Divergent One Shots (Eric & Tris)

Sixty-Nine-Music To My Ears 20

Tris

Christina helps me with my makeup once more.  I can do it myself... but I'm just not as skilled as she is. 
"There," she says as she finishes. 
I look myself over in the mirror and I'm shocked once again at how incredible I look—unrecognizable. 
"Do you want me to do your hair, too?" she offers. 
"Alright," I agree easily. 
She's already finished with herself and we've got some time until we'll meet up with everyone.  She got a position in cosmetology at a spa.  She tells me I should come sometime. I'm definitely thinking about it. 
I observe in the mirror as she looks me over.  I think she's deciding what she wants to do. 
"Up or down?" she offers. 
"I was thinking both," I shrug.  I've seen some styles that were half up around the Pit and they looked good.
"I've got it," she nods. 
She takes a comb and separates my hair.  She parts it and then pushes some toward my face—almost like bangs but to the side, too.  I watch as she braids a little of my hair and ties it up. 
"This one's called a fishtail," she tells me. 
I grin and examine it as she starts to curl the length on the opposite side.  The braid is just behind the bangs.  It's beautiful and intricate—incorporating hair from the top of my head down to behind my ear.  She continues curling my hair all the way around in several bouncy spiral curls.  She then does the length of the bangs she created.  She runs her fingers through the curls separating them slightly.  Afterward, she takes some pins and pins up the braid like a half-crown around my head. 
"So... what do you think?" she asks me. 
"I'm impressed," I grin in awe. 
"Thank you," she beams. 
She gives me a moment to examine the style while she unplugs the curling iron.  We grab our purses and head out. 
"Where are we meeting everyone?" I ask again. 
"A karaoke bar," she tells me. 
"What's that?" I question.
"Singing," she grins. 
"Oh," I say excitedly.  That sounds like so much fun. 
"So, how was your first week?" she asks me. 
"Good," I nod. 
"No Four?" she questions hesitantly. 
I shake my head. 
"What happened?" she inquires. 
I shrug.  "I don't know.  Things just didn't work out, I guess," I tell her.  He's actually upset with me for taking a position so close to leadership.  I work in the security offices and I genuinely love it.  He thinks the proximity with leadership is a risk and he refuses to be with me because of it. He says he can't take getting closer and losing me.  I was tempted to call him a coward... but I didn't.  I don't want to be petty.  I figured that I didn't want to be with him either if he thought I wasn't worth it. 
We arrive and I see Will and Uriah saving us seats at a table. 
We step over there and Christina and Will kiss. 
I wave shyly to both of the guys. 
"Hey, where's your girlfriend?" Christina says to Uriah. 
I blink in surprise.  I didn't realize he has one. 
"She and Lynn are coming," he grins. 
I smile knowingly. 
"Where's Four?" Uriah asks me and I frown. "Oh, no," he responds figuring it out.  "I'm sorry."
I nod and tell him it's okay. 
We all don't have meals together with our various work schedules but we will this weekend.  I'm looking forward to catching up.  I've been eating with my team. 
I peruse the menu while we wait for Marlene and Lynn to join us.  I see an entire non-alcoholic section and I think I'll try that.  There's some frozen blended drinks.  I grin and decide to order one. 
Marlene and Lynn arrive and we all hug them—Uriah greeting his girlfriend with a sweet kiss.  I grin at that but feel a pang in my chest. 
We flag the waitress down and order a round of drinks.  Christina looks at the same section as me on the menu and gets something similar.  Most everyone chooses alcohol but Will orders some sparkling beverage. 
Our drinks arrive and we toast to our first week as Dauntless members.  Mine is fantastic.  It's frozen with real fruit blended into it. 
"What flavor?" Christina asks. 
"Strawberry peach, I think," I say. 
"I got pineapple and coconut," she tells me. 
We trade and hers is just as good—different, but I'd order it sometime, too. 
"Alright.  Our device has arrived," Uriah announces. 
I observe as he goes through a list of songs on a computer tablet.  He selects one and he's listed as third. 
"Oh, somebody is up," Christina tells me. 
I look up to the stage and watch as a girl goes up.  She sings a song and she's alright.  Her voice cracks a little on the high notes but she's not bad.  A guy is next and he's goofing off.  He's clearly not skilled at singing but he and his friends are having fun.  He involves the crowd and we're all laughing and cheering for him. 
