hey guys, sorry it's been so long but i'm finally back! summer starts soon so i'm super excited for that! i hope you like this chapter :)

"I need an apartment." I say, standing in the doorway of Max's office.

He furrows his eyebrows, "You have an apartment, Tris. With Four."

"I need a new one." I state.

"If this is about the leadership apartments, you'll get the keys to yours in a few days. Why do you need it now?"

"Four and I… we're not going to be living together anymore."

He nods, the cold demeanor of his eyes replaced with sympathy. "I'm sorry to hear that. I can go ahead and give you a standard apartment for now. I would give you your leadership one, but it's not furnished yet. You'd have to move everything in yourself."

"I can do that." I say. "Are you sure you can give it to me early?"

He nods, rummaging through some paperwork on his desk. "Yeah, you're guaranteed your leadership position at this point, and as long as you don't mind moving furniture, it's fine with me."

"Thanks." I say, giving him a small smile. "I appreciate it."

He pulls a paper out of a long stack, handing it to me along with a pen. "Just fill this out, sign at the bottom and it's yours."

-/-/-/-

7:00.

I stand in front of my- new- apartment, staring at the couch currently sitting outside the door. I've spent the day moving everything in and now comes the worst part: maneuvering this giant thing through the door.

I groan in annoyance and try pushing it in. It's too heavy. You would think with all this training, I would at least be able to move this stupid couch.

I move to the doorway, grabbing the closest end and try to pull it in. It barely moves. I sigh, setting the end down and trying to figure out another way to get it in.

After a couple minutes of deliberation, I decide that this is the easiest, and only, option. I lift the side of the couch, ready to move it in. "Hey! Prior!" I hear a familiar voice call. I turn.

Eric.

"Hey, Coulter." I say, setting the couch down carefully.

"I see that we're neighbors now," He says, walking over. "Looks like you won't have to stay over again tonight."

"Aw, you're gonna miss me." I mock.

"Maybe," He admits. "You look like you need help with this couch though. Let's move it inside."

"No, I got it." I say, lifting the end and pulling it approximately 1 inch inside. My elbow catches on the latch of the door and I flinch, dropping the couch directly on my toe. "Fuck!" I exclaim, trying to lift this horrendous couch off of my foot. It moves easily, too easily. I look up. It's Eric.

He grins at me, "I got it, Prior." He pulls the couch towards him and I move to the side, allowing him to pull it in as I examine my toe.

I see that he has the couch inside and in place almost immediately, and roll my eyes. I walk inside, careful not to put weight on my toe.

"I think it's broken," I announce, walking in and shutting the door.

"Ooh," He grimaces, walking into my kitchen. I settle down on the couch, laying my feet across the cushions.

He comes back a short second later, ice pack in hand. He sits down next to me, moving my legs up and placing my feet over his lap. He places the ice pack on the bottom of my toe and examines it. "Actually," He announces. "It's just a sprain."

I look up at him, raising my eyebrows. "How'd you know the difference?"

He points at his head teasingly, "Erudite transfer, remember? I always wanted to be a doctor."

I nod, leaning forward and taking his hand in mine. "Thank you." I say.

His eyebrows knit together, "For what?"

I squeeze his hand, "For everything. You've been really helpful the past few months. Training with you has been really fun, and then you were there for me at 2am after I dumped Four, and now you're here, taking care of me and my sprained toe." I say.

He smiles, but it's a sad smile. "Of course I was there for you. I care about you." His fingers interlace with mine.

I smile shyly, feeling my cheeks turn pink as his thumb brushes over my hand, reassuring me. "Do you-" I begin, but am swiftly interrupted by a knock on the door.

The door opens, light flooding into the room. I look back.

Christina.

I jump away from Eric, getting off the couch and trying to appear casual as possible.

"Hey, Tris," She says, setting her keys on the table I conveniently placed next to the door. "You told me to come by tonight. Said you wanted to talk abo-" She pauses, looking up. "Oh."

"Hey," I say, her eyes not meeting mine. She's looking straight past me. At Eric.

"I can see you're busy…" She trails off, backing away towards the door. "I'll let you two continue… whatever it is you were doing." She says, her eyes finally meeting mine. She looks concerned.

"Chris-" I say, but I'm interrupted.

"I was just leaving, actually." Eric says, appearing in front of me. He gives me a small smile before leaving Christina and I alone.

She raises her eyebrows at me. "What the hell are you doing?" She says as the door shuts. "Hanging out with Eric Coulter? Alone?"

"Christina," I sigh. "We're just friends. He helped me move my furniture in, that's it."

She eyes me suspiciously, but ultimately decides to let it drop. "Ok."

"So," I begin. "I was thinking we could order Chinese and eat in?"

-/-/-/-/-

"So, Tris," Eric approaches me during training. "It's coming down to the last week of training for you."

I nod, continuing to focus on the moving target ahead of me. "Yeah," I breathe.

"I was thinking we could go out tonight… Celebrate preemptively. Being a leader takes up a lot of your time. " He says. I nearly throw my knife into the ceiling.

"What?" I say, putting the blade down and turning to look at him.

"Go on a date with me." He says bluntly, his grey eyes meeting mine.

I grin, "Okay." What's the worst that can come out of it?

He raises his eyebrows, "Really? Wow, I mean-"

"Did you want me to say no?" I laugh, poking his arm.

"Well, no. I just expected to have to convince you. I had a whole speech and everything."

"Oh yeah?" I say. "I wanna hear it."

