Prior Rings

Chapter 34: Tobias - Bachelor/ette Party

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! That one got the most reviews of this story so far, and I really appreciate the support. Thank you also to my wonderful beta reader, Rosalie, who proof-read this chapter on short notice despite being sick. It's a long chapter, so I know that took some work.

One quick note about the last chapter before I continue... Most of you seemed to agree with keeping the Prior last name, but a few people expressed confusion or disappointment, so I'd like to explain my reasoning.

According to the first two books in the series, in the "Divergent" world, surnames are rarely used and aren't tied into a person's identity the way they are in our current world. There, a couple chooses which surname to keep or picks a new one together, and it's only used as a secondary means of identification to avoid confusion when two people have the same first name.

For Tobias, the name Eaton was always associated with his father - and with no one else, since his mother stopped using the name and since his sister never used it. So, the name was connected to abuse and unhappiness with nothing redeeming about it. That's why he hid it when he transferred to Dauntless.

On the other hand, Prior is associated with Tris, and with her parents, who died to save her, and with Anna, who gave them their rings and has taken Tobias into her family. Between those two choices, it's a no-brainer that Tobias would want to use the Prior name. Really - wouldn't you?

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Chapter 34: Tobias – Bachelor/ette Party

It's a good thing that Zeke set the precedent of having two best men at his wedding. That gave me an excuse to ask Kevin and Zeke to both serve that role for me, and given how much I'm inclined to kill my oldest friend right now, I'm glad to have someone else here with us.

"I swear to God, Zeke," I say in exasperation, "if anyone takes their clothes off, I'm leaving the damned party." My gaze turns to Kevin in a somewhat desperate appeal. If the two of us together can't keep the bachelor party under control, I'm not going to attend it.

"Oh, come on, Four," Zeke moans. "You've got to have a stripper there. It's your last night of freedom." At my stony expression, he adds, "Remember how much fun it was at my party?"

"No," I snap, even more irritated by the reminder. "Because I left that time, too. Remember?" Uriah invited a stripper to that event without my knowledge, and I spent several of the most uncomfortable moments of my life watching her dance around Zeke before she started to remove clothing – and I walked out as fast as I could. I didn't rejoin the party until a half-hour later, after she left.

"Tris is the only one I want to see that way."

Kevin nods a little, but Zeke just rolls his eyes. "What if she has one at her party?" he presses, causing me to give him a death-glare.

"Christina's smarter than that." At least, she'd better be, given that Tris left Shauna's party for the same reason I walked out of Zeke's. I'll never understand how my best friends could be okay with having each other watch…that, but I know that neither Tris nor I want that kind of party.

"God, you can be such a Stiff sometimes," Zeke says in annoyance, his mouth flattening as he crosses his arms over his chest and glares at me.

"There are worse things," I counter, meeting his gaze angrily. "At least Tris knows that she's the only one I want. Can you and Shauna say that about each other?"