Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review the last chapter it means so much to me! Anyways, here is the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it! Happy Reading!
Chapter 3- Winter Weather
"Peter, I'm calling you because my plane is delayed."
"Yeah. Yeah. I know that it is what I get for traveling in the middle of winter through the Midwest and taking O'Hare as a layover. Yes, I know it was a stupid move."
He screams through the phone about how I am stupid, and I didn't think about the consequences. I ignore him. Trying to placate him, I say, "Yes Peter, I understand. I'm sorry."
"We will discuss this lapse of judgment when you get home." He sneers through the phone with a hint of anger in his voice.
"Hey, I got to go," I say gently trying to soothe him, but wanting desperately to hang up the phone.
I turn trying to make my way through the concourse trying to find something healthy to eat which is a hard feat considering that all I see right now is fast food. My head is throbbing slightly from the hang-over, the loud noise, making the hammer in my head pound harder against my skull. It is right before the holidays so the airport is packed. People keep hitting into me, trying to catch their next plane. Many people are trying to get home, back to their loved ones for the holidays. I am not. Home means back to Peter, back to hell, and back to a man that makes me miserable.
The airport is booming with travelers, with people trying to reach their final destination in time. There are many military men and women in uniforms. I can't help but stare at some of their dress uniforms. There must be a military base nearby, I think to myself. A man in a uniform is wonderful eye candy. I make a game with myself to try to guess what branch each uniform belongs to. To try to pass the time while I am walking, my eyes getting lost in the sea of uniforms, the game giving me even more of a headache than I already have. I give up my search for healthy food, I am to the point of starving, my stomach is growling loudly.
As I round the corner, I see a place that looks halfway decent. The smell coming from the place causes my mouth to water. As I am crossing over the walkway, I am suddenly knocked onto my butt by a wall of hard muscle. Suddenly, a hand shoots down reaching to me. I look up, and I am met with dark blue eyes staring back at me that cause me to lose my breath, "I'm sorry ma'am." says the stern voice.
I grab his hand and get myself off the floor. He picks up my bag from the ground, and I take in his appearance. He is tall, lean, muscular, probably around six feet tall and one hundred and seventy pounds, has dark brown hair that is cut in a short Ivy League cut with his hair tapered on the sides and back, and he is wearing fatigues. He has a spare upper lip with a full bottom one, his nose is slightly crooked going to the right like it had been broken once before, and he looks to be nothing but muscle from years of hard athletic training. I blush just from staring at him and begin to imagine how his hands, that are large with long narrow fingers, would feel in mine, how his body would feel against mine, and at that moment, I develop a crush on my mystery man, who knocked me flat on my butt. I can't tell what branch of the military he is in, all the uniforms are all starting to look the same to me. As he is handing me back my book bag, our fingers collide. I feel an electric zap run down my spine as I pull my fingers away, and sling the bag over my shoulder.
"Thanks. Sorry I ran into you. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." I say as I turn red, picking up my book off the ground.
"No ma'am, I should have been paying better attention to where I was going." He says smiling slightly at me.
"I hope you have a good trip." He says as he walks down the walkway, and I continue to stare after him, blinking dazed, and confused.
After being bumped by another woman, who shoots me a dirty look, I continue on my way to the food court. My butt hurts from the fall, I'm sure there will be a bruise there. Great, I can't wait to have to explain that one to Peter when he finds out. I'm sure he will have all sorts of kind words for me. I finally make it to the restaurant called The Pitt, and I order myself a chicken gyro with a side salad. I eat in silence absorbed in my own thoughts, thinking about the mystery man. My phone ringing brings me out of contemplating life and all the reasons behind the mystery of life. "Hello?"I answer.
"Hey girly!" says the voice on the other end which I recognize to be Christina.
"Hey!"
"Where are you?"
"I'm stuck in Chicago. My plane was delayed, and I will be here for the next few hours."
"Well, at least that is a few more hours away from Peter." She says happily.
"Yeah, that's a plus. Although I know there will be consequences when I get home from this, even though it isn't my fault." I say sadly.
"I told you, Tris, you need to leave him. I should never have allowed you to get on that plane. I should have kept you here with me and Will as our hostage. Peter is no good for you. He doesn't deserve you."
"Yeah, I know, but I can't leave him."
Chris cuts in as she says, "Yes, I know what you are going to say next. You always say the same thing, and for reasons you can't tell me, you can't leave him."
