A/N: Thank you all for your feedback on the last chapter! It's so amazing to hear from you all. On the topic of the POVs, I still can't decide whether I should change it to just one, or switch halfway through but not recap, or just keep it the same as the previous chapters. I don't know, it's half and half right now in the reviews. Some of you really like both perspectives on the same thing, others think it's boring. For this chapter though, I am only doing a Tris POV just because I am leaving the state tomorrow and can't bring my computer so I want to get a chapter up quickly, but keep commenting your opinion on the topic. And also continue to give me song suggestions! Love you all, hope you enjoy this new chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent
Tris POV
We head off to lunch after talking in the park for a while longer, and then walk around the city for the rest of the afternoon. We pull into my driveway right at five, where there are already several other cars.
"You ready?" I ask Tobias, who has become increasingly more nervous as the day has gone by.
He doesn't show it though. He smiles, and says, "Yep! Let's go."
When we walk inside, the party is already in full swing. It's more of an adult party, my brother, Tobias and I are the only people here under 40. I find my mom right away, she is talking to Mrs. White in the kitchen.
"Tris! How are you?" Mrs. White asks as soon as she sees me walk in with Tobias trailing behind.
"Great, thank you. How are you?" I ask politely.
"Wonderful, this party every year is always a good time. Can you believe that your mother is 45!" she says.
"Cindy! We don't need to go announcing it," my mom says.
"Well, I think that I'll go get some water. It was nice seeing you Tris," she says.
"You as well, Mrs. White," I say as she walks off.
"Happy birthday mom," I say as I give her a big hug.
"Thank you," she says.
"I'm Four, Tris's boyfriend," Tobias says as she shakes my mom's hand, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Ah, so you're the famous Four I've been hearing about?" my mom says, and I hit her playfully.
"All good things," she adds. Tobias chuckles at this, and I glare at him.
"I got you this," Tobias says as he hands my mother a bag, "Happy birthday." I hadn't even noticed that he carried it in; I had told him that he didn't have to get my mom anything.
"Oh wow, thank you Four. You didn't have to get me anything," my mom says as she takes the gift.
"I wanted to, it is your birthday after all," he says respectfully. I hold in a laugh at how polite he's being.
"Thank you. I'm going to go put this in the living room, it was nice meeting you Four," my mom says.
As soon as she walks off, I laugh. "What?" Tobias asks confused, eyebrows furrowed.
"You are such a suck-up," I say.
He gasps dramatically, and says, "I am not!"
"Are you kidding me?" I say with eyebrows raised.
"I just really want her to like me," he defends.
I put my hand on his shoulder and say, "She does, I can tell. Just, you can act normal around her."
I see him relax a bit, and he says, "Ok."
I wrap my hand in his, and lead him through the crowd. The party is fairly small, about 20 people, so I find a place for us to sit on the couch. We sit down side by side.
"It's all pretty boring from this point, but I think my mom would notice if we left," I say.
"It's never boring when you're around," he says.
"You're so cheesy sometimes," I say.
"Well, cheesy works for me," Tobias says.
"Okay," I say, rolling my eyes.
"You know you love me," he says teasingly.
"I do love you, a lot I might add," I say.
"I love you too, more than you could ever imagine," he says, leaning in to whisper in my ear.
I can tell that he is about to go in for a kiss, which I would very much enjoy, but I'm in the mood to tease him a bit. I lean in a bit farther, and when we are only an inch or so away, I pull away and say, "Let's go get some cupcakes." I get up and walk to the dessert counter, and I hear Tobias groan but follow me.
Suddenly he comes up behind me, and wraps his arms around my waist. "You are despicable," he whispers, and I giggle.
"I'm sorry, we can't make out in front of these people," I say, although I don't really care that much. I just want to tease him.
Tobias groans again, and asks, "Just a peck?"
"Nope!" I say, popping the p.
