Finding Home

Part Twenty-One

Author's note at the bottom.

Chapter 21

Eight Years Ago...

Tris throws her head back in laughter. Her eyes sparkle in the moonlight. He wants to kiss her so badly, but every ounce of his body forces him to hold back. Tobias can't help but notice the cute dimples on her cheeks. Her perfect nose. Her long, soft, luscious blonde hair. Her sparkling blue-gray eyes that change with her mood. The way that she bites her lips when she's nervous...

And right now, she is biting her lips like crazy. Why is she so nervous right now?

Tobias smiles down at her. He promises to make her smile for the rest of his life if he can. It is only their second date and he already knows that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her.

Her phone chimes and Tris quickly pulls it out to check it.

"Who's that?" Tobias asks.

Tris snorts, "My side piece texted me. You know, second date and all. I still need to have options just in case this goes to shit."

"Oh shut up. You're lying!" Tobias bumps his side to hers.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just kidding," Tris smiles as she stares at the ground. "Look, Four, I really had a great time tonight. I'm glad we could do this again." She turns to him so they are facing one another. Tobias reaches out to brush a strand of hair away from her face. Her face heats up and her heart starts to pound. She starts to lean in, but he abruptly takes her hand in his and pulls her and starts walking in the opposite direction of her apartment door.

"Woah, Woah, Woah. Where are we going, Four?" Tris screeches.

"I don't want this date to be over yet."

They had just come back to Tris' place, after dinner and a movie, to drop her off back home. But Tobias was not ready for this date to end. He wants to spend as much time with her as possible before this night ends. So at the last minute, before he drops her off, an idea pops in his head.

"Four! Where are we going?! We just got back to my place!" She squeals, a noise that she is not used to hearing herself make.

"We are going somewhere else. I don't want this day to end. It's a surprise." A smile tugs on his lips and in the moment he seems so kissable. But the moment is lost too soon when Tobias continues to drag Tris to his car.

"I hate surprises," Tris says.

"Well, I promise you are going to like this one."

The car ride to Tobias' surprise location has Tris anxious and bubbly. A very very small part of her considered maybe he might bring her to a secret location to murder her, but this was Four she was talking about. Dreamy, handsome, sweet Four.

"What's your real name, Four?" Tris breaks the silence. Tris doesn't notice the way he squeezes the steering wheel a little too hard or the way his mouth frowns for less than a second.

It's too early to tell her. But every part of him screams that he trusts her even though they have not known each other for a long time. But it feels like they have.

"It's Tobias." He finally says after a long while.

"Where did the name Four come from?" It was times like these where Tobias wished she wasn't so curious.

"Well," he starts to sweat. He isn't used to talking about himself and his past. "When I was in high school, I had a coach who would kind of give me a hard time. He would push me harder compared to my teammates, and I would get so frustrated because I didn't think it was fair. So one day, I confronted him before a game, and he told me that he was only hard on me because he saw so much potential out of everyone on the team. I don't know, I guess I just never had anyone believe in me so much. I scored four touchdowns that day. And my coach, Amar, started saying how now he expects me to do that every game now. The next year, I chose four as my jersey number, and my team would refer to one another as our numbers. I guess outside of football, people would still call me that. I kind of just stuck, I guess."