Two weeks later

Eric sighed through his clenched teeth, knowing it came out as a hiss. He ignored the pain radiating down his arm and resisted the urge to punch Tori square in the jaw for causing it.

Tattoos didn't usually bother him, but touch-ups over the scars he had obtained in the past few months hurt like a bitch. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, opening them when another person entered the shop.

Saturdays were always busy in the shop, and generally required appointments, so it still amazed him that people tried walking in without one. He hadn't had to make an appointment, nor did Lucas, of course. Leadership and those just as important never did, but everyone else sure as hell did.

Eric narrowed his eyes upon realizing the person who had walked in was one of the initiates who had entered the parlor. And not just any of them, Meckham. That obnoxiously honest kid that his best friend's youngest sibling just loved to be around. The youngest sibling he'd been yearning to speak with, but had been avoiding him.

Skylar had also been avoiding her older brothers with a snake-like skill. Not that it was hard to do, considering most of them were on strict working rotations and the only opportunity she could have seen them was at certain meals in the cafeteria, which most of them avoided, save for breakfast. She hadn't answered them last Sunday when they invited her to the Sunday dinner she had been so desperate about starting up again, and still hadn't answered them about dinner tomorrow.

It had been almost two weeks, and he was going insane.

And this stupid fucking kid that just walked in, the one who knew everything there was to know about Skylar when he probably wasn't deserving. Not that it mattered, because Eric knew he wasn't worthy of it either.

He knew he was a fucking asshole for wanting her so badly. An asshole, and a terrible friend.

Which was why it was so much worse than Eric was seething about the mere fact that he hadn't actually heard Skylar's voice since he'd ran into nearly two weeks ago. That was when she had been mouthing off to her best friend about some fucking asshole – which was NOT him, despite the heated kiss they'd shared in his kitchen only days before- and the fact that she'd almost lost her virginity to him.

Her, virginity; that's what she had said.

Something Eric was beyond surprised to learn she even had still, considering she acted and spoke just like Jamie. And on top of that, saying that little asshole Alec had almost tricked her into screwing around with him and that he wasn't the only one? Eric couldn't help but wonder if Skylar had been talking about him, or if she had been talking about Ward.

The way she had said had been ringing in his ears throughout his meetings the rest of that day throughout the sleepless night that had followed. Throughout the past two weeks, he'd thought of nothing but that fucking word and how much of a piece of shit it made him for wanting her even more for being a virgin.

He was some kind of fucked up. His best friend was sitting right next to him. The only fucking person was willing to put up with him other than the other leaders. The only person who knew him better than anyone, who thought of him as deserving of his friendship despite what an asshole he and the rest of the world knew Eric was. The man who had basically accepted him as a part of his family despite the ruthless shit Eric was known for, and despite the terrible Divergent-bullshit that Eric had gotten Dauntless into years before. Something he wanted nothing to move past.

But he'd been dying to hear Skylar's voice again, and since he was almost always with Lucas or working his fucking ass off for the stupid factions that hated him, that wasn't going to happen.

Eric knew that it bothered Lucas that his sister was avoiding him, despite his friend not bringing it up. The stupid dickhead hadn't tried to push his younger sister into joining them for the meals she conveniently missed in the cafeteria or even try to hunt her down to talk.

And although he'd heard her voice before her training session two weeks ago, he knew the last that the Smith-brothers had heard of her from someone who mattered - though Eric didn't think so - was from the drunk conversation with Meckham that consisted of the little brat saying he didn't like her older brothers.

What was it the little ass-hat had said? What I think, is that you guys are assholes.

And they did nothing to him! Just let the little shit walk away. And instead of wondering why they didn't beat the ever-loving shit out of him, all Eric could think was;

'Maybe if they were so easy on Meckham for talking to them like that, Lucas would go easy on his best friend for pinning his baby sister to his counter and dry humping her until she was moaning and begging for more.'

And 'maybe Lucas would forgive his best friend for wanting to do it again. And again. And for wanting to be the first for other things..'

The first.

Fucking fuck, had that little detail made things so much worse. And was it even true? Was the little Smith-girl really a fucking virgin? Perhaps she had told the little bird that so he wouldn't feel so bad about being pathetic and not being able to get his dick wet now that he was in Dauntless.

Eric knew he was a fucking dick of a friend, and Lucas deserved better. He knew that just as much as he knew that Lucas was avoiding Skylar as much as she was avoiding them.

But why exactly? Because of what Meckham had told them about their mother? Because Lucas had been fighting with his girlfriend Melanie again, starting, and of course with the argument over the Sunday dinner, Lucas had wanted to have at his place.

Last week's dinner had been planned for Eric's apartment again, as was this weeks. But it was only in passing, and no set plans had ever actually been made because the Smiths were all avoiding each other. It was pathetic and un-dauntless of all of them, and Eric had an inkling that it was likely because of him that she hadn't answered, and it pissed him off beyond belief.

