Tris stands in momentary shock as she looks at Tobias standing across from her. He was honestly the last person she expected to see today, and it's not really the reunion she had envisioned having with him given that Peter is just 2 feet away from her.
Speaking of Peter, it's he who breaks the silence first. "Eaton! This is a surprise! It's been a while," he holds out his hand. Tobias just stares at it for a few moments before shaking it limply, turning back to Tris, wide eyed.
When no one says anything more, Peter starts speaking again. "Tris and I were just out for a Valentine's Day lunch," he smirks at her, throwing his arm around her shoulders. Tris refrains from her urge to bat his hand away, and instead steps forward out of the elevator to let it fall on its own accord.
This entire situation is just… nightmarish. Tris spots Maria, attempting to make herself look busy in the kitchen, but she has no doubt that she's eavesdropping on everything. God, why oh why did she let Tobias in?
Tris turns around to look at Tobias and sees him giving Peter a diamond hard stare. Oh, if looks could kill. She wants to scream at him that it's not what he thinks, but then, anger rises in her when she remembers Nita. Even if none of that was Tobias's fault… it still doesn't change the fact that she had to see that. And then, he makes little to no effort to contact her these past few weeks after giving her some big speech about how much she means to him?
Peter, as oblivious and self absorbed as he is, doesn't take their silence to mean anything. He just continues blabbing. "What brings you here, man? We haven't seen you and your dad at the club in a while, though let me tell you, it's not even worth it anymore. The bev cart girls aren't nearly as hot as they used to be…" he trails off and shoots Tris a nervous look once he realizes what he said out loud, and Tris has to hold back an eye roll. Like she cares that Peter ogles other women. She already knows he's a pig, and she really doesn't care, she just wishes he would stop ogling her.
"I'm actually here to see Tris as well," Tobias states clearly, shifting his intense gaze to hers.
Tris feels her knees wobble just because of the way his midnight eyes pierce her own. She would give anything to know what's going on inside his head right now, even if it's horrible thoughts about her.
"Really?" Peter narrows his eyes, "I didn't realize you two were friendly." The way Peter says it sounds like a threat, and it makes Tris want to scream because he believes he has any real claim on her, especially when he was just talking about eyefucking the poor employees at his country club who just want to earn their wages without being objectified by a senator's son.
"We're not," Tobias says thinly, his eyes on Tris the entire time.
"Oh?" Peter asks.
Tris somehow manages to find her words, "I'm just… working with Eaton Enterprises on a new project. Tobias asked to meet, and he's been so busy lately that today was the only day he had available."
"You never mentioned any of this earlier," Peter says accusingly.
"Didn't realize I had to give you tabs on everything I was doing," Tris shoots back.
In an instant, Peter's entire demeanor changes and he throws back on that sleazy and relaxed smile. "Of course you don't, babe. I'll get out of your hair now. Text me later."
"Yeah," Tris answers flippantly, folding her arms over her chest self consciously, wishing Tobias was not witnessing any of this.
She notices Peter and his slimy lips leaning in for a goodbye kiss, so she gently puts her hands on his shoulders, patting one of them awkwardly. "See ya!" She ushers him back into the elevator, ignoring his frown, and waves goodbye to him as the doors shut behind him. The pure relief that Tris feels just from him not standing in the same room as her anymore surprises her.
"So now I see why you haven't called."
Tris turns back to Tobias in mild shock, her eyebrows shooting into her hairline. "Are you serious?"
Tobias just walks over to the center table in the foyer, and picks up one of the photographs of Tris and Peter, holding it up with an inquiring look on his face. He then picks something else up and tosses it to her. When Tris catches it, she sees that it's the stupid tabloid magazine that found her and Peter last week.
"You could've told me you got a new boyfriend."
Tris scoffs in disbelief, "Peter is not my boyfriend. Hell, he's not even my friend."
Tobias folds his arms. "Could've fooled me."
"Do you seriously believe everything you see?" She angrily tosses the tabloid back to him. "In case you haven't noticed, we aren't even touching in this photograph! And in these," she marches up to him and snatches the photographs from his hands, "I was doing a favor for my mom, because I had nothing better to do with no calls from you. I had no idea she had hired Peter as the other model until I showed up to the shoot, and then it became pretty clear that she was trying to set us up."
