| TRIS POV |
I dragged Tobias out of my house by the hand until he takes his hand out of mine.
"Tris." He says "You should stay, this is your family and going with me will just make everything worse."
"Do you really think I was going to stay with my brother?" I ask "He literally attacked me!"
Tobias just sighs. "Okay, let's go."
Just as we get into the taxi Tobias gets a call.
"No, I can't." he says to the phone "Something happened."
"Something personal, you guys can do it without me."
Tobias gets off the phone. He tells the taxi driver to go to the nearest Johnson Apartments.
"That was dauntless, wasn't it?" I ask
He nods silently avoiding eye contact with me.
"Just go." I say
"Tris." He says
"What if it's there? Don't threaten everything for me."
"I-."
"I know, I know, you would give up the world for me." I cut him off.
I look at him and smile.
"I'll only be ten minutes." He says before telling the taxi driver to go to his mother's company.
We get out of the taxi and I see six men and women standing outside in black. I suddenly feel out of place in my grey shirt and cargo pants. I recognise two people, Lauren and Will. I give Lauren a smile and a wave.
"Hi!" I screech running to Will and hugging him "I haven't seen you in so long!"
"Tris! Four?" he questions "Are you two together?"
I just nod. "Why are you here in Chicago?" I ask
"I came back for Thanksgiving and well the Dauntless too." He says "You look great, you look-look like your old self."
"Yeah, I liking it." I admit.
"Yo! Can someone get this princess off our area?" Some boy with spikey hair asks
"Who are you calling princess?" I snap at her.
"You may be attractive but you shouldn't be here." He says towering over me.
"Look, how about you back off because I'm sure even this princess could shoot from this close." I say pointing the loaded gun to his temple which I pick pocketed from his pocket.
I hear a whole bunch of guns unlock. I look around and see I'm surrounded by the other four agents with their guns aiming at me.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's stop aiming at my girlfriend and Tris, stop fooling with them." Tobias says before taking the gun out of my hand.
"Did you seriously drag her into this?" I hear Evelyn say.
I turn to see her in a navy-blue wrap dress, black pumps and the same diamond necklace.
Ugh! now I feel underdressed and out of place.
Tobias holds a handgun and tells me to stay where I am.
Evelyn leads the way with the now seven agents following behind her.
I sit on the curb of the street for about eight minutes on my phone until I hear a gunshot. I hear a few shouts, a few moments later the agents came out and Evelyn. They have a small talk before all departing in their own ways. I say bye to Lauren as she walks past me. I give Will a hug and tell him that we should catch up. I walk up to Tobias and his mother.
"What happened?" I ask
"We went to the basement, there was an Erudite agent, he had a USB in his hand, someone tried to shoot him but he escaped by the fire escape, when we got out he was gone, there was probably a getaway car out back." he explains
"I glad you're alright." I say as I give him a short kiss.
I hear someone cough. Whoops forgot Evelyn was there.
"I hear you guys needed a place to stay." she says "You could stay with me."
I look at Tobias signalling for him to decide. His mother, his home, his decision.
"Uh, sure, okay." he mumbles "It is late and most hotel receptions should be closed."
We get a taxi with Evelyn. The ride there was silent. I remember talking to Tobias about his childhood home, he said his house was on the other side of Chicago. It was quite a long ride, around thirty minutes until we arrived at an iron fence. Evelyn typed in a code and the gate opened.
I heard Tobias take a deep breath. Probably the horrible memories.
I give his hand a squeeze showing him that I will always be there for him.
We walk down the driveway until we arrived at a massive house. I though mine house was big, Tobias's was easily triple the size. [Imagine the X mansion] I resembled more of a castle then a house. We entered the house and it was heavily decorated with art, sculptures, chandeliers and plants. I walk past a table and cast my eyes on a young Tobias smiling with his mother and father, most likely before he was getting abused. Most of the others of him playing football.
"Here, you guys can stay here, I'm just down the hall and two left." Evelyn says as she leaved.
Tobias takes a deep breath and turns the lights on.
The large bed had navy blue silky sheets. The room looked like it was regularly dusted, probably Evelyn. There were a few photos of him and Zeke together and their other friends. There was one photo with him in his football uniform and curvy blonde girl in a cheerleader uniform. Probably high school girlfriend. There was a lot of trophies and medals from football and academics.
