Happy Friday! Thanks for all the comments! Thank you Olive for seeing the vision of this story! There's still so much more to come!
Tris feels her stomach drop and tears immediately begin to fall from her face. Tobias walks toward her and she moves toward him like magnets, not really sure if this moment was real. As soon as she was close enough he pulls her to him, leaving soft kisses on her lips. Tris lets out a strangled laugh of joy as he moves his hands to cup her face with as he continues to kiss her. After a minute she throws her arms around his neck and he hugs her so tight she wasn't sure she would be able to breathe as she continued to sob. Relief floods through her body and she squeezes him as tight as she can.
"I love you" she whispers as she held him tight still letting the tears fall.
When he finally loosens his grip allowing her to pull back, Tris places her hand on his cheek and looks into his eyes, and smiles through her tears at the love she sees reflected back.
"I love you, Tris, I'm sorry, Baby please forgive me, I'm such an idiot, I was scared and I don't know, I need you," Tobias whispers as she looks down at her and Tris feels her heart constrict at the tears in his eyes.
"It's okay, everything is going to be okay now, I need you too," she whispers back as he lowers his head to capture her lips again. They kiss softly holding on to each other tightly like there was some invisible force that would try to pull them away from each other.
But quickly a fire ignites between them, one that was always there just beneath the surface. Tris starts to kiss him more aggressively now moving her tongue into his mouth causing Tobias to moan and move his arms around her body again. He missed touching her, missed this feeling that only she could bring out of him. His hands move down to find her ass and squeeze and Tris whimpers.
"Tris, Baby," Tobias moans against her mouth. He felt like he was in a daze and was having trouble focusing.
The emotion in his voice as he says her name drives Tris crazy. "God I missed you" she moans.
She needed to feel him. Tris tugs at his shirt, lifting it up so she could put her hands against his skin, feeling his torso muscles ripple as he moved. She could feel his growing erection pressing against her and she is two seconds from hopping in his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist when reality hits her.
"T." she gets out between kisses "Baby we have to stop"
"I need you, Tris, I missed you so much" Tobias breathes out moving his mouth to her neck.
She was sweaty and her skin salty from the game they just played but he didn't care. He wanted to taste every inch of her skin again. It was as if a switch had gone off in his brain and Tobias could only see her and how much he loved her and how much he wanted to be with her.
Tris knew she had to be firm otherwise she would allow herself to get completely lost in him.
"Tobias we have to stop," she says a little more forcefully which causes him to pull back and look at her blinking coming out of the haze he was in.
"T., I want you, God you have no idea how much I do but you need to break off your engagement before we take this too far"
"Fuck, you're right" he sighs and looks up to the sky closing his eyes for a few moments to get himself together.
He places his forehead against hers. They both close their eyes and just feel each other and Tris moves her right hand to rest on his chest. They breathe each other in, both feeling the energy flowing between them. Tobias is almost overwhelmed with all the feelings running through him.
After a moment, they both open their eyes. Tobias has so much to say, he was so overwhelmed.
"Tris I don't know where to start..."
She smiles up at him and places a finger on his lips. "I know we have time, now"
Tobias looks at how Tris was practically beaming up at him and he has no idea how he stayed away from her, from this, from them for so long. He wraps her in a tight hug again, loving the way she sighed happily as she melted into his arms.
"I'm never letting you go again" he whispers when he finally pulls back.
It was overwhelming but she was never going to let him go again either. He grabs her hand and tugs her toward his house.
"Uh un Sir no way!" Tris giggles trying not to let him pull her.
"I just want to hold you, I promise" Tobias replies playfully as he tugs harder.
"Yeah, I've heard that one before, and besides I need a shower" Tris argues with a laugh, still seeing the look in his eye.
"I don't care, come on, I'll be on my best behavior" Tobias gives her that charismatic grin that always made her go weak in the knees.
Tris gives in, she couldn't stay away from him now if she tried. They creep back in through his window. It felt strange being adults sneaking around at one in the morning like this but still exhilarating like it did when they were in high school.
Tobias kicks off his shoes and strips down to his boxers and Tris does the same but grabs a t-shirt out of his suitcase. Tobias grins loving the sight of her in his shirt. They climb into his bed and snuggle up with Tris laying across his chest.
