Sorry about it being so long between updates. As I explain on the update for 'Hey Bartender' my poor laptop took a tumble and I just got it back. Thanks so much to everyone who had reviewed, followed and hit favorite. I have so much love for you guys and I really hope this chapter lives up to your expectations and wait! As always I don't own Divergent or the characters. Happy reading and much love!
As Saturday rolled around he waited until noon to call and check on Lauren. "Hey Beautiful, you feeling any better today?" Everything had only happened last night but he was hoping some sleep would do her good.
"I'm alright Tris kept to her word and we got ice cream and movies on the way home. She's actually still here." His brow rose since he was surprised to hear that but Lauren did make friends easier than he did.
"Do you need anything from me today or are you doing good with girl time?" He asked while chugging down some orange juice while leaning against the counter. Not that he thought there was anything he could really do for her right now since this was something she was going to have to mainly work through on her own.
"Actually there's something you can do for me. Tobias has the key to my place and I don't feel like dealing with him to get it back. Do you think you can put a new lock in?" He could tell by the way she asked that she was currently chewing on her bottom lip.
Chuckling softly he finished his juice, "Is that you subtlety asking me to buy a new lock and head over?" Placing the cup in the sink he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he walked around the apartment looking for his shoes. Finding them he moved to his room to grab some socks.
"You would be the best adopted brother ever if you would do that for me. I might even bribe you with pizza for lunch and some beer." There was a smirk on his face as he sat down on the couch and pull his socks on and then his shoes quickly tying them. Even without the offer of pizza and beer he would still help Lauren out, though the same couldn't be said for most everyone else he knew.
"You know the last time you invited me to hang out with you was before you and Tobias got together. I miss you feeling like my sister. So I'm leaving here now so give me about an hour and I'm pretty sure you don't have any tools so I'll bring those too." He grabbed his wallet and keys and slide them into the pockets of his jeans.
"I have little pink tools in a pink tool chest." Lauren said with a huff to her voice as Eric moved to grab the tool box from under the sink.
There was an expression of horror she couldn't see on her end but he rolled his eyes, "No way in hell am I using pink tools, I'm bringing my own. I'll see you soon." Hanging up the phone he headed down to his CRV and dropped his tools in the back before heading to the closest hardware store. Given the fact that Eric had once taken apart the piping of Lauren's sink because she dropped a damn ring down it they both knew he could install a new lock.
Picking one out he checked out and headed over to her place. Pulling into the drive he saw that Tris' car was still there, great it wasn't like he was trying to completely avoid her or anything. Grabbing his tool box from the back he headed to the door and didn't even bother knocking. "Lauren you really shouldn't leave the door unlocked even if you're expecting company." His protective side was peeking through and he really didn't want her to be just another heart breaking statistic somewhere.
"Eric you worry too much!" Lauren called out from the kitchen and he followed her voice. Leaning against the doorframe he shook his head at her.
"I don't worry too much I'm a realist which means you need to lock your doors, it'll make me feel a lot better." Tris was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and she gave him a shy smile that he couldn't look away from. "Anyway I'm going to get started so I'll be at the front door if you need me." Which was also a great way to making a speedy exit away from Tris. The braid her hair had been in the night before was gone leaving it with a bunch of volume and waves this morning and he just wanted to tug at one of the curls.
Kneeling in front of the door he reached into the tool box set to the side. Next to the big black tool box set a little pink one Lauren having tried to bribe him to use it just wanting a picture of him with a little pink screw driver. If this was what sisters were like he was glad that he didn't have one. "Come on Eric, just for one screw." He glanced over at Lauren who was pouting at him as she leaned against the wall.
"You want to rethink that phrasing? Just one screw huh?" A smirk pulled at his lips as pink crept up her neck and into her cheeks. For a moment he had forgotten Tris was even here until he heard her voice.
"Yeah Eric, just…one…screw." Tris said in low tone speaking each word slowly and pausing slightly between each word. Eric didn't want to admit it but he felt himself harden slightly in his jeans at her verbal teasing.
"This would go a lot faster without either of you here. Did you happen to order the pizza already or get the beer?" He asked looking over his shoulder at Lauren with a raised brow. The way she sighed told him that she had not, "So how about you two take care of that and I'll take care of the locks."
"I thought you were here for my amusement you know, harsh break up and all." Lauren said with a pout giving him puppy eyes as he turned away from her to remove the screws of the door handle.
"Nope, here to replace a lock. Don't give me those eyes I'm not looking." Especially since he knew that if she continued he would give in. There were few who were aware of the fact that he was actually a big softy, Lauren was one of those people. "I'm going to be done in twenty minutes so you best get to going." He growled out even though they both knew it was of the playful variety.
