CHAPTER 7
All she could do was stare at him as she tried to process what he had just asked of her.
"Runaway with you?" she repeated to herself, "are you crazy?! This is treason! We could be thrown out of Dauntless! Executed! Do you know how dangerous it is to even be talking about this?!"
"Yeah, I do," he said looking her directly in the eye. He sighed, "Look, Tris. I just want to be with you. I don't care where anymore- but I do want to be with you. What we had… that doesn't just go away because someone else gave you more than the time of day…" he said.
She stayed silent. At this moment, she wasn't sure of her feelings for anyone.
"Is it really gonna be that hard for you?" he asked. " Remember when I said that I'd be your family? I still am. Nothing's changed."
She sighed. How did he know exactly what to say to make her feel like shit?
"Tobias, I just, I don't know… I don't know anything right now. I can't just leave all of this, it's the only thing I know," she said. Was she really considering it?
"You left Abnegation, it was the only thing you knew for sixteen years. You've only been here for a year," Four said.
"Hypothetically speaking, where would we go? Assuming we made it past Amity's plantations? Where the hell would we go, Four? Do you even know if there is anything out there?"
"There has to be something… we can't be the only people in the entire world, Tris. Stop being so close-minded," he said. She could tell he was trying not to get angry at her.
"I'm not being close-minded! I'm being realistic," she said, letting his passive aggressiveness get under her skin.
"Don't wanna leave Eric? Is that it? Is he that precious to you?" She stared at him as she set her jaw. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that but I just don't think his intentions are what you think they are… he's not a good guy. Please, Tris, just think about it. I'm leaving at the end of the week, with or without you."
"What's out there for you?" she asked thinking back to his conversation she overheard with Uriah. Was he gonna tell her the same story? That there was another girl in his life?
"I don't know, that's the beauty of it… but I can guarantee you it's a hell of a lot better than this place," he said.
She could see the stop for the Compound approaching in the distance. "Fine. I'll think about it," she said.
"Alright… you have until the end of the week to decide. I'm leaving at midnight," he said before effortlessly hopping off. She wordlessly followed him. "I'll talk to you later, Tris," he said brushing the back of her hand with his but quickly pulled away. He walked in the opposite direction towards his room without so much as a glance back at her.
She plopped onto her hard, lumpy mattress. The end of the week? That didn't give her near enough time to think through this decision. In fact, she was mad that he was even making her choose in the first place- and what did he know about Eric's 'intentions'?
After staring at the wall for an hour she decided to make the decision tomorrow. She woke up and headed to the cafeteria to get a good breakfast, that way she wouldn't be making this decision on an empty stomach. However, Eric's announcement threw a wrench in her plans.
"Alright, listen up! A little birdy told me that some of you are getting lazy. So I'm here to tell you that we Dauntless are not lazy. I thought you all would know that by now. Clearly, I was wrong. Anyway. Today is going to be a mandatory all-day training and workout day. You won't have time to think about anything else other than that. So, everyone ages 16-20, meet in the gym in fifteen minutes. I'll see you there," he said from the upper platform.
Tris decided after an hour and a half that Eric was right- they had gotten lazy. Every muscle in her body was aching by lunchtime and she practically drug herself to her bed that afternoon. She really needed to find Eric and talk to him… but instead gave into her body's screaming and went to sleep.
The next morning she stopped by the cafeteria for breakfast but after not seeing Eric, grabbed an apple to go and headed to his room. She had just raised her hand to knock on his door when she heard someone talking on the other side- and that voice sounded feminine.
"- supposed to be getting close to her," the voice said.
"I am!" Eric said.
"No, you haven't... I have eyes everywhere. You haven't spoken to her in days. Nothing gets past me," she said.
Tris thought back to what Four had said the other night on the train: 'his intentions aren't good.'
"All I'm saying is just get the job done... preferably quickly. I just hope you're not getting shy and starting to have feelings for the little Stiff, because if you are-"
Stiff. A nickname that apparently still haunted her.
"I'm not," Eric said.
