Resurgent

Chapter Eighteen

I shoot straight up with a gasp. I remember what I forgot. I look to Tobias, about to shake him awake, but he's still completely asleep. I decide against waking him and go to the dresser. I pull out a sweater. I put it on and tie my hair in a ponytail. I put my uggs on and drop my keys down the side. I jog out the door and towards Evelyn's house.
I get to her door and knock. She opens it and ushers me inside. "Oh Tris, thank god you're okay!" She says, walking back into her living room. "Where's Tobias?" She asks, looking concerned. "He's at home, asleep." I answer her. "Evelyn, I need the box." I say, getting to the point. I want to get back as soon as possible. If Tobias wakes up and I'm not there he'll freak out. "Oh, good. Okay, yes. Here." She says, grabbing the un-opened black box from the coffee table. "Be safe, Tris." "I will, thank you." I say, taking the box and starting home.
I get home and Jen, Quinn, Barrett and Danny are sitting on the couch. Tobias is pacing behind them, his jaw clenched tight. They all look up as soon as the door shuts. "Tris! Thank god! Where were you?!" Tobias says, his voice tense. He takes two large steps over to me and wraps me tightly in his strong arms. I can feel him sigh in relief. "We forgot the box at Evelyn's. I went to go get it." Tobias looks me straight in the eye, "Please Tris, at least leave a note or something next time. I was worried sick about you." He says, quietly, just above a whisper. I nod, looking at the floor. I take my boots off and place the box in Tobias's hands. "Now?" he asks. I pause, thinking. If it hasn't exploded yet, it should be safe to leave around the house for a few hours. I don't really want to deal with this right now, especially with the gang around. It's like Tobias said after I had been on peace serum in Amity, sometimes people just want to be happy. I shake my head. "Later. It'll be fine." I say. He nods slightly and puts the box down on the kitchen counter. I look at the time, its one in the afternoon. "We could go meet up with the rest of the gang. Maybe do something altogether." I suggest. "Sounds good to me. Any suggestions?" Tobias says, from beside me. Jen, Barrett, Quinn and Danny all shrug, looking at each other. "We are definitely the most creative people ever." Jen says, sarcastically, making fun of our incompetence to come up with any sort of idea on what to do. "Well then, we could start calling around, see who's free. Maybe they have some ideas." Tobias says, and we all nod. "I'll call Chris, You guys wanna get Caleb and Cara, and Lauren?" I say, going to the phone in the kitchen to call Chris. "I'll get Lauren, you get Caleb and Cara?" I hear Zeke say to Tobias. "You got it." Tobias responds. Chris picks up almost immediately. "Hello?" "Hey Chris, it's Tris! How's it going?" I ask. "Oh hey Tris! Yeah, I'm good! What's up?" She asks. "You remember Jen and Barrett? Well they're here with Quinn and Danny, and they wanna meet everyone so are you free today?" I explain. "Oh yeah! I remember them! Yeah, I'm good for today! What are we doing?" She asks. "Oh, well, actually we were-" I start but get cut off by Zeke. "Hey! Lauren says we could all go over to her place." He says, and we all nod in response. "okay we got it figured out now, we're all gonna head over to Lauren's, sound good?" "Yeah, great! What time?" She agrees. "Zeke! What time?" I yell over to him. He looks at me and says, "Now?" I nod. "Is now good?" I ask. "Yeah! See you over there! Bye Tris!" She says and hangs up. I go over to the bathroom and get ready, as the others are already dressed. I put on a pair of skinny jeans and a loose white t-shirt. I slip on my brown boots and a red sweater. I lace the necklace Tobias gave me around my neck and tie my hair up in a top knot. I come back out and the TV is on. Quinn is sitting on Danny's lap on the couch and Jen and Barrett are fighting over the remote. Zeke is sitting on the floor in front of Shauna who's on the couch next to Jen. I walk over to Tobias in the kitchen. He hands me a sandwich. "Thanks." I say. I haven't eaten since last night, so I eat my sandwich quickly. Tobias wraps his arms around my waist and rests his head on my shoulder. I can feel him sigh against my back as I watch my friends. Shauna almost gets an elbow in the face as Jen attacks Barrett for the remote. Jen is really pretty. She has beautiful tanned skin and thick brown hair, that curls perfectly naturally. She has on black leggings and a pink knitted top. It looks good on her. I unwrap myself from Tobias and go back to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I come back out and we head out the door. We walk towards Lauren's house and I wrap my hand in Tobias's. Quinn skips ahead and then turns back to us. Running back to Danny, smiling. Quinn is a strange mix of Dauntless and Amity. She can act Dauntless and is totally cut out for Dauntless. She's great at every aspect of combat and can be really scary if you piss her off. But she has an Amity temperament and she's the best to have a fun time with. She's so pretty, everything looks good on her. She's lucky to have Danny in her life. She loosens him up and he makes her happy. They had totally opposite childhoods though. Danny's parents were super rich and he had a great childhood. Quinn on the other hand, had a really rough time as a kid. Danny used to tell me about how