Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoy the second installment!
Chapter 2
December 2011
"You've been bitchin' to me for two years about how you can't wait to leave Chicago," Zeke remarks. "Two years, and now an opportunity finally comes. An opportunity that requires you to leave Chicago. Why won't you take it?"
He'd be pacing right now, if it wasn't for the alcohol in his system. It still irritates me that he has to buy us beer from the nearest convenient store, since I'm not of legal drinking age yet. Still, he's able to convey his bewilderment with the situation.
"I don't want to work for People magazine," I say simply before taking another swig of my beer.
"C'mon, Four! You've got plenty of time to work your way up in New York! You don't get your dream job at National Geographic on the first try. You need experience. You need more education. You need to build a portfolio, all of which you can do for People in New York…with me as the reporter you'd be working with."
I roll my eyes. "You're not even an actual reporter. You're keeping track of what celebrities eat and how they dress. There's nothing to brag about there."
He punches my shoulder, most likely harder than he intended to. "Exactly. I want to be a columnist one day, but I realize that I can't be a columnist tomorrow. At least I'll be writing. You need to keep that in mind. Take the job, and then you can still take photos and be with your best friend away from Chicago!"
He does have a point. It would be a change, and there's nothing keeping me here. I'm certainly not looking forward to taking anymore pictures of walk-in families or school yearbook portraits with Kang Photography.
It's been four months since I took the senior photos at my old high school, and nothing in my life has changed since then. It's all become an exact routine. Sure, there's something nice about routines, a safety to them, but my entire life has been forced to conform to routines established by someone else. I always talk about how I want to take control of my life, and if I fail to do so when I have the chance, it will only make me a coward in the end.
"I'll consider it," I say, even though my mind is already made up. I can't let Zeke know my final answer just yet; it will fuel his arrogance.
"As long as you have an answer soon."
"Listen, I got you a date and we're all going on a group date to the skating rink tonight," Zeke tells me over the phone.
I hate it when he does this. He sets me up with someone before telling me that he plans to set me up with someone, and then I'm obligated to go on the date. Even in high school every date he set me up with was awkward. Either my best friend really doesn't know me, or he's grasping at straws to find someone remotely compatible.
"I hate roller skating," I remind him. "It's too – ''
"Loud, crowded, and flamboyant," he mocks, imitating my low, stern voice. He's remarked in the past that I always sound like I'm scolding someone. Perhaps it's because that was the most prominent tone I heard growing up.
"Yes. Besides, maybe I have plans."
"You can't. I'm your only friend." After a second, he adds, "And we've been friends for the longest time. Since preschool. We're practically brothers, so you should really do this for me."
"Fine. Who is this person you set me up with?"
"One of Shauna's friends, Nicole."
"So you're gonna be all heart-eyes with your girlfriend, and I'll be in some weird corner with Nicole?"
"It's a group date," he repeats. "Uriah will be there, too."
"Who's he going with?"
"You remember his friend from picture day that you thought was his girlfriend? Tris Prior?"
Tris Prior's image flashes in my mind – a young girl with a blinding smile in a pretty pink dress. I'm sure I'm not remembering her quite accurately, but my curiosity is roused all the same.
"So are they dating now?"
"No, still friends."
"You said it was a group date. Doesn't that mean they're on a date?"
"Look, I've seen the dynamic between Uri and Tris. They're more playful than anything else. Trust me, they're not dating. There's not a girl on earth that deserves to put up with Uri's shit."
I smirk. "He takes after his brother."
"That he does." He pauses. "Anyway, be at the skating rink tonight at 7. Bring money for skating and pizza and arcade games."
"Ugh, not arcade games."
"You like arcade games," he says adamantly.
"I did when we were in middle school."
"Let loose, Four. If only they served alcohol, but of course the place has to be "family friendly". Oh, and don't be all stiff and boring with Nicole. You're not boring; you just act like it on dates. Be comfortable. Let loose."
"Always appreciative for the unsolicited advice."
"Always here for it."
"I'll see you guys at 7."
As always, I'm the first to arrive, and I'm not even early. Zeke just has this thing for being fashionably late. I rent my skates and text Zeke to meet me in the arcade. He informs me that he, Shauna, and Nicole are on their way. He also says that Uriah and Tris are already here.
I look around, trying not to get distracted by the lights reflecting off of the disco ball in the actual skating rink. I finally spot the two of them purchasing a few slices of pizza in the restaurant section adjacent to the arcade. I walk towards them for a few seconds before Uriah turns around, notices me, and waves me over.
"Hey, Four!" he greets. We shake hands before he turns to Tris. "This is Tris," he says.
Tris holds out her hand to me, and I realize that the image I had of her earlier had not been exaggerated. Her blue eyes are just as bright now as they were when I thought of her. Perhaps I have a stronger eye for detail than I thought.
"Nice to meet you, Four," she says, an eyebrow quirked at the odd nickname, something I receive a lot when one of the Pedrad brothers introduces me by that name. I prefer it to my given name, and people usually accept it fairly fast.
