Divergent UNIVERSITY ✅

chapter 22

Chapter 22After a wonderful evening, Tris and her friends went back to the house so the guys could get some sleep for their game. Tris was in the car with Christina and Marlene."Where did you and Four go off to?" Marlene asks with a suspicious grin on her face."We went up to his room and just talked for a while.""Oh really? You just talked?""Yes, we just talked.""And what did you talk about?" Christina asks."N...Nothing in particular.""You're lying. Your voice cracked when you said that. What did you talk about? Come on Tris, spill!" Christina whines.Tris can't keep her calm anymore. She wants to tell her friends what they talked about. "He said that he's falling in love with me.""WHAT!?" Marlene exclaims. "Four told you he was falling in love with you? What did you say?""I told him I've been falling for him for quite some time now.""Oh my God! Tris! That is so awesome!" Christina says excitedly."This is just so sweet," Marlene says. "You two have been taking things so slow for so long that we weren't sure what was happening. It almost seemed more of a friendship than anything else.""Well, we are friends. We were friends first. When we were working out and training, that is all we were doing. There was nothing more than that. Nothing happened until after that one softball game when we didn't go out with you guys. We were on our way to my mother's tattoo parlor so they could finish the tattoo on his back. He was trying to tell me he liked me and of course my insecurities came out. But he took it as I didn't like him that way.""So what happened?" Christina asks."I parked the car in a gas station and jumped into his lap in the passenger seat and kissed him. I couldn't handle him thinking that I didn't like him.""That is so sweet. Who would have known that Four could be that sweet? He was such a prick before you came around. He was rude and callous. He seemed like such a chauvinistic pig. He would say that girls couldn't play ball and refused to come to a game. Then he came to that first game and he completely changed," Marlene says."Yeah, that would have been the game that Tris dove into the stands to make that catch. It was her, she is the reason that he changed his mind about girls playing ball," Christina says."He once told me he acted like that because he thought it would chase off the girls that were throwing themselves at him. He said that backfired though," Tris says."It did backfire. It just made those girls try harder. They wanted him even more when he started being a complete jerk," Marlene explains. "Just like they are still chasing him even though he has made it perfectly clear that he's with you.""Wait, they're still chasing him?" Tris asks."Yeah, they just try to avoid you. But they are still throwing themselves at him and trying to get his attention. I saw one girl run up to him just the other day. I was down at Phi Delta with Will and Four was outside raking leaves with Zeke and Uriah. Some girl came up to him and tried to throw herself into his arms. He stepped back and she landed on her face. It was kind of funny as hell. All he did was walk away from her. Zeke helped her up while he and Uriah laughed their asses off.""He didn't tell me about that," Tris says."Why would he? He's so used to the stupid shit that these girls do that he probably didn't think anything about it once it was over. And he was his normal prick self toward her. So it's just you and now the rest of us that get to see that he isn't really like that. To the rest of the world he is still the same prick that he's always been," Marlene says."This is kind of funny really. I mean, I know he's handsome, I know he's popular, but I don't understand why these girls think he would like them acting like that.""They are pathetic, that is all. They don't want him or to really know him. They want to say that they are dating the captain of the football team. They don't care about anything else.""I guess that's why when he finally found a girl that wasn't worried about that, he fell for her. And according to Will, you are the first. He has never seen Four like this with a girl before," Christina says.Tris smiles. She's known that he was kind of a jerk and she knew why he was like that. She's even heard some stories about what some of these girls did before she came into the picture, but she never knew that he changed so much and it was because of her.When they get back to the beach house, Tris has a new appreciation for how much Four telling her he was falling in love with her really meant. It was a big deal before, now it was huge.~oOo~The next day everyone in the house is excited for the football game. The players got great seats to give to their families so they have seats right on the fifty yard line.The entire game is fast paced and exciting. The teams go back and forth like a dance, scoring and moving the ball. Football is quite poetic when you really think about it.At the end of the game, the Tigers lost twenty-one to twenty. They fought hard and played a great game. But unfortunately someone always has to lose and this time it was the Tigers. The guys didn't come off of the field horribly beaten down though. They know that they played as hard as they could. The other team scored the last minute touchdown for the win and there were calls and other circumstances that didn't go in the Tigers' favor.Everyone waits in the stands like they always do to find out what the guys were doing. Four, Will, Zeke, and Uriah are supposed to go to the beach house at some point, but they hadn't worked out what was actually happening yet.When the guys find everyone, Four looks happy. Tris wasn't expecting happy. She was expecting him to be like she is when she loses a game. Surly and annoyed, happy definitely wasn't the emotion she thought she'd see.When Four sees Tris' mom and Bud he smiles. Natalie goes up to him and pulls him into a hug, "Four you played a great game! We are very proud of you.""Thank you, Natalie. I'm honored that you and Bud came to see me play."He continues to smile when he goes up to Tris. "I wasn't expecting you to be in such a good mood," Tris says. "I thought you'd be angry.""Nothing to be angry about, besides that I'm just happy the