A Different Divergent Tale (Eric and Tris)

Chapter 55

Eric steps into my door as I was pacing the living room for his return. The moment he's shut the door, I rush to him and jump at him. He chuckles in reply catching me.
"I missed you, too, sweetheart," he laughs. "You and Lizzy both."
I feel a kiss to my head and I look up to meet his eyes bearing down on me with a pleased expression in them. "I missed you," I say. I register what he just told me, though. "Your sister and I what?"
"Jumped into my arms today," he grins.
"You actually got to see her?" I ask surprised, excited for him.
"I did," he chuckles happily. "She's grown so much that I almost didn't recognize her."
"Really?" I inquire gladly. He nods and I smile. "I'm so grateful you got to visit her."
"Me, too," he concurs.
He pecks my lips gently. I respond to him, my longing from today shining through. He deepens the kiss and I let him.  I feel him moving, carrying me with him.  I break from the kiss and laugh in surprise. 
"What are you doing?" I grin. 
"I don't know.  Probably something stupid," he whispers on my lips kissing me again.  I feel him set me down on the sofa.  There's a knock on my door.  He breaks the kiss and looks to me expectantly. 
"Come in," I call out as we separate.  The rest of leadership files into my door.  I kind of knew they'd been waiting... me, too.
"Oh... so we're doing this now?" Eric whispers. 
"Max and Jude insisted," I tell him softly.  "I think Ryan was still worried about you, too—even though I already said you were fine."
He nods in understanding and sits down beside me putting his arm around my shoulders. Ryan sits on my other side and everyone else takes a seat around the living room. 
"How'd you know I was even here?" Eric asks them. 
"I had security inform me when you arrived," Max divulges matter-of-factly.  I didn't know that, but I knew they were waiting...
"Does anyone want something to drink?" I offer. 
Everyone declines and focuses their attention on Eric once more. 
"I assume everybody's wondering what I was up to today," he says. 
There's a collective nod of affirmation from everybody.  Even I'm incredibly curious.  Eric relays all that's happened in the time he's spent with Jeanine.  It's quite extensive and I'm completely shocked by most of it. 
"It's probably best that you didn't let Caleb in on much.  I know he's your brother but we've got to be careful in this," Ryan comments.  I look to him in surprise.  "I mean, I know you trust your brother... but can we trust him with all of this?"
"I get it," I nod.  I sigh and hope that Caleb is virtuous and loyal. But he was acting weird the last time I saw him.  I really hope his aspirations for his future don't get in the way of doing what's right in our society.  I also hope he's not a coward letting himself get duped into following her. 
We all discuss a bit further and Max will contact Abnegation over the weekend about the new discoveries.  Everyone leaves us and I'm honestly exhausted for a Friday night—too burnt out to go about the faction and do anything.  So, we stay in snuggling on my sofa for a while. We talk a bit though, and he tells me a little more about his sister.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Eric asks me when I've been quiet for a while.
"I'm just exhausted for some reason," I admit.
"You must've been really worried about me," he responds softly caressing my cheek.
"I was. We all were," I reply.
I yawn without intending to and he knows I'm spent for the day. I walk him to the door and fall into bed, drifting off to comforting dreams.

*****

Saturday morning is kind of a blur. We eat an early breakfast together and head back to my apartment to paint my walls. I've spread out the drop cloth and all the supplies. I'm kind of teaching Eric as we go. It is a simple task but I handle all the cutting in—the edges. It takes a seriously steady hand. He tried at first but I'll just fix the spots he struggled with initially. He's good at the rest, though—very skilled at coverage, and quickly at that. This task may not take the entire day at this rate.
We start in the master bedroom and open all the windows in the apartment to help it dry in there. This is really nice paint, though—the best in quality that I've ever used. It has a low order and excellent coverage. We move on to the bathroom, the spare bedroom, then the hallway. I paint the edges and he tackles the walls first with a roller, then the ceiling. It's actually looking incredible.
"Maybe we should do this to my place," Eric comments as he stands back and admires our hard work.
"We could," I nod. "These colors are nice."
"I do actually like them," he admits. "Now that I notice, the white is kind of boring."
I grin at his admission.
"Still not a fan of the green?" I question as I open a bucket for the kitchen.
"It's still a little too dark for my tastes," he says peering over my shoulder as I stir it.
"It'll lighten as it dries," I explain.
He nods and we get to work. I cut in on the walls and around the cabinets. I removed the shelves with my dishes and have them all set on my island for now. The shelves were just resting on some brackets. I'm glad I learned that now. If I removed one side of dishes, the rest would've come toppling down. I'll affix it better when I get some tools. Maybe next weekend if there's time...
I step away and rest my arms for a moment. I watch Eric using the roller on the walls. This is going so quickly.
"Where do you want me to stop?" he asks.
"The wall by the bookcase," I shrug. "The image at the store had it go to the doorway but I think ending at the corner would look better."
"Alright," he agrees.
He finishes and moves on to the ceiling. He gets it done so quickly.  I take the ladder and start cutting in on the ceiling in the kitchen. I'm honestly amazed at how well he's done, how good this actually looks. I don't have to go over anything and this won't need a second coat of paint anywhere. I glance to him and he's stopped, picking up his watch.
