10:55 p.m.
I know my father is asleep; I can hear him snoring. I never got undressed, so I only have to worry about putting on my shoes. I decide it's best if I take them with me rather than try to put them on inside. I'm lucky that our house doesn't have any floorboards that creak, because with the luck I have, I would hit every single one. The door isn't locked -this is Abnegation after all- so with one swift movement, I am outside. I am free. I quickly take a look around; deserted as always. I put on my shoes and head over to Beatrice's. My eyes haven't adjusted yet, but I can make out the faint tiny silhouette. She made it.
"Hey," she says. I can tell she is a little nervous, but even in the shadows I can see that fire burning in her eyes.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" I ask her. "You don't have to you know. I would understand if you wanted to go back inside."
"No. I want to go. Where are we going anyways?"
"It's a surprise," I say with a big grin.
It's a full moon tonight, so even with no city lights on, we are still highly visible. First things first. We head towards the Factionless area that we walk through every day to get to the bus so I can grab that shoelace; I know my father will look for it.
"Tobias, I'm not sure we should be here at night."
"Just wait right here for me. I'll be two minutes." I run as fast as my legs allow, and sure enough, the boot is still there. I rip the lace out and place the shoe back where I found it.
Beatrice give me a quizzical look when I come running back and I hold up the shoelace. "Ah," She says.
It felt good to run; to be free. To not have a care for anything other than this moment. It must be the adrenaline coursing through me because without a second thought, I grab her hand and pull her towards me. "Ready?"
She gives me a small nod. I take a left and we head towards the train tracks, following them to the Amity compound. I don't know exactly how long it will take us to get there on foot, but I don't care. In this moment, there is nothing but the moon and the stars and her, and that's all I need.
I never realized how close Abnegation was to the borders of Amity. Within thirty minutes, we can see the orchards coming into view.
"Amity?" she says with a little doubt.
"I thought that perhaps our first excursion out should be to the one faction that seems to allow it's people the most freedom."
"Our first excursion?" she says with a smile. I can't help but smile back.
The first orchard we make it to is apple trees. I survey the trees a bit and jump up to the first low branch I can grab, and haul myself up.
"Tobias!" she whispers. "Are you crazy?"
"What? I just thought we could use a snack," I say, tossing her an apple.
"What if someone sees you?"
"Shh. Stop worrying so much. I'm coming down now."
I can see the vague outline of roofs and I point them out to her. "Let's go this way then if it would make you feel better." She nods and we head off in the opposite direction.
We walk for a while in the warm summer breeze, surveying the skies and pointing out constellations.
"Do you hear that?" she whispers.
"Hear what?"
"Be quiet and listen!"
We stop walking and I strain to hear what she's hearing. "Beatrice, I don't hear anything."
"Come on. It's this way."
She grabs my hand and leads me through the tall grass towards whatever it is she hears. This is the second time tonight we have held hands. It's just as electric as the first time, and I feel my heart skip a beat when I finally hear it.
"Is that...splashing?" I ask her.
"Yeah, but I-"
SPLOOSH.
She starts to laugh. "Well, I guess I found where it was coming from!" There's a pond here. The splashing was fish breaking the surface to catch bugs. "Look over there. Is that a dock?" she asks, excitedly. And before I know it, we are racing each other to get there first.
"My sock is wet," she says as she plops down on the dock.
"Give it here," I say as I sit next to her.
"My sock?"
"No, your feet. Put them here."
I see her pause for a moment, but she places both her feet in my lap. I grab the hem of her skirt and slowly start to lift it up towards her shins.
"Tobias I-"
"Beatrice. Do you trust me?"
She hesitates before answering. "Yes."
I move the skirt up to just below her knees to unlace her shoe, and gently pull it off. "You're right. This sock is wet and we can't have a wet sock ruining our night," I joke.
She smiles as I reach up to pull her sock off. I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy every second of this. I take my time and unlace the other shoe. This time when I take her sock off, I brush my hands down her leg. Her skin is so soft and pale that it almost glows in the moonlight, and I like the way my dark hands look next to her. I can feel her eyes haven't left me the entire time.
"Have you ever heard of skinny dipping?" I ask while pulling the sock off her foot.
"Skinny dipping?"
"Yeah. I overheard one of the Amity boys at lunch one day talking about it. Apparently they take all their clothes off and then jump in the water." I'm still looking at her legs, so I can't help but notice them tense up. "Beatrice...would you like to go skinny dipping with me?"
