A Different Divergent Tale (Eric and Tris)

Chapter 20

Eric and I leave the leader's table after a somewhat early dinner. He informed the rest of leadership what our plan was for the night. Guards are already stationed outside of the control room and have been told not to permit anyone entry who's not scheduled for duty tonight with the exception of Chris—the department supervisor, Jax—the head of security, or leadership. We're all in agreement that this is the safest plan with the best ability to fight off gossip in the event of a confrontation. Plus, I'm excited about having guests over for my first slumber party.
Christina already waved to us and went back to her apartment for her things. Eric and I are grabbing some desserts to take back.
"What do you want?" he asks.
"How about you pick a selection? The chocolate is okay but not too much. It's a little overwhelming for me without milk. I liked that vanilla one you had last night, though," I say.
"Alright," he replies. He requests the cafeteria staff to wrap up some slices of cake and a few cookies to go. I didn't even realize we could do that.
I grasp the bag from him and peek in at the contents as we exit the cafeteria door together. I can smell everything. It actually is making my mouth water and I can't wait to try these.
"Tris!" I hear my name called out and I glance to Eric at my side but he's not there. I turn around to see he's a few steps away.
I realize Tobias is the one who called my name and he's standing in front of the cafeteria doors to enter inside. I don't know if he's just leaving or if he's arriving. It looks like he's waiting for me to answer.
"Did you need something?" I ask closing the bag up.
"I just... I just want to talk," he says.
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. "Do you think that's such a good idea?" I ask him.
He sighs and looks down at his feet guiltily. His hands are in his pockets. "I... I just want to talk things out. That's all," he says. He glances at Eric. "You know... later."
I look to Eric in question and he nods that he'll be there.
"Alright. We can talk with a few conditions. You will not yell at me. You will not tell me what to do with my life. And you won't harm me," I tell him firmly.
"I wasn't planning on doing any of those things," he says meeting my eyes.
"Okay," I agree. "I'm going up to my apartment now. I'm planning on being there the rest of the night."
He forces a smile and nods. "I'll see you soon?" he asks softly.
I nod in response and turn around walking home.
We stop at Eric's apartment first. He grabs a duffel bag with his clothes, toiletries, and a few things from his kitchen loading them into a separate fabric grocery bag. I grin when I see some fizzy drinks getting placed in there. Then some packaged food I'm unsure of.
He grabs the Bible off of his coffee table and we cross over to my place. I unlock my door and we step in. He sets his things down on the floor and kisses me gently after the door shuts. "I guess I was right. I figured he'd show up. I wasn't expecting that he would ask permission, though," he tells me.
"Yeah, that's less creepy than his behavior earlier," I add.
Eric chuckles, "Max called him creepy and boring."
I laugh. "Alright. I'm putting this food down," I say slipping off my shoes and setting it on my island. "I'll take your bag of food. You want to get settled in the spare room?"
"Sure," he grins. He returns the Bible to the coffee table and walks back.
I pull out the bags of food from the top. I read that one is popcorn, the other potato chips. I'm curious about those and interested in trying them later. I grab the drinks and examine the bottles. Lemon and ginger are the choices. I find a jug of milk at the bottom and I smile at this, that he thought of everything. I place the beverages in my fridge and step away. I notice the door is shut to the spare room and figure maybe he's getting ready for bed. I decide to go change my clothes, too.
I come out of my bedroom and realize my laundry is clean. I dump everything in the hamper and carry it to the living room to fold. Eric is seated on the sofa. He is dressed for bed, I think. His leadership vest is off and he's wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants. He still has what I think is called a holster on with his guns. He does seem to always wear those. But now that I think about it, so do the rest of the leaders. Maybe it's required.
"Hi," I smile setting down the hamper out of the way. He smiles at me. I recall the packaged snacks and wonder if we might need some dishes. "Do you think we'll need dishes? I could wash some forks, too."
"Sure," he shrugs. "You wash, I dry?"
I smile and nod, biting my lip. I really like this side of him, how he's willing to help me with housework and in the kitchen. He did my laundry yesterday. I don't know why but I think I like it in a companion to do things with me, not have me wait on them.
He follows me over to the kitchen and I place the dusty dishes in the sink and start up the water. I hear clanking beside me and I glance over to see him putting the clean ones from earlier back up on the shelf. My heart melts at that. I wash each dish and place it on the rack. He pulls the drawer of utensils open beside me. "These are a little dusty. How much do you want to wash?" he asks.
