Chapter ▪ Three
It's already one in the morning when Eric leaves his apartment — leaving Tris without saying a word. She is different and he noticed that before. He noticed a lot of things during the last days when it comes to Tris and how she behaves. She made him stop speaking, even though he never lets anyone interrupt him when he talks. He is stronger and he knows, people will give in whenever he gets louder or frowns at them. He let her inside of his apartment, looking through his collection of books — he never let anyone inside his apartment before and he still would reject anyone who is asking for it. Unless it is Tris. And that's the exact thought, that makes him uncomfortable. This thought animated him to leave his own bedroom as soon as it was possible.
He hurries down the stairs, making his way to the office. The door isn't locked. He slowly opens it, seeing Lauren sitting at the desk. She raises her head, looking up at Eric and her lips form a smile. She looks a little stressed out, probably from all the paper work. It is not even her job to do it, so he can't even explain why she is sitting here at such a time. He doesn't care enough to actually ask why she is still here.
"You're still awake?" she asks, trying to hold back a yawn as she covers her mouth with her hand. Eric doesn't consider her a friend, nor an enemy. He usually talks to her, when it is something related to work and that's it. She doesn't show much of an interest, either.
"Just like you." he says, walking toward the desk, looking through the pile of papers and causing even more mess than there already is. Lauren leans back at the chair, watching him with crossed arms. On one side she is happy that he came, distracting her from work, reminding her about the short break she wanted to take half an hour ago. But on the other side she is getting upset about how he carelessly moves the papers from one side to the other — her papers, she's been working on before he came in.
"Eric, I've been working here. What are you looking for?" she hisses, her voice sounding more aggressive than before. He holds up a few papers, letting his eyes fly over the first one. He heard what Lauren was saying, but he ignores her and turns around. The woman breathes out loudly and he knows that she is glad, that he finally found what he's been looking for.
"Good night." she sighs before Eric could leave the room, obviously still annoyed.
"Night." he replies shortly, not looking back at her and closing the door quietly.
Tris is still awake, still laying in his bed. The more she wishes for Eric to come back, the more she feels guilty for what she's doing to Four. She still loves him, of course she does. But there is something she feels towards Eric as well, but she doesn't know what it is exactly. She feels the need to find out and that is what makes her stay, what makes her thinking about him sometimes, when she should actually think about her boyfriend.
She's not tired yet and instead of wasting her time doing nothing, she takes a look around his bedroom. The white walls are not decorated, but still the atmoshpere makes her feel comfortable. A little dark bedside table is placed next to her side, matching the colour of the bed. There is nothing placed on it but a lamp, which light is shining in a warm colour. Looking closely, she just noticed the little drawer at the bottom of the bedside table and there it is again. The curiousity, which often puts her into sticky or awkward situations.
Carefully she opens it. She can literally see her mother's blaming eyes in front of her, but they were all in vain. It was empty. As she hears the apartment door opening, she quickly closes the drawer and turns off the light. Eric is finally coming back.
He enters the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him. Tris does a good job at acting to be sleeping. It reminds her of her childhood, back at Abnegation. She often stayed awake at night to watch the stars at the sky and whenever she heard her father's footsteps walking up the stairs, she acted to be sleeping already. She even remembers that one time when her mother's friends came over. She told them how fastly her daughter falls asleep and how much different she was from Caleb. She's been doing a good job and she still does.
After a few seconds she feels Eric crawling into his bed next to her, the blanket pulled up to the middle of his upper arm. He sleeps with his back turned on her, but she doesn't mind.
The training begins in 15 minutes and Tris is still laying in Eric's bed. The rising sun wakes her up and she turns to Eric, who is still sleeping. She knows, that she is late and Christina is probably wondering where she is. And Four — she forgot about him, just like she forgot in which bed she is actually laying. Gently she taps his shoulder.
"Hey, Eric." her voice is surprisingly calm, even though she is well aware of being late. "Eric, what time is it?"
Her soft voice wakes him up and he moves, burrying his face in the pillow. He didn't sleep well last night. Carelessly he mumbles something into the pillow, but she didn't understand.
