Tris
Well, one thing is for sure: I am thankful I never went to Colorado with him.
I watch him breathing heavily with his face in his hands. And I don't know what to do. He won't look at me. I don't know if he is hurt, or sad, or mad, or scared, I don't know. He won't look at me.
I don't know how long we have been in this small hallway like this; probably nearly half an hour. I haven't seen the guy from the locker room, and I don't know if that is because he is still in there or if there is another exit. I don't know. Tobias still won't look up.
I don't know what to do for him. How do I help him if I don't know what's wrong? Does he even want my help? Is he mad at me? How badly is he hurt? Should we be running out of this place? Will that guy come looking for us? How am I supposed to know? He won't look up.
I can't take this anymore. "Tobias," I say quietly. "Tobias," I say louder a moment later. He rubs his face with his hands before his dark blue eyes meet my lighter ones. "What are you thinking?"
He doesn't answer for a second; he just looks at me like he is confused. "I don't understand."
"What don't you understand?" I ask. I sink down and sit on the floor across from him.
"Why you're still here," he says. Now I don't understand.
"Do you want me to go?" I ask, not able to hide the hurt in my voice. I was only trying to be here for him. But I understand if he is upset about what happened in the locker room.
"Of course not," he says. "I thought you would have left."
"Why would I do that?"
He frowns. "Aren't you afraid of me now?"
"Why would I be afraid of you? Because you defended me? Because you protected me? Because you put yourself at risk so that I would be safe?" He doesn't answer so I continue. "That could never make me fear you, Tobias. All it did was make me love you more."
His smile is small, but it's there. "Really? You're not afraid of what you saw? You looked so scared when we walked out."
"I was scared. For you, not because of you. I didn't want you to get hurt," I say. I slide on my butt across the gap and sit next to him.
He rests his head down on my shoulder. "I love you, too." Then a moment later he sits up and looks in my eye. "I would take a thousand punches for you."
"Don't say that," I tell him. "I don't even want to think about that."
"If it meant you not being hurt, I would do it in a heartbeat," he says solemnly.
I smile at him and he grabs my hand. I look down at our hands and I that's when I finally notice. "Tobias, your hands! You're hurt!"
He chuckles. "I'm fine, Tris."
"You're bleeding," I say, examining the blood on his knuckles and the bruises forming.
"Shit, I need to go wash that off!" he says, standing abruptly.
"Whoa, slow down," I say, getting up and following him.
"You don't understand. This is Jack's blood, not mine," he says, holding his hands up.
"Oh gross!" I say, and we run to the nearest bathroom. We barge into the single cell unisex bathroom and he immediately goes to the sink.
He begins rinsing and using soap. When he is satisfied that they are clean, he dries them on some paper towel.
"You should wash yours too," he says. "Just in case."
I nod, set down his water bottle on the small counter, and then thoroughly wash my own hands. While I dry my hands, Tobias runs his water bottle under the water and cleans the exterior with soap. He dries it and then we leave the bathroom.
"I'm not really in the mood to work out anymore," I say.
"Me either. How about we just go get some dinner instead?" he asks.
"That sounds great. Where should we go?"
"There's an Italian place downtown that has the best spaghetti."
I smile, "I love spaghetti, let's go."
We head towards the exit, but we are stopped by a very angry Tori.
"Four," she says. "Did you beat up another member?"
"Yes," Tobias says, unashamed.
"Who was it?"
"Jack."
Tori seems to calm down. "Oh, alright. Thank you."
"Huh?" Tobias and I are both confused.
"I've needed a good excuse to kick that guy out for months. I was going to kick him out for steroids, but I can't prove that."
"Oh," Tobias says. Tori laughs a little.
"So, thank you."
"Wait, does that mean I am out too?"
"No. Every member gets three strikes each year. That was only your first this year, so no. You're safe. That was Jack's third, so he's out."
Tobias sighs. "Thanks, Tori. We've got to get going, but I'll see you later."
"Yeah, see you guys."
"Bye," I say. Tobias grabs my hand and we go outside and get up into his truck. I am yet to perfect the skill of climbing in. There is a way he does it, like a swing and a jump at the same time. I need more upper body strength.
We exit the parking lot and make our way towards downtown. Tobias breaks the silence. "I bet you're glad you didn't go to Colorado now."
"It's like you read my mind," I chuckle.
"I bet I can. Think something really hard, and I will guess it."
