Divergent UNIVERSITY ✅

chapter 37

Again I'm going to remind everyone that I have rewritten much of this story, especially chapters 31-36. There will be new information and old information in those chapters so you may read something that you read before. I didn't like the flow of the story in those last chapters and wanted to fix them and repost them. So take some time and go back and reread the last five or six chapters.Thanks, Shelbelle

I own my ideas, but I don't own the characters. Just in case you weren't sure.

Chapter 37

Saturday Tris wakes to the smells of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and hash browns. Tris goes down the steps expecting to find her mother and Bud preparing breakfast. But instead she finds Four, Zeke, Uriah, and Will in the kitchen cooking enough food for a small army.She walks in and sees Four standing there with a shirt on, covering his new ink."Well, did Bud finish it?""Yeah, we were up pretty late last night so he could.""Finish what?" Zeke asks."Bud gave me a tattoo last night.""Can we see it?" Uriah asks.Four removes his shirt revealing his chest. He turns and raises his left arm to reveal the image of the griffin on his ribcage."My goodness man, you are almost completely covered," Will says."This is amazing," Tris says running her fingers lightly across his newly inked skin. Her touch sends shockwaves across his skin. "I'm going to need to come up with something amazing if I'm going to tattoo you at some point.""You can tattoo?" Zeke asks."Well, I'm going to learn. I'm going to work in the tattoo parlor for the summer," Tris explains."And I get the first Tris tattoo," Four says. Tris smiles at him. He's always so supportive of everything that she does.Four puts his shirt back on and returns his attention to the food cooking on the stove. "Go get the girls, breakfast is almost done," Four tells her.Tris goes upstairs. She finds the girls getting ready for the day."What smells so amazing down there?" Marlene asks. "++++++++++Are your mom and Bud cooking breakfast?""No, actually the guys are cooking," Tris explains."The guys are cooking?" Shauna asks. "Who let Zeke in the kitchen?""Can any of them actually cook?" Marlene asks."Will isn't too bad at cooking. He's cooked some minor things for me before," Chris says."Actually Four is a fantastic cook. He's cooked for me a couple times," Tris says."He's a great athlete, he can cook, and he's hot. There has to be something horribly wrong with him. Is he deformed or something?" Shauna asks with a smirk.Tris blushes and doesn't answer."Tris wouldn't know about such things, Shauna," Chris replies."Are you seriously saying you two haven't..." Marlene says."No," Tris says flatly."Anyway," Christ says. "Maybe we should make our way down to the kitchen. They are still guys and capable of eating everything in sight.""Hey Mar," Tris says grabbing her arm. "Have you told Uriah about the test yet?""No, I was going to go grab him now. I don't want him to worry anymore."Tris nods and they walk down the steps together. Marlene walks into the kitchen. "Wow, everything smells and looks amazing. But can I borrow my man here for a moment?""Go ahead, he isn't doing anything anyway," Zeke says."Not unless you count getting in the way," Four adds."Or burning things," Will finishes.All three of them laugh."Man, shut up. You guys suck, this is the last time I help you cook anything," Uriah grumps."Is that a promise Uriah?" Four says with a smirk.Uriah glares at him and takes Marlene's hand. They walk out of the kitchen together. "They are jerks sometimes," Uriah complains as they walk outside."No, they're your brothers. Blood or not, they are just picking with their little brother."Uriah smiles, "So sweetness, what did you want to talk about?"Marlene breathes deeply, "I took a test last night Uri. I know we said we'd wait to see, but it was driving me crazy not knowing.""Okay," he says hesitantly. He did want to wait, but not because he thought it would be best. He was just kind of hoping that if they didn't acknowledge it, it would go away. "So what did it say?""It was negative. I'm not pregnant.""Are you sure?" he asks with relief in his voice. "It can't be wrong, can it?""I guess it could be wrong, but they usually aren't. I also made another decision. I'm going on birth control. We're only twenty-one and I'm not ready for a baby yet.""That's probably a good idea. I'll go with you to the appointment, I'll do whatever you want." He pulls her into a hug and kisses her passionately. "You know, even if you were pregnant, we would have been fine. We would have figured it out. I love you, you know that right?""I know. I know you love me and I know we would have been fine. But it's nice to know that we don't have to figure it out right now.""Come on, we better get back in there before Zeke, Will, and Four eat everything," Uriah smirks as he drags Marlene back into the house.~oOo~Later that day, while her friends are out on the beach playing, Tris goes inside to find her mother and Bud. They are sitting at the table discussing something that seems very serious."Mom, Bud, can I talk to you?""We want to talk to you also, Tris," her mother says."Okay, what about?""You go ahead first," her mother tells her."Well, tomorrow is Four's birthday. I was wondering if you could help me do something tonight to celebrate.""Yeah sure, no problem. What did you have in mind?" Bud asks."I don't know. Nothing big. I thought maybe we could try to get tickets for the Crosstown Classic. The Cubs and White Sox play tonight," she looks at them curiously. "What did you want to talk to me about?""There are actually two things, first I saw something in the upstairs bathroom that made me worry," her mother says. "Is there something that I should know or is there something going on with you?"Tris thinks about it for a moment, then it dawn's on her. "No mom, nothing. If you are talking about the pregnancy test, it wasn't mine. And let me add that it was also negative. But it still wasn't mine."Natalie looks relieved. She isn't sure if Tris is sexually active, but she wouldn't be surprised if she was. "Tris, I don't want to pry, but is that something that you worry about?" She's trying to ask her daughter if she is having