Star-gazing: Eric Coulter

Chapter 10

Her face in centimetres below mine, her eyes are glowing brightly like the moon on a clear night and her hair is... still a mess but we can sort that out later. I lean down, capturing her lips in mine. For some reason she panics and shoves me off of her, I give her a questioning look.
Quickly, she points her finger across the room and mumbles a brief, "Spider." Before squeezing her eyes shut. Who would have thought, the great Dauntless leader Layla Adams has an outrageous fear of arachnids. I wouldn't have if I hadn't of lived with her for forever— even in initiation she couldn't stand the creatures.

The black, hairy critter scuttles across the floor, I watch it for a while, waiting for Layla to realise that I in fact haven't done anything and am actually just stood there. I love annoying her. Eventually she looks up.
"Eric!" She squeals, "Please... kill it."
"It hasn't done anything though." I respond.
"That hasn't stopped you before with Janine's divergents." She repels back.
I roll my eyes, "Stop being petty and get dressed."
"Fucking kill that evil thing then!"

I stomp on it as soon as it gets within a meter of her. It falls off the bottom of my boot and I pick it up before depositing it in the chromium kitchen bin. When I make it back to the bedroom, my wife is getting dressed, wearing: black, lace bra with a matching thong, black cycling shorts and one of my t-shirts that is completely oversized on her (like a short, minidress on her).
"Ready to go before Four looses his shit again?" I ask, a smile playing on my lips as I follow her to the bathroom. She puts some off-beige liquid under her eyes and blends it out with an egg thing— if she's trying to take away the hungover-look from her face, then it isn't working. Then she uses a paint brush thing to apply a darker, bronze liquid to her cheek bones and forehead. She applies a ruby-red gloss on her lips and then follows me out of the room to put in her black combat boots.

"I hate initiates." She mumbles as we wander down the corridor. Right before, she tied her hair up in a messy bun that sits in the top of her head. She's still my stunning girl...
It's just turned 11:30 now, and we're outside the classroom. I slide open the metal doors and follow Layla inside. The transfers are sat in rows on benches— those benches are uncomfortable as fuck. We should know, as they're the same as when we were in initiation. I walk up the isle, my hand on the small of her back, the initiates watch in fear as we enter the room. I have to physically hide the smirk that pulls my lips.

The blackboard at the front of the classroom is half empty: Four has only covered half of the rules. What an ass. The white chalk is the only thing brightens the room, the walls, floor, ceiling and furniture are all dark (just how Dauntless like it). To be fair, the room is quite boring and sparse— there isn't much to do apart from listen and 'learn'.

Layla's pov:

Using my slightly shaking fingers, I push up the pair of large sunglasses further up my nose; attempting to hide my massive hangover from the initiates. They look as tired as I feel, god knows what they've been up to last night. Zeke and Dylan will probably overlook the security tapes today (if they manage to roll out of bed... even for me it was a struggle). 

Walking up the isle, Four gives Eric a pissed off look. His face is stern and his arms are crossed over his chest, but I can still see his fists— they're white from the way he's clenching them. His vision turns to me when I step out from behind my husband, his face instantly softens. Nonetheless, he subtly shrugs, in return I just roll my eyes— not that he can see them.

As Eric and I stand at the front of the classroom, alongside Four, I clap my hands loudly. Many initiates snap their heads up in fear or shock due to them being tired.
"We know you've all just passed stage one, but that doesn't give you the right to stop putting in all of your effort." Christ, Four sounds like a teacher. He sounds like a proper teacher in one of the schools.
Before one of them can give back a smart comment, I interrupt, "Visiting day is today and will be different to normal." With the majority of the transfers being from Erudite this year, I expect them to have all probably read about how Visiting day used to go. "Instead of you lot going to see your families, they will be coming to the Dauntless compound."