She heard the sound of high heels clicking nearing the door and she disappeared around the corner as fast as she could. She chanced a peek around the corner but all she saw was a flash of blonde hair. She stayed frozen in place until she couldn't hear clicking on the concrete floor anymore then cautiously approached Eric's door and knocked.
"Jeani-" Eric said on the other side annoyed until he opened the door. He coughed. "Tris?"
"Can I come in?" Tris asked.
"Uh, yeah sure," he said as he opened the door wider. She walked past him and noticed the room was an absolute wreck.
"Does Dauntless offer a maid service?" she asked laughing slightly as he closed the door behind.
"Aw come on, it's not that bad is it?" he asked.
She picked up an empty beer can from the floor and scoffed.
"So what's up? Or are you just here to insult my interior decorating?" he asked. She might as well not beat around the bush. She had lost a day already due to the mandatory workouts... the end of the week was quickly approaching and she was running out of time to make a decision.
"Uh… what exactly is this- between us I mean?" she asked.
"Okay, straight to the that, huh?" he asked.
"I mean I don't wanna have this talk any more than you do… but I need to know-"
"Why? Four need an answer or something? You know he's not the boss of you… you can make your own decisions," he said.
"I- I know. He's not making decisions for me," she said defiantly. "I'm just curious… we've never talked about this and to be honest when I first got here all you wanted to do was make my life a living hell…"
"Yeah, and?"
"So what happened? I mean, why the sudden change of heart? One minute you embarrass me every chance you get then- then we're sneaking around and kissing at the Chasm…" she said. He stood silently staring at her as she blushed. "Okay, nevermind. This was stupid."
"Why do you always have to ask 'why'? Can't you just let shit be?" he asked.
"'Let shit be?' That's what you're calling this?" she asked gesturing between the two them, "'shit?' Wow, Four was right-" she said.
Eric felt the anger rise in his throat at the mention of his name. Then he remembered what Jeanine said, 'I have eyes everywhere.' And she had just left his room, hell she might even be listening in right now... and he really didn't want to get on her bad side…
"No. No, I wasn't calling us… what do you want out of this, Tris?" he asked.
The question took her by surprise. She really hadn't thought about that. "I, I- I don't know…"
"Well, here's what I want. I want us to be able to meet up without having to 'define the relationship,'" he said.
"Well what if I don't want a relationship?" she asked, crossing her arms.
He smirked and walked closer to her, she backed away until she felt her back hit the wall. "I think you and I both know I'm not the relationship type," he said. "I'm happy to hear you feel the same way. Though, that makes me wonder what your intentions are with Four because he's definitely a relationship type guy- just ask Lauren… was that her name?"
Tris felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. How did Eric know about this girl and she didn't?
"W-who?" she asked.
"Oh? He hasn't told you yet? Well, to be fair he didn't exactly tell me either…" he said. "From what it sounds like no one will ever live up to her… sorry about that."
"What do you know about her?" she asked.
He chuckled. "I see I've piqued your interest… interesting. How about we make a deal?"
"What kind of deal?" she asked.
"I need information on Four- what his plans are, who he's talking to, his fears-"
"No. No, I won't betray him like that," she said adamantly.
"-let me finish. And in return… I'll tell you about Lauren," he said.
She shook her head but Eric could see her resolve starting to crumble. "I- I can't. I'll just ask him about her."
"But how do you know he would tell you the truth?" he asked.
"How do I know you would?" she asked.
"Touchè... alright, Tris, let's think about this... why would he tell you, the girl he's currently with, about a previous girlfriend and not be biased?" he asked. She decided Eric was probably right about that- if she did ask Four chances are he would either lie about it or tell her some half-truth... and she wanted the full story. "On the other hand, what reason do I have to lie about it? You should know exactly what you're getting into," he asked.
She still hadn't given in yet but he sensed she was close to breaking.
"Alright, alright… I'll sweeten the deal… I'll see if I can track her down for you- so you can confirm what I tell you," he said, "maybe arrange a meeting between you two?"
"You can do that?" she asked.
"I am pretty high ranking here… at the very least, I can do it without raising too much suspicion," he said, "so what do you say? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours?"
