The Heart's Melody | ✅

Chapter 16: Revelations

Finally, July 15th came and the four band members prepared themselves to travel to Chicago. Tobias drove to New York to help them with the last minute stuff. Since they had their equipment and other necessary tech they needed in Chicago to perform, Cameron rented a moving truck. They decided to drive rather than fly to keep their equipment safe. Usually, Cameron would rent a small airplane for that, but a little road trip sounded appealing to them. The concert was moved to July 17th, while the band would perform a few songs just for their families on the evening of July 16th.

Tris and Tobias drove in his car, while Lynn and Marlene went with Matt in his and Cameron drove the truck, accompanied by Uriah. They left early in the morning to avoid traffic as much as possible and would get to Chicago later that day, hopefully around eight p.m.

Everyone knew that the youngsters would arrive on July 17th, so Matt and Cameron invited Lynn, Marlene and Uriah to stay at their house, while Tris went to stay with Tobias.

"Mom asked me to invite you over for dinner," Tobias told Tris as they drove down the highway.

"Babe, it's too early in the morning to tell you that I'm so not going to your parents' to listen to some crazy idea of your mother's to get us hitched," she told him with a yawn. Tobias chuckled.

"Come on. I'm a catch," he teased.

"Yeah, a six feet catch," she said and laughed. "A huge catch," she added and he laughed with her.

"Good genes. Women look for that in a man," he kept teasing her.

"Yeah?" she asked and he nodded grinning. "Good for them."

"But seriously now. I told mom I wouldn't even tell you if she plans on bringing anything like marriage up again."

"What did she say?"

"She frowned but then agreed. I think she's curious to find out what I see in you," Tobias said and kept watching the road ahead. Tris remained quiet. She often wondered the exact same thing. What could have prompted him to even consider her to be his girlfriend? She wasn't extremely beautiful like the models you see in magazines, but neither was she ugly. She was short, she often acted childish, she had a temper, she had quite a colorful vocabulary. She was the exact opposite of what anyone like him would choose for a girlfriend. But they often had talks about that very topic. And one time Tobias asked her what she saw in him. He told her that looks don't count, which made them both laugh. Tris thought about it and realized there were numerous things that attracted her to him: his cleverness, his kindness, his humor, his unconditional support, his courage, his stubbornness. She could have continued because she wanted all of that, good and bad, quality and flaw. In her eyes he was perfect. He smiled at her admission and duplicated her response. He loved her for her, including everything good and everything bad about her. For him, she was perfect.

"Then maybe I should give the old hen a try," she said and he almost chocked on the water he just drank.

"Damn, babe. Don't call her that," he said laughing.

"You mean, to her face," she said and he laughed even harder.

"Especially, to her face. So, you in?" he inquired and she nodded. "And just for the record, you already won dad over. Not to mention Mar."

"Good to know," she said and leaned her head on his shoulder as best she could.

"I expect some cuddle time later," he told her and she laughed, before nodding her head.

About halfway home they stopped to eat. They had snacks in each car, but decided to stop for a real meal in a diner on the road. They ordered the mandatory hamburger with fries and drowned it all with some milkshakes and sodas. Tobias couldn't remember how his life was before he was part of their group. Sure, he loved his friends and wouldn't trade them for anything or anyone, but being among the younger people in their families he realized that they had a stronger bond than the rest of them.