a good writer, I've always thought that. But I'm especially enjoying this Odd Thomas series. My mind begins to wander and I space out for a bit.
I don't know how long I've been staring out the window, but then I hear his deep voice again, startling me from my stupor.
"Sorry, what?" I ask, since I didn't even hear what he had asked.
"Good book, huh?" He seems to repeat, holding up his now closed book, insinuating he just finished it as well.
"Oh yeah, I really liked the ending. I'm looking forward to the next one." I say, again surprised he's actually talking to me. And more so, that he initiated the conversation.
As I look at him now, not as shy now to look directly at his face and into his eyes as I was before, I see how he is even better looking up this close. His deep brown eyes, strong brow bone, nice white teeth, the sexy stubble on his jawline. But again, his mysteriousness and taste in books and music -which I could overhear since it was up so loud on his headphones, intrigues me further.
"I uh, sorry if I was rude earlier. I'm not great with introductions. And I don't particularly like flying. So the combination probably made me come off like a dick." He explains apologetically. Although his face still doesn't show a whole lot of emotion, I see the emotion in his eyes. His apology seems to be genuine, and he is making an effort to actually try and be friendly, which I appreciate.
"No worries, I figured as much." I say with a shrug, then realize how that probably didn't sound very nice.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant, I saw how tense you were when we took off, and you seem like a pretty closed off guy, since you haven't really talked to anyone." I try explaining, but I'm sure I'm just rambling now.
He chuckles and finishes off the drink in his hand, before releasing a breath and jutting his right hand in my direction.
"I'm Tobias Eaton by the way, but most people call me Four." He says and I seem to hold my breath as I reach out and shake his hand.
"I'm Beatrice Prior, but most people call me Tris." I say, introducing myself the similarly to how he had. I don't ask about his odd nickname, because I have a feeling he's not the type to want to explain it. Plus, I'll probably find out eventually if he'll be my co-worker.
He again offers me a small smile and then looks down at his empty clear plastic cup.
"Thanks for the pretzels too." He adds.
"No problem, I kind of raided the store and stocked up on snacks. If there is anything else you feel like, I've probably got it." I say with a small laugh.
"I think they're serving lunch soon, but I'll keep that in mind." He says with a small smile.
After a minute of comfortable silence, I decide to try and talk to him a bit further.
"So, what position do you hold at the new hotel?" I ask.
"Operations Manager. Mostly the computer side of things. You?" He asks.
"HR." I reply.
"Nice. Well, I'm glad most of our staff will have to get approved by you before they're hired onto the team." He says, then he seems to narrow his eyebrows and look back down at his table again, as if he isn't sure why he said that. It was a compliment, right?
"Do you know any of the others?" I ask, referring to our new crew on board.
"Just Eric, he was in charge of security at our hotel in Chicago." he says.
"Ah, I see. Yeah, he seems really friendly." I say sarcastically.
This causes him to let out a small laugh, and it makes my heart speed up a little as for the the first time, I witness a real full smile on his face, which is really fucking adorable.
We somehow end up chatting for the next several hours, every so often getting interrupted by others. But eventually the others decide to leave us alone and we get back to chatting in between meals and moments of further comfortable silence.
We stay away from topics that divulge too much into our personal lives, since I can tell he's still not too keen on revealing too much about himself. But I tell him how I have a brother Caleb, and how I graduated from UCLA, with a major in English, since my passion is writing. He asks me more about that, and I tell him how I've specifically just been doing fictional short stories. But how I'd love to write a novel one day. Which leads us to the topic of the various books we like, and then onto our musical tastes. We get back on track about talking about work, and I tell him about Tori, and how got into the HR side of the hotel business and decided I really enjoyed it, and thought it might open some opportunities to travel, which has been a life long dream of mine.
I learn how he has one sister Tessa, and how he was born and raised in San Diego, but moved to Chicago when he was 18. He's lived there ever since he decided to take on this new job opportunity as well.
At one point, after he comes back from a trip to the bathroom, he sits across from me instead, so that we're sitting and sharing the table between us.
