Captive - FourTris

Fifty-Two

"Yeah. Just a long one, really."

"Guess no one wants hot food on a day like this. They all want sandwiches. But none of 'em want to make them."

For a second I wonder how he knows that I make sandwiches, and then I realize my ugly purple polo shirt says SANDWICH ARTIST right on it, like that's a real occupation or something. Why does it have to say something so stupid?

"Yeah. I only have to do this gig for another week and then once school starts, I'm off the hook." I wipe some bread crumbs off my polo shirt and try not to wince at the fact that I have a big stripe of bright yellow mustard down the front.

"Sweet."

"Uh-huh." I wish I had something intelligent to say, something to show him I'm not just some idiot who leaves her lights on all day and accessorizes with mustard, but nothing comes to mind.

He just keeps leaning against the fender of my car, looking equal parts relaxed and hot. Or maybe it's just a severe case of knight-in-shining-armor.

"So, you live around here?" I ask.

"Yeah. By Larriot Park. You?"

I nod. "Yeah. On Snob Hill."

He laughs. It sounds beautiful. "I didn't think you guys called it that. I thought it was just us little people."

I grin. "Well, my neighbors would probably hate me if they heard me call it that, but I don't care. They're all snobs." I grin at my joke, and he smirks back, and I finally feel like I've said something worthy of conversation.

"But at least my room has a nice view of the ocean," I add.

He nods and looks at the cables again, as if he can tell by sight when they've done their job. "Okay, give it a try."

I get up from the curb and walk over to my car, trying hard not to glance back to see if he's checking me out and wishing just as much that he is. I slide into my little bucket seat, say a few Hail Marys, and try it. For a second I think it's going to work, but just before it turns over, it dies again and starts clicking.

I butt my head into the steering wheel a few times in frustration. I just want this to work, because this guy has to think I'm a total idiot by now and he'll probably bail on me at any minute.

"Okay, give it a little while. You must have really drained it."

I go back and sit on the curb again, and he watches me, and I try to act like I don't notice.

So maybe this day doesn't totally suck. This hot guy is leaning over my car and trying to fix it for me. And I like the way he's confident but still has a charming, shy sort of smile.

Oh my God, I just called him this guy. I don't even know his name.

I stand up and walk over to him.

"My name is Tris, by the way." And then I awkwardly stick my hand out.

"Oh, sorry." He wipes his hand on his jeans and holds it out. "I'm Tobias."

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A/N

Okay, thank you everyone SO, SO, SO, SO much for reading and voting and supporting me throughout this book. It's been very hard to write— even harder than Broken Together —and I have so much love for everyone who's had even an ounce of patience for me. Also, thanks to everyone who messaged me at some point, because you guys always seem to make me smile and cheer me up.

So in the last chapter, Tris left, as you all unanimously voted for. It's interesting to see that at the beginning of this book, everyone was appalled by what was happening and told Tris to strait up pack her things and leave, but as the story progressed and you all started to realise her reasons for staying, you all found it harder at the end when I asked you to come to a decision. But that is why I wrote it in reverse-chronological order (I'll go into that a little later).

It's been an emotional journey for me, I don't know about you, but it was surprisingly a shorter one than I thought it'd be. This is the quickest book I've ever written despite it being a 52 chapter one. Like, it's literally been 18 days! Wtf..

By writing this, I just wanted to show everyone that making difficult choices and making a change WILL be better in the long run. And there will be a point in everybody's life where we will come to a situation where we love someone who might not be particularly good for us, but we will need to put our emotions aside and remember that what we want isn't always the same as what we need.

We all love FourTris, but when the circumstances are like this, Tris didn't need Tobias if he was going to do the things he did.  He was like broken glass, and she saw the cracks and tried to fix him so hard but ended up getting cuts in her hands.

It doesn't always need to be like that, and I hope that if any of you ever come to this situation you will reflect on this story and remember that you are bigger than you think, and you are worthy and strong and smart enough to stay away from what you know could hurt you in the long run.

Oh yeah, I was wondering if you could all DM me questions about the story? I'm thinking about doing an interview kind of thing where I could answer to you altogether in another chapter, since a lot of people message me questions and I've realised there's a lot I still need to explain...

I love you, beauties. Be Tris. Don't ever have a Tobias. ❤