Happy Friday! I don't know about ya'll but this was a LONG week! Thank you so much for your comments! I'm loving all the discussion!
When Tobias pulls up in the driveway Evelyn is shocked that he's there since the semester isn't over yet. She wasn't expecting him home for another three weeks at least.
"Tobias, you didn't have to come to check on me sweetie, I'm fine really. You have to get caught up on your schoolwork"
"I'm done with school, Ma," Tobias says simply as he goes to grab one of his boxes for the backseat.
Evelyn puts her head in her hands. He had told her nothing about this plan. She follows him silently in the house to his room.
"Tobias you need to think about this. This is your future" Evelyn declares.
"I have thought about it and I know what I'm doing, I already signed with an agent. Jack Kang. I've declared for the draft, I just have to wait now"
"Tobias, have you done your research? Every agent isn't a great agent, Have you talked to your father about this?"
"I have nothing to say to him," Tobias says coldly. Evelyn dropped her head in frustration. She knew Tobias was taking all the things about Marcus hard but this was getting out of control now.
"Tobias, you don't have to not speak to your father because he and I couldn't make our relationship work, the two don't go hand in hand"
"He lied to me, everything he tried to instill in me about being a man was a lie. I have nothing to say to him" Tobias repeats more forcefully.
"Well, how does Tris feel about you dropping out of school" Evelyn prods realizing Tobias was not in a space to talk about his father. Tris had been such a big influence on getting Tobias to focus and do school work since they started dating. She could tell something was off between the two of them in Miami.
"Tris and I aren't together anymore so I don't care what she thinks," Tobias says with bitterness in his voice as he looks away.
"Tobias…." Evelyn says quietly as she places a hand gently on his shoulder.
"I DON'T want to talk about her or him" Tobias practically whispers as he looks out the window to Tris's room. The currants were closed and his heart beat faster thinking about what he was going to do when she just across the lawn.
"What about Uriah or Zeke?" Evelyn tries getting more and more concerned about her son.
"Ma, I'm going to be fine on my own, just let me deal with it please," Tobias says stiffly after a moment.
Evelyn feels her eyes well up with tears. Tobias was 19 now and he could make his own decisions but she didn't think how her decisions or Marcus's were going to affect his future this much. She would give him some space but there was no turning back for him now. Signing with an agent changed everything, even if he wanted to he couldn't go back to play at Dauntless.
Whatever happened between him and Tris and now he Zeke and Uriah this couldn't be good and it makes her even more worried. She prayed he wasn't going down a path that was going to lead him to more hurt and pain but she was sure he didn't realize how hard the path he had chosen was.
Two days after Tobias leaves, Tris was still locked in her room only coming out to go to the bathroom. Uriah, Zeke, Christina, Lynn, and Marlene couldn't get her to come out. They'd brought her food outside her door which she picked over and barely ate. She only responded to everyone's texts with a Please Just Leave Me Alone
Tris had no idea what day it was, was trapped in listening to We Belong Together by Mariah Carey and Kelies I Hate You So Much. Her emotions were all over the place. She didn't want to look at herself in the mirror, her eyes hurt from crying. Every time she thought she couldn't shed another tear, her thoughts would wander to memories of her and Tobias laughing or playing ball together or making love and she would start to cry all over again.
When Tris misses her first final exam of the semester Uriah calls Caleb for help. Caleb had gone back to Erudite after the fight between Tobias and Zeke when Tris said she needed to be alone. He wanted to give her some space but now he had to do something. So he calls his older sister to come up with a plan. It was Saturday morning but 6 hours later Caleb and Lauren head to Tris's room for an intervention.
"Tris, open up," Lauren says as she knocks on the door.
"We aren't leaving until you let us in," Caleb says loudly.
Tris slowly gets up off her bed. She couldn't believe that Lauren was at her door. It made her feel even worse realizing that Lauren had made the trip from Charlotte and she didn't go with Tobias.