"What?" she asks and he turns around, now laying on his back. He looks tired and she notices the dark circles under his eyes. He didn't look at her, keeping his eyes fixed at the ceiling. He didn't forget about her over night. He fell asleep, knowing that she is there and he woke up, still knowing that she lays right beside him. He knows, he is probably late as well, but he doesn't care.
"I said that I don't know." he repeats his own words. He thought about adding a "I don't care, either", but he is too lazy to speak more words than necessary.
"I think training starts in a few minutes. Aren't you late as well?" she asks and he sighs loudly.
"Who cares. Four is probably there already. So what."
"It's weird to hear that coming from you. You're always the first one to explode if anybody is late." she jokes and it causes him to look at her. Unlike her, he is not smiling. It doesn't amuse him in any way and he frowns at her, but just for a little moment. He turns his head away again. He begins to wonder, why he allowed her to stay over night. To actually share such a private moment with one of the initiants, it is nothing he would call alright or even wise. He is the Dauntless leader, after all and he already feels how he is losing his authority towards her. But she is not the one to blame.
"Well ..." he starts grinning, like he usually does. "Basically I know that you are late. And I don't like people being late. The fact that you are lying in my bed doesn't change anything. What means, that I can still punish you for being late."
"You wouldn't!" she laughs, leaning back and pulling her blanket up again.
"I definitely would." her laugh causes him to laugh as well and he turns his head to her, being just a few centimetres away from her face. "I'm being serious, Tris. Get up and go."
"Alright." she says quietly, sitting up once again. She takes her shirt, just holding it in her hands. She doesn't know why, but a small smile showed up on her face. She turns around again, leaning over Eric to kiss him. Instead of keeping on telling her to go, he repeats that kiss. It is hard to admit, but he wants her. Just like last night.
They get interrupted by hearing someone knocking on the door. Tris pulls away, smiling at him while she bites her underlip. She stands up, taking on her clothes. She didn't want to pull away yet. She wanted to stay in bed with him, but that's too risky. For both of them and she knows it. Eric stands up as well, not smiling like she does. He puts on his clothes quickly and walks out of the bedroom to the door, opening it slowly. It's Four.
"You were still sleeping? You look terrible." he says calmly. Why of all people would he come to wake him up? Why would anyone even come looking for him? There are a lot more questions running through his mind right now. But no answers to any of them. Obviously annoyed he sighs, leaning against the door frame with crossed arms.
"Shut up. What do you want?" he growls at the other.
"I didn't come to wake you up." he says, looking over Eric's shoulder to see what he's actually been coming for — the papers Eric got from the office last night. It is important and has something to do with the intelligence sector of Dauntless, the place where he is usually working. Without a word he just walks past Eric into his apartment.
"What do you think you are doing, Four?" he growls, following him. He is the very last person he wants in his apartment and as he raises his arm to grab the other's shoulder, Four makes a quick move forward, grabbing the papers from the table. Eric sighs. He still feels tired and is too lazy to even try throwing him out and he takes a seat on the couch, watching Four looking through the papers.
"You didn't sign them yet." Four breathes out, annoyed. Sometimes he has the feeling, that Eric does these things on purpose to make him upset. But it doesn't. He fakes a smile, letting the papers carelessly fall back on the table, right in front of the leader. He takes a small pen out of his pocket and reaches out his hand into Eric's direction. "I need them as soon as possible."
"Here." Eric growls after he signed the papers. He stands up, grabbing Four's arm to lead him out of his apartment. Once he is out of the door, he turns around. He folds the papers twice before he speaks again.
"Have you seen Tris?" he talks quietly. He didn't expect Eric to know where she is, but he wanted to let him know that he's been looking for her.
"I don't know. I don't care where the Stiff is. Training starts in a minute, you better hurry!" he closes the door loudly. He turns around, seeing Tris coming out of the bedroom.
