Divergent UNIVERSITY ✅

chapter 21

A month and a half has passed since the championship softball game. Tris and Four have grown closer, spending most of their free time together, not that either of them has much. The semester has ended but Tris decided to stay at the sorority house with Shauna, Christina, Kenzie, Lynn, and Marlene to be closer to Four. The football team had a successful season and will be playing in the Orange Bowl in Miami on New Year's Day, so they have been practicing almost nonstop, everyday to get ready for the game.When Four is practicing, Tris is with Brian training for the Olympic team. Along with her softball training, she is still learning more self defense. Brian has also started teaching both she and Four to shoot a gun. Tris has even fought Four a couple times to help her get better at fighting bigger guys.The girls have decided that they are going to go to the bowl game in Miami and Marlene, Shauna, Kenzie, Lynn, and Christina were going to stay so they could be there to cheer Tris on when she tries out for the Olympic team on January 8th. The girls got together with Four, Will, Zeke, and Uriah and got a house for them to spend their two weeks in Miami.As the end of December drew near, Tris and Four were confronted with what happened with his father when Four received a summons to appear as a witness against his father on the child abuse charges. The trial is set to start at the beginning of February. After he received the letter, he thought he'd better tell her about his past so when the trial came, she wasn't surprised."I think we need to talk about some things," Four tells Tris one day when they are lying in his bed watching a movie."What's wrong?" she looks at him worried. Things have been going very well between them and his tone tells her that there is something wrong.He smiles when he sees the worried look on her face, "Don't worry. I just think there are some things about my past that you should know about.""Oh, okay," she says with an obvious look of relief."You know about the abuse. He used to whip me with a belt and lock me in a small closet for days with no food or water. Along with the physical abuse there was also mental abuse. Always being told I was worthless, I couldn't do anything right, being called a liar, and constantly having to deal with his endless string of girlfriends that he brought into the house. Nothing I ever did was right and he always had something bad to say about me. But what I never told you is that he did the same thing to my mother. She took off when I was nine. She left me with that son of a bitch and never even tried to come back and get me."Tris pulls herself onto his lap, he wraps his arms around her and finds the strength to keep going with his story."My little league coaches and midget football coaches noticed the marks on my arms and questioned me about it, but I always lied. Told them I was climbing a tree and fell out and other things like that. The marks were from the branches of the tree. There isn't much an adult can do when the kid refuses to tell them anything or let them see the extent of the injuries. Anyway, as I got older Marcus didn't physically abuse me as much, but he still had a hold on me. I thought if I could just do better on the ball field and in school that he would stop telling me how worthless I was and actually notice that I was good at things. But he never did. The mental abuse got really bad until I went away to college. I've been keeping myself away from him since I've been here, but he always comes around. Always tries to get to me somehow and he knows just what to say and do to get into my head. When I got here I was so happy that my nickname followed me because Marcus was the only one that ever called me by my name. I don't think I ever even told you my name.""No, but I know it. It's hard not to know when I watch you on TV. When the commentators talk about you they call you Tobias or Eaton, not Four. I just figured you preferred Four so I felt no reason to bring it up.""I prefer Four because that name separated me from my father. But it is nice to hear you say my name. It makes this a little more intimate. I wouldn't mind if you called me by my name when we are alone together."She smiles. She feels like she has just been given a very personal and private part of him. She turns her body so that she's straddling him. She presses her lips to his and pulls her body close to his. He sits up straighter and pulls her so close that there is no space between them.They spent the rest of this day kissing, talking about nothing special, dozing, and watching movies.~oOo~Two days after Christmas the football team left for Miami. The girls are set to meet them in Florida on New Year's Eve.When the girls arrive in Florida, they are accompanied by Kenzie, Lynn, Brian, Tori, Natalie, and Bud. Tris' father insisted he had too much work to do to spend two weeks in Florida. He even criticized Natalie for closing the tattoo parlor for two weeks so that she could go. But Natalie realizes that things between Tris and Four have become quite serious and she wants to make sure that she supports Four as well as being there for Tris during this very important time. Natalie also knows about Four's childhood from Bud and she's seen the scars on his back. She knows he needs parent figures that want to be there for him, and she's happy to accept that role.Things are not well between Natalie and her husband. She has grown tired of is selfishness, especially when it hurts her daughter. He's never been the father that he should have been and he has been pulling further and further away for years now, ever since both kids went off to college, he's been distant and nothing like a husband should be. Bud has been more of a father and more supportive to Tris than Andrew ever was and Natalie has always known of his feelings for her. Just after Christmas, Natalie presented Andrew with divorce papers. He didn't even seem surprised or upset. He simply signed the papers and handed them to her. He told her that she will need to find another house because he's keeping theirs. She agreed and just five days after Christmas, she moved all of her things out of their house and moved into the spare room in Bud's house. She hasn't told Tris about this yet. She didn't want to upset her just before her tryout.