The Heart's Melody | ✅

Chapter 5: Figuring it out

The four friends started their second year at Juilliard refreshed and with a long list of new songs for their third studio album. No one knew about them being Divergent and it was better that way. They could be still regular people without hiding from the paparazzi. Eric often invited them over to his place and helped them study. While he secretly sought comfort in having Tris around, he also liked the other three. They were all fun and very creative and for the first time he felt like he could have friends. His only other friend was Matt. They met when they both where students at Juilliard and while Eric wasn't a real teacher, just an assistant, he loved what he was doing and the students loved him. He was fun and being so close in age he was like their big brother or, for some girls, secret crush. But the only one he was interested in was Tris. He never told her anything, since she still had to recover from what happened with Drew, but Eric was content to be her friend.

The work on the new soundtrack went great. They sent out drafts and samples for the studio to check and were happy when their work was so applauded. They all had to admit that since they started school in New York they got a lot better and most of that was thanks to their new friend, Eric.

For Christmas Andrew and Marcus surprised their families with a weeklong trip to Aspen. Hana and Michael Pedrad, as well as Joe Prior, couldn't make it, but the rest of them were more than happy about the trip.

Shauna and Zeke got a double bedroom suite, one for them and one for their two-year-old son, Hunter. Despite not seeing his aunt and uncle much, the little boy loved Uriah and Tris the most, some might say more than his parents. The girls and Uriah each got a room in the large mansion they rented, slightly smaller than their parents', but they didn't care. Will and Christina, who was now pregnant with their first child, shared a room and during lunch the day they arrived Zeke and Shauna told their families that they were having their second child. Caleb and Cara decided to wait a while longer before expanding their family, since they just got married. Tobias was once again the target of his friends' teasing. They kept asking him about a wife.

"Dude, you're twenty-six years old," Zeke said and rubbed his wife's tummy. Tobias smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Zeke is right. You need to find a wife," Christina said.

"Could you imagine how cute those babies would be?" Shauna asked and the three women laughed.

Tobias couldn't deny that he thought about doing that, but he didn't find the right girl. He had a short relationship that year with Myra Jenkins, one of the best young lawyers in town, but it didn't work out. Every time he was with her he thought of another and at that point Tobias knew that he had fallen for his sister's best friend. The age gap was still there but now Tris was twenty years old. Maybe he should talk to her. But it seemed that Tris had no interest in boys or dating or anything like that. He watched her and her friends sitting by the fire playing their acoustic guitars and singing softly. He couldn't hear them and there was nothing he wanted more than tell his friends to shut the hell up so that he could listen to the woman (she no longer was just a girl) he was secretly in love with. Just then Natalie came to their table with a sleepy Hunter.

"What's wrong, baby?" Shauna asked her son.

"Bad dweam," he said, unable to pronounce the "r".

"Do you want me to sing to you?" his mother asked smiling and the little boy shook his head, making Shauna frown.

"Want Twis," he said and kicked his little feet to be put down. The moment he was standing he bolted toward his aunt who smiled warmly at him and kissed his cheek.

The little boy sat down on his aunt's lap but soon lied in her arms as she softly started singing to him. Unlike before the room fell silent. Tobias didn't know if it was to allow Hunter to fall asleep or because for the first time they heard Tris sing solo. They usually heard the four friends sing together and you weren't able to distinguish who sounded what like. But for the first time Tris sang alone and her voice was angelic. They all were mesmerized by the softness of her voice and yet powerful enough to send chills down one's spine. Tobias glanced around and realized he wasn't the only one who was captivated by the girl. When the song ended Uriah got up and got Hunter out of Tris' arms and brought him to his father who took him smiling. Zeke quickly left the room to take Hunter to their room for his nap.