Woahh another chapter! Yay!
Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed.
And to everyone who follows and favorites but doesn't review... well, please take a few seconds and review, if you're going to be reading and appreciating my work. I think it's only fair that I get some feedback. Thanks.
Anyway, enjoy this chappie!
I own nothing but my chocolate and my brain and my weird music obsessions.
"So, you gonna take me home now?"
Jeanine Matthews licked her full, light pink lips slowly, and then leaned forward, her light brown hair falling forward around her round face. Her perfume was an intoxicatingly sweet, spicy, almost excotic sense, and it pulled Caleb toward her like a magnet.
They were seated in her car, in the dark save for the glowing LEDs on the dashboard, classical music swirling out softly from the speakers ensconced in the car's lush interior.
"I don't know... After that dinner I'm not sure I'm ready to let go of you so quickly." Caleb smiled at her, and reached out to twirl a strand of her hair around his finger. They had just had what had to have been the best meal of his life- some fancy restaurant in a part of the city Caleb had never been to. He had been worried about getting in, because- let's be real- he was some nobody teenager, but Jeanine had just smiled that slow smile of hers and said something to the maitre'd, and just like that, they were in. They had been whisked to a table nestled by a window overlooking an interior courtyard, lead up a marble staircase by a waitress wearing an outfit that seemed pulled directly from the covers of Vogue.
Jeanine leaned forward, resting her head on Caleb's chest. "You smell so good," she murmured, her breath tickling him in the most sensual of ways.
"You do too," responded Caleb. Jeanine lifted her head from his chest, and regarded him with quietly astounding gray eyes. She looked beautiful- more than usual, in a gold blouse that both hung off her slim figure, and outlined every perfect curve in her body, shimmery dark jeans, and a pair of spiky gold heels that resembled incredibly sexy torture devices.
"So..." Jeanine pulled back, flicking her hair back from her face, and smiling up at Caleb in a way that seemed to set his heart on fire. "You wanna have some fun?"
"What do you think?" Caleb breathed, leaning down to press his lips to hers.
"You got any food in this place?" Uriah stretched, catlike, the fabric of his fitted gray T-shirt rippling across his taut stomach, and stood up. He had been curled on the floor of Tris's room, lying on a glittery throw pillow, with Lynn beside him while they watched what was, in Tris's mind, the best movie ever- "The Dictator".
"Yeah, really, I'm starving." Liv uncurled herself from her spot on Tris's bed. Jasper was fast asleep, his features smooth in the peaceful facade of slumber, but as she stood up, he sighed slightly, his eyes fluttering open for a second before falling shut once more.
"Nah, we just eat our guests here..." Tris said sarcastically with a laugh. "Yeah, there's probably a ton of food downstairs. You can go ahead and forage. I should probably check when my parents are getting home."
"Sounds good," said Uriah, before bounding out of the room, the rest of the group following him in a clattering of boots on hardwood floor, and rumbling conversation, leaving Jasper asleep on the bed.
Tris sat down at her desk, and was halfway through checking her phone when a faint whimper of pain from the corner of the room made her jump. She turned quickly, shocked to see that Four was still seated by the window, his features angular and pained in the fading light.
"Are you OK?" Tris said quietly, getting to her feet and crouching down besides him. Even as she said it, she felt like an idiot. He was clearly not OK. But she had no idea what to do. The Four that she knew- albeit only for a few days- seemed completely divorced from the drawn, white-faced boy seated besides her.
"Ah, yeah," he grimaced, his blue eyes seeming larger than ever.
"You sure about that?" Tris arched an eyebrow. Something was clearly very wrong.
Four opened his mouth, and then stopped. The silence hung between them for a second. Tris could hear a car-alarm wailing it's warning in the distance, the whispered secrets of the wind in the trees outside, the already-familiar laughter of the others, downstairs.
After what seemed like forever but could easily have been a few seconds, Four tugged up the edges of his black t-shirt. His skin was smooth and white, like a gothic doll (a gothic doll with some incredible abs, that is...) until-
Tris gasped.
A constellation of yellowish-blue bruises bloomed like some kind of poisonous flowers across his ribcage, augmented only by dark red lines of dried blood etching the alphabet to some painful language of hate.
Without thinking, Tris lifted a finger and very gently traced the bruises, arcing up from around Four's waist to the sharp edges of his ribcage, her fingers light and quivering, on the edge of reverent.
He leaned his head against the wall, his blue eyes slitted in the dusky light of her room, his lips pressed together.