"That's right," I say still feeling sad over not being able to change my circumstances. Chris quickly changes the direction of the conversation when she senses my dark mood. "Any good eye candy at the airport? Any cute military guys? Better yet any cute guys in general?" She asks cheerfully.
"I heard that!" Will yells through the phone as I giggle, thinking about how Chris likes to tease Will when he is home.
"Maybe," I say coyly.
"Take a picture for me."
"I can't do that! Plus what would Will say."
"It would teach him to pick up his nasty uniform, and to maybe start helping with the laundry more." She says laughing the last part as I roll my eyes toward the metal ceiling, "Well good for you honey. It never hurt anyone to look. Anyways, I just wanted to see how you were doing, and where you were on your trip. I have to go, unfortunately. I have a business call to make with someone in Paris."
"Okay. Bye Chrissy." I say.
"Bye Trissy. Call me soon." Chris sings as she hangs up the phone.
I finish my meal and go look at the departure board only to find that my flight that was two hours delayed is now six hours delayed. I check the gate number for the flight, of course, it is the gate that is the furthest away in the concourse. I slowly begin my long walk to the gate, since I have nowhere fast to be. Half an hour later, I reach my gate, and every seat is occupied except for one seat which is next to a man in green military fatigues, who is occupied with something in his lap. As I make my way closer to him, he looks familiar, and that is when I recognize him. Just my luck. It's the same guy that I ran into and fell on my butt with. I start to turn around to go sit on the floor to avoid the embarrassment when suddenly the man's head snaps, turning to look my way. "You can sit next to me. There is an empty seat here. That way you don't have to sit on the hard cold floor." He says, smiling at me.
I look around thinking that he is talking to someone else. "Hey, blondie!" There is no way he is talking to me. No one ever talks to me, not if they don't have to, I think to myself, as I glance over my shoulder sure that I am going to see someone else standing behind me as I blink my eyes quickly, wondering if maybe I am dreaming. "Yes, I'm talking to you." He motions to me as he points at me with his index finger.
I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding, and make my way over to the only empty seat in the area. I secretly hope as I walk over that someone else will take the seat, that way, I can avoid the whole situation. I take an awkward seat next to the man that I ran into. I take my book out, attempting to read it. Every once in a while, I glance over at the guy to see his hard eyes trained on me, but once his eyes connect with mine, his eyes fly back to his phone in his hands. I go back to reading, but I can feel his eyes on me, and it makes me uncomfortable. I want to confront him, ask him what his problem with me is, but I chicken out. I have never been the type of person to get into a fight. I feel like he is trying to read me, and it makes me uncomfortable. I don't need someone learning all my secrets especially a stranger. I concentrate harder on reading my book. I am in the middle of an intense scene when I hear a voice say, "My name is Four. What's your name?"
I turn to see who the guy next to me is talking to that is when I notice that he is looking at me again.
"Huh?" I ask as his posture changes, and he says more slowly "My name is Four. What's your name?"
I sit for a second thinking, what a funny name Four is, wondering if it is a nickname, wondering how he earned that nickname and the backstory behind that name, wondering if Four is short for something else entirely, and wondering why after an hour of sitting in complete silence next to this Four guy did he finally decided to talk to me. I question if I should answer him, and engage him in conversation. What if he is a trained assassin, after all, he is in the military, he must know how to use a gun. What if he kills me, takes me hostage? Oh well, at least I will be rid of Peter. I know Peter would not be happy if he knew that I was talking to another man, but Peter isn't here. He will never know. Four raises an eyebrow, and says "Is your name a hard one?"
It is then that I realize that I haven't told him my name yet, feeling like an idiot. I say, smiling slightly "My name is Tris."
"Tris, I like it. Well, it is nice to meet you. Where are you traveling from?"
"New York. I am going back home to California. I stupidly decided to fly through Chicago in the middle of winter." I say laughing at my misfortune.
"Oh, New York is nice in the winter. I had a friend who used to live out there, but he eventually moved out to California to be with his fiance." He says glancing at me.
"Yeah, the snow is nice, but it is a little too cold for me."
I see Four roll his eyes at my statement. He says "You sound like a Cali girl. I would rather take the cold and snow over sweating my ass off in the sandbox that we like to call a desert like I have been any day."
I am about to question his remark, but he says abruptly "Can you save my seat for me. I have a few things I need to do."
"Sure." I murmur as he walks away. What an odd man!