"This was home, I guess." He says falling onto the bed.
"Who was this?" I ask picking up the photo of him and the girl.
"Jealous?" he playfully asks with raised eyebrows.
"Curious." I corrected.
"That was my high school girlfriend, Felicity, my father was always like star quarterback and head cheerleader always go together, so I was basically forced to date her unless I wanted to be belted." He says
"She's pretty." I admit admiring her curly blonde hair and shamrock green eyes with a curvy body.
"Nothing compared to you." He says as he grabs me by the stomach and pulls me on the bed "I broke up with her after my father was imprisoned."
"I love you." I say "And nothing will keep me away from you, not my brother, not some girl, not some chip, nothing."
"I love you too, you will never loose me." He hums as we fall asleep.
| NEXT MORNING |
I wake up uncomfortable from sleeping in cargo pants. I roll over and found the Tobias was gone. I get up and find some neatly folded clothing on the dresser with a not one it.
I thought you might want something to wear, I don't know if it will fit you because you are so small but it's better than nothing – Evelyn
It was a modest burgundy mid-length dress with long sleeves. It was beautiful. It was made of some silky satin fabric and had an A-line skirt that slightly poofed out. I looked in the mirror and I looked ten years older. I walked down the stair and went to look for Tobias, on my way I ran into Evelyn.
"Uh, thanks for the dress." I thank
"No worries, it does look better on you anyway." She says smiling. "Look Tris, I apologise for our first meeting, Tobias and I didn't have the best relationship six months ago."
"It's alright." I say "Did you know, you have always wore such nice dresses."
She lets out a small laugh "Thank you, Tobias is in the kitchen, he always loved cooking."
I thank her as I follow the way she pointed. I enter the kitchen to find Tobias whisking something. I'm guessing he was wearing his old clothes since his shirt was a little tight.
"Hello." He says cheerfully kissing me on the lips.
"What are you making?"
"Coconut banana pancakes."
"Oooo, gourmet."
"You look like my mum." He says
"It is her dress."
"She always had a thing for fashion."
"Did I hear you say mum?"
Tobias flashes an awkward smile.
"I'm guessing you guys are better?" I ask
"Yeah, we had a talk this morning, she's not that bad." He says as he bored the mixure into the pan.
I hear my phone ping. It was Zeke
Hey, can you, Tobias and I meet, I think we need to talk
"Babe, Zeke wanted us to meet up." I say
"Okay." He says
I text him back:
Okay meet us up at the bean in Millennium park
After Tobias and I finish breakfast and thank Evelyn for her hospitality we leave to the park.
"What do you think he'll say?" I ask
"I have no idea." He replies
We walk hand in hand to the bean and I spot Zeke. He eyes flash down to our hands.
"Uh, I think I owe you guys an apology." He says
"You think?" I snap
"Tris." I hear Tobias say telling me to calm down.
"I overreacted a lot and I should stop being a coward an accept that you two are together." He says "I-I-I was afraid, uh I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?" Tobias asked sincerely
"I was afraid I was going to lose two of the most important and loved people in my life, I was afraid that you two were going to run off together and leave me." he says "I was scared when Tris was happy whenever she was near you because Uriah and I were the men that made her laugh and smile genuinely, we were the two that really knew her and then you came along, she started going out with you more, having fun with you more, you two were leaving and coming together, I felt as if she left me, this girl that I grew up with and was accustomed to having around me left me."
"I remember when she came home one night crying because her high school boyfriend that she 'loved' had dumped her, her heart may have been broken but just seeing her cry and hurt made me heartbroken too, I swore that I would never let that happen to her again, so I tried to fight off all the guys that ever even liked her, but last night I hurt you two, the people I love the most and I am sorry for being a coward."
At the end of that a lone tear rolled down my cheek. I hugged Zeke and Tobias wrapped his long arms around us.
"We should've told you earlier." he says "I'm sorry."
"I am sorry too." I say "I will never leave you Zeke."
"And neither will I." Tobias responds.
"Okay enough with the emotional shit, let's get you guys home, we're going back to LA tomorrow." Zeke says.