Tris felt oddly disconnected- never in her wildest dreams had she imagined sitting with Four, the hot, beautiful, slightly dangerous Four, as he bared his broken body to her.
As if sensing her thoughts, Four opened his mouth. His voice was as fluid as it always was, if slightly more hoarse. "I don't mind if you're... disgusted. I would be, too, if I were you." He looked away from her.
Tris felt a rush of sadness for Four, so hurt and miserable in front of her. "I could... never be disgusted by you." She paused, her words hanging in the air between them. "But... what happened? Really?"
"I-" Four started, and then stopped. "I fell down some stairs in my house the other day. It's just flaring up 'cause I was sitting funny."
HIs voice was as calm and convincing as ever, but something was off. His eyes, his expressive eyes, were shuttered off, looking inwards and away from her. Tris wanted to press him, but he was looking away, obviously somewhere else entirely. Instead she just patted his knee in what she hoped was a reassuring day, and hurried downstairs to see what the others were up to.
Tris woke up to rain pounding against her window like the thin panes of glass had killed a family member. It was incredibly cozy, she had to admit, but only while she stayed in her warm cocoon of a bed- as she stood up and blearily checked her phone, she found the downside of the weather: A freezing gust of wind whistled through the cracks under the window, managing to make its plaintive complaint heard despite the steady thrumming of the rain.
SIghing, Tris pulled a pair of black leggings and a dark purple "Ravenclaw" T-shirt on, sighing contentedly as she pulled a baggy gray sweatshirt over the whole ensemble. She didn't need to glance in the mirror to know that she was a mess- she could feel the weight of her hair, already frizzed up to the max, hanging on her back. Shrugging to herself, she shoved her feet into her converse and swung her bag over her shoulder, heading downstairs to breakfast.
"Don't you look... inspired this morning," said Caleb, who was of course dressed in a perfectly fitting white button down and crisp grey jeans.
"As always," Tris said darkly, violently pouring out some Frosted Flakes for myself.
"So, Caleb, Bea, how was your night?" Tris's mother settled down at the table with a mug of steaming coffee, her hair very blonde in the watery morning light.
"It was great," I said sincerely. "Really great."
"You know- I think you go to the same school as our new boss's son," Tris father chimed in, shaking out the newspaper.
"Yeah?" Tris asked, distracted, as she savored the sweetly unhealthy crackle of her cereal.
"Yes... This man, Marcus, runs the financial outreach program at the bank- it's very noble- He could easily have the highest-paying position but instead he's choosing to spearhead a community-based outreach system for minority citizens that takes a lot of time and doesn't have much of a yield..."
"And you think he has a child at our school?" Tris prompted, finishing up her cereal and pouring a glass of water.
"Yes- Marcus Eaton is the name- the son is named Thomas or Tom or Toby or something."
Eaton... There was something very, very familiar about the name. Tris just couldn't quite put her finger on what.
"Huh... Well, I don't think I really know the kid..." Tris drank down the remains of her water, and stood up to go.
"Maybe we should have them around for dinner sometime- you should meet the kid!" Edith speared a grapefruit slice, and smiled brightly.
"No, that wouldn't work," her husband responded, frowning. "The son doesn't live with him anymore- strange, I know, but I think it's because Marcus is so busy, what with work, it was hard to deal with a child. Since his wife died and all..." He sighed. "It's all very sad, you know, but I think he's living with an aunt or something most of the time."
Very strange was an understatement, thought Tris as she gathered up her things and prepared to leave for school. What kind of horrible homelife obliged you to move out of your house, especially after losing a parent? Unbidden, an image of the horrible injury scarring Four's body popped into Tris's mind, but she pushed it away. There wasn't- couldn't be- a connection between the sad, busy family that worked with her parents, and the beautiful, broken, Four.
"Mom, Dad, I'm off- Jan is picking me up again." Caleb's smug voice jerked Tris out of her thoughts.
"Oh-" Tris's parents exchanged a long look. "Well, we have an early meeting so we can't drop Tris off, and she can't exactly figure out the bus system on her own today, so..."
Tris shuddered at the way she was being written off as some hopeless little child that couldn't figure out how to get to school, but she was too afraid of what was coming next to say anything.
"Why don't you both get a ride with your friend, just for today?" Edith smiled like it was the most amazing thing a human brain could devise.
Tris felt herself collapse on the inside, but much to her chagrin, a slow, sickly sweet smile was threading it's way across her brothers face.
"Perfect," he said. "Jan's here now."
The plot thickens...
Please, please review.
Okay?
Okay.
(See what I did there? ;))