"The last time we did this we were about to leave for Dauntless" Tris whispers.
"Yeah, but I definitely got lucky that night"
Tris playfully swats at his arm causing him to chuckle.
"Tris I'm sorry, about pushing you away, I thought if I kept pushing you away I could move on but as usual you saw right through my bullshit. Thank you. I was about to make the second biggest mistake of my life"
"What was the first?" she asks curiously, moving to prop herself up so she could look him in the eye. He caresses her face and gave a soft smile.
"Breaking up with you in college, I was a fool and It's always been my biggest regret. You don't know how many times I almost broke down to tell you that I needed you and missed you. I tried so hard to forget about you and tell myself that I didn't still love you, that I didn't need you but all I did was lie to myself"
She leans over and kissed him again softly. "I know what you mean"
After a few light kisses, Tris pulls back and glares at Tobias.
"What?" He looks at her trying to figure out what she was thinking.
"I can't believe you fouled me that hard," she says while pinching him on the side causing him to feign like he was really hurt.
"Owww, You are so cocky you really thought you could beat me" Tobias grins, moving to tickle her but stopping hoping not to wake up his mother. Tris erupts in a fit of giggles and after a minute she calms down trying to quiet her laughter, placing her hand over her mouth.
"I wasn't being cocky…. Okay, yeah I was BUT I was taking a huge gamble, I couldn't not be confident since I was the one who challenged you. And I would have beaten you if you hadn't fouled me"
"Okay fair point, I'm sorry, I would have never done that under normal circumstances. Tris you didn't have to beat me for me to love you. I just needed to get out of my own head and you made me face reality"
Tobias gives her another slow kiss as he laces their fingers together.
Tris smiles as she pulls away. It felt good to hear him say that. "Yeah, just wait until tomorrow, I want a real game"
"Deal" Tobias chuckles and kisses her forehead pulling her close again.
"I know we have a lot to talk about," He says stroking her arm lightly as she lays her head against his chest.
"Tomorrow," Tris says sleepily.
"Tomorrow" he whispers as he gives her a soft kiss on her shoulder. He watches her as her eyes close and her breathing evens out. He had so many emotions running through him, relief, regret, love, excitement, still, some fear but the storm that brewed inside him for 5 years felt like it was calming. It felt so good to finally do what he wanted and he wanted Tris, he wanted them.
As he falls asleep it was as if everything in the world was going to be okay again.
Tris groans as she feels Tobias get up from the bed the next morning. They had been up until 1 am and she wanted to sleep until she remembered where she was.
"What time is it?" she grumbles pulling the sheet up over her shoulder and snuggling deeper in the bed.
"Still not a morning person, I see" he chuckles
"What do you have to do today?" she asks yawning as she rolls over, looking up at the ceiling.
"Did you seriously just ask me that?" he laughs out in a low voice.
"I didn't mean it like that" Tris chucks a pillow at him which he easily dodges. She missed this, playing with him.
She sits up and goes to put on her shoes and shorts. She and her mother had been making breakfast together so she knew Natalie would be moving around to make breakfast for her father to head off to work soon. She was still sticky and sweaty but she couldn't pull herself away from Tobias for a shower.
"You going through the window?", Tobias asks amused as she goes to push it up. It was around 6:30. He knew his mother would be up and moving around soon but not yet.
"You want to explain to Ms. Evelyn that I spent the night in your room?" Tris puts her hands on her hips playfully.
"Good point, out you go" Tobias replies opening the window causing Tris to laugh as he pats her on the butt.
After she climbs through she turns around and kisses him. When she tries to pull away he pulls her back in for another.
"I love you" she laughs after four or five kisses.
"I love you too"
"I can't believe this is real" Tris muses taking him in. This was her Tobias. They still had so much to talk about but Tris feels like she is on top of the world.
Tobias grins. He spent so much time running from his feelings for Tris, he feels like he is on cloud nine now.
