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Chapter 9 - Four POV

When I wake up, the next morning, I find Marcus busily typing away at his computer downstairs. For some reason, he's been in a really good mood lately. I guess he's getting ahead in the polls. That doesn't surprise me. Marcus has been parading me around and bragging about his son, me, being an NFL football player.

"Good morning," I say, warily, hoping Marcus isn't going to start beating me again. So far he's only done it that one time, two nights ago. That was the same night I went to Tris looking for help. Tris. I remember, then, about how she agreed to one date. I'll have to find a time soon, because I'm flying home in 3 days.

"It is a good morning. A 98 vote-lead makes a very good morning," he said smugly. I nod and go over to the fridge, taking out some eggs and making an omelet. "I've got to go to an event tonight at 5, but I've only got one invitation," Marcus says. "So you'll be here alone. Don't do anything stupid like you usually do."

"Like what?"

"For starters, I don't like you spending so much time with the Prior girl. She's the competition's daughter." I remember Tris saying something along those lines a few times. She knew this would happen.

"Of course. She just wanted to know about being a lawyer for athletes," I lie.

"Like she's good enough for that," Marcus scoffs. I feel my fists clench at him insulting Tris, but I know better than to argue with him. I scoop the eggs onto a plate and put the frying pan in the sink. "Well, I've got to go work on my speech," Marcus says slamming his computer shut. He gets up and tucks his computer under his arm, before marching off. I shake my head and roll my eyes once he's gone.

Once I've finished eating and washing my plates I go up to my room and get dressed in a pair of dark-wash jeans and a grey-short sleeve shirt. I pull on a black leather jacket and pick my phone up, off my desk.

Me: Are u doing anything tonight?

A couple seconds later my phone buzzes and Tris' text pops up on the screen.

Tris: No, Y?

Me: Meet me my house 7:00 pm. Don't eat b4!

Tris: k

I smile at the screen before pulling on my tennis shoes and wallet. I head out to the grocery store to get ready for dinner.

Hola. I'm a page break. I'm also a reminder that you should review this story.

By 6:55 I've finished making the steak, salad, and have set up the deck in my backyard. There's a crystal vase with several red roses in it. A small, round, metal table with two matching chairs have black table-mats and white china plates. The salad and steak sit on the table, ready to be served. Surrounding the deck are white Christmas light, the only thing illuminating the darkening sky except for the candles lining the deck railing. I smile; I hope Tris likes it.

At exactly 7:00, the doorbell rings. I open it to find Tris standing there in a dark red top and dark wash jeans. Her hair is in a braid down the side of her head. I prefer her hair down. "Punctual; I like it," I say, leading her to my backyard.

"It's a habit I got from going to court so many times," she says.

"Here we are," I say, spreading my arms out to present the deck. Tris gasps as she looks at what I've done.

"This is - wow - I mean, no one's ever - thank you," she stammers. I chuckle. "No one's ever done this for me before," she whispers. I lead her to the table and pull out her chair.

"My lady," I say. She laughs before sitting down and I push her in.

"This smells really good," she says, looking at the food. I sit down in my own seat and begin serving out the food. "Of course, you made me wait so long, almost anything might make me hungry," she jokes.

"Well at least I know you'll be eating the food," I laugh. She smiles before digging into her steak. She closes her eyes as she chews and I hold my breath, waiting for her reaction.

"Mmmm," she moans. "This is really good." She takes another bite and I smile.

"Thank you." We eat in silence for a while. It's not awkward silence like when we were washing dishes the other day; it's comfortable silence, we're just both enjoying our food.

"So what's it like being a NFL football player?" she asks, breaking the silence. We've finished our steaks and are now eating our salad and sipping the red wine I poured earlier.

"It's a lot of work. You don't get much off-time during the season, and even when the season's over you still have to practice. You don't have much time to meet a bunch of people outside of your team."

"Do you plan on retiring soon?"

"I don't know. It's a good-paying job and once I quit, I can't really get a job. I never graduated with a degree; I've always been focused on making the NFL."

"You could always coach little kids football. I'm sure they'd love to learn football from the Four Eaton."

"I don't know. I don't really plan too much into the future," I shrug. "What about you? What's it like being a lawyer?"

"There's a lot of late-nights and people who want me to argue some rather stupid cases," she chuckles. "But I love it. I love when I get a good case I can really argue and I love it when my case wins."

"And your future plans?"

"Have a family, have a nice house. I want to keep working, but I also want to be there and watch my children grow up. You know?"

"Yeah," I sigh, remembering how I would sit in the café and watch children coming in. How I told myself I would never have a family."

"I want to leave New York when I begin my family, though."

"Why?"

"I love all the people and everything, but it's not exactly the best environment to raise a child in. I want to move to a more suburban place, like I grew up in with a nice house; not too big, but not too small. I want to be able to walk my children to school and talk to other mothers, but still be able to go to work and argue cases." I nod.

"What about you? What kind of family do you want to have?"

"I'm not cut out to have a family."

"Is this about Marcus abusing you?"

"Yes. No. Maybe. Tris, my mother died and Marcus abused me. I can't be a good father with that kind of background. I can't have a family."

"That's not true. If you want a family you could have one," Tris argues.

"Tris, you don't get it. I might hurt my child or my wife. I don't want to do that; I don't want to hurt anybody."

"You don't want to be him."

"Exactly."

"Well, you're not him. You're Tobias Eaton, not Marcus Eaton. You are two completely different people."

"I don't know, Tris."

"You don't have to, but I do."

"Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore." Tris nods and helps we clean the dishes. Then I grab a blanket and we lie down, on the deck, looking at all the stars above us. We hold hands, our fingers intertwined with one another.

"I love the stars. You don't see them much in New York. Too many lights," Tris says.

"I've never bothered looking at the stars in San Francisco," I admit.

"Tobias?" Tris says, letting go of my hand and sitting up. I sit up too and look straight into her eyes. She gulps. "I don't know what this," she says motioning between the two of us, "is, but I like it. I don't want it to stop just because we live thousands of miles from each other." She blushes and looks away.

"Hey," I say, putting my hand on her cheek. She looks back at me. "We'll figure something out. We can call and text each other. Maybe we can fly down to meet each other every couple months or so. The distance doesn't matter."

"Why me?" she says.

"What?"

"You could have any girl you want. Why me?"

"Because, I think I-I'm-" I stammer.

"You're what?" But I can't say it. I can't tell Tris I love her. I can't; it's impossible for me to love anybody. Love. It's such a rare thing in my life that I don't even know what it is. I've never felt love before, so how can I be sure this is it now? I can't and I can't take any chances.

"I don't know."

"You-you don't know?" She asks. Then I see tears running down her cheeks. She gets up. "You don't know?!" She starts to walk away, and for some reason, no matter what my heart is telling me, I don't go after her. I just sit there and try to figure out if I really love Tris, because I'm afraid that I might actually be falling for her. And I fear I'm falling fast and hard for her.

A/N: Okay no hating on my story. Special shout-out to XoLeighxo for giving me the inspiration for their date. If you want me to give you a special shout-out you must review and give me inspiration! I've got a plan, but if you want to see this begin to unfold, you're going to have to do as I say. Mwahahaha. In order for me to post the next chapter, this story needs 15 'favorites.' It's currently got 8, so it's your job to get people to favorite this story. By the way, this chapter was over 1,500 words! It's my longest chapter, so far, I think. So, hit the favorite button, hit the follow button, and hit the review button and I promise good things will come your way.