His face turns red. He's blushing. Actually blushing. "Maybe I'll tell you tonight. 7 o'clock work? I'll meet you in the Pit."

I nod, my face turning pink as well. "Yeah."

"Alright." He says, regaining his authoritative posture. "Get back to training."

-/-/-/-

I leave training at 6:05, meeting Christina outside my apartment. I walk through the hall, excited for my date tonight with Eric. It seems a little soon… but I think I'm ready.

"So…" I begin, walking inside my apartment. "I have a date tonight."

Christina groans, "Tris, no! You're not actually taking him back, are you?"

I laugh- I'm pretty sure it's because I'm nervous. "No. With someone else."

Christina's eyes go wide. "Who?" She pauses. "Oh my god. No. You didn't"

I nod, walking into my bedroom to find turn on the shower and find something to wear tonight. "Yep. Eric and I are going out. In," I look at the clock. "55 minutes."

Her jaw drops to the floor. "Oh my god."

I laugh, taking off my hoodie and walking across the room to grab a towel. "Yeah. Now, I gotta take a shower. You can either stay and help me figure out what to wear in a few minutes, or you can go and I'll tell you how it goes tomorrow."

She chooses to leave. "Uriah and I are going out tonight, it's our 3 month." She told me. But I know that she's not entirely supportive of my choice to go out with Eric.

-/-/-/-

He stands in the middle of the Pit, wearing a leather jacket, fitted black jeans and ankle boots. Honestly, he looks hot as fuck.

He's relaxed, leaning against the bridge of the chasm as he waits for me to arrive. I walk up, suddenly feeling a little nervous. "Hey," I greet, my fingers playing with the chain of the bracelet I'm wearing.

"Hey," He says, moving closer and pulling me into a small hug. I can't help but get a feeling of dejavu; this seems all too similar to Tobias and I's first official date. He pulls away, "You look stunning." I blush. I changed about 20 times before deciding on this dress. It's short and long sleeved, hugging my body tight the whole way down. It's also off the shoulder- definitely different from what I usually wear. I never wore it when I was with Tobias. He was a little too conservative to be seen with me in something… kinda scandalous. Looking back on our relationship, I'm realizing it was kinda toxic. He limited me.

"Thanks." I say with a smile as I struggle to push my thoughts of Tobias out of my head. "You clean up pretty good yourself."

He grins, "I was thinking we could eat at that new restaurant up on the third floor, and then decide what to do from there."

I breathe out a sigh of relief; thank god it's not the same restaurant Tobias took me to. I smile, "Yeah, that sounds good. Christina and I were just talking about it the other day actually,"

We arrive a few short minutes later, some banter between us on the way there.

He nods at the waiter when we walk in and we're led to our table without a word. We sit down and it's silent for a minute. "I'm really glad we're doing this." I say, breaking the silence.

He looks at me and smiles, "Me too. I've wanted to take you out for a while, but… obviously I couldn't."

I laugh, "Honestly, I wish you did. That relationship was not fun the last few months."

He laughs hesitantly, and I inwardly curse. Was that too far? "So," He begins. "How are you liking your new apartment?"

"It's really nice. I especially like the couch. I had this really nice guy help me move it in." I say with a wink.

He takes a sip of his wine, "Oh yeah? Should I be jealous? What's he like?"

"Let's see," I say, tapping my chin. "He's tall and handsome and strong and caring… even though he doesn't always show it. But he's also stubborn and slightly rebellious, not always following the rules."

Eric leans back in his chair, obviously relaxed. His posture reminds me of Tobias. Of how he was always so casual around me. "Sounds like a great guy. Boyfriend material?"

"Yeah," I say, my hand finding his. "He is."

The rest of dinner is nice, and I'm able to push the thoughts of Tobias out of my head for the majority of the time. Eric and I have a lot in common, actually. He's funny and witty and, although the idea of it scares me, I could see myself falling for him.

We leave after a little argument over who should pay the bill, as it's pretty high, and in the end, Eric convinces me to let him pay.

We walk back to the apartments, conveniently right next to each other, and he takes my hand in his around halfway there. It's a comforting feeling.

We reach the hall outside our apartments and stop in front of my door. "Thanks for going out with me tonight," I say, Eric's hands finding my waist.

I move closer, our bodies pressed together now. I can feel his breath on my face. My hands find his biceps, "I really like you, Tris." He whispers, his face inches away from mine.

"I really like you too," I say. He leans in, and I'm tempted to as well, but instead, I find myself placing a hand on his chest, moving my head to the side. His hand covers mine, "What's wrong?" He whispers.

I look up at him, my lower lip caught between my teeth. "I can't do this," I say. "It's too soon."

He nods. "Okay." I feel his body disappear from mine; he stands further away now.

"I'm sorry. I had a good time tonight." I say, trying desperately to salvage this. I like him. Really, I do.

"Me too." He says, a small smile on his face. His eyes, however, are cold.

"So…" I say, taking his hand in mine. Thankfully, he accepts it. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yep." He nods. I squeeze his hand, his eyes meeting mine. I stand on my toes and kiss his cheek. His hands finding my waist yet again and he pulls me close. My arms wrap around him and he takes me into his embrace, his lips planting a kiss into my hair.

I can't help but be reminded of when Tobias used to do that.

I pull away, deciding that I'm really not in the right headspace for this now. "Bye, Eric." I whisper, our lips only centimeters apart.

"Bye, Tris." He says, and it takes everything in me not to give in to him.