I go back to reading my book, I read for another half an hour, and Four still isn't back yet. I begin to wonder where he went off to. I twist in my seat to look out the windows only to see the snow falling harder. Suddenly, an announcement comes over the intercom saying "Please excuse the interruption, but United Flight 3256 departing from gate D9 to San Francisco has been canceled. Please proceed to the ticket counter to make new reservations."
Great, I think to myself, Peter is going to flip. This is going to be such a fun phone call to make. As the announcement ends Four reappears, smelling like smoke. I turn to him, saying "Well, we are stuck here for the night."
"Yeah. Lucky us." He says with no humor in his voice.
I leave my bag on my chair to save my seat, knowing that I don't have enough money to get a hotel room for the night. I stand in the massive line at the airline counter where the lady tells me that she will try to get me on another plane as soon as possible tomorrow. I am also told that all the hotels in the airport are filled, to make myself comfortable. I make my way back to the chair to send Peter a text telling him that my flight had been canceled from snow since I know that he is going to be at work. I also mention that I may have a flight back tomorrow. I'm not going to lie, I'm happy about getting an extra day away from Peter.
"Hey Tris, since we are stuck here together, we may as well make the most of our time together," Four says bringing me out of my thoughts of Peter and his reactions to my canceled flight.
"Okay," I say, unsure where he is going with this.
"Do you want to play a card game?" He asks as he pulls a deck of cards out of his duffle bag.
"Which one? I don't know many."
"How about you pick one then." He says smiling shyly at me.
"War," I say blushing as soon as the words leave my mouth. I feel stupid.
He lifts an eyebrow, shaking his head, a smile playing on his lips as he says "War it is, but I must warn you. I am pretty good at that game."
"Oh, you are on." I smile at him, laughing as I say "When I was younger, I use to kill my brother in this game."
Four smirks at me as he shuffles the card. As we are playing the card game that he is killing me in, I ask "So Four, where are you traveling from?" Trying to pick up where our conversation left off from. "That's classified. I can't tell you that!" He says winking at me as he throws a card down and taking another one of mine.
My face falls "Oh."
He starts laughing as he says "Gee-sh Tris, I was only kidding. I am on my way home from Germany to California. I am on leave for the next two weeks. I am currently deployed to Afghanistan." He says the last part proudly. "Hence the uniform." As he motions to his sage green fatigues.
"Which branch are you in?" I ask quietly hoping that I'm not overstepping some unknown line.
"Air Force. I'm a Captain."
"Wow! That's a high rank, right?" I ask, having no clue about ranks. He shrugs his shoulders and says "It's decent. But enough about me. What about you?" He looks me dead in the eye.
"There is nothing really exciting about me."
He quips an eyebrow at me and says "I highly doubt that."
He looks at me like he is trying to uncover all my deep dark secrets, the secrets that I am trying to hide from the world. "My friend Will is in the Army, he is a Sergeant. He wouldn't tell me what he does in the Army, he told me if he did, he would have to kill me, so my other friend, Christina, calls him James Bond. They got engaged while I was visiting them in New York." I say, trying to change the subject to Will and Christina.
"Oh Yeah. Where is he stationed?" He asks sounding interested.
"Fort Hamilton with my friend Christina, that is who I was visiting."
"What do you do for work?"
"I'm a nurse in a major hospital in California," I say shrugging my shoulders.
"See something exciting about you, Tris, and you said there was nothing." He says hitting his shoulder into mine. "What kind of nursing do you do?"
"Emergency Room, ER, I love it. I love the adrenal rush. You never know what type of cases you are going to get. My hospital is part of a level one trauma hospital so all the other hospitals transfer the medically unstable patients to us. We also get a lot of gunshot victims and car accident victims." I say feeling excited that someone is actually taking an interest in my job.
Peter doesn't care or ask about my job. Four doesn't say anything. He lets me ramble on about all my favorite aspects of my job, and about how much I love being a nurse. "I'm sorry for talking so much," I say giggling.
"No, it's nice to talk and to listen to someone who loves their job. What book are you reading?" He asks looking generally interested.
"Divergent."
"What's it about?"
"It's a good book. You should read it sometime, and find out for yourself." I say joking with him as he grabs my book away from me to start reading it. My phone ringtone for Peter interrupts my thought process.
"Sorry, I have to get this." I say as I glance at the screen "Hello."
"You are in so much trouble!" The voice sneers across the line.
"Peter, I am not able to control the weather."
"Don't use that tone with me." He screams at me, making my ears hurt.
