Chapter Seven
"So you're parents really don't mind you throwing this party?" I ask Will and he shrugs, grabbing two bowls full of chips and hands one to me. We walk over to the table full of food and set them down.
"They're both gone for the weekend and s long as the party doesn't get too big and the cops don't show up, they're not too worried." He flashes a devious smile and looks straight at the cases of alcohol sitting on the floor under the table of food. "Which is why I have you and Christina here." I make a face at him. "For some odd reason, a number of kids here are scared of you two. Well, mainly Chris." He looks over his shoulder, towards his girlfriend, who was currently talking to Marlene.
I smile. "I can see why."
More people start to arrive a little after ten, a majority of them coming straight from the Homecoming dance. As more people crammed into Will's house, the more I stayed near Christina, Al and Lynn. Uriah and Marlene were off in the kitchen, most likely eating a bunch of the food.
Around eleven, Lynn elbows my side and nods towards the front door. "What the hell is he doing here?" She hisses.
I follow her glare and see Peter, with a sly smirk on his face, walking straight towards the alcohol. "I don't know, but he's sure as hell not staying."
Grabbing Christina's arm, I pull her towards where Peter is flirting with some tipsy blonde girl, who was definitely not from our school. "Well, well, well. Look who it is." He smirks and tears his eyes from the blonde.
"You need to leave. Now." Christina's tone leaves no room for arguments or fighting. But with Peter, it's like talking to a brick wall.
He shakes his head, pushing himself away from the girl, who stumbles off. "I think I'm going to stay for a bit."
Will appears, placing the palm of his hand against Christina's lower back. "I didn't invite you, Hayes. So you either need to leave or I will gladly call the police."
"Oh, and risk them coming home to a party with a ton of alcohol and underage drinkers?" He quirks an eyebrow. "You really think I won't be able to get out of that situation scotch-free?"
His snide comment makes me really want to punch him square in the nose, but I can't do that. I glance over my shoulder and see Lynn standing by the far wall, glaring at him, and I know for a fact that if she were standing next to me, she would've hit him multiple times by now.
I shake my head, crossing my arms tightly over my chest. "You are such a piece of shit, Peter."
"Is that really the only name you can call me? I guess it really is true that blondes are dumb. I mean, that's why you're having Eaton tutor you, isn't it?"
I straightened up and dropped my hands to my sides, my hands curling into fists. Christina notices and grabs my arm, pulling me away from Peter. "Tris, let it go. Will's going to take care of him."
She grabs two bottles of flavored wine coolers and hands me one. "Drink. And calm down." I untwist the cap and down about three-fourths of the bottle before Christina realizes it and yanks it from my hands. "Okay, I meant calm down – not get drunk on a single wine cooler in a matter of seconds."
"It's not really possible." I joked and she chuckled, shaking her head.
She stands up and takes my hand. "C'mon, I know something that'll cheer you up." I stand up and follow behind her as she pushes past people and heads down the basement steps.
In the basement, there's a long table set up with cups on both sides and a handful of kids on either side.
"Beer pong, really?"
She shrugs. "It'll cheer you up, and hey, you get to drink during the game. It's a win-win scenario."
I don't argue with her, instead, I stand next to her while the group ahead of us finishes up their game. Once they're done, we get new cups and fill them up with a fruity, sorbet drink – Christina reassured me that there's alcohol in it, and after my first sip of it, the alcohol is overwhelming.
After a few really crappy misses and more sips of the drink, I started to feel a lot calmer and my head was fuzzy. Fortunately, I wasn't as bad as Christina. She was really bad at this game and she had trouble walking straight by the end.
Will came downstairs and when he saw her, he frowned. "How much did she drink?"
I shrugged, giggling. "I don't know, but she's really bad at beer pong."
Will shook his head and wrapped an arm around her waist. "I'm going to go put her in my room. You going to be okay?" He asks. I nod and run a hand through my hair.
"Yeah, I'm just…I'm gonna go out front for some fresh air."
I trail behind Will as he carries Christina up the steps and then I head out the front door. The rush of cold air makes me dizzy and I stumble to the porch steps, holding onto the railing as I sit down on the top step.
I take my phone out of my pocket and unlock it. I really want to call my parents to come pick me up, but I know that doing that will only result in being punished for drinking and lying.
Someone sits down next to me and I turn to see Al. "You okay?" I nod, closing my eyes and lean my head against the railing. "Do you need a ride home?"
I look at him and then shake my head. "I'm pretty sure you've had just as much as me." I hiccup and groan. "It's really not a good idea." He sits there for a few more minutes before someone calls his name and he gets up and heads back inside.
Looking down at my phone again, I open up my contacts and go to the one number that doesn't have a name. My thumb hovers over the call button as my muddled brain tries to think of a reason not to call.
