The Fault In Our Love ::HIATUS::

Chapter Ten: Sloppy Joes?

"Alright guys, it's 5 minutes until 6. Circle up for some exit stretching" Lauren announces as she stands in the middle of a large platform. Lynn and I share a look as we followed our fellow initiates to where Lauren is. Once we're all in a circle, we start doing these stretches Lauren introduced to us. Supposedly, it makes you less sore when you wake up tomorrow.

"So we noticed," Marlene said as we started to stretch our legs, "Eric has gotten a lot softer. Don't you think so, Uri?"

"Yeah, I'm diggin' it too."

"Guys," I piped up in irritation, "I know you don't intend to be offensive, but this topic is really sensitive to me. It's tedious, obnoxious, and crude."

"Come on," Uri says, hugging me, "You know we don't mean it."

"Yeah, I know that, but can't you guys put a filter on your mouths? Seriously, what kind of friends are you if you know that I don't like talking about Eric's changes?" I snap back at him, and shove him off of me before leaving the training room. My anger slowly begins to cool down as I walk down the dark tunnels of the compound. All of a sudden, someones hand grabs my hand.

"Not now, Eric."

"Wrong person, cos." said Zania as she gave me an empathetic smile. I return it with a sad one, as she picks up her pace. "Ignore them, they're idiots. They never even picked up a book before. Well, except Lynn."

"Damn straight. I'm so frustrated with Marlene and Uriah. It's almost as if they don't care about anything except for passing initiation and their secret passion for each other. Fucking bastards!!!" I growled and punched at one of the lights that lit the dark cave. The lamp burst out electricity as I burnt my knuckles in the process.

"Luella!" Zania exclaimed as she grabbed my shoulder. I growled in pain and muttered curses. "We need to get your knuckles bandaged up. Let's just hope that they'll be okay for combat."

I nod and let her lead me to the nurse's office. Once we got there, Judy sent me a kind smile over her shoulder shoulder while gently wrapping a bandage around a Dauntless fighter's bicep. She smoothed the end, since it was adhesive and sent him on his way. When he looked up, I recognized the buff man. It was Vernados, one of the Dauntless leaders.

Suddenly he looks over to me. We give each other a respectful nod as he walked towards me. Vernados was the kind of guy you don't want to mess with. His name means "courage of the bear" in either Greek or German. In some ways, he reminded me of a ferocious bear. His battle scars were visible, but the one that caught my attention was the one starting from his eyebrow to his cheekbone(A/N: like Scar from the Lion King). Vernados blankly looks down at my bleeding knuckles and back at my face.

"You should get Judy to clean that up and bandage it. You wouldn't want that to cause your downfall... If it ever happens." He says with no emotion.

"Yes, sir."

He nods and continues to walk towards te exit. I turn away and stand at the front desk to get fixed up.

"Oh, and before I forget..." I turn around to face him. "Congratulations. You and Eric make quite the couple." Vernados gives me a friendly smirk and walks away from the infirmary.

"Vernados can be a little weird, huh?" Judy asks and I turn around to face her.

She had a playful smirk on her face. I shrug and return the smile. She then nods to sit where Vernados sat not too long ago, and I obliged. Zania tapped my shoulder, causing me to look up at her.

"I'm going to get our dinner. Before I go, do you want to try the sloppy joes, or do you want the usual?"

"Sloppy joes? What are those?" I asked, scrunching my nose.

"It's tonight's special. I think you two will like it." Judy chipped in. Zania only shrugs before leaving to get our dinner.

In less than thirty minutes, Zania comes back with two trays. She came right on time, because Judy was done fixing up my knuckles. On the tray was some kind of substance which took the form of a hamburger, but the meat was broken into ground beef with red sauce and I know it's definitely not ketchup. I assume this is a sloppy joe. Next to the main course, was a side of sweet potato fries and a covered mug of peppermint tea. My belly growled loudly as I sank my teeth into the food. Oh man, was this good. Why did they just think of this now? It only took less than a minute to scarf the whole thing down. That night I went straight to bed with the rest of my fellow initiates, completely physically and mentally exhausted today's events.

Hello my darlings! I'm terribly sorry that this is a short chapter, but I might publish another chapter later today for a bonus. Thank you for the reads, votes, and positively sweet comments! I'm extremely grateful to you all. Happy Independence Day!