"Morning." I greet, knocking on the door as I walk into Max's office.
He glances up from his computer, "Tris, hey!"
"How's it going?"
"Good, good." He says. "How are you? Ready for your first day?"
"Yeah, I'm excited." I smile.
"Well, I'm excited to have you as a part of our team. Let me finish this email, then we'll go over a few general things before you get started."
"Sounds good."
After talking about the general rules and procedures for a while, he leads me to my office around 30 minutes later. He unlocks the door, handing me the key.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" He says with a chuckle. "I have a favor to ask of you."
I nod. "The transfers need a second trainer. Our projected numbers are higher than ever before, and a leader there, especially one who graduated first in her class." He says. "I'll bump up your pay, and you'll be the one in control."
"Yeah, sure." I agree. "No problem."
"Great. Training starts next Monday, so I'll get you a schedule sometime soon. For now, just focus on getting settled around here."
"Thanks, Max." I smile.
"If you have any questions, let me know." He smiles. "I'll see ya later."
"See ya."
The rest of the day at work is pretty uneventful. I got stuck with a lot of paperwork, since I'm the newbie. Thankfully though, I'll get to destress later. Eric and I are going to a big party his friend is hosting tonight.
"I hope Christina's there." I say as we walk to the other side of the compound. "I haven't talked to her since I told her I was going out with you." He raises his eyebrows. "She doesn't exactly love you." I admit. "But I'm going to talk to her."
"Yeah." He says, running a hand through his hair.
"What's wrong?" I question; he's obviously nervous.
He shakes his head, "Nothing," He says. "I just want your friends to have a good impression of me. I hope she doesn't still think about everything that happened during initiation."
"Yeah," I agree. "I'll convince her." I laugh, Eric giving me a nervous smile.
We arrive a few minutes later, opening the door and barely being able to step inside. Eric's hand rests on the small of my back, leading me through the crowd.
Eventually, we reach his friend and say hello. He's a big guy- his muscles so defined that they look kinda strange. He has various tattoos and piercings, and he's wearing a pair of athletic shorts that show off the ones on his thighs.
I'm a little nervous to meet him; this is going to be my first interaction with his friends.
"Hey!" He greets, giving Eric a small hug. "How have you been?"
"Pretty good," Eric replies, giving me a cheeky smile.
"Yeah, I see that." He laughs. "You've already got your girl- you've been here what, five minutes?"
Eric wraps his arm around my waist. "I think she's a little more than a hookup." He says with a wink.
"Wait," His friend says. "You're Tris, right? The new leader?"
I nod, "Yeah."
"Aren't you Four's girl?"
I roll my eyes, but Eric replies for me, pushing his friend lightly, "She's mine." His arm pulls me closer.
His friend's eyes widen, "Oh, shit." He says, shrugging. "Doesn't surprise me to be honest, Four was always kinda weird… I was surprised you were with him, Tris."
"Yeah…" I agree awkwardly. The silence is tense. "Where can I get a drink?" I ask, looking around the apartment.
"Over in that cooler by the wall." He says, pointing to the other side of the room. "There's also some stuff in the fridge if you want."
"Cool, thanks." I nod, turning and going to get a drink. After that conversation, boy do I need it.
I scan the room for Christina as I walk over to the cooler, not immediately finding her. I grab a drink and open it, taking a sip, when someone else comes up beside me.
Christina.
"Oh, my god!" I say, placing my hand on her arm. "Hey! I was just looking for you!"
She pulls her arm away from me, rolling her eyes. "What do you want?"
"I want to talk to you." I say honestly.
She scoffs, "You can't be serious." I scrunch my eyebrows. "C'mon, Tris. You've been spending all of your time with Eric for the past few weeks and you know it."
I groan, "Christina, it's a new relationship. You know how it is."
She rolls her eyes, "Just because you're doing it, doesn't mean it's a good idea. Just wait. Once you fuck him, he'll leave." She says, taking a sip of her drink.
"Well…"
Her eyes go wide. "Tris." She scolds. "You didn't."
"Yeah."
"No fucking way." She says, an incredulous smile on her face. "You fucked Eric. Eric Coulter?"
"Yeah…" She looks me up and down. "I mean, he's different than he was during our initiation, Chris. He's not actually an asshole." I defend.
She rolls her eyes, "That's exactly what you said about Four."
"Christina..." I sigh. "I have listened to you talk about so many shitty guys- can't you support me in this? Please? I really like him."
"Tris, he made me hang from the fucking chasm!" She yells.
My stomach twists into a knot. "I know." I admit. "Look, I'm not proud of his decisions in the past, but he treats me well. Really."
She's silent. "If you don't want to believe me and support me, that's your decision. We just won't talk about it. In fact, maybe we just shouldn't talk at all!" I yell, turning around and beginning to walk away.
"Tris, wait!" She calls out. "I'm sorry, I just… I don't want to see you be hurt again."
I sigh. "Yeah… But he's different, Chris."
She scrunches her nose, "I just can't believe that."
"That's okay." I say. "Come talk to him tonight. He's here too."
She bites her lip, looking around the room, "I don't know, Tris…"
"Do it for me, Chris."