"All of them," I shrug. "Might as well just get it done."
He nods and actually pulls out the whole divider in the drawer and sets it beside me out of the way. He opens the other drawer I placed my hand towels in earlier and begins drying the dishes and stacking them up. When I finish with the dishes I move on to the utensils. I wash each one, then the container they came in. I let out the dirty water in the drain to see that Eric kept up with my pace. Everything is put away on the shelves and most of the utensils are dry. I get another hand towel out and dry off the container before putting it away. We sort the dry utensils together, shoulder to shoulder. I feel him kiss the top of my head a couple times and I smile.
When we finish, we go and sit down on the sofa. I begin folding my shirts when I hear a knock on the door.
"You want me to get it?" Eric asks.
"If it's Four, it may look bad having you answer my door," I point out.
"Yeah," he nods frowning.
I stand up and walk to the door, trying to peek in the peephole. I rise up on my toes and see it's Christina. I smile and open the door. "Welcome to my night of fun. So far we've washed dishes and I'm folding laundry," I joke.
She enters laughing. "Oh man, we need to get you out of those Stiff habits," she teases. I close the door. "I brought nail polish, though I doubt I have any in Eric's color."
I laugh and I look over to see him chuckling, too.
"You're going to have to do it because I know nothing about all that," I reply smiling.
"That's what slumber parties are all about. You guys didn't have any pillow fights yet, right?" she asks.
"We can when Four shows up," Eric offers.
Christina looks to me in question.
"He's definitely making an appearance, I hate to say," I tell her cringing.
"He's not staying long, right?" she says worriedly.
"I think we're all hoping that's a no," I respond.
"Good," she says relieved. "Well, I'm going to put my bag down and get in my jammies, too."
She steps away and I resume my folding beside Eric. He places an arm around my shoulder. "I would help but I'm pretty sure you don't want me folding your unmentionables," he says.
"Yeah... I'll handle those," I say.
"So, what's the plan? We paint our nails?" he asks.
"I don't know. What do people do at sleepovers?" I ask.
"Games?" he says questioningly.
"Do you have any games?" I ask.
"I've got cards," he offers. "I could teach you some card games." I smile at that and stop what I'm doing. "I think I saw some board games in the closet of my spare bedroom. They looked kind of ancient."
"Oh, now we've got to get a look at those," I insist. "Bring the cards, too. This sounds fun."
He gets up and walks to the door. He pauses. "What if he shows up right now?" he asks turning around.
"I've got it," Christina says coming out in one of the new pajama sets she bought. She places a makeup bag on my coffee table and walks to the door. "I'll stand guard at the door. Just leave yours open."
I smile at my friends' protectiveness. Eric leaves and I pull out my underwear and bras folding them quickly. I finish up with everything and start to tuck them back in the hamper when he comes back.
"Where did you get those?" Christina asks surprised. I glance up to see there actually are some ancient tattered boxes in his hands. They're covered in brightly colored pictures but they look incredibly worn on the outside.
"Found them in my apartment when I moved in," he shrugs. He takes them to the dining table and the two gather around.
"I'll be right back," I say placing the last pile of clothes in my hamper and carry it back to my bedroom. I come out to see the two of them leaning over a game with the box open. It looks like they're reading from a paper or booklet.
"What's that?" I ask.
"Someone made a copy of the original directions. Look at this," he says handing it to me.
"Huh... Sorry," I say reading the name of the game.
"So are we playing?" Christina asks.
I look to see a board set out with bright colors on it. It appears to be a little faded but still in great shape considering the age.
"Does it still have everything you need to play, like are these directions complete?" I ask. They both nod. "Sure," I shrug. "Do you guys want drinks or something to eat?"
"Yeah, let me see what you got?" Christina rises and peeks into the dessert bag. She spreads them out on the counter. I notice Eric getting out the bags he brought and opens them. He puts some bowls on the island. I pull out all of his drinks and set them out. Eric gets some glasses and I smile up at him.
"Where's the bag?" he asks.
"Oh," I say recalling I discarded it beside my pantry. I hand it to him. He pulls out a bottle opener and I grin again. I have one in a drawer but he didn't know so he took care of it anyway. That was really thoughtful.
"Are you eating, Tris?" Christina asks me hesitantly.
"Yeah, I'll try some things. Is that vanilla?" I ask.
"I got the cheesecake," Eric says. "You can try it if you want. These are cookies—chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and sugar cookies."
