ERIC

Why in the world was I getting so upset about this? It was just a dare. It wasn't like we were dating. You don't date remember, Eric? Did I want to be in a relationship with Alex? I liked her, didn't I?

I guess you could tell that it was irritating me. I didn't even listen to coach's pep talk in the locker room.

"Is your head somewhere else?" I turned to look at Justin.

"Still thinking about Alex," said Trick with a wink. "Thinking about settling down, throwing away the old player's card are we," he continued while throwing his arm around my shoulder. Then I saw him turn to look at her in the stands. I had to glance up too.

Alex was sitting down next to Lauren's brother, talking and laughing with him. She's beautiful, funny, sexy, smart, and nice. Of course there's going to be other guys looking her way. I started to feel exactly like I felt last night, when Edward's hands were around her and his lips were on hers. That's it! I'm getting jealous and furious all over again. I want to be with Alex, but for some reason things keep getting in the way. She was right, things with me are DIFFICULT. She could just as easily be with someone else, like Edward or Lauren's brothers, and life wouldn't be so complicated for her.

"Wait, so you've been so distraught over Aidan's sister," said Justin lowering his voice since Aidan was coming up close behind us.

"Yup! That's the reason why he was out for half of last week's game. He couldn't keep his mind off of her," replied Trick.

"Man, I guess our defense is going to fail us during the first half yet again," teased Justin.

"Why don't you just worry about the o-line and protecting our QB," I snapped back and pushed Trick and Justin away from me. They both put their hands up in surrender.

"What is this talk about our awesome QB," asked Aidan coming our way with a smile.

"He's going to lead us to another victory," I said giving him a fist bump before Trick or Justin could say anything else. "Let's head out for the coin toss."

The game was actually better than the last two games. We were all on top of our game tonight, despite my head wandering about the brown eyed girl in the stands. We went into the half leading and eventually came out in the second half dominating. The first play of the third quarter and Al got a touchdown off of the kickoff return. Aidan tied the school record for most passing yards in a game. Who held that record, you ask? His dad, of course. Aidan even ran one in for a touchdown. Four, Zeke, and Brian all got touchdowns each. And Will got a couple field goals, one was from 56 yards out. We're usually not supposed to run back to the fans or the cheerleaders on the side, but after he made that in, he ran to Christina on the sideline and she gave him a kiss. Peter, Edward and I caused eight fumbles, returned three for touchdowns, and had eleven sacks combined. The second highest per game in school history. We won 58-24.

Once the game was over I followed Aidan to see his parents, knowing that Alex would be there. Her parents looked truly upset. Alex's head was down and I could tell she was fighting off tears.

"Why didn't you call us," demanded her mom.

"The first fight I understand," stated her father rubbing his hand on his forehead. "You went to help your friends and the other girls kept persisting. But Alex the second fight was BECAUSE YOU FELT LIKE IT?"

"Alexandria Lara Kent, you could have been suspended," cried her mom.

"You're very fortunate things weren't worst off than they are now. What were you thinking getting into that second fight, Alex?"

"I can't believe you would do something like that. It's so unlike you," said her mom.

"Mom, Dad," Aidan said cautiously as we got closer. Aidan's mom tried to force a smile as she saw us and their dad let out a deep breath, obviously trying to calm himself down before talking to his son.

"That was a good game," his mom said walking over to hug Aidan. She then gave me a hug.

"Yes, son, we're so very proud of you. Tying your old man's record I see," he said finally relaxed. "Excellent defense too," he said offering me a handshake.

"Thank you, sir." After, I looked past them as they continued to talk to Aidan about the game. Alex looked up, gave me a weak smile, and then turned to leave.

"Alex," I called out to her, grabbing her arm. I looked back at her parents and Aidan one more time to see that they were deep in conversation and then led her a few feet away. Once we were out of sight, I pulled her into my arms.

Almost immediately she started to cry. I pressed her closer into me and started to stroke her hair, attempting to calm her down. I didn't care anymore about last night. I just wanted to keep her in my arms, stop her from crying, make her happy once more, and assure her of my promise that 'no matter what' I would still be there for her.

"You know that your parents love you," I said softly. "Nothing will change that."

"I disappointed them," she murmured in between sobs against my chest.

