Count On Me

Partners in Crime

A/N: A big thanks to everyone who has voted for this story, and especially if you've ever left a comment.  Love comments!

As for the story: we're kind of skipping through time rather quickly in this chapter and the next. This chapter takes place more than six months after the last one, and the next will probably be a bigger jump than that. Because I don't want you to have to wait any longer than necessary for Tris and Four to meet again. :) Soon. I promise.

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THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2015 | 7:30 PM | TRIS

The paint is wearing off the bench, and a splinter in the wood digs into my thigh. Uriah sits next to me, both of us resting the backs of our heads against the brick wall behind us, staring out the bars of the holding cell.

"Always a new adventure with you," I tease. "Never been arrested before."

"Me either," Uriah snorts. "You know, I've seen jail cells on TV, but I didn't anticipate the smell." He wrinkles his nose and waves his hand in front of face.

I nod in agreement, "Hopefully our parents will come get us out of here soon. I knew that we weren't supposed to surf at that beach but I just, you know..."

"Didn't expect to actually end up in jail?" Uriah finishes for me with a little chuckle under his breath.

"Right," I agree. "Thought they'd give us a warning or maybe a ticket or something."

"Nah, gotta make us hellions conform," he jokes.

"Hellions," I laugh. "Don't let my dad hear that one, he'll add it to his repertoire. Usually just calls you a punk."

Dad still doesn't like Uriah much. That opinion has always been completely unfounded, but that's how it is. He's been a better dad these past few months than he was when Mom first died, though, so I can't complain too much.

I thought Dad would be pissed when Marcus finally ratted me out. And he was, sort of, but he wasn't as hard on me as expected. He did start paying closer attention to my comings and goings, started enforcing a midnight curfew, and even began to occasionally text Hana to check on my whereabouts and activities when I wasn't home.

What really surprised me came later. I didn't tell him about the email and two phone calls I received from Tobias, the second of which came just days after Marcus confronted me; I wouldn't have even answered the phone, but ended up giving in to Uriah's request to let him talk to Tobias. I also maintained my previous claims that I didn't know anything about Tobias and his whereabouts, though I'm not positive that Dad believed me. If he didn't, maybe he trusted my judgement, or maybe he was just trying to make up for abandoning me in that hospital room after Mom died. Whatever the reason, after a month of borderline harassment from Marcus Eaton demanding information about his son, Dad demanded that Marcus leave me alone. He even went so far as to threaten to press charges against him for harassment.

Ever since Dad finally stood up for me, we've coexisted much more amicably than before. But it still feels a bit like a house of cards, and I have no doubt that this little arrest will be what topples the whole delicate structure.

"He's gonna kill me for making him come bail me out of jail," I admit. "I'd almost rather stay here with the stench than go home." I don't mean the last part... but just barely.

Honestly, though, the holding cell really isn't so bad, at least not with Uriah here to entertain me. But occasionally I notice him looking a little nervous, just a flash of it then it's gone, so I don't ask. Uriah doesn't keep things from me; when he works whatever it is out in his head, he'll tell me.