Kodak Moment
"My God, Tobias, I obviously wasn't kissing him!" Tris exclaimed.
"Well you sure as hell didn't pull back!"
She set her wallet on the bed in their room, then took off her wedges. "Right when you walked around the corner was when he kissed me," she said calmly. "You were already on him before I could even move."
Tobias squeezed his eyes shut and rested his hands on the top of his head.
"Tobias," Tris said, "he is my friend. I invited him to our cookout because he is a good friend. I don't know what possessed him to do that, either. Friends don't kiss each other. I love you and only you."
He took a deep breath. "What would you've done if I wasn't there?"
Tris chuckled angrily. "Are you kidding me? You know what I would've done."
"Humor me."
Tris hadn't answered for a minute or two, trying to piece together her words. "I would've pushed him back then talked to him about why he did it." She paused. "You believe me, right?"
Tobias didn't answer for a few seconds. "Of course I believe you."
"You hesitated," she pointed out.
"So did you."
Tris rolled her eyes. "If you really did believe me, you wouldn't have hesitated."
"Why did you hesitate when I asked what you would've done?"
"Because I was trying to figure out a way not to piss you off even more, but then I realized whatever would say wouldn't make you happy."
"Tris, I trust you, but I—"
"There it is. 'But.' Should've seen it coming."
Tris and Tobias stayed silent for awhile. Tris still had a scowl on her face while Tobias just looked… tired.
"I think I need some air," Tris said. She went to her closet and put on Vans, not feeling up for those damn heels that would surely leave blisters the next day. Tris then slipped off her sundress on put on a tank top with blue jean cut-off shorts. On her way out of her shared bedroom with Tobias, she grabbed her black wayfarer style sunglasses. When she did all of these things, she hardly noticed Tobias standing there, totally out of it.
Without a word, she grabbed her wallet, then the doorknob. But as she walked out, she didn't hear Tobias say one thing to capture her attention.
As Tris was walking down the stairs, she took her hair out of it's loose ponytail over the shoulder. She ran her hand through it, then left it down, golden locks swaying over her back.
"Tris!" said a high-pitched voice. Christina. "Why'd you change?"
Tris lifted up her sunglasses so they rested on her head. "I'm going for a walk."
"And that required you to change? And you can't leave. It's your house."
"No, it's Four's house, and he's staying here." She flipped her sunglasses back down and walked out the front door.
"Could you use some company?" Chris asked as she followed Tris out.
Tris was beginning to get irritated. "No," she gritted out of her closed teeth.
"Oh, I know this Tris. You and Four just got into a fight, didn't you?"
"Just leave me alone!" Tris yelled, causing her guests to turn toward her. Her face lit up red not only from anger, but embarrassment. She took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry. But please. I just want to be alone right now." Tris turned around and walked onto the sidewalk.
She didn't understand why Tobias wouldn't believe her. This was one of the few fights they'd ever gotten into. The other ones were silly, like him being late or something. She didn't understand why he couldn't just trust her. She didn't understand why Tobias was so oblivious as to how this would affect her.
She didn't understand why Tobias hadn't gone after her.
She didn't understand why Logan kissed her in the first place. Tris and Logan were friends. They'd met at the gym and went there at the same times, so they saw a lot of each other. Tris was totally impervious to the fact that he had any sort of feelings for her, and it was probably because she was so absorbed in Tobias. She didn't have any room in heart left for anyone but Tobias. Not this Tobias though. She loved the Tobias that immediately took her side of the story, even though she hadn't explained it yet.
The Tobias she didn't love was the one who was present. This Tobias was hard to explain. This Tobias… This Tobias she didn't want to explain.
Tris decided to grab an ice cream cone from the place on the corner of her allotment. She ordered an orange-cream swirl. This was Tobias's favorite. This was her Tobias's favorite.
"Say," said the 60-some-year-old woman, Julie, who always took Tobias and Tris's order, "where's your boy? He usually gets that."
