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Chapter XXV. A Mysterious Encounter
TRIS
After spending a couple of hours alone in my room, thoughts running through my mind, I hear a knock at the door.
"Tobias?" I call out, opening the door.
"Nope. Just his brother." The boy standing in front of me says wittily.
I roll my eyes, stepping aside to let him in.
He looks more interested in the world than earlier—his eyes aren't as red anymore and the old spark of curiosity is in them. His brown hair is tousled, and his shirt buttons are in the wrong buttonholes. He's handsome in a careless way, but I prefer his brother way more.
"What do you want, Caleb?" I say slightly annoyed, with my arms crossed over my small figure.
"Whoa, easy!" He says, putting his hands up in defense. "I just want to talk!" he exclaims.
"Okay," I respond harshly, still keeping up the 'Four' act. "So talk."
Caleb stutters awkwardly, sitting down on the floor. I take an uncomfortable seat next to him.
I almost laugh at how frightened he looks; almost like he's afraid of me.
"Is something on your mind, Caleb?" I ask delicately, humor laced in my voice.
"Well… It's about you and Tobias," he says, starting strong, and then his voice dies out.
"What about me and Tobias?" I ask, laughing.
"Just...if he hurts you, I swear to God I will side with you…but if it's the other way around, got it, Beatrice?" he says, trying to be threatening. I notice he enunciates my real name, like a threat.
I have to try not to roll my eyes.
"I really doubt that your brother will hurt me. And I promise I won't," I say. Then my voice grows somber. "I, unlike some people I know," I glare at Caleb, "don't like to hurt the people I love."
He smiles slyly. "You love my brother?" he teases.
I smile, looking down at my toes. I feel my cheeks turning pink. "Of course I do," I whisper.
We sit for a moment in silence.
"When did you realize you loved him?" he asks me.
I groan. "God with the questions, Nose! Would've thought you were Candor!" I say mockingly, Caleb rolling his emerald green eyes.
"It was during initiation," I say more seriously. "It just kind of started to build up from when we were learning about knife throwing." I speak honest words.
"And?" Caleb prompts.
"And…one of the Dauntless training exercises we did involved throwing knives at initiates as they stood in front of targets," I say. "Well…not all the initiates. Just me."
"And let me guess," Caleb says sarcastically. "It was my brother who got to throw knives at you."
I nod softly.
"Oh my God, he could've hit you. That idiot, Tobias…" He trails off.
"He wouldn't have hit me." I say, smiling. "Would you care if I had to throw knives at him?"
He tilts his head. "Maybe. Depending on your skills."
"Oh, don't worry, Erudite. I wouldn't have hit your brother even if I tried." My lips turn upward into a small smile.
"Oh really," he challenges me. "Just how good of a shot are you?"
I roll my eyes. "Are you asking me to throw knives at you? Because, Erudite, I can't guarantee that I won't hit you."
His eyes widen and my smile grows into a chuckle.
Then he works it through his logical Erudite brain that I'm joking and he glares at me.
He pulls a roll of cheese and a butter knife out of his Erudite blue bad. He stands up and puts the cheese on the dresser across the room, and sits back down and hands me the knife.
I roll my eyes, taking the knife. I stretch out one leg to try to reduce the sleepy feeling buzzing throughout my body.
I raise my arm and hurl the knife at the cheese and it sticks directly in the center.A small smirk makes its way on my face.
Caleb's eyes widen.
"Can I try?" he asks, still shocked and I laugh at the surprise still painted on his face.
"Go right ahead." He pulls the knife out from the cheese.
He sits down on my right and hurls the knife, trying to do what I did, but utterly failing.
Laughter overcomes me.
Caleb blushes and looks in dismay at the knife clattered on the dresser. He stands up and grabs it in defiance.
He resumes his place next to me, and holds his arm up, ready to throw in a very terrible throwing position.
"No, not like that," I say, still laughing.
