Divergent: Unleashed | ✓

Chapter 9

Tris crosses her arms over her chest and looks to the right of him diagonally, head turned so that it's tilted slightly towards the ground. Now he sees her fear, that he has moved on and has fallen in love with someone better, that he no longer wants her. She's hit with a sense of helplessness- what if he did move on? What will she do?

Move on, she thinks. I'll have to move on. It feels as though her heart has been shredded just by considering it.

"What do you think?" His voice is soft and low, the closest thing she'll ever get to sympathy with him.

She squeezes her eyes shut- this is the tone that people use when they're about to say something that'll break your heart, the question that they ask the exact same. Tris wills away the stinging tears and nods a little. She feels his hand move under her chin, forcing her head up. His body is so close to hers, making the air between them hum with energy. Or so it seems. Does he feel it too?

"Tris-"

"Well what else do you expect me to think? There are girls that are prettier, smarter, more desirable- I am nothing compared to those other girls out there. Nothing." She opens her eyes and looks right into his. Her eyes look gray, like the sky before a thunderstorm. They're just as cloudy, too. "And the thing is, you know it. When we're separated by thousands of miles, there is nothing stopping you from finding someone else." She adds the last part quietly, as if she doesn't want him to hear it.  HIs eyes stay on her, firm and a deep blue that threatens to suck her in.

"If you seriously think that I could ever love anyone besides you, then you are an idiot, Tris."

"If you seriously think that I could be convinced by that feeble statement, then you've got to be kidding me. I'm not easily fooled, Tobias, and you know it. So who is she?"

"Fine, you caught me." He looks irritated, and she feels her heart sink as he fixes a look on her. "She's beautiful, intelligent, kind, selfless, and honest. Her bravery and courage outshines all of that, though. She has pretty blue eyes, and is shorter than me, but I don't mind. People underestimate her because of her height, and that gives her the upper hand. She'll kick anyone's ass, and I'm surprised that she wanted me, out of everyone she could possibly have." He takes a breath, something flashing in his eyes.

"What's her name?"

"Her name?" He grins. "Her name is Beatrice."

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Marlene stands, leaning against the railing for the Chasm. She knows what everyone else is doing- socializing. Catching up. Not that she should bother trying. Lynn and Shauna are too busy talking to everyone else, and she really wasn't as close to them as you'd think. The only person that she was really close to probably hates her.

Someone leans against the metal railing next to her. "Hey."

Speak of the devil. She thinks. "Hey." Is all she replies. Her voice sounds detached, distant. She glances up and sees the tattoo of a snake curling around his ear and onto his earlobe.

"How've you been?" Uriah asks, glancing down at her. To her it's funny how they're talking to each other as if they're strangers, not the best friends that they are. Were. she reminds herself. Best friends we were.

She lifts one shoulder in a half shrug. "Fine, I guess. You?"

He glances down at her again. "Terrible." I haven't seen you in months- what do you think? He adds in his head.

"Why?" This is the question that neither of them want the answer to.

"Because...because it just hasn't been the same." He winces at what he said, wishing he could say that he meant it hasn't been the same without her.

Marlene nods. She feels raw, as if her insides had been slowly scraped out with a butterknife while she was awake. Of course it isn't because of her that everything's different- probably just that he hasn't adjusted to living outside of Dauntless.

They stand awkwardly in silence. They'd never dated, though they'd come close to kissing on more than one occasion. If they were dating this conversation wouldn't be so awkward. "So, do you have a girlfriend?" she doesn't mean to sound so bitter.

"Mar, listen-"

"What Uriah?" she asks, irritated. She turns to look at him. "You're sorry? You hate me? I just want us to go back to normal. I hate this." she gestures to the air surrounding them. "I feel as if since I died you've thrown up this wall that even I can't break through. So let me be the first to say it: what the hell happened to us?"

He looks at her, at a loss for words. "We got into a stupid fight. That's what happened."

"Yeah. And then I died." she snaps. "If we were really best friends, we wouldn't have let something so stupid come between us." she turns her back to him and crosses her arms over her chest, glaring at nothing. Uriah feels as if someone is slowly ripping him apart- but even that would hurt less. Is he really losing Marlene?

"Mar, listen to me. Please." She hates hearing him so torn, so she turns around and feigns irritation. "I was too much of a coward and too weak to tell you before, but I think you should know."

"Just cut the bullshit and tell me." she blows some hair from her eyes.

"Fine." He takes a deep breath. "I love you, Marlene."

A/N: Another update, and another cliffhanger :) 10 more reads on this for an update :)