"So what are those," I ask Eric motioning to the bag. He leans it in my direction offering me some. I pull out a cluster of something white. It sort of reminds me of a lumpy cotton ball but it's firm. I put it in my mouth and chew. It kind of both melts and crunches.
"I like that. I want some of those," I say.
"Popcorn," Eric says.
"Popcorn," I repeat laughing.
He offers me the other bag and I select a small thin disk. It looks like a thin slice of potato. It feels a little greasy and it has something gritty on it. "Is this salt?" I ask.
"Yeah," he responds.
I look to Christina to see her eating a slice of that cheesecake. Her face is propped up by her fist supported by her elbow on the counter and she's staring at our interaction. "You know, I didn't realize you had no idea of what everything really was. I just figured you never really had beef before or something that first day," she explains.
"It's okay. Eric figured it out and I'm trying new things," I say shrugging.
"I'm glad," she smiles at me. She turns her focus to Eric. "You know, I've never seen her so happy until the last couple of days. And it's not leadership, it's you. Thank you, for caring for her."
He looks down bashfully for a moment. "You're welcome," he says softly. When he looks up he nudges me. "Are you going to eat that chip or are you not interested?"
"Oh, right," I say sticking it in my mouth. I laugh. It is so salty and delicious. I know I'm smiling. "Yeah, I'm having a little of both."
We choose our desserts and pour some drinks. I put both of Eric's snacks in a bowl for me and they handle their own. I grab some cloth napkins I got with my dish towels and put them on the table. I get teased because I'm making the occasion too fancy. I'll get some paper ones in the future. I'm just not used to all this disposable paper. We reuse everything in Abnegation.
We read the directions, choose our colors and divvy out the pieces. Eric chose blue—Nose. I chose green and Christina has to decide which Amity color she wants.
"Let me think," she says tapping her chin. "Do I want ketchup or mustard?"
I start laughing, almost spitting out my drink. I see Eric grinning, too. I'm familiar with ketchup. It's that red sauce Four gave me on the first day here. "What's mustard?" I ask.
"It's a sauce. It's vinegary and what... kind of sour, I guess?" Eric describes. "You know what ketchup is?"
"I tried it on my first hamburger," I say putting a chip in my mouth.
"Four gave it to her. If he knew you didn't know what anything else was, why didn't he say something any other time?" Christina questions.
I shrug and don't worry about it.
"I think I'll go with mustard," she says grabbing the little pieces.
"They remind me of Amity," I say.
"Same here," Eric agrees.
Christina laughs. "Yeah, I see that now. Thanks for the ginger ale by the way, Eric. I haven't had any since the last time I visited my granny," she says.
"No problem," Eric replies. "I grab them every time I go to Erudite, which feels like it's too often. So, why would your grandmother have them?"
"She's ex-Erudite," she shrugs.
"She told you that?" he asks surprised.
"Candor remember. There are no secrets there. My parents knew I was going. My last night was like a goodbye party," she says.
"That's nice," I say surprised. "I just found out my mom was Dauntless on Visiting Day," I add.
"Really?" she asks me. I nod.
"We just found out Eric's grandfather was Dauntless," I tell her.
"Man, we're just all hopping around, aren't we?" she comments. "So, who's going first?"
As soon as the words leave her mouth, there's a firm knock on my door. I sigh deeply and take a drink of ginger ale. I stride to the door and open it. Tobias is standing there, shoulders hunched and he has his hands in his pockets. He looks up at my eyes and forces a smile.
"Can I come in?" he asks. I nod opening my door. He steps in and sees the food and drinks on the counter.
"You want something to drink or eat?" I offer.
"No... thanks," he smiles looking back at me.
I close the door and he sees Christina and Eric at my table. His expression drops to shock. "Am I interrupting?"
"No, we haven't started yet. You want to join us?" I offer.
He blinks surprised. "I... hadn't realized you'd have company. I thought we'd talk alone," he says.
I shrug. "You want to talk. We can talk," I respond.
"Can we be alone, for a minute?" he says lowly coming a bit closer. I lean back in discomfort.
"We can sit in the living room area if you want," I offer.
He looks to be debating on what to do. "I really want to be alone with you," he insists.
I pull my mouth in probably what would be an expression of slight contempt. "I'm sorry, but this is the best you're going to do. If you want to talk to me, I will listen. I've offered you to join our game or sit in the living room. You may talk to me if you want but it's going to be here and in front of my closest friends," I insist.