"I know it's probably better if I don't go with you today but I want to do something to help"
"I need to do this on my own. I got myself into this, now I gotta man up and face reality. Just knowing you will be here waiting for me already makes it better. I'll call you when I'm on my way back"
Tobias spent the morning with his mother. He wanted to wait until he had handled things with Nicole and he and Tris had a chance to talk more before saying too much to his mother but he knew she was going to be over the moon. He was even more glad he hadn't said anything about his engagement now. Tobias asks Nicole if she could be home that afternoon so they could talk, he wanted to get this over quickly but he already knows Nicole was not going to take this well.
He takes some time to pack some more clothes while he waits, knowing that he wasn't going to be coming back. He could continue to stay with his mother until he figured out his living situation. Nicole wasn't paying any bills and everything was in his name but he wasn't going to be that much of an asshole and set her out on the street that week.
"Hi Baby, I'm sorry I'm late, I just needed to clear my head, this week has been so stressful. I just needed to relax and they were able to fit me in at the spa..." Nicole rambles as she doesn't even pay attention to him as she drops her bags and kicks off her heels and heads to the bedroom.
"Nicole, I said we need to talk, you knew that when I asked to meet up this afternoon," Tobias says with an annoyed tone.
Nicole tries not to show her annoyance. She didn't like that he suddenly wanted to talk after being gone to his mother's. She needed to reign him back in. She quickly shimmies out of her dress. She checks her lavender and black bra and panty set and does a quick look to make sure her ass looked good.
"Why don't I fix you a drink?" Nicole offers. She grabs her phone and picks a sexy song to turn on. She could make him forget whatever was on his mind.
"Nicole, I don't want a drink, Alexa turn off the music," Tobias says forcefully.
"You've been gone for days, can you at least act like you want to make love to your fiancee?"
"Nicole, I don't want to, if you would listen to me for a fucking second you would understand I'm trying to tell you I'm done" he practically yells.
Nicole stands there wide-eyed not sure she actually believed him.
Fuck, how did she let this get off track, she had to think quick.
"Don't say that, we just need to reconnect. I should order some dinner" She stammers trying to regain control of the situation.
"We don't need to reconnect, this hasn't been working Nicole. I'm not happy, I want out. Please put some clothes on"
"Out, you want out, We're supposed to be getting married, how the fuck do you think this makes me look?"
"You have got to be kidding me right now" Tobias wipes his face in frustration.
Nicole turns on the dramatics and starts to cry and scream.
Tobias takes a deep breath through his nose as he looks up at the ceiling. This was going to be a long night.
Tris is on pins and needles most of the day constantly checking her phone. She wanted to tell Nita, Christina, Marlene, and Lynn but at the same time, she knows she needs to wait. She and Tobias still needed to have some difficult conversations about their breakup and how to move forward. She knows she needs to give Tobias space to handle Nicole but she just wanted to be there for him.
"Everything okay sweetheart? You've been jumpy all day" Natalie comments.
"I'm fine Ma, I promise," Tris says with a smile. Things had been smoother between Tris and Natalie since their blow-up. Tris still felt a bit awkward opening up to her mother but she could see Natalie was trying.
Lauren comes over for dinner with the baby, wanting to spend as much time with her sister as she can even though she and Harrison were planning a trip to Chicago with Caleb, Marlene, and her parents over the summer to spend more time with Tris.
Finally about 8:30 pm that night Tobias finally calls her and she steps outside on the patio for some privacy.
"Hey you"
"Hey," Tobias replies with a sigh as he leans his head back against the headrest. He had a headache from but the thought of holding Tris in his arms was enough to relax him. He knows he and Tris still have a lot to talk about but now that he and Nicole were officially done, there was nothing in their way.
"You sound exhausted," Tris observes hearing the tension and fatigue in his voice.
"Yeah as you can expect, it did not go well. I never want to go through that again"
"Do you want me to meet you somewhere?"
"No, I'm headed back there, I should be there in about an hour traffic is still heavy downtown"
"Okay, see you soon"
When Andrew and Natalie say goodnight and head up to their bedroom, Tris spends the hour gathering things up around the house.
By the time her phone pings with Tobias telling her that he's back she has a beach bag full of stuff that she pulls out through the window with her. This had been one of the things they would do late at night the summer before they went to Dauntless. It felt special to be able to do it again now.
