Skylar chokes on her juice, coughing loudly in the half-empty diner. "Wait, you have dogs? Since when?"

I suppose it is my fault that I never did mentioned my three pups. "They're in Amity, I got them a bit over two years ago."

"And they're coming here in two days." She perks up. "What are they like? Are they cute? What color are they?"

I wasn't expecting that kind of response. "You like dogs?" I ask, completely dumbfounded.

"Of course I do! Just because Dauntless prohibits them for safety reasons – of which you owe me an explanation on how you manage to get approval in the first place – doesn't mean that I don't hear stories about them in school. I love all dogs! Well… All except the one in the aptitude test, that one was nasty."

I wince. My dogs look very similar to that.

"Plus, I met one once. Some Erudite girl brought it for show-and-tell one day. It was super fluffy. Like a cloud!" She grins, using her hands to form a large oval. "She let me pet it. One of the nicest Noses I've ever met." Amazing how Skylar has managed to compliment and insult a person in the same sentence. "So," she excitedly wiggles forward, "tell me about them."

Picking back up my steak knife, I proceed to slice up another piece of lamb. There're so many places to start. "Well, there's three of them:-" At the mention of the number, she sighs wistfully. "-Gunner, Sabre, and Hawk."

"Badass. How didyou come up with such names in Amity? I personally thought it would be something cute like Ginger or Brownie."

I chuckle. "Well, they are pretty badass. You'll understand once you see them."

"What do they look like?"

"They're a large breed. So, they come up to… here." I make a visual by placing my hand three quarters on the table leg. "They look mostly similar, just varying in their colors and build." My fingers curl around a lock of my hair and I pull it in front of my face. "Gunner is this blackish brown. He has like a thin black layer over his brown coat, it's a bit hard to describe it really. Sabre is silver and black." I point at the middle section. "Very pretty color. It's almost like he's gleaming, and he has these black shadings that accentuate his features." My fingers travel down to the ends of the lock. "And then there's Hawk. He's light brown with a darkened muzzle. His coat is common for his breed, but he does look the friendliest among the three."

Skylar is completely mesmerized, staring at my hair in a new light. "And their personalities?"

I could practically spend all afternoon blabbering about my babies. She has no idea what she just signed up for. "So there's Gunner, he's the biggest and probably the scariest looking. But don't let him fool you, he's actually the biggest baby among the three. My cute fluffy dog. He just loves, and I mean really loves,cuddling. And also, he's really-"

Suddenly, there's a shrill ringing – a noise I'm not at all familiar with. It dies down after a second before starting up again. I stare at the maroon phone in front of me. Work only starts on Monday. So, I can't imagine anyone that knows my number, would be calling.

Skylar apparently has more knowledge on who's calling me, because she gasps in even more excitement and shock. "How long have you hidden this from me?"

"What do you mean?" I lean over the table. The caller ID says 'Mine ;)'. Picking up the phone that obnoxiously continues to ring, I frown at the ID. "Urm, I'm not sure who this is." I say slowly. I don't recall keying in this name or knowing anyone who goes by this. Is the ';)' a typing error or something?

My acquaintance only raises an eyebrow in disbelief.

I don't waste another second and press the green circle, pulling it to my ear. "Who's this?"

The voice over the phone is nothing I'm unfamiliar with. "Hello to you too Anna. Glad to know you've already forgotten about me."

I choke on my saliva while blood rushes to my cheeks. "Eric? You did this?"

"Did what?" He asks airily.

"You know what." I growl. "Why are you even calling me?"

All the hearty laughter that passes through the phone isn't reciprocated. "Aren't you out with your friend right now?"

I ground my teeth together. So he's doing this on purpose. "How did you know that?"

"Mmm… Wild guess."

Liar.

"Did you even have anything to tell me in the first place?" The nagging suspicion of him prolonging the call is starting to poke me.

The other end goes silent for a moment before finally buzzing to life. "Well I don't, but I think you do." He replies cheekily.