season is over and I can rest a little before spring training for baseball begins.""When can you guys come back to the beach house with us?" Marlene asks."Now, coach said we can get our things from the hotel and go now. The rest of the team is going to be packing and heading to the airport tonight anyway. They have a one in the morning flight back home," Uriah explains.Once back at the house Zeke, Uriah, Will, and Four drop their bags in the foyer waiting to be told where their rooms are."What are the sleeping arrangements?" Zeke asks. "How many bedrooms does this place have?""The house has seven bedrooms, so we've had to double up in the bedrooms," Brian explains."Okay," Uriah says. "Who am I bunking with, Zeke, Will, or Four?""Actually none of them," Marlene says. "You will be 'bunking'with me.""What?" Zeke asks. "A mom is going to allow that?"Natalie snickered, "Well Zeke the way I see things is you are all adults. Most of you guys are over twenty-one and the ones that aren't, like Tris, will be twenty-one soon. So who am I to fight what I know is going to happen anyway?""You have got to be the coolest mom ever!" Uriah says."So that means that Zeke will be with Shauna, Will with Christina, and Four will be with Tris," Marlene says.The guys all pick up their things and the girls lead them to their rooms. As they are walking away, Natalie calls out, "Dinner will be in about forty-five minutes."Four follows Tris to a bedroom with a queen size bed in the middle of the room. There is also a love seat, a television, and two dressers. On one wall there is a set of sliding glass doors with a balcony that overlooks the ocean in the distance. The room is perfect. Four can't believe he gets to spend the better part of the next two weeks in this room.When they get settled, they go out on the balcony and sit lie on the hammock that is out there. They are quiet for a while then Four starts to talk."Are you going to be twenty-one soon?" Four asks."Yeah," Tris says. "I'll be twenty-one on the January fifth. When is your birthday?""I'll be twenty-three on June twentieth," he says."So, are you okay with sharing a room with me?" Tris asks. "I know I already told you last night, but I didn't really ask if it was okay.""Do you really think I would complain? Especially since I've been trying to get you to spend the night at my house for months now. What made you change your mind?""I don't know really," she says."You know what I told you last night?""What part?""The part about love.""Yeah," she says nervously. She's worried about where this is going. Then she thinks, 'Why am I always thinking the worst?'She stares out over the beautiful blue ocean that is changing to a deeper shade of blue with the setting of the sun. She loves the scene in front of her, the empty beach, the midnight blue ocean, the setting sun reflecting off of the water making it shimmer and sparkle. It is the most beautiful thing she's ever seen."Well I decided something today while I was on the football field. I should have been sad or nostalgic over the fact that this was my last college game ever, but I wasn't. Do you know why?""No," is all she says keeping her gaze set on the beauty in front of her."I was too happy to feel that way. For the first time in my life I have something more important than sports. I have a girl that I am completely and totally in love with."Tris turns to look at him and he is staring into her eyes. She notices for the first time that the blue of his eyes is the same shade as the blue of the dark ocean water. She gets lost in his words and his eyes. He said that he was falling in love with her. He never said he was in love with her. Part of Tris thought he could change his mind. But he's just told her that he loves her."I love you too, Tobias," she says without hesitation. She is so sure of her feeling for him at this moment that her declaration doesn't surprise her at all. Suddenly she doesn't notice the beauty that is all around her. She only sees this man in front of her who has declared his love for her.His body aches to be closer to her. For the first time in his life he knows what love is. Love is this girl in front of him. Her perfect body, her eyes, her face, her lips, all perfect and all totally consuming his every thought. Since Tris entered his life, he has been more conscious of her than anyone and anything else. He touches his hand to the smooth skin on her face, every inch of him humming with the desire to bring her closer to him. He stands and brings her up with him. She looks into his eyes with an innocence and desire that he is finding it very difficult to resist.She moved closer to him, looking up at his face that is now bathed in the glow of the evening sun. Her heart beating heavily, she slowly elevates herself by standing on her toes and staring into his eyes. When he leans toward her and brushes his lips across hers, she greets his advance with her slightly parted lips. For a moment their mouths are pressed hotly together, Four's arms wrapping around her body. Tris gasps as his arms wrap around her, and he pulls her hard against him. Through the thin material of his shirt, she could feel the muscles of his chest and stomach, hard and smooth against her chest. He can feel the bulge of her breasts against him and the feel of her so close to him, sends his body into a frenzy.He slides his tongue between her parted lips and is greeted with the feel of her tongue massaging his. As their tongues move in harmony against each other, he slides his hands down her back and to her bottom. She squirms as he squeezes her bottom lightly but then she wraps her arms around his neck tighter. They kissed passionately, holding each other in their warm embrace, expressing the love that they share. Their kiss continues for what seems like forever, then they part and their eyes meet in the light of the setting sun. They continued to hold each other, silently staring into each other's eyes. She moves her hands down from his neck and slides them across his chest. She can feel the beating of his heart in his chest, his heart racing just like hers. He stroked her hair gently, planting a loving kiss on her head. They pull apart to the sound of her mother calling everyone to dinner.