Fourtris Now and Forever: Divergent No War

Chapter 30

Tris POV

Tobias lets me in the room and slams the door with a frustrated grunt. He stands still with his back to me.

I walk over to him hesitantly and my hands ravel around his body, holding his back to my chest. With my right hand placed on his abdomen, I feel the hard bumps through his shirt. My other hand is pressed to his heart, feeling the steady thump that lulls me into a sense of security. He smells like soap and the salve he applies to his sore muscles. My chin rests on his shoulder as his breaths begin to become more shallow and normal. In an instant, his anger melts away and it replaced by an aura of ease and comfort.

"You okay?" I ask him, softly.

He doesn't answer, just says, "I should have told you about her."

I take a deep breath as he turns toward me and sighs as he says, "No more secrets. Okay?"

"Okay," I whisper with a nod. His hands rest on my neck and my head begins to gravitate toward him. His warm lips meet mine in a sweet, gentle kiss. My arms wrap around his torso and hold him against me.

When we pull away, we share the same air as our foreheads still touch.

"I'm sorry," he says.

"For what?"

"That I got you into this," he sighs.

"I'd rather be with you and know than to be without you and clueless," I say softly.

He smiles slightly and pecks my lips with his for a moment. He then says, "We have work tomorrow in the early morning. We should get some rest."

I nod. "Yeah," I say.

+++

"Tris," a distant voice says. "Tris!" My body is shaken and with a start, I awaken from my pleasant dream.

"What do you want, Tobias?" I say groggily.

"We have to get to work," he says.

I groan and he smiles. His lips meet mine for a brief instant.

"Come on, we have to leave in 15 minutes."

I try to fake a cough. It was an epic fail and sounded like I was gagging on something. "Shit, I think I'm sick, Tobias."

"Nice try," he says. "But get changed, we need to get breakfast and leave."

"Okay," I say with a groan.

Five minutes later, I'm dressed and ready to head out to the control room.

Tobias walks in the door and tosses me a muffin, which I catch. "Eat up," he says with a smile.

As I take a bite of the muffin, I say, "Why do we need to be in work at 4:45 anyway?"

"Trevor took the jump, so schedules were adjusted to cover for the gap. We have to be in this early on Tuesdays and Thursdays until the new initiates come and we have night hours on Wednesdays now." Has the phrase: Thank god it's Thursday every been coined? Because I wish it was now. I don't want to have night hours any time soon.

I groan and say, "Why did he have to jump now? I get that he's old, but couldn't he have waited like a few more months?" I then laugh, showing that I wasn't serious.

"Yeah, well, his bone and arthritis said otherwise. He couldn't get on the train anymore," he says.

+++

"Go take a lunch," Bud says. Tobias, Zeke, and I all stand up simultaneously. Tobias's hand links to mine and we begin to take a step toward the door when Bus says, "One of you needs to stay behind and go later. We need eyes on the Pit."

I move to sit back down when Tobias says, "No, Tris, I'll do it."

"I'm fine, I can do it," I say, forcefully.

"Guys, stop bickering. I want to have lunch with Victoria so I can ask her out. I hear she takes her lunch break in thirty minutes. I'll stay, just be back by then."

"Okay, thank you, Zeke," I say, offering a smile over my shoulder as Tobias and I walk out of the room.

"No, thank you," he says with a wink.

+++

Tobias and I sit down with our burgers at the table. Christina sits beside us and Shauna and Lynn sit across.

"So where's Will?" I ask Christina, nudging her shoulder.

Christina shrugs and says, "He's been working over-time recently. I don't know why."

"Hmm," I say, wondering why.

"Hey Four, isn't Zeke supposed to come with you guys to lunch? Where is he?"

"He has a later lunch now. Trevor is gone so one of us needed to keep eyes on the Pit and he volunteered. Said he wanted to ask Veronica out."

Shauna pales and looks away. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. I should get back to work."

We all respond with a variation of, "Okay! Bye see you tomorrow, Shauna."

I feel bad for her as she walks away with her head downwards. I don't know what it's like to pine for a boy who doesn't share the same feelings, but it must be painful.

"So Tris," Four says to me in a low voice. "Do you want to ask to take off work early to have a dinner, just the two of us?"

"Sounds great," I smile.

"Okay, so I'll meet you at the chasm at 8:00. Take off work at 7:00. I'm going to leave at 6:00 so I can prepare," he says with a side smirk.

"Okay," I say with a smile. "Can't wait."