"So you went along with it?" He asks, his eyebrows raised.
"Okay, okay, can we backtrack for a moment? Why the hell do you care? As far as I was concerned, you weren't even thinking about me."
"That's where you're wrong, Tris." The way he says her name ignites a spark in Tris's heart that she tries to ignore. He's staring down at her so earnestly, albeit there is still a little bit of anger in his eyes.
"Could've fooled me," she repeats his words back to him.
"You barely texted or called."
"Neither did you."
"I was trying to give you your space!"
"So was I!"
"Well… sorry… I just didn't want it to seem like I was expecting you to bend over backwards to keep up with my haywire schedule. I know you've been busy as well, and I didn't want it to seem like I was just presuming you would be there to drop everything whenever I could talk."
Tris shakes her head at him, "Well, congrats, cuz you ended up making me believe you didn't want to speak to me at all. I just assumed that you were too busy for me, and then you just forgot about me… that you were just using me while you were bored, and now that you had something better to occupy your time you had moved on." Tris adds the last part quietly, looking down at her shoes when she says it.
Tobias tucks his fingers under his chin, and tilts her head upwards, forcing her to make eye contact with him. "That isn't true in the slightest," he affirms.
"I realize how poor of a job I've done in showing you how much I care for you, especially after New Year's… and everything that happened then. I'm not fucking perfect, Tris. I've fucked up a lot. And this is just one of many instances where I was too stubborn to see past what I was doing. I missed you so much, the entire time that we didn't speak, I just didn't know how to fucking reach out."
"Maybe try texting 'hi'." Tris quips, her eyebrows raised in mild amusement. She's feeling her anger at Tobias vanish, now only replaced by the desire to chuckle at how clueless and stubborn the two of them are. If they just communicated… damn, so many issues would be fixed. But it's never that easy, is it?
"I just… I don't know, didn't want to be unfair on you," he reaches out for her hand, and she allows him to take it, feeling her heart soften at the way he fumbles with her fingers. "Especially 'cause I have no idea… what we even are? I dunno, we never really labelled this." He nods between the two of them.
"Hmmm… how should we label this?" Tris asks, mimicking his tone.
"Well that depends," he states, his voice hollow now. "What's uh, up with you and Hayes?"
Tris suppresses an eye roll as she thinks back to the day she showed up for the fashion shoot she had agreed to do as a favor for her mother. When she saw Peter was there, she was horrified and perplexed. He was a senator's son, not a model!
She instantly found her mother and asked, not so politely, what the hell Peter was even doing there. Her mother smirked and calmly explained that she felt it was time the two of them caught up. She also slipped in a little tidbit about how Peter would also be attending Columbia in the fall, and she thought they would make a great match together. On paper, and off.
Typical, Natalie now not only had Tris's entire career planned out in her head, but her dating life as well. She was probably already planning their wedding in her head. Trying to set her up with Peter, just as she had with Caleb and Susan. Though, at least Caleb got a tolerable match.
The entire shoot, Tris tried her hardest to stay amicable with Peter, but he made that very hard with his objectifying comments and outlandish remarks. She spent the remaining 3 hours at that photoshoot pissed off with not only Peter, but her mother as well. Natalie knows that Tris ended things with Peter because she absolutely loathed him, but did that matter to her? No.
What mattered first and foremost to Natalie Prior was seeing her daughter matched with someone as socially relevant as a senator's son, especially in a magazine, wearing her designs. The amount of good publicity she would receive from that was evidently more important to her than her own daughter's happiness.
After the shoot, Peter would not stop calling, nor texting. Tris didn't answer for a couple days. A couple days of Tris not answering Peter, were also a couple days of Tobias not reaching out to Tris, and Tris began to grow lonely.
Simply just for a distraction, and to feel validated, Tris agreed to one outing with Peter. It seemed to her like Tobias was done, and what was the harm in getting out of the house for a couple hours?
When her mother caught wind of this, she hovered around Tris the entire morning before their date. Natalie made her daughter wear more of her designs on her date with Peter, and Tris is almost certain that her mother was the one who called the paparazzi on the pair to be photographed and put in that tabloid. It's all incredibly frustrating and confusing to Tris, especially given how much effort her mother has put in the past to keep her and Caleb's lives private.
