"Adelaide?.....Adelaiiide?.....Addy!"
I jolted at the shove I earned from Christina, who just so happened to be next to me.
I looked at her and scratched my head, "Sorry, I was thinking. Is there something you need?"
Christina sighed, taking a bite of her cheese pizza, "NO, I was just trying to get your attention for the past five minutes, and you stared off looking like you want to either cry or explode."
"Are you okay?" Al asked, his big eyes attentive on me.
I shrugged, "Somewhat, but it won't be resolved until I speak to the person I need to speak to."
Al nodded while Christina looked at me intently, studying me probably how she studied body actions in Candor to see if I was lying or not. As I was about to reassure her that it was nothing important, I heard someone clearing their throat behind me.
"Addy, can I speak with you in private?" I heard Four's voice ask, his voice sounding slightly meak.
I got up from my seat and walked out at a steady pace, his footsteps following close behind. Right as we were walking out, I saw Tris stroll towards the grand hall awkwardly right when she saw Four and I leaving.
I turned down a well-lit, private hallway that ended up showing a variety of storage closets for departments such as the tattoo shop, kitchen, and the bars. Even though the closets were somewhat tiny, the people who ran the shops were able to shove a vast amount of supplies within them.
Turning on my heel, I looked into his brown irises that stared me down. We stood a bit away from each other, as if we were going to brawl while we were talking.
"What's wrong?" I asked quietly.
"I was about to ask you that."
My lips formed an 'O' shape before I pressed my lips together.
"Does it have to deal with the mission?"
"Four,-"
"Don't try to get out of this. I told you we were going to talk about this, but now it seems like there is more to it."
I huffed, looking down at my feet. Personally, I wanted to get this resolved and find out what was going on, but at the same time I wanted to keep it a secret and just let it dissipate. I'd forget about it sooner or later, right?
I heard heavy footsteps walk toward me as firm hands gripped my hips. While the left hand stayed on my hip, the right hand trailed up to cup my chin, lightly pushing my head up.Four was taller than me today, due to the slight heel in his boots.
"Adelaide, I need you to tell me what is going on."
Although my face was upward, my eyes were looking downward.
Four sighed, "Concealing the problem is not going to help. I'm already mad enough because of the stunt Eric pulled last night."
"Didn't look like it this morning," I stated in a grunt, a snide tone accompanying it.
"Well one thing you should know by now is that I don't express my anger like Eric does.Plus, we have a job to do, and that comes before personal life."
I sighed, he was right.
"You're right, I'm sorry."
Four smiled lightly and removed his hand from under my chin in order to cross his arms, "Now are you going to tell me or am I gonna have to interrogate you?"
A couple minutes of pure silence passed before I peeped up, "Last night, when I was in Eric's office, he gave a me suggestion."
I looked up to only see him nod.
I continued, "There was a second monitor installed in which showed me what was going on in your testing room. When I heard Tris's name called, I opened up the second screen. I thought it was just going to be you doing what we were supposed to do. However, I was met by you and Tris practically cuddling next to each other on a metal chair while holding hands."
"I was only helping-"
"Right, because that's how you help. I can only imagine what happened in the simulation," I said through clenched teeth, walking past him.
Before I could get fully past him, however, he snatched my wrist.
"Adelaide, I'm serious."
I shook my hand out of his grip, "You may be helping her, but I think there is more to your guys's relationship than just 'friendly helping'. And I'm in your way. You may not realize it, but I do. So don't say you're mad that Eric made the gesture he did, because right now you're looking just as bad as he is."
I turned around and left, walking in the direction to my humble abode, wanting to drown out the world for a couple hours. It wasn't necessarily because I didn't want to talk about the problem, it was just because we both needed to calm down before something we regret happened.
A tear slipped from my eye as I continued to walk toward my apartment. We literally just had our first bickering.
Just as I was walking across the bridge over the Chasm, I saw a blond haired, brooding figure looking right at me, and he did not look pleased.
"Adelaide," his voice chanted, echoing through the Chasm.
I quickly wiped the stray tear before putting a fake smile on my face, "Hey."
"Cut the act, popper. What's wrong?" He said in a constricted voice.
I sighed, "Four and I got into a little altercation. Nothing big."
"Doesn't seem small if you're crying about it."
We were both now standing on the bridge of the Chasm, both looking into each other's eyes.
"Now, tell me what happened," he said, taking a step forward toward me.
I nodded before speaking.
"When I pulled up the second monitor, I saw that Four was holding Tris's hand while she was in the simulation. And when she woke up, she gave him a light hug. The weird was that he returned it."