Really he just needed Tris as far away from him as possible. He wouldn't mind random conversation and just hanging out if it was only Lauren but Tris' very presence was distracting. There was nothing that made thinking of one of his student in the way he was thinking of Tris, right. "Alright, alright Mr. Grumpy we're going just don't lock us out or something."
Glancing over his shoulder at Lauren he smirked, "Well there's an idea I didn't have before. I'll see you two when you get back." He assumed it would be both Lauren and Tris coming back anyway. As much as he wanted her to leave he also wanted her to stay. There was something incredibly wrong with him and he needed to take the next twenty minutes or so that he had to get himself sorted out.
Both Lauren and Tris walked past him and he was finally able to focus on the task at hand. After switching out the door handle and lock and then the dead bolt he made sure the keys worked with the lock before moving to the back door. Following the same process he finished up with the back door pretty fast. It wasn't a hard job after all, it took a lot less effort than taking the sink pipes apart had.
Lifting his shirt he wiped away the bit of perspiration which had gathered on his forehead and jumped at the wolf whistles that came from behind him. Eric hadn't heard Lauren and Tris get back they'd apparently been incredibly quiet. "Take it off and swing it like a helicopter." Lauren teased as Eric dropped the hem of his shirt he stormy eyes narrowing on her, "Or not, jeeze I swear you used to be more fun than this." Lauren looked over at Tris with a smirk, "Don't let his rough exterior fool you, he'd a big teddy underneath…you know if you ever get through four millions layers."
Rolling his eyes he was glad Lauren was feeling better or just had her mind off Tobias even if it was at his expense. Sometimes you just had to allow yourself to be the butt of the joke for the greater good and in this case the greater good was that smile on Lauren's face. Jutting his chin out he motioned to the case of beer in her hand and the box of liquor which Tris was using to balance the pizza on top of. "You having a small party or just trying to give us all alcohol poisoning?" He asked as Tris set the liquor and pizza on the table and Lauren slide the case of beer into the fridge.
"No one ever said we had to drink it all tonight. A wise man once told me, pace yourself there is always tomorrow….or something like that." She said with a laugh and that's when Eric heard it, the slightly hollow sound. It was a good front Lauren was putting up but she was still in a lot of pain.
"That wise man happen to be me after you decided to try and drag us all bar hopping last year?" Now that gained a smirk from Lauren and it had been before Tobias so it was a good memory for them both.
"Yep, right after I threw up all over your brand new whatever, whatever tennis shoes." Snorting Eric shook his head with a chuckle as Lauren just grinned in pride. "Do you still have those shoes?"
A look of disgust came over his face, "No Lauren I did not keep the shoes you vomited all over, they did not hold that much sentimental value to me."
Glancing over he saw a smile on Tris' face as she watched the exchange between the two of them, "So what you're saying Lauren, is Eric used to be fun." That teasing tone caused his eye to darken a shade as he glared at her but it wasn't as intense as it usually would have been.
"I'm still fun Miss Prior, I just know where to draw the line where my students are concerned." Lauren seemed to take in the tension between the two of them as she grabbed shot glasses from the cabinet and opened a bottle of Markers before pouring three shots, one for each of them.
"Alright since it's beer before liquor never been sicker and liquor before beer you're in the clear let's get this party started!" She handed Eric and Tris both a shot glass and took her own before mumbling something under her breath that sounded like, 'freakin sexual tension', before she tossed back the shot Eric and Tris following her example at the same time.
"Great now I'm not sure I'll even be able to taste the pizza." Eric joked as he went to the fridge and opened the case of beer. "Catch." He said before grabbing hold of the necks of two bottles and tossing them to Lauren and Tris both easily catching them as he grabbed his own and slammed the heel of his hand against it at an angle the top popping off.
"You know I have a bottle opener right? You going to end up cutting your hand like that one day." Lauren used the bottle opener which was screwed into the wall to pop the top of she and Tris' beer as Eric grabbed plates and set them on the table.
"You seemed to know your way around here pretty well." Tris said in an observant tone her eyes on him as he moved around the kitchen. There was obvious question in her tone but he didn't owe her any answers, she was his student and a girl who was helping the woman who was like his sister through a tough time.
"That tends to happen when you used to live in a place. Lauren and I were roommates for the first part of our student teaching. And then I was…asked to move out." He said simply since it was more like he and Tobias got into a huge fight over the way he treated Lauren and Tobias had told him to get out and Lauren hadn't asked him to stay. Things had been pretty tense between them after that but everything had blown over eventually and Eric had found his own place and focused on making it to becoming a professor.
