Tobias POV
"Riley be careful!" Tris shouted.
I told her to meet me here and obviously Riley couldn't wait as I watched him run up the wall. I sneaked up behind her and leaned down to her ear.
"Don't stress." I whispered.
She screamed out in shock to which I burst out laughing.
"Tobias!" She yelled. "You scared the crap out of me!"
I clutched my stomach from laughing at her reaction. She slapped my arm for laughing.
"Where've you been?" She asked. "You said 11 and it's 11:30."
"I slept in." I shrugged like it was no big deal.
"Lazy shit." She mumbled.
I chuckled. "C'mon, lets climb."
I grabbed her hand dragging her over to the harness. I could feel my heart pounding as her hand squeezed mine once I grabbed it. I was worried she would pull away.
"I've never done this before." She suddenly said in a silent tone.
I looked up to see her shy eyes watching me as I stepped my legs through the harness. Her innocence made my stomach flip.
"You'll be fine." I say. "Plus, you have me to protect you." I smirked.
She giggled. "That's even better." She winked.
I love how she can suddenly change from innocent to cocky.
It took a while to get ourselves fully strapped to the wall for safety and even longer to get Riley down since he had already been up the wall for half an hour. Tris insisted he took a rest before he wore himself out.
"Race you up." Tris said.
"You'll never beat me." I winked.
"Oh yeah?"
Instead of replying I darted up the wall getting a head start.
"Hey!" I heard Tris shout, to which I just laughed.
I gasped when I felt a sudden tug on my leg. I looked down to see Tris pulling me as her strategy to get higher up the wall.
"That's cheating." I laughed as I got dragged down.
"So what." She said climbing higher.
I followed close behind her getting higher to the top. I didn't dare look back once. I knew if I did I wouldn't be able to go any further.
What was you thinking? Rock climbing? You hate heights!
I mentally kicked myself. I didn't want Tris to find out I was afraid of heights. How stupid does that sound?
"Tobias?"
I looked up quickly which I immediately regretted, as I started to feel dizzy.
"Are you okay?"
I realised it was Tris speaking.
"Uh, yeah." I said. Preparing myself to climb higher.
I didn't know it was going to be this hard for myself.
"C'mon." She said.
A hand appeared in front of my face and I smiled once I realised it belonged to Tris. I grabbed it and felt as she tried to pull me up. Maybe she already knew about my fear and accepted it. I forced myself to climb higher. I couldn't freeze now. Once I reached the top I looked at Tris. She was laughing.
"What?" I asked.
"Looks like I won that race after all."
"Please, I let you win."
She laughed again and I did too.
"So, how long are you in Italy?" Tris asked.
"A week." I replied. "You?"
"A week." She smiled.
"Then back to work." I faked excitement.
Tris groaned. "Ugh, I want to stay in Italy forever."
I chuckled. "Yeah, it would be great, right?"
She nodded, then asked. "What do you work as?"
"Oh I live the very exciting life of sitting in front of computers all day."
She raised an eyebrow, confused.
"I work as security at a shop, so y'know, I spend my time watching monitors."
"Sounds fun." She smirked.
I laughed. "You work for Tori, right?"
She nodded. "Yep, in her tattoo shop."
Nothing else got said for a few minutes. I looked up at Tris to see she was already looking at me. Instead of turning away I smiled, which she returned.
"How do we get down?" She laughed.
"Uh, like this." I held tightly onto the rope and pushed my legs against the wall.
Tris watched carefully and copied my actions.
"Now what?"
I risked a glance down to see the workers in place, ready to reel us down.
"They'll bring us down."
As if on cue, my rope started to lower. Tris struggled not knowing where to put her feet.
"Are you kidding?" I laughed. "Even Riley could do it."
She burst out laughing. "Shut up Four. I've never done this before."
I snapped my eyes up at the mention of Four, then sighed. I wrapped my arm around her waist so she would lower with me.
"Just let your feet hang." I ordered.
"But what if I fall?"
I glared at her. "Tris, I'm right here, you're not going to fall."
She looked at me once I said this. Her eyes locking with mine. I could feel her soft breaths against my cheek, then the gentle touch of her free arm wrapping around me, the way mine was around her. My pulse was racing. Slowly the ground was getting closer. I reached the floor before Tris, and when I looked up I saw her rope suddenly loosening a lot more than it should. Her body came flying down right on top of me.
"I'm so sorry!" Tris said between laughter.
She was laying on top of me, our faces only inches apart. I lifted my arm moving a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"Can I go now?!" Riley sprinted over to us.
I held back a groan as that is the second time this has happened now, although I'm sure I heard a sigh escape Tris' lips. She pushed herself off me and stood up.
"Of course, Ri."
She changed out of her own harness and watched as the worker placed another onto Riley. After a few seconds I finally stood up, holding onto my stomach. Tris isn't heavy, but her unexpected fall seemed to wind me. I stepped out of my harness and walked to the bathroom. When I walked back out I kept my head down, reading my phone screen. Without looking what I was doing, I managed to walk into somebody, right in the stomach. A groan escaped my mouth, but my eyes snapped up when I heard a familiar gasp.
"Sorry." Tris giggled, biting her lip.
I grimaced. "Its fine."
"I feel really bad."
"I guess you don't have anything in your first aid kit to help this, right?" I chuckled.
She laughed. "Afraid not."
I leaned back against the wall. Tris stepped closer.
"Is it really that painful?"
"No, I just love making a girl feel guilty." I winked.
"I'm sorry."
I looked at her. "Stop saying sorry." I smiled.
She stood next to me, leaning against the wall too.
"Thanks for today, Riley's loved it." She then laughed. "He keeps telling the workers how much he loves climbing."
I chuckled. "And what about you?"
"Yeah, I love injuring guys I like." She rolled her eyes.
I felt myself tense up and Tris seemed to do the same suddenly, as if realising what she said. I turned to her.
"Guys you like?" I smirked.
"Uh, yeah, I mean…" Her eyes were glued to the floor.
I gently hooked her chin with my finger and pulled her lips to mine.
What are you doing?!
My thoughts cleared once I felt her kiss back. Then she pulled away.
"That… That shouldn't have happened." Her voice was quiet.
"Oh, uh, yeah." I said, starting to back away.
"Wait. I didn't mean it like that."
"No, its fine. You don't like me in that way. I get it."
"But I do…"
My eyes snapped up and our eyes locked.
"I just, I don't want to get Riley confused. I don't want this to be some holiday romance." She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.
"Don't you get it?" I chuckled. "Since I got here I've spent all of my time with you. I like you Tris, and not in some silly way that you think. But I've never felt like this about anyone an-"
Tris cut me off by crashing her lips against mine. I immediately kissed back. Her arms looped around my neck, as mine did around her waist. After a few minutes she pulled away, looking into my eyes.
"Good." She breathed out. "Because I feel the exact same."