Eric couldn't think straight. His mind was all over the place, and this fucking kid walking into the tattoo parlor was making worse. And when Eric could think straight, and he knew it was because he couldn't stop thinking about that kiss in his apartment, and how much he wanted it to happen again. For the past two weeks, he had been going mad with want. He had even worried about her for a moment after the brat Meckham had run his mouth and let it slip that the girl had been living alone for months before transferring. Eric still wasn't sure how the fuck that had been allowed.

"Meck, my man," Chuck said from across the room, concentrating on the man's arm he was working on. A soldier who guarded the gate against Amity that Eric never cared to remember, despite the man always going out of his way to say hello to him and Max whenever he was nearby.

Eric watched as Meckham glanced to Tori, eyes flashing over him and Lucas, who was sitting next to him, no longer looking bored as he had for the past hour.

"Where's your better half?" Chuck drawled, still not looking up from his work.

Meckham looked away from Tori's station, showing no reaction to the glare the leader had sent his way, and walked around Chuck's station, past where Mikey was drawing, and to the counter on the far side of the parlor, placing the large paper-bag he'd been carrying on the counter.

"I told her my appointment with Mikey was split into today and tomorrow to avoid extra training," Meckham explained. "She knew I was lying and threw a shoe at my head, then left the dorm. No idea where she is now."

Threw a shoe at his head? He deserved it. Eric wanted to throw another shoe at his head for good measure.

A chuckle radiated from just about every person in the room. Eric saw that Lucas was even more curious now, but hadn't spoken up.

"Talk about poking the bear. You're one of those weird guys who enjoys being tied up and spanked, aren't you?" the soldier Chuck was working on asked, oblivious to the fact that Skylar's oldest brother was in the room.

Meck started pulling what looked like sandwiches out of the bag. "Something like that," he muttered.

"She still making you get up at the crack-ass of dawn for those runs?" Chuck asked him, finally looking up to where Meckham was standing.

Meckham made a sound of disgust and leaned back against the counter.

"Unfortunately, yes. Today was eight miles, rather than the normal five. And after she threw that shoe at my head, she said tomorrow would be ten, if I'm lucky, because we don't have training until night. She also made me lift weights for an hour; it was leg day. I also have two fights this week, and it hurts even to stand."

Eric narrowed his eyes, seeing that Meckham was looking much more Dauntless than he had in the past two weeks. He had a patterned-tattoo around on his wrist peeking out from under his black watch, his arms had filled out, he stood taller- more confidently, and his cheeks were narrower, making him seem older than he actually was. The extra workouts were obviously doing the trick.

"Is that food?" Tori finally spoke.

Meckham nodded, "Logan said none of you had eaten."

"Good boy," Chuck said, motioning for his coffee to be filled.

Meckham filled the cup and poured his own. It became painfully evident that Meckham had been spending a significant amount of time in the parlor over the past few weeks he had been at Dauntless. Did he plan to work here after initiation? That was bold of him, to already secure a position without even passing his initiation.

"Hey Meck, take my keys and go get my drawing pad, will ya?" Mikey motions to the table. "I'll be taking a tad longer than I thought here anyway. Tori is planning on taking the appointment I had before you off my hands though."

Meckham grabbed the keys off the table and popped a lid on his paper coffee-cup.

"Done," Tori sat up and leaned back in her chair. Eric barely listened to her as Lucas stood beside him and walked after Meck. He knew the drill.

Instead, Eric rolled his eyes at Tori and walked away from the artist mid-sentence, following his best friend out of the parlor, who was now calling after the kid to wait up.

"What? Finally going to kick my ass?" Meckham asked him as they walked down a long hallway that led away from the shops. "You're about two weeks later than I thought you'd be."

Lucas stepped in front of him and folded his arms, waiting for Eric to catch up.

"You're getting really good at that whole sarcasm thing, huh kid," Lucas teased. "We're having dinner tomorrow night, and I need you to make sure my sister shows up."

Eric was thrown back by this but didn't question it. He knew it was the plan, but it had been the plan last week too, but that had never happened.

"I'm not a messenger, tell her yourself," Meck told him sharply.

Eric felt the sharp need to throw the kid against the wall but refrained. Who the hell did he think he was talking to Lucas like that?

"Well you're invited too," Lucas leaned forward and glared at him.

Eric knew the look on his face; it was the 'I'm not taking no for an answer-face.' Too bad he couldn't learn to use that on his bitchy-girlfriend. Also, since when was this little shit invited to his apartment?

"And if I don't want to come?'" Meck said. Before Lucas could answer, he continued. "Besides, I'm fairly certain she and Jamie made plans for us already."

