Stay Away | Eric Coulter [1]

twenty-five

By the time I make it to the glass room, I was already running ten minutes late.

I walk right up to the door at the end of the hallway and try the handle. Unlike what I had expected, the door swings open easily as opposed to how it's usually locked.

The lights are dim when I walk through the door and I could smell the fragrance of food in the air.

"Eric?" I call when I don't see him and smile when the sound of him singing a birthday song hits my ears and how he was awkwardly crouched behind the sofa with a small cake, lit with a candle in his hand.

He stops in front of me as he sings the final words to the song and says, "Make a wish."

I don't tell him how I haven't made a wish ever since I was three because they never came true. This time, however, as I blow out the candles without making a wish once again, I realise I don't make one for a different reason entirely. And that was that I couldn't think of anything else that I wanted badly enough to make a wish for. I had great friends. My brother and I, though still a little distant, were on good terms. Then, I had Eric.

Eric sets the cake on the desk and produces two spoons for us to dig in when I notice a bouquet of roses on the desk as well.

"Are these for me?" I asked with a grin I could quite keep off my face.

"See anyone else around?" He asks in reply. His answer seemed teasing, but I think it was his way of trying to play it cool.

I take a deep whiff of the roses, "I love them," I tell him, "But you shouldn't have. The cake was more than enough."

"It's your birthday and I'm more of a 'go big or go home' kind of guy." He smiles, "And what makes you think this is all to it."

I looked up at him in surprise, "There's more?"

"There's more," Eric confirms, "But first, cake."

I comply easily, groaning in delight as I stuff my mouth with a spoonful of the red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.

"This is delicious," I say, "Where did you even get all of this stuff?"

Eric shrugs a muscular shoulder, "I managed to pull some strings," He says, "One of the perks of being a leader." Then, he pauses for a moment before adding, "Though, I'm pretty sure one of the guards was looking at me a little funny when I asked him to get me some roses."

As we enjoyed the cake together, Eric pulls out a small gift box that was the size of my palm from his pocket and slides it over.

I stare down at the box and Eric nudges it, "Open it."

"You're full of surprises today, aren't you?" I tease and he grins.

"You haven't seen the best one, yet."

I grabbed the box and undid the pretty ribbon on top of it, flipping the lid off.

Inside sat a skeleton key and I looked up at him in confusion, "It's the key to the room," He explains, "You can come up here anytime you want."

I clutched the key to my chest, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Eric says, taking one last bite of cake. "I have one last surprise."

"What else could you have planned at such short notice?" I asked as he holds out a hand for me to take.

"We're leaving Dauntless grounds," He states, "We're going to the wall."

My heart leaps in excitement, "We can do that?"

"Baby, you're dating a leader. You can do anything you like," He replies smugly.

I'm not sure if it's the term of endearment that he'd just used or the fact that he'd just do casually put a label on our relationship that has my stomach feeling like it's currently housing a kaleidoscope of butterflies.

I raise a brow at him teasingly, "We're dating?"

Eric leans forward, planting his hands on either side of my chair as he crowds into me. "What else would you call it?" He shoots back with a rather cheeky smile and then leans in to kiss my forehead, "Come on, let's get going."

I let him pull me to my feet and he leads me all the way out the compound and out to the train tracks.

It seems he's timed it all perfectly and I see twin headlights of the train coming up no more than a minute after we arrive at the platform.

We both take off after the train. Though I'm sure Eric could've outrun me any day, he stays behind me, making sure I'm getting on the train first before swinging himself on as well.

Seeing as how we have the train to ourselves, I lie on my back to catch my breath and Eric surprises me by plopping down next to me, spreading his arms and legs wide like a starfish.

His fingers reach for mine and I look over at him with a smile. I don't think I've ever seen him this laid-back before, and the more time I spend with him, the more I find myself craving to see this new side to him. I wonder if anyone else around here has ever seen it.

We lie like that in silence until we near the Abnegation sector, where Eric pulls me to my feet. We hope off the train near the factionless wastelands and take a look at our surroundings before grabbing Eric by the hand, "It's this way-"

"I know," He squeezes my hand, surprising me again as he starts leading the way.

It takes a bit of walking, but we make it there after a couple of minutes.

My heart leaps with child-like excitement when the wall comes into view and I can't help but bounce on my toe, unable to keep in the anticipation.

"How did you even know where it was?" I questioned in curiosity and when my eyes landed on the ladder already propped up on the side I turn to him wide-eyed. "Were you here earlier?"

Eric nods, "I asked around a little," He says, "Turns out one of the older Dauntless members used to do some patrol work around here and gave me some directions."

"Did it get you some odd looks?"

"It was easy to ignore." He tells me before patting me on the butt and laughing at the glare that I shoot him, "Up you go."

I can't hold my glare for long, though. Mostly because Eric seems just as excited about this as I did.

As I climb the ladder and settle on the top of the wall with my legs dangling down the sides as Eric joined me, there's a warmth that I feel spreading in my chest that lingers.

I lean in and give him a quick peck on the lips, "Thank you."

Wordlessly, he presses wraps an arm around me and pulls me close to his side.

There was a part of me that feared running into Marcus when we first got here, but as rested my head on his shoulder, I realised that I wasn't as scared as I was before. Not when I knew that I had Eric with me.