Tobias takes a cupcake too, and we eat them. My mom got them from the best bake shop in town, Dauntless Cakes, and they are amazing.
"You have a little frosting on your face," Tobias says when I finish mine.
"Really? Where?" I ask.
He smirks, and says, "Here, I'll get it for you." Before I can register what is happening, he leans in and brings our lips together, removing the frosting in the process. I should've known that he was up to something and try to pull away, but Tobias brings his hand behind my neck and holds me there. I kiss back when I realize that there is no escape.
I soon hear some cheers around us, and when we pull back everyone is looking at us. My mom has a big smile on her face, she was so happy when I told her that I had a boyfriend. Caleb, oh man I forgot about him. He is standing right next to Mom, and he looks infuriated.
Everyone goes back to their conversations, and Caleb marches over to us. "What the heck was that Beatrice?" he says angrily.
"That was me kissing my boyfriend, Caleb," I retort.
"You must be Tris's brother. I'm Four, nice to meet you," Tobias says as he extends his hand.
"Beatrice, you can't date him. He's a senior! He's a jock!" Caleb nearly yells, completely ignoring Tobias.
"I can do what I want, Caleb," I say. He is starting to get on my nerves, we aren't close at all and he is never home, ever. I don't understand why he thinks he can control parts of my life when he barely even cares about me.
"No, I forbid this. You have to break up with him, I don't like him," Caleb says, and Tobias tenses.
"You're being ridiculous, I'm not breaking up with him. You don't even know him," I say.
"Guys like him will break your heart," he says. My fists clench in anger. He doesn't even know a thing about Tobias, he would never do that to me.
"I'll take my chances, Caleb. But for the time being, I love him and he's not going anywhere," I say, and Caleb walks away grumbling, still fuming.
"For the time being?" Tobias asks me nervously.
"I said to get him to leave, he'd bother us all night. You know I love you," I say.
"I know, I love you too. And I wouldn't hurt you like he was suggesting," he says.
I give him a quick kiss on the cheek, and whisper, "I know." I can feel him smile against me.
"You make me crazy," he says, and I smile.
"Love is madness," I respond.
"Do you know what I was thinking?" Tobias asks.
"What?" I say, curious.
"I think I should give you a pet name," he says, and then laughs at my facial expression. I must look horrified.
"Do you… not like that… idea?" he asks between laughs.
"Pet names are too cheesy for me," I say.
"I thought you liked cheesy," he says.
"I like you, not necessarily cheesy," I explain.
He laughs, and says, "Well, I like you too."
I laugh, and say, "That's reassuring, thank you." I love how he can always seem to make me laugh, even when I'm not in the best mood. It's just something about him, I want to be closer to him so I take his hand. The skin between us tingles; it's a good feeling.
He looks down at our fingers intertwined, and smiles. "I love it when you touch me," he says.
My face cringes, and I say, "That sounded wrong."
"Not in that way," he says, but moves to whisper into my ear, "Unless you want to."
I slap him playfully and say, "I wouldn't have told you if I knew you were going to tease me about it."
His face turns serious, and says, "No, I'm glad you told me, and I'll stop teasing. I'll wait forever for you."
"You might not have to," I whisper into his ear with the most seductive voice I can manage, and wink.
When I pull away, I laugh at his facial expression. It is mostly filled with shock, but you can see the love and lust in his eyes. "I- I'm ready when you are," he finally stutters out.
I run my hand down his arms, chest, and along the waistband of his jeans, and hear him gulp. "That's good to know," I say. I know it's not going to happen anytime soon, I am sure of it, but it's fun to tease him.
I pull my hand away, and say, "But not tonight. C'mon, let's get some pizza."
"Y-you are despicable," he repeats stuttering, his breathing heavy. I take his hand, noticing the slightest bulge in his jeans, and smile. I pull him to the pizza.
"I can't believe you did that to me," he says as he eats his slice of pepperoni.
