Divergent One Shots (Eric & Tris)

Eleven-Queen Bea 3.1

Eric (10 years old)

I bounce my leg in excitement as my parents drive Lizzy and me to go apple picking in Amity. It's our yearly ritual and we always see my parents' friends from school and their family on the opening day. Every time, it feels like factions don't matter here, that the difference between the colors of our clothes don't exist today.
My dad pulls up to the lot and I immediately climb out, helping Lizzy down. She runs to my mom and holds her hand. I wait impatiently with my family in the line to get our bags. My dad hands me mine and I'm off in search of her.
"Meet us in the dome for lunch!" my mom calls out behind me.
I nod that I heard her and keep going. I'm on a mission and I can't wait. I run straight to the back of the orchard—to the biggest, oldest trees. She's there waiting and I smile. She's so pretty—her golden-white hair, lightest blue eyes, smoothest pale skin. Those rosy pink lips curve up at the sight of me. I practically tackle her with a hug.
She laughs lightly. "I missed you, too," she says in her angelic voice.
I look down at her separating slightly to see how much she's changed in the last year. I jostled a few of those shinny smooth strands loose, the wisps blowing in the wind. Her entrancing eyes meet mine. She's still little—only seven. She'll turn eight just as school ends. I see she's lost some more teeth as her smile widens, new ones coming in but she's still so beautiful.
"You wanna race?" she asks.
I nod in response doing anything she wants. We separate and I hadn't realized how I clung to her, how much I missed her. I move to my tree as she remains at hers. 
"Ready?" she asks always taking charge. 
"Uh huh," I nod. 
She counts and we're off up the trees.  I climb well, my fitness beyond hers yet I have to be more cautious at the top so I don't break the branches.  I glance to her tree to see that I'm above her, yet this is the part I always struggle with.  The branches begin to bend under my weight and I have to test each to see which ones can handle me.  I continue up but at a more subdued pace.  I glance back to see her above me now.  I watch as she reaches the top and announces, "I win!"
"Of course you do," I grumble jokingly. 
She always wins.  It's like I'm the hare and she's the tortoise.  No matter what, she always wins.  I climb down carefully and jump making it to the bottom first.  I arrive at her tree and she smiles down at me from a few branches up. I motion for her to jump and she lets go falling into my arms.  I'm holding her completely and she looks around obviously to see if we're alone.  But she does something I don't expect.  She kisses my cheek and all thought completely leaves me.  I hang my mouth open staring at her.  I struggle to breathe, my heart beating rapidly as we stare into each other's eyes.
"You're my best friend, Eric," she tells me. 
I laugh lightly and shake out if it.  "And you're mine," I admit. 
I set her down gently and we each grab our bags.  I reach for her hand and she takes it smiling at me. We pick a few apples, me carrying her to reach for the ones I can't but it's a ruse. I honestly just want to hold her. We hide our bags and she runs off into a field. I follow behind. We're pretty much free until lunch and I want her all to myself this time. We exit the dried wheat field into an area I've never been before.
"Oh, my goodness. Do you know what that is?" she asks me.
"What?" I question intrigued.
"Those are honeybee hives. I read all about them in the library. You see those white costumes they wear? That's to keep the bees from stinging them. But I read, that if they're docile and you're not afraid, that you don't need one," she tells me.
I stare at her knowledge of this in awe. She's so fascinating and daring that I find it hard to believe sometimes.
"Come on," she says pulling on my arm. "I want to try it."
"How about I watch?" I laugh uncomfortably. I have been stung before.
"Just relax," she says removing my baseball hat. She runs her fingers through my curls and I close my eyes at the amazing sensation of her fingers massaging my head. "It's longer than I've ever remembered."
"Yeah," I say scratching my neck. "I'm getting a haircut tomorrow." I really wanted one last week but my parents said there was no time and it'd have to be Sunday. I was really upset, too. I wanted to look my best for her.
"Really?  On a Sunday?" she questions. 
I nod. 
"Sundays in our family are reserved for reflection and service.  We don't do everyday tasks," she explains. 
I nod again in understanding, her faction so different from mine.  Ours is a day off and catch up on essentials. 
"I like the curls," she tells me. 
I open my eyes to see her playing with my hair, the texture. She's smiling and so engrossed in it. She bites her lip and meets my eyes again.
"Are you feeling calmer?" she questions. I nod. "Good. Just stay like that and relax."
She laces her fingers with mine and pulls me with her to the honeybee hives. They appear to be cube-shaped wooden box constructions. I do see a few people dressed up in those costumes. They remind me of what I've seen people wearing in the labs or the hospital. There are a few wearing nothing additional and she walks right up to one.
"Can I try it?" she asks.
"You're not scared are you?" the Amity woman inquires.
She shakes her head in reply.
"Come with me," the woman says.
She leads her over to a box as I just stand back and observe. The Amity takes the lid off carefully and reaches inside. She grasps a piece of honeycomb and places it in a glass jar. I see that Beatrice is covered in bees but they're just sitting on the fabric of her dress. She also reaches inside the box and pulls out a big piece of honeycomb. The woman laughs, taking a large glass jar and places it inside. The smile on her face is radiant.
