Day 60 of almost being a godmother: Old Frenemies and Almost-Friends
Peter Hayes is not an entirely welcome sight to see after coming home from a fun girl's night (not an oxymoron, I have recently realized) and certainly not an expected one, but I invite him in anyways.
"Tris!" He exclaims when I reach my door with the key. "Glad to see you. Can you let me in?" Then he shoots me a sweet smile that has charmed so many girls, but I just sigh in response. There is no emotion in my reply other than exhaustion.
"Great to see you, Peter."
You wouldn't think one would just let in an untrustworthy guy like Peter into their house, but Peter and I go way back. Sort of. We met in London on our first day of college, and he tried to bully me. I quickly proved him wrong in thinking that I was weak, and as a result I earned my very first British friend. He liked to joke that he only kept me close so he could use my "amazing strength".
Peter's jokes always had that nasty undertone of cruelty, and I knew that right under the friendly face he showed me on a daily basis was an awful person. Still, it was nice to have a friend. Not someone to trust, of course, but someone to know was there to be a friend, sort of. Peter always was under the impression that I needed him more than he needed me. I let him keep that thought. It wasn't hurting me, and it was a nice thing to be underestimated when you're dealing with Peter.
Moving back to Dauntless, I realized I had forgotten what friendship actually was, which was most certainly not grimacing at Peter's descriptions of wrestling matches he had dominated in and watching Edward and Myra kiss like the world was about to end.
So I put my key in the door and let this semi-friendly man I hadn't seen in six months into my house. As you do.
Peter looked around my apartment. He is never easily pleased, and I wince, wishing I had done laundry or straightened up.
"This is quite an apathetic cleaning situation, you realize." There is no joke in his tone like there would be in Christina's or Four's if they ever said something so condescending. I decide I have not missed him.
"Well, it has been such a pleasure seeing you again. Can I get you something to drink? Or will you be on your way?" I stress on your way to no avail; Peter keeps picking up my photographs.
I smile at them fondly although I feel no such feelings for the boy holding them.
Lynn and Zeke jumping up and down and pretending to play electric guitars at Lauren's party.
Shauna and I giving bunny ears to a sleeping Christina.
Will, Uriah, and Marlene pushing each other into pools.
Susan and Caleb hugging Mom, Dad and I.
The largest photo in the middle is a candid presented to me by Uriah, an avid photographer when he isn't staring longingly at Marlene. (Several times we have teased him for the fact that his camera seems to like her the best out of all of us.) This particular picture is of Four and I on the Ferris Wheel.
Everyone had paired off except us, and what nobody told me until the last minute is that Four seems to be deathly afraid of heights.
The entire ride we had argued and got mad at and teased each other (okay, maybe that was mostly me) but Uriah's camera seems to capture one peaceful, sweet moment. Looking at it closer, I can deduce I just made a joke at his expense and am doubled over laughing while he is looking at me in wonder, smiling for a split second. Is it just me, or our hands almost touching?
Huh.
"Who are these people?" Peter frowns.
"Who are you?" asks a voice from the doorway, and I curse inwardly. It's Four, complete with awful timing, his bright blue eyes surveying Peter in a way I cannot comprehend. Is he annoyed? Angry?
"What are you doing here?" I ask incredulously.
Peter ignores Four's sudden entrance and asks again, this time more demandingly, "I said, who are these people?"
"My friends," I say, distractedly, surveying Four. He looks troubled by Peter's presence.
"You have friends?"
"Yes. I do have friends other than you."
"Again, who are you?" Four drawls.
Peter presses on. "Why are you friends with these dumbas-"
"Peter! You don't even know them!" I reprimand at the same time Christina marches in with a "Hey!" Her expression quickly turns to shock as she looks over Peter's face.
"Peter?"
Peter blinks.
"I knew you. From Candor." Christina says narrowing her eyes like what she remembers is nothing good.
"I thought you said you grew up in England," I say.
"I did. Your-" he spits the word out-"friend is a dirty liar. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find a hotel away from this lame neighborhood." He turns on his heel to exit, but is blocked by Four (who is about half a foot taller than him). The two have a staring contest of male alpha dog-ness, and I am not sure who is triumphant when Four raises a eyebrow, smirks, and steps aside to let Peter through. Peter attempts to knock his suitcase into Four, but he sidesteps easily, leaving Peter tripping out the door with wounded pride.
"So, who was that guy?" He asks, flopping down on the couch and helping himself to some of the chips and guacamole I had hastily put out for Peter.
"That was Peter," I sigh.
"I knew him! From Candor!" Christina protests. "And I am not a liar."
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "Even if you wanted to be."
She nods. "True."
"Peter," I begin after a prompting look from Four, "was my, well, you could say friend from college."
