357 days before
We stayed all night with mom last night. I had to leave early this morning—around 5am or so—to get back to my apartment, take a shower, and get to my classes on time. As I drive to school, I stop at a bakery called Bake'm Shake'm, run by Shauna's sister, Lynn. I was never really friends with Lynn, as she was never really that nice to me.
When I walk in, I see Shauna, Zeke, and…Four sitting at the counter, smiling, laughing. Four catches my gaze, and walks towards me. Shauna and Zeke just glance at him. Knowing them, they wanted this to happen.
He smiles slightly at me. He's not the same smiling, flirtatious boy I met almost a week ago. I stand on my toes and whisper into his ear. "We need to talk." He nods, and follows me out of the bakery.
…
"The hood of your car will have our butt prints on it," he says with a light chuckle, not enough to make me believe he's happy. The cool spring breeze blows through my hair, and I see flower petals in the wind. They make me think of him.
"We need to talk," I say. "You know I didn't mean what I said, you were just trying to be nice and I-"
He puts a finger to my lips, and a small part of me wishes he would've put his lips to mine. No, don't think about him like that, you barely know him, how can you love someone who you've known for six days?
"Tris, I," he stops himself from what he's about to say and looks around, avoiding my eyes. "I just don't want you to be unhappy. And what you said did hurt me, but I knew you didn't mean it." He smiles. "You just wanted your mother to be okay." He finally looks into my eyes. Do I see tears in his? "I was very young when my mother died."
"I'm sorry," I say, burying my face into his chest, wrapping my arms around him, breathing the scent of him in. We stay like this for a while, until I realize that I'll be late for school.
"Crap," I mumble as I pull away. "I…I gotta go." I jump off of the hood.
"Wait," he says as he jumps down too. "I will buy you a muffin!" He turns around and jogs back towards the bakery. Not even a minute later, he runs back out, holding a brown paper bag which contains the muffin.
"I didn't know what flavor you liked so I got you blueberry," he smiles.
"Thanks. Actually, blueberry is my favorite."
"Then that makes two of us." He looks around and then hugs me. "Call me when you get out of school," he mumbles into my ear. I smile and pull back. We just stare into each other's eyes for a moment, and then he connects his lips with my forehead. I feel my face get hot. "I'll see you later," he turns around and walks back toward the bakery.
…
I had a smile on my face the whole time driving to school, despite the Chicago traffic, but all I can think about is him kissing me. Well, kissing my forehead anyway. Does he like me that way? Or was he just trying to make me happy?
"Hey Tris!" Shauna says from behind me, and I turn around.
"Hey, what's up? How'd you get here so fast?" She must have classes today too. She majors in Computer Engineering. I remember an eighth grade Shauna saying that she's going to someday design a game. I smile at the memory.
"Beauty of the trains, bro," she smirks. "So, Zeke and I saw you and Four out in the parking lot. I push the up button on the elevator.
"So what," I shrug.
Her smirk turns into a smile. "He kissed you," she says in a singsong tone. The elevator doors creak open and we both step in.
"It was just on the forehead," I look down at my shoes after pressing the button for the 3rd floor. "We're just friends, Shauna."
"Yeah, not every friendship has to become a romance," she shrugs.
"Besides, I'm still waiting for Zeke to kiss you or hold your hand or something," I'm the one smirking now. Shauna puts her face in her hands and blushes.
"Oh whatever, Tris!" she says through a laugh.
The elevator rings and the doors creak open. We step out, and go our separate ways.
…
The phone rings once, twice, three times, he picks up. "Hi Tris," I can hear him smiling. "So, you're out of school for the day?"
"Yeah, wanna do something?" I ask him.
"Sure. Hey, do you know where Amar's Guitars is?"
"Yeah why?"
"That's where I work, meet me there." He hangs up.
I have passed by the music store plenty of times, but just never bothered to go inside. It's actually not too far from my park.
So I drive there, and when I get there, I see Four sitting on the curb of the sidewalk. He stands up when I walk towards him, and wraps his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. "So, how were your classes?" he asks.
"Nothing interesting. I drew, listened to professors go on and on and on about the same stuff," I shrug.
"Hey, how's your mom by the way?" he asks, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, did she wake up?"
"Yeah, woke up yesterday," I look down at my shoes.
"I would like to meet her properly," he says. "Maybe, if she wants."
"My dad seemed to like you, I'm sure my mom will. They're very accepting." I sit next to him on the curb, and we just sit there for a while. Not talking, just sitting, staring off into space. I feel him wrap his arm around my shoulder, I scoot closer towards him, and rest my head on him.
"Aww," a man emerges from the store with a ponytail down his back. "What I've taught you about girls finally paid off, Four." He flashes a smile at me.
"Oh whatever, Amar. I thought you didn't even like girls," Four rolls his eyes at the man.
"Sometimes I do…when they don't pepper spray my eyes or kick me where the sun don't shine," he extends his hand out for me to shake. "The name's Amar, I sell guitars. And other musical instruments." We shake hands.
"I'm Tris."
"Yep," he sits next to Four on the curb, then lays on the sidewalk, looking up at the sky. "I'm the one who taught Toby here how to play after his mom passed. Nice woman, even I was sad to see her go."
Four glares at Amar. "I thought I asked you not to call me that."
Amar sits up and shrugs. "It just slipped out, okay? I've called you that since I've known you, it was weird when you made me start calling you 'Four'."
I chuckle at the two, at how pissed Four looks right now. Four takes my hand and we stand up. "Ready to go, Tris?" I nod.
"Alright, bye. Have fun, but don't get too crazy," he winks at us and walks back into the store.
As soon as we get to my car, I begin to laugh. I laugh so hard that my stomach begins to hurt, and Four just looks at me. "Okay, I'm sorry," I say through laughter. "I just…I can't control it!"
"Tris," he frowns.
"Okay okay, I'll stop." I smile. "Shall we be on our way?"
His smile comes back. "We shall."
…
"So, Toby?" We listen to the album Vessel by Twenty One Pilots, with Car Radio playing softly.
"He's not allowed to call be that," he mumbles. "It was my mother's nickname for me."
"I see."
"I've noticed that no one calls you by your real name, Tris."
"Nope, not even the people who named me," I shrug.
He smiles. "You're in a much better mood."
I feel my face get hot. "Well…"
"I lov—like seeing you happy," he averts my gaze.
Then, there's an awkward silence between us. He almost said that he loves seeing me happy. Why did he change his mind mid-sentence?
"Tobias," he says so quietly that I can barely hear him, like this is a piece of him that he's only giving to me, and I have to keep a secret. "That's my real name…by the way. You can call me that…when it's just us, okay?"
I smile and nod. "Why does everyone call you Four anyway?"
"Well," he begins…
Yep. I just did that. I appreciate all the follows, all the favs, all the reviews I'm getting on this fic! I can't express how much I appreciate everyone who takes time to read and review this! Thank you!