AN: Thank you for all of your continued support of this story.
Over the next two days Eric and Tris are inseparable. They spent all their free time together and spent every night together in one of their rooms. Their friends had been having fun living their best single lives, and there was absolutely no awkwardness when they'd spend time together as a group. Christina and Tori were even playing wingwoman for Zeke and Uriah, but most nights they'd end up going home together. Unlike Tris and Eric, their friends were just having a vacation fling. Tori had been casually seeing a man named Bud back home for a few weeks prior to the trip, and Christina knew that Uriah had a girl back home that he'd been pining away for. Their friends knew that at minimum they'd met people they'd be friends with after the trip.
Tris and Eric seemed to have different plans, and unbeknownst to them their friends had all voiced concerns with each other.
Zeke and Tori were the most skeptical of what they were seeing, sharing in the opinion that Tris and Eric were setting themselves up for heartbreak, while the more hopeless romantics Uriah and Christina thought their friends might actually take their vacation fling to a different level if they could figure out the long-distance.
On their fourth morning there, Eric had returned to his hotel with Zeke and Uriah to grab their swim trunks so they could spend the day at the pool with Christina, Tori and Tris. The girls decided to have breakfast in the suite, and they started talking about having to leave in two days, and about the guys leaving tomorrow.
"What are you and Eric going to do?" Christina asked.
"He was trying to push his flight to the red eye tomorrow night, but it didn't work out because they don't have the staff to cover their store. So, they're leaving tomorrow around lunch time." Tris replies and her friends watch her carefully.
"So, this is just a trip relationship, right?" Tori asks and Tris meets her friend's brown eyes.
"I don't think so. We've had a lot of fun together. It's going to be hard to see him go." Tris admits.
"Tris, you've only known him for like four days." Tori sighs and Christina kicks her under the table.
"I'm well aware of the amount of time I've known Eric. It doesn't change the way I feel about ending things."
"Have you two talked about it at all?" Christina asks.
"We actually have, contrary to what you may believe," Tris purposely meets Tori's eyes, "this hasn't just been hooking up. We talk all the time, and we've discussed continuing this at length. It's only about a four-and-a-half-hour drive between us." She replies.
"So, you're going to try long distance?" Tori asks with a look of concern.
"Maybe." Tris says and Christina and Tori share a look.
"What's going on in that head of yours?" Christina asks her friend.
"It's just hard to think about. I know I've only known him four days, but I'm really into him. I don't want things to end when we leave here, but then the pragmatic part of me wonders what kind of future could the two of us even have? We're both business owners, are we just going to see each other whenever we might be able to get a day off that overlaps? We know how this will end up." Tris voices out loud the same things that her friends are currently keeping to themselves.
"This is why I've wanted you to just live in the right now. Maybe you two met to help you see there's more out there than Tobias." Tori says quietly.
"Or maybe he's who I'm supposed to be with, and it took me going through a ton of terrible relationships to see it." Tris argues.
"It's been four days- "
Tris holds up her hand to stop Tori, "I know exactly how ridiculous this sounds, but I've had more of a connection with him in four days than I have with people I've known my entire life."
"Four doesn't count, he's like a tornado that left a path of destruction everywhere it touched." Christina argues.
"I wasn't specifically talking about him," Tris sighs in frustration, "I just really like Eric. I didn't expect to meet someone like him, or feel this strong of a connection with someone I barely know." Tris replies.
"Enjoy the time you have left, worry about the rest later." Tori finally says and Tris nods as her two best friends wrap their arms around her.
When Tris eventually returns to her room to get ready for her date with Eric, Christina turns to Tori.
"She's going to be heartbroken when he leaves."
Tori sighs, "I don't know what's worse. A clean break by him not contacting her once he's home, or them trying a long-distance relationship after knowing each other for a few days."
"With Tris, both." Christina replies sadly.
"What if we work every day, but then schedule ourselves off for four or five days in a row each month? We could take turns driving or flying out to each other." Eric says as they wait in line for one of the roller coasters later that afternoon.
"What happens if we work these crazy shifts and then something like an emergency comes up where we can't take our time off?" Tris asks.
"We will figure it out. I don't want this to end." Eric replies, taking her in his arms and pressing his lips to hers.
Tris lost herself in the kiss, and they continue to share kisses and quiet conversation as they wait for their turn on the ride.
"I don't want it to either. I just can't wrap my head around the logistics of making this work." She replies.