"Bye Peter. I am hanging up the phone now." I say, wanting to hang up the phone on him, not wanting to put up with his attitude. "Don't you dare!" He screams. I click the end button and shut my phone off completely. I toss my phone angrily into my bag thinking how dare Peter think that he can control me, and get mad at me for something that I have nothing to with. I hate him. Four looks at me with concern in his eyes as he says "Tris, I know we just met, but who was that on your phone?"
"My boyfriend," I reply.
"No one deserves to be spoken to like that. Does he always speak to you like that?"
"No." I lie to him, then quickly change the subject of my relationship with Peter. Four and I talk until late in the night. He lets me change the subject off of Peter, and I am grateful.
"So what are your plans now that you are on leave?' I ask.
"Nothing much. I really just want to sleep." He says smirking at me "Which this airport isn't helping with that plan at all."
I glance at the clock and say "It's two in the morning. We should try to get some sleep."
"That sounds good." He says smiling at me as he yawns.
I slump against the chair, close my eyes, put my coat over me, and attempt to sleep. At one point during the night, I feel my head, land on something hard. The bright sun shining through the window wakes me. I am laying on a shoulder or a chest, and I start to panic. Oh God! I look down to see a sandy-colored shirt with sage green fatigue pants I feel a light pressure on my own head. I realize then that Four is asleep with his head on mine. He has his arm wrapped around me protectively, possessively, and I am pressed lightly into his side. His side is nothing, but hard well defined muscle. This is going to be awkward when he wakes up. I maneuver myself from our current predicament. Lifting my hand from his stomach, then slowly slide my head out from under his, Four wakes with a startle when his head drops. He yawns looking at me. I can only imagine how I look now that I have slept in an airport all night. "Good morning Tris." He says quietly.
"Morning Four." I am about to ask him how he slept last night, but a voice comes over the intercom "Will Beatrice Prior, please come to the ticket counter."
I get up stretching, making my way to the counter noticing that even more people are packing into the gate area. The lady informs me that I have a seat on the first plane out of the airport. I walk back to the chair, feeling slightly sad.
"Four turns to me and asks "Good news I hope?"
"Yeah. I got a seat on the next plane to leave here."
"That's great. I'm happy for you."
The voice on the intercom says "We are now boarding United Flight 7865. Please proceed to the boarding area." I look at my ticket to see that it is mine. "Well, I better get going. That is my flight." I say feeling depressed that my time with Four has come to an end. "It was nice to meet you, Four. Good luck with everything."
Four stands and puts his hand out to me as he says "Nice to meet you too Tris. I'm glad it was you who came and sat next to me." I gather my bag, walking away, not looking back at the man who I crashed into, and I slept on last night. I don't get very far when an elderly woman says "Excuse me, dear."
"Yes."
"I hate to pry, but was that your boyfriend."
"No," I answer starting to wonder why she is asking.
"Oh because the way he is looking at you. It is the way that a man looks at a woman that he loves. He was giving you the same look that my husband use to give me every day for fifty years. It looked like you two were together. I'm sorry."
I smile as I say "No, he was just someone that I met yesterday."
I get in line, waiting to board the plane. Four catches my eye, and waves at me. I wave back shyly. I look in my bag searching for my book, which is missing. Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder, and Four is standing there. "Here, you left this in your chair." He says handing me the book.
"Thanks," I say as Four walks away. When I get onto the plane, I pull out the book to read some more.
I notice a yellow sticky note that reads: Tris- When you get home give me a call. I can show you how you deserve to be treated. My number is 707-896-9087. -Four.
I quickly pull out the note and discard it. Peter would kill me if he knew about Four. As nice as Four was to me. I am with Peter. Four was nice to look at, but it would never work. We are from very different worlds. I am damaged goods, and he seems too nice to deal with my problems. I put my book away, go to sleep, and dream about dark blue eyes.
Until Next Time! So what does everyone think about Four at the moment? Much better than Peter right? Please review and let me know what you think about this chapter! Fun Fact: This chapter was actually based a little bit on a real-life experience that I had when I went to a family member's military graduation, I played the same game that Tris played trying to figure out which uniform belonged to each branch and it did end up giving me a headache. and originally this was the beginning of the story but with time that changed. This is also where the prologue is from, but it was from Four's POV to the person who reviewed saying that the prologue was a little confusing. Also going forward any mistakes that I make in terms of anything military related are all mine. I only really have a little bit of experience and all of that is from a family member and google. :) I will see you all with an update on the weekend of June 9.