"Alex," I whispered pulling her back enough so she could look up at me. "They're not disappointed with you. They're just upset because of the fight. You're such a hard worker, your smart, and your an excellent daughter." She rolled her eyes. "I know you are," I said running my hand on her cheek to wipe away a tear. "They know you are. Just give them some time. No matter what, they love you, your brother loves you..." I paused to let that sink in.

She looked deeper into my eyes. "And you?"

I wanted to tell her that I loved her too. But I still wasn't sure if that's what I was feeling.

"You said no matter what too remember," she continued not letting me answer the first question.

"That seems to be the theme of our friendship, doesn't it?" It made her laugh a little. I was just glad to see her not crying anymore. "And it's true, Alex. No matter what, you can count on me," I whispered and pressed my lips to her forehead. "I'll be there for you."

"No matter what," she whispered back. "I'll be here for you, too."

I headed out of the lockers to look for Alex again. I saw her by the bus talking to Edward. They weren't laughing or smiling. They both seemed to be deep in conversation. Finally I saw them both smile and she pushed him slightly. That jealousy pulsed through me again, especially when they both hugged. Eventually she walked away and I saw her jog towards the rest of the guys to tell them congratulations.

"I don't care Luke," I heard Lauren say to her brother. "You can't ask her out. Besides she's already going out with one of the guys on the team." She turned to look at me. "Speak of the devil himself," she said grabbing me. "Eric this is my brother Luke. Luke this is Eric, Alex's boyfriend."

"Whoa," I said turning to Lauren. "Alex and I are friends." I moved my hand to make a straight line. "Friends."

"Sure you're just friends," she said rolling her eyes.

"So she's single, then," asked Luke smiling at his sister.

"No, she's not," said Lauren. "They both like each other. They're just stupid to admit it."

"I don't..." I wanted to argue but Lauren held up her hand to me.

"If I were you, I wouldn't argue with her," said Peter who had been observing the conversation.

"Besides, Luke, you're 20, in college. And she's sixteen! She's also one of my friends and I'm not going to allow it. Neither would her brother and neither would Eric." Conflict was stirred up within me. As much as I didn't want to allow her to be with someone else, I know that that might be the best thing for her. To be with someone else instead of me.

"Hey, there's Alex herself," said Peter loudly to let us know that she was nearby. He pulled her over.

"That was a really good game, Peter," she said as she hugged him. "Myra was right. Dauntless does have the best defense."

"You bet," he replied. "Isn't that right, Matthews?" He gave me a wink and slightly nodded towards Luke.

I smiled and took Alex by the hand and walked her over to where Brian, Mia, Dominic, Roman, Marlene, Christina, Will, and Uriah were standing. No way, I thought to myself as we walked away. No way was I going to let Lauren's brother make a move on her. No way was I going to listen to that conflict in my head. After last night, I knew I wouldn't be able to stand it if I saw her with someone else.

"So Alex," called Roman as we got closer. "Your brother said your parents were planning on taking everyone to that hot dog and burger place in town."

"Aw, I guess that means no sweets for you," I teased.

"Actually they got some good pies over there," said Brian.

"Apple pie, Banana cream pie, Custard pie," Roman started naming.

"I swear to God, you and Uriah are just total garbage disposals," said Marlene which caused everyone to laugh.

"What do you mean by that," asked Uriah.

"You guys eat anything and everything," said Alex.

"Hey, we hungry," yelled Roman.

After we ate dinner and each had a slice of pie, we got on the bus and headed back to campus. I didn't want to let go of Alex knowing she would be getting into a car with Lauren's brother, but eventually it had to happen. When they were getting dropped off, I ran to the car to open the door for her knowing full well Luke might try to ask her something after Lauren and Tris got out of the car. I was kind of glad when I saw a smug look on his face when Alex jumped out of the car to give me a hug.

Tuesday night after I helped Alex finish cleaning the bathrooms, I walked her to her room.

"Did you want to hang out for little while?"

"I don't think Christina would be too pleased," I said. I actually could care less about what Christina thought, but I didn't want Alex to get in trouble with Christina. It was bad enough, she had to share a room with that girl.

"She's actually in Will's room tonight." I looked at her confused. "Uriah and Zeke apparently had to go somewhere for a family thing."

"That's right. Zeke was telling me. Their younger brother has some sort of award ceremony or something, so their mom took them out for like a couple days, I think."