Her date with Peter was awful. They had nothing in common, and she'd need more than her ten fingers to count the amount of offensive remarks he'd made. It was clear he only really wanted sex, and Tris was like some sort of goal for him to make. Geez, if that was Peter trying his hardest with a woman, Tris doesn't even want to know what his minimal efforts would look like.
She didn't see Peter for a while after that. Then, that stupid tabloid cover started circulating. Natalie made a whole show of acting surprised when she saw it, but Tris knew it was just that; acting. Tris hated being in the spotlight more than anything. When her personal life was made a spectacle like that merely for somebody else's personal agenda, she was furious.
Not only was this happening to her, but her mother was also breathing down her neck about college. She still hasn't told her mother about her college plans, so hearing Natalie say this and that about Columbia and how much she's going to love it really set Tris on edge. The worst part about it- Tobias wasn't there for her to talk to anyone about it.
2 days ago, Natalie strongly encouraged Tris to go out with Peter again for Valentine's. Tris was instantly against it. She and her mom got into a screaming match about the whole thing until Tris's throat was hoarse. That fight was the final straw, the breaking point for her after the hellish month she'd been through, and the worst still seemed yet to come as she was still deciding how to break the college news to her mother.
Then, she'd had somewhat of an epiphany, realizing the more appeasing she'd be to her mom then, the better her mom might react when the time comes to break the news about college. So, she'd approached Natalie later that evening, apologizing for her behavior, and telling her she would go out with Peter again. Tris made it very clear that this was the last time she'd allow her mother to set her up like this, and that she was only doing it because she wanted her mother to receive good press.
Her mother didn't seem to mind, though. Maybe Natalie truly believed that Peter could somehow charm Tris into something more committal over Valentine's Day. If that was the case, though, he'd failed. Miserably. He was as every bit his stuck up self that he usually was.
But now, Peter's gone. That's over. Her pathos had made it clear to Natalie that going out with Peter was really strenuous for her, but that she was doing it for Natalie, and no other reason. She'd hoped her mother would pity her, or at least back off, so she could earn some brownie points for being a votive daughter.
"Will you believe me if I honestly tell you that nothing ever happened between me and Peter. Nothing even reminiscent of a friendship. I was… lonely, I thought we were kind of over, and my mom was really, really pushing us to spend time together. None of it amounted to anything whatsoever." Tris tells Tobias earnestly, looking him straight in the eye.
"I believe you," he responds gently. "Well, then, I guess this all means that I want you to be mine, Tris. Like the real deal. Boyfriend and girlfriend and all that. I've never done this relationship thing before, so I might be really bad at it. But I'll always be honest with you, and I hope in return that you'll be honest with me. I know life is busy with my gallery opening, and you have school and college coming… but you mean so much to me that I want to make that extra time for you. We can make it work, you and me, I know." He finishes his mini monologue looking at her nervously.
Tris can feel her heart beating against her ribcage rapidly. "I was always a little apprehensive about jumping into this thing so quickly, you know, with Nita and all and everything that happened on New Year's. I know none of it was your fault and of course I don't blame you for anything that occured… but it did make me wary about what I was getting myself into. I'm really scared, Tobias, but I want to be with you too. I don't care if it means talking on the phone at 2 am because that's the only time both of us are available, or having to squeeze in quick dates within our crazy schedules, or dealing with the heinous social gossip that comes with being born into this world. None of that matters, as long as I have you, and you know how much you mean to me."
Tobias's gorgeous lips curve into a smile at her words, and he cups her face gently, pulling her in for a long and slow kiss. Oh, how she missed kissing him. His nose slides against her's as he holds her more fiercely to him, and they get lost within one another.
This is perfect, this is right. Tris is terrified, but she also feels at a place where she could be secure with Tobias, that she can start to believe he really cares for her the same way she cares for him, and this thing between them is real. She's definitely not there yet, but maybe she can start to have more trust.
"We are never going that long without speaking ever again, understand?" Tris asks once they pull back from each other.
"Agreed," Tobias says solemnly, "I can't believe how stubborn we both were."
"I guess two wrongs make a right, though, huh?"
Tobias chuckles, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear as he grins down at her. "Nothing about you is wrong in the slightest."
