Chapter 6
Y'all should know I hate love triangles, so don't get worried 'bout anything later in the chapter.
The next day at work, Monday, the only thing Tris could do was tap her fingers. She couldn't concentrate on her work, couldn't hardly make conversation with anyone of the human race, and definitely couldn't look at Tobias.
So much for that friendship.
She was really hoping it would last awhile and that they'd become really good friends. Maybe she could talk him into still being friends. She wanted nothing more from him other than being his friend. Hopefully he'd be okay with that. If he wasn't, then maybe he still was a fuckboy.
So on her lunch break she and Uriah walked to the coffee shop. They ordered, got their coffee, and sat down at a table. It was silent in the beginning, but Tris couldn't take it.
"Do you mind if I pour out all of my feelings to you right now?"
Uriah seemed surprised, but he nodded.
"I don't know what the hell to do with my life right now. I love my job and my friends, but, holy shit, things are so difficult right now. First off, Tobias and I kissed, no biggie," she said sarcastically. "We haven't spoken since then. Then there's Four. Max is depending on me to catch him, but the city loves him. So whoever arrests him will be considered the bad guy. Another thing in my life that just flat-out sucks is the fact that I like Four. That relationship will never happen and I know that, but a girl can dream, right?" Tris rambled. "I just can't. I can't right now. I mean, honestly, doesn't every girl have a crush on Four? From the sketch artist drawing he looks pretty damn attractive. Wouldn't every girl practically fall over and die from that picture? And of all people he chose me to mess with. Like, why me? What makes me so special? Why does he always flirt with me? I have so many questions and not enough answers. And, oh my god, about Tobias. I know I already complained about him, but I'm terrified. Like, for real terrified. I honestly don't know what to do. We kissed, as I said before, but I told him to go right after he did. We can't be a thing. I mean—we just can't." She paused for a minute, taking in everything she just told him. "Any advice?" she chuckled.
He let out a breath. "Wow. That's a lot to take in," he laughed. "Well, first of all, you need to choose between Tobias and Four. So do that."
"I can't just choose, Uriah."
"Well how about a pros and cons list?" Uriah grabbed a pen from his pocket and a napkin. On one side he put the number four, and the other, the letter T. Then he labeled it pros and cons.
"Okay," he told her. "Pros for Four."
"He's sweet sometimes. Good-looking. Very charming. Looks out for me."
He scribbled them all down. "Cons?"
"We wouldn't be able to date. He can be too suggestive at times. He won't tell me who he is."
"Got it." Uriah handed it to her. It looked a little like this:
4
Pros: l Cons:
Sweet l No dating
Charming l Too suggestive
Caring l False identity
She handed it back to him. "Okay. Tobias now."
"Alright. Pros?"
"Charming—more than Four—, sweet, caring, helpful, hot, got muscles, sporty—did I mention he was absolutely gorgeous?—he likes me back, great kisser… There's too many to list," she said chuckling.
He finished writing, then said, "Cons?"
"Uh… He… um… Oh, we don't know each other very well. We've only known each other for about two weeks."
Uriah looked at her and paused. "Tris…," he said. "I'm not seeing the problem here." He handed her the napkin.
T
Pros: l Cons:
1. Charming l 1. Known each other for 2 weeks
2. Sweet l
3. Caring l
4. Helpful l
5. Hot x2 l
6. Likes back l
7. Good kisser l
She sighed. "He really is perfect, isn't he?"
Uriah nodded. "For you… Yeah. He is. He's really great to you, from what I can tell. And tell you what, our friends really like him too."
"I know. But I don't want to rush anything, you know?"
He nodded again. "I know what you mean. I get it. Do you want me to talk to him?"
She shook her head. "No. I'll do it myself. Let's go." She stood up and shoved the napkin into her pocket.
They arrived back at the station with twenty minutes left of their lunch break.
Uriah wished her luck, then she walked right on over to Tobias's desk where there was a sandwich.
"Tobias, can we talk?"
He looked up at her, then nodded. He stood up, the beckoned her towards the interrogation rooms.
"What's up?" he asked her, leaning against the wall.
She stood across from him and said, "You know what."
He sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean make you feel pressured or any—"
"No," she cut him off. "It's not that. I mean, you're a fantastic kisser—honestly, like, wow, be proud of yourself—," she laughed. "But I just… Here." She grabbed the napkin out of her pocket and tore off the side with Four, and him the side with his name on it. "A friend and I made this, and… I don't know. I just thought you should have it." She shrugged, and then she walked out of the room.
She was halfway to her desk when Tobias caught up with her.
"Tris," he said. "None of those things are true except that I like you. I mean… I'm not nice or smart or caring or good-looking or helpful or…I am not any of those things. I'm just a fuckboy with horrible intentions, and I'm just going to end up hurting you in the long run. Somehow, someway, you'll get hurt, and I don't want that for you. That's the last thing I want. I care about you, and that's exactly why I have to stay away from you."
Tris took a step closer, and they were just inches away. There was no one in the hallway at the time.
"And another thing you should know…," he said softly, "is that if you come any closer, I'm not letting you go, and you'll get hurt later on. If you step closer, you will get hurt, and I won't let you go because I'm selfish."
She didn't move. "And we can't even be friends?"
He shook his head. "I'll hurt you. Emotionally, I mean. Things will lead to other things and it will not go down well."
