White Walls [DIVERGENT]

6. Questions

Tobias:

In some ways, planning a first date is the easiest part of it all. The hardest, hands down, is simply asking the person out.

Everytime that I try to look in any direction through my peripheral vision, all that I'm greeted with is a bunch of light flashes. Giggles travel out of Tris as she brings the camera up to her vision and bites the edge of her lip, taking pictures of every damn thing that catch her eye.

Skyscrapers covered in snow and taxis speeding down the road seem to bring attention to her as we stroll down the sidewalk, my hands shaking and brittle inside the pockets of my jacket, my head tilted downwards to avoid snow from getting into my eyes.

"Tris, I'm glad that you're enjoying the camera but you could you please put it down for one minute?" I ask impatiently, my voice quivering unsteadily. It's been a few weeks since I bought her the camera, and the streets are even busier than they were during the holidays, being that New Years' Eve is just a few days away.

She rolls her eyes slightly while releasing an airy laugh, sighing as she lets the camera fall down, being caught by the leather straps holding it. As much as I try to stop the thoughts from escaping me, I can't help but realize how effortlessly radiant she is just by doing the smallest actions.

It isn't just her appearance that intrigues me, it's every inner equality about her. The way that she has the ability to recognize what's important to her life rather than materialistic things in high school that will be forgotten in a few years. I used to think that photography and her camera were things that aren't that important to her and rather just a passion she's taken part in to impress the people at school.

But now I know that I was wrong, really wrong. She needs a camera to keep her stable and forget about all the thoughts that surely crowd her whenever she's without it, which is the main reason that I bought her it in the first place–besides the fact that I had broken her old one.

"Any plans for the new year?" Tris asks while grinning cheekily at me, the dimples in her cheeks enunciating her high cheeks. I shrug, trying to not to think of something incredibly ridiculous. "Come on, Tobias. There has the be some thing that you want to change about yourself, I can think of a few."

My head jerks to hers and notices how the grin doesn't seem to be able to wash off her face.

"Oh yeah, name one." I know that there are things about my personality that are flaws but I would rather enjoy hearing from her what she thinks are bad traits, especially because I have a feeling that they're all things that I'm aware of.

She bites the edge of her lip, the buzzing noises around us not seeming to distract her. "You," She begins, "are very, very stubborn. And you also have a thing for being a procrastinator."

"I do not!" I protest, although in all honesty I am very aware of those things. Tris tucks a piece of hair behind her ear as we approach the intersection that leads us towards her house. I've been wanting to ask her out for a while now and I may as well do it now, being that if I happened to ask her out the next time we see each other, which will be New Years' Eve, she probably will think that I drank too much.

A giggle escapes her as we begin walking down the intersection, the engine of cars blazing my ears. During school hours, I don't see her being that we have completely different classes at different times in the opposite ends of the academy.

"Tris, can I-can I ask you something?" I murmur while tucking my hands deep into the pockets of my jacket to keep them from shaking. What if she says no? Or she could get scared and run away. Or she could---