Pit

Chapter 4

TOBIAS POV

We can't keep our hands off each other.

It's quite comical, really. We could only get off the street with the promise of finding someplace more private to catch up. So now, as we search for a place to spend the night in the factionless sector—since we agreed it wasn't wise to head anywhere this late with guards ready to fire on moving figures—Tris clings to my arm vigorously. I can't tell if it is because she is hellbent on keeping me there or if she is falling asleep and needs support.

Eventually we find a rather empty building in the maze of garbage and sleeping people. What was once a sleek, tiled building is now grungy and chipped away. It seems to have been inhabited at some point recently, but it is abandoned and farther away from people than I had hoped for. So we settle there, and I jam a chair up against the door while Tris sets her bag in the corner next to the mattress.

And then we just stand there.

"Hi," she says again with a lip bite.

I smile widely because I can't help it. "Come here," I beckon her, opening my arms.

Once she is folded into my embrace, it feels like I can breathe again. I press my cheek to the top of her head and notice that she smells fresh like nature.

"Did you go to Amity?" I ask. "I can't imagine you spent all this time here."

She laughs softly. "Yes. It was very...constricting."

"I bet it was." After all, Tris has never been the nicest person I know, nor the most agreeable. But since she hasn't been caught by anyone, it seems like she didn't have another incident that required peace serum.

We release each other to drink our appearances in. I still can't believe she is here right now, though I don't know how my mind could be creative enough to come up with her bashed-in nose in a dream. Other than that alarming injury, she looks good. Really good. Slightly tan and worn, but my girl nonetheless.

"So, what happened to your face?" I skim my fingertips over the purple blotches on her nose and cheekbone delicately. When she flinches, I frown and remove them.

"That's...something we have to talk about," she states. "It's one of the reasons I left."

I nod. "Let's sit down first though. You look beat."

We both move toward the mattress and take off our shoes, ditching the idea of just sitting completely. The mattress isn't too comfortable but it doesn't creak much, so I lie down without complaint and ball up my jacket as a makeshift pillow. Naturally we end up on our designated sides of the rather pathetic bed. I smirk to myself when I notice.

"What?" she asks, shifting closer to get more comfortable.

"Nothing. It's just been a while," I point out. A long while, in which we believed we would never be together again. Yet we managed to defy all odds, not only in staying safe long enough but to end up in the same street of the city at the same time; I think fate deserves more of the credit for that though.

She hums in agreement. "Yeah, well, I would love to catch up. But like I said, there are other important matters in this city."

"The city seems to have a habit of getting in the way of our life," I huff teasingly. My fingers comb through her hair of their own accord. It's been so long since I touched her.

"Unfortunately." She pauses before explaining, "I left Amity because I was attacked, hence the bruised face." I assumed so, but that doesn't make it any less infuriating that someone laid their hands on her. It makes my mouth twist, and my hand drops as I morph into my solemn, analytical side. "A factionless guard came after me..."