A Different Divergent Tale (Eric and Tris)

Chapter 36

Eric and I walk side by side through the Pit to the cafeteria on Friday morning. I'm surprised that he hasn't made a move yet. I don't really know what I was expecting. Maybe he just thinks we should wait a little longer. I had mentioned that Uriah and the others were still talking about Four and me. Maybe he wants to wait until all of the gossip dies down. I'm okay with that.
We enter the cafeteria line and I see some sort of round bread with a hole in it.  People passing with their trays have the regular breakfast items with that as well but some look like they've made a sandwich out of it. 
"I think I'll try that," I tell Eric beside me.  
"I was going to have the bagel sandwich, too," he replies smirking. 
"What?" I ask at his expression. 
"Have you noticed we generally get the same thing?" he says nudging me. 
"We both have good taste," I tell him nudging him back. 
We get to the front of the line and Eric goes first.  He puts one of those bagels on his plate and opens it up.  He selects a giant patty of sausage—similar to a hamburger—and places it on top.  I see him grab another on the side before he piles eggs on top as well as on the side.  He puts a slice of cheese on the sandwich also.  I make my sandwich similar but not the excess.  I see some raw spinach, cooked red peppers, mushrooms, and onions.  I decide to put the first three on my sandwich.  I see something called hash brown patties and I get one of those.  I'm debating on the milk, orange juice, or some kind of coffee.  I observe Eric get milk and I figure I'll get that, too. 
We walk towards our table and I notice Eric eyeing my choices.  "I didn't notice the vegetables," he mumbles. 
"They had onions," I tell him. 
"Alright, I'm going to set this down and go back," he tells me.  I chuckle as he puts his tray on the table beside me and jog back to the line.  He actually waits in line again and I love that. 
I smile as I reach for my sandwich.  It's kind of huge.  I take a bite and I'm pleasantly surprised at the combination of that sausage and the bread.  I pinch a piece of bagel off.  It's incredibly chewy and crisp.  I'm partial to the texture. 
I look up to see Eric coming back with a small plate in hand grinning.  I notice Four looking at me out of the corner of my eye.  He looks away but he's clearly watching me.  I make a mental note not to look anywhere in his direction again. 
"So, what do you think?" Eric asks taking a seat beside me. 
"I like the bagel a lot.  The sausage seems different from usual, too," I say.
"Yeah, these are always good," he says putting his extra toppings on his bagel sandwich.  It's enormous and I have no idea how he expects to get that thing in his mouth.  Somehow he manages but he does lose a few items to his plate, though. 
I cut into my hash brown and it's incredibly tasty, too.  "What's the plan today?" I ask after I finish chewing.
"We're going to step up your training a bit.  You seem to be doing well.  Max pushed you harder than me and you're still fine so we'll slowly move you to leadership level," he explains. 
"What about this afternoon?" I ask. 
"I want to see Will's layout for the paper since Max mentioned it to me," he starts.  "I'll see what's on my desk and you know what work you have to do.  Jax may already have a list of people to interview so I'll see when we get there.  I usually have a bit of a plan going into my day but while I'm at the gym, unless something comes up, I try to keep my focus on what I'm working on.  If you think too much on what else there is to do, you fill your mind with unnecessary stress.  You also can't put your all into your physical training if your thoughts are elsewhere."
I really look at Eric and realize he's quite unusual for someone his age.  "How did you get so smart?" I ask. 
"Probably from raising my sister at a young age," he tells me truthfully.  "My parents were gone.  Jeanine was of no help for anything but food, shelter, and footing whatever bills came up.  I learned early on to do what I can and not worry about the small stuff."
"You're very wise," I tell him. 
He chuckles softly looking down.  It's almost as if I embarrassed him.  I place my hand on his and he looks back at me.  I hear a noise that I'm quite certain is coming from Four's direction but I don't break eye contact with him. 
"You about done?" he asks motioning to my plate. 
"Nah, I could eat a little more," I say. 
"Good," he replies.  "I was getting worried about you."
I realize I've only taken three bites so I start to recharge myself for the workout.  I eat more than half of the bagel sandwich and all of the hash brown.  I finish off my small glass of milk and I shove my tray away. 
"Done with that?" Eric motions to the remnants of my sandwich. 
"It's all yours," I tell him scooting it closer to him.  He picks it up and finishes it in two bites.  "We should call you Uriah," I tease.  He laughs as he chews. 
We walk out of the cafeteria to the training room already jogging and laughing on the way.  We exit outside to a beautiful morning.  It's fairly cool for May but I'll take it.  The sun is shining, the birds are singing.  I even see a few of the manicured lawns have some flowering trees and shrubberies in bloom.  I notice tulips popping up and other spring flowers I'm not familiar with.  I think I oddly saw a book on flowers in Eric's collection.  Maybe I ought to borrow it sometime. 
We wind our way quickly through Dauntless property.  I'm surprised when we get back so fast.  I'm not even that winded. 
"You're doing well," Eric says passing me a bottle of water. 
I smile and drink from the bottle.  We go to the bags again—Eric showing me new moves, me practicing them in a rhythm along with the older ones. 
I'm soaked in sweat and I towel myself off before we hit the mats.  Eric does some more instruction and sparring with me before he has me come at him with all I've got.  I fight fairly well, I think—punching, kicking, blocking, attempting sweeps but failing to hit my target most times.  He deflects or I miss entirely for almost every one.  I feel like he's still holding back on me, letting me hit him on rare occasions and going slow.  But I realize, this is how I learn.  If I missed every single one, I wouldn't be progressing.  It would take my confidence away. 