"Was he always like that?" Four inquires.
"A jerk, annoying, an idiot…" Christina supplies helpfully, as if trying to jog my memory. I sigh, lost in the thought of Peter and Four and who had won the apparent fight.
"Yeah. Pretty much. Why are you guys dropping by? Not that I'm not glad to see you."
"I was hoping, well, Zeke and Shauna were hoping that you could watch Alé for them? They haven't been on a proper date in months."
"And you two were sent because…?"
She gives me a sheepish smile. "We figured you wouldn't kill your best friend-"
I give her a look.
"Yeah," she admits. "Not a well thought-out plan, I must say. But I am pregnant, so that has to count for something."
Four adds in, "And I'm intimidating enough to-"
Christina and I both snort.
"What?"
"Hanging out with all of these babies/soon-to-be-babies has turned you into a big softie," I tell him not without a hint of laughter, noticing how the light reflects on his layered, dark blue eyes. He stares straight back and a contest, I can tell, has begun; neither of us is blinking and I am quickly becoming immersed in the swirls of his eyes.
Christina helps herself to a chip and purposefully crunches on it extremely loudly, but I am so determined not to blink that I don't even register the noise.
Eventually Four clears his throat and pulls back, averting his gaze from my own, and I exit the apartment triumphantly.
In the parking lot, I can see Uriah's red minivan. Marlene is sitting in the driver's seat, Will is in shotgun, and Alé is in the very back in a car seat.
Getting closer, I can see Marlene's open-fingered black leather driving gloves, and that Will is furiously texting Zeke, who responds only with emojis. Shauna is in the back alongside her son, and they are playing peek-a-boo. That, as I have learned previously, is a game that never gets old with Alé, and Shauna will likely be playing until she leaves for her date.
Christina slides in the way back with Shauna before I can protest and shoos me away as I do. Reluctantly, I grab the seat next to Four in the middle, and try to ignore our close proximity. There is a gap of space, but it's not much, and Four's elbow takes up much of that room. When our hands brush up against one another, I blush, pull my hand away and pretend that there isn't a shiver running up my spine.
"Mommy?" Alé asks, playing with Shauna's wedding ring. "What's that?"
"It's a wedding ring. It shows that you're married to someone else." Shauna explains.
"How did you get it?"
"Daddy gave it to me. That showed that we were engaged. Then we got married."
"Chrissy? Do you have one?" Alé, who apparently now is allowed to call Chris her abhorred nickname, asks her.
"Yeah," she grins, and shows him hers.
"How do you get entageged?" Alé asks me this time, stupefied.
"The person you love asks you to marry them, and you say yes." I respond.
"How did you get entagegend, Mommy?"
Shauna laughs. "Well, Daddy and I were arguing over the tiniest little thing-"
Four coughs and makes I contact with me. I don't even turn away from the friendly gesture, just understand the look to mean sure it was and nod back.
That is what I understand to be progress in the land of hated acquaintances.
"It was!" Shauna defends. We give her the benefit of the doubt and let her continue. "Finally we were shouting and out of the blue, he asks me to marry him! I say yes, of course, and then we continue fighting."
The story cracks me up every time, not particularly because it's that funny, but the way Shauna tells it; bewilderedly, like she cannot figure out her past actions nor Zeke's. I can tell she thinks of it as some kind of dream; caught up in the moment, and confusing, and wonderful.
"Marly?" Alé questioned.
She begins, keeping her eyes firmly on the road. "Well, I had just woken up Uriah from sleeping, and he knew I was pregnant, and he blearily looked up at me and smiled, saying, 'Hey, Mar.' just like he always did. And we both kind of realized that we wanted to get married, right then. The ring was in his back pocket, which must have been fun to sleep on, and it was kinda wet…but it was perfect." I grin. Cuties.
Alé nods like this satisfies him and turns to Christina. "Chrissy?"
"Shi-shoot." She catches herself. "Umm…"
Will looks back to her and shoots her a smirk. "It's alright. You can tell them."
Chris sighs. "Fine.
"So we're playing some video game at Will's apartment, and we are both losing terrifically-"
Will interjects. "I was letting you win."
"Sure. And I had a ring. I was going to propose later that day. We were just in pajamas, and there were junk food bags everywhere on the floor…" she shudders. "It was a mess. But we were feeling so happy that I just decided to spring it on him, right?"
I lean towards Christina in anticipation, nearly knocking Four's head in the process. Will looks as if he is remembering what happens next, and it can't be good. (For them, I mean. For us, it will be hilarious.) Shauna and Marlene are both intently listening as well. Alé looks entertained.
"Then, of course, Will pulled out his ring as soon as I pulled out mine."
