But Then I Met Her | ✓

Chapter 47

I press my ear against the door that Eric walked into. He brought someone in there- I saw it- but who I'm not sure. He says something, and the girl's voice is quiet and unsure. "I..." Tris. I push open the door and walk into the room. "What are you doing?" I ask Eric, and thank God that I was right, that it is Tris.

"Leave the room." His voice is loud, commanding. Like hell I will.

"No." I say. My mouth moves without my consent, forming words that I never would've considered saying. "She's just a foolish girl. There's no need to drag her here and interrogate her."

"Just a foolish girl." He snorts. Tris is silent. "If she were just a foolish girl, she wouldn't be ranked first, now would she?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose. What the hell did you do this time, Tris? I look at her through the spaces between my fingers. I send her a silent message to fake some vulnerability, and she seems to get it after a minute or two.

"I...I was just embarrassed and I didn't know what to do." She stuffs her hands into her pockets and looks at the ground, all innocence and vulnerability. Tears well up in her eyes and she sniffs, looking at Eric. "It tried to...and..." she shakes her head.

She glances at me as if telling me to help her. "You tried to what?" Eric asks, curious now.

"Kiss me," I say, helping her out. "And I rejected her, and she went running off like a five-year-old. There's really nothing to blame her for but stupidity." To anyone else, I'd seem like an ass, I think, Shauna and Lauren would scalp me.

Both of us wait for his reaction.

Eric looks between us and then throws his head back and laughs loudly. My nerves grind together, and I try not to clench my hands into fists. "Isn't he a little too old for you, Tris?" He's grinning. My God, it's two freaking years!

She wipes at her cheek as if wiping away tears. "Can I go now?"

"Fine," Eric says, "but you are not allowed to leave the compound without supervision again, you hear me?" He turns towards me. "And you...had better make sure none of the transfers leave this compound again. And that none of the others try to kiss you."

I roll my eyes. "Fine."

Tris leaves the room. Eric looks over at me and grins. "So, you've got a Stiff hitting on you now?"

I shrug. "Apparently. But you saw those damn Candors last year."

He nods. "Well, I guess it makes sense why a Stiff would be hitting on you, right?"

I roll my eyes. "The past is the past, Eric. I don't call you a damn know-it-all."

"Whatever Four." He bumps his shoulder against mine as he goes to leave out the other door. "But remember- I've got my eye on her."

I swallow hard as the door slams. I stand there for a minute and leave out of the door that Tris went out. She sits on the ground with her knees pulled against her chest. I walk towards her, and she stands up. She crosses her arms over her chest. "What?"

"Are you all right?" I reach out and gently touch her cheek. She smacks my hand away, though it's not nearly as hard as when she slapped me, which I swear my cheek still stings.

"Well, first I got reamed out in front of everyone, and then I had to chat with the woman who's trying to destroy my old faction, and then Eric almost tossed my friends out of Dauntless, so yeah, it's shaping up to be a pretty great day, Four."

Nice to know that you're still you're rude and sarcastic self. I shake my head and look at some old brick building to my right. "Why do you care, anyway?" she asks. "You can either be a cruel instructor or a concerned boyfriend." She tenses up at the last word. "You can't play both parts at the same time."

I take it one accusation at a time. "I am not cruel." I scowl at her. "I was protecting you this morning. How do you think Peter and his idiot friends would have reacted if they discovered that you and I were..." Dating. I don't finish that thought. I let out a sigh. "You would never win. They would always call your ranking a result of my favoritism rather than your skill."

She's silent. She opens her mouth to reply, then shuts it again. "You didn't have to insult me to prove something to them." She says after a minute.

"And you didn't have to run off to your brother just because I hurt you." The slap was pretty good, though. Hit Peter like that and he'll never screw with you again. I rub the back of my neck. "Besides- it worked, didn't it?"

"At my expense."

"I didn't think it would affect you this way." She's giving me such an intense look that I look at the ground. I shrug, convincing myself to be truthful with her again. I want to live up to being truly Divergent, so why not work on my honesty? "Sometimes I forget that I can hurt you. That you are capable of being hurt."

I see Tris slide her hands into her back pockets. She rocks back and forth on the heels of her boots. After a minute, she stands on the tips of her toes and kisses me, only our lips touching.

"You're brilliant, you know that?" she shakes her head and smiles. "You always know exactly what to do."

"Only because I've been thinking about this for a long time." I press my lips against hers for a second or two. "How I would handle it if you and I..." Even as I say the words, I realize that they're true. Without even knowing, I've planned out almost every scenario possible. I think about what she said earlier and pull back a little, grinning. "Did I hear you call me your boyfriend, Tris?"

"Not exactly." She shrugs, obviously lying. "Why? Do you want me to?"

I slide my hands around her neck and tip her head up. I press my forehead against hers, closing my eyes. My breathing is faster than usual. It's her. It's always been because of her. "Yes." My smiles fades some. "You think we convinced him that you're just a silly girl."

"I hope so." She says. "Sometimes it helps to be small. I'm not sure I convinced the Erudite, though."

I frown a little. Last year, Shauna, Zeke, Lauren and I went out on a train ride. After the lights were supposed to be out, the lights at Erudite were still on. Last night, I went out to see if they still did it. They were on. "What do you think they're doing?" Shauna asks.

I shake my head. "Probably some last-minute tests." I hadn't believed it then, and I certainly don't believe it now. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Not now." I glance around, looking for cameras, guards. And- okay, fine- avoiding her curious look. "Meet me back here at eleven thirty. Don't tell anyone where you're going."

She nods, and I turn and leave, knowing that she'll keep her promise.

A/N: Okay, so if there are any fans of The Host that are reading this story- could you check out my story called The Rebellious Host? It's about Jamie (and no, he's not a host in it)