6 Months Earlier
"C'mon Tris, it'll be fun!" Christina whined on the other end of the line. Tris sighed, twirling a lock of her long blond hair around her finger.
"I dunno Christina, I have reports to fill out ... " An exasperated sigh came from Christina.
"You always use that excuse. Take a break from your reports and come out and hang out with us! Please, Tris?" She hesitated before answering, glancing down at her grey sweatpants.
"Fine, just let me get changed." Tris could practically hear her friend smiling.
"I'll pick you up in ten, and wear something cute! You never know who you'll run into."
•••
If Tris's life was a sitcom, Peggy's Bar & Grill would be the main hangout. Her group of friends always sat at the same worn down booth, had the same beer, and had playful arguments while listening to the same song on the jukebox.
As soon as she walked in with Christina, the two girls headed straight towards their regular booth. Tris couldn't help but notice there was something, more like someone, new and out of place.
He was hunched over the bar, staring down at his liquor that sat before him. The glass was full, unlike the other men who sat at the same bar. Tris ignored the man and slid into the booth.
"Hey Tris!" Uriah exclaimed, taking another sip of his beer.
"Hey Uri," Tris rolled her eyes seeing her friends were already tipsy this young in the night.
"I feel like I haven't seen you in months!" Marlene interjected, smiling at her friend.
"Yeah, work got you packing it like a mule?" Lynn joked.
"Something like that," Tris replied hesitantly, biting her lip. Before the conversation could carry on further, Uriah groaned.
"Shit,"
"What?" Christina asked, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow. As a response, Uriah pointed towards the bar where his older brother stood.
Tris noticed that Uriah's older brother, Zeke, was talking to the man she had named Handsome Stranger. Zeke and the Stranger seemed to be in serious discussion until he noticed his younger brother. He pointed the group out to his friend and the two got up from the bar, walking towards Tris and her friends.
"Hey Uri, aren't you supposed to be at work?" Zeke asked, smirking at his brother. Everyone knew Uriah couldn't hold a job for more than a few weeks at a time, and his last job — working the graveyard shift at Taco Bell — didn't exactly go over so well.
"Don't you have a wife to get home to?" Uriah fired back, glaring at his brother. Zele rolled his eyes at his brother's childish response.
"Girls night. So, what are you guys doing here?" As the others talked, Tris couldn't help but notice the Handsome Stranger stayed quiet. She looked him over, confirming that he lived up to the name. To most girls, his hooked nose would be a turn off; yet to Tris it seemed to make him all the more attractive. The stranger had a spare upper lip, a full bottom lip, and he had a jawline that could cut stone.
"What about you Tris?" Marlene's question shook Tris out of her daze.
"Hm?" She asked, biting her bottom lip.
"Are you gonna come with us to Zeke's place?" Tris glanced down at her phone to check the time. 11:35.
"Shit, sorry. I've got work in the morning," Christina rolled her eyes, sighing at her best friend's response.
"How are you going to get home? I drove you here and your apartment is across town from Zeke's." Tris groaned, having not thought how she would get home without a ride.
"I'll drive her," The Handsome Stranger said, breaking his silence. Tris looked at him, shocked. Why would he want to take a girl he'd never even said a word to, home? "I have to go home anyways."
"Perfect!" Zeke exclaimed, patting his friend on the back. "You can trust Tobias, Tris." So the stranger has a name. She thought.
"Um, okay," Tris said, before bidding her friends goodbye and following Tobias out to his car.
•••
The ride was awkward to say the least.
Tris sat in the passenger seat, giving the occasional direction every once in a while. An old rock song played softly on the car radio as Tobias concentrated on the road ahead of him.
"So," Tris said, not being able to sit in silence any longer. "You're friends with Zeke?"
"Yeah," Tobias answered, keeping his gaze steady.
"Wow, you deserve an award if Zeke is anything like Uriah." She joked. In the pale moonlight, Tris could have sworn she saw a rain smile play across Tobias's lips.
"Trust me, Zeke's pretty bad." The conversation dwindled after that, until Tobias pulled up in front of Tris's apartment building.
"Thanks again for taking me home, Tobias. You didn't have to." Tris said, unbuckling her seatbelt.
"No problem, I live in this direction anyways." He responded casually, pulling a car out of his pocket. "This is my number if you ever need anything,"
Tris took the crisp business card from Tobias's hand, gripping it tightly as if it were to fly away at any moment.
"Goodnight Tobias,"
"Goodnight Tris." Tobias replied before she closed the door, biting back a smile as he drove away.
YOU ARE READING
The Other Woman
أدب الهواة" The other woman is perfect where her rival fails " Their meeting was accidental. Their affair wasn't. " The other woman will never have his love to keep And as the years go by the other woman will spend her life alone " fourtris au
