Tris POV:
After a minute, Four responds.
"Yeah, of course. But I need to tell Marcus."
Then my mom interrupts. "Four, your dad already called," she says gently, "And it's fine. Stay as long as you like. Knowing you two, you'll be up half the night talking. Shall we eat?"
We do, and Four leaves early, claiming that it's a school night and he's got homework anyways.
"Night, Tris," he says through a yawn.
"Goodnight, Four. Don't get beat up too bad," I tell him.
He looks back to see if I'm joking or not. I hold back a smirk, but I can tell that it's a touchy subject for him, especially since what Marcus told him earlier. So I keep my face dead straight.
We kiss each other goodnight, and I watch him walk home for the first few steps, before turning around and closing the door, smiling contently.
The next day, everyone seems to be down. Even Christina keeps a sad face on.
"I still can't believe it. He's really gone. I mean, I know he did hurt you Tris, but no one was really expecting this. Were you?" she asks.
I shake my head.
"Say, why weren't you at the service yesterday?"
I shrug, and before I can answer, Christina keeps talking, "And neither was Four. Were you guys like too sad to go, or what? Or maybe you payed your respects by going to the Lake and seeing everything. It really was horrible, you know, and don't beat yourself up about it..."
Before I can, and have the courage to, tell her that I haven't got any respects, the bell rings and I say goodbye and walk to math class.
During lunch, I finally get so sick of it. All of it. Everybody moping around, Eric calling Al's death 'honorable' and making us say a great memory about him during Public Speaking, and Christina crying between every single class. For once, I wish she'd go back to talking about hair styles for the dance and going on about Will's great dancing skills in a class they'd taken together to learn how to dance. and improve their relationship
I slam my bag down and munch on a granny smith apple and glare ahead, blocking out all noises.
"Where'd you go during math?" Four asks, "Mr. Adams kept going on about how long you were taking and was about to ask Susan to go find you."
I look at him, "I went to the nurse to get aspirin for my headache."
He nods and doesn't say anything for a minute.
And I silently hope that he will continue not to.
I tap my fingers against the table.
But it creates more noise and I end up putting my head in my hands.
Four looks to me, then to all our grieving friends at the next table, then at the whole cafeteria. "Wanna cut school?" he asks.
I smile. "I thought you'd never ask."
We go to our lockers and I grab my purse, which has my wallet, phone, and lip balm in it. Four puts his binder in his locker and we head out.
"Where to?" I ask, when we push open the doors and let them slide closed.
Four shrugs, "I don't know." He gets on his motorcycle, then speaks up, "Where do you want to go?"
I shrug, "Anywhere but here."
He looks at me desperately, like if we don't leave now, we'll get caught.
"Fine. Navy Pier," I say hurriedly.
Four nods and drives us away. At the first intersection, he stops rapidly, and I slam into his chest.
"Oh, my god, Four. I'm so sorry. I know you have tattoos and all-"
But I don't think he felt it because he shushes me and drives away.
When we get to the Navy Pier Four parks his motorcycle at the furthest parking stall from the entrance.
"You did that on purpose," I say suspiciously, once we get off his bike.
"Maybe," he teases in a sing-songy voice.
He wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer. Then he whispers in my ear, "'Cause I know you hate walking."
"And so do you," I add.
He smiles and I know that, even with whatever Marcus did to him last night, he is happy and content for now.
"So, what first?" asks, once we pay and get inside.
"Umm, the Farris Wheel?" I suggest.
Four takes in a shaky breath and nods.
But before he goes any closer to it, I stop him. "What is it?"
"Heights," he says weakly.
"Well, we can do something els-" I begin, but Four cuts me off.
"No," he says firmly, "You decided on this, so I'll just ignore my fear."
Once Four has made up his mind, there's no going back so I nod and rub his back.
"It's okay," I say, while tugging on his shirt. "We really don't have to."
"No," he repeats, "I'll ignore my fear. I do it all the time." Then he looks up to see how high it is, and he looks down at the ground.
"It's okay. We don't have to do this. You know, I really don't want to anymo-"
I start to say, before the guy who's running it calls who's next.
Four drags me forward, staring ahead, and we reluctantly get on.
"Kiss me," I say, once we start rising.
"What?"
"Kiss me. Forget about where we are, or what we're doing up here. Kiss me. Forget your fear, forget about Marcus, and kiss me."
He doesn't hesitate.
We make out for a minute, after breaking apart breathing heavily.
"Over there," I say.
I look ahead, but Four just looks down.
"Hey," I whisper, "Look ahead. Looking down won't help your case, so look over there, at the booth. It looks like you have to find a flag and shoot at it with a paintball gun or grab it. Let's go there next."
Four nods silently.
Then the wheel stops moving.
