Until Death Do Us Part? (Completed)

Chapter Ten: Promises

Tris and I never told anyone about my near accident, keeping it our little secret.

When mom noticed the way I kept caressing my wrist, I told her that it was just a little sore from the fall I'd had today. Tris and I came back home bruised often enough that instead of being suspicious, she just shook her head and told me to put some ice over it.

For a week after the near accident, Tris and I never left each others side, to the point when my brother, rude as he is, told us to get a room.

You get the idea.

Tris sort of acted as my over-protective, paranoid bodyguard those days. He never left my side at school, suggested we had dinner at home instead of Park Angel, which was our usual hang-out as kids, and scolded me whenever I ran above the 'speed limit', as though a car was about to come out of nowhere and hit me inside the school hallways.

To tell you the truth, I didn't mind it much.

The tingly sensation I'd first felt when Tris fell on top of me would return every time he touched me in even the most casual way. Even a small push on the shoulder or brush on the arms would make my heart beat so fast, I was sure it would jump out of my chest and start singing 'Tris and Tara under a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G' (except, even the thought of Tris kissing me—not that I imagined it much, mind you—made my heart skip a beat).

My cheeks would color ever time he gave me his dimpled-smile, and my heart would melt when he laughed. Before, spending a whole day with Tris had felt normal, as a routine of sorts, but now, I looked forward to spending time with him more and more each and every passing day, until finally, I couldn't help but count the seconds until I saw him again.

I didn't know if it was the aftermath of the accident, or something else entirely, but I started seeing the world around me in a whole different light. School didn't seem as boring and dragging as ever, Professor Gardner's Math lessons didn't make me drool in my sleep, and I no longer found myself arguing with Aspen and Suri for every little thing. I started feeling grateful for the friendship Tris and I shared, and every moment I spent with him meant more to me than a thousand dresses dad might've bought me on my birthday.

And maybe the fear of losing his friendship was the reason it took so long for me to admit my feelings to myself, and even longer for me to tell him about it.

Others started seeing changes in me too. Mom noticed the way I stopped throwing a fit whenever she made something I didn't like for dinner, and Suri was surprised when I agreed to spend a whole afternoon with her and listen to the whole spiritual crap, as I liked to call it back then. Heck, I even agreed to try Church with Tris.

They didn't know the real reason, of course, no one except for Tris did. I was just glad that I was having dinner with my family or listening to Suri talking about tarot cards or sitting inside the impossibly hot Church on Sunday morning, when I could think of a thousand other things Tris and I could be doing, instead of lying inside a hospital bed with a machine keeping track of each and every breath I took, as I would've been, if Tris hadn't saved me that day.

I started going out more often, my circle of friends increased, and people started using the term 'reckless' to define me. I didn't mind them, though. I never did. I'd made a wishlist with all the things I wanted to do before I; a wishlist I wanted to complete with Tris by my side.