He raises an eyebrow and looks to Eric confused. "Why is Eric here then?" he asks flatly.
"Because he's my friend," I state. He is. I feel closer to him than I do Christina at this point.
He stares at me. I can tell his expression is leaning toward anger but he's trying to keep it neutral.
"I have some things to say to you. They are private. I want to be alone so we can discuss them," he annunciates.
I sigh and look to Eric and Christina. Eric looks like he's about to get up. I put my hand out and turn back to him.
"Look, Four. You did something today that was completely unacceptable," I sigh. I pause gathering my thoughts. "You will not be alone with me... ever."
"I want to apologize to you... again. Can't I do it in private?" he says softly.
I decide that he needs to see what he did. I realize this is the same shirt I wore when he saw my tattoo. I wiggle my shoulder out at the neck of it wincing as it goes.
"What... what happened to you?" he asks concerned.
"I'm sorry Tris, but I'm going to at least step in and make this simpler," Eric says approaching.
He pulls out his phone and shows him the first picture. Four takes it and looks at the image. Eric scrolls and identifies, "Right afterward, this afternoon." He looks at me and sees it wincing. "Crap, Four! It's getting worse." He takes another picture and sighs harshly. "Look, you may speak to her over there or over with us but I cannot allow you to be alone with her after what you've done."
"Are you saying I did this?" he asks confused, angrily. Eric slides my shirt up gently.
"The whole cafeteria saw you do this. I could hear her exclamation of pain from the leaders' table before it got quiet. You hurt her—a leader. You did it in front of a crowd. Then, you attempted to disobey her. Security was in the right for stepping in," Eric explains calmly.
Four looks guilty, remorseful. "You sure you don't want a drink?" I offer. "I could get you some water."
Eric signals me to go. I grab a glass of tap water. I turn around to see that he had Four sit on the sofa. He says a couple things to Four and he nods but goes back to sit with Christina to give us some semblance of privacy. I set the glass down before him on my coffee table. Christina brings me my glass. "Thanks," I say taking a sip. She joins Eric and they eat a little of the dessert.
I take a seat in the chair nearby—close enough to talk but not close enough to touch me.
He's biting his thumbnail and staring. I give him a moment to process. When it takes some time, I prompt him. "What did you want to say?" I ask softly.
He looks to my shoulder covered by the shirt but he stops the nail biting. He shakes his head and purses his lips. "I'm turning out to be just like him," he whispers, almost to himself.
"You're not that bad," I insist. He meets my eyes and I see hope in them—hope for us. "But you need some help. You can't continue like this."
"Why are they here?" he asks and it feels as if he's already moved on. The incident was completely forgotten.
"They're here, so I'm not alone," I admit gently.
He turns his head away and shakes it as if getting rid of a bad thought.
I feel like this is dragging on and I look to my friends. They're listening in and turn pretending to eat the cheesecake, or at least Christina does. Eric's eyes are fixed on mine. I shrug like I don't know what to do.
"How about I serve as go between?" Eric offers. But he doesn't wait for Four to respond. "Four, tell her what you want to say. We can't hear you over here if you're quiet."
Four's looking away but he faces me. "I'm sorry," he says evenly. "I don't know what came over me. I saw you two together and I didn't like it."
"Eric is my trainer and my friend.  You'll have to get over that.  I have what?  A year, maybe two of constant training with him and me together?  That's something you're going to have to deal with better than attacking me when I do something you don't like.  He's also one of my best friends, he's not going anywhere," I explain. 
He looks away and is struggling with that. 
"Best friend?" he questions shocked, disbelievingly. 
"Yes," I tell him. 
There's silence between us for a while.  He's looking away from me and sort of stewing. 
"What else do you want ask her?" Eric says from the table to move things along. 
Four shakes his head as if he wasn't focused.  Maybe Eric does know him better.  He looks to me.  "I... I miss you," he says softly.  "I want you back."
I blink in surprise.  "No," I tell him. 
"You can take some time to think about it.  Maybe you could come move in with me?  You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he says and I'm so confused. 
"Why would you think I need more time?  It's over between us.  I'm not going to take my time and think about it.  I'm definitely not moving in with you.  Four, I'm no longer interested in you.  After initiation, I realized that we have absolutely nothing in common," I explain. 
"What has leadership done to you?" he asks concerned. 
Eric scoffs. 