~oOo~The group of them goes to the beach house that they are renting for the two weeks and prepare to go to the boy's hotel to spend New Year's Eve with them. The football players were told that they could have the evening to themselves, but were strictly forbidden to drink or do anything that would affect their playing ability. They were also forbidden to leave the hotel that the team was staying in so the girls were forced to go to them at their hotel.Brian, Tori, Bud, and Natalie decided to stay back at the beach house while the girls go to the hotel. They stand in the lobby waiting to for the guys to come to find them.When the guys enter the lobby they see the girls standing together talking."Wow, do you see how they all look?" Uriah says. He walks up and immediately finds Marlene. He pulls her into a passionate kiss. "You are going to get me into trouble dressing like that," he tells her. She just smiles and kisses him again.Four takes Tris by the hands and leads her off away from the rest. "You look beautiful. So how was your trip?""Thank you. It was good. Mom, Bud, Brian, and Brian's girlfriend Tori are here too. They stayed back at the beach house.""Are there going to be enough rooms once the four of us come get there?""Yeah, we're just going to double up on rooms, that's all."He looks a little confused, "What do you mean?""You know two people to a room. Already Kenzie and Lynn are in a room, Brian and Tori are sharing a room, and Bud and my mother are also sharing a room. I think there might be something going on there. Something's happened with my mother and father. My brother Caleb called me and told me that our father called him saying weird things about my mother moving out.""Are you all right?""Yeah, I love my father, but he's not been very central in my life ever. And he's always been distant and sometimes kind of degrading to my mother. If she's gotten sick of it, I can't say I blame her. I think at this point they just need to be happy. Caleb and I aren't there anymore.""So will I be staying with Zeke, Uriah, or Will?" he asks."None of them, you'll be staying with me."He looks at her shocked, "What do you mean? I guess there are two beds?""No, but like you once told me, we can sleep in the same room without anything happening that we don't want to happen."He pulls her into a hug. This is the first time they will be sleeping in the same room. Until now he has always felt like she didn't quite trust him to behave himself but this tells him that she does trust him."So, what do you want to do tonight?""I think it would be wonderful just to hang out, relax, and be together.""Well, I guess we should get back to the others," he says and takes her hand to walk back to their friends."Tobias," she says. This is the first time she's called him by his name. He looks at her and smiles. Something about her saying his name makes their relationship more personal, more real. "Or we could just go up to your room and spend some time together alone."Four smiles and takes her hand. He leads her to the elevator. He's sharing a room with Zeke, but Four doesn't think that Zeke will be there. When they get up to the room, Four opens the door. No one is there, so he puts the do not disturb sign on the door and locks it so Zeke can't get in.They sit on the bed together. "Did I mention how beautiful you look tonight?" he asks her. She's wearing a jean mini skirt and half shirt that is white with long sleeves with black boots.She snickers, "I'm not wearing anything special. You have no idea how hard I had to push to not let them dress me like a Barbie again. The jean skirt was a compromise and they insist on me wearing things that show my ribcage tattoo."He moves his arm around her and puts his hand on the bare skin on her side. He glides his fingers across the tattoo. "I like seeing this tattoo, it's beautiful," he says. "Did you know that I got a tattoo on my ribcage too?""No, when did you do that? Have you been going to get tattoos without me?""No, it was at the party. I guess I just forgot about it because I was so interested in your dove.""Why were you interested in my dove?" she asks."Because it's beautiful also because of what you said it represents," he says.Tris blushes, she realized that night she told him that her dove symbolized love and devotion, but she never told him that she loves him. She realized after she got that tattoo that her feelings for him were that strong that she was falling for him. It has been almost two months since that night and neither of them has said those fateful words that will inevitably change the course of their relationship. She quickly changes the subject."Can I see the tattoo that you've had for almost two months that I knew nothing about?"He lifts his shirt and the first thing she sees is his perfectly formed stomach. His muscles are tight and firm. Then she looks to his right side and sees the phoenix and the words 'Fear God Alone' tattooed on his side."It's phenomenal," she says grazing her fingers across his side. His skin feels like it's on fire with her touch."What does 'Fear God Alone' mean?" she asks."Well, Bud said he created it for me because he said the phoenix was a bird in mythology that would burst into flames when it died but out of the ashes it was born again. It symbolized rebirth. The saying is to remind me to not fear any man.""It's amazing. I absolutely love it!" she says taking her hand away from him."So about the dove," he says. "I've been thinking about what you said it means for a long time."She looks down. Is she ready to tell him how she feels? But what if he doesn't feel the same way. She's terrified to find out.He stands and kneels on the floor in front of her so he can look her in the face. "You know I really love being with you. I really love working out with you, hanging out with you, and I love that you understand me better than anyone has ever understood me. You've understood me better than anyone else before we even were together. I guess what I'm saying is I'm falling in love with you."She looks at him with shock on her face. She smiles hugely. "I've been falling for you for quite some time now."