Now or Never

Chapter Four

"Do you think she's adjusting okay? It's weird not being able to talk to her everyday" Shauna looks passed my shoulder towards someone beyond our table.

"Who are you talking about?" Zeke asks, oblivious as always.

"Lynn" Shauna groans while gesturing to her sister at the Dauntless-born initiate table.

I turn to see her watching Uriah and Marlene laugh together, ripping pieces of bread and dunking them inside their broth.

"She seems okay to me" I try a grin. "It's only the first day, you'll have visiting day soon and the outings after that."

"Easy for you to say. You can actually talk to her-" she stops and her eyes go wide like she just had an idea. "You can actually talk to her," she repeats, "maybe you can ask how she's doing then come tell me what she says. Like at one of those meetings you always have or whatever."

I squint my eyes at her. "I'm not going to harass her into meeting me. If she wants to talk to me, then she can. But I really think you need to let her adjust just like how we did."

Shauna rolls her eyes. "I hate it when you talk therapist."

"Social worker, not therapist" I correct with a smile, taking a bite of my food.

A tray falls on my side, Tobias fills the seat with his back hunched.

The three of us look at him with three different looks. Mine is a mixture of concern and a need to talk to him privately, Shauna looks eager to ask if he'd talk to Lynn, and Zeke looks excited to talk about the initiates. It gives him a thrill to know about them before everyone else.

"What?" Tobias looks at us before stuffing his mouth with dinner.

"How bad were they? Anyone get shot?" Zeke leans across the table with a wide smile stuck on his face.

"Unfortunately no one got shot today. But they all seem decent. The Stiff will need lots of work to keep up" he glances at me then back down at his food.

I glance over my shoulder towards the transfer table. There's already small groups formed, friendships being made. Tris is smiling with the tall Candor girl, they're listening to an Erudite boy. That's not something you can see everyday; an Erudite getting along with an Abnegation.

"And it's only the beginning" Zeke rubs his hands against each other.

"You just want to see how each initiate is so you can start placing bets" Shauna rolls her eyes.

"I don't see any harm in that" Zeke plants a kiss against her cheek. She makes a face and wipes the slobber off.

Four and I exchange a look, though I do feel like I could burst with what I learned from the computer; a grin spreads across my face.

"Anything interesting happened after I left?" I ask loud enough for him to hear.

"Not much," he shrugs, "I did point a loaded gun at one of their heads."

"Like I said," I shake my head with a chuckle, "you need to work on your people skills."

...

I'm alone in Tobias's apartment for almost over an hour by the time he comes back up after his meeting with Eric to talk about the initiates and putting himself through his fear landscape again.

"I need to tell you something" I finally let out the words I've been holding down since this afternoon. The news has been clawing at me to release, it's a wonder of its own how I was able to keep it in for that long.

Tobias is standing in his kitchen with a glass of water in his hand, studying me from afar. "What's wrong?" He walks over and sits on his desk chair.

"I was going through the schedule again and found something odd" my eyes are locked on his, my hands gripping the sheets.

I tell him about the last week of initiation. How there's a shipment the day before the banquet from Erudite and how the rest of the month is empty. And this coming from a man who likes to plan out everything.

He understands why I find it odd and stays quiet for a few long moments. "I'm planning on going to the control room tomorrow. I think I almost have the right code to his password, just one more check to be safe."

"So this means it's almost time?" I ask a bit further away, "then we leave?"

Tobias sighs, taking my hands into his. "You know we can't stay here if anything happens. It's selfish, I know, but we have to get out before their plans go into action."

I meet his eyes, they seem blacker than blue now in the faint lighting. "I know. It's just... a lot to deal with."

He leans in and presses a kiss against my forehead. "I know. But soon we'll be close to finding a safe haven." He gets out of the chair and into the bathroom, flicking on the light and turning on the faucet of the shower.

"Safe," I mumble, "whatever that means."