363 days before
It has been two days. Two days since I found out about my mother's cancer. That's all I've been thinking about for the past two days. I've only talked to my family and Christina for the past two days. I haven't even touched my sketchbook the past two days. I know I need to cheer up, but it's hard to when you know you could lose your mother at any given moment.
"Wait wait wait," Christina says. We are currently sitting in my apartment, watching Mean Girls for the millionth time. "You still haven't called Four yet? Oh I see you're playing hard to get," she smirks. "Christina approves."
"Christina," I groan. "You know I've been too busy to call him. Besides, I don't even like him like that. I can't like him like that, I don't even know him."
"Let's change that. Call him right now!" She pauses the movie.
"Christina," I say before she cuts me off.
"Call him!" I roll my eyes and pull out my phone. "Put it on speaker, I wanna hear, too."
It rings once, twice, three times. He picks up. "Hello?"
"Um, hi?" is all I manage to get out. "This is Tris…"
"Oh hey! Um, hi. I wasn't expecting you to call," he says. "I thought you forgot about me, honestly."
"Sorry," I say. "I've been busy these past two days, family stuff."
"I understand." I hear voices in the background. Who is he with? "Hey, um, Zeke, Shauna, and I are going out for pizza. Wanna come with?"
Before I can say anything, Christina interrupts. "We'd love to! What time?"
"Christina," he says. I wonder how long they've known each other.
Zeke shouts from the background. "Around 2 or so!"
"Got it," Christina says. "See you guys then!" She hangs up and turns to me. "Okay, we've got an hour and thirty minutes to get you ready."
"Christina, it's just pizza," I whine. "I'm already dressed anyway."
"But it's Four you're gonna see!"
I roll my eyes at her. "Whatever. You can do my makeup and my hair. That's it."
"But your hair is no fun anymore!" She's the one whining now. "Since you cut it," she pouts. "Oh well, I can figure out something."
…
About thirty minutes later, after Christina managed to curl my hair, and also managed to get me to put a little make up on—which is a miracle considering I absolutely hate wearing makeup. I've always been modest—we head for the city to meet up with the others.
"I shoulda made you change your shoes," Christina says just as we walk out of my apartment building.
"Why?" I ask. "They match with what I'm wearing." I currently have on a black Imagine Dragons t-shirt from Hot Topic, black skinny jeans, and my black and white high top Converse that I've had since the 9th grade.
"You look fine, no. You look beautiful," she says. "But you could've put on your new pair."
I shrug. "I just like these more." We walk to my car, and I get into the driver's seat. "I am in control of the music," I say.
"Let me guess, Imagine Dragons?"
"No, I like other bands too!"
"Fall Out Boy."
"No."
"Panic! at the Disco."
"Maybe."
"Bastille."
"Possibly."
"I know you all too well. I've got you memorized, my friend."
"Yes, yes you do."
Instead of putting on any of the bands Christina mentioned, I decide to put on If I Lose Myself by OneRepublic, since it's a band we both like. For Christina's 15th birthday, her father took us to one of their concerts. I smile at the memory.
I purposely moved outside of the city because I wasn't a huge fan of city life, especially a big city like Chicago. I love where I live, but I can't stand the drive from my apartment to downtown. Short explanation: long drive and even longer with traffic.
Eventually, though, we make it into the city, and to the pizza place where we were supposed to meet Zeke, Shauna, and Four.
…
"Hey Trissy!" Zeke shouts as we get out of the car. "Trissy! Chrissy!" I'm going to kill that boy.
"I told you not to call me that!" I growl at him.
"You're becoming more like Uriah, Zeke," Shauna says.
"Am not!" Zeke says defensively.
"I dunno, dude," Four says. "You have been calling people 'pansycakes' recently."
"I think you secretly want to be like your brother," Shauna smirks.
"Whatever," Zeke rolls his eyes at Four and Shauna, who are currently doing some kind of secret handshake. "Let's go get pizza."
"Yep, just eat away your sorrows," Christina laughs, and Zeke pouts, but then his scowl quickly turns into a smile.
…
After finishing the pizza, paying and leaving a tip, Zeke suddenly had to take a phone call, Shauna apparently had to go, and Christina claimed that something came up, leaving Four and I together sitting on the hood of my car.
"I am feeling a sense of Déjà vu," he says. "Weren't we doing this two days ago?" He smirks.
"I have a feeling that they left us alone on purpose, and are probably hiding behind the building recording this conversation," I smile at Four. Four. I wonder how he got that nickname.
"Yeah," he says.
"I think we should just leave them here," I say.
"Where should we go?"
"I dunno, just somewhere. See if they follow us."
He smiles and hops off the hood. We jump into my car—I'm still the driver—and leave the others to look for us. Besides, I want to learn more about him.