I press my phone to my ear, chewing on the pad of my thumb. It rings a few times and I'm suddenly worried that he won't pick up. On the fourth ring, however, a groggy voice answers. "Hello?"
Something in my stomach twists and I don't know if it's because of his voice or the fact that I feel like I'm going to throw up. "Tobias…"
"Tris?" He sounds confused for a second and then suddenly sounds worried. "It's almost one in the morning, are you okay?"
"Uhm, yes and no." I hiccup again and my stomach twists even more. Yep, definitely going to be sick. "I want to go home but I have no ride."
"Where are you? I'll come pick you up."
Suddenly I feel like it isn't a good idea to tell him where I am, but at the same time, I don't want to be here while everyone else is getting drunk. So I gave him Will's address and he just simply told me to stay put and he'd be there in ten minutes.
A few minutes later, a familiar black truck pulls up and Tobias jumps out. I'm surprised he's not worried about anyone seeing him, but then it dawns on me that everyone's inside and I'm the only one out here.
"Tris." He breathes a sigh of relief as he extends his hand out to me. "Come on." I take his hand and stand up, slightly unsteady on my feet. Everything around me kind of spins and I stumble forward. "Careful now." His arms go around my waist, holding me up and while it feels nice, I can feel my lunch coming up.
Pushing away from him, I turn towards the bushes and lean over them, getting sick. "Shit." I hear Tobias cuss, grabbing my hair to hold it away from my face.
When I'm done, I stand up and rub the sweat off my forehead. "You okay?" He finally asks. I wait a few seconds and then nod. "Come on, we should get going." I let him lead me to his truck and don't put up a fight when he lifts me into the passenger's seat.
He climbs into the driver's seat and I roll down my window a little bit, relishing in the cold breeze. "Don't get sick in my truck, please." I know he means it as a joke, but I can't help but feel like he's making fun of me. He glances over at me and sighs. "I'm kidding…"
I stay silent until I notice he's turning down my street. "What are you doing?" I panic, turning to face him.
"Taking you home?" He gives me a face. "I thought that was what you wanted?"
I shake my head quickly, my stomach churning, but this time it wasn't from feeling sick. "No! No, no, no, no! No, I can't go back to my house. My parents will freak out. They'll know I was drinking and they'll know I was lying. Please, do not take me home."
Tobias pulls over to the curb and kills his headlights. He shifts in his seat and looks at me. "Well where am I supposed to take you?"
Shrugging, I pull my legs up into my chest on the seat. "I don't know, but just…please don't make me go home."
He sighs and runs his hand through his cropped hair, looks at me for a few more seconds and then turns back around in his seat. "Fine." Is all he says before he turns the headlights back on and turns around, leaving my street behind.
Fifteen minutes later he pulls into a parking garage in an apartment building. "Where are we?" I ask as I carefully slide down and out of the truck.
"My apartment." He jumps down from the truck and locks it. I walk around to where he's waiting for me and then we head towards the elevator. Once we're in the elevator, I sag against the wall.
The ride up is silent and once we come to a stop, I follow behind Tobias. He stops outside of a room, 4C, and unlocks it, stepping inside to hold the door open for me.
I step inside and he locks the door behind me. The apartment is decently sized – a modern kitchen, a large plasma screen TV hanging on the far wall with a large, black L-shaped couch in front of it. There are three rooms off of the living room, one of which I presume to be his bedroom and the small, white room to be the bathroom.
"If you need to take a shower, you can. Bathroom's right through there." I turn to see Tobias sitting on the couch, leaning forward on his elbows.
I wrap my arms around myself, and look down at the hardwood floor. "I would but, uhm, I don't…I don't have any other clothes." I was still in my Homecoming dress and tights and there was absolutely no way I would be taking a shower only to get back into the same outfit I've been wearing all night.
He pushes himself up off the couch and heads into his room. When he emerges, he has a white t-shirt and a pair of black drawstring shorts. He hands them to me and then heads back to the couch.
After my shower, I fold up my dress and leave it on top of the hamper in the bathroom. I head back into the living room and Tobias is placing a bunch of sheets on the couch and some pillows. Without turning to face me, he simply says. "You can sleep in my room. I'll take the couch."
I'm too tired to argue and I feel like he suddenly hates me. I mean, why else would he refuse to look at me?
His bed is king sized with navy blue cotton sheets. I climb under the blankets and try to focus on the silence in the room, but my head won't shut up. All I can think about is the fact that I am wearing Tobias's clothes while in his apartment in his bed.
I don't know what time it was when I fell asleep, but all I know is that when I woke up, I felt like complete and total hell. My head hurt, my stomach was churning even though it was completely empty and I could barely recall as to where the hell I was.
Sitting up, I run my fingers through my tangled bed-head and look around the room. I remember briefly calling Tobias last night, then him picking me up, my breaking down and begging him not to take me back to my house. I guess he decided to bring me to his apartment.