"Yeah, they left last night and won't be back until Thursday, so apparently, Christina will be in Will's room until Uriah comes back."

I could't help but think that Tris was probably spending the night at Four's room too. Man would tonight be perfect to pull a prank on him. But I looked at the wavy long black hair flowing down the back of the curvy figure with those hips of hers swaying left to right and thought that spending time with her would be more better right now.

We got in the room and I immediately pulled the sheets off Christina's bed.

"She's going to ask me what happened right there," said Alex laughing.

"I just had to make trouble to her," I said. "Payback for walking in on us." Right after I said it, I almost wanted to take it back. Just because I wanted the kiss to happen, doesn't mean that she did. But she surprised me.

"I know, I'm kind of upset about that day too." Did that mean she was upset that we didn't kiss, too?

She pulled out couple boxes from their fridge, popped it in the microwave, took it out and then walked over to sit down on her bed. I came over and joined her.

"What you got there?"

"Pie," she said smiling at me. She handed me a spoon and then walked back to the fridge and pulled out a white tub from the top compartment. "And here is the ice cream."

We sat down and ate the pie and ice cream.

"Am I to assume that your daddy brought this for you from this past weekend?" She smiled and nodded. "See, told you they loved you."

"I know. He said he was still a little upset, but he couldn't really say 'no' to this face," she said as she made her eyes big and her lip pout a little. I grabbed my spoon that had ice cream on it and put some on her cheek. "Hey," she screamed as she grabbed her spoon too. I moved just in time to have the ice cream fall on top of my shirt instead of landing on my face.

I grabbed a napkin and wiped my shirt. I saw she didn't wipe off hers yet, so I took another napkin and gently wiped her cheek.

"Thanks," she said softly. I ran my hand down her now clean cheek.

"You're right. Who could say no to you?" She looked down to try and hide her smile.

"Hey," she said looking back up. "Why don't we see your dad at any of the games?" I let out a breath and closed my eyes. How was I going to tell her about my parents? When she asked about my mom earlier this year, I didn't want to tell her, but at the same time I felt like I needed to.

"My dad isn't alive anymore." Was all I could say. She was quiet for a while and I was hoping that she wasn't looking at me weird. I didn't want to say that he passed away, because although it said due to natural causes on the death certificate, I knew for a fact that it wasn't.

"What happened?" I turned to her. She looked genuinely concerned for me.

"Let's just say he's not alive anymore," I said looking away.

"Were you folks close?"

"Yeah, we were." We were quiet for a while. I sat there thinking about all the stuff my dad and I used to do, all the times he stuck up for me, and all the advice he would give so I could stay out of trouble. I started to chuckle, breaking our silence. Alex turned to me with a small smile.

"I'm just remembering something about him." She seemed to consider this for a moment. Slowly she got up, took the pie boxes and ice cream tub and put them in the kitchen. After Alex walked back, she sat down closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder. I couldn't help but to put my arm around her.

"Is it okay if you tell me about it," she said as she started to play with my other hand, running her fingers up and down my forearm and then tracing the lines on my hand. How could I tell her? I couldn't really tell her everything. If I did, would she look at me differently?

"I don't know if I told you this, but I'm from the Erudite district," I finally said as I watched her hand continue to play with mine. I don't know if she knew what she was doing, but the touch was relaxing me. And having her in my arms once more was comforting.

"Myra told me. She said you all went to Erudite Scholar elementary together."

"Yeah," I said chuckling, remembering the first time I met Will and Edward. "You know that saying 'all brawn, no brain'?" She nodded on my chest. "People would use that to describe me in school. They highly value intelligence there. Thought that something was wrong with me, like I was infected somehow during my mother's pregnancy, or damaged at an early age. My dad would always help to prove them wrong." I pulled her body closer, attempting to draw more strength and comfort from her.

"My dad thought I was the best of both worlds. To him, for me to be brave, meant to be effective and practical. To be quick, meant to be perceptive and discerning. To be strong, meant to be determined and focused. He never looked at me or treated me like I was impaired, or as my mom would put it contaminated." Alex was still playing was no longer playing with my hand. But had her hand under my shirt and was slowly skimming the muscles of my stomach. Of course I felt turned on, but at the same time, she was making me feel refreshed, soothed, and loved. Even though I didn't say it, she filled in the blanks for me.