She takes a few blankets and pillows and spreads them out on the ground. It was a little chilly just like the night before, but Tris made sure there was a lantern, pillows, and more blankets to make it cozy.
"What's all this?" Tobias asks as he hops out of his window as she pulls things out of her bag finishes her set up which included her JBL speaker, a bottle of wine, and a piece of the chocolate cake her mother had made the day before. Tobias loved her mother's chocolate cake so much Natalie would make three at a time when they were in high school so Tobias and Uriah could have one all to themselves.
"I thought you needed to relax, You sounded so tense," she says with a smile. They needed to talk but for a little while, Tris just wanted to enjoy being in his arms.
Tobias joins Tris on the blanket, and they take off their shoes to get more comfortable. Tris had her iPad so they could watch a movie.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Tris asks after they drink half the bottle of wine and Tobias devours the chocolate cake while they watch Bad Boys with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith.
"She called me an asshole, accused me of cheating, threw stuff at my head, cried, yadda yadda yadda," he says dryly. "The sad thing is all she kept saying was how much of a fool I made her look and what would be people think, it really wasn't about us"
"I don't want to be shady when I say this, well yeah I kind of do but did she really love you or love that you were an NBA player"
Tobias chuckles and pulls Tris closer to him.
"Ma actually hated her, Hector and Fernando hated her, so did Uriah when he met her, I can't believe that I let it get that far that I was about to marry her. I feel so stupid for not seeing through the bullshit"
"Yeah, Uriah kind of let on that he wasn't feeling her. But I understand, It took me a long time to really admit to myself that I was still in love with you," Tris admits.
"I started seeing the team psychologist after I tore my ACL and I ended up talking a lot about you…" Tobias admits. He was still processing that he had twisted his mind into pushing Tris away from him for this long. He feels like he could stay in this moment forever.
"Really?" Tris was intrigued. She didn't think that Tobias would be one to go to therapy, but as they talked, she could tell how he was pushing himself to open up.
"Can I ask you, if you had been thinking about me and talking with your therapist, why didn't you come to me, why still buy an engagement ring for someone else? Why did you let me wager to play you?" Tris sits up so she can look at Tobias and search his eyes for an answer.
Tobias closes his eyes and thinks for a moment before he speaks wanting to be as honest as possible.
"Because you were the one who could break me, Tris. I know it was fucked up in college how I broke up with you. I was lost and I felt like you walked away from me, and I convinced myself that I didn't care about anyone, that I didn't need anyone. I was terrified that if I let you in again, I was going to get hurt. But when I saw you turn to walk away from me, I couldn't let you. The thought of you walking away from me scared me more than the thought of getting my heartbroken. Last night when you challenged me it wasn't about me trying to prove that I could marry Nicole, I realized it wasn't about you proving that you loved me. I needed to take control of my own feelings which I had been avoiding for so long. I love you." Tobias feels his voice crack and as the emotions threaten to spill over. He brings a gentle hand up to her cheek.
Tris feels her eyes welling up with tears. In all these years she really hadn't thought about him being in pain and scared of getting hurt. It was easy to paint him as the bad guy at first when she was still hurt and angry. She'd come to realize that Tobias pushed her away because he was hurting about his father, but she never thought about the fact that he was afraid of getting hurt too.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you," she says quietly against his ear.
"Tris you were there for me, I'm so sorry everything in my mind was twisted and I felt like you weren't. I'm sorry I pushed you away, I pushed everyone away."
Tris wraps his arms around his neck pulling him close. He squeezes her tightly, never wanting to let her go. All the years of feeling completely alone, she felt whole again in this moment.
"I almost did it once, come to ask you forgive me and to apologize for how everything went down. I wasn't sure if I was going to ask you to take me back, but I feel like I probably would have if I would have went through it but I chickened out," Tobias tells her after a few moments.
"What? When?" Tris says wide-eyed.
"Your senior year, I had a road trip to Atlanta against the Hawks. I bought this huge bouquet of flowers, and I had this big speech planned out in my head and I walked up to the dorm and there you were with Zeke, laughing and he pulled you in for a kiss and my heart sank. I turned around and ditched the flowers and told myself you had moved on"
Tris cups his face with her hand, he turns his head to kiss her palm.