"What do you mean, 'not like that'? I imitated you perfectly." Caleb says angrily.
"You did not." I respond indignantly.
"Well, do it again, then." responds the clearly upset Erudite.
He hands me the knife and just as it leaves my hand, I hear the door open and turn to see the other Prior leaning against the doorframe.
"Tell me she's some kind of Dauntless prodigy," Caleb says inquisitively. "Can you do this too?"
Tobias snorts. "Yes, I taught her." He says. "But yes, Four is some kind of Dauntless prodigy."
I catch his eye at my nickname, still smiling.
Then he frowns, and I only notice then that jealousy is painted on his face.
"I hope that you two were only throwing knives," I almost choke. Caleb's eyes widen.
We look at each other and burst out laughing.
"Nothing happened, and I'm not that low, my brother," says Caleb.
Tobias visually relaxes.
"Caleb just came by to discuss something," I say casually. "And knife-throwing just came up somehow."
"As it so often does," Tobias says, beginning to smile.
I lean my head back, my arm slung over my knee. We stare at each other for a few more seconds than is socially acceptable. Caleb clears his throat, just noticing the fact that we both want him to leave.
"Anyway, I should be getting back to my room," he says, looking at me then at his brother. "I'm reading this book about the water-filtration systems. The kid who gave it to me looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to read it. I think it's supposed to be a repair manual, but it's fascinating." He pauses. "Sorry. You probably think I'm crazy too."
"Not at all," I say mockingly, trying my best to keep a straight face. "Maybe you should read the repair manual too, Tobias. It sounds like something you might like." I say with a small smile.
Caleb doesn't get the joke. "I can loan it to you," he says sincerely.
"Maybe later," Tobias says, trying not to groan. When Caleb closes my door on his way out, he gives me a dirty look.
"Thanks for that. Now he's going to talk my ear off about water filtration and how it works. Though I guess I might prefer that to what he wants to talk to me about." He says.
"Oh? And what's that?" I ask, quirking my eyebrows. "Aquaponics?"
"Aqua-what?"
"It's one of the ways they grow food here. You don't want to know," I say, trying not to laugh. We learned about it in Upper levels class in school.
"You're right, I don't," Tobias says. "What did he come here to talk to you about?"
"You," I say quietly. "I think it was just a concerning talk about you. Worried that I'll get hurt and all that."
I stand up.
"And what did you tell him?" he asks anxiously.
"That you'll never hurt me. I'm positive. And I told him how we got together—that's how knife-throwing came up."
My cheeks turn red. Tobias wraps his hands around my hips, pressing me gently against the door, and places his lips to mine.
I snake my arms carefully around his neck, trying to avoid his injured shoulder and pulling him closer to me. I feel sparks flying through my chest.
His other arm wraps around my waist, finding it's way under the hem of my shirt. I feel him running his fingers over the small of my back and it causes waves of electricity through my skin. My hand squeezes his waist as I tilt my head up, pressing my lips more insistently into his.
I pull back softly.
"This isn't what you came here for," I say sternly, stating the question unlike one.
"No." he says sheepishly, looking into my eyes.
"What did you come for?"
He lifts a shoulder. "Who cares?"
He shoves his fingers into my hair, pulling me back to him. My lips slide down his jaw. "Tobias," I whisper against his neck.
"Okay, okay."
He sits down next to me on my bed and begins to tell me what he saw this morning. I listen as he recounts an encounter she saw happen between Marcus and Johanna. By the time he ends with, "and then she kissed his cheek, leaving him stunned," I am already a little angry and shocked.
I sit for a moment, letting the surprise set in.
"Well, what do you think?" he asks me.
"I think," I say carefully, grinding my teeth, "that it's Marcus trying to feel more important than he is."
By the look on his face, he was probably not expecting me to say that.
"So…what? You think he's just talking nonsense?" he asks, astounded.
