A/N: I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Here's the next chapter and it's a bit longer. :) Characters belong to Veronica Roth.
I wake up to the sound of a rooster somewhere – god I hate that about farms – and see the sun barely rising. I look over at my clock and see that it's half past five. I know I won't be able to fall asleep again, so I change, grab my boots, and head downstairs.
I pass by the broken window on my way down. I dislike the sight of it. Apparently a recent storm drove a tree branch through it, and it just scares me to think of thunderstorms that will happen here. We didn't have broken windows in Chicago! I shake my head and keep walking.
I don't see that anyone is up yet, so I take an apple from the kitchen, and go outside.
I climb up over a fence, and find myself in a field, with tall grass and wildflowers. I stay for a moment, enjoying the breeze and rising sun, when I spot another barn-like building in the distance.
When I reach it, I see that it's actually horse stables, with several amazing horses. As I am walking, I see the most beautiful horse I've ever seen. She's dark brown, like pine wood, or a rich dark chocolate. Her mane is a light brown color, similar to peanut butter. Oddly, she has the most interesting green eyes.
I reach up to touch her snout, hesitantly, and she meets me in the middle.
In the spur of the moment, I decide to take her out for a ride. Since I used to attend Tori's riding camp every summer, and she recently said anything on the farm is also mine now, I decide it's ok.
I saddle her up and everything, and take her out to the field.
When I'm done having some fun, I go back to the stables, bringing the horse in by the reigns, to see Four standing in awe. "What?" I say as I get the horse situated in the stable.
"How did you take out Cherry?"
"I just did…?" I state in confusion.
"She's not used to people. She's new and has barely let anyone touch her. And here you show up and ride her."
I am surprised. "She's really sweet. Are you serious?" He nods his head and I smile. "Cool." I walk past him to grab a carrot and give it to Cherry.
Four just shakes his head smiling and says, "Amazing," before heading to feed the other horses.
For some reason, that comment makes my heart flutter, but I try to ignore it. When I finish feeding Cherry, I start to head back to the house.
When I walk in, I find Tori in the kitchen with a little girl with brown hair. "Hi," I say with a big smile.
"Did you see Four?"
"Yea," I reply.
"Doesn't she look just like him?" Tori asks, smiling down at the little girl.
I immediately stop and my heart drops. It never occurred to me that Four could have a… kid. "Who is this little cutie?" I say in a higher voice with a fake smile.
"Addie, Four's little sister."
It is like all the gods have heard my negative thoughts and decided to spare me, because Four may or may not have a kid, or even a girlfriend. Maybe. I smile when Tori says, "This is Tris," and Addie replies with, "Hi Twis!".
After playing with Addie for about half an hour, Tori goes to the living room with her, and I go up for a shower.
I take a nice cold shower, which is refreshing after sweating outside earlier. When I finish, I shut the water off and wrap a towel around my body. I step out of the bathroom to walk down the hallway to my room, and stop dead in my tracks.
There stands a sweaty, shirtless Four, working on fixing the broken window.
When he hears the bathroom door, he turns to me and his eyes widen. We both let our wide eyes roam each others' revealing bodies, before he clears his throat and turns away.
"Um… sorry," he mutters, sounding quite affected by the situation, but maybe I'm just imagining it. I quickly go to my room and shut the door behind me. I stand for a moment, leaning against the door, thinking about what just happened.
All I can think is wow. His muscles. His abs. His tan skin. He is so attractive. And then I think about me. He must've looked away because who would want to look at me? I'm practically built like a twelve year old. Short. Small boobs. I know I'm not ugly, but I am not pretty.
I sigh and go get dressed.
I spend half the day reading books, even drawing a little. I know I'm not lonely because I'm lucky to have Tori and Amar, and now Four and Addie. But it's not the same without my old friends. I was never good at making friends, but I often miss my old life in Chicago.
I finish my current doodle, which was actually Cherry, and close my sketchbook. I decide to head downstairs to have a snack, since I didn't really have lunch.
When I get downstairs, I see Tori outside playing in the flowers with Addie, while Amar is actually gardening by the house. I notice that Four's not with them, and find myself wondering where he's off to this time.
I open the fridge to grab a yogurt, and when I turn around I nearly drop my yogurt at the sight of Four leaning at the door of the kitchen smiling at me. "You need to stop popping up everywhere," I say, trying – and failing – to hide a smile.
He chuckles, "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you… again." At this he starts laughing, and I find it hard to stop myself, too. "I was just wondering if you wanted to meet some of my friends. They come here often too, and now that you're here, they want an introduction."
"Oh. Ok," I reply with a smile. I'm glad I can make some friends my age, as I don't really know many people here. I follow him out to the barn where I see to dark-skinned boys, one a bit older than the other, whistling to some dogs. I then see a girl with dark hair, running towards us.
"Oh my gosh, Four, you didn't tell us how pretty she is!" the girl says, nearly tackling me in a hug. Four and I laugh a bit. "I'm Christina! It's so nice to finally meet you!"
"I'm Tris," I say with a smile. She's pretty straight forward, but she seems like a lot of fun.
The two boys come up to us, one clapping a hand on my shoulder saying, "Hey Tris, I'm Uriah and this is my idiot brother Zeke." Zeke lunges towards Uriah, and puts him in a headlock.
I laugh, and glance up at Four, who is smiling at the situation. "Well it's nice to meet you all," I genuinely say. It's really great to make new friends, and everyone here is so nice.
We end up all having dinner on the porch out back, and I learn a lot more about everyone.
After saying goodbye my new friends, Four, and the adorable Addie, I head up to my room for some well deserved sleep.
I wake up to my phone vibrating. I glance at the time, which is almost nine this morning. I have a text from an unknown number, which has me confused until I open it.
F: Hey, it's Four. You wanna hangout with some more friends tonight?
I smile and reply.
T: And how exactly did you get my number?
F: Oh you know, I AM the Number Man. ;P
F: Tori gave it to me.
I laugh at his stupid joke and continue.
T: Haha, very punny. But sure, sounds good.
F: We're goin to a cabin. Pick you up at 7?
Even though I know it's not a date, I can't help but feel the butterflies.
T: Sure. :)
A/N: The next chapter is already in the making, so it should be up soon. It's basically their night at the cabin. Don't forget to review!