"Fine." She gives in.
"Eric!" I shout, bringing Christina towards where he's standing. He's playing beer pong at a table with his friends. He smiles when he sees me, beckoning me to come over.
"Hey," He greets, pulling me to his side. His expression dims when he sees Christina next to me, her arms crossed and a dangerous look on her face.
"Hey, Christina." He greets awkwardly.
"Hi."
"How-"
"I have one thing to say to you, and you need to listen." He nods. "You hurt her the way Four hurt her, and I will kill you. Don't underestimate me."
He nods, "Of course, Christina." He says. "I would never do anything to hurt Tris. Trust me."
"Why should I trust you?"
"You shouldn't." He says. She raises her eyebrows. "Not immediately. I just hope that as you get to know me better, and see the person that I've become since training, that you'll become a little more comfortable with me."
She's silent for a minute.
"Okay…" She agrees.
"What?"
"Yeah," She shrugs. "You wouldn't have said something like that a few years ago. Maybe you have changed."
He nods. "Besides, Tris seems to like you a lot. I'd rather be supportive than ruin our friendship over a boy."
Eric lets out a heavy sigh, "Thank you."
"So…" I say, trying to ease the tension. "Shots?"
Christina throws her head back, "Fuck, yes."
I grin, beginning to walk over to the kitchen with her. Eric stays put, though. Christina turns around, "Eric, you coming?" She teases.
He shakes his head with a laugh, "Never been one to say no,"
We get back to my apartment a few hours later, stumbling into my bedroom. Eric puts his arms around my waist as I walk in, pressing a kiss to my cheek. I grin; he's touchy when he's drunk.
I turn in his embrace, bumping my nose against his. "Thanks for hanging out with Chris and I tonight," I say.
He shakes his head, "It's all good. She's cool."
"Yeah," I agree. "Tonight was fun. I haven't gotten drunk in so long."
"Me too," he chuckles.
He pulls away, stepping over to the candles on my dresser and nightstand and lighting them, a light glow passing over the room. It's pretty.
I take his hand in mine, pulling him over to me and grinning up at him. "Candles?" I tease. "You've become a softie, Coulter."
"Shut up," He laughs, a small grin on his face.
He moves down to kiss me, his hands on my waist. I lean into him, pushing my hands up his shirt and touching his skin.
He pulls away, taking his shirt off and unbuttoning his pants. I take mine off after, slipping his shirt on over my underwear before getting into bed.
He gets into bed with me, his arm slinking around my shoulders and his lips pressing to mine. The kiss is slow; languid. It's romantic.
We kiss for a little while longer before I pull away, laying my head on his chest. He presses a kiss to the top of my head; it's quiet for a minute.
"I don't think I miss him." I say, out of nowhere. Eric's fingers cease their movements on my thigh.
"What?" He asks.
"Sorry…" I wince. "I'm drunk."
He shakes his head, "No, it's okay."
"Four." I say. "I don't think I miss him." I pause. "He never treated me the way you do."
"I've always treated you the way you deserve to be treated." Eric shakes his head. "Tris, even if we weren't together I'd be there for you."
I snort, "You'd cuddle in bed with me?"
"Shut up." He mumbles. "Continue what you were saying."
"He didn't really… care about the fact that I existed. He-" I pause.
"Tris?"
"This is making me feel weird." I cringe. "Talking about him. He's irrelevant now and it makes me feel a little sad. It wasn't a good relationship."
"I get that."
We sit in silence for a little while longer before he speaks up. "I hope you know I'll never treat you the way he did."
He continues, "I really care about you, Tris. I have for a long time. I tried to hide it during training, but it kept getting harder. We hung out every day."
"Yeah." I agree.
He chuckles, "I remember there was this one time you stayed late after a block. We were practicing sparring and you flipped me, of course. We ended up on the ground- I was laying on my back and you were straddling me. You were happy you won- your face was flushed, you were smiling. You looked so beautiful. I wanted to kiss you so badly."
"You should have."
"I should." He agrees. "By the way, I'm sorry."
"What do you mean?"
"I was such an asshole to you in the beginning." He says. "When you first transferred. I was so fucking cocky- I was a leader at 18 and I felt like I was on top of the world. I can't even make any excuses for the way I acted. I was horrible."
"Did you act like that before you transferred?" I ask.
"No." He laughs. "I would've had my ass beat if I acted like that at Erudite."
I nod, moving closer into his embrace. He shifts slightly, moving so that we're laying down now, my head on his chest.
I notice some black ink sticking out from the waistband of his pants, and I pull his pants down slightly to reveal it. "Whatcha doin?" He asks.
"Looking at your tattoos." I say. "How many do you have?"
"Uhh… a bunch."
"Alright." I laugh. "What's this one?"
"Leaves."
I giggle and lightly hit his stomach, "Shut up. You know what I mean."
"Yeah." He says. "It's related to Erudite."
I nod, beckoning him to continue.