"It was my jersey number in little league. Zeke started calling me that, and it caught on," I explain.
"Oh, that's really cool. Not many people can pull off a number as a name."
"I know. Zeke tried. Eleven just isn't the same."
Somehow, her smile gets even brighter. "Did you want some pizza while we wait for the other half of our party?" she asks.
"Yeah, I'll just get a slice now."
"Oh, no, come on. We can share. Uriah just bought a whole pizza. We can't let him eat it by himself. He will if we don't stop him."
"Damn straight," Uriah interjects.
"Okay," I agree. "Let's get a table."
Tris distributes the plastic plates and napkins, and we all serve ourselves. "You did the senior photos at our school, right?" she asks.
I nod in response.
"Do you still work there, taking people's pictures?"
"Currently."
"But he's going to be moving to New York to work for People magazine," Uriah tells her.
"Congratulations!" she exclaims sincerely. "You are officially not allowed to buy pizza or drinks for the rest of the night. Or arcade games! New job in a new state means we are treating you."
"T-That's really not necessary," I tell her, even though I really do appreciate the idea.
"I wouldn't argue with this one," Uriah says. Tris glares at him, and he laughs. "Seriously, she's like two feet tall, but she's stubborn as hell."
"You know I hate it when you make jokes about my height."
"Sorry, short stack."
"I'm not even that short!" she proclaims.
"5"4 isn't short?"
"I'm still growing." She crosses her arms and playfully mopes, and I can see what Zeke meant by their playful relationship.
Zeke, Shauna, and Nicole arrive a minute later, skates in hand.
"You told me you were in the arcade," Zeke says.
"I was, and then you took so long that I had to steal some of your brother's pizza."
"Whatever. Anyways, Four, this is Nicole."
She hugs me when we're introduced, and I tense up in her arms. I would have preferred a handshake to start us off with. Nicole doesn't seem to notice my discomfort. She pulls back, and I look at her. She must be around our age, maybe a year younger if she's Shauna's friend. Nicole is also very pretty. I'm sure Shauna, Nicole, and Tris will be hit on several times tonight.
"You ready to skate?" Nicole asks me.
"Sure," I agree, although I really want to finish my slice of pizza.
She's really good at skating. I'm sure she does this often. I'm not exactly novice at it, but I'm not proficient either. I don't fall on my face, which is a good sign, but I have to decline when she suggests that we skate backwards.
"So what is it that you do?" I ask, hoping to get a good conversation started between the two of us. I really want to relax and start a natural, easy progression for the two of us. Thankfully, I haven't screwed anything up yet.
"I'm a teacher's assistant."
"That's nice. What subject?"
"Government."
"Oh."
"Yeah, we're researching the candidates for the election right now – congressmen and senators," she adds. She obviously can't tell when I'm uncomfortable. I'm probably not doing an adequate job of displaying my uneasiness, but I feel like the rigid stance my body's taken up should be a clue.
"Do you get to help out with the lessons?"
"Yeah, teachers get really excited when they find out they have assistants coming to help. They just dump all their work on the assistant."
I nod. Shauna complains about that from her teaching assistant job as well. "Is that how you and Shauna met?"
"Yeah. We work at the same high school."
"That's nice," I say awkwardly. I quickly scan my brain for a question I can ask her. I knew Zeke should have given me more time to prepare for this. I should have memorized a list of questions to ask her and practiced possible responses to any questions she had for me. I am so bad at this.
"What's your favorite color?" I finally ask her.
"Green," she says. "You?"
"Blue."
She nods her head slowly. "And you work with Zeke?"
"Yeah."
"Until Zeke moves to New York?"
"No, I'm moving, too."
"Oh," she says. "I didn't know you were moving as well."
"I am."
The DJ starts to play a slower song now that it's getting a little later and most of the young children are gone. I don't know if Nicole wants to slow dance on skates, but I know I don't so I excuse myself to get a soda.
I see Tris sitting at the table by herself, guarding the pizza.
"Where's Uriah?" I ask her. She didn't notice I was there at first, and she jumps a little at the sound of my voice. It almost makes me laugh.
"The thing about going out with a guy friend is that he abandons you once someone who doesn't look like a horse starts flirting with him," she says, but there's no trace of bitterness in her voice, just amusement. She's clearly still enjoying herself.
"Where's Nicole?" she asks.
"Still skating. I can barely keep up with her. Are you any good?"
"Some. I don't fall on my face, but I can't skate backwards."
I laugh at her wording. I'd thought the same thing earlier. She smiles at me.
"So did you come back for your pizza?"
"I actually came for some soda."
She gets up from her seat. "Then soda you shall have," she says before walking over to the line forming behind the counter. "What kind of soda do you want?"
"Tris, what are you doing?"
"You're not allowed to pay, remember? You just got a new job in a new state. We're treating you tonight, and I know that Zeke sprung this whole thing on you last minute. Uriah told me that he likes to do that for fun. Therefore, I'm buying you your soda. Now what flavor do you want?"
"Pepsi."