"He taught you how to become a better person, not just in your head," Alex said looking up at me. "But in everything that you do."

I smiled down at her. "I wish..." I paused, closed my eyes, and let my head rest back on the wall. I really didn't want to bring up all that emptiness again, but for some reason, she was making me feel whole. "I wish he was there at my games." I felt her move in my arms and then felt her lips press against my cheek. "I don't want you to feel sorry for me."

"That wasn't me feeling sorry for you." I opened my eyes to look at her, thinking I would see hurt, but all I saw was love and care. Alex moved to sit in my lap. "I wanted to tell you that 'no matter what'," she said the statement smiling. "I'm sure your dad would be so proud of how well you've played and all that you've accomplished. And that 'no matter what' that I would cheer for you at those games in place of your dad." I smiled as she kissed me on the cheek again. "No matter if I'm in a cheer uniform or just in regular clothes in the stands," she finished to which I started to chuckle.

"I just thought that kissing you on the cheek would be so much more better than saying all of that," she said as her smile got wider. I started to chuckle again.

"That really is the theme of our friendship, isn't it," she asked.

"Yeah, it is," I replied.

"If you want me to say that phrase, instead of kissing you on the cheek, then hey I can go back to saying no mat.." she started but I interrupted her by touching my fingers to her lips.

"No, I think that's much better," I said looking back at her. She smiled and leaned in to kiss my cheek again. She rested her head back on my chest.

"Can you stay with me tonight," she whispered.

I placed a kiss on her forehead. "And if you're wondering," I answered her. "That means that 'no matter what' I'll always stay by your side."

"I think that's better, too."

I slowly moved her out of my lap, pulled back the blankets on her bed, and allowed her to crawl inside. Just as I was about to lay down next to her, she put her hand on my chest as if to stop me. She pulled the bottom of my shirt and lifted it over my head.

"I like seeing you shirtless," she said smiling at me.

"Can I see you shirtless too," I asked throwing her my smirk. Immediately she covered my mouth and I knew that it was 'that' smile.

"You already have," she said removing her hand. I tried to give her the smile again, but she turned her back to me and threw herself on the bed, so she wouldn't face me and said "No."

I slowly got under the blankets too, wrapped my arm around her and pulled her in close. Teasingly I played with the bottom of her shirt. She elbowed me before she turned around to face me.

"Maybe another time," she whispered giving me a small smile.

I was starting to get that feeling in me again. That feeling of being wanted and needed. She was slowly unraveling me to my core. I know she said she would never ask about things in my past, but I couldn't help but want to reveal every secret hidden within me so that she could be part of my life. In my head I couldn't help but think that no matter what happened between us within the next couple days or years, I would always like her, I would always care about her and she just had to know that no matter what I would stand by her side.

I kissed her forehead and she kissed my cheek.

"Goodnight Eric."

"Goodnight Alex." I stroked her cheek, pressed my lips to her forehead and left it there until we both fell off to sleep.

My alarm on my phone went off signaling that I had to get ready for school. I looked down and saw Alex tightly tucked into my chest.

"Alex," I whispered as I softly rubbed her back to wake her up. She started to stir. I was starting to get turned again. I had to leave before I did something stupid. Like I told everyone, Alex and I were just friends. And after what happened last night, I didn't want to chase her off. I wanted her to stay with me.

"Alex," I whispered again. Her eyes opened and she stretched in my arms. Let her go now, Eric, before you do anything stupid, I thought. "We have to go get ready for classes," I said as I gently stroked her cheek. Hoping to see those beautiful eyes before I left.

"Go," she said gently pushing me. "I'll see you at breakfast."

I slowly got up, releasing her from my hold. My shirt was on the floor. As I bent down to pick it up, she rolled around to face me and gave me a smile. Just then her eyes lit up as if she had just come to some sort of epiphany.

"Eric," she said grabbing my arm. She slowly pulled herself up and kissed me on the cheek.

Remembering what all those kisses meant, I filled in the blank of what she was trying to tell me. That no matter what, she would be there for me. It was like it was some sort of unspoken promise. Despite everything that already happened, come what may in the future, leaving all that on the side, against all odds, NO MATTER WHAT she would be there for me. I leaned down and kissed her forehead, letting her know the same.

"Remember that now," she whispered. I smiled and then left to get ready for classes, knowing that I was going to see her smile in a few minutes.