sex with Four, but part of her doesn't want to know."Actually mom no, currently there would be absolutely no worries as far as that is concerned."A look of relief crosses Natalie's face. "Look, you are twenty-one and I'm not naïve, so maybe you should go and get birth control so you are protected when that time does come."Tris never thought about it like that before. But her mother is probably right. She and Four have entirely too much going on and a baby would complicate everything."So what else did you want to talk to me about?" Tris asks."Well, Bud and I have been talking," her mother begins."Tris, I would like to marry your mother. But we wanted to talk to you about it first.""Why would you want to talk to me?" Tris asks confused."I guess we would like your blessing," Natalie says."Of course you have my blessing. Look, I'm not blind. I know you weren't happy with Dad for a long time. I just want you to be happy, both of you."Natalie stands and hugs her daughter, "Speaking of your father, have you talked to him lately?""Yeah, when I got home from Oklahoma I tried to call him to tell him about the championship. He got on my case about not calling. Then he yelled at me for my 3.5 GPA, and then he proceeded to tell me that I'm wasting my time with softball and with 'that number boy'. Then he didn't say much else and just breathed into the phone. So I gave up and haven't called since. Besides when's the last time he called me to see how I'm doing?""I'm sorry Tris," her mother starts to say, but Tris cuts her off."Don't you dare make excuses for him. I'm a grown woman now, not a little girl. I know my father loves me, but that doesn't mean I have to deal with his crap. He likes to complain about everyone else and what they do. He wants to compare me to my brother all of the time, but he doesn't know what is going on in my life and he doesn't seem to care. It's all about him, it has always been all about him."After Tris' rant a single tear leaks down her cheek. She says all of these things, but her father's behavior still bothers her. It still upsets her that Bud is more like a father to her than her real father has ever been.Bud stands and goes up to her. He wraps her in a hug and when he does that, the tears really start to fall. She buries her face in his chest and sobs uncontrollably. After a few moments, she calms down and pulls away from the embrace. She smiles at the man that is going to be her step-father.He wipes the tears from her cheeks like he used to do when she was a little girl playing in the tattoo parlor. He's always been affectionate and loving to her. He's always been the father that her real father never really was. He attended every baseball and softball game, he got her into playing hockey, he took her to her father daughter dance when her father said he couldn't do it because he was too busy.Four walks in to see that Tris has been crying, but she is being comforted by Bud. She is smiling and seems to be okay now.Tris looks over toward him and smiles, "My parents are getting married."She says parents like Bud is and always has been her father. Hearing her say that brings a huge smile to Bud's face. He hugs her again and kisses the top of her head."Really?" Four asks. "That's amazing. Do you have a date set?""Not really," Natalie says. "Bud just asked me last night. We really haven't talked about the details yet."~oOo~That night the group of them gets dressed and goes out. Bud managed to get box seats for the Cubs game that night. The game between the Cubs and White Sox is always a great rival game between the two teams and it's almost impossible to get tickets.Tris, Bud, and Natalie don't tell anyone where they are going. So when they arrive at Wrigley Field, Four's eyes completely light up."What are we doing here?" Four asks.Tris smiles, "Happy Birthday!""Are you serious? We are going to see the Cubs and the White Sox?"Four pulls her into a hug and kisses her. He turns his attention to Natalie and Bud knowing that Tris couldn't pull this off on her own. "Thank you," Four begins."Wait till we get inside," Bud smirks. He leads the group into the stadium and up through the crowds to the private boxes. Bud was able to rent out one of the private open air suites for the game. He's been tattooing a couple of the Chicago Cubs for years. They always offered him tickets, but Bud never took them. So when he called, they were more than happy to oblige.When they walk in, they are greeted with an amazing buffet of all of the ball park food you could ever ask for. There is soda, beer, and water, hot dogs, pizza, nachos, and other foods. There is a small seating area inside where there is a couch and a television. There is also open air seating, enough for the whole group. Everyone files into the room. Four takes Tris' hand and leads her to the seats overlooking the field."This was your idea, wasn't it?" he asks her.She smirks, "Yeah, my mom and Bud were able to pull this off for me.""This is the most amazing thing that anyone has ever done for me. I don't know how to thank you for this," Four says.Tris smiles, "I have something for you.""No, you've done enough!"She hands him a small box. He opens the box and finds two tickets in it. He takes one out. "What is this?" he asks."They are two passes for the metal music festival in Detroit next week. I have a hotel booked already. We will leave on Friday and drive out to Detroit. The show is Saturday and Sunday and we will leave for home Monday. What do you think?""I think that sounds amazing. But I don't deserve all of this," he says thinking about the simple ring that he got her for her birthday."It is a combination birthday/ graduation gift and yes you do deserve it. We are going to have an amazing time, just the two of us."He hugs her and kisses her cheek. "Thank you, this is all so great."In his twenty-three years, this is the first birthday he really feels special. As a child, birthdays were always just another reason for Marcus to remind him about how horrible a child he was and how undeserving he was.The rest of their friends join them in the seats overlooking the field just as the teams are announced. The group watches the game and spends the rest of the night spending time together and hanging out.