She unlocks and opens the door and walks back to her bed. Caleb and Lauren take a look at Tris. She hadn't taken her two long braids out or wrapped her hair so it was fuzzy and starting to come loose. Her eyes were puffy and swollen and her t-shirt and basketball shorts she wore were beyond wrinkled. There were empty water bottles and discarded takeout boxes on her desk and what seemed to be a mountain of used tissue all over the bed and floor near the bed. Her small TV was on playing Like Mike which was Tris' favorite movie. She always wanted to watch it when she didn't feel well.
Lauren and Caleb give each other a look and kick off their shoes and crawl into bed with Tris. The bed was small and they were all squished together laying on their sides but Tris feels the most comfort she's felt in the past two weeks. They used to do this when there was a bad thunderstorm when they were little. Tris and Caleb would be scared to sleep alone and would scurry into bed with Lauren.
Caleb and Lauren don't say anything for a long while and eventually, Tris starts to cry again. They both wrapped their arms around their sister and let her cry. Caleb feels like his own heart is broken. He and Tris always had a weird connection, sometimes they finished each other's sentences or they could switch moods based on how the other was feeling. He knew how off Tris was because he was off too. Lauren always called it their freaky twin thing. Lauren knew Tris's first heartbreak was going to be hard for but she never imagined Tobias would do this to her.
Uriah, Caleb, and Zeke had filled her in as much as they could but clearly, something else had happened before the whole Tobias cheating incident. After Tris quiets down Lauren decides to break the silence.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She whispers.
"I feel so stupid" Tris chokes out. "I messed up, but I don't know how I was supposed to fix it"
"What do you mean you messed up?" Caleb asks as he sits up and moves to the end of the bed. Lauren sits up and Tris keeps her head in her lap and Lauren plays with her hair to soothe her.
"Tobias thinks I gave up on him, that's why he cheated or whatever I guess he did, I don't know"
"Tris, nothing do you hear me nothing you should ever be an excuse for someone you are in a relationship to cheat. That is unacceptable"
"And it's unacceptable for him to not take responsibility for his own actions' ' Caleb adds. He was still furious with Tobias himself. Especially after the fight between him and Zeke.
Tris sits up and wipes her face. Caleb hands her a box of tissue he found on the floor. After getting her tears under control. Tris relays the story of Tobias wanting her to go to Charlotte with him and miss curfew, how they didn't talk, the party and his leaving to go out with that tramp, Kasey, Kelly, or whatever her name was, and finally their argument the night he broke up with her.
"That selfish son of a bitch" Caleb scowls and punches his fist in his hand. Now he wishes he would have helped Zeke kick his ass instead of trying to separate them. He had called Tobias, thinking that he needed to get himself together as well but he hadn't responded to any of his texts. Zeke said he had no desire to talk to him but Tobias hadn't responded to Uriah either.
"Tris you did the right thing, you've worked so hard for your spot on this team. Tobias had no right to ask you to give that up for him. You blew your savings to fly to Miami and be there to support him and that still wasn't enough"
"Did I do the right thing? You're here, maybe I made the wrong decision" Tris groans out in frustration as she feels the tears well up in her eyes again.
She had gone over in her mind every detail of that conversation outside the dorm and then their conversation in Miami and the party trying to figure out how she could have been more supportive. Had she really tried hard enough? Was there some kind of way that she could have had her roommates stage that she was in her room? Why didn't she think to call Coach Wu and just ask her to go to Charlotte since it was a family emergency? It made her head hurt trying to think about all of it.
"Tris, you made the right decision. This is your future we are talking about not Tobias's future. What were you going to do if you got kicked off the team and lost your scholarship? This wasn't some flippant decision where you would get your hand slapped. There were serious consequences at stake and he's spoiled and used to getting his way, he had no right assume that there would be any kind of exception made for you" Lauren challenges
"Lauren's right Tris, Say you did go with him, and you were kicked off the team and he still dropped out and went to the draft, he could have left you high and dry the minute you didn't agree with him. This is bigger than him feeling neglected." Caleb adds.