"They've gotten me medical help when I've needed it.  They're making sure I'm eating.  They're treating me like a friend and caring for me.  I consider every one of them my friends," I say. 
"Are they badmouthing me to you?" he asks disbelievingly. 
"What?" I ask confused. 
"You all were laughing at lunch.  What was that all about?" he questions.  He thinks we have nothing better to do than tease him?
"Eric?  What were we laughing about?  I'm sorry.  My mind's a little frazzled right now," I say. 
"Max's shirt," Eric states evenly. 
I can't help it and start laughing. 
"Oh yeah, I remember.  You guys were all cracking up.  Even the older man, what's his name?" Christina says smiling. 
"Jude," I answer. 
"Uriah was like, I've never seen Jude laugh like that my entire life," Christina explains. 
"Okay so Tris was asking about dress code for the office.  Max said she could wear anything.  I mentioned that we've even had meetings where he was shirtless.  His was response was... come on Tris?  I know you can do a Max impression," Eric starts encouraging me to continue. 
I laugh. "Okay, so Max was like, What?  I just worked out?" I say in a voice like Max's.
Christina is cracking up laughing. "Is that what he really sounds like?" she asks trying to calm down.
"Pretty close," Eric grins. "But that's not the funniest part."
"Oh, sweet baby Jesus," Christina says fanning herself. I smile. Maybe my friend knows God.
"Come on, Tris," Eric encourages.
"Okay so Lydia said he stunk. Ryan mentioned that he hadn't showered. Max was like, It was an emergency meeting. And Ryan said, You should keep a spare shirt in your file cabinet with a note that says use in case of emergency," I explain. I can't help but get caught up in a bad case of the giggles. Christina is bending over laughing and fanning herself. Eric is just like before, wiping a tear from his eyes. I look back to Tobias to see he's sitting straight faced, staring at us like we're crazy.
"What is wrong with you?" he asks me. "How is that funny?"
I stop laughing and look at him. I smile sadly, "See. We have nothing in common."
"We did until all this leadership junk got into your head," he says rudely.
"Do you know why I left Abnegation?" I ask.
"Because you wanted to be Dauntless," he shrugs.
"Yeah, but... I got scolded every time I used sarcasm. I would make jokes and people listened to the words, not my playful way of speaking. I've always been like this, Four. You just don't know me how you think you do," I explain.
"No," he insists. "This is not you."
"Four," Christina calls out. "It was one of our first days here and we were joking about coming to Dauntless just for the food."
He shrugs, "So, the food is good here."
"But they're saying that was the reason that they came here. They're saying it was the only reason. It's a joke, Four. They chose where they wanted to be. They didn't spill their blood because they heard rumors about the cafeteria. That'd be extremely ridiculous," Eric elaborates.
"Huh, that's kind of stupid," he says.
"That's the point," I say. "It was stupid. It was so stupid that it was funny."
I actually see him crack a smile.
He looks to Eric, then back to me. "What about Eric?" he says quietly for only of the two of us to hear.
"What about him?" I ask confused.
"He's a murderer," he insists.
I look to him in question. "What makes you say that?" I ask.
"Because it's true," he tells me.
"What proof do you have?" I ask.
"I just know these things," he says and I sigh. I look back to Eric.
"What can I help with?" Eric asks me.
"Have you ever executed anyone?" I ask.
"Right after my promotion, it was maybe four or five months before last year's initiation, I stood with the other leaders at an execution. There was a guy who beat a girl in the Pit and raped her. She was hospitalized. We had to take her to the hospital in Erudite. Max executed him. I was there and I supported it," Eric states.
Four scoffs, "I've never heard of this."
"Do you work Tuesday graveyard shifts?" Eric asks.
"No," he replies.
"Well, that would be why.  That's also why security has been beefed up in the Pit," Eric explains.
Four scoffs again, "What about Amar?"
"Amar committed suicide during our initiation. What makes you think I have any involvement in his death, Four? He jumped off a building," Eric says confused.
Four turns away and shakes his head in disbelief.
I give him a moment and then I decide to ask, "Four, what other things do you want to talk about?" I ask trying to move this thing along.
"I don't know. I figured we'd be making out in your bed by now," he says.
"Alright, if you've got nothing else to say?" I tell him raising my voice in intonation.
"I do have things to say, though. We're getting back together," he insists.
"Four, I think you're imagining things that are never going to happen," I say. At this point I'm getting irritated and I think I put a little snark in my voice.
"Sure they are. You just need to get away from him," he motions to Eric.