I laugh at him, but I think of a big slice of that cake they serve at Dauntless. Chocolate. "Okay, guess."
Tobias furrows his eyebrows in thought before finally answering. "You are thinking about how sexy I am." I laugh loudly at him and shake my head. "That wasn't it, huh?"
"Nope," I say, popping the 'p.'
"Can I try again?"
"Okay, go," I say.
"Wait, is it the same thing as before or is it different?"
"I don't know, you tell me."
"Hm," he hums in thought. We stop at a red light and he turns and looks me in the eyes. "Chocolate."
"What the hell?" I exclaim.
"Was that it?" he asks excitedly.
"How the hell did you do that?"
"I don't know!" he says laughing. "That was freaky!"
"Yeah it was! I was imagining the cake at Dauntless!"
"Wow, that's weird," he says. He turns back to the road because the light turned green. "I am so good."
I roll my eyes but I laugh. "I have to admit that that was cool."
"I think that deserves some praise," he says, tapping his cheek. I laugh and lean over and press a kiss to his cheeks. I make an obnoxious pucker noise and he smiles. "I want to do it again!"
"You think you could?" I ask him.
"Hell yeah. I am Four, the incredible," he says. I laugh at him as we pull into a parking spot in front of a restaurant.
"Are we a little underdressed?" I ask him.
"No. This isn't one of those fancy Italian restaurants. This one is definitely family style," he assures me. "Besides, I happen to think you are always overdressed."
"Tobias!" I say, smacking his arm. "You are quite the pervert!"
"Sorry," he laughs. His apology does not sound at all genuine. "I have a girlfriend who I like to look at."
"Though I don't know why," I mumble.
"Tris," he says. He uses his finger to pull my chin up to look at him. "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever laid my eyes on; don't you ever think differently."
I smile at his sweetness. "I love you."
"I love you, too," he says. I lean in and our lips meet. We kiss for a minute before he pulls back. He smiles at my pout. "As much as I would love to keep doing this, I won't be able to if I die by starvation."
"Oh," I blush. "Let's go."
We get out of the truck and go into Ricordi. We are immediately greeted by a short, elderly woman with white hair.
"Welcome a Ricordi!" she says, her accent is very heavy. "How much?"
"Two," Tobias tells her. She gives us a warm smile and leads us to a table. The ambiance of this restaurant is amazing. The decorations and furnishings give it a really homey and cozy feel.
"I get you drink?" the woman asks.
"Water," we both say. The woman smiles, nods, and then leaves.
"I am sorry, though," Tobias says.
"For what, babe?"
"I shouldn't have even brought you in that locker room. But I see girls in there with their boyfriends all the time. I've never seen them have any trouble," he says. He is looking down at his hands like he is too ashamed to look at me.
"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known that that creep would be in there; let alone speak to us."
He looks up at me, and there is guilt in his eyes. "Still. I should have known better."
"It wasn't your fault," I repeat. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine. I have had way worse than that. He didn't even get a hit in," Tobias says. "On Sunday, I beat a guy they call Killer."
I feel my mouth drop open. A water being set down in front of me startles me. "Thank you," I say to the woman, composing myself.
"Ready order o need time?" she asks.
"Can we have a few minutes?" Tobias asks her.
"Sì," she says. When she walks away, I turn back to Tobias.
"Is his name just an exaggeration?" I ask.
"No. He was huge. Biggest guy I have ever seen. I used his size against him. He was slow, and he tired easily," Tobias shrugs like it's no big deal.
It makes me extremely uncomfortable to think of Tobias facing off with a violent giant. Especially when they call him Killer. "I hate thinking of you fighting with him."
"I'm good at what I do, Tris. Shit, that reminds me. I have to cancel tomorrow," he says, suddenly tense.
"Why?"
"My dad told me last night that I have a tournament tomorrow. It's only about an hour away, which is good, but I won't be back until at least midnight. I'm sorry."
I frown. All I can think about is the fight with Jack and how that is what Tobias has to do tomorrow. Illegally and for money. I find myself shaking my head.
"I can't do anything about it," he says.
"I just hate the thought of it. I hate thinking that you could come back hurt. Or that you might now come back at all," I say quietly.
"Tris," he says, making me look up. "Killer was one of the highest ranked undefeated champions in the league. Colorado was a huge tournament. The one I am going to tomorrow is on a much smaller scale, with much weaker opponents. I will be fine."
