Hi guys, I know I didn't update on time, but this is the longest chapter yet for this story (second longest compared with all my other stories), so I guess it balances my lateness. I finally got back the vibe I had while writing chapters and I am so happy! This chapter is very important to this story, well, most chapters to come will bring something to the story! I hope you'll like this chapter because I enjoyed writing it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent, Veronica Roth does.
Tris's P.O.V.
"What- What are you doing here?" I somehow shuddered out.
"Your questions, and ours for that matter, can be postponed for later on. Right now, I don't know if I should slap you or give you the biggest hug of all time," Christina stated.
I barely registered as she jumped on me and gave me a bone crushing bear hug. I looked past her and recognized two other girls whom were nothing but friendly with me during my junior and senior years of high school. I could feel tears slowly form in my eyes as Marlene and Shauna joined me and Christina in our embrace. We stayed like so for a very long time, it could have been for days. Then, we unhurriedly detangled ourselves, tears running down our faces.
"Oh, guys... I missed you so much..." I admitted to them.
I might have been the one to leave them behind, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt when I had to come here.
"Us too, Tris," Shauna said.
After a long while, I ushered them in the apartment. I led them to the living room where we sat down on the floor, in a circle, leaning against the couches.
"Can we talk now?" I finally asked, completely not stable emotionally.
The girls looked at each other and Marlene spoke up.
"Yeah."
Silence filled the room, creeping up in the smallest corners, leaving us feeling awkward.
"First thing first, how did you find me?" I questioned.
"Let's just say someone hinted us your location," Shauna replied mysteriously while trying to brighten our mood.
My face went slack; of course, Tobias would still be friends with them and told them where I lived. Though I couldn't understand why he would have done it in the first place.
"Right, T-Four!" I shook my head.
"Actually, he did mention his real name to us..." Mar said me.
"Oh..." I trailed off.
Quietness invaded once again our world.
"About Tobias... Can we discuss about that whole situation?" Chris interrogated, looking up at me, eyes focused.
I sighed and closed my eyes, "I know that you've waited over 6 years for this explanation, but so much has happened this summer and all concerning him. Actually, something quite big has happened just a few days ago and I still haven't recovered from it. I would just like so time."
I knew one of them wanted to say something like 'We gave you the last year of high school as time for you to recover and you ended up leaving us!' or "You had 6 years to heal from him!' but they restrained themselves.
I stood up and asked, "What would you like to drink? Coffee, tea, wine?"
Suddenly, as if a light bulb was switched on, they responded in chorus, "Wine!"
Their reaction brought a small smile on my lips which resulted with them grinning back. I went to the kitchen as I watched them view the apartment. I pulled out 4 glasses of wine and, as I poured the drink in them, I let myself finally look at the girls. Surprisingly, they had not changed physically, nothing the age didn't do at least, and nor did they seem to have different behaviors. Sure, some of them had dyed their hair and a little more make-up here and there, but nothing too shocking. It made me feel like I hadn't missed 5 years of their lives and that I could reconnected immediately with them. Perhaps I could even present them to Aden, I thought. But then, that meant I had a more interesting story about my past then what I had said and that would lead to some not-so-pleasant discoveries.
Then, all of a sudden, I wondered if Shauna, Marlene and Christina knew about my engagement.
Clumsily, I tried to carry all glasses at once and, seeing my struggle, Shauna came to my rescue. We took back our seats and sipped the red wine in silence.
"Okay, let's make a deal. If you all tell me about your lives, I can try to tell my story," I suggested.
I really wanted them to know what happened and I also didn't want to hold the weight of this 'burden' any longer on my own. Skylar has been an incredibly amazing best friend, but she simply couldn't understand the whole situation since she hadn't been there with me back then. These girls were on my side since day 1 and I owe at least that to them.
So for the next two hours, I learned about how they were doing. Mar was now a trained nurse, Shauna a psychologist and Christina seemed to have gone the same direction as I had, she was a stylist. When I mentioned the similarity of our work, she insisted to have a look once at what I did. Then, the subject of the conversation diverged to their love lives. They had all stayed with the boys they had dated in high school except for Marlene who stated that she and Uriah were having a little break from each other to sort things out. Afterwards, we talked about the boys themselves. I was surprised to hear they had also come to Toronto to see me. My friends explained that they had all missed me and they didn't have to think twice before booking plane tickets, taking a leave from work, rushing to pack their bags and fly here. I lowered my head in embarrassment and guilt when I realized I had caused them unwanted trouble. The guys had also wished to come pay me a visit today, but they had thought this reunion was before better off without them. I was told that the two brothers were workout trainers and in their spare time, they were soccer coaches. Will worked in the department of mechanical engineering.
Then, that moment came. The moment their 'story telling' was over and it was now my turn.
As if to encourage me, Chris said, "I noticed that ring on your finger. So you're engaged, right?"
"Yeah!" I smiled at the thought of Aden, but it quickly faded.
I glanced at the clock and got up.
"You need to leave! He doesn't know about you guys or Tobias, for that matter, and I don't want him to learn about my past this way!" I grabbed hold of Christina's arm, urging her to stand up.
Shauna gently pried my hand from Chris.
"Everything has been taken care of," She informed me.
I gave her an inquisitive look and Mar explained.
"Tobias is making him work late and he is taking Aden and his co-workers out at a bar, we had this all planned out." She showed me her grin of hers.
"But that wouldn't explain why he didn't call me to tell me about his plans!"
"Check your cell!" Chris devilishly said.
I pulled out my phone from my pocket and obviously, my fiancé had texted me that he was coming home late and that I shouldn't wait for him for supper. I sent a message telling him to have a good soirée, thankful I didn't have to talk to him at that moment.