Uriah is up and I'm floored at hearing him sing.  He's incredible and fun.  He's entertaining the crowd and he dances a bit.  He's clearly a tenor and reaches those high notes magnificently.  I'm in awe.  When he finishes, the whole room applauds him.  I hear people whistling and he's chuckling.  He takes a bow and someone else goes up. 
"How about you, Tris?" Christina asks. 
"Um... I used to sing at church," I admit.  I probably should've had something warm to drink, though. 
"Pick something out," she encourages. 
"Alright," I nod. 
I look through the list and there's a whole Christian section.  I select a song and decide to see if they have anything warm to drink.  I didn't see anything on the menu. 
"I'll be right back," I tell Christina.
She nods.  I'm number seven anyway. 
A girl goes up but she's a little out of tune.  She clears it up after a moment as I approach the bar. 
The bartender greets me. 
"Hi," I smile.  "Do you have anything warm to drink... or maybe tepid water?" I inquire. 
"You can make tea if you want sweetheart, or I've got bottles of water outside the fridge," he tells me. 
"Both please?" I request. 
"Sure," he smiles.  He warms up a cup of water and gives me a teabag.  He goes through a back door to get the water. 
"Incredibly thirsty, Stiff?" someone asks from beside me. 
I turn to see Eric sipping a beer.  He glances at me. 
"I had something cold to drink but I'm singing," I shrug. 
"What does one have to do with the other?" he inquires raising an eyebrow. 
"Um..." I stutter.  "Your vocal cords can't move as easily when they're cold."
I'm a little surprised that he doesn't know this.  I thought he was Erudite—at least that's what Four told me. 
"Oh, right," he nods.  "How do you know this?" he questions. 
"My grandma told me.  She'd always give me warm cups of water before church," I tell him. 
"Why?" he questions. 
"Because I used to sing before the congregation on Sundays sometimes," I tell him. 
"So, you have some talent?" he questions. 
"I don't know," I shrug.  "It's been a while."
"Here you go, sweetheart," the bartender says handing me a bottle of water and the hot cup. 
"Thanks," I smile.  I see his name tag says David. 
He punches in a tab for me and I go to swipe my point card but Eric beats me to it. 
"Thank you," I tell him surprised. 
"Don't hurt my ears, Stiff," he teases. 
"I'll try not to," I chuckle. 
I take my drinks back to the table.  I open the teabag and follow the directions.  I've never had it before so I make it weak rather than strong.  I sip it slowly.  It's a little bitter but not bad.  I think I've had this with ice in the cafeteria and it was sweetened.  I continue to sip my drink while I observe the others.  I have one more sip before it's my turn.
I approach the stage.  The song plays and I hum the intro warming up my vocal chords.  My voice has changed a bit.  I begin to sing and I don't need the lyrics beside me since I know this song so well. The audience just stares and I'm wondering if I'm not as in tune as I thought I was. I sing anyway. I look back to my friends and they're all gaping at me. I'm sure I'm singing the notes right and this song is familiar. The tempo is faster than church and with more instruments—more of a rock style than an organ but I'm sure it's right. I close my eyes so I don't let the audience distract me. I continue on and sing hitting my highs and lows perfectly.  I sing the all familiar lyrics and I realize I really want to be doing this on Sundays again.  The song begins to slow and so do I, singing along with the tempo to finish it. 
I open my eyes and see that everyone is just staring at me still.  Even the bartender and his staff stopped what they're doing to watch me.  I laugh awkwardly and put the mic back.  I climb down the few stairs and the audience applause roars.  I giggle in surprise.  I thought they didn't like me... or maybe that I chose a church song.  But they liked it.  I walk back to my table and they're still clapping. 
"You sang that at church?" Christina questions in awe. 
"Yeah," I nod bashfully. 
"Wow," she responds. 
I chuckle at that and bite my lip unable to really answer that. 
Several more people go up.  Some are pretty talented and some are just having a good time.  I'm enjoying this.  Lynn refuses to go up but Marlene and Christina do.  They're fairly good.  They sing a duet together.  Will says he can sing a little and that he plays the piano.  He goes up and sings a slower Christian song—it's more traditional but he's good.  Christina coaxes me to sing one more and I agree.  I search the list to find something I know.  I come across one—King of My Heart. 
