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

53. The Storm

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(Eric's POV)

I open the door to see Drea standing there with our bag of food.

"Yo, I got breakfast," she says as she holds up the bag, and I open the door wider to let her walk right in. "Is Natalie getting ready?"

Closing the door behind her, I answer, "Yeah, she's in the shower."

I follow the smell of the warm food into the kitchen where she sets the bag down on the center island.

"So is she ready to face everyone today?" Drea asks. "Her friends have been asking about her non-stop. I think they're just worried she might be dead, since they haven't seen her since Friday."

"Well, she's not," I reply—and I thank God for that. "They'll see her when she shows up to the fear landscape room."

While Drea pulls out a bar stool to sit on, I open the bag and pull out the three cartons of meals—one for Drea, one for Natalie, and one for myself. When we open ours, the kitchen fills with the aroma of freshly cooked bacon, eggs, and pancakes, and we dig in as soon as we each grab a fork. This has been the routine lately; Drea stops by to bring us food up from the dining hall. Sometimes she eats with us and sometimes she doesn't; it just depends on whether she's already eaten or not.

I've kept Natalie up here in my apartment all weekend long. I decided that's what was best—keeping her away from everyone who would be asking questions or giving her certain looks. Leadership may have given our own version of what happened to Hunter, and for the most part, a majority of the faction has gone on with their lives and isn't at all affected by his death, but there has still been talk and whispers among the initiates. They know, better than anyone, that Hunter wasn't the type to commit suicide. And they also know that Natalie wouldn't have tried to save him after the fight they got into only an hour before. I just hope she'll be okay enough to get through today on her own.

Lately there's something different about her. I don't know what she has going on in that mind of hers, but I think she can be a lot happier if she just allowed herself to be. Instead, she's so closed off and in her own little world. There have been a few times when we're lying in bed together and I catch her staring at me like she wants to say something, but whenever I ask her what's wrong she just averts her eyes and lightly shakes her head. And I don't push her into telling me what's on her mind—I don't think that's wise after all she's been through. All I can do is be here for her and let her know I'm not going anywhere.

As for our relationship, we haven't really moved forward with that either. After saying we love each other the other night, she has been more comfortable around me, and I even catch a glimpse of a smile on her face every now and then, but she still hasn't really opened back up to me. There's a part of her that's still guarded and reticent. She's not fully back to her old self yet, and I don't know why that is. Maybe it's just her trying not to rush back into things with us. Maybe she's afraid that I'll hurt and betray her again the way I did before. Either way, though, I'm not willing to mess it up between us this time around. No matter how she feels about us, I'm not leaving or walking away again. We've spent more than enough time apart already.

"You know," Drea says with her mouth full, "Max was saying that this storm is gonna be bad tonight. We're gonna be pulling in our patrol guards from the entire outside perimeter."

"Yeah? What about the fence?"

She shrugs. "I guess they'll take shelter near Amity if the have to. They can't stray too far away from the fence."