We notice some newspapers that were tucked into the side pocket of the seat, so we do the crossword puzzles together, which just emphasizes how smart he is, as he's extremely good at them. Once those are done, we chat as we draw mustaches and other doodles on the various faces of people throughout the newspaper.
We've talked about practically anything and everything, and have actually got to know each other pretty well, considering I just met him about 10 hours ago. I didn't exactly expect to have so much in common with him, or have such an easy connection to him. We haven't specifically been flirty with each other, it's remained friendly and appropriate. But sometimes the way he looks at me makes me blush. And on occasion, I almost think I do the same to him.
"Can I get you anything to drink Toby?" Nita asks him.
"Uh, it's Tobias, or Four. Not Toby." He says, looking at her, seemingly a bit frustrated that she's giving him a nickname when she doesn't even know him. "And I'll take another jack and coke." He says, handing her his empty cup.
"Okay, no problem." She seems fairly unfazed by his annoyed remark and keeps the smile plastered on her face. "And for you Beatrice?" She asks, turning her attention to me.
"I'll have a glass of red wine. Thanks."
"Okay, coming right up." She replies and saunters off to her drink station.
"Wine, huh?" Tobias asks with a quirked eyebrow. I realize how expressive he can be with his eyebrows, and it's just one more thing I find adorable about him.
But he's my co-worker, and probably has a girlfriend, so I need to stop thinking like that. I admit, I'd say maybe he even has a wife, but I've already snuck a glance for a wedding ring and didn't see one.
"Yeah, got a problem with that?" I tease.
"Nah, it's fine. I just, actually wasn't sure if you're even old enough to drink." He says with a chuckle.
"Hey now, I'm old enough. I'm almost 25." I say with a small laugh. "I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not." I add.
Most girls would take that as a compliment, being that a guy thinks she looks younger than she really is. But a part of me just lets my insecurities of being petite make me feel like he might see me as looking childish. I may be close to 5'7 in height now, but I'm still petite and not very curvy. Nothing like Nita or Lauren I notice, as they walk buy in their uniforms of skirts that come mid-thigh, black stockings and tucked-in button up shirts that are unbuttoned a bit lower than probably is appropriate, showing off their nice ample cleavage.
"I'm only teasing, you look great for your age. I mean, I guess I was thinking you could pass as a 20 or 21 year old, because of your nice skin and...but, I-" he starts to stumble of his words, and blushes as he tries to come up with something to say. By now I can tell he feels bad about his comment and knows he's probably just digging himself a bigger hole.
"It's okay, I'm not actually offended." I say as a give his leg s playfully kick under the table.
He seems a bit relieved, and offers me another apologetic smile, obviously hoping he didn't make too much of an ass of himself.
"Are you sure you're old enough to drink?" I decide to tease back. "You're skin is pretty youthful too."
At this, he actually laughs out loud. And for some reason I feel proud of myself. Yet again, I made him laugh. I smile back, waiting to see if he'll actually tell me how old he is.
"Good one." he says. "No, I've been of-age for a while. I'm 28." He says to me with a smile as Nita returns with our drinks. Who seems to notice I'm the cause of his good mood, so she 'accidentally' spills a little bit of the red wine on my white blouse.
"Whoops, darnit. I'm so sorry. I'll go get you a little soda water for that." She says and although he words are apologetic, she obviously did it on purpose. As she walks away I roll my eyes and glance down at the stain, attempting to dab it with my napkin.
"Bitch." I hear Tobias say under his breath. I look at him and he offers a shrug and a small mischievous smile.
By the 12th hour in the air, many of our co-workers/passengers have decided to sleep. But the two of us decide to watch a movie instead.
"Want to, uh, come sit over here so that you can see better?" He asks, gesturing to the seat next to him as he tucks his bag below the seat in front of him.
"Sure, thanks." I say and unbuckle to go and sit next to him.
When I scoot past him to the window seat, our knees bump and then we hit a bit of turbulence, so I practically fall into him. But his hands come up to help brace me. When his hands make contact with my arms, it feels like a current of electricity goes through me, and causes my heart rate to speed up again.