"Wait, she is talking to Jaime?" Lucas asked.

"We helped clean his apartment yesterday," Meck shrugged. "That extra room of theirs that is basically a second apartment and has its own bathroom? Supposedly one of his friends is moving into it this week. It was a total disaster though, so it's no wonder no one else has-"

Lucas cut him off, "I know about the new roommate, and the messy-ass room, I just didn't know that she had helped him clean it up."

New roommate? Eric didn't know about that.

"Well she was sorta drunk, and went into it, and then went on a rampage. I mean she straight up used a power tool with a cleaning brush on the bathroom it was so gross. Hadn't been cleaned in forever and she kept going on and on about how whoever it is moving in can't live like that."

"Well good, she can clean my apartment tomorrow. You can even help her," Eric chimed in, glaring at the boy in front of him. He really wasn't a fan of this kid; he was far too confident for his own good. It was becoming clearer and clearer why Skylar was friends with him. They were too similar, and she was far too similar to her brothers.

"Sky said that your apartment was literally the cleanest place she has ever been in," Meck responded lightly, adding a 'sir' at the end of it.

At least the kid knew how to talk to a leader. That would have helped his cause if it didn't piss Eric off that Skylar had even told her friend that was where their dinner had been three weeks ago. He'd have to mention it to her and make sure to drill it into their skulls that it couldn't get around until after initiation that their supervisors were favoring them.

"Does she know who is moving into it?" Lucas asked, casually.

Eric narrowed his eyes and glanced at his friend. Did his best friend think he wasn't going to notice that was purposely avoiding eye-contact? Did it really matter who the new roommate was? Lucas hadn't even mentioned them getting a new roommate, and he hadn't seen any approvals for any of the soldiers that they knew transferring.

It couldn't be that Melanie was finally getting on his nerves enough for Lucas to leave? Their apartment was a one-bedroom, so it would only make sense for him to move if Lucas wanted roommates rather than kicking Melanie out. But if that was the case, why hadn't Lucas asked to move into his second room, which was empty, rather than move in with his messy and chaotic brother's place?

"I don't know? Anyway, you need to find her and ask her about dinner yourself. I'm not taking care of it for you."

"You're one brave kid, you know that?"

"I'm aware," Meckham said. "You know what else I'm aware of; the fact that I'm your sisters best friend and I was once good friends with your brother, so you aren't likely to do anything to me that isn't warranted. I'm no Erudite, but I'm not an idiot. If you beat the crap out of me, she'll never forgive you, and I promise she'd never speak to you again." Meckham stepped to the side and moved past Lucas. "Now, I'd like to get back to the parlor before they're done eating."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Lucas motioned for him to stop, so Meck turned and walked backward slowly as he spoke. "Friend's with my brother? You knew Shade?"

"Yeah, I knew Shade? We were friends," a look of annoyance crossed his face.

"Friends, huh." Lucas nodded his head. "I didn't know that."

Eric observed his friend carefully. He had been itching to ask about Shade, as it was clear that he had been closest to Skylar. He almost looked it up the other day, but Max and the other leaders saw his search results because they were on the same system, and the last thing he wanted to do was piss off Lucas, even more, when he could grow some balls and ask for himself.

The timing hadn't felt right lately. Not with Lucas constantly fighting with his girlfriend and avoiding his siblings. Although, if he was moving in with Jami, maybe he wasn't avoiding his siblings as much as Eric had thought.

Meck finally responded, his tone light. "Yeah, I slept over at your house a few times too. It was a long time ago. I'm not surprised you don't remember me considering your parents rarely allowed him to have people stay overnight because of Skylar. Your dad probably only allowed it because Shade and Sky were really the only people who were actually nice to me as a kid."

Meck turned to leave, but turned back once more, shrugging as he spoke.

"Honestly? I think he's the reason I'm Dauntless, and the reason Sky and I get along so well. Everyone saw the twins as just troublemakers, but they weren't all that bad."

Twins? Skylar and Shade had been twins?

"I spent years watching the two of them always speak their minds. They were always standing up for others, fighting against anyone who got in the way of what they thought was right. After the fire, it was hard to see myself being any other kind of person but the type of person he strived to be. I'd bet any other Candor transfer in the past few years would tell you the same thing."

Fire? Was that how Shade had died?

Lucas didn't respond at first, so Meck turned to leave finally.

"Just so you know; Sky talks about him all the time. She couldn't ever speak of him when she lived with your mom, but now that she is here, in Dauntless, I think that she misses him more than ever. You shouldn't be afraid to talk about him around her," he walked backward as he spoke. "If anything, it might help her if everyone stops avoiding the topic. Especially now that we know what the second phase of training is. She isn't afraid of much, but imagine how bad her nightmares will be when she has to walk through fire?"