I look up into her eyes and they are wide. I actually didn't know they could get that big. I can't take it anymore, I laugh.
"Tobias? I, uhh, I'm confused. Why are you laughing?" she says while pulling her legs quickly out of my lap and covering back up.
"I'm sorry Beatrice. That was mean of me, but I couldn't help it." I'm still cracking up and the look of confusion on her face isn't helping me at all.
"Can you imagine it? Hundreds of Amity have probably all gotten naked and jumped into this pond right here. And then here we are, two Abnegation covered from head to toe, talking about it. I mean, do they catch these fish and then eat them too?" I laugh at the thought.
"Tobias!" she squeaks out but I see her stifling a laugh.
"Oh come on! Tell me the thought of it all isn't hilarious?"
"Okay, okay. It is pretty funny," she says through a smile.
"I have an idea," I say. "Let's go skinny dipping, Abnegation style."
Beatrice is still wrapped around herself with a confused look in her eyes when I start to take off my socks and shoes. I roll up my pants and hold my hand out for her. She raises one eyebrow and takes my hand.
"On the count of three."
"What on the count of three?"
"Ready?"
"No!"
"One..."
"Tobias!"
"Two.."
"What are we doing on three?"
"THREE!"
"Tobias, no!"
I put my feet in the water.
"What did you think we were going to do? Jump in fully clothed?" I say jokingly as I nudge her with my shoulder. She throws her head back in a laugh, pulls up her skirt and plops her feet in with a splash. I've never seen her like this. Well actually, I've never seen anyone like this before, including myself. But there's something about her. She's not like the other girls in Abnegation, she wants to be different. She gives me the strength to be different too. I've never really even had a friend before, but here I am, joking with and touching the girl I didn't even have the courage to talk to a few months ago. I like who I am when I'm with her. She leans back on her hands and looks up at the stars; I join her.
"Tobias. Can I ask you something?"
"You can ask me anything."
"Is it true?"
I sigh. I should have known she would bring it up. After all, I did say that I would tell her later. Truthfully, I had hoped that she would think later meant twenty years from now. I sit up and move close enough to her that our thighs are touching. She sits up too, and when I turn to look at her, our faces are only inches apart.
"Beatrice," I say barely louder than a whisper, "I know I said I would tell you, and I will, I promise. But not now. Tonight is about good memories; me and you. I don't want to ruin it, okay?"
I can tell by the look in her eyes that she is disappointed, but she doesn't press any further. "Okay."
I feel around behind me until I find the apples. "Dinner?" I say as I hand her one.
"Skinny dipping and dinner? What a gentleman you are, Tobias," she says with a smirk. We sit in silence for a while, just eating our apples.
"Tobias?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"Giving me the freedom I have always wanted." She looks me in the eyes as she says this, and I know she means it.
"You're welcome, Beatrice."
"How did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That I would say yes."
"I didn't."
She's still looking into my eyes still when I see that fire ignite. It's then that I realize that fire might actually be for me, and before I can even form another thought, she's kissing me. It's quick and it's on my cheek, dangerously close to my lips. She pulls away, shy and a little embarrassed, I think. I smile and lean in close to her, placing my hand behind her; holding her without touching. We make small talk, but mostly we sit in silence, enjoying our small escape.
"We should start heading back. It's almost four," I say, breaking the comfortable silence we were in.
"Okay," she says with a tone of defeat in her voice. We gather our sock and shoes and slowly put ourselves back together. "I don't want this night to end."
"Me either," I say. It's true. This is the best night of my life;I would give anything for it to last forever.
I hold my hand out and she takes it. This time we walk hand in hand back through the Amity fields, back towards the train tracks and back to our Abnegation lives. Only this time, our Abnegation lives will be better because they contain each other.
"Goodnight Ms. Prior. Or should I say good morning?" I say, smiling and giving a little bow.
"Either, because both are true," she grins.
"Okay then. Goodnight Beatrice. Try to get a little sleep."
"Good morning, Tobias. You too," she says with a little wink.
I make sure she gets in her house before heading to my own. Absolutely nothing could bring me down from this cloud I'm on. Not only did I finally manage the courage to ask her out, she kissed me. I mean, it was only on the cheek, but I can't help but think of her lips possibly being on mine. I'm so distracted with my thoughts as I walk in the door, I don't even notice him sitting in the chair.