"Were you-" A beep resounds in my ear and my jaw drops.

Did he just-

He definitely did.

Growling under my breath, I have half the mind to call him back up and give him a piece of my mind.

But I can't, because I get: "Is that… is that Eric Coulter?", the person across me splutters. My body jerks at the voice, slowing coming to the realization that Skylar witness the whole thing.

Oh crap.

"No."

She lunges forward, skin-tight shirt almost touching her pasta, forcing me lean back as much as the chair would allow. There's this predatory look in her eye, one that tells me I'm cornered. "It is!"

There are people looking our way now, no doubt because of Skylar's obnoxious exclamations

"No it's not. This is another Eric. He's from highschool." I add the last part a bit more loudly. Then I whisper-yell at her. "Can you keep it down!"

Skylar rolls her eyes and petulantly plants herself back onto the seat. I'm not quite sure what exactly she's doing, but her half-glare resembles a kid in kindergarten. "So the rumors are true."

I cringe. "What rumors?" Who on earth has the time to spread rumors?

"You're the girl who was kissing Eric on the welcoming banquet." Then she clears her throat flippantly. "It's quite a big event. He isn't usually seen with the girls he sleeps with."

My stomach drops. The once appetizing food in front of me now makes me nauseous.

Skylar probably noticed me turning Riley-green, because the next thing I know, she's attempting to make the situation better.

"But I mean, that was over a year ago. He hasn't been with anyone… lately." She rambles, shaking her hands in my face in attempt to comfort me. "At least, that's what everyone's been saying." She mumbles the last part mostly to herself; nonetheless, I caught it anyway.

Just the thought of someone else sleeping in the same bed as him makes me sick to the core.

I slept on that.

"So, when did it start? You guys must be pretty serious if you have his name saved as that." She gestures to the now life-less phone in front of me.

I need time to digest the news, figure out how to live with it if this thing with Eric is going to continue. Yet, I'm also in a dire need for a distraction. "We didn't actually kiss that night, kinda just hugged." Even this sounds unbelievable to my ears after what I've just learned. "In fact, we haven't kissed at all…" I look dejectedly at food before me, feeling oddly embarrassed.

There's a hint of disbelief in her voice. "At all?"

"Yeah."

I expected her to burst into an obnoxious comment, having grown accustomed to her unprompted bursts of emotion since we'd became acquaintances. However, the only sounds are the dying din of conversation around us. I hold in a breath and peer up at her.

"Skylar?"

She tilts her head, seeming to assess me with new eyes. When she speak up again, her voice is ten times softer to what I'm used to. "How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long have you guys been together?" The gentleness showing no signs of leaving.

I'm struck with how I too, have no idea. "We-" We never did officiate it. Perhaps it was the day I told him we should give this a shot, or the day of War games where he practically kept me by him. I can't even recall when all these started. It could even be the first day of initiation, where I was freezing to death. But looking at how shocked Skylar was at the lack of kissing, I can't help but wonder if I should consider us as a couple at all. I am confused. "I'm not sure… a few weeks maybe?"

She's astonished. "A few weeks!" Skylar leans back on her chair, making it seem as if the news was too much of an impact. "Wow." She mumbles the last part to herself.

"What?" A few weeks isn't anything. Romantic relationships can go up to years – if Eric isn't just a John reincarnate. After all, everything that we've done so far physically can be easily interpreted as a extremely close platonic relationship. Without myself realizing, I'm thinking in shades of maybes. I could've misinterpreted all his 'don't leave's wrongly, both of us having extremely different meanings to the words.

She then leans forward, silencing all my doubts, and places her elbows on the table, her fish long forgotten. "What's he like?" Her voice is so quiet that I had to strain my ears.

"Urm… I don't-"

"Have you told anyone about this?" She practically whispers over the emptying restaurant.

I think about Four and his snide remarks. "No, not really."

