Captive - FourTris

Twenty-Eight

Winter Formal. I try not to let those two words hit me like they do, but I can't keep that twinge of bitterness away as I think of the emerald dress hanging in the closet where no one has ever seen it. I set my burger back down in the basket because it's suddenly very hard to swallow.

I take a long, slow drink of my strawberry lemonade, but it doesn't taste as good as it did three minutes ago.

Christina seems to know she shouldn't have said those two words because she changes the subject. Too quickly. "Do you want to go see that new Jennifer Lawrence movie? It's supposed to be really good."

I glance at my watch. Tobias will be off in two hours, which isn't enough time to see the movie and get home. He said he would call me on his way there, and I know he will.

But even with the awkward Winter Formal moment, I'm having too much fun to stop now. Tobias won't mind about a movie. He knows I never see Christina.

"Yes. Absolutely. Let's do it."

Christina grins excitedly. Twenty minutes later we leave Red Robin and walk across the mall parking lot to the theater, where she buys us two tickets and a tub of popcorn big enough to feed six people.

For two hours I lose myself in a romantic comedy that makes me think of Tobias at all the right moments and makes me forget life at the same time. By the time we leave, I feel lighter than air. I think I float to the car.

Today was exactly what I needed. Why have I been avoiding Christina so much? Why don't I just balance my life instead of giving it all to Tobias? He loves me, and I love him, but we should do other things with other people sometimes too. We don't have to be so wrapped up in our relationship.

I'm excited to see Tobias, so I have Christina take me directly there. I'll have him drop me off at my house later. I want to see how his day went.

When we pull up and I see Tobias sitting on the porch, my heart jams into my throat.

Why is he sitting out here in the dead of winter? It's cold enough to see your breath.
He stands up and walks toward us, and I can tell just by the way he's walking that he's angry. His feet fall in a heavy rhythm, his strides so long his legs are stretching to eat up the ground.

My heart sinks. I shouldn't have turned off my phone in the theater. I shouldn't have watched the movie at all. Not when I promised him I'd be waiting for him when he got home. I'm over an hour late. He might have had things he wanted to tell me about his first day.

Or he might just have been worried about me—

"Where have you been?" He's at the door as I get out of the car.

"Christina and I saw a movie—"

"You said you'd be here when I got home. My whole day was crazy, and then I get
here—"

I don't even realize that Christina has gotten out of the car until she is next to me. "God, relax. We went and saw a movie. I think you can survive without her for one damn afternoon."

I open my mouth to tell Christina to let me handle it, but I can't get a word out before he does.

"Stay out of it," he says, turning his attention to Christina.

I grab his arm. I don't need this confrontation.

Christina stands directly in front of him.

"She's my best friend. I don't need to stay out of it. In fact, maybe I've stayed out of it for far too long. Maybe I should have told her what I really thought the day I met you, huh?"

Tobias's eyes narrow and he pulls his arm away from me. "Maybe I should have told her what I thought of you."

"Oh, please. I'd love to hear it. What's your beef with me? Am I too nice? Because you're a pretty big ass. Or maybe I'm too smart? Because you're pretty stupid. And a coward."

I cringe. Of all the words, why did she choose coward? He hates that word.

He steps toward her, closing the gap in less than a second. But she doesn't move. She's taller than me. Tall enough that she can almost look him in the eye.

"I'm not afraid of you. You think you're tough but you're not." She stares at him, a gleam of confidence and arrogance in her eyes.

She's enjoying the confrontation, as much as she can, anyway. She's been waiting for this moment. Now I realize it. She's been biting her tongue all this time, waiting for her chance to tell him what she thinks.

She turns away from him and puts her hand over mine, where it rests on the car door. "Don't stay here, Tris. Come with me. You don't deserve this."

All I can do is stare at her hand on mine. I'm frozen.

"I can't. You know I can't," I say in a whisper, as if I hope Tobias won't hear.

"No. You can." She whispers too, but even as she says it, her hand slides off of mine. "But you won't."

I look up at her and she stares at me, straight in the eyes, and no words pass between us. But she understands it. She's not mad. I don't know how she does it, but she's not mad at me. She just nods and gives me a fast hug, flips Tobias off, and returns to the driver's seat.

Tobias tries to pull me away but I just stand at the curb and watch her yellow Mustang disappear around the corner.

Some part of me feels like this might be the last time I ever see her.