She comes back over to me with her hand covered in honey. The bees are all gone.
"We'll just call you Queen Bea now," I tease.
She giggles in response.
"It's sticky," she laughs.
"Have you never had honey before?" I ask surprised.
"Nuh uh," she shakes her head. "It's self-indulgent."
I laugh lightly and scrape a taste off of her hand and stick it in my mouth. "That's definitely the best I've ever had," I tell her.
She eyes the honey as if eating it will get her punished. I think if her parents saw us together, she'd be constantly in trouble.
"How about we share it?" I say thinking an Abnegation with an extreme sugar high will definitely get her into a serious clash with her family. We walk over to a hidden shady area and take turns scraping the sticky honey off her hand. She's smiling the whole time.
"It's sweet like dried fruit," she tells me. I grin in that it's her first experience with it and I get to enjoy it with her.
After her hand is as clean as it's going to get, we run around all of Amity together—me trying to get her to work off the energy. We end up at the duck pond and I have her wash her hand in the water. She does so and makes a comment about how she wishes she could visit the pond like all of the other students—the camping experience that everyone gets but her faction. That thought saddens me that she doesn't get to go. We sit down together and pet the ducks.
"You know, my mom told me something the other day," she starts.
"Oh? What's that?" I question intrigued.
"I mentioned that I was excited to get to see you again and she told me something I hadn't expected," she continues. I nod in encouragement when she looks to me. "She said that she's proud of me no matter what I choose to do in life... and that if I wanted to change factions to be with you that it would be okay. She said she'd miss me but she'd still support my choice."
My heart races at the thought of being able to see her all the time.
"I'd never thought of that," I admit.
She smiles sweetly at me. "I was thinking... that I would be happy in any faction. I love learning, so Erudite would be fine. I like animals and being kind, so Amity is good, too. I'm usually honest so I think I could survive in Candor, though, I doubt it'd be my first choice. I'm already in Abnegation so it's no big deal," she shrugs. "And Dauntless... I think that one is most appealing to me... but they're all good."
I stare at her in awe. "You would change factions just to be with me?" I ask in a whisper.
She meets my eyes cuddling the duck in her arms. "I would," she nods.
I can't help but lean in and graze my lips with hers. Her eyes instantly close and I kiss her fully on the mouth. She releases the duck and hugs me. I kiss her again and she responds. My heart is hammering in my chest and I know she's who I want to spend the rest of my life with—my best friend. We break apart and stare into each other's eyes.
"Ha ha, check it out!" someone calls out. "Eric is a Stiff Lover."
I look over to see some of my rivals from school. Their baseball team always loses against mine. I glance back to Beatrice to see her withdrawn and her feelings are hurt.
"So, what if I am?" I reply so they can hear me. I care what she thinks, not them.
"I'm telling your mom!" Uma whines. I cringe. I can't stand her.
"She already knows she's my best friend. So what?" I reply.
"She doesn't know you've been sucking face with a Stiff!" she accuses.
My cheeks flush at that.
I rise and grasp Beatrice's hand. I turn my back to their taunting and we walk off without responding. I don't care if she tells on me. We'll choose the same faction together and it won't matter in the future.
"I'm not embarrassed by you," I tell her as we walk together.
"Thank you," she says softly.
I pull her aside and hide in Amity. "I don't care what anyone else thinks. I care about what you think. You're all that matters. We'll transfer when we're both sixteen and go to the same faction together," I tell her hugging her.
"Okay," she says softly as her head rests on my shoulder. "But... you'll have to wait two years for me."
"I don't care. I'll have you. I don't mind waiting," I tell her. I kiss her again and she sighs, kissing me back.
She smiles at me and we return to the orchard hand in hand. We finish picking our apples, filling our bags. Then we have another race in the trees. This time I take hers and she takes mine. She announces when she wins again and I don't care at all. We both climb down and then I lead her back up once more on her favorite tree. We rest on the same branch, her in my arms. I can't help but kiss her again.
"Beatrice!" Mrs Prior calls out from below us and she starts in my arms. "Get down here this instant!"
"I'm sorry," she says to me. "I'm in so much trouble."
"It's okay," I tell her climbing down with her.
I know her mother saw what we were doing. We get to the ground level and I hold her hand out of habit. Her mother notices and scolds us both on all of our behavior around Amity today. My parents, my sister, Caleb, and Mr Prior show up and Mrs Prior redirects the scolding to Beatrice and the tree climbing but she's so embarrassed and humiliated. Her cheeks, ears, and neck are flushed and her eyes are downcast.
"I'm sorry," she apologizes. "It won't happen again."
"Say goodbye to Eric," Mrs Prior tells her.
I meet her eyes handing her her bag. There are tears flowing down from her eyes. "Goodbye, Eric," she whispers taking the apples from me.
"Bye," I reply sadly. I'm frowning watching her leave.