My mouth opens for a second, then the words fall out. "I think there probably is some information the Abnegation knew that Jeanine wanted to know, but I think he's exaggerating its importance. Trying to build up his own ego by making Johanna think he's got something she wants and he won't give it to her," I say smoothly.
"I don't…" Tobias frowns. "I don't think you're right. He didn't sound like he was lying.
I almost scoff. "You don't know him like I do," I say, trying not to let anger seep into my voice. "He is an excellent liar." That's why he hasn't been punished yet for child abuse. Because of that mask he puts on; and only took off for me.
And I pray that I won't see his mask taken off again. I shiver at the thought.
"Maybe you're right, but shouldn't we find out what's going on? Just to be sure?" he says. I wish we had just stayed kissing.
"I think it's more important that we deal with the situation at hand," I say quietly. "Go back to the city. Find out what's going on there. Find a way to take Erudite down. Then maybe we can find out what Marcus was talking about, after this is all resolved. Okay?"
Tobias nods at me, smiling. "Okay."
I look into his dark blue eyes.
And I can tell, just by looking at them, that he hasn't changed his mind.
-o0o-
I walk stiffly through the doors of the Amity cafeteria, directly making eye contact with Tobias. I can immediately tell that he knows something is wrong, and he's right.
"What happened?" he asks as soon as I sit down.
"In their enthusiasm for conflict resolution," I say stiffly, "the Amity have apparently forgotten that meddling creates more conflict," my voice feels so tight that I fear my vocal cords may burst. "If we stay here much longer, I am going to punch someone, and it's not going to be pretty."
Caleb and that blonde Abnegation girl from earlier sitting next to Tobias look at him, eyebrows raised. A few Amity stop talking and stare at me.
"You heard me," I say harshly, almost growling the words, and they all turn away and resume their conversations with one another, that have suddenly turned awkward.
"As I said," Tobias says, covering his smile with his hand, "what happened?"
I sigh, mirth escaping my body. "I'll tell you later."
We sit for a moment in peace until Marcus comes up behind Tobias. He lays his hand on his right shoulder, and I see pain shoot in his eyes. I give Marcus a glare.
"He got shot in that shoulder," I say through clenched teeth, sitting still as a stone.
"My apologies," he says in his kind Abnegation voice; his mask on. "Hello."
"What do you want?" Tobias asks angrily. I can't help but smile.
"Tobias," the blonde girl says calmly. "There's no need to—"
"Susan, please," Caleb says quietly. I shoot him a look of gratitude.
"I asked you a question," Tobias says angrily. He's amazing, talking to him like that. He used kind words during ambassador meetings with him and his father, but now he's talking rudely to him, protecting me.
"I would like to discuss something," he says calmly. I almost flinch at that voice.
It's the voice he uses before he takes off his belt for the night. "The other Abnegation and myself have discussed it and decided that we should not stay here. We believe that, given the inevitability of further conflict in our city, it would be selfish of us t stay here while what remains of our faction is inside that fence. We would like to request that you escort us."
Tobias shoots me a quizzical look, and I raise a questioning eyebrow, but I don't take my eyes off the table. My eyes stay put to a small carving on the end of the table; the letters "D" and "T" linked together by a heart.
"What do you think?" he asks me.
I lift my eyes up to his, finding the dark blue color comforting. "I think that we should leave the day after tomorrow," I whisper.
"Okay. Thank you," Marcus says. He gets up and sits at the other end of the table with the rest of the Abnegation.
Tobias slides closer to me, sliding his hand into mine, and it feels so relaxing and comforting; as if I am not less than three yards away from the devil who made my childhood hell himself. I have to bite my lip not to cry.
He is so amazing, and I am so lucky to have found him.
Once again, shoutout to the people who find out the hidden quote from one of my other fandoms!
Please review, follow, favorite, and check out my other stories!
GOAL: 307 FOLLOWS, 220 FAVS, 570 REVIEWS, I KNOW YOU CAN ALL DO IT!
My newest story should be up within the week!
ILYASFM!
~TrissyPoo