She then asks, "do you want to tell anyone about this?"

Of course I do. I want to advice on the relationship I'm practically walking blind in. I need someone that knows the do's and don'ts of having a relationship here in Dauntless or a relationship at all really.

"Look Anna, I know you may not consider us close, but I'm concerned for you." She says softly. "You need to let people in, people to care for you. Now, I'm not implying that Eric may be blackmailing you, or any sort of that matter. However, I do want to let you know that if ever you need someone to talk to, about anything, I'm right here for you."

I stare, at a loss for words. Never in a million years would I have thought Skylar to be more than a gossip and party buddy. She's revealing a new side of her today, a side rarely found here in Dauntless.

"Thank you. I'm just-" I pause and take a deep breath. "It's just that I had bad experiences with people in the past. Which is why I'm so distant from everyone."

"Bad experiences are good." She nods her head, surprising me. "They help you see the world from a different light. But, don't let that make you forget that there's still good all around you."

"Way to go ANNA!"

I cringe as multiple heads turn to me. Uriah is shoving bystanders aside, a wide grin spread across his face.

As much as he is unnecessarily embarrassing me, I'm grateful to see a familiar face. "Hey." And that's all I can manage before he's grabbing me through the throng of people.

"First place!" He proclaims, almost shaking with excitement. "I'm so happy for you! I tried to find you during the welcoming banquet but mama needed me to help her at the kitchens." He pouts. "And you're here now! I didn't expect to see you so soon! Come, come, Lynn is here today. She's absolutely dying to meet you."

The first thing that goes through my mind as my eyes land on the dependant is that she's definitely not dying to see me.

"Anna right?" She asks monotonously. "Heard you came in first. Congrats." Despite her words, she seems like she couldn't care less. And for some reason, I'm grateful for that. It's nice to not have people jumping onto you.

"Umm, thanks."

"That means she respects you." Uriah whispers into my ear before I can form an impression of her.

Lynn is striking, even with the minimal effort she's put in to do so. Her hair is pulled back to reveal golden-brown eyes and full lips. I won't even be surprised if she had a string of boys kissing the ground she walks on.

It dawns on me that Uriah and Lynn are the only two people in our team here today. "Where's Zeke?" It's currently past dinner, surely Zeke's working hours has ended.

He start's blabbering. "Oh, Zeke has a night shift. He works at the control room with Four." The mention of my friend hit a sore spot. "Usually it's just me, Lynn and Marlene that's here. Since we don't have any work to do as dependants, we come here more often than them. It's nice. Zeke's kinda bossy and lame. And Four is just boring. I mean, they are good, just not fun to be with. Sometimes, I wonder if-"

I cut him off after I realise that I'll never get to ask my question. "Who's Marlene?"

He pauses, furrowing his brows. It's almost as if he had forgotten that he mentioned her. Then his face lights up and he points towards the ring in front of us. "She's with us. We all grew up together." In the ring is a brown-haired girl evading a man. She's practically dancing through the course.

Four didn't mention her being in Lions. "She in another team or something?"

"For chase tag? Oh no, she prefers to do this for fun. Marlene doesn't understand why people would voluntarily put themselves under pressure, especially when the bets are running high."

"She seems very adept in the sport though."

This time, it's Lynn who speaks up. "She is."

We lapse into silence as we watch her glide from platform to platform. My mind then drifts back to Eric. Albeit confused on where we stand, deep down I know that he feels for me the way I feel for him. Scratch that, I only know this because of the way Skylar was squealing over everything.

"I don't think you can just 'upload contacts' onto a phone. There isn't any technology that has been invented similar to that." She said, genuinely perplexed as I explained how I didn't actually save his name as that.

"But that's what he said to me."

Suddenly, a light flickered off her head and she was leaning forward again, a knowing smile on her face. "I think… he manually uploaded every single one of the numbers."

