Chapter 2

Hello. My name is Arabella (yes, like the Arctic Monkeys song, hence the userame) and I'm 16. Hope you enjoy my first fic!


When Tobias walked into Corbin's Coffee House, the first thing he smelled was the freshly ground coffee beans. The next thing was the delicious scent of the baking pastries. The last, but best thing he could've possibly encountered in England, was the lovely sight of PrioriT sitting in the high-chaired table near the window, sipping her coffee and in what seemingly looked like pretty deep thought.

Tobias approached her with great caution; the last thing he wanted to do was scare her off.

"I find that you're showing up will do you a great deal of goodness."

She turned to Tobias and smiled. "Well gee, you sound like a fortune cookie," she chuckled.

He laughed and sat down across from her, the chair moving soundlessly across the floor.

"So," Tris said, "this business proposal you speak of. I suspect you have quite the deal for me since you flew across the world."

"Eager little duck, you are. First let me ask: how was your day? Good, bad, okay?" Tobias asked.

She slouched. From her body language, Tobias could tell she most certainly did not want to be there. She was probably there purely due to curiosity.

"My day was fine. Yours?"

Tobias tapped his fingers against the wooden table. "It was good, thanks for asking. Mainly because I met you today."

She looked down. "What do you want with me?"

Tobias chuckled. "You make it sound like I dragged you here, Tris."

"My curiosity dragged me here," she snapped, "not you."

Tobias threw his hands up defensively. "Sorry. I guess I'll speak of this proposal now.

"Have you heard of Sweets Music Production?"

Tobias could tell that this was not what she was expecting. Her breathing quickened and her eyes bulged from her sockets.

"Of course," she responded, surprisingly calm.

"I work there," Tobias said simply. "My boss wanted me to find a fresh voice. Something raw," he continued. "And I found those things in you and your voice."

"Okay…," Tris said nervously. "I'm listening."

Tobias smirked. "I want you to fly back to New York with me. If my boss seems to like you and that lovely voice of yours, he might just sign you a record deal. How does that sound?"

Tris's eyes opened wide, and her jaw slightly dropped. She couldn't manage to let one word escape her shocked lips.

Tobias put his first finger gently under her chin and closed it. "You'll catch flies," he said with a wink. "So what do you say?"

She shook her head, surprised, shocked and all other kinds of emotions. "Yes. Oh my god, yes. When do we leave?"

"My flight is in two days, so I have all of tomorrow free. We leave on Sunday morning."

"My god, this is amazing. So your boss— is he, like, kind of a big deal?"

Tobias nodded. "Yeah. You see, I'm his assistant. He's giving me a chance to be someone important, possibly have his job since I'm pretty sure he's retiring soon. Anyway, I showed him a video of yours— Poison, to be exact, which is a lovely cover, by the way—and he absolutely loved it. He flew me out here on the next flight from New York to London. We couldn't find any personal stuff on you, so, not to creep you out, but we had a tech team come in and they found where you uploaded your videos from. Quite easily, actually. But anyway, I wanted to hear your voice in person to make sure you were all that you seemed. So, in about, oh, maybe 45 seconds you're going to be singing one of your songs up on that stage. Sound good?"

She cleared her throat. "Excuse me?"

"You want a record deal?"

"Yeah."

"Then—" Tobias began, but then was cut off the owner, Corbin.

"We have a special guest that is singing for you all tonight. Her name is Tris Prior, but some of you know her as PrioriT. Everyone give a warm welcome to the girl with that amazing voice we all know and love."

Clapping aroused from the crowd.

Tris glared at Tobias, and he simply gave a large grin.

She smiles when she gets up on stage. The crowd was staring her down.

"Hi, I'm Tris Prior, as you know from the great intro by Corbin. I wasn't prepared that I'd be singing tonight, so I'm going to be singing "Skinny Love" by Birdy. The definition of "Skinny Love" is when two people love each other very much, but are both too shy to admit it, even though their actions make it very obvious. This song has been with me through the toughest of times."