"It's lunchtime. Do you want me to grab something from the cafeteria or the Pit to eat?" he asks.
"Sure," I shrug. "Whatever you want."
"I was thinking of that place in the Pit we walked by on meatloaf night. It looked really good," he comments.
I remember the aroma coming from that place as we passed by and the heavy traffic. It must be good. I nod enthusiastically at the prospects of the food from there—whatever it is.
"Alright," he grins. "I'll go down there and bring us back something."
"You don't want to eat out?" I question.
Eric comes over to me and wipes my cheek with a rag and picks a bit of dried paint out of my hair. He laughs lightly, "If you really want to show the faction this side of you, I won't object."
"I am filthy," I nod in agreement.
I notice he only had a little bit dried on his hands and arms.
"How are you cleaner than me?" I question.
"Because I'm separated from the roller. Believe me, I'm glad there was an extension. If there wasn't, I'd probably be as covered as you. I can't say the drop cloth doesn't have anything on it, though," he replies grinning.
I smile at him and he leans in for a gentle kiss.
"I'll be back soon," he whispers as he parts from my lips.
I watch him as he grabs his keys and holster before he heads out the door. He smirks at me when he glances back before shutting the door behind him. I sigh, already missing him and get back to work. I finish up cutting in on the kitchen ceiling and decide to move onto the living room walls. I grab the same paint as the hallway and cut in the entire room. Eric hasn't returned yet so I decide to start using the roller and get the walls. I begin at the front doorway. I'm moving around the entire wall of the room in a counterclockwise rotation from the front door to the windows to the wall of the hallway. I paint the little bit that's along the wall above and around my exterior doors and windows. I pause for a moment and I'm glad we moved the furniture around. They're pushed together away from the walls in clusters and covered in drop cloths. I continue on and get the area along my master bedroom wall—the opposite side in the living room, that is.
As I roll the paint on this wall, I notice it beading up. That's odd. I pause and observe how it's not sticking, as if the wall is oily or smooth. It's not taking the paint at all. I continue on trying to get the wall but the majority isn't taking the paint. It looks like a massive piece of wall art set onto the wall and covering the greatest portion of this space. I paint around it and finish. The areas that've started to dry are flaking off. The others are still beading up.  I take one of my threadbare towels I was using as a rag and wipe the mess up.
I'm in awe of this and wonder what it is. As I stare at the wall, I hear the lock flip on my door and Eric enters with several bags of food.
"Sorry that took so long. There was a line. I would've ordered in advance but I didn't have a menu. I do now, though," he says waving a folded paper menu at me grinning.
I break out of my daze with my tummy rumbling and approach him—my extreme hunger winning out on anything else at the moment. The food smells incredible and I'm famished. He sets the bags down on my island and I help him to move some things over.  I stack the shelves and put them on the far kitchen counter, then some of the dishes on the other.  I wash my hands and we sit down together on my barstools at the island.  I see Eric had grabbed some utensils and serving spoons. 
"What'd you get?" I ask intrigued as he pulls out several small containers. 
"You remember that night that we had the chicken, broccoli, and rice?" he questions.  I nod recalling Four dump his tray on the cafeteria floor to us kissing.  "Well, it's like what I had except I got us a small variety.  I got a beef stir fry with rice, pork with soft noodles, fried chicken with a different kind of crispy noodles... there's soup, dumplings, egg rolls...  I figured we'd try several and share to see what we like."
"This looks and smells incredible," I tell him. 
He grins at me and we share the spectacular lunch together.  There's a mix of vegetables with everything and I cant't decide what I like best.  It's all delicious. 
"I think I have a new favorite place," I grin. 
"You and me both," he concurs laughing lightly.  "I see why this place is always so busy."
I nod in agreement.  We eat some of everything—Eric able to consume more than me of course but even he's unable to finish off it all.  We have close to half still remaining.
"I think we should pack this up and we can have some more another time," Eric suggests. 
"Alright," I reply. 
We put the remainder in my fridge.  Eric and I sit down again, sipping some green colored tea he brought back and surveying our progress. 
"You really completed a lot while I was gone," he notices. 
"Thanks," I laugh lightly at the compliment.  I sip the warm, almost bitter green beverage. It's kind of earthy, too. 
"You want a cookie?" Eric offers me. 
They are little so I nod taking one.  It matches really well with the drink—the sweet evening out the bitter. 
"What's going on over there?" Eric asks motioning to the shiny white section that remains. 
"I don't know," I tell him honestly. 
I start to explain what happened when I attempted to cover it in paint and he looks surprised.  We step over to it and he examines it without touching. 
"That's so weird," he says. 
"My thoughts exactly," I nod in agreement. 
"I wonder if there's something here that the founders left for us..." he comments thoughtfully.  "These apartments are for leadership only.  If there's not enough to fill, they must remain vacant."
He continues to look at the wall from all different angles, even getting the ladder out and bringing it over near the ceiling.  He shakes his head.  "Maybe there's something going on here.  At the paint store, we were unable to order for this room," he says looking around the remainder of the space. 