I sigh. I don't know why I feel tears welling up in my eyes. I pick up my menu and read it to block him from seeing me. "Let's just order," I say.
He sighs but I hear him pick up his own menu. A couple of minutes later, the old woman comes back.
"Ready order?" she asks, her accent is so heavy it is hard to understand for a second.
I put down my menu and return her smile. "I'll have the spaghetti," I say.
She jots it down on her small notepad and then looks at Tobias. "I'll have the same," he says.
"Food ready soon," she says, and then she picks up the menus and walks away.
"Were you crying?" Tobias asks as he looks at my eyes.
I shake my head. I don't want him to see me cry. Once was enough. "I just umm, got something in my eye. Look, I'm fine; I'm just worried about you." He doesn't seem to believe me, but he doesn't say anything about it.
"I wish you wouldn't," he says. "I wish you understood that I am really good at what I do and that you don't have anything to worry about."
"I can't not worry about you. I love you, so nothing you say or do is going to keep me from worrying about you."
"Fine. Just don't make yourself crazy over it. I'm not such a big deal," he says.
"Of course you're a big deal. You'll always be a big deal to me. What is with you?" He frowns at my question. "You're so insecure today. You know you have nothing to worry about when it comes to us."
He is silent for a minute before he speaks. "I keep waiting for you to get up and run away from me screaming."
I almost laugh at the thought. "Why would I do that?"
"You aren't scared of me?"
I sigh, "I already told you this, Tobias. You don't scare me. You do the opposite; you make me feel safe." I pause and take a deep breath. "I've seen something worth being afraid of in Peter, and you're not it. I have not once been afraid of you. I have been afraid for you, but never of you. You have to understand that what I went through with Peter," I shake my head. "That was hell. That was the source of my nightmare for months. Did you know my nightmares stopped when we started?" I ask him. His eyebrows rise in surprise. "Yeah. When we started talking and going out, my nightmares turned into dreams. I felt safer with you than I did with anybody else. I felt like nothing could ever hurt me when I am with you. I still feel like that."
He smiles a little. "It is true. I will never let anyone or anything hurt you, Tris. I will never hurt you."
I reach across the table and put my hand over his folded ones. "I know. And I love you all the more for it."
"I love you, too."
Just then, the woman comes back with our food. "Buon appetito!" she says after setting our plates down.
"Thank you," we say. She smiles and leaves us to enjoy our food. I swirl my fork in the spaghetti and take a bite. "Oh my God," I moan.
Tobias just smiles and nods in understanding. For the first ten minutes, we just eat; Tobias at his lightning speed, and I at my normal-human speed.
I stop to take a sip of my water. "The food in this city is amazing," I say.
"I know," he says, grinning proudly. We finish the rest of our dinner in silence. I ask the little old woman for a takeout box, but Tobias' plate is clean. I can't even believe it; it was a ton of spaghetti. My plate looks like I didn't even touch it, but I definitely did.
"Can you promise me something?" I ask him as we walk out, hand-in-hand.
"I can try."
"Promise me you'll call me when you get home tomorrow night. I don't care if it's three in the morning, you call me."
"Okay," he says. He leans down to kiss my forehead. "I can do that."
We walk outside and I shiver from the sudden cold. He drops my hand and wraps his arm around me as we walk across the parking lot.
"I'm surprised your parents haven't called," he chuckles.
"I texted them when you were trying on suits," I tell him.
"Ah," he says. We go into the truck and I watch him as he swings himself up into the cab.
"How do you do that?" I ask once I have myself inside.
"Do what?"
"Get in this truck so easily."
He outright laughs at me. "It's not that hard."
"Yes it is!"
"Babe, you're over a foot shorter than me," he reminds me. I groan. "It's okay. You're height is cute."
I glare at him. "I am not over a foot shorter than you!"
"How tall are you?" he challenges. Okay, maybe I totally lied. I know for a fact that he is thirteen and a half inches taller.
"Never mind," I say, folding my arms across my chest. He just laughs again.
"Oh, baby, don't pout. I really do like how short you are."
"Oh please. Every guy likes girls with long legs," I argue. I really don't know why this is bothering me so much. My height never bothered me before, even though it can be slightly inconvenient at times.
"Not me," he says. "Can you imagine how tall my kids would be if I liked tall girls?"
