Disclaimer: I do not own the Divergent Trilogy.
Chapter 8: Tris's POV
"Hey!" I hear Christina say from the door holding my crutches. She looks over and her eyes land on Caleb. "I thought you were leaving earlier today Caleb?"
"I was, but I pushed it back so I could come here with Tris. I'm leaving right after this," Caleb says sadly. I can feel my self involuntarily frown at what he is saying.
I don't want him to leave.
The silence is the room is deafening. Caleb is looking at the floor, Chris is looking at me, and Four is looking around the room probably wondering what the hell is going on.
If only he knew.
"Well," Four says breaking the silence, "I think is dry enough now, Tris. I'll see you next week." He hurries out the room feeling the tension rise between us.
"I'm sorry bumble-bea," Caleb says softly.
"Caleb, I have told you a thousand times it's fine. I understand. You just have to visit me okay?" I say with a small laugh.
"Okay," he says. "I really need to go now."
"I know. I love you."
"I love you to Bea." He gives me a big bear hug and walks out of the room.
I have no idea when I will see him again. That's when I start crying.
"Tris, it'll be okay," I hear Christina say. I forgot she was in the room.
"I know. It-it just hurts."
"Look at me Tris. I'm taking you shopping. Like I said, as soon as you can walk with crutches we are going shopping then I am taking you to a party and we are going to have some fun," she says with a sad smile.
"What am I going to be able to do at a party Chris?" I say laughing. "Between me not being able to walk and my meds, I will just sit there with a coke." She doesn't know about my alcohol problem. I hope she never finds out.
"I figure out something for you to do, but Tris, you need to socialize. You haven't been out since… And anyways, you still haven't met my boyfriend!"
"You're still with that Will guy?! I'm surprised. It must be pretty serious." I say laughing.
Christina smiles.
"Can you be a girl for one second?" She asks.
"I am a girl Chris."
"You know what I mean, a girly-girl."
"Kay," I say in a "girly" voice while twirling my hair around my finger.
"He told me that he loved me," she says smiling.
"What?! Did you say it back?" I exclaim in my regular voice now.
"Yeah," she says with an even bigger grin. "I can picture myself having a life with him."
"Well, I guess I have to meet the guy now," I say smiling.
I'll just have to hide in a bathroom. But, I know it will make Chris happy. I haven't gone out with her since the accident.
"Really?! Oh my god we have to leave now so we have enough time to get ready!" She says while helping me get situated with my crutches.
She starts to speed walk down the hallways, while I am lingering behind, having trouble adjusting to my crutches.
I have never understood the concept of going out and shopping.
To me it is so much easier to shop online. You get better deals and you don't have to feel like people are watching your every move.
Thankfully, Christina wasn't on a full-blown shopping trip, only to get an outfit for tonight. Still, it took us, well really her, two and a half hours to find both of us "the perfect outfit" as she put it.
She is doing her makeup right now, but she is almost finished. I don't even know why she is going to attempt to make me pretty. I will never be. I am short, skinny, I have no curves, a nose that is to long for my face, and plain blue-gray eyes. On top of that, I am broken and I don't know if I am fixable.
"Done!" Christina exclaims.
She always looks gorgeous with her golden brown skin and mocha eyes; she's very tall with long slender legs and a willowy frame. And she has chin length black hair that extenuates her high and defined cheekbones.
"Time to start on you!" She starts to set up everything that she is going to use for me. "You're so lucky Tris! You have flawless skin! You don't even need concealer or foundation!"
"Yeah right," I mutter.
"Tris, stop it," she says forcefully.
"You know that you can't make me pretty."
"Who says I'm going for pretty? I'm going for noticeable." I look up into the mirror in front of me and see her giving me a supportive smile.
Four's POV
I hate parties.
I don't even know why I came; I can't drink because I could get called in at any moment. I just turned 27 and this stuff is starting to get old; the blaring music, the smell of alcohol everywhere you go, people standing in the middle of a room full of people practically having sex.
That's why I am in the kitchen. I usually come in here if I ever go to one of Uriah's parties. Usually the hormone crazed teenage girls from the gym that Uriah invites don't come in here.
I don't even know how Marlene handles him. He is an even bigger flirt than Zeke, but I guess she trusts him like Shauna trusts Zeke.
Thinking of Zeke, I'm surprised that Shauna let him come tonight with the new baby and all, but he's not drinking so I guess that was the catch.
I have only been here for ten minutes, but I am about to leave. I have never been a "social butterfly". I guess I can thank Marcus for that.
There is one person though, that seems to bring out the Tobias in me. She puts a smile on my face every time I see her. She is so beautiful words can't even describe her. Her big blue-gray eyes are all I want to see. I still want to know what's on her file. I mean how bad could it really be?
The angelic voice that I have been dying to hear since this morning brings me out of my thoughts.
"I didn't know you would be here blue eyes." I look at her and she has a wide smile on her face. Could the smile be about me?
"You okay there blue eyes? You're looking like a creepy stalker with that smile," she says with a laugh. Oh her laugh…
"Oh, umm yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking." About you…
"I didn't get to ask you while I was at the appointment," she says, "but how am I supposed to bathe with this thing?" She points to her cast and I laugh.
"Well first of, you can't take showers."
"Well I knew that smart ass," she says laughing again. She's going to drive me insane with that laugh.
"Just making sure," I say putting my hands up in mock defense. "You have to fill the bathtub with water first because the other way will most likely get your cast wet. Then you have to get in the tub with your leg hanging on the outside of the tub."
"And how am I supposed to get out?"
"That's your problem hippie. I can't help you with that; unless you want me to of course," I say with a sly smirk.
"Do you want me to start calling you perv blue eyes?!" She says while playfully hitting my chest. I feel those sparks again.
"Well I have actually had to do that, but it was this woman who was 78 years old. It wasn't pretty," I say laughing. She starts laughing too.
"You're lying!?" She says in hysterics now.
"Nope and then she started trying to flirt with me. Zeke was there because he had to bring her to get an x-ray after her bath. He still hasn't gotten over it and that was when we were still in med school."
"I can't believe that actually happened! How old are you anyways?" She says with her laughter dying down to a giggle.
"You ask a lot of questions huh hippie? But to answer, I just turned 27 a few weeks ago. How old are you?"
"About to be 26."
"Prime hippie age," I say with a fake informative voice.
"You're never going to forget about that are you blue eyes?"
"Wouldn't dream of it. Now, I would like to get to know my favorite patient so tell me about yourself hippie."
"Only if you answer the same questions about yourself blue eyes," she says with a smirk.
"You really do play hard bargains, but I guess I will have to accept once again. So, first question-where were you born?"
"Born and raised in Chicago. You?"
"Born in Seattle and moved here to go to college. Parents?"
I notice she cringes when I say parents, but then again I do to.
"Well my uh dad was an environmental lawyer and my mom ran a bunch of charities and volunteered and stuff, but them umm died a few months back. What about yours?" I can tell she doesn't want to talk about them anymore.
"Well," I say wishing I hadn't asked about her parents, knowing I would have to answer about mine too, "my dad was in the government-he died a few years back, but my mom died during childbirth when I was nine so I don't really remember her."
"Next question," I say getting the spotlight off our parent situations. "Siblings?"
"Well Caleb is my only sibling. He lives in San Francisco with his fiancé Susan. Do you have any?"
"No the baby, umm, also died when my mom was giving birth, so I'm an only child."
"Oh, uh, well…" Tris says not knowing what to say.
"It's fine," I say sadly smiling. I miss my mom so much. She was the only one who protected me. "You want a drink?"
"Oh no I can't because of my-my uh pain meds." She was about to say something else, but I don't ask. I can tell that she doesn't want to talk about it.
"Well that sucks," I say trying to break the tension.
"Well look at you mister 'I'm drinking water with a lemon in it,'" She says in a terrible attempt to talk like a sophisticated man. I bust out laughing.
"That was horrible!" I say in between laughs.
"Well I don't see you doing it any better," she says attempting to put her hands on her hips, but fails because of her crutches. It makes me laugh even more.
"Want me to try?" I say smiling mischievously.
"Yes please."
"I am drinking water with lemon in it," I say in a highly sophisticated voice that Marcus had me use when guests would come over. I guess something he made me do has now come in handy.
"That was really good," she says shocked.
"I'm full of surprises hippie," I say smiling.
She just looks at me and smiles. In this moment, I know that I have fallen for her-fallen hard for a matter of fact.
Just ask her out!
"Hey, umm," I scratch the back of my neck, "you know the green festival starts tomorrow at the pier?" She nods with a smile on her face. I hope that's a good thing. "I wont be on-call tomorrow so would you maybe want to go? I mean you don't have to yo-" She cuts me off.
"I would love to," she says with the biggest smile on her face. I can tell I have on too. "I'll be at the office until five, and my car is still in the shop so would you mind picking me up there?"
"Not at all." Right after I say that my pager beeps.
"Okay I'll be at your office at five tomorrow to pick you up. See you tomorrow hippie!" I yell as I run out of Uriah's house, smiling.
Question of the Chapter: Favorite comedy? Mine is Bridesmaids. It never gets old!
