Divergent: Unleashed | ✓

Chapter 34

A/N: This story will actually be ending soon. I'm thinking around 40-45, though it may be less.

Lynn decides to Facetime her sister, Zeke, Lauren, and Uriah. Shauna and Zeke got an apartment in Philadelphia, since Zeke is training to be a police officer and found a good college near there , and Lauren moved there near them. Their conversation goes on for three hours, until Lynn's mother shouts to her and Hector that it's time for dinner.

Lynn shuts off her iPod and hurries downstairs. After dinner, she heads to the small park near their house. She sits on a swing and moves back and forth, the hood of her black hoodie pulled up. She pulls out her phone, her black-painted nails keying in a message to Marlene.

Someone sits on the swing next to her. It's a boy about her age, with short brown hair and tanned skin. Attractive, but not her type.

"Hey." He says. She notices how he's only wearing jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Crazy, she thinks. It's thirty-five degrees! But then again, she must be crazy, too. In only jeans and a hoodie.

"Hey." She replies.

"Lynn, right? From the Chicago Project?" Lynn rolls her eyes. Of course, she thinks, that's all anyone cares about. Ever since she got into the 'real world', people have constantly been bugging her. She hates it. She's not a people person- she'd rather be with Uriah and Marlene.

She'd gotten over Marlene, of course. Uriah's her best friend, and he loves her. She never really believed in love, anyway- never really cared about it. Still, she didn't like the way this boy was looking at her- almost like how Uriah looks at Marlene, and how she'd seen Zeke look at Shauna so many times.

"Yeah. What's it to you?"

She expects him to flinch, or get angry. Like how most people do. Instead he just throws his head back and laughs. "You're a feisty one, aren't you?" She notices an earring glittering in his ear, a small silver stud with a clear gem.

She shrugs. "I'm Dauntless."

He nods. "The best faction."

She gives him a sideways look. He has brown eyes, lighter than Uriah and Zeke's, but not too light. He's wearing all black, the sleeves of his shirt pushed up to just under his elbows. "Yeah." She agrees. "The most normal one."

"I'm Zac, by the way." he holds out his hand, and she shakes it after a minute. What does this guy want? He smiles, as if reading her mind. "I just moved here from Florida. My parents told me to make some friends."

She lets out a snort of laughter. "I hate when they do that."

"I know, right?"

"Like, I have a right to hate everyone!"

He laughs. "You're not as...hateful as they make you seem."

She shrugs. "All depends on how you approach me."

"So I guess I'm good?"

"You'll have to wait and see for that one."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Tris wakes up the next morning and goes down into the kitchen to get breakfast. She almost laughs while she's pouring her cereal, remembering Tobias and that drunk guy last night.

He looks around. "I don't see a boyfriend."

"Then why don't you turn around?"

Tobias stands behind the guy, looking murderous. The guy lets go of Tris, backing up. "Hey, man. I didn't mean anything by it." He says before turning and running.

Tris laughs. "You are scary. How did you do that without saying anything?"

He shrugs, wrapping his arm around her waist. "I guess I still have that mean instructor act down."

She kisses his cheek. "Well, thank you for coming to my rescue."

He kisses her. "Anytime, Tris."

She feels arms wrap around her waist and jump, letting out a squeak. Tobias laughs. "A little on edge?" He says in her ear, his voice still slurred from sleep.

"Just a little."

He kisses the top of her head. "So, are you doing anything today?"

She shakes her head. "No, why?"

He grins. "Do you want to walk around the city?"

She laughs. "Not the whole city, right?"

"I don't know. I could make you run laps around the whole place..." She punches him in the stomach. He doesn't seem affected. "Okay, okay. Just around Times Square."

"Alright." She smiles at him.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It's about midnight now. Or it could be ten o'clock, or three in the morning, for all Tobias knows. He and Tris have just been wandering around all day, going in and out of shops that sell things that Ashlyn would say are hideous and a disgrace to fashion- her words, not his- and would probably cost her entire life savings.

He and Tris are near Rockefeller Center. A few people ice skate, one girl doing jumps and spins and landing backwards with ease. Tris's hand is warm in his, and his breath is white in front of him. She squeezes his hand, once, and he smiles at her. All day his question has been edging its way to the tip of his tongue, though it has never seemed to be the right time.

Finally, he gets the courage. "Tris?"

"Mmhmm?" She doesn't look at him. She watches two parents trying to teach their young daughter try to ice skate, each of them holding onto one of her hands, pulling her up when her feet slide from under her.

"There's something I need to ask you." Tris turns to look at him. Tobias has never sounded so...nervous.  But that can't be it, she decides, because Tobias doesn't get nervous.

"Okay. What is it?"

He takes a deep breath. "Remember when I told you that I would find a way for us to be together?" She nods. "Well, I don't think this long-distance relationship thing would work out."

Her face falls. "Oh. So you-"

"No." He cuts her off. "No. Nothing like that." He takes another deep breath. "I just got this apartment, not far from the Leasons' house. And I just got a job at a car dealership as a mechanic- I start on Monday-and I'm taking night classes to train to be a cop."

She smiles. "Tobias, that's great!" She's happy for him.

"I'm not finished." He tells her. "Tris, I was wondering if you wanted to move in with me?"

She sucks in a breath. She didn't expect this, not at all. And she thought that he maybe wouldn't want that. "A-are you sure?" She asks at last.

He nods, taking her other hand. "I'm positive. I asked your parents if it would be alright with them, and- and I really, really want to be near you." She knows that moving up to New York isn't really an option- an apartment near her would cost a fortune, and he couldn't afford it probably.

Her silence lasts forever, and Tobias is about to tell her to forget it, that it was stupid to ask, when she nods. "Yes. I'll move in with you." He wraps his arms around her waist and kisses her, lifting her up a little. She wraps her arms around his neck, sliding her fingers through his hair.

She's the first to pull away. "We're leaving tomorrow, right?" He nods. "Then we should go back. I have to pack up my stuff." They hurry back. When they get there, it's eleven-thirty. By the time they're done packing everything, it's almost two in the morning. They don't bother changing their clothes or anything, just collapse onto Tris's bed. They're both asleep before their heads hit the pillows.