To Save a City (Divergent/Eric) 2 of 3 COH Series

Chapter 26

(Hosanna's POV)

I wake up early in a place that I don't recognize.  I blink a moment trying to figure out where I am. Feeling Eric's strong arms around me, I smile.  I remember that this is his childhood bedroom.  I'm oddly a little cold. Ever so slowly I scoot toward him a bit to snuggle closer and warm up since I feel heat radiating around him when I realize that the hem to the shirt I'm wearing has slid up substantially.  One of his hands shifts around me and I don't move.  I can feel his fingers graze my bare abdomen.  He stops abruptly. 
"Baby, are you awake?" he whispers in that husky morning voice of his.
"Yes," I respond quietly.  I start to turn towards him once more, his arms loosening for a moment as I lay facing him.  His arms tighten again as we settle in together.  He grazes my side with his hand as he pulls my shirt back down. 
"Good morning," he says kissing me gently and replacing that arm in its previous position.
"Morning," I respond smiling.
"This is perfect," he tells me stroking my cheek with a finger.  "Can't we just stay like this forever?"  He kisses me again. 
I hear my phone start to ring and he backs away furrowing his brows.  "Your phone never rings," he comments.
I slide out from underneath his arms to reach for my phone.  "It does when I set an alarm to wake me up," I inform him.
"Oh," he says frowning.  He cuddles closer with me.  "Five more minutes?" he asks hopefully.
I turn to look him in the eyes.  He almost looks pleadingly at me for more time to curl up together.  "How about ten?" I say setting my alarm again.  I can see a smile on his face as I peek around my phone.  I place it aside and he nestles in next to me.  He laces his fingers with mine and his foot gently strokes my foot and ankle.  "This is perfect," I say with a sigh.
We enjoy every second of our time bundled up in his sheets, holding each other and caressing each other's hands and feet.  He kisses me once more on the temple before my alarm goes off again.  I turn it off and he reluctantly releases me when I sit up.
"Do you want a shower here or back in Dauntless?" he asks me.
"It doesn't matter," I tell him.  "But I'll probably change when we get back."
"Where are your clothes?  We can't go back wearing blue," he points out.
"In Liz's room," I say.
"I'll get them for you," he offers climbing up and stepping out of the door. 
I decide to shower here.  Walking into the bathroom, I shut the door and lean against it.  I sigh at how amazing he is.  He could have tried to touch me... but he didn't.  He even pulled my shirt back down because he knows that makes me uncomfortable.
I walk slowly over to turn on the shower.  I look once more into the mirror seeing myself in blue, my cheeks with a slight blush at the thought of him.  I remove the clothes and step into the shower, turning the temperature down.  The cool water is making me feel more at ease and I just let it drizzle on my skin for a minute. 
I jump when I hear a knock on the door.  "Yes," I call out.
"It's me," Eric says.  "I have your clothes and a towel."  He pauses.  "Can I bring them in?"
"Yes," I respond surprised that he actually asked this time—that he didn't just awkwardly barge in like he has previously. 
I hear the door open.  "I'm putting them on the counter for you," he tells me. 
"Okay," I shout starting to massage some shampoo into my hair. 
He taps on the curtain.  "Just a second," I say washing the shampoo off my fingers.
"Yes?" I question, pulling back the curtain slightly to peek my face out.
"Can I join you?" he jokes. 
"Absolutely not," I say with a light laugh.
He frowns.  "Please?" he pleads. 
"No," I respond firmly closing the curtain and continuing to wash my hair.
I hear silence for a while as I rinse my hair out.  I assume he left but I hear him say quietly, "Someday, I'd like that."  Then the door closes softly. 
"I'm sure you would," I mumble laughing.
I finish up in the shower and wrap the towel he left me around my body.  I notice that he brought two.  He really wants to bathe with me.  This isn't the first time he's asked either... and probably not the last.  I don't want to keep pushing him away but I know this is not something we should do. I know he wants this but my answer will remain no. It would lead in a direction I'm not willing to go without a real commitment.
I dress, comb my hair, and brush my teeth.  My thoughts start to wander off as I do so. He heard me say that I wasn't going to give myself to someone until marriage, but he keeps asking for this.  I wonder why... because I think something like that would lead us to a position I'm not wanting to go.  Maybe he's just joking with me. The first time he asked just now sounded like he was messing around.  I glance down at my hand as I rinse the toothpaste off of the toothbrush—the blue fingernail polish is really noticeable against my skin.  I look at my hand closer and realize that he's been playing with my fingers a lot lately, especially a certain one...
My eyes snap up to gaze at my reflection in the mirror once more.  That can't be, can it?  He's been doing that for far longer than I can even remember.  I'm probably just imagining things.  There's been too much going on this month and I'm likely just confused.  I shake the thought out of my head quickly and braid my hair back before I hang up the towel.
I step out of the bathroom to see Eric laying on his bed looking at a picture.  He glances over at me.  I don't want to intrude if he doesn't want me to see it, but he motions for me to come lay next to him. 
I lay down on the bed beside him and he passes the frame to me. I grasp it in my hands and immediately notice the young boy. "Is this you?" I ask softly, admiring the cute boy. 
"Yes, that's my family," he says.  I still keep my eyes glued on him.  He's smiling—one of those remarkable ones that even I rarely see.  I probably would have gotten in so much trouble if I knew this boy liked me as a child.  He has such a confident, overjoyed expression on his face.  He was so incredibly handsome and if his personality was anything like it is now, I would have fallen in love with him so quickly then, too.  I look over at his sister.  She was adorable, so little.  Her pretty blonde hair was just past her shoulders—almost Abnegation length. 
My eyes slide over to the couple behind them and my mouth drops in surprise.  "Is this Jeanine?" I ask.
"No," he laughs.  "That's my mom," he says.  The resemblance is remarkable, except she's really thin and has long hair. Jeanine has a bit more weight on her and is rather stern in her facial expressions. "They were twins," he tells me.  He must be seeing the confusion on my face.  "Identical," he clarifies.
"Oh," I respond.  I stare at her face, so much like Jeanine's but not.  Her face seems softer, kinder, more understanding. 
I look to his father and immediately see the curly hair but it's darker than Eric's.  He has the same jaw, smile, and nose as his father.  Their family looks so incredibly happy. 
"You should bring that home," I whisper handing the photograph back to him. 
"I am," he says.  "Along with a few other mementos."
I turn to him and he shows me a bag full of notebooks.  "What's that?" I ask.
"I kept several journals growing up.  If I ever forget anything in the future, I'll have this record in my own handwriting to help me remember," he explains.
My eyes snap to his.  He nods his head at me giving me the answer to my unspoken question.  He wrote about me in there. 
I reach out and hold him tightly, tears silently streaming down my face.  I was so worried about the threat David made.  I don't know why he doesn't trust Eric.  But this will be our fallback plan, just in case anything terrible ever happens.
I break apart from him after a while and he wipes a tear away.  "Can I read them?" I ask.  I'm not quite sure why I said this, it just slipped out.  I would like to know what he thought about me though. 
He clears his throat, "Someday."