Love, Lies, Secrets and Manipulation (Divergent/Eric OC)

39. I Love You

(Natalie's POV)

After brushing my teeth and freshening up a bit, I climb back in bed where Eric is still lying down. Usually he's up and moving around before me, but today, he seems to be stuck to the mattress like super glue.

"Get up, lazy," I tease as I scoot closer to him, then move my right leg in between his. I lean up to grab his face, and plant a loud, smoochy kiss on his lips, then pull away and smile.

"We have only three more days until stage one of training is over," I say as I snuggle up to him tightly.

Eric wraps his arms around me tightly and kisses the top of my head, then sighs. "These last three days of stage one are important. You can't mess up."

"I know."

"No, I mean it," he says in a serious tone. "Your last fight is against Peter. That's in two days. If you lose, you'll move down in the rankings."

"Okay, then. So I just won't lose. It's that simple. I was able to beat Jesse, so, Peter shouldn't be too much more of a challenge. Right?"

"Mm-hmm," he hums quietly. "You'll just have to spend these next two days training extra hard."

Extra hard?

I've been training "extra hard" for the past few days. That's the only reason why I was able to defeat Jesse in the ring the other day.

"I'll see if Drea's busy tonight," Eric adds. "Maybe she can help you out again, practice with you in the ring some more."

I sigh against his chest.

Great.

Looking forward to fighting for my life again.

Drea doesn't exactly fight like it's "practice." The last time she helped me prepare for a fight, I literally got the work out of my life. There are no "breaks" or "time outs" when fighting her in the ring. You just roll with the punches and keep going... literally.

But if it'll help me win my fight against Peter, then I suppose I'm up for it again.

Eric doesn't give me much insight on what's planned for initiation, so if he tells me that these last few days of stage one training are important and I can't mess up, then he means it. If he's suggesting that I do everything in my power to not fall down in the ranks, then it's for a good reason.

I trust him.

Eric remains rubbing my shoulder as I lie snuggled against his chest. "Can I ask you something?" His words are spoken quietly—almost too quietly, though.

"About?" I ask. Immediately, and for some unknown reason, I get the feeling that it's about yesterday's morning conversation.

Eric doesn't answer me for quite some time, so I lift my head up to look at him. His eyes seem to be focused on the foot of the bed, but it looks more like he's staring off in space.

"Hey," I say, lightly rubbing his chest. That seems to get his attention; his eyes fix right on mine. In this moment, however, there's something different in his eyes, something that I don't believe I've ever witnessed before. I can't quite put my finger on it, though. "Is everything okay?" I ask him.

His right hand moves up, lightly cupping the side of my face, and the pad of his thumb gently runs across my cheek. "Yeah," he says after a gulp. "Just... thinking."

"Is this... Is this about yesterday?" I ask with slight hesitance, "About... what we briefly discussed in the morning?"

The future... marriage... babies.