After hearing her theory, I checked the number of contacts in my phone, attempting to gauge the amount of effort he had put into this. Next to each name was their job in brackets, something that I didn't take notice when I was calling Johanna to speak to John. In total, there were thirty contacts in total. Heck.

Skylar started swooning then, as realization crept onto my face. She was gushing about his efforts while I was horrified by it. The time that he must've spent to do the tedious and unnecessary job of locating their numbers and keying them in one by one was far too far-fetched for me to grasp. He should've just given me the contacts on a printed paper for me to do it myself, then I wouldn't have felt so guilty for not thanking him more last night.

Speaking to Skylar was refreshing. She was right, I did need someone to talk to.

I told her most of my experiences with Eric, just excluding the whole chunk about having met him on the fence and all the physical fights we – well technically it was just I who was getting physical – had. I had to make that split second decision or else I would reveal more than what's safe for the both of us.

When I first started, she seems apprehensive of everything. I could tell from the fleeting frowns that dotted her features, despite her not voicing out her thoughts. I suppose I can sympathize with her, why would the big mean Eric converse with a peace-maker instead of talking her down? She even had me reaffirm multiple times that yes, this is the same Eric Coulter – the ruthless one – that we're talking about.

It was only when I recalled how he stood up to Riley did my friend's attitude towards Eric changed. "That's sweet," was the first positive thing she said since I started my ramble.

"I guess it was." I don't mention how confused I was after that incident.

Once I reached to the events that occurred yesterday, she might as well be wearing a 'Team Eric' shirt. She was absolutely bought over by his sweet actions towards me, pressuring me to take the next step into the relationship or publicly state my claim like he not-so-subtlydid to me.

Skylar is the friend I never thought I needed. Spending time with her helped me see everything in a bird-eye view and agree that 'yes, Eric treats me too amazingly well to just want friendship', though I hesitated when she said he was perfect for me.

It was surprising; I didn't feel the typical pounding or irritation whenever I over-exceed my time allocated for socialising. So much so that it wasI that asked if she would like to go furniture shopping with me. It took her a while to understand why I would pick out weird items like knotted ropes, unnecessary drying racks and surplus towels. Explaining the concept of dog friendly-ing the apartment was difficult for her to grasp; especially since she didn't have a fraction of idea of the array of skills a dog can perform.

Nonetheless, she was absolutely mesmerized by my dogs – despite not having met them yet. As receptive she is towards their arrival, I can't help but feel pressurized to make them look more… presentable.

Marlene continues on a few matches, with Uriah and Lynn eventually going up to play against her. It is only when she's finally out of breath does she step down from the ring. She turns to Uriah when she spots my unfamiliar face, no doubt asking who I am. Eventually, her eyes light up and she practically skips her way to me.

"Hi!" Her voice is light and airy, almost like she's on cloud-nine. "Heard you joined the Lions." She side glances a panting Uriah. "How have the boys been treating you? They can get a bit rough sometimes."

"Hey!" Uriah whines. He says 'we are not!' the same time Lynn says 'they are.' "And we treat her perfectly fine," he childishly adds.

Marlene only playfully rolls her eyes and shoves him. "Doubtful."

I should laugh, engage with their nearing-physical bickering and 'make friends', but a familiar blond head just appeared through my peripherals.

It's Eric's.

Just when I try to get a confirmation, he's gone.

Like a moth to a flame, everyone around me fades away and I'm heading towards the exit. It is like I'm possessed, every thought I had flying out of the window as hope sparks that he's here. An odd feeling, considering that we now just live across each other.

I can faintly register Uriah's alarm at my abrupt leave, but it's gone as soon as it came.

There. There's a man walking down the corridor, away from The Ramp. It's difficult to tell if it's him from the bad lighting. The only hint I get is his short hair illuminating off the lights whenever he directly passes under it.

"Eric?"

He pauses. It's definitely him. Slowly, he turns and minutely tilts his head, almost unsure if he misheard.