So she nodded, looking down, and pursing her lips. "Okay," she told him. "Looks like we're done then." She had a faint lining of tears in her eyes, and then she walked away.
She had five minutes of her lunch break left, so she savored it. She went outside the back door in the alley.
She sat down on the ground and pulled her knees to her chest.
Tris didn't cry. She sucked it up.
You hardly even knew him. Get over yourself, a voice in her mind chanted.
It was true though. She didn't want to believe it, even though it was true.
She was fine. She would be okay. She would—
"Detective Tris Prior, please report to Chief Max's office for the trip to the junior high. Detective Tris Prior, please report…"
Her radio came on, and she reported there as she pulled herself together.
She carried herself to his office.
Tris walked past Tobias's desk on her way. There was no getting around him. She felt his eyes on her, but she ignored him. She strutted past him, confident in her walk. She also happened to be looking pretty fine that day too. She wore a dark red shirt that flared at the bottom a little with half sleeves. For pants she wore khakis and shoes she wore blood red heels. She had done her makeup all nice, and her lipstick matched her shirt.
She arrived at Chief Max's office. "Should I head down to the junior high?"
He nodded. "There will also be a firefighter there. His name is Jason. Please, please get along with him. We don't need another rivalry with the fire station."
She nodded. "Will do, sir."
Tris left the room and made her way to the school. She didn't drive, so luckily it wasn't far.
She arrived on time in the office.
"Right on time," the principal said. "I'm so glad you and Jason could come in to talk to the kids about smoking. We've already got a few smokers on our hands here in the eighth grade. It's sad, really. From my understanding, your father passed away from lung cancer, correct?"
Tris nodded. "Yes. I've done lots of research since, and it's really opened my eyes to a lot of things."
She, the principal, frowned. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Tris shook her head. "It's not your fault."
"Well, have you met Mr. Jason Johns?"
The man was about her age with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was tall and buff. "I have not," Tris said. "Hello, I'm Tris—Head Detective Beatrice Prior, more formally known as," she chuckled as she shook his hand.
"I've heard great things about you over at the main CFD. I'm Chief Jason Johns."
She smiled. "Well," she said, "let's get this show on the road."
They walked into a large classroom where most of the eight graders sat.
"Hi," Tris said. "My name Tris Prior, and I'm head detective of the Chicago Police Department."
"Hello," Jason said. "My name is Jason Johns, and I'm chief of the Chicago Fire Department."
"We have a little presentation for you," Tris told the kids. "Now, I know this is probably the last place you all want to be right now,"—most of them chuckled—"but this can be some seriously life-changing information. Once you hear these things, you will want to go home and want to annihilate any cigarretes in your house in a blender. Now, I'm not here to preach, just to give the facts. I lost my father from lung cancer due to long-term smoking, and I would never wish any of that pain upon any of you. I hope this is an eye-opener to you guys and even your teachers." Tris smiled, then looked over at Jason.
"Man," he said, "how am I supposed to go after that awesome intro?" Most of the kids laughed again. "Like Head Detective Prior said, I'm sure none of you want to be here. I wouldn't either if I was your age, but listen up kids, because this is one of the leading causes of death in adults and teenagers. Care to share any facts, Tris?"
She smiled. "I would, Chief Johns. Thanks. Did you know that for every cigarette you smoke, you take eleven minutes off of your life? That means that if you smoke one pack, you take three and a half hours off of your life. And some people smoke a pack a day or more. Any input, Johns?"
They continued like that until there was about ten minutes left of class that day. Tris felt the presentation was quite successful, considering some of the kids' looks were quite terrifying.
"Any questions?" Tris asked.
A kid raised his hand and asked, "How old are you? You look too young to be head detective."
"I'm twenty-three. And I know I seem young, but that's what happens when you try hard to get where you need to be in life."
Jason picked out a kid with his hand raised. "Are you two an item?"
Some kids giggled. Jason and I just smirked at each other.
"No," Tris answered. "We actually just met today. Does anybody actually have a question about smoking?" she laughed.
All the hands went down.
Tris laughed. "Okay, ask me random questions. You, in blue." She pointed to a girl in a blue shirt in the very back.
"Is it fun being head detective?"
"Very. I get to interrogate all kinds of people. It's crazy fun."
Johns picked out another.
"Are you single?" a girl asked.
He just busted out laughing, and so did Tris.
"Yes," he answered.
The bell rang, signaling for the kids to leave school.
Jason and Tris filtered out along with the kids.
As they were walking down to the office, she felt something, a hand, squeeze her butt.
She was in shock, but before she knew she was pinning the boy up against the locker.
"Don't you ever, ever do that to me again. Or any woman, for that matter. How old are you—fifteen?"
He swallowed nervously and then nodded.
"I'm eight years older than you and you will treat me with respect, you get me?"
He nodded.
"It's people like you I end up arresting later in their life," she said, fiery and mad. "You know I could have sexual harassment charges brought up on you?"
His eyes just went wide.
"Actions speak louder than words, don't they?" Tris said. She let him go and the boy continued down through the hallway in a jog to catch up to his friends.
Jason was next to her the whole time. "That was… intense," he chuckled.
"I don't take kindly to disrespectful men," she spat.
"I get that," Johns said.
"Well," Tris said when calmed down and was in the parking lot, "it was nice meetin' ya, Johns. See you around."
She started walking away before he could say anything.
Boy, she was having a rough day.