Tris nodded and smiled sadly, looking down. "He couldn't come today."
Julie looked skeptically at Tris, then shook her head. "I don't understand your generation, always lyin'."
Laughing, Tris said, "Thank you for you concern, Julie, but really, we just got into a little argument. We'll be back tomorrow. I promise."
Julie smiled and pointed a finger at her. "All right. You better."
Tris smiled at her one last time then walked away, in the direction of she and Tobias's shared house. She hadn't wanted to go back, but some of her family had come, and she knew she couldn't leave them hanging.
When she arrived she stepped in though the front door, and luckily no one was inside. She looked outside to see her everyone she'd come to care about. Caleb and Susan were passing the soccer ball with three-year-olds Nicole and Noah, who are their twin children. She saw her mom and dad holding hands as they sat on lawn chairs, talking. Then her friends—Christina, Marlene, Shauna, Lynn, Will, Uriah, and Zeke. She didn't see Logan anywhere, so he must've left, but all of her friends we speaking to Tobias heatedly.
Tris stepped through open sliding glass door, and when she did, no one noticed her except her parents, who were sitting right beside the door.
"Oh, there you are, Beatrice. You changed. We were wondering where you'd went." Andrew, Tris's father, warmly smiled up at her.
"Yeah, I wanted to just get into something a little more relaxing."
"Where'd you get that ice cream?" Natalie, Tris's mother, asked.
Tris bit into the last bite of her cone. "I just went to grab it a few minutes ago. It's just down the road."
They nodded. "Go talk to your friends, they seem to be stressing over something," said Andrew.
Tris smiled. "I will, but I'm going to go talk to Caleb for a few minutes." With that, Tris sprinted over to Caleb, then jumped onto his back.
"Bea! What are you doing?"
"I want to see if you're still good at soccer with me weighing you down. I mean, if you say you're as good as you are, Prior."
"You're a Prior too," Caleb pointed out.
I wish I weren't, Tris had thought.
"Hopefully not for long," said Susan. "Maybe if that boyfriend of yours will ever ask you to marry him."
Tris smiled, then looked over at Tobias, who was staring at her with a small smile on his face. She returned the small smile, and jumped down from Caleb's back.
"I'll be right back," Tris said, then ran over to her group of friends. "Hey, guys," she said, but she was only looking at Tobias. Not that her friends could tell, though, since she was wearing sunglasses.
"Hey," they said in unison.
"Four," she said, "a word?"
He nodded.
She and Tobias walked over to the side of the house.
"At least pretend like you love me the rest of the time, okay? At least while my parents are here, all right?" she asked, looking at the quaint street.
"Tris," he said softly, "sometimes I don't think about how things would affect you, and that happened today." Tobias stepped closer, causing my back to hit the wall. "And it's impossible to pretend I love you when I do it naturally. I'm sorry I didn't believe you earlier, but I was just so confused and hurt and…. A hug from you right now would really make my day"—he sighed, looking at the ground—"even though I really don't deserve it."
"No," Tris said as she wrapped her arms around Tobias's waist, "you don't. But, since I love you, I'm doing it anyway."
"I'm sorry, Tris," Tobias said as he nuzzled his face into her shoulder. "I'm human, and I make mistakes, and all I want to do is love you for the rest of my life, and… and I want to marry you. Someday. If you'll let me."
Tris pulled back and smiled. Then she nodded. "Yeah. I would like that."
Tobias leaned down and connected his lips with hers. Tris kissed back, but when she did, he pulled back.
"Did you get an orange-cream swirl?" he asked with a smirk.
She nodded.
"I'm surprised you didn't get your mint chocolate chip."
She shrugged and looked toward the yard. "I don't know. I was kind of just… thinking about you."
Tobias grinned. "I love you."
Tris beamed. "I love you."
Tris nuzzled her face into his shoulder, and he the same to her.
Then, they heard an, "Awwww, Kodak moment!" Then the snap! of a camera.