Bite Me || Eric Coulter Fanfic - Divergent

14. A very fine line - Eric's POV

Today was the last day of Iris's punishment and the last day I could use "forgetting papers in the training room" as an excuse to see her.

After the time we spent together on the roof last night, not much had changed between us during practice. I was still the Dauntless leader and that entailed certain responsibilities; I couldn't be soft or give anyone special treatment. Not only would that be unfair to everyone else, it would be dangerous for her as well; to make it into Dauntless you have to be tested and pushed to the limit. If I went easy on her during the most critical part of training, it would do more harm than good.

Nevertheless, I find myself looking at her more than I did before during practice and, surprisingly, I catch her looking at me a bit more too. My eyes seem to seek hers whenever I say something particularly sarcastic, so as not to miss her reaction or the small smirk that's usually there; love for sarcasm is one thing we have in common. At the same time though, I feel her eyes on me, and only me, when Four and I demonstrate a new fighting stance or knife throw.

Something is changing, but I can't seem to figure out what. All I know is that out of all the initiates, she's the one I can tolerate the most, even though she tends to be infuriating.

I'm currently making my way to the training room, a plate with a piece of Dauntless cake in my hand. Maybe when I give it to her, I'll tell her it's from that red-head. Or should I not tell her? No, that would only complicate things and I don't want to give off the wrong idea. There's nothing going on between us; the cake is more like a peace offering.

As I near the training room though, I hear voices. I peak around the door frame and see Iris tidying up some things and two Dauntless women talking to her; one blonde and one brunette. I vaguely recognize both of them. Someone must have said something funny, because the three women are laughing pretty hard.

"Oh Iris I like you" one of the women says while wiping a tear from her face and trying to recover from that intense laughing fit.

"We're going to get some drinks at the Pit. Wanna join us?" the other woman says, clapping her hands excitedly. It seems that Iris has already started to fit in with the rest of Dauntless.

"I'd love to but I still have things to do here" Iris says with a sigh and I feel my teeth grinding against each other.

"Oh come on, it will be fun! Besides, you're at the top of the initiates ranking, a few hours of fun won't hurt you" she says, trying to convince Iris. It's true, she's at the top of the board and making friends with Dauntless members won't hurt. She probably will be joining them soon anyway. The thought causes a weird feeling to overcome me.

"Trust me, I'd love to" Iris says again. "But this is a punishment. It's my last day though, and I don't want to risk getting in more trouble."

"Woah, we've got a rebel in the house!" the blonde shouts excitedly. "What did you do?"

"I umm" Iris hesitates. "I threw a knife at Eric" she says and I smile slightly at the memory.

"That was you?" the women ask simultaneously.

"Girl, you are a legend." the brunette teases.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Iris asks, panic clear in her voice.

"Everyone has heard about it. Eric was seriously angry. At one point I thought smoke would come out of his ears" the blonde says, cracking up at her own joke.

"So what did Eric do to deserve your wrath, Iris?"

"He just pissed me off" Iris says lightly. I could tell the memory of the incident didn't bother her as much anymore.

"Okay, remind me to never piss you off then" the brunette says jokingly.

"You don't have to worry about that. Eric jut found a way to push me that day" Iris explains.

"You know, here in Dauntless, violence is our love language sometimes" the blonde says teasingly. Where is she going with this?

"Where are you going with this?" Iris inquires. Huh, great minds.

"I mean that there is a very fine line between love and hate. You and Eric seem to be dancing around it."

"I agree. We've heard about your fight in the ring as well. It screams tension" the brunette says carefully.

"Come on guys, this is ridiculous. Nothing is going on. That would never happen" Iris reassures them.

I know what she's saying is true. Nothing is going on and nothing should be going on. Then why does Iris saying it make me so angry?

I keep repeating her words over and over again in my head. I'm slowly starting to see red. That would never happen. What does she mean? Does she hate me that much? Does she find me that repulsive that she couldn't even think about anything happening between us?

But the worst thought that invaded my mind was: What did I do to make her think of me this way?

Now I was royally pissed off. At her and at myself. I thought last night changed something. Iris got to see another side of me. I guess that wasn't enough for her.

I don't stay to hear the rest of their conversation. I turn around, throw the cake in the trash and walk away.