Tris nodded as she wiped her fresh tears. They had a point, it still hurt like hell. Just 2 weeks ago she was thinking about how she and Tobias were going to spend the summer doing nothing but being together. They were starting to talk about what life would be like after college, planning their future. Did he mean anything he said to her when said he loved her for him to literally just give up on their relationship?
"It just hurts like hell," she says out loud. That was the only part of her pain she could actually verbalize at the moment with all the thoughts running through her head.
"I know but you have to fight through the pain. You're a fighter, Tris. I can't tell you when it's going to get better but it will. And you have to make the decision that you want to push forward" Lauren encourages.
"And we'll be here every step of the way" Caleb promises "We love you Twin"
Tris genuinely smiles finally for the first time in she doesn't know when.
"That is after you take a shower, you kind of smell" Caleb clarifies.
Lauren and Tris fall out laughing as Tris sniffles and Caleb dramatically leans into Tris and sniffs.
"Caleb is right, when was the last time you showered or changed clothes?" Lauren remarks picking up the corner of Tris's t-shirt with her fingertips.
Lauren didn't have class until Tuesday afternoon so she stayed with Tris until Tuesday morning. Tris was so grateful for her sister and brother. She showered and washed her hair. Caleb helped straighten up the mess of her room while Lauren blow-dried and rebraided her hair in her signature two long crown rows.
Caleb helped Tris sort out all her class assignments and outline a study schedule for her finals. She had missed one but she emailed the teacher who was a basketball fan and Lauren encouraged her to play on that she was overwhelmed with all the makeup work from the tournament. Tris breathed a sigh of relief when he agrees to let her take the missed final, Tris thinks it helps that she had an A in class before the tournament started and hadn't been late or missed any work that semester.
She hugged Caleb tightly when he went back to Erudite, she was more than grateful than ever that they had both decided to go to school in Atlanta. She wished Lauren was closer because she missed her sister dearly.
"I'm just a phone call away" Lauren reminders her as they hug before she gets on the road.
'I know I miss you so much" Tris takes a deep breath. She knew her other friends were there but it wasn't the same as her sister.
"How about we find some time for a girl's weekend this summer before classes start?"
"I would like that" Tris admits. She was preparing herself for a lonely summer of being alone. Caleb was going to do a study abroad program in the U.K. for six weeks. Marlene, Lynn, and Christina were all going to go home. Tris was feeling better but Charlotte was the last place that Tris wanted to go.
Tori looks over the player files she had strewn across her desk. She moved her head to the side to stretch her neck. She was working on a few recruiting offers for next season before she enjoyed her break for the next month. She looked at the picture of the team before their Final Four game. She was so proud of her girls this season. No one had expected them to make it that far in the tournament. She hated that her four seniors got so close but she expected great things from her freshman who would be sophomores next season. This year was a great learning experience for them. Especially Tris. She knew she pushed Tris a bit harder than she had Lynn, Christina, or Marlene but she knew Tris just needed to learn to harness her emotions and focus and she was going to be one of the best basketball players the world had ever seen. She looks up as she hears a knock on her door and sees Tris standing there quietly. She sighed when she saw her. News had spread quickly through the athletic department when Tobias Eaton suddenly declared for the draft and left school the week before. The news of his father and his infidelity was all over the news as well. She'd hoped that this wouldn't affect Tris too much but looking at her she wasn't gonna get that wish.
"What can I do for you, Tris?" Tori asks. Tris looked like hell. Her eyes were puffy and there were dark circles.
"I was hoping to stay in the dorms and take two summer classes. My father is fine with covering the expenses for my classes and for my dorm, but they said you still need to sign off on it" Tris says quietly as she hands Tori the file folder she was carrying.
Tris was a good student, Tori had actually been surprised that her grades were so high with the demanding season.
"Are you okay Tris? You can talk to me, you know. I'm not a total hardass once the season is over" Tori says as she sets the folder on her desk but doesn't open it.
"I don't want to go home for the summer, I...I can't"
Tris lets out a strangled sob and puts her face in her hands as she can't hold back the tears. She was trying to keep it together but she just couldn't. She still felt raw and embarrassed and so many other emotions. She missed her sister and Caleb was going home for a few weeks before his trip but the thought of having to look out her window and see Tobias every day, she couldn't do it. The NBA draft wouldn't be until late June, there was no way he wasn't in Charlotte right now and would be there until he found out what team he was being drafted to.
