Divergent One Shots (Eric & Tris)

Eighty-Six-A Camping Adventure 26.2

Eric

"I've got you," I tell Tris soothingly when she hesitates in the water.
She meets my eyes and I lead her out walking backwards with her further into the water. I take her other hand in mine. She's fine until she's waist deep. I pause and let her adjust to the temperature for a moment before we continue moving toward deeper water. She's shivering now. I know the water is warm so I don't mention it to her. She's very brave.  The water gets to her shoulders and splashes her face.  She gasps and stops. 
"This is fine," I tell her calmly.  "We don't have to go any deeper."
She nods still shivering but doesn't speak. 
"You're pretty brave, Stiff," I say teasingly. 
She laughs through her nerves and looks to me. 
"Do you want me to take you further?" I ask.  She wavers.  "I'll hold onto you."
She winces. 
"Am I really that scary?" I joke. 
She smiles. 
"You wouldn't be the first pretty little blonde I've taught to swim," I tell her seriously. 
She blushes at my words. 
"Who's the other?" she inquires. 
"My baby sister, though she was about your size last I saw her on my Choosing Day," I tell her. 
"You taught your sister to swim?" she asks surprised. 
I nod. 
"Alright," she agrees.  "How old was she anyway?" she asks. 
"My sister was five, I was ten.  Before then, she mostly just splashed in the shallows.  She was afraid to go any further," I explain as I slowly lead her into deeper water.  She wraps her arms around my shoulders on her own.  I smirk at that... but remember she's with Four.  Why am I doing this to myself?  This is a foolish thing to do—become infatuated with someone else's girl, my adversary at that.  I sigh and do what I promised, regardless of how attracted to her I am.  I tell myself her hold is merely platonic.  We're only friends... and she's afraid.  She draws herself closer to me with a gasp as the water laps against her face. 
"I've got you," I tell her soothingly putting an arm around her.  I sigh in euphoria.  This is nice holding her.  Her grip is like that of the ride in except it's currently out of fear of drowning rather than falling to the ground. She presently has her arms folded around my neck. This is incredible. I'm deep enough now that I'm treading water.
"We're not going any further?" she asks shakily.
"This is fine. I can't touch here," I tell her.
"Are you serious?" she questions gripping me tighter.
"I can swim, Stiff. No worries," I say teasingly.
She nuzzles me and I smirk.  I tread water for a while and she's shaking less. 
"What do you think?  Not so bad, huh?" I say to her. 
"Yeah, but you're swimming for me," she replies. 
"I am," I respond.  "Are you calm enough to learn?"
She releases me slightly and meets my eyes.  We're inches apart. 
"Okay," she whispers. 
"Why don't we go where you can touch then?" I suggest since that worked best for Lizzy—my sister.  I swim up to the shallows and I stand up.  She laughs as she's still clinging to me. 
"Sorry," she apologizes flushing and slowly releasing me. 
"I don't mind, Stiff," I insist. 
She pushes a loose strand of hair behind her ear in discomfort.  "You don't have a girlfriend, do you?" she questions awkwardly. 
"No, why do you ask?" I inquire. 
"Okay, good.  I don't want some other Dauntless girl looking to kill me," she laughs lightly. 
I chuckle at that.  "Nope, no she-devils coming after you," I joke. 
She guffaws in response. 
"What about you?  Am I going to have Four picking fights with me?" I ask playfully. 
"Probably," she laughs lightly.  "I could care less what he thinks.  He likes to tell everyone we're together when we're not."
I raise my eyebrows in surprise but I'm not complaining.  So, she's not with Four?  This is good news.  I'm completely content hearing this. 
"So, what do I do?" she asks me standing in front of me. 
I demonstrate how to float calling it the Starfish because Lizzy thought Dead Man's Float was too scary.  She observes and nods that she'll try.  I rise and help her to lay back.  She laughs uncomfortably at first but I get her into position. She's clearly uneasy but she relaxes eventually as I hold her. I slowly release her and she floats. 
"This is crazy.  I thought I'd sink," she mentions.  "If I go through my fear landscape again, I could just do this."
"If you're not really afraid, it'll be gone," I tell her. 
"I think it's still there," she admits. 
I take her closer to the dock and have her hold on to practice kicking.  She's smiling and we're talking.  She's very sarcastic and funny.  I never would've expected this.  After she's more comfortable with kicking, I take her out and teach her how to tread water at the end of the dock.  She holds on and observes me first, then I hold onto her as she tries to kick her legs in a scissor-like motion and flutter her arms around her body to stay afloat.  I hold onto her with one arm, the other on the dock as she practices.  When she looks good, I slowly release her without her noticing.  I watch her for a moment and swim beside her. 
"You're swimming on your own, Stiff," I tell her. 
"What?" she asks shocked.  She sees where I am and laughs.  She stops and sputters a bit of water but she starts up again. 
"You're doing fine.  You want to take a break?" I offer. 
"Sure," she nods. 
I have her hold onto me and I swim us back toward shore. I rise in the shallows and she carefully disengages from me. I take her hand and walk her to the shore. I grab my towel and dry off a bit. She follows.
"You want a drink?" I ask.
"Um... sure," she shrugs.
I list off the options I have—milk, beer, water. There are a couple fizzy drinks I stuck in the fridge.
"I'll try one of those," she requests intrigued.
I go inside and grab a grape variety. They were always Lizzy's favorite... well, that and strawberry. I pour half into a cup and bring them back out. I let her take her pick and she chooses the cup.
"This is interesting," she says sipping it.
"You and my sister would get along well," I grin. 
She asks about her so I tell her all about Lizzy.  She smiles as I speak about her, telling fond memories of my sister and our youth together.
She tells me about her family. I grin at her as she talks. Andrew does seem like a nice guy—not what was written a while back.
"I know your brother and father," I tell her.
"You know Caleb?" she asks surprised.
"He works for Jeanine. I think she's grooming him to be her successor," I explain.
She frowns at that. So, I decide to change the subject.
"What happened with you and Four?" I ask attempting to be nonchalant about it but she clearly sees right through me.
"You two don't get along, do you?" she asks me.
"Not really," I admit.
"Yeah," she sighs. "I don't know. He was interested at first. He got angry at my job selection initially but he got used to it. Then when I got a promotion, I chose my career over him," she shrugs. "About a week later, he apologized. I wasn't interested anymore, although he'd have everyone believe I'm his property and he claimed me first."
I chuckle at that. "He is a bit obsessive," I nod. "So... he lied to me in my office," I deduce.
She glances at me.
"Yeah," she says softly.
"Was he messing around with you during initiation?" I inquire.
"Playing with my head, yeah. I had no idea what a relationship could be like. He obliterated any hopes for it. I had parents as an example, then Edward and Myra. My parents are together and they already broke up," she divulges. "Then Four... that is not what I want a relationship to look like. I was miserable—high highs immediately shot down and mostly low lows."
"How do you know about Edward?" I ask confused.
"Patrols," she responds. "He's kind of lost his mind."
I hum a reply.
"So... you're not interested in Four?" I press.
"Not anymore," she shrugs.
I look to her and she meets my eyes. She smiles at me.
"I think I see why you don't like him so much," she tells me.
I nod. He is hard to get along with. Always pushing boundaries and picking a fight.