It's Christina who gets me drunk before I'm aware it's happening. It's all 'come on try this!' and 'oh my god, this is so yummy!' and before I know it–the world is spinning. It's my first time being drunk and my looney best friend decided it's best I get wasted.
Luckily Tobias doesn't leave my side, I can tell he'd like to see his friends but he's way soberer than I am. And he looks so cute too. I can't help but poke at his cheek until he cracks a smile.
"I'm not sure I like being drunk," I tell him as I lean onto his chest. Tobias holds me upright. "It feels so funky and I wanna say so many wrong things."
"The fact that you're aware of that is... pretty good. I saw what Christina was handing you."
I groan, "It all tasted horrible too."
Tobias laughs at me, "You are so whiny." I pout and feel like crying. "Hey, I was just kidding–partly."
That doesn't help me at all. "I wanted to have fun and now I'm ruining your fun, this is so unfun," I complain and realize–I am whiny. "Oh my, I'm whiny!" I shout. The world spinning isn't helping either. I think I might puke. "I think I'm going to throw up," I tell him, my eyes wide with fear.
I don't think anyone would appreciate it if I emptied my stomach on the pit floor right now. Tobias nods and leads me through the crowd as I try to see less than two of everything. Nothing works. "Here's a bin, come on," I lean against the railing and stare at the trash can.
"Why's it spinning?" I mumble.
Tobias sighs, "It's just in your head, once you do this–I'm taking you home."
Home. A stupid smile grows on my face, "Do you mean your apartment?" He nods, "You called it home. Is it mine now too?"
"If you want it to be–I don't know if you'll even remember this in the morning, has the nausea passed?"
"Yea," I say, feeling momentarily better, "The air from the chasm is helping." I realize how loudly I'm speaking and wince, "Sorry."
Tobias leads me as close to the chasm as what is safe. And he doesn't even look away from me once. I sigh at the feeling of the cold air washing over me. It sobers me up a bit too. "Mm, that's nice. It smells so clean. Less body odor and more nature."
He rubs my back which aids me in feeling better. "I don't like drinking."
"Me neither, I don't like to do it too often. I'm kind of glad you got drunk instead." I give him a questioning look, "An excuse to watch you instead of pretending to like the taste of alcohol. I prefer this–believe it or not."
I laugh a little, "I find that hard to believe. This reminds me of when I found you out here,"
"Flirting with death, are we?" He repeats what I said to him.
"You remember that?" Tobias nods, "Oh, right. You were weirded out because you'd said it to Tris." I crinkle my eyebrows, "Why is that, anyway?" Jealousy floods through my veins for no reason at all.
The look on his face tells me he's picking up on it. "I don't really remember. But it was true, I was being flirtatious with the chasm."
"The chasm was in my fear landscape," I admit, "In order to get passed, I had to jump into it. It's horrifying when I remember that if I tried that now–I'd be toast."
"Exactly, so don't go trying that." He leads me away from the chasm, "I bet you'd prefer smoking over drinking. It's less disgusting."
I shake the fogginess from my head, "Smoking what?"
Tobias laughs, "You'll see, can you walk some more."
"I'm splendid, whatever do you mean?" I deadpan. Tobias bends his knees and pats my thigh. "On your back?" He nods and I shrug, jumping slightly and tucking my elbows over his shoulders. "Don't drop me."
"I won't drop you, Rose." I smile at the use of my second name. He walks us through the crowd with ease. "You get to meet my friends... again. It'll be less formal."
My chin rests on his shoulder as I listen to him and everything around us. "My mouth is dry, can we do a water stop first?" He turns in the crowd and breaks through in front of the water fountain. Someone sits at a table holding bottles of water, I reach for one from Tobias' back and they hand me one with a proud smile.
When we're far enough away, I snicker. "I bet it's weird seeing the highest-ranking initiate so drunk they can't walk."
"It's quite common, actually." My hands won't squeeze tightly enough to open the bottle and Tobias takes it from me, the snapping of the seal breaking makes my mouth water. "Here, please don't spill it down my back."
"Why'd you have to put that thought in my head?" I drink from the bottle drinking nearly half of it. "Oh shit, that's cold."
—
The water sobers me up enough to not act silly in front of his friends. I smell the 'smoking' before I see it. It's pungent and reminds me of skunk spray. Weed. I'm not too surprised that the Dauntless get high.
It's apparently therapeutic. But I am surprised Tobias likes smoking. He hands the glass pipe with care and inhales deeply. I watch him intently and that something stirs inside me again.
Maybe it's because he's so careful or it's the sight of his lips wrapping around the pipe's end... but I'm shifting in my seat as I stare at him. He looks up and while holding the smoke in, leans toward me and I know what I have to do.
Tobias blows the smoke into my mouth with less than two inches of space between us. I inhale the smoke and hold it for only a second before I'm thrown into a coughing fit. His friends don't laugh, they just keep on with what they're doing.
I'm handed a jug, it's... apple juice? "That's the best dry cough remedy you'll ever need,"
"Billie?!" I say with excitement, "What are you doing here?"
She smiles at my bewilderment, "Same as you, now drink before your throat tries to kill you again." I glance at Tobias and he nods, "Oh now that's funny."
I scoff as I take a drink and end up coughing again, "You let Russ flirt with you–that's funnier." Her cheeks turn pink. "Oh...?" I raise my eyebrows at her.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear–Russ pushes past the beaded curtain and smiles when he sees Billie. Then he notices me and pauses. "Is she drunk?" Billie nods with a grin. "And high? Damn, Rita, I didn't expect that."
"Why's everyone think I'm some kind of stiff?" Even Tobias laughs at that one, I feel like I'm worse off than everyone else.