YOUR CLAWS IN ME | CHAPTER TWO

. . . .

It was seven o'clock by the time Tris got home from Eric's place. She did not want to stay longer than it was necessary, although she would have liked to. Not for Eric in particular, but for the familiar togetherness. She missed it since Tobias decided to sleep on the couch for as long as they had to share the apartment. It will make things much easier for the both of them, he explained his decision. What he actually meant was something else, but there was truth in his words. Separation meant nothing if they did not live separately, broke free from the routines they had. No waking up together, no eating together, no time together ─ no together at all.

She walked through the front door, which was, to her own surprise, left ajar. The apartment looked like a mess. Clothes were spread all over the floor, bottles of beer and an open package of cigarettes lay on the couch and table. The sound of clashing glass came out of the kitchen.

"Why does our apartment look like this?" she said when she spotted Tobias, her finger pointing at the chaos in the living room. "And why did you leave the door open?"

"I had friends over last night. Sorry, I meant to clean it up before you come back." he said. The latter question remained ignored.

"It looks like you invited the whole pit in here." She picked up one of the empty bottles to find out what exactly they had been drinking, then put it back on the table. "You do realize that this is still our place, right?"

"We just drank a few beers. What's the big deal?" he shrugged carelessly. "Besides, where have you been last night?"

"I forgot my keycard and you didn't open the door, so I had to sleep at a friend's place."

"Guess I didn't hear you, then. Weird."

Weird, indeed, she determined.

The rest of the day dragged on painfully slow. Not only the training and the initiates, but also the lack of sleep exhausted her. By the late afternoon, she was back home, enjoyed the water pattering down her bare back under the shower before she let her tired body fall down onto the couch. But the possibility of a little break vanished with the ringing sound of her phone. Her face lit up when she looked at the screen.

"Eric," she lifted the phone to her ear. "I was just about to call you."

"Come see me in the office, okay?"

Without any further questions, she put down the phone and jumped off the couch. After four years of working as the leadership's assistant, she got used to always being available for them. It did not matter if it was after midnight, and it did not even matter if she was having lunch with her friends. What did matter, however, was the good reputation, the satisfying payment, and the possibility of climbing up the ladder to leadership herself.

When she entered the office, Eric leaned back in the chair, his feet put up on the table, and a bunch of papers on his lap. She noticed, he did not look as tired and stressed as he sounded on the phone. Yet he seemed packed with work, she judged when she detected even more papers on his desk.

"That's a lot." she quietly spoke to herself as she exhaled a breath. "What is all this?"

His eyes began to wander over the sheets of paper, his voice dismissive as he explained "Candor wants to meet up to discuss the safety in and around their compound. Amity's complaining about the Factionless stealing from their fields. Erudite claim the right to self-protection and therefore demand the access to light artillery. And so on. Most of them are stupid requests and complaints." Half of the sheets, he shoved over the table into her direction. "Approve them, or don't."

She did not hesitate to sit down in front of him, reading request after request and complaint after complaint. Sometimes it was difficult to decide, sometimes it was obvious. Taking care of such things must be one of the challenging duties of a leader, yet it seemed quite exciting as well. It was a way of helping people, making them feel a little bit more comfortable in the city.

It was a few minutes after midnight by the time she was done. The amount of requests they got from Erudite was overwhelmingly high, while there was not a single one from Abnegation. Not even a tiny complaint. It did not surprise her. In fact, she would have been quite worried if she had found anything that had her former-faction's name on it. Because then, she knew, it would have been something serious.

She leaned back in her chair. Her eyes flicked to Eric's face for just a second, then back down onto her hands when he looked at her.

"Go home if you're done." he said. Even after four years, she still flinched a little bit at his ordering intonation when he spoke.

"I don't feel like it." she said merely, earning an arched eyebrow from Eric. She went on to add, "You know, Four and I ─"

"Yeah, I know." he interrupted.

She snorted. "Of course you do. He likes to spread the word."

"And why shouldn't he. He doesn't owe you anything."

Eric's words were not exactly what she wanted to hear, but yet there was truth in them. It made sense because, in fact, Tobias was free to do whatever he wanted, regardless of how Tris felt about it.

She nodded approvingly. "I guess you're right. But still, it's not easy to let go of the past few years. And he seems to handle it like it was nothing."

"Who knows." Eric shrugged carelessly. "You'll live. It's not that bad."

His eyes met hers again and she scowled. You wouldn't know, Eric, she wanted to spit out so badly. You wouldn't know because you never got pushed into this kind of situation, and you probably never will. She reconsidered and kept her mouth shut instead.

She stood up from her chair and walked towards the door, not saying a single word. She heard Eric standing up as well. "So, where are you going if you're not going home now?"

"Somewhere." She did not care to walk faster when she realized that Eric was following her through the hallway. She turned around shortly to sneak a look at him.

"You can crash at my place again if you want." he said.

"I might have said yes if you weren't such an insensitive ass." It slipped.

He laughed. "Oh, come on. I'll make it up to you."

She hesitated at first. Christina and Will would let her in, even at such a time. They were always caring and understanding whenever she needed to vent about something ─ not that she did it all the time. It happened maybe twice or three times since they have met four years ago. But yet she doubted that it was a good idea to wake up next to a happy couple in her current condition. Which practically left her no other choice.

"Fine, I'll accept your offer."


Author's Note: I'm sorry for taking so super long to upload, but Uni, ugh! Anyhow, feel free to tell me what you think! It'll help a lot. Next chapter is already 'heating up', if you know what I mean. ;)