"Back in my room at Erudite, I had a window overlooking the city. My father was a man who was high up in the corporate side of the faction, and our family lived in some of the best apartments they had to offer. There was a large tree right outside my room, and I had a lot of good memories there. When I was little, I climbed it with my friends. When we were older, we built a table underneath it and studied there. I spent a lot of time at that tree. I even had my first kiss under that tree." He pauses. "The leaves on my hip are exactly the same as the ones on the tree. It reminds me of my past- of the good times that I had while in Erudite."
"That's so cool," I say. "I didn't really have anything like that back in Abnegation."
"Yeah." He agrees. "How was that? Abnegation?"
"Exactly like you'd expect." I say. "Kept to myself and my family and just focused on serving others. I spent practically all of my free time actively volunteering."
"Wow," He says. "That's actually super admirable."
I smile, "It was a good thing to do." I say. "But I hated it."
He hums in response and it's silent for a moment before I lean up, my lips meeting his. I giggle, my hand moving to rest on his chest. He grabs my thigh, pulling me on top of him. "I really like you," I say between kisses. A wide grin spreads across his face and he plants a kiss on my neck. I pull away, my blue eyes staring into his green ones. He has a certain look of admiration on his face, and I can't help but smile. He grins and pushes my hair back, his fingers entangling in it.
I trace his jawline with my index. "Can I ask you something?" I whisper.
I feel his voice echo through me as he replies, "Yeah, of course."
"It's kinda personal…" I mutter, moving off of him and burrowing in his arms again.
"Okay."
"Why'd you transfer?" I ask, my finger brushing over his belly button.
He's quiet, and for a moment I'm scared that I crossed a line. Fuck.
"Well," He begins. "That's a long story."
I nod, my eyebrows furrowed together. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Sorry- I should have-"
"But I guess we've got time."
I lean up to look at him. He's staring up at the ceiling. "Eric," I say. "If you don't want to tell me, it's okay. I get it. We don't have to talk about it."
"I'm just scared you're going to hate me."
"What?" I whisper.
"I was a bad person, Tris." He says. "Don't you remember all of the shit we went through a few years ago? I was fucking awful."
"You're not that person anymore." I tell him, taking his hand in my own.
He takes a sharp breath before nodding. "Okay."
"It's okay, Eric." I say, desperate to reassure him.
"When I was in Erudite," He begins. "I never felt like I belonged. I was always told I wasn't good enough- that my scores would never be high enough, that I would never be smart enough. I was surrounded by people who gave me no support, and when I took my aptitude test and got Dauntless as one of my aptitudes- I took it and I ran."
"One of them?"
He nods. "Dauntless and Erudite. I knew Erudite wasn't an option for me, and Dauntless seemed like a chance to start over."
"You're…"
"Divergent. Yes. I know that I hunted after them - you, even - but the truth was, I never felt like I belonged anywhere. The fact that there were people who belonged to multiple factions- it made me so mad."
"But you had 2 options,"
"No," He shakes his head. "I was trained to think logically through being raised in Erudite- that's what got me the aptitude. I never truly belonged."
"I don't know what to say."
He shakes his head, "You don't have to say anything. It's in the past, and I'm happy here in Dauntless. Truly."
"I do want to apologize for what I did back then, though. I was working with Jeanine- and she's a true Erudite. She's manipulative and she knew how to get me to complete her tasks. I was blind to her ways- I probably would have jumped off a cliff if she asked me to. Besides, that was 2 years ago. I was younger and I just wanted somewhere to fit in."
"Did she know you were Divergent?"
"Yeah. She used it as an advantage, actually. I had the logical thinking capabilities of an Erudite but the training and combat skills of Dauntless. She saw me as the prime candidate for the job." He pauses. "She made me feel like I had finally been accepted."
My skin practically crawls at the thought of him being so close to Jeanine. "I understand." I admit.
"Really?" He asks, astonished. "You can think I'm an idiot, it's fine. I was."
I shake my head, "No, it makes sense. And now you've found your place here at Dauntless it seems."
He nods, his arm wrapping around my waist. "Yeah," He agrees. "I think I have."
"What about you?" He asks.
"Well, you know most of the story already." I laugh, somewhat hesitantly.
I take a deep breath. If he can tell me about his experience, then I can talk about mine. "It just wasn't right for me- and it wasn't safe either. With Jeanine's plans for Abnegation, I evidently couldn't stay there. I needed to go somewhere where I could be protected. Where I could protect myself."
"My god," He groans. "All that shit was so fucked up."
"Yeah," I agree. "But we're past it now. And you and I are okay."
He closes his eyes, and I know he's exhausted. "Thanks." I say.
He chuckles, confused. "What?"
"For talking about all that shit. I know it must be hard to think about."
"It just makes me feel so guilty." He pulls me closer, our bodies now swathed in candlelight. "Thank you." He says.
I smile and lean up, my lips meeting his in a soft kiss. It's slow, relaxed.
"I've been waiting for this for so long." Eric whispers, his lips millimeters away from mine.
A grin appears on my face as I pull him into another kiss, "Me too." I admit.
Eric pulls my body against his, shifting to press himself against me.
"We've got training tomorrow morning," I mumble against his lips.
He moves down to kiss my neck, "Like that's ever mattered,"
I grin, pulling his face to mine. Fuck it.
I've had this written for so long lmao