"I better go now." she says, not looking at Eric. She knows that it was Four, who knocked on the door and she feels sorry once again. She regrets, that she kissed Eric, but somehow she wants more of him and she can't explain why. She hopes, that Four is already in the training room, so she can think about a good excuse for being late. And maybe she can think of a story, to explain him why he wasn't able to find her. Before she could open the door, she gets stopped by Eric's dark voice saying her name and she turns around to see him once again.
"Think before talk. Okay?" It wasn't something she expected, but she nods and leaves his apartment.
It's lunch time and Tris is the last one to leave the training room. She tells Christina to not wait for her and she nods with a smile. She is hiding something from her friends and what is worst, she is hiding something from Four. It was easier to lie to Christina. She told her that she was with Uriah last night, that they sneaked out with some other Dauntless members and did stupid things she will tell her after the training. She is still thinking about what to say.
"Tris." she hears Four calling her. "Where have you been the whole time?"
They didn't have much time to talk during the training. She smiles at him innocently. She hates herself for doing this. He didn't deserve a relationship like this — build up on lies.
"I was with Uriah last night. We and some others sneaked out and had some fun." Her hands move behind her back while she turns her head to the side. She can't look into his eyes, but tries.
"Really?" he laughs. "Were you with his brother?"
"Yes." she nods, laughing as well. She didn't know Uriah had a brother. She better changes the topic before it gets awkward. Quickly she grabs his hand. "I'm starving. Come on, let's go."
They walk out of the training room for lunch. She is not really starving, but it was the best way to avoid any more questions. As they are nearly there, they see Eric walking into their direction. She keeps calm. She knows, Eric won't tell Four anything. If he would have wanted to do so, he would have done it already this morning, when Four was at his apartment. As Eric passes them by, Tris looks at him. He looks at Four's face, who is not paying any attention. Then he looks down at their hands for a little moment. He carelessly bumps into Tris' shoulder. Once again and she turns around. He didn't like to see them like this, holding hands. It's a disturbing picture he would love to set on fire — he is not being jealous, is he? No, this is no jealousy, he keeps on telling himself. Jealousy feels different.
It's after six, but Tris is still in the training room. Four told them, that there are going to be some fights tomorrow and she just wants to be prepared. She is out of breath and it's like she hears voices inside her head. Four's voice, Eric's voice, even her own. She is getting angry, what causes her to kick harder against the punching bag. She is not angry at Eric or Four. She is angry at herself, for doing the things she does. For lying at her boyfriend, for falling for Eric that easy and for kissing him. She's angry for how his lips tasted, for how he looked at her when she asked him if she could stay over night. She stops punching, catching her breath. How is one man able to make her feel like that? Then she suddenly hears footsteps. Eric is the first person she has in mind, but it's not him.
"Man, what's wrong with you?" Tris turns around, hearing Christina's laughing voice as she comes closer.
"I just want to be prepared, that's all."
"You can do it. Even without working overtime." she smiles and Tris starts punching again. "Hey, Tris. You don't need that."
"Yes, I do." she replies shortly, not looking at the other.
"I want a new tatoo. Or maybe a piercing. I don't know yet."
"Really? That's cool." The last kick was the most powerful and it makes Christina jerk away a tiny bit.
"Are you coming with me?" she follows Tris out of the training room, being glad that she finally stopped. Then she takes a closer look at her. She looks exhausted, obviously from training. But there is something in her face, something different she had never seen before. "Are you okay, Tris?"
"Yes ... I'm coming with you. Just let me take a quick shower. I'll be there in a minute." she says, rushing back to the dormitory. Nothing is okay. She loves Four and she feels attracted to Eric. But there are days, when she wished she would just not get along with either of them.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you guys for your nice words on the second chapter! I'm extremly happy that so many people are interested in this story. I apologize for this chapter, tho. I had some problems and had to rewrite it over and over again. There are still some parts I don't like, but I promise the next chapter is going to be better! Just keep on motivating me with your reviews! Thanks! Just to give you a little sneak peek: there will be more smut again in the next chapter. Plus you will get a bit more of Four, I think. I'm not sure yet. Have a great day!