It took several months to get enough of the city vaccinated to begin to lift some of the strict lock down restrictions. Also, every person who received the vaccine had to remain quarantined in their home for two solid weeks, post vaccine. Tris and Eric took this time to continue to get to know each other, they still texted back and forth almost constantly, but much to Tris' disappointment he rarely wanted to video chat lately, and even their every day banter had gotten a little different.

Tris was one of the first to volunteer for her vaccine, she was eager to roll up her sleeves and get back in to working with the city. Christina and she happened to get their vaccines on the same day, so the two had the exact same quarantine time frame. This means that today is their first in-person lunch in months, and the two are beside themselves with excitement.

Eric, who claimed to not be afraid of needles, was actually squeamish about anything needle related, outside of tattoos. He had been dragging his feet to get vaccinated, which also added to Tris's frustration. She knew he wanted the vaccine, and believed in its necessity, but continued to stall and make excuses every time she would bring it up.

Selfishly, she wanted him to get the vaccine so they could actually have a conversation in person.

Since the cafeteria has yet to reopen, Tris and Christina had plans to meet at Christina's apartment, and Tris enjoys the walk down several floors to get to Chris. She still has to wear a mask, but all other protective gear is no longer required, and hearing a handful of people out and about is a welcomed change to how the past half a year has been going.

Christina engulfs Tris in a hug as soon as she makes it into her apartment, and the two friends hold each other a bit longer.

"You are my first human contact in so long. I'm hugging you until it's totally awkward." Christina giggles and it causes Tris to laugh too.

"I thought Will had gotten his vaccine too?" Tris asks as she pulls away.

"He did, but since he works in the infirmary we have to continue to quarantine separately." Christina replies. "He's in contact with so many sick people that we're worried he could bring something home too."

"I'm glad he's doing well, it has to be so hard for him to be working so closely with people who are infected."

"It is, we talk about it a lot. He's seen firsthand what this virus can do, and he takes no chances."

Tris follows Christina to her small dining table, where she has prepared a charcuterie board, along with a separate tray of just fruit, and yet another with desserts for their lunch.

"This is adorable, you did these?" Tris asks. Christina nods. "You seriously are so talented. Between the art you do for your tattoo designs, your decoration skills, your design and makeup skills, and now this. I want to be you when I grow up!"

"Just an eye for detail." She shrugs. "Besides, your boyfriend has me on grocery duty for the foreseeable future. It's going to be awhile before tattoos are approved again, which I completely support and understand."

"Wait a minute, he already talked to you? I was scheduled to meet with you later this week." Tris says as she scrolls through her appointments on her tablet. "Why did he take over that assignment?"

"He's your boyfriend, and you two talk a million times a day. I'm surprised he never mentioned it." Christina shrugs.

"I don't think he's my boyfriend. It's not like he's wanted to talk to me lately." Tris sighs.

"He totally is your boyfriend, Tris." Christina rolls her eyes, but continues, "he just video chatted me this morning to go over my responsibilities. Why are you being so weird about him?" Chris asks.

Tris finishes chewing the grapes in her mouth. "Ok, so I've known its Eric for freaking months now, right?" Christina nods, "So at first, we video chatted all the time. Then when I finally was able to get the vaccine, it changed. The actual day I got it he was so sweet and caring, but the next day it was radio silence. The whole two week quarantine, we've only video called twice, and both times he seemed to want to be anywhere other than talking to me. Texting, he was great, we talked all the time, but even that's kind if fallen off. Phone calls and video calls have gone non existent between us. I feel like he's losing interest now that there's a chance we can take the relationship to the next step Chris."

"He's not losing interest, he's just awkward Tris. You have experience with socially introverted people with Four, and if I'm being honest the Tris sitting in here with me isn't the same Tris the world sees." Christina says. "When it's just the two of us you don't hold back, however even if we had Uri in the room with us you'd clam up a bit. Throw Marlene or anyone else in here from our circle, the same results. Are the conversations between you where you want them to be?"

Tris thinks about her answer, also absorbing and understanding the points her best friend just made. Eric is more like Tobias than she realized, and she is well versed in dealing with her cousin's introverted ways.

"Maybe it's harder for me to separate the Eric at work from the Eric outside of the office. When it comes to work things he's just a different person." Tris shrugs.

Eric is a vocal part of leadership, and while he is quiet and not prone to speaking unless it's applicable to the conversation, he's never shied away from speaking his mind. Just like him taking the time to meet with Christina, he doesn't back away from duties that cause him to have to have any type of verbal interaction.

"Outside of Lauren, has he dated anyone?" Christina asks.

Tris shakes her head, "No. We've actually talked about that. Lauren was his one and only, just like Peter was mine. It was very similar in both situations, going from friends to something more. We were pretty much just kids trying to figure it out. Now that we're adults, it seems so much more difficult."

"Exactly. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but this is potentially going to be only the second relationship either of you have been in. Will and I both had relationships before transferring, and even when we first got here we weren't exactly on each other's radar."

"You're back on each other's radar now though, right?" Tris asks with a sly grin.

"Yeah, for sure. He wants to get married." Christina drops nonchalantly while grabbing more food from the boards.

"What?" Tris exclaims. "How are you just going to drop that into conversation like it's nothing?"

"It's definitely something." Christina grins. "Do you think I'm crazy for considering it?"

"Not at all! You two have been together for over three years now. This breakup wasn't ever going to be permanent."

They continue talking and eating, and even though they've had lunch together so many times since meeting over three years ago today feels so much different. While Christina is distracted by a video chat that she felt like she had to take, Tris pulls out her phone to text Eric.

Tris: Just wanted to say hi and let you know I was thinking about you.

Eric: I'm working.

Tris scowls at her phone. She knows that Eric had a busy morning scheduled with video meetings, but she wasn't expecting to get such a short response from him.

Tris: Sorry for bothering you.

Tris looks at her phone, hoping for at least some sort of response from him, but there's nothing. Christina finishes her call, and notices the strained look on her best friend's face.

"What's wrong?" Chris asks.

"Work stuff. I have to get back, thank you for today, I needed this." Tris replies.

Tris heads to her office, spending time getting caught up on emails and also attending a one-on-one meeting with Max to go over her duties since she will be transitioning back to junior leadership when Harrison was cleared to return in full capacity. Max, Roni and Delilah had all made it through their post-vaccine quarantine period and were back working in their offices. It was extremely nice to have half of the main staff back in the leadership offices, and throwing herself into her work is a welcome distraction from thinking about Eric's sudden attitude change towards her. She's going over some paperwork for Max, knowing that he plans on dropping right back in to pick it up before he leaves for the day. As she predicted, she's interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in." She calls out, not even looking up from her desk. "I'm just finishing this last edit, are you sure you don't want me to just type these back up instead of giving them back to Uriah?"

A throat clearing causes her to finally look up.