I saw that Eric's knuckles started to turn white.
"It's nothing to get mad-"
"Adelaide, he has been doing this behind your back. Having some kind of relationship with an INITIATE! And you're not the slightest bit mad?"
"Of course I'm a little pissed off! But I can't just go make assumptions before I hear the actual story."
Eric breathed in, "Fine. I have to go to a meeting. Remember the log."
And just after he brushed past me, leaving me to ponder my own thoughts as I continued to my apartment.
*******
Four watched Adelaide walk toward where they came from, blind on her next whereabouts. He didn't dare go after her, thinking that the best thing to do was to let everything calm.
He sighed in frustration, turning to rest his forearms and forehead against the cold stone before him. Many thoughts roamed through his mind, most of them being about the two girls who had impacted him in such a short time they were there.
Tris was always a special case. Her ability to strive for improvement and willingness to put herself on the line, like how she did with Albert, always caught his attention, ultimately leading to a slight admiration. It was always hinted that there was some sort of connection between them. However, Tris was the only one who held onto the matter due to the fact that he confessed in a drunken state. From that day on their connection strived, leading up to the fact that he had offered to not only keep her Divergence a secret,but to also help her contain it in the simulation somehow. He had confessed his Divergence two days ago, wanting to help her get through.
Even though that was all well and excellent, there was something about Adelaide that drew him in. Sure, she had a mixed personality that he couldn't keep up with at times, but in the end everything worked for the best. Not to mention that she had become one of the most qualified initiates to ever come to Dauntless. Not only did she go through initiation, but she also was promoted to the Special Ops. That was a high honor, and only the most qualified could achieve the position. Not to mention that she was incredibly polite, brave, and overall sexy.
But now Four had to come to a decision: did he want to continue having this secret connection with Tris,who would become a great Dauntless member with a few tweaks, or did he want to stay with Adelaide, the woman who had made so much out of herself?
"Looks like Four is in a dispute."
Four turned his head, his eyes meeting with blue hues and his ears meeting with a tough, taunting voice. Eric stood a distance around fifteen to twenty feet, a smile tugging the corners of his mouth and his arms folded across his chest.
"And you care?"
"Never have, never will, stiff," Eric accentuated.
"well, than why don't you stay out of my business, nose," Four taunted back, turning to leave.
A huff was heard as Four walked away, "You won't have her, not after the stunts you've been pulling with Tris."
Four planted his left foot on the ground before turning around.
"There is nothing going on."
"You're saying that now. But everyone knows that there is something going on between you too."
"Why does it matter to you?"
"Because I'm not going to let you play Adelaide any longer."
"Are you sure you're talking about me? Or are you talking about yourself?"
Eric stood there with a stone face, which gave Four the opportunity to continue.
"Don't think that you're fooling anyone. You don't want to be with her because you love her, you want to be with her because you want to be discovered by the Special Ops and then kick her to the curb once your in-"
Before he could say anymore, a stinging sensation radiated through Four's jawline while his head cocked to the side. He hadn't realized how fast Eric had walked toward him while he went on his angry rant.
Eric's eyes held a feeling of fury. Although Four knew what Eric held within him, and even beat him at his own game, the last thing he would have thought was Eric getting mad over a girl.
"Always trying to make yourself seem better, huh? The fact that you are having a 'more-than-friendly' relationship behind Adelaide's back pisses me off, because you obviously don't deserve her," Eric shouted, aiming to throw another punch at the same place he hit previously.
However, Four was quick to react,as he blocked the punch with his right forearm, twisting Eric's arm to punch him in the gut with his left. Eric gasps at the impact as Four swifty hits him a second time. Before he could land a third punch, Eric headbutted Four on the head, resulting in Four releasing Eric's right arm.Using this opportunity he swiftly placed his foot behind Four's knee and lodged the tip of his boot into his popliteal, sweeping Four off his feet. Without a second to waste Eric mounted himself on top of him, ready to throw a punch. Before he could, however, Four immediately dodged and lifted up his shoulders enough so he could wrap his right arm around to the back of his neck, bringing Eric's head forward to kiss his fist.
"Hey!" Someone called out, making quick steps to prevent the brawl from going further. More and more footsteps sounded, but the two men could only focus on who would win this fight.
Just as Eric was about to react, a pair of strong arms lifted him up from under his arms, pulling him to one side of the hallway. The same was done with Four, except with another person. Eric thrashed a little bit, trying to get out of the man's grasp.
"Eric! Calm the hell down!" He heard a familiar voice say, tightening his restraint on him.
"Eric! Four! My office, now!!!"