"You seemed to enjoy it quite a bit," I say, referring to his small situation. He can't do anything about it right now, he's stuck and has to deal with it.
He looks down a bit, and looks surprised. He must've just noticed, because he shakes his head and says, "The things you do to me. I will get revenge."
I shake my head, and say, "No you won't." I know he won't try anything, he's too afraid to make me nervous in any way.
"Oh won't I?" he says as he moves closer to me. He puts his hands on my hips, and move them towards the hem of my shirt. I tense up a bit. He moves his finger under ever so slightly onto my bare skin, but begins to rub circles with his fingers and I relax a bit. He doesn't make me nervous, this is the most contact we've had but this is the most comfortable I've felt.
He starts to run his hand near the waistband of my jeans, but the nervous feeling doesn't come back. I want him now more than ever, and I hadn't even realized it before. I look up at him, and his eyes are filled with the same lust that now fill mine.
He pulls his hands up, and wraps his arms around me into a hug. I hug him back, and he whispers to me, "It doesn't seem like you're too afraid."
I pull back and give him a small playful shove. "Trust me, I'm terrified, but I'm more comfortable when I'm around you," I say.
"Whenever you're ready," he says in almost a mumble, and I see that his little problem has gotten a bit bigger.
"You can take a quick shower upstairs if you don't want my mom to see you like this," I say, and he nods quickly.
I laugh, and he says, "I'll be back in a few minutes," and leaves to go upstairs.
I walk up to my mom in the meantime, who is just leaning against the counter by herself with a drink in hand.
"Hey mom," I say.
"Hey sweetie, where's Four?" she asks.
"Oh, he's around. I just wanted to talk to you," I say, not really elaborating.
"He treats you well, I really do like him a lot," she says, and I sigh in relief.
"Good, because Caleb doesn't," I say.
She chuckles, and says, "Well, that's to be expected coming from him. He's not used to the idea of you having a boyfriend."
"He'll have to get used to it then, because Tobias is going to be around for a while," I say. My mom is not like some other parents that are so hard to talk to. I can be myself around her.
"You really love him, don't you?" she asks.
"Yeah, there aren't enough words to describe how I feel about him," I say.
"I know exactly what you mean, I felt that way about your father," she says, and I look down when she mentions dad. It had to be my fault he left, I know it. I had this little idea in the back of my mind that he would show up at our doorstep today with flowers in hand like he does on my mom's birthday every year, but I don't think it's going to happen.
My mom must notice, because she changes the subject by saying, "I think it's time for gifts." She walks over to the table of presents and starts to gather everyone, leaving me standing by myself.
A moment later, familiar arms wrap around me. "Hey," I say, and turn around. Tobias managed not to get his hair wet, so it doesn't even look like he took a shower at all.
"Hey, it's present time," he says and we walk over to the couch where my mom is sitting, opening gifts one by one and thanking people.
She gets to the gift from Tobias, and says, "Oh my gosh, Four, this plate is beautiful!" She holds it up for everyone to see. It is a large glass plate, definitely decorative. It is marbleized with shades of deep purple and ocean blue. The same ocean blue hue of his eyes. It is certainly a gorgeous piece. "Thank you," she says.
Soon enough, the party comes to an end. People start to leave, and I turn to Tobias. "I'll walk you out," I say, not wanting him to go quite yet.
But we get to his car, and I know it's time to say goodbye. "I wish I could see you tomorrow," I say.
"I know, me too," he says.
"A day with you is much better than a girl's day," I complain.
"You'll be fine, I'll see you on Monday, okay?" he says.
"Ok," I say, almost whispering. Saying goodbye is always a hard thing to say to him, and I have to say it every single day.
He pulls me in for a quick kiss, and then says, "Goodbye."
Then I have to say my least favorite word, "Goodbye."
A/N: Things have been smooth sailing so far, but the honeymoon phase in their relationship is about to end. It's about to get interesting. If you have any ideas for upcoming chapters then pm me or leave them in a review!