"Oh, I love that song," Christina says. 
"You want to go up with me?" I offer. 
She looks to Will.  "Only if my man joins us," she replies. 
He takes a sip and nods.  We select it and surprisingly, we're next.  I sip my water and we stride up there.  The song starts to play and I laugh.  I hear drums and an electric guitar. 
"What's so funny?" Christina asks.
"This is not an organ," I point out. 
"We're not in Erudite anymore, Baby.  This is Dauntless style," she says into the mic. 
Everyone laughs and I realize we've got their attention once again. 
My introduction plays and I sing.  Christina joins in on the second verse, Will the chorus.  We all sing the rest together and we're pretty good.  We sing about fire in our veins and the whole room cheers about that.  I smile that they like it.  We get to a certain point and we sing the round even though the lyrics aren't there.  The audience cheers.  They see that we all know a different version.  I lead it and they follow.  The song slows and we do as well.  I sing the lyrics once more... apparently by myself.  I finish and the audience cheers.  I laugh smiling.  I bite my lip and look out at the crowd.  I actually see... Eric clapping for us.  He whistles and I chuckle in surprise.  Who would've thought? 
We stay until they close.  David—the bartender and apparently the owner—tells us he'd love for us to come back anytime.  We all smile at that and thank him.  He winks at me, though.  I chuckle bashfully.  I see Eric leaving just before us but he glances back at me... and smiles.  I can't help but be entranced by that.  I've never seen him smile before... and it's a gorgeous smile. 
"Hey, are you okay?" Christina asks waving a hand at me. 
"Yeah," I reply focusing on her. 
"You tired?" she asks putting an arm around my shoulder. 
"Yeah, a bit," I nod. 
"Me, too," she agrees. 
We head out through the Pit and  I see Eric walking a little ways in front of us.  She chats with me somewhat but I keep my eyes focused on him.  We separate to go to our different buildings and I see him glance back at us before he turns off to what I'm assuming is his building—leadership's building, I remember.  They live in Alpha Quadrant.  We live in Epsilon.  We head home and I notice someone sitting in the hallway near our door.  We get a bit closer and I realize it's our door he's sitting at. 
"I'm heading to bed after I wash off this makeup.  You can bring him in to talk if you want," Christina whispers. 
"Alright," I nod.  That would probably be for the best.  The last time I spoke with Four, he raised his voice at me in a hallway.  I'm assuming many of our neighbors are asleep. 
He looks up at me hopeful. 
"You want to talk?" I ask him. 
He nods. 
Christina opens the door and walks back to the bathroom to give us privacy.  I wait for him to enter and shut the door. 
"You look nice," he says softly. 
"Thank you," I reply. 
"I'm sorry," he tells me. 
"What for?" I question.  He was being honest with me even though it hurt. 
"I didn't mean to pick a fight," he says. 
"I forgive you," I reply gently. 
He reaches out for me and I step back. 
"I said I forgive you.  I didn't say I would take you back," I point out. 
"Are you serious?" he questions me.  He looks shocked, that his apology didn't rein me in. 
I nod.  "I'll forgive you... but I think I'm finished with this amusement ride," I admit. 
"What?" he asks befuddled. 
"I think... that you dragged me around enough.  I'm moving on.  I'm happy where I am.  You were back and forth all throughout initiation.  There were high highs... but there were low lows.  I think I need to work on myself for a while before I consider letting someone else in," I explain. 
He frowns.  But he nods in understanding. 
"Alright," he replies.  "I can wait."
"I didn't say I would take you back," I point out. 
"You can't be serious," he tells me. 
"I am," I nod. 
"Can't... can't we still be friends?" he questions. 
"Alright," I agree with a nod. 
He reaches for me and hugs me.  I let him.  He kisses my head and I think that's enough. 
"Four," I say to him.  "You need to let me go."
"Okay," he says softly.  He releases me.  "I'll see you at breakfast?"
"Maybe," I shrug. 
"I'll take it," he forces a smile. 
I walk him to the door. 
"Goodnight," I tell him. 
He tells me the same.  I shut the door after he leaves. I sigh at that. I don't understand why he would be like this. Everything is back and forth with him. It's too much for me. I walk back to the bathroom and clean off my makeup, too. I brush my teeth and head to my bedroom. I change into my nightclothes and lay down. I drift off and dream of that enchanting smile...