I fully glare at him. "So, you like me because our heights would make our kids a normal height?" Whoa, slow the fuck down. 'Our kids?!' WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, TRIS? I BET MY FACE LOOKS LIKE TOMATO SAUCE.
I was really hoping Tobias would just sort of miss those two little words, but it is quite obvious by his half-scared-half-confused expression that he didn't. "I… um… no."
I smack myself in the forehead with my palm. "That came out wrong," I say. But there isn't really anything I can say to fix this. My ears are hot, my neck is warm, shit it is hot in this truck. I should leave. I should go. I should just disappear off the face of this hellish earth.
"You think about stuff like that?" he asks quietly.
Yes. "No," I say; avoiding his eyes.
"Oh."
"God, I'm sorry. That came out wrong," I say. "I just meant that… well, I don't know what I meant. I'm sorry. Just don't listen to me. Just ignore me. Just forget everything I said. Forget me. I'm not here. 'Who's Tris?' 'Hm, never heard of her!'" I say quickly, sounding more insane with every second.
"Tris," he says. I still don't look. "Tris, look at me."
"Tris isn't here."
"Babe, look at me, please." I turn my head slowly and look into his shining blue eyes. He's a real stunner. "It's okay. Calm down."
Calm down? Calm down? I just mentioned our unborn children with my boyfriend of like three weeks. Calm down? Well, maybe I will just calm so down that we should just get married. That's calm. Married. At sixteen. I'll pop a few of our average sized children out while I'm at it. That sounds like a nice, calm life. Sure, Tobias. Let me just calm the fuck down. I will just calm all the way down to the bottom of Lake Michigan; that sounds nice also.
"Tris," he says, his voice is soft. Well, aren't you one CALM mother fu- "Take a deep breath," he says. DEEP BREATH. WHAT IS THAT? "In through your mouth, out through your nose," he says. "Look at me. Look in my eyes." You've got some really pretty eyes. And your lashes are really long. I am kind of jealous actually. I bet a lot of girls are jealous of your eyelashes. Who would need mascara with lashes like those? HOPE OUR KIDS HAVE YOUR LASHES! "Tris, you need to breathe." Maybe they could have his eyes too. Hopefully they don't have my temperament or they might have a panic attack like me. Wait, am I having a panic attack? What is Tobias saying? His lips are moving but I can't hear anything. That's weird. He looks really calm, but he also looks really scared. I am scaring him. That's actually funny because he was just talking about me being scared of him. Huh. Ironic isn't this? He slams his lips into mine and it sends a tingling sensation through my whole body.
"Tris?" he asks me urgently.
"What? What's wrong?"
"You were having a panic attack! I didn't know what to do. You were looking at me, but you weren't really looking at me. You were scaring me."
"Oh," I say. "I'm sorry. I just… I didn't mean to say… what I said."
"It's okay, Tris. It's okay," he says gently.
"Um, can I as a quick question?"
"Yeah."
"Why are you sitting on me?" I don't know when he hopped over the center console and took a seat on my lap, but I feel like I would have noticed that… Why don't I feel his weight?
"Oh, I was trying to get your attention. You seriously didn't notice until now?"
"No. And why do you weigh nothing? You should be crushing me."
"Thunder thighs," he says proudly, tapping his thigh.
I lean my head back and laugh. "You do not have thunder thighs!"
He looks offended, "Yeah I do!"
"Tobias, thunder thighs are fat thighs."
"Oh," he says. "Then I have thighs of thunder!"
"I don't think that's right either, but whatever you say."
He leans down and kisses me. "That's right, baby," he smirks.
"Oh my God," I mumble. Suddenly, realizing our position, I blush.
"Oh," he says. "Sorry." He climbs off of me and falls back into the driver's seat. "Ow," he says when he hits his head on the door. Somehow his feet have ended up on the dashboard in front of me and his shoulders are in the seat, and his but it wedged between the seat and the steering wheel. His arms are flung about. He tries to sit up but he can't.
I laugh at his struggle. "How's that going for you?"
He glares at me. "Help." I laugh again but I reach out my arm for him to grab. He grabs hold of it and pulls, but he weighs a hell of a lot more than me and I just end up being pulled forward and draped over the center console.
"Ow," I say.
"Sorry!" he says quickly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, the gear shifter hit me in the leg."