She grimaces. "Fine. Although it violates my Coca-Cola only rule, I will make an exception. That's how special you are."
"Well, thank you."
"Now go sit down. Protect the pizza. People will try to steal it if it's left unattended."
I follow her orders and take a seat across from where she was sitting when I found her. I bite into a slice of pizza. It's a little cold, but it still tastes good all the same. I look over my shoulder, outside the window of the restaurant, and search for the other four members of our party. I see Zeke and Shauna holding onto each other for dear life. I wonder how they plan on making their relationship work after he moves to New York. I see Uriah with his arm around a girl I don't recognize. It takes me a little longer to find Nicole since I'm not accustomed to seeing her face yet, and when I do, I see that she's skating with another guy, one who seems to be her equal in skill. I decide not to interrupt them for a while.
"One Pepsi," Tris says as she places the cup in front of me.
"Thank you, but you really didn't have to do thi – ''
"Just drink the Pepsi, Four," she insists lightly.
I do and she takes a sip of her Coca-Cola.
"How'd you get into photography?"
I shrug. I really hate answering personal questions, but she just bought me a soda so I feel like I shouldn't be a complete jerk to her. "I just liked it."
"What, no story?" she asks, disappointed.
"What kind of story are you looking for?"
She leans forward in her chair. "I don't know. Maybe your grandfather gave you a little disposable camera when you were five years old, and you loved it more than anything in the world. Or maybe you were a part of the yearbook committee in school and liked everyone crowding around you for pictures…"
"You have quite the imagination."
"Yeah, head in the clouds, I know. So you just woke up one day and discovered that you liked taking pictures and wanted to do that for the rest of your life?"
"Pretty much."
"Oh, c'mon."
"That's seriously it. There's not much to me."
Tris finally leans back and crosses her arms in front of her, but there's a smirk on her face. Her eyes are calculating. I want to look down, but she silently challenges me to meet her stare. "I think it's the opposite," she says. "There has to be a lot to you. There's a lot to everyone."
"Well, I'm the exception."
Even though she shakes her head, she says amicably, "If you say so."
I feel the corners of my mouth twitch, and I don't repress the smile like I usually do. It seems that Tris has a way of relaxing the people around her. I don't believe in auras, but attitudes and body language are real, and you can easily distinguish who in this world is approachable and who is not. I exult myself to be the latter; I suppose Tris would be the former.
"You don't talk a lot." It's not a question. It's a statement – one that I've been told many times before.
"No."
She smiles and tilts her head thoughtfully. "Maybe that's why you like photography so much, because a picture's worth a thousand words."
Since I'm alone a lot, I'm left alone with my thoughts. I have my own answers to questions I ask myself. I've justified my choices in the privacy of my own mind, promised myself that everything I do is for me, not some ruse I've created because of everything I've experienced.
Still, her careful analysis of someone she's spoken to for all of five minutes surprises me, not because she's right – which she is – but because I had never considered that before. I've always prided myself on my perceptiveness. However, I'm not always as perceptive when it comes to me.
"Maybe," I whisper.
She changes the subject. "You should probably get back to your date. Uriah has to take me home soon anyways."
"It's still early."
"I have lessons in the morning. Back to back singing and dancing."
"Zeke told me you're a stage kid."
"Yeah, my parents kinda just scanned me and my brother for any signs of interest in something, and they raised us to be that something once they were sure they figured it out. If I liked gymnastics, they'd be grooming me to be an Olympian."
"High expectations?" I ask.
"Definitely."
"I know what that's like."
Her mouth opens like she wants to say something, but she decided against it and purses her lips. I'm grateful; I didn't mean to reveal that detail about myself.
"Well, I'm going to go get Uriah. It was nice talking to you, Four – well, when you did talk."
"You, too."
After Tris and Uriah leave, I go back to skating again. Nicole's still skating with the other guy, and I don't want to look too awkward skating here by myself, so I decide to be a third wheel to Zeke and Shauna.
"What did you leave Nicole for?" Shauna immediately demands.
"Things were getting awkward."
"So you left?" Zeke asks. "To make things un-awkward?"
"I wanted a soda."
"Yeah, we saw you drinking your soda with Tris."
"She's nice."
"She's sixteen."
"I didn't mean it like that," I protest. "I know she's sixteen. I'm not interested in her like that."
"Good," Zeke says, and that's the end of that.
"Are you ready to get out here?" he asks.
"So ready."
Shauna quickly agrees and collects Nicole. We part ways, and even though Nicole and I split pleasantly, I doubt she's anxious to see me again anytime soon. That's okay. I'm not so crazy about her either.
It was so easy to pack my apartment up, easier than it should have been. I never did make myself comfortable during the two years I lived here since I was always ready to leave and never come back.
But I suppose there will be a couple of things I'll miss about Chicago, a couple of people I'll miss seeing.
I check my answering machine and find a message from my father. I don't listen to it. I can't stand to hear his voice. He's the last thing I'll miss about Chicago.
I promised longer chapters to come! Thanks for reading!