"Great minds think alike," Marlene inputs, trying not to burst out in laughter.
I am shaking with suppressed hysteria and Shauna doesn't look much better.
Christina sighs. "And…and then-"
"Then," Will cuts in, "We looked at each other, shrugged, tossed the rings at each other, and kept playing like nothing happened. I beat her in the game, by the way."
Again, Four and I exchange looks. We have to get saner friends.
"I just have to stop getting shot in the jaw," says Christina. "Then I'm sure to beat your sorry a-"
Shauna stops her just in time with a loud cough.
"Sorry!"
"Don't worry about it."
"Trissy?" Alé asks me sweetly. I have to admit, he's grown on me. "Are you married?" I shake my head no.
"Four? Are you married?" Four does the same.
Alé looks at the both of us. "Oh. Are you going to be married? Like mommy said? Entageged?"
"Engaged," I automatically correct. For good measure I add a "And, no."
"Okay," Alé says, surveying us suspiciously before drifting off to sleep. The car pulls up to Chris's house, where she and Will get off. The next stop is to Mar's place, where we can walk to Zeke and Shauna's house from.
Babysitting, I have found, is mostly watching Alé sleep and mooching off of Zeke and Shauna's stuff.
And spending "bonding time" with Four, who is not quite as aggravating as I remember him. Quite.
It started like any forced time spent with a sworn enemy watching a toddler would: badly. But then slowly we realized that it took way more energy to detest one another than to eat nachos and watch cop shows, chick flicks and the like together on a nice cozy couch. Some things are simply more important than eight-year-old grudges.
As soon as I have soothed Aléjandro to sleep again after his temper tantrum ("Don't go, Mommy and Daddy!") I practically run down to where Four has collapsed on the couch.
"Pass me the remote, Four," I sigh. Tonight is my turn to pick what we watch.
"Singing in the Rain?" He shudders.
"Shush. You'll like it." I pass him the Doritos.
(There is not anything better to form the closeness of two people than the everlasting, indestructible friendship sealing glue that is Netflix.)
Halfway through, Four is engrossed. I resist the urge to laugh. He is staring at the screen with cheese dust on his chin; his mouth is open. I also resist the urge to kiss the junk food dust off of him. I shake the thought off and turn my attention back to the movie.
When Zeke and Shauna come back, they are radiant. "Zeke forgot the tickets to the play," Shauna tells me breathlessly, "so we went bowling and danced in the park. I guess we let the time get away from us-thanks for watching Alé!"
"Of course," I respond. I watch her eyes survey the spotless house. Four and I do a fine job of cleaning up after ourselves when I needle him to help me. In fact, nobody has noticed what we do-
Except, that might not last, as Four still has Cheetos dust on his chin.
Dang it.
I call him over quickly, cursing myself in my head for what I am planning to do. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I tell myself, which in no way lessens my feelings toward what I have to do.
"What?" he asks me, puzzled.
I raise myself on my tiptoes and begin to wipe his chin with my thumb, which I had doused in water from the kitchen. I am reminded for a second of my mother, who would have done this thing to Caleb and I when we were kids. He looks down at me, bemused. "What are you doing?"
I don't answer until I am sure it is all gone. "Nothing," I reply airily.
"Okay," Zeke comments. "That was strange."
When we all but run out, Four pats on his chin like he can't believe what just happened. "What was that?" He tries to hiss, but he can't really be that mad at me, because he is wearing his slightly bemused grin.
"You still had stuff on your face!" I inform him, almost laughing. We have escaped the danger zone, not that Zeke and Shauna would do anything if they found out what we liked to do, but it is fun to pretend to be stealthy.
"Really?"
"Yeah," I repeat. He looks dumbfounded.
"I can't believe we were almost caught because I had food on my chin."
"You better believe it, number boy." I jest. This new habit of joking around with Four is foreign to me, but I do enjoy it. Though we do not act much like it in front of our friends, Four and I get along fairly well.
I am about to cross the street when he grabs my hand, pulling me back. I turn to him in confusion before noticing the large truck that was speedily turning.
"Thanks," I gasp.
He gives me a small smile.
I notice that he does not drop my hand until we have crossed the street, and try not to float the entire way home.
Cuties. How's that for a little fluff? So for now, Tobias and Tris will be very chill buddies. With like, adorable little awkward moments. Cause they're meant to be and all that stuff. There will be more Peter, do watch out for that! I think Caleb and Susan will make little cameos as well. You all are so sweet with the reviews! Can we get to 40 or 45 for the next chapter? As always, check out my poll on the profile. And, I'm a beta! Yay!
Q: What should happen next?
-Uriah/Marlene Wedding
-Christina having her baby
-Big blowout with Peter
(Give me the order, if you want.)