he wants to do everything he can to make up for her childhood. He loves seeing her happy. Quinn's loose, white cropped sweater flies up to her rib cage as she jumps next to Danny. He loops his arm around her waist and hooks his thumb through one of the belt loops on her light-wash, high-waisted skinny jeans. Zeke and Shauna walk hand in hand, leading the way to Lauren's and Jen and Barrett continuously nudge and shove each other, bickering, as always. They never seem to get along, but they mostly just like to pick fights. They actually do enjoy each other's company. We finally get to Lauren's and Christina answers the door. "Hey Zeke! Shauna!" She says, stepping aside for them to come in. "Hey Chris!" They say, walking into the living room. "You must be Quinn and Danny! Nice to meet you! I'm Christina!" She introduces herself to Quinn and Danny. "Nice to meet you too." Danny says, shaking hands with Chris. "I'm Quinn! Nice to meet you!" Quinn says, hugging Christina. She ushers them inside after Zeke and Shauna. "Jen! Barrett! Long time, no see!" Chris says, hugging each of them. "Yeah! Good to see you again!" They say. Chris met Jen and Barrett when she came to visit me or give me new supplies while I stayed with them. "Hey girl!" She says, pulling me into a hug. "Hey Chris!" I say, walking in behind Barrett. "Hello Four." I hear Christina say behind me. "Hey Chris." He says as the door closes. I walk into the living room and am greeted by my brother and Cara. Lauren's house is really modern. Lots of cool colours and glass and modern furnishing. I sit down between Quinn and Tobias on the couch. Christina sits in one of the chairs across the coffee table. Caleb, Cara, Jen and Barrett sit on the other couch. Lauren walks in a moment later and sits down in the chair beside Christina. "Hey guys! Tris, wanna introduce me?" Lauren says, her eyes flicking between me and my friends. "Well, this is Quinn, Danny, Jen and Barrett." I say, gesturing to everyone, in turn. "Guys, this is Lauren." I finish. Lauren gets up and shakes hands with everyone, except Quinn, who hugs her. Quinn likes hugs. It's part of the Amity in her.
The time passes fast. Jen, Barrett, Quinn and Danny make fast friends with Caleb, Cara, Chris and Lauren. It's already nine pm when I notice the time. "Oh god! Yeah! We'd better get going if we're wanna get back to the lodge before it's too dark." Danny says, getting up and offering his hand down to Quinn to help her up. "Okay, well come back soon! You'll be missed down here!" Lauren says as we get our stuff. We say our goodbyes and head back to Tobias's and my apartment. Everyone's stuff and their car is still there. We all say goodbye in our apartment and then I escort Jen, Barrett, Quinn and Danny down to their car. We say a final goodbye, until next time and I watch them drive off until I can't see them anymore. I walk back into the apartment and call Tobias's name, but he isn't there. I pause, and call his name again. There is still no reply. I feel a breeze and look towards the window, which is wide open. I walk carefully over and look out the window. At first, everything looks normal and I am about to shut the window, but then I notice a note taped to the railing on the emergency stairway, just outside our window. I step out onto the stairway and pick up the note. It reads, 'Sorry, if I made you nervous, but I had to go somewhere. Meet me on Michigan Avenue. -Tobias'. I look at the note a second longer, confused. I look up towards the sky, and then take off towards Michigan Avenue.
When I get to Michigan Avenue, I look around but Tobias isn't here. I turn around to see the giant structure in the park. The place where Tobias took me on our first date. I see a small red light flashing from the somewhere in the metal scaffolding and head towards it, curious. I run across the field and the cold air bites at my skin. But I ignore it and keep running until I get close enough to see Tobias. He is placed on a flat section of scaffolding. I stare up at him with a confused look and he smiles down at me. "What are you doing?" I call up to him. "Come here." He says. So I roll up my sleeves and start to climb. I can slightly feel pressure in my arm from where Sloane shot at me, but I've been in much worse pain, this is nothing. So I ignore it and keep climbing until I get to Tobias's flat metal plate. I look up and almost fall when I see Tobias. My eyes go wide and my mouth drops open but no words come out. Tobias is down on one knee in front of me and is holding a small velvet box in front of him. He looks nervous but smiles at me. Looking straight into my eyes. "Tris. When you dropped into the net that first day of initiation, I was pretty sure that I was in love with you. A couple weeks later, I was sure of it. The war was awful, but we made it through together and if we can live through that, we can live through anything. When I thought I lost you, it nearly killed me. I never went a day without thinking of you. Then you came back and at first I didn't really believe that you were real but when I had you in my arms again, it was the best feeling in the world. I love you so much Beatrice Prior, I was going to wait till later to do this, but the way things go in our lives, I couldn't bear to lose you again." He says, and my hands fly up to my mouth. He opens the small box as he speaks the next four words. "Will you marry me?"