I weigh the option of running up to him. And I almost did, until I realized that it wasn't only Eric who paused, but a woman heading my way too. Her eyebrows have flown to her bangs and she's looking at me like I've grown two heads.

I only give her a polite smile and continue on my way.

His features relax into familiarity once I'm only a few feet away. "Hey." There's this smile playing on his lips, one so contagious that I can't help but do the same.

"Hey." I fall in step with him. "Whatcha doing here?"

He doesn't hesitate. "Looking for you. But I didn't want to disturb you."

I bite my lower lip and look away, suddenly feeling shy. "You could've come up to me anyways, I wouldn't have mind." Anytime, any day, is what I really want to add.

"You seemed to enjoy yourself. I'm glad you're mixing around."

I shrug. "Nah, I was distracted anyways," by you. Then a though passes through me. "By the way, did you manually key in all my contacts?"

A cheeky grin etches onto his face. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, if you did, you made a typing error." I grunt.

"Did I?" He bites his lip, thinking. "Was it Johanna's?"

I open the contacts and start scrolling. "No, yours."

"Mine?" The cheeky grin is back. "I don't think I did." We pass by another Dauntless member. This one is a female dependant, she's doesn't even bother to cover her shock at both of us walking side by side. We both ignore her.

A groan bubbles on my throat. "No, I'm serious!" I push the phone towards him and point at the weird ';)'. "Look here."

Instead of an 'oops', he does this: The big meanie purses his lips, nods once, and laughs. Actuallylaughs. It's like he's lost his mind, his sudden outburst rushed and uncontrolled.

"What?"

He's doubling over now, oddly finding my question fuelling towards his mirth. "It's a face." He rasps out, face growing noticeably redder under the dim lights. "God. You're. So. Fucking. Adorable."

Now my face is heating up. "No it isn't." That looks nothing like a face. My voice has now contorted into an embarrassed whine. "Stop laughing."

He doesn't; well, not really. In fact, he seems to be having the time of his life while I'm here being unable to relate and amthe laughing stock. "Sideways." He finally manages out.

I rotate the phone sideways. "It's looks nothing-"

"The other way."

My nostrils flare and I begrudgingly rotate it the other way. "Oh," I say stupefied. It's a winky face.

Walking around with Eric's booming laughter wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't the unintentional source of it. It is, least to say, a horrible feeling. Especially when you're trying to impress him and show him how you're not a fool. By the time he quiets into shaking wheezes, blood has completely rushed to my face and I'm very sure that both of us sport identical tomato complexions.

We're approaching the Pit now, I don't think I want everyone to see us – see me, really - like this. "Eric stopppp laughing."

He quiets down, only to wrap an arm around my shoulder to pull me close. "But you're so cute." He coos, nuzzling into my hair.

"I didn't know okay! I never had a phone before!" I growl back. There was never a need for a mobile during my eighteen years of life, mainly because my dogs took up too much of my time for me to require one when it was time for me to get it.

"I know. That's what makes it cuter." He pulls back and notices my scowl. "Ngaw, don't be like that."

My scowl deepens.

He kisses my forehead. Unlike me who's brain has gone slack by the gesture, he doesn't seem to notice this new milestone. I'm suddenly glad that I'm already too red for him to realise the effect it had on me. "Alright, alright, I'll stop," he concedes, engulfing my hand in his as we enter the bright lights of the Pit.

A/N

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I'll be focusing on heavily editing (or rewriting) the first few chapters. I realised that they are pretty crappily write :')

Yes, I now have time to write due to the lockdown. A-Levels is pretty hectic, haven't quite gotten the time to write (if at all). I'm also in a mini crisis (I'm sure you guys have been through far worse haha) because decided against become a vet, which means that I'll have to start from ground 0.(Understand that I had internships already planned out and pretty much got my path to applying to uni set) So yeah, everything is cools. Kinda wanna forget everything and devote my time to writing this fanfic zzz