Lauren frowned down at her bottle of beer thinking of the incident which have driven them apart for a while. "Family always finds away back together though. No harm no foul since as you can see we're still pretty good friends." That seemed to cause Lauren to brighten, he knew she would have been pretty devastated to lose his friendship over Tobias, especially now. Opening the box of pizza he served himself first since both women seemed to still be chewing over what he had said.
"You remind me of how my brother is with me. I think that if I hadn't known any better I would swear you two were blood related or seeing one another." At Tris' statement he and Lauren looked at one another before busting out laughing. Neither could imagine being in a relationship with the other. It wasn't that Eric didn't like her she was just not his type and they made far better friends than they would ever make lovers.
"That's more than enough of that talk, you're weirding me out." He said before grabbing his plate and moving into the living room taking his normal place on the couch. "I don't care if you two have been watching chick flicks all day if you put one in now I swear I'm going to change the locks back." He yelled into the kitchen as he grabbed a slice of pizza and took a big bit letting the cheesy, greasy goodness coat his tongue.
Lauren came in with her hand that held her beer bottle on her hip, "You are so demanding, no wonder you don't have a girlfriend. Besides just for you I picked up Mad Max Fury Road, see I can be nice." Lauren beamed before placing her plate and beer down on the table to put in the movie. Tris came out to join them a moment later and Lauren took her usual chair which left the girl with dirty blonde hair only one option which as to sit by him.
If Eric hadn't known any better he would have sworn Lauren did it on purpose but the chair was her stop and the only other place to sit was the couch. There was no place to move and even if there was it would be incredibly rude so he just bit his tongue and went with it focusing on the movie Lauren put on and not the warm body which he swore was getting closer to him.
By the hot blonde breeder was hanging out of the car the sun was setting and the room was darkening. Not only that just Tris had moved so her leg was brushing his and she was pretty much leaning into his side. There was no nice way to inch away from a woman as much as his brain was telling him to move his body didn't want to listen. She was warm and soft against him but as they say gave an inch and they take a mile.
"You look kind of like Tom Hardy you know. Big muscles, sandy hair, amazing blue eyes." Her warm breath tickled the side of his neck as she whispered to him. His eyes moved over to Lauren for some help with his current situation but apparently the two girls had stayed up all night because she was out like a light. "She's not going to catch us." Tris said softly as she pressed her lips against his stubble covered jaw line.
For a Professor of Ethics he knew what he should do but what he should do and what he wanted to do were two very different things. One simple kiss to his jaw line caused him to shiver and he knew how dangerous what she was offering him was. "Drop my class." The words just slipped from his mouth but it was somewhat of an answer to his current ethical dilemma.
"I can't just drop your class!" An angry whisper left her as she leaned back away from him as if trying to figure out if he was joking or not.
Eric's brow rose his stormy eyes meeting hers, "You have until the end of week before you lose the chance at a refund." He didn't necessarily want her out of his class because he knew she could bring a lot to the discussion table but she was also the focus of his own interpersonal discussion table. "I can't be with someone in my class and you know that. I shouldn't be with a student in general and since you're the one that keeps push I don't know why you're so pissed at the solution I provided." He hissed back at her his eyes moving to Lauren to make sure she was still out.
"Because you're the best, do you know how hard it was to get into your class? I can't just drop it." As she licked her lips her shoulder slumped as she thought over what he had said. If they were to have anything while she was still in his class he would lose his job. Dating a student was frowned upon but if they weren't yours it normally wasn't deemed as bad as it could be. "I don't want to put your job in jeopardy Eric but I can't drop your class either."
And there it was spelled out before them both. The lines in the sand were drawn and neither was willing to compromise, he respected her for that what he couldn't respect was the way she was pulling him around. "Glad we got that sorted out." His voice was cold and hard as he stood up from the couch and grabbed his shoes which he had taken off earlier. Tying them back on his feet he was glad he'd only have one beer and a shot because he needed out of here now.
"Eric…" He didn't bother to look at her as he grabbed his keys.
"Professor Coulter." Her said correcting her, "Good bye Miss Prior." There was a bitter taste in his mouth as he moved to shake Lauren gently awake and gave her a smile. "Hey darling I'm headed out, get some sleep." Nodding sleepily she curled farther into the chair unaware of his mood change. Grabbing his tool chest he was gone.
No this is not the end at all. Are you guys ready to see how they get past this hurdle and why Eric is so hurt over it? I might be nice and even show why Tris is the way she is. We'll see where my creative brain takes me. As always suggestions, reviews and criticism are always welcome.