"I wish you would have talked to me that day. Zeke and I broke up not long after that. It might have actually happened sooner if I thought you felt the same way I did" Tris says quietly.
"I think I needed this journey; we went on being apart. I don't think I would have been a good boyfriend even if we stayed together. I had so much to work out, I didn't handle a lot of things the best." Tobias reflects.
Tris nods, knowing he was right. She knew herself better now. Being with Zeke and Nita taught her some good lessons about relationships.
"Did you love her?" she asks curiously.
She wasn't asking it to put him on the spot and she wasn't naive enough to think that he couldn't love anyone but her but maybe he did love her at one time. He'd asked her to marry him. She wondered if he had the same trouble, she had with actually loving someone other than her.
"I convinced myself that I did but it was already falling apart. Last night reminded me that this with you has been the only real love I've ever known. I wanted to love her, but I was always holding back. I didn't even really ask her to marry me. It was a conversation she pushed on a whim, and I started regretting it the very next day when I saw you in the mall. I don't think I would have actually gone through with it. That's one of the reasons I was staying with Mom this week, I knew your mom and Ms. Hana could have looked after her but I just needed to get away"
Tris smiles and lays down and Tobias pulls her against his chest. She shouldn't feel so possessive, but she can't help it. Tobias confessing that he was basically doing what she did made her feel better about their time apart.
"Were you in love with Nita"
"How did you know about that?" Tris asks, sitting up quickly to look at him.
"How do you think, Uriah has a big mouth"
"I am going to kick his ass. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone." Tris laughs shaking her head "No I didn't love her, She knew I was still in love with you. Apparently, everyone did"
Tobias finds the courage to ask his next question. He wasn't sure if he should right then but he wanted to know.
"What about Zeke?"
"Ironically Zeke and I broke up because I couldn't tell him I loved him"
"Really?" Tobias asks, astonished as he turns to look at her. He had been sure that Zeke would have swept her off her feet. He had been shocked when Uriah told them they had broken up. Even though he and Zeke's friendship was still a bit rocky he was happy for him.
"Yeah, you have this hold on me T. I couldn't shake you no matter how hard I tried, no matter how angry I was or how hurt I was"
Tobias leans over and gives her a soft kiss.
"I think part of me knows I didn't love Nicole, I don't know what would have happened if last night didn't happen but I never combined bank accounts with her or put her name on the lease. I was going through the motions but my heart wasn't in it. It was like in the back of my mind I was telling myself it wasn't going to work."
Tris feels a bit of relief in hearing that Tobias had battled with still loving her. It made her feel not as foolish as she had over the years with not being able to move on.
"I know we still have so much to talk about and it's important that we do" Tobias starts.
"We have time T. This has been a good start, and you already had to deal with Nicole all day. Let's just chill"
"Thank you" Tobias sighs in relief. It wasn't that he wanted to avoid talking things out with Tris but he really was mentally exhausted.
Tris grins in response and gives him a kiss. She knew what she wanted, him and yes they needed to clear the air about several things but things were on the right track.
They cuddle and keep talking about nothing heavy, finishing the bottle of wine, stealing kisses in between. At some point, Tris hooks her phone up to the speaker, so the soft sounds of Maxwell surround them. After a while, they gather up everything and fall asleep together in Tris's bed. Whatever tomorrow was going to bring, they would face it together.
Nicole sits there on the couch in the empty condo still stunned. She shouldn't be too upset about their short-lived engagement ending, she really just wanted the press and the exposure. Tobias's knee injury was proving to be a problem with him securing another contract anyway but he had potential.
"How the fuck did he leave me? Me?" She says out loud.
"That bitch!" Nicole screams as she puts the pieces together. Tobias kept saying that he was doing this for him and he was doing what he wanted. He had been at his mother's house, next door to where his ex-girlfriend who was also in town was.
She had yelled and screamed, cried. All of it wasn't for dramatic effect, her hormones from the pregnancy were already taking effect on her. She still hadn't told him she was pregnant yet. She should have but now, she was going to twist the knife when she did it.
"I'm going to fuck him up," she says to herself bitterly as she wipes a tear away from her face. Everyone was going to hate Tobias Eaton when she was done.