"So, you think Eric is the reason we broke up?" I ask him.
He purses his lips and nods.
"We broke up because you treated me like you could tell me what to do. You behaved like you were my master and I had to listen. You intimidated me, mocked me, yelled at me, insulted me. We're staying apart permanently because you continue to treat me like that and you caused bodily harm," I say gesturing to my shoulder. "You are fooling yourself into thinking I would ever get back with you. Honestly, I don't particularly find you attractive and your attitude is garbage. I really was only offering to continue to be friends for our friends' sake, to make it less awkward. I honestly don't want anything to do with you anymore."
"What have they done to you?" Four asks standing up, his voice is rising in volume.
Eric rises as well.
"What is your problem?" Four taunts Eric.
Eric walks around the table getting closer to me. "My problem is that you really have nothing else to say to her," Eric says. He pulls me up behind him and Christina takes my hand getting me out of the way. "She doesn't want to be with you. She's been trying to be nice about it for three days and you've done nothing but insult her, intimidate her, stalk her, and harm her. I'm ending this little confrontation and you're leaving."
"What right do you think you have to keep me from my girl?" Four asks.
"I'm not your girl, Four. I never really was. You never even asked me out because what you were doing with me was illegal. The first opportunity you had to ask, you didn't. And then you began treating me like dirt and I realized that I don't want someone like you," I say. "Thanks for showing me what I don't like."
"What right do I have Four?" Eric taunts. "I have the right to protect her when you lose it. Spoiler alert! We're aware of where you were all day after deliberately harming a Dauntless leader. Do you think you haven't been monitored? Do you think we didn't see you following her to a lingerie store?" Four looks confused.
"Deliberate means on purpose. Lingerie is ladies underwear," I explain.
"He really didn't know what those mean?" Christina whispers in my ear.
Four looks angry now from what Eric said earlier. "Were you having them follow me?" he asks me irritated, hurt.
"No, Max was," Eric answers. "I didn't know until after lunch."
"You're not getting between me and my girl," Four insists. "I love her."
I blink surprised. "You don't know what love is. You're infatuated with her," Eric replies.
Four's still looking at me confused. "He means you like how I make you feel about yourself. You don't care how I feel. I don't love you, Tobias," I tell him.
I see the hurt, that he understands. He looks at Eric as if this is all his doing. Then he looks back at me. He strides to the door, opens it and slams it like yesterday. Eric opens the door and steps out watching him leave. I step in the hallway and see every leader standing at their door with Hale behind Lydia. Four is jamming his finger in the call button.
"See you in the morning, Four," Max says. Four looks to him over his shoulder and sneers before leaving out of the stairwell. He slams the door just like yesterday. "It went that well, huh?" Max asks.
"He's delusional. He thinks I murdered Amar," Eric states calmly.
"What?" Max asks completely bewildered.
"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Eric replies.
"That was during your initiation, like two or three weeks after you got here. Is he nuts?" Lydia says.
"I've got Lara from Amity coming tomorrow. She'll talk to him after we do. Stay with her tonight. Don't even cross the hall to get your toothbrush," Max says.
"I'm all set. I've got everything," Eric replies.
"See you in the morning," everyone says shutting their doors.
I notice Ryan still standing at his. "Do you want to join our party, Ryan?" I offer teasingly. He wavers. "I'm joking. You can join us if you want."
"You don't think I'm too old?" he questions.
"We think... you're hilarious and no, you're not too old," I say.
He smiles and joins us closing the door. "Locked?" he questions.
"Definitely," Eric nods.
"Help yourself to some cheesecake and beverages," I say waving to the counter.
"Oh, man. You're speaking my language," he says. He comes over and joins us. "Where did you get this game?"
"It's mine. It was in a closet when I moved in," Eric explains.
"Awesome! So, how do we play?" he asks.
We explain the rules and assign him his color. We roll the dice to decide who goes first. Christina wins so we go around in a clockwise circle. I'm last but I don't mind. I watch as the three of them begin their turns, smiling and laughing. I realize these are my true friends. These are the people who care about me. These are the people who love me. Even the rest of the leaders standing out to make sure Four left. That is what love is. His is twisted. He needs help and he needs to stop making his happiness dependent upon control of me. Tomorrow will be my first day of work. That will be all my involvement in him now is work alone. I will try to be kind, to get this handled as positively as possible. But I'm not going to let it eat away at me anymore. He needs to move on and so do I.