Tori doesn't say anything, she gets up and walks around the desk, and pulls Tris into a hug. Tris is still covering her face as she sobs and Tori just rocks her gently. After a few minutes, Tris stops crying and Tori asks her to sit down in one of the chairs in front of her desk while she sits in the other.
"I'm sorry, It's been a really crappy week," Tris says with an emotionless laugh as she wipes her tears.
"Can I assume the reason that you don't want to go home is because Tobias declared for the draft?" She had already heard that Max had two of his freshman entering the draft. This just confirmed that Tobias was one of them.
Tris nods her head as she wipes her face.
"Do you want to tell me about it? I'm a safe space, really Tris" Tori reaches out and touches her hand. Tris had told Lauren and Caleb everything but she hadn't told her roommates all of it. Caleb and Lauren said they would keep it to themselves, Tris could decide if she wanted everyone to know what really happened between her and Tobias.
"I had to choose between missing curfew and being there for Tobias with all the fallout from his father….I keep wondering did I make the right decision, was basketball worth it?" Tris says quietly.
Tori sighs. She hated that Max ran his program so different from hers. Max recruited athletes who wanted to go to the NBA and that was the focus of his coaching program, not managing school, and athletics, not forcing them to learn to balance. She knew Max wasn't above some practices to keep his players eligible that were frowned upon. Tori didn't roll like that. Each of her players earned their playing time and their grades. Her expectations were clear. If Tris had not been in her room that night, Tori knows she would have made an example out of her and removed her from the team. As much of a great player Tris was and all the potential she had, she would have most certainly thrown away her entire future if she had given in and gone with Tobias. Tori knew she hadn't received any other scholarship offers and if Tris was dismissed from Dauntless her dreams of playing basketball would be officially dead, no coach would even consider her as a transfer.
It was always natural that the Men and Women's teams interacted heavily because they played the same sport. The infusion of Tris and Tobias dating had made this year's group even closer as they all hung out together more than normal. Lots of her players complained that the men really got to do whatever they wanted but that's not how Tori ran her team and she could tell the grumblings with the player increased it seemed this year. She never wanted her girls to forget that they had to work harder even if they were just as talented as the men's team.
"Tris, I'm not going to lie to you, if you want to make it, really make it in this sport and play professionally there are going to be things you have to give up. That's just the way it is. You have to make the decision for yourself about what's important to you. Balance is necessary, it can't be all about basketball but at the same time, you have to commit. You can't half-ass it and expect to make it in the WNBA. I hope that if you learned anything this season that is part of it."
Tris nods as she listens. Coach Wu was a 4 time WNBA MVP, a 2 time WNBA Champion, a 3 time Olympic gold medalist in basketball, and had won 2 NCAA Women's National Titles. She knows that there had to be many sacrifices for her to accomplish all of that on top of injuries and just how women were treated differently in professional sports.
"I think you are one hell of a ballplayer Tris, and I think that you are one of the ones who can make it but it's going to take sacrifice. Having a partner who supports your goals and dreams is important. It doesn't seem like it right now, but you'll find that person. It just might not be right now"
For the first time in days, Tris starts to feel a little of the weight she had been carrying around lifted.
Over the next two months, Tobias can't count how many times he almost breaks down to call Tris, or Uriah or Caleb, or Zeke. Mostly it was Tris though. Late a night was when it hurt the most when he wanted to have her in arms. As he lied there holding his pillow he would replay everything in his mind. Normally he would ask his father for advice but the thought of his father made him angry. He was still and angry and hurt by Tris not choosing him and frustrated him that he missed her. He missed her smile, her laugh, the way she intertwined her legs with his at night, or else she couldn't get comfortable before they fell asleep.