"Sorry, thank you." I say, straightening myself up and taking the seat beside him, then buckling myself again.
"No worries. It seems like it's getting a bit stormy out there." He says, leaning past me slightly to look out the window.
"Yeah, it's a bit of a bumpy ride right now." I say, just as we hit some turbulence again. Shortly after, the seatbelt light comes back on. We're both already seated and buckled, as are most everyone else, since they're pretty much all sleeping.
But within the next hour, as we watch The Dark Knight on the pull-out screen in front of us, the weather progressively gets worse.
"Attention all passengers, this is your Captain, Amar speaking. We seem to be hitting some stormy weather up ahead, so we're going to feel a bit of an altitude change and a somewhat less direct route, as to avoid the eye of the storm. But we won't go too far off course, as to avoid too much fuel consumption. Please remain seated and buckled and hold onto your beverages as we will continue to feel a bit more turbulence." Amar's voice breaks through the intercom.
I see Tobias swallow thickly, as he obviously doesn't like the sound of that. He already doesn't like flying, and that doesn't sound like the best of news right now. But I can tell he tries remain calm and just watches the movie. As we hit more turbulence, and seem to drop quite a bit of altitude quite quickly, it seems to wake up most of the others.
Within in the next few moments, I watch the stormy dark clouds and the lightening throughout the sky. I've never felt too fearful of flying before, maybe even found it thrilling. But I'd be lying if I said this didn't freak me out a bit too. Then, suddenly I see a huge flash through the windows. Lightening seems to have actually hit the plane. It causes me and what I think was Christina and Marlene, to let out a small shriek and I feel Tobias take my hand in his. His fingers entwine with mine, and although I still somewhat feel that thrill of electricity at the contact, I more so just feel comforted, and a little more at ease. And I know that was his intention.
"Sorry about that folks, as you probably noticed, we have been struck by lightening. That's actually not too uncommon for aircraft, and jets are built to expect that every so often. However, we may be having a bit of trouble with one of our engines, so we're going to check for a safe place for an unexpected landing. Please remain in your seats and remain calm. I will keep you posted."
An unexpected landing? What the hell? We're over the fucking ocean! What's going on? Why is this happening? Tobias must notice me panicking, and although I can tell he isn't thrilled about this news either, he seems to be trying to stay calm for me. He just squeezes my hand a little more and looks at me earnestly.
"It will be okay. We'll be okay." He tells me, and for some reason I believe him. I don't know why, he is no expert. And this doesn't seem to be something even the pilot is keen about. But I hear his words and his calming voice, and I believe him. I give him a firm nod and squeeze his hand back.
The next few minutes seem to be a complete blur.
Amar is back on the overhead speaker, explaining we're now experiencing complete engine failure and will be making an emergency landing on the land they see below, which by the sound of it, is not New Zealand.
I don't dare look out the window, but I can feel it as we descend fairly quickly, but the pilots seem to be steering the plane well, now that we're below the storm clouds and the wind gusts aren't as bad. Maybe I'm imagining it, but it feels like we're simply gracefully gliding through the air. Meanwhile, the oxygen masks drop down and even though I paid thorough attention to the instructions of the flight attendants before take off, my hands still fumble since they are shaking so bad. This is definitely the most scared I've ever been in my life. As I struggle with the oxygen mask, I feel large strong hands take it from me. Before he even bothers with his own, Tobias is placing my oxygen mask over my face for me. Once he's got it on, he does his own, then takes my hand in his again. I steal a glance behind me and see the scared faces of all our passengers. I make eye contact with Christina, and see she's holding hands with Marlene and Uriah. I'm reciting a string of prayers in my head as I look back to Tobias, who seems to be attempting to keep his breathing steady. But he's sweating bullets, just like me. Amar instructs us to brace for impact and Tobias watches me intently as he grips my hand like a vice. Not enough to hurt me, but enough to let me know he's got me, and he's not letting go. The last thing I see are his deep brown eyes staring right back into my own, and the last thing I hear, is him telling me to Be Brave, before everything goes black.
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