He's having the same issue, but he doesn't want to admit it yet, "We have the rest of the day today, and tonight. Let's just have fun and not worry about it yet."
Once his lips are back on hers, she forgets about logic, at least for now.
They all agreed to go to the same club they met in for the guy's last night there. Tris borrows one of Christina's dresses, showing more skin than she's ever been comfortable with. Strapless with strategic cutouts on each side, she couldn't wear any undergarments with it, and it hugged her curves perfectly. The girls said Eric would love it.
He did.
For the first time in either of their lives, they had sex in a public place. They'd discreetly met in the club's restroom, where Eric bent her over the sink and took her from behind.
"This dress. Fuck baby, I just couldn't wait." He breathes out when his body is slumped against hers.
"I wore it for you." She meets his eyes in the mirror.
"I love it, and I can't fucking wait to see it on my floor tonight." He bites her neck, and she giggles.
The pounding on the door breaks them apart, and they quickly clean up and leave the room, getting high fives from the people waiting for a bathroom in the hall. They drank. They had fun, they did body shots and they just decided not to give a fuck about anything for the evening. Tori and Zeke were the first to disappear for the night, followed shortly by Uriah taking Christina back to his hotel, leaving Eric and Tris alone to drink the night away.
They hopped from club to club, drinking and dirty dancing. They found another bathroom to hook up in, and eventually even went into a casino to play the cheaper slot machines for fun.
"Want to do something crazy?" Eric grinned at her, and she nodded enthusiastically, "Let's go get married."
"We can't get married!" She laughed at him.
"It's just a ceremony, it's not legal." He slurred, "Come on baby, let's go make a memory."
She giggled and nodded again, and he grabbed her hand and dragged her from the casino. They wandered around the strip until they ended up in a twenty-four-hour marriage chapel. The two were heavily intoxicated, but they filled out some paperwork and had their ceremony performed by someone dressed like Elvis Presley. They were told that something would be sent to them via email, but both were too drunk to listen to the details.
They ended up in Eric's hotel room, and they pulled their clothes off and Tris pushed him down to the bed and crawled between his legs, taking him into her mouth for the first time since they'd met.
He lost his load embarrassingly quickly.
He immediately reciprocated, burying his head between her thighs and licking, sucking and fingering her until she was calling his name and he was lapping at her until she pulled him up to her face and kissed him. He was too worked up for any restraint, and they'd had rough and passionate sex for hours that night.
She wakes up the next morning with Eric's head between her legs, and his mouth and tongue doing deliciously naughty things to her.
"Oh Eric." She breathes out and arches into him.
He pulls his mouth away and kisses the inside of her thigh, "Good morning beautiful."
"It's definitely a good morning." She moans as he continues his ministrations. His fingers are curled inside of her, his lips wrapped around her clit, and she comes with a moan against his face.
They'd showered together and it was then that he'd begged for her to come home to Detroit with him.
"Just extend your trip by a week. Even a few days. Just something, please."
"I can't baby. I have to go home to my shop and make sure the boys haven't scared all of our business away." She said and he presses his lips to hers.
"I had to at least try." He replied.
The best she could do was ride to the airport in the Uber with them, and Zeke and Uriah gave them as much space and time as they could to say their goodbyes.
"Tris, I want this, I want a relationship with you." He says hesitantly and she leans back so she can look him in the eyes, "Is this crazy?"
"I don't care if it's crazy. I want to be with you." She replies.
"Can we do this; can we start a relationship hundreds of miles apart?" He asks her and she nods.
"We will make this work."
"I just want you, no seeing other people, no hiding what we are, just me and you. Are you okay with this?"
Tris smiles, "I am committed to you, and only you. I want this."
"I'm committed to you." He kissed her again, slow, and deep, and when they break apart, he memorizes her face, "I'll text you as soon as I land."
"I miss you already." Tris says. Zeke finally calls his name and he reluctantly separates from Tris, watching her as long as he can.
Zeke and Uriah could see Eric's struggle, the notoriously private man had opened himself up to this woman he barely knew, and a connection was made that was meaningful to them.
"Eric, you'll be able to see her again. Detroit and Chicago are close enough, man." Uriah said to his friend once they were on their plane.
"I don't know if we will. We both own businesses that are finicky and unpredictable. What if we never get the chance?" Eric said.
"It'll work out, man. What's meant to be will be." Zeke says.
Eric just stared out the window of the plane.