The truth or dare game seemed to go on for an eternity. Four kept stealing quick glances at Tris to see if she was looking back at him. He couldn't stop thinking about that kiss. Sure, he had only known Tris for less than a day, but as soon as their lips meant, he felt something. Something he had never felt before.
The truth or dare questions kept flying through the room like paper aeroplanes on steroids. Four wasn't listening to them though. Instead, he was staring outside the window, looking at the sparkling stars.
"Four? Four!" Tris asks him.
"Oh, yes? Sorry." he replies, snapping out of his daze. He looks straight into Tris' eyes, slightly groggy with the effect of the alcohol.
"You okay?" she asks, giving him a faint smile through her dizziness.
"Peachy." he replies.
"Truth or dare?"
"Umm, truth?" Four asks her as a question. She shoots back a questioning look, as if to remind for that he was answering the question before continuing.
"Tell me what you were thinking about just now." she asks. As much as she didn't want to, she couldn't help but stare at Four while he was looking outside with that peaceful, yet stern look on his face. There was something unique and, dare she say it, attractive about it.
Four pauses for a second before answering. As much as he wanted to abide by the rules of the game, he couldn't bring himself to tell them exactly what he was thinking about; Tris.
"I was just looking at how pretty the stars are tonight." he replies, shrugging naturally. Four was always a good liar. He had to use the skill himself a lot back at home. Tris stares at him with a look of disappointed. She couldn't possibly know that he was lying, could she?
Uriah, who sits across the room, snickers a bit.
"The stars? Seriously?" he scoffs. Anger builds up inside Four. Little he knows how much the stars helped him get through the last 18 years of his life. Little he cares. Four glares at Uriah with as much hate as he can muster with a single look. Uriah laughs a bit again, as if to tell Four that he's failing in scaring him.
"Shut up Uriah." Tris says, coming to Four's defence. This seems to work, as Uriah looks down at his feet.
"You know what, it's getting late. I'm going to head back to the room. Classes start tomorrow, anyway." Four says, excusing himself from what could turn into a very awkward situation. A mumble of goodbyes fly across the room as he leaves the slightly beer stained smell behind him and walks back to his shared room with Tris. Just as he puts the key into the door, a small hand places itself on his shoulder.
"Hey." Tris says, quietly.
"Hi there." he says, taking a short breath.
"I'm sorry about Uriah." she says, honestly. Although Uriah seems fun to be around, he doesn't have much of a filter between his head and his mouth.
"It's fine. It wasn't your fault anyway." he replies casually, opening the door and letting Tris walk in first before shutting the door behind them.
"Classes tomorrow." Tris states, sighing a little. Four sighs too, remembering the horrible 13 years that he had to spend at school. Too many memories that he was glad to leave behind in Oklahoma. Chicago is the place for a new start - to become a new person, even. College is a different kettle of fish, at least that's what he hopes.
"Yeah." he replies, flopping on his bed. He watches Tris walk into the bathroom to get herself ready for bed.
Four grabs his laptop from his bedside table and opens to his youtube channel that he started two years ago. So far, he has 200,000 subscribers. It was nothing special at first, just somewhere that he could express himself without others judging him for his past, present or future. But in the last few months, the channel has blown up. People are asking him to sing in public venues across the country. Every time, he has declined though. It started has a hobby, and Four intended for it to stay that way. Besides, he isn't here at college studying physiology for nothing.
He clicks on his most recent upload: Let Me In by Grouplove - cover by Four Eaton. 112,086 views so far. Not too shabby.
Out of curiosity, he looks up Tris Prior in the youtube search bar. He scrolls through the returned searches. Only one video catches his eye: Tris Prior sings Up by Olly Murs ft. Demi Lovato. There she is, her face looking down at her acoustic guitar. Tris can sing? She must be pretty good for the video to have 25,355 views.
In a flash, Four whips out his earbuds and rams them into his computer. He presses her channel name, Tris Prior. She has 256 subscribers. He then looks at the upload section. Only one upload. Four goes back onto the video, dated 6 months ago, and presses play.
"Hi everyone, I'm Tris, an 18 year old kid from Chicago. Today I'm going to be singing Up by Olly Murs featuring Demi Lovato. Leave any comments below and if you think my crappy singing is good, which I can't imagine, subscribe and like." Tris says in the video.
"Tris just start singing!" a voice says from behind the camera.
"Shut up Christina! I'm only doing this for you!" Tris shouts to the girl, Christina, before picking up her guitar and starting the intro.
"I drew a broken heart…right on your window pane. Waited for your reply, here in the pouring rain. Just breathe against the…."
"Four what are you listening to?" Tris asks him, sitting down on his bed. Quickly whipping his laptop closed, he replies as naturally as possible. Tris wears a black tank top with some loose fitting shorts. Her hair is tied up in a high pony tail and her face scarce of makeup. She looks natural, almost carefree.
"Just some music. Helps calm me, I suppose." he replies. Tris raises her eyebrows at him, laughing a little.
"Enough with the lies, Four. I can see straight through you." she says, walking to the door frame of her small room, identical to mine. The room makes Four feel slightly claustrophobic, but he convinced himself that he'll get used to it.
A normal person would be scared of someone being able to see straight through you, but not Four. Four didn't mind the fact that Tris could tell he was lying. In fact, he liked how perceptive she seemed to be.
"Maybe one day I'll tell you more about why I lie so much." he replies, staring straight into Tris' grey-blue eyes, whilst Tris looks straight back at him.
"I'd like that."