Tris feels her cheeks grow warm at his words and she yanks him back down for another kiss. In her humble opinion, their mouths fit perfectly together.
They're interrupted after God knows how long by somebody clearing their throat. They pull apart to see none other than Natalie Prior, her arms folded, glaring at them in askance.
Tris's first instinct is to jump apart from Tobias like they'd been caught doing something god awfully wrong, but then she realizes that if she also wants her mother to take her college decision seriously, she needs to start acting like her own woman. She's 18, she should be allowed to kiss whomever the fuck she pleases. So, she stays right next to Tobias, her arms wrapped around him.
"Mom, when did you get back?" She asks as casually as possible.
"Just now." Natalie Prior says faintly, giving Tobias an odd look. "Tobias, I wasn't expecting you here."
"He's my guest. I'm allowed to have guests over, right?" Tris asks innocently.
"Well, yes, but I just was expecting to still see Peter around."
"We went out today, like you requested. Then, he went home, and now Tobias is here. Is there an issue?"
Natalie's face falls into a light smile, her surprise completely masked now. "No, none at all. It's… good to see you, Tobias. I didn't realize you and Beatrice had become so close… She never tells me anything these days, I guess."
No doubt Natalie would have tried to exploit her relationship with Tobias as well. It'd be perfect for the gossip columns to read about, considering how their rich dads used to be business partners, and many people are still speculating that both Tris and Tobias are in line to take over their parents' companies, even though neither of them have that plan.
All of the gossip about Tris and Tobias being together would also get Natalie more attention, and her new line would do amazing. Tris can practically see the wheels turning in her mother's head as she tries to think about how to use this new development in the storyline to her own advantage. Tris just hopes Tobias is ready for all this.
Tris wonders what Marcus would think of the two of them together, and then she thinks over to Tobias's gallery. Her mother would not want her anywhere near Tobias if she knew about his plans, that's for sure. And she also knows that it's going to be a shitshow when word gets out that Tobias is leaving Eaton Enterprises for an art career. And it'll probably be pretty bad when people find out Natalie Prior's daughter is not attending Columbia, too.
In a way, there is kind of a certain beauty to it, though. Tris doesn't have to go through this fucking chaos alone, Tobias is there too, going through it right with her. If they crash and burn, at least it'll be together. The thought makes her smile. And the best part is, neither of them would be doing these things if the other hadn't pushed them to.
"Sorry, mom," Tris says, so Tobias doesn't have to respond, squeezing his shoulder. "We just… kind of wanted something for ourselves for a while."
Natalie smiles in what seems to be understanding. "Of course, of course, I get it. You're young! Uh, Tobias, why don't you stay for dinner? Maria is no doubt cooking something delicious and I'd love to catch up with you. It's been a while!"
Tobias smiles graciously at Tris's mother, "That'd be wonderful, thank you."
They follow Natalie into the kitchen, and Tris mutters to Tobias, "I hope you're prepared for all this shit. The reason she's having us stay in is because she doesn't want me to look like some slut, spotted with you so soon after I was just spotted with Peter. She's trying to figure out the best way to exercise damage control that will also garner the best press for her new line."
Tobias chuckles lowly, "It's really okay, Tris. I know a thing or two about crazy parents, don't forget. Like we both said, we can deal with all these curveballs, because we have each other."
"You have no idea how thankful I am for that," Tris whispers. Tobias Eaton is my boyfriend, she thinks the phrase for the first time, and enjoys the wave of giddiness it sends her. That first day in the tattoo parlor, when she'd been treating life as some sort of obstacle course, she'd never imagine things would play out like this.
The future seems far more, dare she say it, hopeful.
"By the way," Tobias snatches a box of chocolates and a bouquet of roses off the countertop. "Happy Valentine's Day."
Thank you so much for reading. Everyone's support means the world to me. Stay safe out there guys. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, though, as more and more of us get vaccinated, so hopefully things can go back to normal soon! Or whatever the new version of "normal" is.
I know I sound like a broken record saying this now, but I am so busy, I have no idea when I'll have the next update. Just know I'm doing everything I can to make sure that it is soon, but ultimately I have other priorities. You know how it goes. I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter, though. Have a good one!
-Kiki