Afterwards, I struggled with my words. I didn't know where to start, or how for that matter. So much had happened over these past years, it had been both amazing and painful.
"Maybe if you start with the whole Aden thing, it might help you to tell us about Tobias later on?" Marlene suggested in a questioning tone.
"Hum, yeah, sure."
So I began with him. I recited them how I had gone to University, then I met Sky, Aden and Mike. It started out simple with Aden, we were just friends, but after a while, he asked me out and we went out on a date. I told them they could probably easily figure out the rest.
Then we got onto my first break up topic. I let myself have a deep breath and I commenced.
"It all began with Tobias choosing to go to Northeastern University. He had only told me about it a week after the prom we went together and it had shocked me because he hadn't even hinted about applying for Universities. But I had been stupid at the time, I should have thought about it myself. I guess I was so 'in love' to think about anything else for that matter than him." I shook my head, thinking how foolish I had been.
"But at that moment, I didn't care about that sudden revelation. I was telling him we could figure it out, that we would date long distance and that we could always go or come to see each other. He didn't want to, though, and he was so closed off about the subject, then I started yelling at him that he only wanted to have sex with me and that it was his only purpose. Then, I told him some pretty bad things about his past, but he deserved them!" I stubbornly said, even though my heart ached at the simple thought of the words I had screamed at him.
"He broke my heart so badly and I had loved him. Now, somehow, I have a second chance with love and my heart is slowly gluing itself back together, but it still hurt sometimes."
During the story, the girls had gotten closer to me and they hugged me once again. I really appreciated their support even though I had abandoned them without a word. For long minutes, we remained in our positions. Then, Shauna pulled away first and hesitantly informed me.
"You know, there's another side to that story, though he didn't mention the reason of the break up. He just told us how he felt and stuff..."
"And that would be Tobias's side. I don't know what shenanigans he told you, but they are utterly false. If only you had seen him that day! He had never loved me and that's what his face shown." I said forcefully to cover up my sadness.
Before anyone could reply, I added, "Guys, I really appreciate you coming this far for me and I am so grateful for your presence here today. It permitted me to finally express how everything truly went down. But now, I need a closure. I'm going to get married to another man and I really want to have a happy life." I admitted.
My three friends looked at each other.
"We are genuinely glad to see you have moved on!" Mar told me.
"Yeah and we want to see you pleased with yourself, that's the real matter here," Christina followed by saying.
The others nodded.
"We are truly happy for you, but for a complete and utter closure, you need to know the whole truth before you do something you might regret later on..." Shauna finished, using her 'work' words on me.
"If you're talking about me marrying Aden, then you're wrong. I love him and being his wife is going to be the best decision I will ever make!" Anger filled my voice and it sounded unsteady as I said my words, even to me.
I sighed and briefly closed my eyes.
"Look, I know your intentions are good and that's what true friends should do. But you haven't met him so you don't know how wonderful he really is, nothing like Tobias. That bastard probably just wants to ruin my life again."
The girls shot me a strict glare although they didn't reply anything against my use of terms. Afterwards, they sneaked a glance at the clock and got up.
"It's getting late and your, hum, fiancé will be coming soon, I think it would be better if we leave now," Chris spook out.
"Oh, okay," I couldn't hide the disappointment in my tone.
"Maybe we could exchange phone number to keep in touch?" I proposed hopefully.
"Of course!" Marlene responded.
As we passed on our cells between us, I asked, "So where are you guys staying?"
They exchanged a look that seemed to say it all to them except for me. 5 years had changed a couple of things.
"Actually, Tobias had suggested that we roommate with him."
"He certainly would have, being the gentleman he is!" I commented with sarcasm.
"Tris, don't be like that. He's still our friend..." Shauna told me, shaking her head.
I prevented myself from saying anything else. I didn't want to fight with them, even if the subject was my ex-boyfriend. I had just been reunited with them and I didn't want to be separated from them because of him.
When we reached the door, I hugged each girl tightly against me, savoring the moment.
"Thank you so much for going through all this inconvenience for me, I'll never be grateful enough!" I felt tears prickling the corner of my eyes.
"We would have searched the whole world for you, Tris!" Informed Marlene truthfully.
My whole world shattered and I started to cry. I wouldn't even formulate in a phrase how nice they had been with me since the very beginning. Christina wiped the tears away.
"You're a strong girl, Tris. You shouldn't let this or anything bring you down, okay?" She said.
I nodded and she gave me another hug and they all left.
I couldn't even start to think about what just happened. My past was coming to meet with my present and, it would seem, with my future too. But I had the impression that what had been going on in my life these past weeks was just the tip of the iceberg and I wasn't sure I wanted to see the rest of it because it would certainly change the normal life I had just began to form.
Well, that's it for this chapter, I hope you all liked it! Give me your thoughts and feelings; was it interesting, boring, happy, sad, etc.? I want to know! Most of you had guessed who was behind that door, good job! I would like to thank Guest, Castro05, Guest, Guest, Divergentisbae, bahrfamily, Guest, jillian073, Katherine, Kattrizel, BansheeOfDream, Lucymllr, Bella, and Guest.
I can't believe I've gotten this far into writing, I would have never thought that this would have been possible one and a half year back. What's even more surprising is that you guys actually like it! I can never be thankful enough for the support you give me, this story and my writing. When I see that someone just wrote a review or simply followed, 'favorited' and even when there's more views, it TOTALLY makes my day! So thank you for making this writing dream of mine come true!
Anyways, until next time!
MeTwoCat