Looking to my left, there's a glass of iced water and some Tylenol on the bedside table. I swallow the pills and chase it down with half the glass of water.
The bedroom door opens slightly and Tobias peaks his head in. "You're awake, good." He steps into the room and then lowers himself on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Embarrassed, mortified. Take your pick." I cover my face with my hands. "God, I'm such an idiot."
"I'd be lying if I said you were an idiot." He says. Normally I'd glare at him and defend myself, but I can't. There's no defending when it comes to what I did last night. I very rarely went to parties and even when I did, I never drank as much as I did last night. God, how could I be so reckless?
I drop my hands down to my lap and look up at him. "I'm sorry about this. I really shouldn't have called you." I can add that to the list of dumbass mistakes I made last night.
"Honestly, I'm kind of glad that you did call me." He starts to explain himself after I give him a face. "Tris, I'm not ignorant as to what goes on during high school parties, it's pretty self-evident. And I would rather you have called me than you drink even more and had someone who had been drinking try to take you home."
We sat in silence for a few moments before he stands up off the bed. "There's breakfast in the kitchen. You should eat."
My stomach twists at the mention of food and I wrap my arms around my stomach, shaking my head. "Yeah, no. I don't think I'm in the mood to eat right now."
He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. "You threw up last night and more than likely got rid of all the food in your stomach. When was the last time you ate?"
I think for a few seconds and then look at him, a guilty look on my face no doubt. "Yesterday…at lunch." I mean, I picked on food at Will's party but it was only chips and pretzels, so it wasn't anything big.
"And that's why you feel sick. C'mon, you gotta eat." He leaves the room and I follow after him. I'm still in the shorts and t-shirt he gave me last night and they're both slightly big on me.
In the kitchen, there's a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast and a large glass of orange juice. I give him a mumbled 'thank you' before sitting down at the table with the food. I eat slowly, afraid that eating too fast will cause all the food to come right back up.
Tobias disappears into the bathroom for a few minutes and I finish up eating. Once I'm done, I wash my plate off and put it in the dishwasher.
I sit down on the couch, crossing my legs underneath myself and turning the television on. I flip through the channels trying to find something decent to watch. There's an episode of Criminal Minds on, so I decide to keep that on. It at least gives me something to watch.
"Tris." I jump at the sound of Tobias's voice, unaware that he had even left the bathroom. He's standing behind the couch in a pair of dark blue jeans and a simple white t-shirt. "You're phones been ringing; might want to answer it." He tosses it over to me and I catch it, reading the screen.
10 missed calls.
Sighing, I unlock my phone and see that they are all from Christina. I tap on her name and put the phone to my ear. I get up off the couch and walk towards the bathroom, shutting the door behind me.
"Tris! God, I've been trying to get a hold of you all damn day. Why haven't you been answering? Where are you?" For someone who drank a hell of a lot more than I did, she sounds completely fine. Then again, she probably had a bunch of food in her stomach.
"I'm fine, Chris. I left the party early last night. I got a ride from…from my brother. He was in town for the night." It was the best and only lie I could think of. All of our friends were at the party and more than likely slept over at Will's, so it wasn't like I could just say one of them took me home.
She lets out a breath of relief and I can hear her talking to someone else – probably Will. "Are you grounded? Did Caleb tell your parents?"
Running my hand along the granite bathroom counter, I laugh. "No, he didn't tell. I have too much stuff I know about him that could get him cut off from my parents. But I can't hang out today."
"What? Why?" Her voice is high pitched and I smile.
"Because I have plans already."
She laughs loudly on the other end. "Do I get to hear about these…plans?" I can almost hear the quotation marks she put around plans.
"No, because there's nothing to tell. It's just…a study session." She tells me to call her as soon as I get done the session and I promise her that I will. Hanging up the phone, I head back into the living room.
"Everything okay?"
Nodding, I run my hand through my hair. "Yeah, everything's fine."
So I've been getting a few comments recently about the age difference between Tris and Tobias and how it's illegal for a minor to be in a relationship with an adult, especially a teacher. And i realize that, but that's the whole point of the story. And to make it a little more clear, Tobias is 26 in the story and Tris is 17 going on 18.
While I appreciate the comments, I'm a little concerned as to those who are commenting about the age differences and legality of the situation. The whole point of the story is for it to be a "forbidden romance" type thing. I'm still at the beginning stages of the story and I still have a bit of a ways to go before I actually get the two involved.
I mean, let's be real. A lot of people love the whole teacher-student relationship drama. Just look at Pretty Little Liars with Ezra and Aria. Or Vampire Academy with Rose and Dimitri.
But I really do hope that the whole situation doesn't turn people away from reading this and continuing to read it. I thought it'd be a fun type of story to write.
