Call Me Six

49: 'Self Destruction' -Tobias

TOBIAS-

Her fingers are pruned. Stray bubbles and water droplets hang in her hair.

Somewhere between hot and lukewarm, the sodden clothes came off. We're just sat here now, as the water cools and the bubbles pop.

"Tobias," she said. Her back was pressed up against my chest as she lay between my legs. "I'm sorry. Again," she added.

Her hands laced with my own, the water sloshing slightly with every movement.

"I know," I said, and she hummed in reply.

Her skin is so soft. Even in the cold water, she feels warm.

It's a weird state of vulnerability. To have sex or sleep naked is one thing, but to just sit, talk, bathe is another.

"Tris... You have to stop."

"What-"

"Please? For me?"

She sighed and her head fell back, resting against my shoulder as her blue eyes met mine. They were red, and swollen  from the crying, but she still looked beautiful.

"I don't want you to get hurt again, Tris. This plan of yours... It's self destruction; and I don't want to be there when you can't take it anymore. I don't want to see you destroy yourself.

"Call me selfish, call me a hypocrite, I don't give damn but I will not sit around as you dig your own grave.

"I don't want to see that happen to you, Tris.

"And it's not that I think you're weak and can't handle all the shit that will and is being spread about you because you aren't. You're the strongest person I've ever met but no one can take that, Tris. No one - not even you - can sit back as they're destroyed from the inside out.

"I don't want you to get hurt, Tris. But you're hurting yourself with this fucked up plan."

Her arm reached up, delicate fingers running along my jaw as she spoke, "I know what I'm doing, Tobias. You don't need to worry about me. Like I said, Michael is the last one; I promise. It's almost over, just wait and see." Her eyes are lying, and she doesn't even know.

"Promise," she repeated and shifted slightly so that with a little guidance from her hand, my lips met her's.

It's a short burst of passion. A moment of euphoria. Her lips are so soft. The way her teeth graze slightly against my bottom lip reminds me of the childish nights that were filled with laughter and kisses in her basement back in Chicago. The bliss of being young and ignorant...

"I love you," I murmured, as her hands linked around my neck. Delicate hands tugged gently at my hair and she moved to kneeling. "Don't ever forget that."

"I won't. But you have to promise me the same. Don't forget, Tobias; and don't ever think otherwise. I love you."