Did he make a mistake? Could he make it without her? He knew it was a dick move to take that chick out and to throw her in Tris's face like she didn't matter. Tobias didn't even remember the damn girl's name now but he wanted her to feel the pain he felt. He felt like she abandoned him when he needed her the most. That he didn't feel like he could get over. He hated that his friends had taken her side over his. He'd blocked everyone's number except Will. Will had declared for the draft too, signing with Jack Kang as his agent as well. They had been keeping in touch but he missed Caleb, Zeke, and Uriah too.
He decides love was too complicated right now. Basketball was all he wanted to think about so that's what he did. He trained, working out, going to the gym in Charlotte, and pushed aside everything, his feelings for Tris, missing his friends everything.
Time, I just need time, things will get better.
When Uriah came home for the summer, Evelyn encouraged Tobias to go see him but he refused. She could tell Tobias was in a place that she had never seen her son before. She didn't miss how she would catch him staring at the Prior's house. She could tell he was anxious. She, Natalie, and Hana had started going to dinner once a month for girls' night since all the kids were out of the house. It had been a great comfort to Evelyn once her marriage had come crashing down. The ladies had pierced together what happened between Tobias and Tris as well as Zeke, Uriah, and Caleb through parts of the story they had heard from all their children even though Tris and Tobias were still closed off. Lauren had given Natalie some details but not many. The other mothers comfort her when Evelyn feels guilty when she realizes the day she had spiraled drunkenly calling her son is what caused all of this chaos.
"Oh God, This is all my fault," Evelyn says while putting her elbows on the table and her face in her hands.
"Don't beat yourself up Evelyn, Tris and Tobias are two of the most stubborn children I have ever seen" Natalie soothes.
"They can find their way back to each other, even the boys, give Tobias some time to deal with everything" Hana advises.
Evelyn nods in response, guilt wracking her. She hoped that her mistakes hadn't ruined her son's chances at true happiness.
When NBA draft night arrives Tobias is one of the 40 college basketball players that are invited to attend the live broadcast that was being held in Chicago. Only the players that were expected to go as high first-round picks were invited.
Tobias takes a swing of the water bottle in front of him on the table and then adjusts his tie. He was nervous, wondering if he made the right decision in dropping out of school for the draft. His agent assured him that by winning the NCAA tournament MVP and a national title win, he was going to be a top 5 pick. Will had decided to jump too which Tobias figured he would whether they won the title or not.
"You look very handsome tonight sweetheart" Evelyn praises hoping to calm his nerves. She didn't have any reason to think he might not get drafted. It was very common nowadays for players to go straight into the draft after only spending one year in college. The question would be where he would land.
Tobias smiles at Evelyn. There were several other great players that entered the draft that year. A few seniors who had excellent numbers all four years. Tobias didn't think he would go number 1 but it was awkward thinking about sitting there if no one wanted to take a chance on him in the first round. He looked around the room with other players all their hopes and dreams riding on this opportunity of getting selected.
Will, His mother, and his sister were at the table next to them. His agent Jack Kang seemed okay, he worked for a high-profile firm that represented many other professional athletes from various sports. Tobias saw several other draft prospects with their girlfriends and it makes his heart constrict. He thinks about all the nights he and Tris would lay in bed together talking about what it would feel like and how excited they would be if they were able to be drafted, Tobias always being the overly confident one. He still missed her and part of him wished she was here with him.
He wipes his hands on his pants nervously as the first draft pick is called. A guard from Marquette. Then before he knows it, his name is called.
With the 4th overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft, the Dallas Mavericks select Tobias Eaton, Point Guard Dauntless University
Tobias smiles and hugs his mother as he is directed to the stage to shake hands with Adam Silver, the NBA Commissioner, and place the Dallas Mavericks fitted hat on his head. He smiles as they both hold up the Dallas Mavericks jersey with the #1 symbolizing he was their first-round pick.
Tobias takes a deep breath as he walks toward the reporter who will interview him. Finally Dauntless and that part of his life were over and he had a fresh start.
I promise you will get a HEA, however, Tris and Tobias are going to have to go through some things to find each other again! Let me know what you think of this chapter! I'm loving all your thoughts!