I examine our current position, and my face is directly in front of his. I take rest my hand on his thigh and lean my lips down to his. He kisses me back for a minute but then he groans.
"Eh… Can you sit up?" he asks. I smirk at him, but I nod and push on his strong chest and sit up.
"Well, this isn't going to work," I say, assessing the fact that I am not strong enough to pull him up.
"Yeah it will. Grab on to your door and I will grab onto you and pull myself up." I do as he asks and grab tightly to my door. He grabs a hold of my other arm and pulls. I keep a strong grip on the door and he pulls himself up, nearly kicking me in the face in the process.
"Whoa!" I say, dodging his feet.
"Sorry," he says as he sits up. "Shit." I look over and see that he can't seem to get his feet down on the floor in front of him. Now he has his butt in the seat, and his legs up in front of him, propped up on the steering wheel.
"Ah shit. This hurt. I am not this flexible. Ow, ow, ow," he says.
"What hurts?"
"Eh… honestly?"
"Yes."
"Sitting like this hurts my dick."
I burst out into laughter before composing myself. I shouldn't laugh at his pain. "Can you adjust your seat to go back?"
"It's already all the way back."
"What about the back part of it? Can you fold it down?"
He reaches behind him to a lever and pushes his seat back. Then he scoots his butt back and is able to put his legs down where they belong. He sighs in relief. "I thought I would be stuck in here forever," he says, catching his breath.
"You okay?" I ask through laughs.
"Remind me to never have sex in here," he says. Then he quickly claps his hand over his mouth and his eyes get all wide. "Sorry," he says, his voice muffled by his hand.
"I'll remind you," I say. "It's okay, Tobias. Now we have both embarrassed ourselves. Let's just call it even."
"Sounds good," he says quickly. He adjusts his seat back up to a normal sitting position. "This has been a weird day."
I sigh. "I know." We just stare at each other for a second before we burst into uncontrollable laughter. We let out all the awkwardness and stress and we just laugh.
I wipe the tears from under my eyes from laugher and I look into his deep blue ones. "We are crazy," I tell him.
"We are each other's crazy," he says. I lean forward and kiss him.
"Damn right." He grins at me. Then, he looks down at my lips and back up to my eyes. I lean in and our lips crush each other's. He cradles my face in his hands and I end up running mine through his short hair. It's very soft, and I momentarily wonder if he uses any sort of special conditioner. My thoughts refocus when he runs his tongue along my bottom lip and I open my lips to him. He mates his tongue with mine in an elegant and sexy dance and I moan into his mouth. We separate, both panting, and he kisses my jaw, then the hollow beneath it, then my neck, finally resting on my collar bone. He marks his territory with his lips and his tongue, and I feel the deep tingle in me. I sigh as I feel him leave his mark. I bring his face back up to mine so I can savor his mouth again.
He groans and pulls away. I pout and he runs his finger along my lips like I so often do to him. "We can't do any more or I am going to have a bit of a problem," he groans. I think he is blushing, but it is too dark now to see.
I understand what he says, but it still makes me sad. I don't want to stop. "You're right. Besides, we are sitting in the parking lot of a family style restaurant."
He looks out the windshield as if he is just noticing. "I should get you home," he says.
"I guess," I say sadly. He turns and kisses me again, much more full of love than lust.
"You know I never want to," he says.
I smile at him. "I never want to either."
"Too bad I don't want your dad to kill me either," he says. He turns on the truck and then we put on our seat belts. Tobias drives us out of the lot and towards home.
Author's Note: This chapter is longer, so I hope it makes up for the fact that the last one wasn't quite as long as usual.
I hope you enjoyed it anyways. Leave me a review and let me know what you guys are thinking. Or if you have any suggestions or requests. As a few of you know, I take you suggestions into deep consideration; I hope you notice. In fact, this story won't be ending as soon as I thought I was going to end it. A reader gave me a little inspiration ;) and so I will be writing a few more chapters of this.
By the way, I don't speak a lick of Italian, but I do have Google… so… any mistakes are Google's fault. Just kidding… but seriously, sorry if any of that was wrong or somehow offense. I promise it isn't meant to be!
Definitely let me know what you thought of this chapter.
What the hell was that whole thing with Jack?
What are your thoughts on Tobias and Tris opening up more physically with each other lately?
You people are begging me for them to have sex – they will. Patience my friends ;)
Review your thoughts and feel free to leave criticism too.
-GerdyGertha