Tris did what she did before every song. She closed her eyes, took a death breath, and sang.

Come on skinny love just last the year,

Pour a little salt we were never here,

My my my, my my my, my-my-my my-my...

Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer.

Tell my love to wreck it all,

Cut out all the ropes and let me fall,

My my my, my my my, my-my-my my-my...

Right in the moment this order's tall.

And I told you to be patient,

And I told you to be fine,

And I told you to be balanced,

And I told you to be kind,

And in the morning I'll be with you,

But it will be a different kind,

'Cause I'll be holding all the tickets,

And you'll be owning all the fines.

Come on skinny love, what happened here?

Suckle on the hope in light brassieres,

My my my, my my my, my-my-my my-my...

Sullen load is full, so slow on the split.

And I told you to be patient,

And I told you to be fine,

And I told you to be balanced,

And I told you to be kind,

And now all your love is wasted,

Then who the hell was I?

'Cause now I'm breaking at the britches,

And at the end of all your lines.

Who will love you?

Who will fight?

And who will fall far behind?

Come on skinny love,

My my my, my my my, my-my-my my-my…

My my my, my my my, my-my-my my-my…

Tris closed her eyes, leaned her head on the microphone, and smiled. When she heard nothing but clapping she looked up, and smiled at the audience. Even without a piano, she rocked the solo voice, which was rare for somebody to be able to do.

Corbin swooped in, and Tris handed him the microphone.

"Wow, ladies and gentlemen, can we get another round of applause for the Tris Prior? She about knocked my beanie off."

Another sound of hands smacking together erupted and filled the coffeehouse. Tris looked outside the window and blushed.

Tobias could tell stage fright would be a bit of a problem for her.

Tris was interrupted from her trance by Corbin.

"Say, Tris, you got any other songs for the crowd out there tonight?"

She chuckled. "I think I could manage one more."

She was handed the microphone, and with a playful glare at Tobias, she began to sing.


Tris had performed at Corbin's Coffeehouse before with no trouble, but as of that night when she had to sing in front of Tobias, she absolutely hated it. She never had stage fright. When important people heard her sing, the situation was completely different. She was usually frozen. When an important person came in, she walked out. But because of Tobias, the stress was a little less. He was just Tobias. They'd met before, so it wasn't like the pressure was whole ton. Or maybe it was the fact that he was a flirtatious, very handsome man around her age.

Either way, Tris was glad the stage fright had slowly dissolved as she went further and further into her performance.

They were walking home at around eight o'clock, and Tris realized that this was hardly a recruitment.

Tobias walked her to her door, which perplexed her.

"Tobias," Tris said, "this hardly seems like a test to see if I'm all I say I am. It's seems more so like a date."

This made him chuckle. "Though I am glad I am able to get you to come back to the Big Apple, I am sure that no date will be happening in the near future, unfortunately. My company has a strict policy of not dating clients."

Without hesitance, Tris said, "A shame."

Tobias's eyebrows rose. "Really now?" he asked, smirk planted on his face. "A shame, you say?"

Tris chuckled. "You're a good-looking, single, nice guy, and I'm a halfway decent-looking, single, nice girl. If we asked anyone, they'd say they thought we were dating."

"Doesn't sound so bad, does it?" Tobias asked with a witty smirk.

She smirked. "You ever been to London before now?"

He shook his head. "Nope, never been."

"Let me take you out tomorrow night," Tris said with a bit of adventure in her eye.

Tobias acted like he wasn't surprised, but he really was. Majorly. "Sounds good. What time do you want me to pick you up?"

Tris laughed. "Oh, I think not, mister. I'm taking you out. Now, what hotel are you staying at again?"

"The Embassy Suites. Room 529."

"Two o'clock?"

"Sounds good," Tobias said. "Until tomorrow."

Tris gave him a sideways smirk and stepped inside her apartment. "Until tomorrow."