"The rest of the room went up fine but maybe you're right.  Maybe there is something special about this—leadership only kind of stuff," I agree. 
"Yeah," he nods climbing down.  "Do you think we should continue?"
I look up to the ceiling—it being all that's left.  I see that black spot still up there.  I feel kind of weird, like I'm not sure what's going on.  The spot does kind of bother me, though, and I really want to cover it up.  I am a little obsessive-compulsive in regards to things like this and I really want to complete the project. 
"We'll just finish off the ceiling.  That's all that's left," I shrug. 
"Alright," Eric nods. 
I take the ladder to cut in on the ceiling while he has the roller on the longest extension to go over the rest of the whole room.  We begin and I cut in along the remainder of the exterior on the ceiling, stopping briefly to glance at this shiny white section on the interior of the room.  I'm not sure what to do with it—maybe I'll hang a large picture or painting to cover it up so the room doesn't look so strange. It just kind of stands out now.  There were some frames that size in the home store.  Maybe we'll clean up and go over there when we finish. As I continue on the task at hand, I'm wondering what it means and what it's for.  I brush over the last bit on the wall and climb down when I'm finished.  Eric completes his portion. I collect his tray and pour the remainder of our paint containers back into the most recent bucket we used. 
I look over the ceiling and I notice that little black dot is still there.  I sigh in irritation and move the ladder over to it to get a closer look.  I climb up and observe that it's a little shiny like the wall. I see the dried paint flecking off so Eric must've covered it.
"What are you doing, sweetheart?" Eric asks.
"There's a black dot up here. I saw it before but it's smooth and shiny like the wall over there," I say waving to the rectangular white shape on my light grey wall. "What do you think it is?" I ask.
I look down the ladder as Eric glances up at it from below. He blinks in surprise and climbs up a step. "Honestly?" he says pausing. "It kind of looks like a recording device... like our surveillance cameras," he tells me with his lips forming a straight line.
"You don't think Jeanine would be watching us here, do you?" I ask disbelievingly.
"I honestly don't know. I doubt she could've gotten in our private residences... but then she's got a ridiculous amount of security at hers," he replies.
I see those flecks of paint and I can't help but reach out to brush them away. The moment my index finger comes in contact with the surface, I feel a strong zap to the pad of my finger. I wince and clutch my hand to my chest.
"What the heck was that? Static electricity?" Eric questions concerned.
"I don't think so," I say shaking my head. I look to my finger to see a slight red spot. "Static doesn't hurt like this," I tell him showing him my finger.
He grasps it and gently encourages me to withdraw from the ladder. I think he's going to examine my finger but then he actually mounts the ladder and takes a closer look. I observe that he doesn't touch it. He climbs down and searches my drawers in the kitchen. I see him grab a rubber hot pad and a rag. He comes back and scales the rungs of the ladder once more. He eyes the dot. He touches it with the rubber pad but it does nothing. Then he takes the rag and places it on the hot pad. He wipes the flecks off and nothing happens other than I can see it's shiny and clean now from my spot below him on the floor.
"What are you thinking?" I ask Eric.
"I don't know," he admits. "I'm tempted to go back to my apartment and cover it with some spackle."
"You have spackle in your apartment?" I question in disbelief.
"I've been known to punch holes in my wall when I lose my temper," he admits quietly.
I blink in surprise. "You need to work on that," I reply softly.
"I have been," he admits in a whisper.
I think he's going to come down... but I see him reach for the dot with his bare hand. I can actually see the blue spark shocking his hand but he doesn't stop reaching to try to scrape it out with his finger in an attempt to remove the possible camera there. Suddenly, a puff of grey smoke or a mist comes out of the same area. Eric stops what he's doing and shakes his head in confusion.
"Why does my hand hurt?" he asks me examining his hand.
"Because you were continuing to try to remove that camera-looking dot up there," I tell him in surprise.
"What?" he asks confused giving me his full attention.
I blink in astonishment that he doesn't know what he was just doing. "You were attempting to get it out, I think. It zapped you, like it did me but that didn't seem to deter you. I think you were trying to remove it through the pain and then something started burning or something," I explain shrugging and showing him my finger.
He blinks in surprise. "That's right. How could I forget that?" he questions shaking his head in confusion.
He looks at the dot more determined this time and reaches for it with the rag and the rubber pad. It looks like he gets ahold of it. That grey smoke starts pouring out again but it doesn't stop this time. It can't be burning since the rag isn't catching fire. I notice the color and it's grey. In an instant, I suddenly remember Jude explaining that the memory serum can be used as an aerosol spray, then I recall Eric's reaction just now. The spray is pouring into the room and filling it. I feel a sticky sensation drip down my throat and feel like it tries to take over my mind. I shake my head and hold my breath when I realize what's going on. I coax Eric down the ladder and out my patio door. I shut the door quickly and leave him for a moment. I observe that the grey fog is still rushing out of that same spot completely filling my apartment. I close off my bedroom door when I see the fog filling that area as well. I don't know what to do...