I realize I've gotten distracted in thought and in a flash, I'm on the mat with Eric on top of me.  My cheeks burn at the position.  My thoughts go back to when we discussed waiting to go public.  He said something about pinning me on the mat and kissing me on accident.  I see his eyes actually shift to my lips as we're in the exact position he used as an example and I don't move, waiting for him to make his.  I'm longing for his lips to capture mine and I'm craving him actually.  He rises though, and pulls me to standing.  I know I'm flushed, almost hoping for something romantic that didn't happen.  I'm grateful there aren't many people here to witness this.  I'm almost disappointed that he didn't kiss me, but then I remember that maybe he is waiting for a more opportune time—like when the gossip about Four dies down more and I'm okay with this.  Even though I want him to kiss me, I can wait for a better time.
We get cleaned up at our apartments quickly and head to lunch.  As we walk through the Pit, I've noticed that Eric's been holding me a little closer lately as he escorts me around and I smile.  This little bit of extra affection will tide me over.  We step into the cafeteria and I wave to my friends.  They wave back and I turn my attention from them as Four stares at me.  I notice he was looking at Eric's hand at my waist.  We turn and I feel him caress me gently at my side.  I sigh at his sweetness.  He noticed, too. 
We wait in the line together.  As we progress, he grabs some sort of warm roast beef sandwich—two actually.  I see a turkey one with Swiss cheese, too.  I decide on a half of each.  I wonder if they only have the half choices available for me... but then I notice the person behind me actually grabs one and a half so I don't worry about it.  I see a cup of cheese sauce available and Eric gets that so I follow.  I get a bowl of cut vegetables and chips.  Eric gets the same.  I choose a glass of apple juice since I haven't had that yet.  It looks like he selects a glass of tea and another of lemonade. 
"Thirsty?" I tease. 
"Really thirsty," he chuckles when we walk to our table. 
As we pass through the walkway toward our table, I can actually feel Four's eyes on me.  I hold my head up and don't let it bother me.  He really needs to move on. 
We sit down at the table—me beside Lydia and Eric next to Ryan.  I can see Four's gaze out of my peripheral vision and I look away. 
"What are you smiling at?" I ask Lydia jokingly.  She's staring at me, too, with the silliest grin on her face. 
"Oh, nothing... nothing," she says giving her attention back to her food. 
She's eating now but still smiling. 
I lean over to Eric.  "I wonder what's gotten into Lydia today," I whisper to Eric. 
He shrugs dismissively. 
I start on my turkey sandwich and it's fabulous.  "This is really good," I nudge Eric. 
"It is but the roast beef is better," he tells me between bites. 
He's practically devouring his.  "It must be," I tease.  "Where do you put all of that?"
"Oh, there's plenty of room.  I'm regretting not getting a third," he replies. 
"Yeah, after that meatloaf yesterday, I'm making up for lost time," Ryan says.  I notice that he also has two sandwiches but he's still on the first, not eating at Eric's speed. 
"Aren't you hungry?" Eric nudges me. 
"Are you in a hurry or something?" I tease. 
"You have no idea," he says seriously. 
I chuckle and try to pick up the pace. 
I eat most of my half a turkey sandwich and several of my raw vegetables.  I eat a couple chips and decide to start on that beef sandwich.  Eric pushes the cheese sauce closer to me. 
"So I shouldn't try it without this, huh?" I joke. 
"You don't want to waste your time.  It's good like that but this is better," he insists.  He pours it on for me. 
I try a bite and I can't help but laugh.  "You were right," I mumble between bites. 
"See," he nudges me in the ribs.  I jump.  "Oh, I see.  You are ticklish."
"Is that what that was?" I try to play it off.  Caleb was notorious for tickling me when we were little.  He'd hold me down until I almost had an accident.  It's a good thing the bathroom was always close by.  He probably did that on purpose though because if there were a problem, he would've gotten in so much trouble. 
"Don't try to play dumb with me," he taunts leaning closer.  "I know you're very intelligent," he whispers. 
I poke his side and he jumps, too, swatting my hand away. 
"You're going to get it," he tells me. 
"Oh?  And what am I going to get?" I laugh. 
"I know," Ryan chimes in. 
"Shut it, Ryan," Eric chastises him in a warning tone. 
Ryan laughs as he eats.
Eric continues to eye me and I can't help but grin at him as I finish my food.
"Ready?" Eric asks.
"Yeah," I respond.
"Me, too," Lydia says as she grabs her tray.
We rise and I observe Ryan shoveling the rest of his food in his face as fast as he can.
"You better slow down or you're going to choke," I tease him.
He starts laughing and I'm surprised he's still chewing. We walk off with our trays and put them on the return. I notice Ryan running after us. He's actually caught several people's attention.
"What's got into him?" I ask Eric.
"Who knows?" Max says beside me. I hadn't even seen him get up.
"What? Are we all going to the office together?" I ask.
"It must just be a coincidence," Jude says.
I start to wonder where everyone came from but I dismiss the idea. Everyone walks in front of us and I never realized they're all like speed-walkers. Eric and I move at our usual pace but we split up and take the two elevators.
We arrive at the office level and I see most of the staff already back from lunch. Will is over there and he waves at me. I wave back.
"Hey, I was going to talk to Will. I had something put on your desk. Could you bring it out here to me?" Eric asks.
"Sure," I say thinking that's unusual as I walk to my office. I notice that nobody is in their offices yet so we must've beat them here in the elevator.
I open my door and look at my desk. I stop short at the door. On my desk is a massive vase with red flowers in it. I laugh in complete surprise and look back into the hallway. Nobody is there. I step in and examine them. They're beautiful and the scent is unbelievably strong and lovely. The whole room permeates it. I touch one and it's surprisingly soft and smooth. I notice a white card and I pull it out from between two flowers. I open the envelope and see Eric's handwriting. It looks like it was written on a computer—it's so neat and perfect. It reads: