Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent, or any of its characters.

TRIS POV

"Yeah, sure you are. For how long?" he asked me with a laugh.

I stared blankly at Zeke's retreating form before closing the door as if on autopilot. Shaking my head to get myself out of my daze, I made my way back towards the living room. I spotted Tobias sitting on the couch, staring vacantly at the TV.

"Are you going to tell me what that was about?" I asked, taking a seat next to him.

After not hearing a response, I huffed loudly and put my hands up in the air.

Tobias looked over at me with a small smile on his face.

"Why won't you tell me?" I asked again.

"I'll tell you eventually" he cryptically replied.

"That's not good enough."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "It's as good as it's gonna get."

I huffed again, crossing my arms over my chest.

Tobias leant back on the couch and stretched his arms out along the back. His eyes started fluttering closed and his nosed scrunched up a little at the end. I took this moment to study him. Really study him. He was one of the most handsome men I've ever come across. With his soft but observant eyes and prominent cheekbones, he was a real eye full.

"It's rude to stare you know" he murmured.

"How did you...?" I stuttered.

"I know everything."

"Really?"

"Yes, so you'd better watch your back."

I laughed lightly, which turned into a yawn.

"I'm so tired" I told him.

"Yeah, late night visitors drain the life out of me."

I scoffed, "It's not even that late."

He pointedly looked at me. "It's a school night. And I'm old."

"You're not even that old." I laughed.

"It feels like I'm old. I'm in bed by 11 most nights." He explained sadly.

I looked at the clock, noticing that it was 10:30 pm.

I looked over at Tobias with a smirk on my face.

"Well then, it's time to get ready for bed old man. It's almost 11." I said seriously.

He looked back at me with shock which slowly morphed into playfulness.

"Well if it's my bedtime, it must be yours too...Grandma." he said teasingly before advancing on me.

Before he could catch me, I was already off the couch and running towards the kitchen. When Tobias registered what I was doing, he switched tactics and jumped over the back of the couch, bringing him on the opposite side of the counter to me. I feigned left before changing my path and running right. My face must have shown my plan because before I knew it, Tobias had an arm wrapped around my wrist and was pulling me towards him. I squealed playfully and twisted out of his grip, running towards my bedroom.

I closed my door just in time to hear Tobias slam straight into it, earning laughter from me. Before I could register what was happening, Tobias had all but ripped the door off its hinges, coming face-to-face with me. I squealed yet again running backwards around my bed. Tobias slowly walked towards the other side of the bed, a grin plastered on his face.

"You can't get away from me this time Tris. You're trapped." he teasingly said while pacing next to my bed.

I mentally went through all possible ways out of here, coming up with nothing. Finally I decided to try to barrel past him. I jumped up on the bed, somewhat surprising Tobias, but not enough. Before I could jump around him, he brought his hands up around my waist, pushing me with his body backwards onto the comforter. I let out a shocked gasp and pulled Tobias down with me. He landed on top of me, knocking the breath out of me. After a few moments without oxygen, I started breathing again and laughed like never before. I felt and heard Tobias' deep laugh join in. I suddenly stopped, shocked at hearing his real laugh for the first time.

Noticing my sudden silence, he pushed himself up onto his elbows, looking down at me with wonder.

"Why did you stop laughing?" he asked me, breathing hitched.

I looked up at him in awe. "I've never heard you laugh before."

"Yes you have." he told me.

"Not your real laugh." I explained softly.

He looked intently down at me, studying my face. My breathing picked up, and I don't know if it was my imagination, but I swear that his breathing picked up too.

I wanted him to lean down and kiss me. I wanted him to run his fingers along my cheek and I wanted him to play with the hem of my shirt. I wanted to run my fingers through his hair, and feel the flexing of the muscles in his back. I wanted it all.

We continued to stare into each other's eyes, neither of us moving. I was too scared to start anything if he didn't feel the same way. Why should he like me that way? I'm nothing special. I just live with him. I'm just his friend.

Tobias let out one big sigh, breaking eye contact with me. He pushed himself up and planted his feet on the ground, sitting near my hip, once again hanging his head in his hands.

I laid there for a few more moments, staring idly at the ceiling fan. I don't know why, but I feel embarrassed. Embarrassed that I wanted him to kiss me, and embarrassed that he pulled away first. I'm the one with fear of intimacy. Of course he didn't know about that, but being with him made everything feel right. Being with Tobias feels right. And I don't know how I can feel this way after knowing him for such a short amount of time.

Somewhere in my internal musings, Tobias must have turned around to look at me, because when I finally mustered up the courage to look towards him, I was met with his soft eyes.

"Listen… Tris." He started hesitantly.

I stopped him before he could say any more. "I know what you're going to say."

"No, I don't think you do." He said harshly.

"Yes I do. You're going to tell me that this was a mistake. That we should just forget about it. It's cool, I understand."

He looked at me in shock. He stayed silent for a while before shaking his head and sighing heavily.

"No. That's not even remotely close to what I was going to say."

I looked away from him in further embarrassment.

Tobias reached forward and put his hand on my cheek, exactly like I had desperately hoped he would just moments ago. He softly moved my head so that I was facing him again.

I'm certain that he could see my flaming cheeks, but silently thank him that he didn't say anything about them.

"What I was going to say," he started, "was that I wanted nothing more in the world than to kiss you just then."

I stared at him with wide eyes. Is he tricking me? Is this real?

"But, there are a lot of things that we have to think about. First of all, I'm technically your boss."

I nodded along with him, urging him to go on.

"But I think that if we tried, we could make it work and be discreet."

I nodded once again.

"And… another reason that I didn't kiss you just then is… because I respect you, Tris."

This really shocked me. I must have shown confusion on my face because he continued.

"I respect you too much to just flat-out kiss you while I'm laying half on top of you. You deserve better than that."

He looked at me adoringly before continuing once again.

"So… Beatrice Prior. Would you do me the honour of going on a date with me?"

A/N: So so so sorry for not updating in a while, I've had school assignments up to my eyeballs that I've had to do and it's been really hectic. But, on a good note, new chapter (!) haha, anyway, thank you all for sticking with me, and for being so kind to me. If you want, you could leave a really nice review? It's up to you :) Until next time...