Soulmates

Chapter 23: Birthday Part 1

With help from Zeke and Christina, the guys prepare for a birthday surprise for Tris. The morning of her seventeenth birthday is sunny and warm. When she meets Eric and Tobias in the cafeteria, they each give her a big hug and wish her a happy birthday.

“It’s my birthday?!” she says excitedly.

Tobias nudges Eric. “You were serious?” Eric asks. “I kind of thought you were messing with me.”

“What?” Tris asks. “You know Abnegation don’t celebrate birthdays. I knew mine was in May, but I didn’t know the exact day. What is the date today, anyway?”

“The seventh,” the two men say at the same time.

“May seventh,” Tris repeats, committing it to memory.

“We should have planned a surprise party,” Eric says, trying to hide the fact that they did just that. “We wouldn’t even have to be sneaky since she didn't know it was her birthday.”

“When are your birthdays?” Tris asks.

“August twenty-second,” Eric replies.

“November,” Tobias grumbles quietly.

“You still don’t celebrate?” Tris asks him. He just shakes his head. “November what?” Tris asks quietly, leaning close to Tobias as she asks.

He just shakes his head again. “If you don’t tell me I’m going to make you celebrate for the entire month,” she threatens.

He sighs. “The thirteenth,” he grumbles. 

Tris grins broadly, pleased with herself for getting that out of him.

“We have to work today,” Eric says, “but we’re having dinner at my place tonight. Okay? And no PJs; we might go out for drinks or something.”

When Tris arrives in her office, she finds a bouquet of flowers on her desk from the leadership team. The gesture feels so decadent, and it makes her smile all day.

xxxx

The sound cancelling headphones are removed from Tris’ ears, and she hears Eric’s deep voice close to her ear. “Are you ready?” he asks.

Tris nods. She has been blindfolded with the sound muffled for nearly an hour as Eric, Four, and their friends have led her, carried her, spun her around, and all-around confused her. She knows that at one point she was getting a piggyback ride from Eric as he jumped on and off a train. But everything else was a blur of darkness and muffled noise that ended with wind and cold. 

If Tris had to guess, she would assume they ended up in Amity. They’re obviously outside somewhere, but the wind and the gravel under her feet make her think they’re not in the city.

Eric carefully removes the blindfold and her friends all yell “Surprise!” and “Happy birthday!” They’re on the roof of the Hancock building. Eric is there, and so are Zeke, Shauna, Uriah, Marlene, Lynn, Christina, and Will. The only one missing is Tobias, and Tris knows it's because of his fear of heights. 

Seeing her searching the crowd, Eric whispers in her ear, “He’s waiting for us at the end of the line.”

“You guys are the best!” Tris says to her friends. They crowd around, hugging her and patting her on the back. Eric claims the last hug, holding Tris for a long moment as she smiles up at him. He plants a quick kiss on her forehead.

“I’m first,” Eric announces, stepping toward Zeke and the pile of harnesses.

“Seriously, Tris,” Christina says conspiratorially. “He totally likes you. But so does Four. You’re going to have to break someone’s heart, and they’re going to end up killing each other when you do.”

“I keep telling you, Chris, it’s not like that with us.” Tris says.

Eric steps onto the ledge, firmly attached to the zipline. He turns and blows a kiss at Tris. “See you at the bottom!” he yells as he steps off.

“Why don’t I believe you, Kissy-Trissy?” Christina asks, rolling her eyes.

Christina, the human lie detector, has been insisting since training ended that something is going on with Tris and the two trainers. She has tried unsuccessfully to get details out of her friend.

“Birthday girl,” Zeke calls, “you’re next!”

Tris steps into the harness and Zeke and Shauna get it cinched up. “Do you want to sit like Eric did, or fly like last time?” Zeke asks.

“Fly!” Tris says excitedly. They hook her to the line, lifting her slight body off the ground, face-down.

Intense wind forces tears to leak from Tris’ eyes as she hurtles toward the ground. She is weightless, fearless, and for a moment everything in the world melts away, leaving only wind, speed, and adrenaline. She picks up speed and shouts with exhilaration until the wind fills her mouth. 

Held secure by the straps, Tris throws her arms out to the sides and imagines that she is flying. Her heart beats so hard it hurts, and she can’t scream and can’t breathe, but she also feels everything, every vein and every fiber, every bone and every nerve, all awake and buzzing as if charged with electricity - pure adrenaline.

She tries to pull her arms to her chest again, but is not strong enough to resist the wind. The ground grows bigger and bigger. Tris doesn’t slow down for another minute at least but sails parallel to the ground, like a bird. When she slows, she looks down at the two men waiting below her, smiling. Reach behind her, Tris works to undo the straps holding her in. The guys grasp one another’s arms, forming a cradle of limbs for her to land in.

“Come on, Birthday Girl,” Eric yells. “We won’t drop you.”

Tris grins and rolls her body as the straps release, landing on her back in Eric and Tobias’ arms.

“Happy birthday, Queen Bea,” Tobias says, using the nickname they adopted privately.

“Thank you, my harem,” Tris teases as they lower her feet to the floor. 

She hugs Tobias and thanks him for the birthday surprise just as she had done with Eric and their other friends up on the roof. The three of them stand with their arms around each other as they wait for the next zipliner to appear.

When all of their friends have had a turn to fly and they’ve put away the slings and shut down the elevator, the group heads back to Dauntless to continue the party with cake and a game of Candor or Dauntless.